My little one has moved on from diapers and pull-ups *snuffle*

Well...I supposed it had to happen sometime. I say it with mixed emotions in all honesty because Irene is growing so fast. She chose her own panties from Disney store and we worked throughout the entire Thanksgiving break to teach her that she should not go in potty in her pants anymore.

Wednesday: *rolling eyes* I truly began to question the sanity of the idea of potty training.

Thursday: break. Thanksgiving day was not the day I was going to tackle this. Back to pull-ups

Friday: Back in panties. 2 poopies - but went pee pee on the potty regularly.

Saturday: 2 pee pees - but went poopy on the potty regularly

Sunday: She got the idea! But we were setting timers this entire time to make sure we'd get her to go every 30 - 40 minutes. Needless to say we were expecting the worst on Monday.

Packed to the gills in clothing and undies in the backpack along with everything else, we trudged to school to find that the schedule was expected to be relaxed. The assistant that usually helps with the younger kids to use the potty and deal with diapers got an amazing shock when she came back to work. Every child that had been in diapers (5 of us from what i understand), all came wear big kid undies that day. Boy was that a shock!

Monday evening I went to pick up Irene fully expecting to have a bundle of ickey poopy undies to have to deal with. Much to my surprise and with each day so far, Irene has been telling the teachers that she needs to use the potty. *dancing happy feet* !!! I am so thrilled.

I must admit though that this continues to show how quickly Irene is growing and how quickly she will no longer need me. *snuffle* *sniff* I know it is silly to say that, because she will always need me (if the # of times I call my mom in a day is any indication), but there is just something sweet to watch and when it is gone, all you have are the memories. Oh well...such is life...and it will move on.

Nice thing: bills go down on the # of diapers and pull-ups we buy on a weekly basis. So much for needing 3T - 4T pull-ups that I bought. :) Anyway, so now we're down to diapers at night and pull-ups at nap. Once this is dealt with it will be amazing. Not sure when it will be, but we'll see.

I am CodeGear!

Well,
Borland (where I worked) finally decided to make a decision *gasp*. DevCo /DTG/Developement Tools Group is now a wholly owned subsidiary. We basically write a big fat check to Borland at the end of the year and otherwise go in our own direction.

I am CodeGear! Hear me roar! More as I understand things better

Holy twin bed MOMMA!!!!

Well, I have to say that we have never had such a wonderful time as we have getting Irene into a twin bed. Yes...I said twin bed. :) She's been in a toddler bed since January of this year. That one was a battle convincing her that sleeping in her toddler bed was ok.

We had taken a different tact this time and decided to "discuss" the matter with her earlier on in the week. Dadda took up the conversation first:

Monday:
Dadda: "So..Irene...would you like to get into a big girl's bed?
Irene: "Suuurrrreee."
Dadda: "Ok. Momma and Dadda will get something setup next weekend."

Wednesday:
Momma: "So..sweetie, Dadda said you'd like to get into a big girl's bed. Would you like that?"
Irene: blank look
Momma: would you like Princess'? or Buzz? or Tinkerboo on your new bed?
Irene: TINKERBOO!!!
Momma: "OK, love. Momma will see what I can find"

Thursday:
Momma: "Ready for a girl's bed?"
Irene: "NO!!!"
Momma: "um..okkay..we'll talk about this later."

Momma decides to take to the winds and stop off at Kmart and see if I could find Tinkerboo. My GOD! I hit the jack pot. I not only found the flannel sheets, I found a comforter and dustruffle. If I get the guts up on the $$$ I'll go back and get the valance for it too..but $15 each and I need 4 to make it worthwhile started to make me feel just a bit unhappy. :(

I stop off at home and "display" the tinkerboo treasure right at the front door. I run back to work totally excited and dancing for the afternoon.

Irene gets home and see Tinkerboo. The immediate "ooooo..it's beeeuuutiiiiffuuuull !!!" came out. Dadda pipes up with "So, Irene. Would you like to get your big girl's bed set up?"

Irene: "NOO!!"
Momma and Dadda look at each other and Dadda says: " ok sweetie. we'll wait. "

We get past dinner and things are calm. Irene goes and discovers her sheets again. She looks at me. I said to her, "You want to pull your sheets out?" Irene's eyes brightened. I figured she'd go out to the living room and pull her sheets out. She instead takes it in her bedroom. Thinking nothing of it, I go to clean up dinner.

