Good Things

Good things are happening. I was asked by my sister in law if I would want to set up some of my crafts at a Stress free Saturday event at one of the dance studios she teaches classes at. I was excited and of course I said yes.

Saturday morning came and the last thing I wanted to do is get out of bed. From day to day it is a struggle. Some days from physical and some days its mental. Saturday it was all mental. I just felt like hiding under the covers and crying (which is how I spent all of Friday). I didn't know how I was going to do it. It took everything I had to shower and get dressed. Thankfully, I have the best husband ever and he got out of bed after only 4 hours of sleep and drove me to the event and sat there with me all day then brought me back home and immediately left for work. I can't even say how thankful I am for him and all his love and support.

While we were there a lady who owns a tea shop asked me if I would be interested in creating a line of aprons to sell in her shop. YEESSSS!!!

A while later the owner of the dance studio came over and asked me if I would let her sell some of my bags in her shop. WHOO HOO!!!

I can't even describe how excited I am. This is once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

Just before we finished up another lady asked me if I do custom orders. I said that would depend on what it was and she said she loved the superhero capes I had made but her little boys already have several capes each but could I make superhero artist aprons. I told her anything was worth a try. She paid me for them and I told her they would be ready on Saturday.

I am thrilled to announce I finished them tonight and I am so pleased with them.

My Favorite Thing (so far)

I ran across the instructions for making a tic tac toe board HERE

I decided I needed to make one. A friend gave me some super cute Hello Kitty material and that gave me the motivation to make it. I just finished it and I am so happy with the end results. You can buy it at My Etsy Store

I am totally in love. I do think this is my favorite thing I have made so far. Check it out.

the contest

Right now as I type my children are in the kitchen having a lil contest. They are competing to see who can make butter the fastest. One has the mixer and one has an empty bottle.

Dakota is using the mixer but since he knows nothing about making butter I am sure he will stop before it actually becomes butter. Cheyenne is using a plastic water bottle. I have never made butter so I have no idea if plastic bottles work. I am not sure she has the stamina to shake it for 20 minutes.

This should be a interesting.

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The results are in.... the bottles of cream got stuck in the back of the fridge and massive amounts of butter were created in the mixer.

This morning I found butter on the counter, wall, window and all over the mixer.

The good news is their butter is amazing.

My birthday girl

Yesterday was Cheyennes birthday. She is now 14. Unbelievable. Where has time gone?

always with the goofy faces

She is in 8th grade and doing great. She has some huge plans for her future and she is working hard in school to make sure she gets what she wants in life. As of today she wants to dedicate 7 years of her life to college at Boston University. She wants to become a Forensic Anthropologist. (What the crap does that even mean?!)

Cheyenne, daddy and I are incredibly proud of you. You are so loving and sweet. We love you very much. You can do anything you want to do in your life. We will support you in whatever you decide to do.

opening her gifts that dad wrapped in Christmas paper

We had a little family party. Gramma, Papa, Uncle Doug, Aunt Shellie, Logan, Maddie, Kiersti, Bella and Uncle Pumbaa all came. Aunt Lid came early because she had to work at the time of the party. Also the night before Uncle Paul came over to see her and wish her Happy Birthday since he was also unable to be there.

How NOT to broil fish!

This is what happens when you broil something in a glass pan. Apparently glass is not safe to use under, in or on direct heat. not even Pyrex. Glass should never be used at temperatures above 400*.

I was making dinner for myself and my brother last night and when I took the fish out of the oven the pan shattered in my hand. It may have been one of the scariest moments in my life. My heart was still racing and pounding out of my chest when I went to bed at 3am. I did this at 10pm. I am still a lil shaken by it today and unsure that I want to go near the stove for a while.

My very own Etsy shop

I decided today to set up my own Etsy shop for some of the fun things I have been making. I would like to see how people react to them before the craft fair in October.

If you want to check it out there area  few of the bags I have made listed and some pillowcases so far. I have other things to add but I am waiting to borrow a couple cuties for models first.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dizzyblonde1028

Will Dance for Food

This is Teq dancing for treats. Dakota made him the sign around his neck. You cannot see it well but it says "Will dance for food"

Uncle Pumbaa

Drew and Dakota decided that we will not risk Uncle Pumbaa ever moving away and leaving us. Dakota had taped his feet together but he cut the tape off before these pics was taken.

THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD SPORT UNCLE PUMBAA. WE LOVE YOU!!!

