Sunday, September 30, 2007
Carl's Home!
Finally. It has been a long couple of months of on and off traveling for him. I didn't make a fancy coming home picture a la Maren but I'm glad to have him back all the same! He just drove the kids home from church and changed two diapers all before bringing in his suitcases. Woohoo!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Smart Habit Saturday
Here are the habits I've worked on for September:1. Sleeping. I've been going to bed around 10:30pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends. We've been sleeping a little later in the week (thanks, kids!) so I'm moving my weekday bedtime to 11pm as well. I could use the extra time for my knitting deadlines.
2. Laundry. Didn't go over so well. I don't think I was meant to tackle such a HUGE habit at this time in my life.
3. Cooking for my family. This was really great and fun. It motivated me to be more organized with my shopping and my menu planning for that week. I hope to implement this again after this week now that Carl will be at home more often (no more trips until 2008!).
4. Diet Pepsi reduction. This has gone much better than planned. I did have a day or two where I drank more than one. HOWEVER...I also drank tons of water those days so it was kind of a reward. Right? I have 5 more Pepsis and I'm not buying any more for daily consumption.
And now we are to my SMART habit for this week. It is all about me and strengthening my marriage. I'm going to go on a date with my husband, make sure to talk with him each day, get a massage, read a good book, and do some other things that are all about helping us be better people. Will a massage help me be a better person? You betcha! After this horrific month, I'm pretty sure I deserve it. Now, if only I can find time to shave my legs between now and my appointment.
Friday, September 28, 2007
All Aboard
I've talked a lot of Caleb and Eva's first trip to the dentist. I don't know what I was so scared about. They did so great! I think part of it was that I chose an awesome office (pure luck). Southwest Pediatric Dentistry is all about trains. You get a ticket to go back to see the dentist. They have this train (in the pics), a huge plasma tv, and video games in the waiting room. When you go back, they have a tv screen for each of the chairs and the staff are all really nice and accommodating. We were the only patients when we went in for our visits. The dentist is ridiculously good looking. I try not to stare. We'll see them again in April!Eva has some baby teeth that are fused together. We call them "monster teeth". She's got two pair of them. We knew it wasn't any big deal but they are going to watch them closely when it is time for her teeth to fall out.
Speaking of teeth falling out, Caleb lost his second tooth last week. We also found out that he has his 6 year old molars already! He's only 4 1/2. I've been joking that if he keeps developing so early we're going to need to buy him a razor soon!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
More TV Talk
Dancing With the Stars started this week. Helio Castroneves is my favorite, so far. Cameron Mathison wasn't my favorite dancer but I do hope he stays around a while. He is on my favorite soap, after all.
Marie Osmond? Well, I will be super excited if Donny comes to watch her. I love me some Donny Osmond. That line she had where she said, "25 million people watch this show and 22 million of them are Osmonds" really cracked me up.
Who is your favorite? What did you think of Albert Reed? Yummy or goofy? Come on, I know you watch it.
Ugly Betty
I'm so excited for the new season of Ugly Betty! It was definitely my favorite show last season.
Survivor: China started last week. Thursday nights are rockin' my DVR! I'm going to get a lot of knitting done tonight!
Survivor: China started last week. Thursday nights are rockin' my DVR! I'm going to get a lot of knitting done tonight!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Damages
My work day is over. The kids are in bed. Here are today's damages.
1. Five minutes before I put Caleb in bed he broke my glasses.
2. Eva pooped on the floor.
3. Someone dumped out a bag of cereal on the floor and jumped on it. It wasn't me and Carl is in California.
4. Caleb did the dishes. It only took three huge towels to sop up the mess.
5. Eva found a full spray bottle of water ( I use it to fix her hair) and it is now empty. I still don't know the full extent of the damage there.
Believe it or not, it could have been worse. It has been worse. Actually, today was a real success.