Suddenly I get a holler from Marcus of "ummm sweetheart. You might want to see this."
I rush into her room and nearly fall over laughing. She has stripped her toddler bed down to the mattress pad and is trying with all her might to get her new tinkerboo sheets on her bed. Marcus and I look at each other and sigh. We ask again "Sweetheart, do you want your new sheets?"

Her eyes brightened and nods. We end up on Friday night at 7:30 (1/2 before bedtime) setting up the big girls bed. Unfortunately, after trying to wash the sheets out, the smell was so bad still that we opted not to use the new flannel sheets. Ended up taking those back to Kmart today after 2 washings. The smell was that of someone having dunked the sheets in petrol..it was awful. nothing but the sheets were affected. :(

The rest of her bed, came out wonderfully. Needless to say, she didn't want to leave the bedroom much less the house today *sigh*. The bed is adorable and it works really well with her butterfly/flower garden room. :) Will try post a pic or two as soon as I pull them off the camera.

I repeat: Holy twin bed, MOOOMMMAAAA!!!!

PS: she's not cried or argued once about going to bed this entire weekend.

A wonderful dinner

Well I have to say that La Fondue is one of the best places to go to celebrate. Regardless of whether you're celebrating life, birthday, anniversary or just another day. To all of you who made dinner last night such a treat, Thank You.

You will always make my life full of spice and enjoyment.

Other things in life

Well, now that the Halloween post is complete we can go on to other things. Well, I've been working on the cross-stitch piece. For those that don't remember, I've been stitching a butterfly switchplate for Irene's room. I am about 1/2 way through and have learned a load about stuff about what not to do when it comes to working on them. Ex? never do the cutting to remove the holes where the switch & the screws go until *after* you're finished stitching. It's been challenging. :)

Am trying to decide if I am going to do a couple more huck towels after this or if I will start in the big one I want to work on or to continue work on Repunzel for a while. We'll see. Crochet has been calling my name lately and I have a lace piece that isn't finished yet. Thank god I keep maps to know where I left off. :)

With the weather change comes fires in the fire place, Thanksgiving and Christmas, The Nutcracker. It brings with it all things cozy and the enjoyment of cooking, baking and making things for people. We'll be home this Thanksgiving. It's looking to be small so far and then going to my parent's place for Christmas this year.

So all in all, hopefully this will be a calm holiday season (yeah..right..what planet am I on????). :)

Halloween - there and back again quick???

Well, we've moved on through Halloween, and our story is short and sweet. :) The story? The conversation went on like this:

Momma: Sweetheart, ready to go trick or treat?
Irene: NO Trick or Treat!!!

This conversation went on, over and over for about a week prior to halloween. The day of? The same. We even went so far as to take her next door to try it out. My god, you'd think we were killing the poor kid!

Thus the end result: 1 house, 1 candy and all done. She didn't even want to hand out candy or go to the door! She was ALL DONE with halloween. :)


Welll...better luck next year!

Birthday Tidings and Events

Well, my birthday has come and gone and the day was WONDERFUL! I had so many well wishers it was amazing! The most amusing of the day: My mother forgot that it was my birthday - she remembers everything else in the world so something has to give in this push and pull of life. :) Needless to say I was amused when she figured it out.

Another event! My little one had her first field trip that day! I decided to take a 1/2 day off to go and be a driver/care giver if I could. Turns out I took 4 children, including my own plus one of the pre-school teachers. IT WAS SOOOO much FUN!!! We went to Gizdich Ranch on the outskirts of Watsonville. I had never been there and had only heard about it recently. There were a total of 24 kids. It was amazing how these teachers were able to get the children to respond to them and listen. They sat through a 30-45 minute tour of the area and got to pick out pumpkins at the end. Needless to say, Irene wants to take her pumpkin everywhere these days. This morning she asked if we could open it so she could see the seeds. :)

Anyway I took 2 boys and 2 girls and it was GREAT to listen to them chatter and talk about things. Irene I think was in shock to have other kids in the car with her and so was quiet through out most of the trip. Needless to say it was fun and funny and a great way to spend my birthday.

I ended up picking up 3 pies + syrup + jam + teas. I had way too much fun. I got a Very Berry, Apple, and pumpkin pies. The Apple and pumpkin had just come out of the oven and they were amazing. I had quite the time picking up stuff there at that ranch. By the end of it though, Irene was in pieces and tired. She didn't want to eat while we were at the ranch but chowed the entire way home. We got all the kids back to school and I figured Irene would crash.