More fun bags

I have been creating lots of messenger bags for the upcoming craft fair. Here are a few more that I have made. I do not have a clue how to turn them right side up so turn your head sideways ;)

Black and white checked

mini flag purse

ruffled owl trick or treat bag

scrappy owl trick or treat bag

Safety and Protection

Drew and I have talked a lot about safety and personal protection and debated when would be the right time for us to purchase a handgun for me to carry. Drew has had one for a while but I have been a little reluctant myself because the idea scared me a little bit. A few months back I had a scary situation happen so together we decided that the time has come for me to get and learn to shoot a handgun. We really could not afford it but we also knew that we could not afford to be without one. Especially with him being gone such long hours for work. This is the little beauty who I have affectionately been calling Fiona. Her name needs to change because that name belongs to a friends guitar. But for now, meet Fiona...  

Back in July before we moved from our old house into our new house I was in PO for a doctors appointment. On the way home I needed to get a few groceries. Since there is a grocery store right by my doctors office, I stopped there. When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a guy just kind of lingering around his car. When I parked he walked right next to the truck and across the parking lot a few rows then back, right near the truck again then went and stood by his car. I got out of the truck and quickly walked into the store. I am a unusually paranoid person anyway so I was thinking I was being overly cautious. I was in the store long enough to get 12 or 15 things and I see this guy watching me the whole time. I hurried and got checked out and walked out. he was right behind me the whole time. I stopped at the Coke machine and bought myself a soda just to see if he was still watching me. He walked to his car and just stood there. I hurried to my car, got in and locked the doors. The whole time I was watching him in my rear view mirror. He got into his car and sat there. I drove out of the parking lot and onto the highway. He was right behind me the whole time. If I changed lanes he did too. I drove fast, so did he. I drove slow, so did he. I was freaking out. I had dialed Drew's number on my cell phone just in case. He ended up following me about 12 miles on the highway before he finally exited. I have wondered since that day if we hadn't lived so far from where I stopped for groceries if he would have followed me all the way home and what would I have done once we got there. I had all sorts of things planned out in my head but I don't know what I would have actually done.

This is Dakota and I having a shooting lesson from Drew. Knowing how to shoot Fiona comfortably is a big concern for me. I am not good under that kind of pressure and I need all the practice I can get. Dakota just really loves to shoot, just like his daddy.

Here is one of me doing some target shooting. Please don't laugh at my hair, I was working hard all day. Its impossible to look beautiful when you are doing hard physical labor ;)

Sew Busy

I have been sewing like crazy getting ready for a craft fair at the little mall here in town at the end of October. The new house has been great because the basement is only used for laundry so I have taken over the whole downstairs with my craft room. I am loving every minute of it. It is pretty hard on my neck and back though.


My friend Becca has brought her stuff over and set up shop with me. When she gets a chance she comes over and we sit downstairs and sew while the kids play (or bug us). We seem to get more talking than work done when we are together. :D She is a far better seamstress than I am so she has been teaching me a lot. My sewing is getting much much better.


So far we have made messenger bags, tutus, baby blankets and crib sheets, aprons, pillow cases and super hero capes. Here are some of the things I have made....

Pink and white messenger bag

Sparkly purple and black messenger bag with treble clefs and stars
(This is part of Cheys birthday gift that she already knows about)

Piano messenger bag

Batman Logo (off superhero cape)

Superman logo (off superhero cape)

Snowman pillowcase

Bah humbug pillowcase

Chicken apron (plus size model)

First Day of School

The kids started 8th grade today. They came home excited and said they loved school. On Monday it will probably  be a different story when kids don't want to get up.
The End!

SUGAR FREE

I have been (almost) sugar free for 6 days now. I say almost because I sampled a tiny bit of cookie dough this morning to make sure I had just the right amount of flour. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be but right now I am dying for one of the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that are sitting on my table. Being a sugar free cookie baker is a bit of an oxymoron. :)

I decided to go the sugar free after a couple of scary incidents last week. I ate cookies and within about 15 minutes my heart was racing, my head was throbbing and I was sweating bullets. I thought it was weird but didn't attribute it to the cookies. The next night the same thing happened again. I got really freaked out and have been very careful to watch my sugar intake ever since.

3 1/2 years ago I had a whole series of blood work done, including my A1C levels (3 month blood sugar) it was slightly elevated (145) and the doctor told me to have it checked every 6 months. Well I have yet to have it rechecked. I kind of have that opinion that I didn't want to know. I also didn't have medical insurance and blood work and doctors visits are extremely expensive.