1. Eva went to the dentist. It went really well. Caleb goes tomorrow.
2. Caleb had his piano lesson. He continues to amaze us with his talent.
3. Caleb is a little missionary. All his teachers tell me they love hearing him sing the songs from church.
4. Both Caleb and Eva are REALLY, REALLY good at going to bed now. I put them down at 7pm with very little resistance and they both sleep through the night like pros.
5. I now have a couple of hours to myself. What will I do?
1. Five minutes before I put Caleb in bed he broke my glasses.
2. Eva pooped on the floor.
3. Someone dumped out a bag of cereal on the floor and jumped on it. It wasn't me and Carl is in California.
4. Caleb did the dishes. It only took three huge towels to sop up the mess.
5. Eva found a full spray bottle of water ( I use it to fix her hair) and it is now empty. I still don't know the full extent of the damage there.
Believe it or not, it could have been worse. It has been worse. Actually, today was a real success.
1. Eva went to the dentist. It went really well. Caleb goes tomorrow.
2. Caleb had his piano lesson. He continues to amaze us with his talent.
3. Caleb is a little missionary. All his teachers tell me they love hearing him sing the songs from church.
4. Both Caleb and Eva are REALLY, REALLY good at going to bed now. I put them down at 7pm with very little resistance and they both sleep through the night like pros.
5. I now have a couple of hours to myself. What will I do?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Visions of Pinwheels
I really want to make this sweater for Eva. I have the yarn (brights- pink, yellow, green, purple). I have the motivation. I just don't have the time. I have knitting deadlines, people. I'm stalled on the Project Lincoln sweater because I'm at a part where I need to be able to do math, write out the pattern, and do the knitting all at the same time. I need a good chunk of kid free time to do this and I just haven't had that for the past couple of days. I have until October 13th to finish the design. I'm also doing some test knitting for Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarn Works (aka Knittin' Mom). I'm really excited about these two projects but I can't show them to you...yet. She sent me some really cool Jaeger Aqua yarn (100% mercerized cotton--olive color) to do one of the projects. I'm still waiting on the yarn for the next one. These are due by October 31st. I guess it is good that I really want to make the pinwheel sweater because I know I can't possible start it until I finish the projects due in October. So, no matter how much I'm hating doing 12 1/2 inches of stockinette stitch in the round (over 250 stitches per round) I know I've got to do it so I can reward myself with the pinwheel.In other news, yesterday went pretty well. The kids were relatively good. I needed that. For reasons I'm not going to blog about, I pretty much had the suckiest weekend I've ever had. I'm doing better now and really the only thing I can attribute it to is many heartfelt prayers. I was talking with Carl last night about what we were going through and I joked that it was probably a bad time to give up my Diet Pepsi habit. Even through all that, I did great! I think it is going to stick.
As soon as I can get batteries in the camera, I'll upload and post the pictures we took last night. The kids decided they wanted to sleep in the tent. Sleeping outside wasn't an option. We had some pretty cool storms. We decided that we would set the tent up downstairs. I've never seen them so excited to go to bed! They slept in there together all night and we didn't hear a peep! I'm going to start using that as a reward for good behavior since they liked it so much.
Monday, September 24, 2007
On The Docket
Monday: Keep the kids and myself alive. There is no school today. Carl will be working late tonight. He should be back in time to put the kids in bed.
Tuesday: More of the same. No school for Caleb. Carl will be working in Lincoln and Omaha but he should be home at regular time. Sometime before now I need to give him some time to clean out our squirrel-killing pool. Yes, we've killed three squirrels with our lovely swimming pool of muck. Nasty.
Wednesday: School is back in session but Carl is leaving to go to LA. He won't be back until Sunday afternoon. He should show up sometime during church. Eva has a dentist appointment in the morning and Caleb has piano lessons in the afternoon.
Thursday: Caleb has a dentist appointment in the afternoon and we are all going to Holmes Elementary in the evening for an ARC meeting (developmental disability support group). Thank goodness they will feed us and provide child care!