Guess WHAT! She skipped her nap all together *sigh*. She was in a good mood right up till about the last 10 minutes while trying to get ready for bed. It was a crying fest until we had a story and then she crashed in bed. Her little face was so tired looking I was amazed she didn't just crash on the couch long before 7:30.

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening. I even got a new video game (Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2). Irene *loves* watching us play now. So I'll have to play some more tonight *rolling eyes* gee..you can seem me fighting that one, can't you ;-)

Cross-Stitch update

Well, I thought I would post a quick one before I leave for the night. I am making excellent progress with the switch plate now. I have also learned something else about them. Turns out that if you were to buy switch plate items (without a pattern) they come with this Vinyl Weave "fabric" to cross-stitch on. The "fabric" I guess is what is safe to stitch on if you should ever have a spark on the switch it won't catch it on fire (at least not due to using this stuff I guess). So now I might be on a Switch plate craze after I finish my huck-towel craze.

It's quite an amazing process, but it's definitely harder to stitch on because the vinyl doesn't give like regular Aida or linen cloth.

Just had to share my tidbit on that. When I get more of the piece done, I'll post it here to show what it looks like. Because the other pieces were gifts, I couldn't show mid-process what the product might look like ;).

Off to pick up the little one!

She's discovered Little Ensteins....

Well..my little one has discovered the wonders of The Little Ensteins. *rolling eyes*. She's got momma and dadda doing the "pat pat pat" on the knees and making squeezing with patting to the shoulders to help Rocket (yes..that's it's name) get between tight spaces. So if you're looking for birthday ideas, this is one as we have nothing Little Einsteins yet (only what we get off of cable with the DVR).

just had to share

Inspired by Music

The Immortal Bell

Ringing of the bell this night, a sign of dread to come.

Continues tolling out the time, a sign to flee for some.

Daylight slinks away in haste, as midnight undertakes

Darkness creeps on silent wing, the shadows are awake.

Undead return to mortal haunt, staggering lifeless things.

Floating ghosts move and jaunt, without the use of wings.

Doors remain closed and locked, against the fear of death.

Mortals huddle, close to sleep, shivering with frosted breath.

Candles flicker with the wind, bringing with it fear.

Signs are brought in hope of light, reflecting like a mirror.

Join the bells in immortal song.

While sleeping souls wake ere time long.

Respond ye well, the bell that tolls.

And save ye all, immortal souls.

(c) 2006 SE

Harvest Festival things to do...

Just a quick post, but another outting I needed to share that might interesting to look at

MSN Travel, posted this. It caught my eye because of the pumpkin pic but the ideas were interesting. Had to share.

enjoy

Pumpkin eating :)

Well, it's that time of the year where Pumpkin is popular. So (heaven forbid) I have to go searching for recipes. :) I therefore I went to my favorite web site for food. :)

Cooking Light :)

Have a look at this.

Enjoy! Time for bed now!

Found some neat web sites

so I found a couple of web sites that seem quite useful for those of us with children (see previous post if you're interested in what sparked this).

http://www.santacruzparent.com/

and

http://mbparent.com

Ran across these while watching a commercial in the middle of Mythbusters. :) I *have not* perused these sites much other than to say "oooo pretty colors". But they looked like they had good things in it. Enjoy

What a Weekend!!!`

Well, Saturday was quite amazing. Our little princess of "I must watch my movie a million times" actually didn't want TV on Saturday! Talk about being in shock. I found her instead knee deep in all her toys in her room when I went to bring her food. We had a wonderful day by going to the Farmer's Market, where she was happy to walk around rather than ride in the stroller. *gasp*. We had bought a portable potty for Irene and she used it! Will wonders never cease?? The afternoon wasn't as interesting..but still...it was fun and filled with family and friends.

Sunday, we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Talk about a wonderful day! The day was gorgeous...warm without a jacket but not hot. It was clear and sunny and not very crowded. We parked on the warf and walked down to Boardwalk central. This was her second time going to the boardwalk itself. The first time, she only made it 1/2 way through before she was tired and ready to go home. Needless to say she didn't ride anything. This time we came a bit earlier (around 11am) and brought lunch with us etc(we've found much better success doing things this way lately). She road the carousel (I had to look up the spelling of this!), the Cave Train, and a ride specifically made for tots - a whale ride that was just the right size. She rode on that one all by herself! I got pics and a movie. :) will post later. She was so excited though, she didn't go to sleep till nearly 2:30 this afternoon. Fortunately she slept 1.5 hours still *sighing in relief* and woke up happy for the most part.