I had already made an appointment to get some other blood work done when kids go back to school on Wednesday anyway so I will be having my A1C level rechecked then. If nothing else it will relieve my fears that I am diabetic. With my weight issues and my family history, diabetes is a very real possibility for me.

Cheyennes New Hair

On Memorial Day I let Cheyenne color her hair black. It seemed like a good compromise because she wanted to do something and Dad said NO to pink and/or blue. We went to Rite Aid and bought a couple of boxes of dye for $5. Our friend came over and dyed her hair. She loved it. At first. Then it grew out and she had a skunk stripe. That does not make for a happy girl. It also makes for a bit of anxiety about going to a new school where she knows exactly 4 people.

You can't see the stripe clearly here but in real life it was very noticeable.

Aunt Lid told me of her friend who she referred to as a "miracle worker". I was told we would never get the dye out so I was very skeptical. It took a lot of wavering back and forth because said "miracle worker" charges big money for her services. Money we did not have. After much consideration of both our pocket book and our girls feelings we decided we needed to go ahead and let her get it done.

7 hours of hair dying can take its toll on a young girl

We went over on Tuesday and talked tot he girl who said she could do something. We went back today and after 7 and a half LOOOOONNNNG hours she was finally finished. She had to have the black stripped out, then bleached, then colored and finally cut. She is thrilled with the final results. Daddy is much happier too.

I LOVE IT! I think she looks much more mature and girlie too.



Where did all the money go

It has been unbelievable to me how much it costs to get these kids ready for school.

They went in for their sports physicals this morning. Since they had been to the doctor about 4 months ago, Dakota has grown an inch and a half and gained 10 pounds. Cheyenne has grown an inch and gained 3 pounds. Dakota is now just a half inch shorter than me.

Not counting school clothes that they both had to have, since everything they currently own is either trashed, too short or too small, we have spent

Sports Physicals.......................................$90
Sports Fees.............................................$130
PE Uniforms.. ..........................................$40
nut cup, football cleats, volleyball shoes,
knee pads, mouth guard............................$120
backpack and school supplies.....................$150
                                                              $530


I know there is nothing we can do about it and it is just another fact of life but it is ridiculous. Having to spend that much money to get kids ready for school. I can't imagine how much people who have more than 2 kids.

I will get off my soap box now and go off to get kids prescriptions filled and spend some more money we don't have.

3rd and FINAL party

For Dakota's third and final birthday dinner he wanted to have enchiladas and mud pie. I worked all day yesterday preparing the food. I even attempted to make homemade enchilada sauce. I FAILED miserably. The sauce was horribly bitter. I searched online and everything said add cinnamon and sugar. That just made it worse. I ended up throwing the whole mess down the drain and buying canned sauce. Then last night Drew and I went to the Mexican restaurant to say goodbye to our good friend who works there, she is moving away next week. I asked her if they sold the sauce they make, turns out they do. I bought a truck load of their sauce and spent several hours making enchiladas. I made 6 pans. They turned out delicious.

We were not sure how many people were going to be here. There was going to be anywhere from 7 to 18. We didn't know until a few hours before how many were going to be here. There ended up being only 11 of us, some who did not care for enchiladas. We will be eating enchiladas for many, many meals.  It was just the right amount of people for our house. Anymore we would have been screaming over each other.

Gramma and Papa, Uncle Doug, Logan, Maddie and Kiersti, Aunt Lid and the 4 of us.

Kiersti

Kiersti, Maddie, Uncle Doug and Logan

Gramma Jane

Drew and Papa Dan

Cousins

Some of my family came over to celebrate Dakota's birthday last night. My sister, brother and 2 nephews came. We had a bbq and it was decided that dad is a much better bbq'r so mom should stick to the kitchen, where she knows her stuff. The burgers were raw slightly undercooked in the middle. The rest of the food was a hit though. Dakota chose key lime and peach pie for dessert. (That lucky stinker gets to have 3 parties, 3 dinners and 4 desserts... someone must really love him)

I took a few pictures of the kids but they were so busy goofing around it was hard to get a decent picture. Bryan was the only willing participant to the picture taking and posed for several by himself. I threatened the other kids that until they let me take a good picture I was going to keep on trying and that I had allll night. :)

Cheyenne, Bryan, Kristafer and Dakota

Bryan

Bryan, Kristafer and Dakota

NO LONGER A CHILD BUT ALWAYS MY LITTLE BOY

Our boy turns 13 today. He is no longer a child. He will now and forever be our little boy. It is hard for me to believe that my baby is growing up so fast.