Friday: I am probably going to take Eva to play with Bella and Julie somewhere. This will be fun. Friday night is an activity at the church. We'll see if I'm feeling up to taking them.
Saturday: I'm actually dreading this day the most. We have NOTHING planned. Me trying to keep the kids occupied all day might do me in. I'm thinking that I'll have to use my "credit" with a local babysitter that day so I can have an hour or two to regroup.
Sunday: I'll spend the morning trying to get the kids ready and out of trouble so we can make it to church. Carl should be home for the rest of the evening after church so I'll be able to chill out a bit from a crazy week!
Tuesday: More of the same. No school for Caleb. Carl will be working in Lincoln and Omaha but he should be home at regular time. Sometime before now I need to give him some time to clean out our squirrel-killing pool. Yes, we've killed three squirrels with our lovely swimming pool of muck. Nasty.
Wednesday: School is back in session but Carl is leaving to go to LA. He won't be back until Sunday afternoon. He should show up sometime during church. Eva has a dentist appointment in the morning and Caleb has piano lessons in the afternoon.
Thursday: Caleb has a dentist appointment in the afternoon and we are all going to Holmes Elementary in the evening for an ARC meeting (developmental disability support group). Thank goodness they will feed us and provide child care!
Friday: I am probably going to take Eva to play with Bella and Julie somewhere. This will be fun. Friday night is an activity at the church. We'll see if I'm feeling up to taking them.
Saturday: I'm actually dreading this day the most. We have NOTHING planned. Me trying to keep the kids occupied all day might do me in. I'm thinking that I'll have to use my "credit" with a local babysitter that day so I can have an hour or two to regroup.
Sunday: I'll spend the morning trying to get the kids ready and out of trouble so we can make it to church. Carl should be home for the rest of the evening after church so I'll be able to chill out a bit from a crazy week!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Tylenol P.M.
I'm really wishing I had some Tylenol PM right about now. I'm tired, but I can't sleep. I need to. I just can't. I was in bed at 10pm ready to snooze. Nothing. Still, nothing. Icky ick ick. I'm going to be hating life tomorrow (or today, as it were). I guess I'll go try again. But, not until I give you all the tally so far from the Ryka giveaway.
People that signed up after reading about it on my blog that have won something (so far):
Melessa (shoes)
Gigi (shoes)
Kerry (shirt)
Audra (shirt)
Ginger (shirt)
Are there more of you? There is still time to sign up.
People that signed up after reading about it on my blog that have won something (so far):
Melessa (shoes)
Gigi (shoes)
Kerry (shirt)
Audra (shirt)
Ginger (shirt)
Are there more of you? There is still time to sign up.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Smart Habit Saturday
Bedtime is still working out for me. I stayed up a little later one night this week but I was still in bed by 11pm. I can tell that I have more patience (still not a lot) and energy throughout the day. Last week I worked on cooking for my family. It was a huge success! I stuck with my menu plan that I had planned with only a few minor variations (we skipped pizza night and had leftovers instead and we didn't go out last night--more leftovers). I want to continue having better meal plans but this week is going to be a little abnormal since Carl will be out of town most of the week.
This week I'm going to try and limit my diet soda intake so I'll drink more water. Lately I've been drinking 2-3 a day (depending on how stressed I am). I stopped buying soda about a month ago and I am finally down to my last 12 pack. I'm allowing myself one a day until they are gone.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Seven Year Itch
A German politician wants a law to allow marriages to automatically dissolve after 7 years. Seriously? Apparently so.
She has virtually no chance of getting elected but she seems to be using every publicity grabbing tactic she can come up with.
This is just one more example of how the sanctity of marriage is being trod upon.
She has virtually no chance of getting elected but she seems to be using every publicity grabbing tactic she can come up with.
This is just one more example of how the sanctity of marriage is being trod upon.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
And the Winner Be...
Congrats!
*winner determined by my daughter scientifically picking one of eight numbered pieces of paper out of my hands
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Book Group 2008 Picks
Here is our list for the 2007-2008 book group year.