We've decided we need to do this more often. She's so happy and enjoys stuff. I am thinking another visit to the zoo or to Happy Hollow is in order. In August she was so cranky that I thought it wasn't time (as in she was too young), but I really think it had to do with the time we arrived. We didn't get there till lunch time(12pm or later if I remember correctly). We need to be at places by no later than 10:30 - 11am in order for Irene to not be cranky I think. Just too close to nap time. Anyway other suggestions of outting would be useful (also thinking about monterey bay aquarium too). :)

Needless to say this weekend has been WONDERFUL and I just had to share while it was still in my mind.

oh! Getting farther in the new cross-stitch piece. Using the smaller needle is MUCH better. Thank god for supplies. :)

That's all for now!

OK..this is a cool web site.

As I am sure you can see..I decided a change was in order. :) Like my new template??? :)

The piece is delivered. :)

Well of course you people know I can't wait to give the pieces away the minute I finish!!! :) Amber received her towel Thursday at lunch. As usual, I had to tell her about all the mistakes I made. ;) She was a wonderful love and still said she loved it. :) Oh! Right! You wanted a pic, didn't you? heheheh. Ok. Well I put up some pics to flickr today of it. I have to admit..the pics themselves are not good. I've asked Amber to send me a few more from her camera. I think mine is dying a horrid death. Not sure though. *sigh* No more gadget spending this year though after that laptop *shudder*.

So, a picture. How about this:

also..I moved my cr0sstitch pics over to flicker. Click here if you're interested.

New cross-stitch piece already in works

Well..now that the latest birthday gift/house warming gift is complete (see previous post), I am now working on Irene's Switchplate for her room. I have to say, I am moving into new ground.

a) I have never crosstitched on a vinal canvas (which this is)
b) I have never made a switch plate before...so far it's been interesting on the setup. I have to make sure I take into account room where the screws are going to go in and the light switch gap.
c) As a result of (b), I am having to stitch an outline of where the center of the piece is plus gaps where the screws are supposed to go and the switch so that I make sure not to stitch close to those areas.
*biting nails* I hope I do this right.

This post has been in process for 2 days now. So in the process, I've actually started to stitch it. Man!!! Vinyl is really tought to get a needle through. Thinking I might have to go a size down from what they went with the project.

The package came with a foam template that I could use to determine where the holes needed to be. I was originally going to cut the holes first. But starting to do that, I realized I would be loosing some very important things (like the center of where the project starts) doh!. So I stopped clipping and went back to using small thread to do the outline. So far, so good. I have small piece of leaf and the beginnings of the flower made. Again...need smaller needle *sigh*. Will keep you posted.

Well..it's finally complete. :)

I have finally finished the latest cross-stitch piece. Boy, this one for some reason was harder. It didn't seem as complicated as the last one..but man..finishing it was painful. Took me a lot longer to fix the mistakes too.

So all that is left, is to take pics, post them and then to work on getting them posted. :) I also need to make a delivery..but am wondering if I should wait. ;) *wide evil grin*. I could wait till the Nov. 4 fondue date...since it is technically...the birthday dinner. *very wide evil grin*.

Pre-school

Well..it's been a week now since we started pre-school. I feel like I can now blog about it without blubbering all over myself ;). Besides...my machine is rebooting on the other side of me and I can't do anything till it comes back anyway.

The little started pre-school last Tuesday. The first day was the hardest (as expected) although a bit differently than originally thought. All 3 of us went for the first day of drop off. When we got within viewing distance, Irene was already saying buh-bye to us and ready to climb out of the seat. As much as I was feeling a bit shunned..I was happy because that meant she felt comfortable. She put on her backpack (tinkerboo..BTW) and walked holding Dadda's hand into school while momma shuffled behind. I was hanging in there though!!! No tears yet!

We got in and "Teacher Viki" met us at the door and helped us to sign in and where to find Irene's hook for her backpack/lunch as well as where her cubby was for her sleeping stuff ( we needed to bring a pillow, crib sheet and blanket each week). We got everything in place and before we could turn around, Irene was out the door. Whooosh!!! I saw the streak of blonde hair through the door..but that was about it. I started going to pieces at this point. Marcus put his arm around me though and that helped aLOT.