He is almost as tall as me. He can wear his dads clothes. He outgrew my shoe size a few years ago and his feet are now bigger than his dads. He is not the "little" brother just the younger brother. He has towered over Cheyenne since they were 3 and 4. He is getting ready to start the 8th grade. He is going to play football for the first time.

I feel such joy when I think about the young adult he is becoming. He has come along way in the last year. Very noticeably in the last few months. He has worked very hard to overcome his obstacles. I am so proud of him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAKOTA!
We all love you very much :)

We ran out of boy birthday wrapping paper so Cheyenne wrapped most of his gifts in pink "birthday girl" paper.

The bad thing about letting sisters wrap the gifts is she blabbed and told him everything he was getting so there was no surprise :(

WHOA!!

Since we moved again the kids needed to be registered at a new school once again. This year they are going to the same junior high their dad and I went to.

I drove over to the school this morning and walked in the door and it was like I had never left. It sure didn't seem like it has been over 20 years since I last went to school there. Total de ja vu.

Almost everything looks the same, even some of my old teachers are still there. Visited with one of them for quite a while. She didn't remember me but she remembered the long line of Tailleur's that had come before. It was really neat.

It was actually really cool to be able to walk in and go right where I needed to be without having to ask for directions or look like an idiot.

I was already excited for kids to go back to school and get them out of the house for several hours every day. Now I am even more excited knowing that they are going to the same school Drew and I did.

Cheyenne wants to take drama. My old drama teacher is still there and still teaching drama. It will be interesting to find out what Chey thinks of both the teacher and the class. Me, personally, didn't care for either. ;)

You want HOW much for a signature???

Called the doctor's office to see about getting a form filled out for each kid so they can use their inhalers at school if it becomes necessary. To make a long story short, they wanted $15 per form if I dropped them off and picked them up in 7 days or $20 per form if I made an appointment and came in.

I know our doctor and he does not practice medicine that way. The third receptionist I spoke to went and talked to the nurse and she is getting the forms filled out and ready for me to pick up in the morning along with new prescriptions for inhalers. All at no cost. WHOO HOO!!!

Dealing with some people really makes me want to stab people poke my eye balls out with a fork.

Thats My Boy!!

This morning Dakota was being just as serious as could be and says "Hey sis, I know what I am getting you for your birthday." She gets a lil excited and says "What?" Then being the sweet and generous boy that he is he says, "A stack of job applications."  

I was cracking up, Cheyenne on the other hand was not impressed by his comedy.

Cheyenne wants a job, she wants money and she wants stuff. We have been talking for a few weeks now that in our state you can get a job at 14. She can't hardly wait for the next month and 8 days to go by til her birthday so she can go find a job.

She says she is NOT working at McDonalds. I have been trying to explain to her that a lot of places will not hire 14 year olds and McDonalds money spends the same as anyone elses. She is not convinced yet.

Sister Wives ;)

My sister in law, Elizabeth, is one of my best friends. One of the first people I tell things to, a shoulder to cry on and someone who will laugh at all my stupid jokes. I feel very lucky to have her in my life.

Tonight while Drew was working, we went to a birthday party for one of mine and Drews friends. We had a great time hanging out without the kids. We went to a casino near us and had some delicious dinner, then we hung out by the fire with friends.

This is a crappy picture but this is us in front of the fire.

Headaches

Our boy has been having some sharp stabbing pain in his temple for 4 days. It has been getting worse and every bad thing starts running through my head. Drew took Kota and I to Urgent Care so we could have him checked out.

He was not at all amused that I was taking his picture while he was laying in bed in pain. I told him it is my responsibility to document everything so he had to let me. :)

Turns out he has cluster migraines. The doctor didn't find anything neurologically wrong with him in the tests she did. That is very good news. Unfortunately, he will probably have these headaches for the rest of his life. My poor baby.

The doctor prescribed some Tylenol 3 and mom and dad prescribed a blizzard. We are hoping the medicine works, if not he will need to have a CT Scan and possibly a MRI.

We also had his knee looked at. A few weeks ago he decided it would be fun to ride his cousins tricycle. The trike didn't survive the ride and Dakota landed on his knee. The knee is swollen and painful but it is nothing serious, just some fluid on the knee cap. The doctor told us that his growth plates have big gaps in them and she expects him to grow 6" in the next year or two.

My baby is only 2" shorter than me and is not going to be 13 until next week. Sounds like I may be looking up at him before he turns 14. Oy Vey!!