*Don't forget to comment in the next post for my pirate giveaway!
October: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
November: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
December: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
January: My Antonía by Willa Cather
February: For One More Day by Mitch Albom and
Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
March: Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
April: Pope Joan by Donna Cross
May: Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
June: The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
July: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
August: A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Alternates:
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (2nd book in Twilight series)
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (3rd book in Twilight series)
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Brothers by Da Chen
Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag
A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
*Don't forget to comment in the next post for my pirate giveaway!
October: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
November: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
December: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
January: My Antonía by Willa Cather
February: For One More Day by Mitch Albom and
Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
March: Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
April: Pope Joan by Donna Cross
May: Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
June: The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
July: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
August: A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Alternates:
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (2nd book in Twilight series)
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (3rd book in Twilight series)
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Brothers by Da Chen
Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag
A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Talk Like a Pirate Contest!
It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! I thought I'd have a little giveaway here at the crafty conservative. Leave a comment in your best pirate speak and I'll randomly draw a winner. What get ye? Aargh! Pirate patches for ye whole family!
*you have all day (September 19th) to enter
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Book Group
I've been writing about books a lot lately. Hmmm. Book group is tonight and we are choosing the books we will be reading for the next 12 months. I've got a couple of books in mind to suggest but I'm really looking forward to reading some new books. The way we do it is we all make our suggestions and then we vote for 12. The top 12 vote getters are our choices.
What three books would you suggest?
Stay tuned for a giveaway from me tomorrow!
Monday, September 17, 2007
I'm IN, I'm IN!!!
My ravelry invite came today. I've been in there for about 10 minutes and have signed up to be part of the Knebraska Knitters and also Flap Your Hands (an autism related forum). Do you want to be my friend? My profile name is Christy. Original, I know.
Music Monday
Because I just so happened to be listening to my iPod when I was browsing blogs today, I thought I'd participate in Music Monday.
1. White Wedding- Billy Idol
2. Dimelo- Enrique Iglesias (the Spanish version of the ping pong song)
3. Please Don't Tell Her- Jason Mraz
4. That's the Way It Is- Celine Dion
5. Love Today- Mika
6. Heartbreaker- Pat Benatar
7. Big Girl- Mika
8. Nothing Lasts Forever- Maroon 5
9. Holly Holy- Neil Diamond
10. Little of Your Time- Maroon 5
What happens when you hit shuffle?
1. White Wedding- Billy Idol
2. Dimelo- Enrique Iglesias (the Spanish version of the ping pong song)
3. Please Don't Tell Her- Jason Mraz
4. That's the Way It Is- Celine Dion
5. Love Today- Mika
6. Heartbreaker- Pat Benatar
7. Big Girl- Mika
8. Nothing Lasts Forever- Maroon 5
9. Holly Holy- Neil Diamond
10. Little of Your Time- Maroon 5
What happens when you hit shuffle?
Menu Plan Monday
As part of my SMART Habit Saturday, I decided to work on actually cooking again. I kind of lose interest in meal planning during the summer because it is too hot to slave away in the kitchen and that's all the excuse I need not to do it. Anyway, I've always appreciated reading everyone else's Menu Plan Monday posts so I thought I would do one this week since I actually have a plan.
Monday: We're feeding our two sister missionaries tonight.
Burrito Skillet
Salad
Chocolate Eclair Cake
Tuesday: We'll be on the go so it will be something quick like a Lean Cuisine three meat deep dish personal pizza for me (the ONLY microwave pizza I'll eat) and some chicken and applesauce for the kids. If we have any leftovers from Monday, Carl will eat that.
Wednesday: Pizza night
Thursday: Zesty Crockpot Chicken
carrots
Friday: I'm going on a date with my husband...I think. That's the plan, anyway.
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner
Sunday: Pot roast with potatoes and carrots
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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Yo-Ho Christy, Ye Buxom wench!
Aarrgg--where would ye be gettin these crazy idears? Me thinks your little buccaneers are gettin to ya! Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!