We walked around the room a bit and came to the volunteer section. Apart of our obligation as parents is to make sure to volunteer 10 hours to the school (on various things). So I signed up to bring flowers starting the 12th (today). There were other options, like laundry, playdough etc. I figure I will move through each of the items..but I get the feeling that not many parents bring flowers to school (based on how much the teachers gush about them). So I think that might be something I will always do once a month (unless of course other parents actually decide to this as well).

Marcus went out the door, and I followed. I looked around the school yard trying to take it all in. The yard is wonderfully large and has guinea pigs, and chickens along with trikes, play structure..the whole 9 yards.

Irene suddenly came over and wrapped herself around me, and said "Bye bye momma!". I looked down at her and then over at marcus. He nodded, so I knelt down gave her a kiss and told her I would pick her up soon. Marcus and I left hand in hand and just as we got near the gate, I turned and looked. There was the look of sheer devistation that I had been waiting for. She realized that we were ACTUALLY going to leave her there. Marcus told me in a strong authoritative voice, "Keep going" as she started to scream and began to cry. We walked through the gate and Marcus led me back to the car. Tears were running down my face and her crying in the background only made it harder to leave. I turned again to find that Teacher Michael was there kneeling with her and we climbed in the car and left.

I called about 5 minutes after that, and found out that she was fine..the episode was over. She was on a trike and playing happily. I began to feel much better at that point. Pick up was wonderful, Irene was exhausted from having played so much and worked so hard.

The rest of the week has been pretty much a dream. Drop off was a breeze and I come and get her and receive a boat-load of enthusiasm that she did so much that day.

This morning was no different. This pre-school rocks!

Laptop - update

Well..it was previously noted in a comment that some could not see the link I posted. Therefore, I will happily post a picture. :) It's...sooo... pretty

A new fondue place

Well..this little place called The Melting Pot came down the grape vine as a place to go. The link there is for the San Jose restaurant, down off of First Street. A little farther than La Fondue, but from what I hear, just as good taste wise, and easier by $20 - $30 a head on pocketbook.

Thought I would pass this on to those cheesy fans ;)

enjoy!

Laptop purchase accomplished

Well, I did it. I replaced my laptop. I purchased a Sony Vaio 1GB RAM 1.67GHZ machine (Duo processor). I got it at Costco . I am soooo pleased I can't hardly contain myself. I am sitting on it now typing this post. :) It will more than suffice for what I need in the coming years. Hell..my Dell was still sufficient except for the fact that the hardware was dying and my honey bunny was filling to hard drive to capacity to the point I couldn't work on it anymore.

As a point of desperation, I've made this my machine. My sweetheart gets to keep the Dell and do with it as he wishes. I'll pull the rest of my data off of it and off my main machine at work that is personal. This machine will handle all of that data - including when I pull music for my IPod etc. I'll do my programming on this machine that I want to do like my Treo cross-stitch program (no...it hasn't been lost in the ether but it disappeared with the lack of ability to get on my laptop due to no disk space *sigh*).

This is also a way for me to get a chance to breathe. I can play to my heart's content and *gasp* answer personal email from home. I know. Time fall down in a dead faint! :)

It's soo pretty.. :)

The count down begins

Well last night we got a new package in the mail from the pre-school. It was a calendar of events for the school year and a general do this and please don't bring that...

Wow! Irene will get to go on 2 Field Trips in the latter part of the school year. The first to Long Marine Labs and the other to the beach. Each of the months have a theme and as a result they study certain things.
ex:
Sept = Getting to know you month
= bring an object to show and tell
= learn about our world (earth)
etc
Oct = Turn of the seasons
= learn about autumn
= learn about Mars
= Pajama day on Halloween!!! OMG!! :D

I think I am ready to go back to this school!!! I think I am really starting to get excited about this idea. I hope Irene enjoys this.

*biting nails*
BTW: hubby announced to work that he will be taking first day of school off due to my probably being a basket case that day. *rolling eyes* he knows me too well.

Be Afraid.

Oh dear lord....

click here...

Believe it or not...this was on my main page of my google home page.

Feeling motivated

Wow..what a wonderful thing vacation really is. I am finally motivated again to get moving and work on the house. You'll fall over in a dead faint..but this morning, I forced the honey bunny out of bed, made the bed, made the little one's bed, got her breakfast, got dressed and started her lunch within a 1/2 hour!!!! Jeez.

This weekend was devoted to cleaning up, and cross-stitching. I was very pleased to get through the bills etc and get everything shredded that we didn't need anymore. This week is to be devoted to more shredding and getting ready to put in 2 more Gorilla racks in the garage. I am basically finding that the more shredding I do, the more room I have in the garage...isn't that amazing? ;). It's scary too. It tells me if I would just keep up with crap, and get things paid and put online, then I wouldn't have this paper issue out in the garage.

I am determined to get spaces organized and put together. I am so done with clutter. Oh!!! I even put up pictures this weekend that have been down for months due to a reorg of one of the walls *gasp*. I had to get stuff put away. I am going insane otherwise.

Anyway..that was my weekend. :)

We have returned...

Well I thought I would send out a short post to let everyone know we are back. We went to Sacramento last week to visit Grammy. It was fun albeit tiring. Chasing Irene around almost perpetually forced me to looose another 1 1/2 lbs. :) I hope it still shows when I go weigh in at Weight Watchers this week. It tells me that if I would move more in my job, I would find that I wouldn't gain so much weight with what I eat.

We went shopping to JoAnn's of course and they had 2 of my samplers I have been dying for. Got the Summer and Autumn Samplers that I have been drooling over. *sigh*. We also made it to Sac Zoo. Irene wasn't thrilled about it. I think we'll wait another year before going to Happy Hollow. She's not ready for a petting zoo by any means *sigh*. I think I ahd more fun than she did. Got pics though. So I am going to print them here at the house and put them in her picture book she has. Maybe it will help enjoyment going forward.

I had a girls day (mom watched Irene) and we all went to the SunSplash Water Park. Man!!! that was a blast! Wave Pool! Slides for all ages, circular ride the water area. It was really nice. I also learned about a Rash Guard which will help both Irene and me with sun and sun screen. Found out I am allergic to Hawaian Tropic sun tan lotion while I was there. *sigh*. no rash, but it did sting and didn't filter any sun for me. Fortunately the Water park folks saved me on this and I was able to use their Sea And Ski 50. I am sure the Rash guard will be expensive, but worth it. oh!!! had to buy a new swim suit for the occasion because I didn't have mine. Man..it was definitely time. So much more comfortable.

OH! Amber: Almost finished with your piece. :) Am on the last 1/4. Maybe next week! :) heheheh

Will post up pics when I get a chance. Am hoping to do it today. We'll see. Gotta pic up the honey bunny at 1:45 today.

More soon!

of course...

Because I am waiting on a build to install, I just *had* to go to JoAnns.com to see what was happening up there. *sigh*. 40% off an item today (those Sandy Orton cross-stitch pieces are calling), and 40% off all their Ott-lites. Been thinking about replacing the one i have. Marcus hates it when I use it because of it's position. Have been thinking about replacing it with an over the shoulder one instead.

*sigh* I guess it's either shopping or eating!! what do you do?

Thomas is AWESOME

I can remember when I was child-less and heard other parents RAVING and excited about a children's toy that had come to life. I thought then, "My god! They've lost it! Parenting has burned out the adult in them and they are regressing."

Well it's happened to me. We took Irene to see Thomas the Tank Engine. My god, what a fun time! We were so late in getting our act together though that I didn't realize I needed to purchase tickets LONG beforehand. Bummed by this, I thought, oh..I guess we won't go. WRONG! I ended up calling to find out if we could still come and at least let Irene see Thomas. That would be something at least. We were told there would be tons of things to do.

So we went. And man! They were not kidding. Jeez. They had Lego Thomas that kids could climb up on.

Yes..Kids are in the engine are and can sit in there. It was totally cool.

They had soft blow-up-big-as-a-house Thomas. :) They had the gift shop full of nothing but Thomas. Also included was pictures with Sir Tompum (sp?) Hat and even with Thomas himself. So if you haven't gone, go!!! Even though you can't ride with Thomas, their other trains are running.

Take a basket lunch if you want to avoid lines and money issues. We did this and sat out on the picnic tables. Irene told us she was ready for nap just after lunch. :) She slept for 2 3/4 hrs after that. She had a blast. She had that constant "oooooo!!!!" look on her face everywhere we went.

If you want to know more, go to http://RoaringCamp.com

This was a really awesome trip.

She's been ACCEPTED!

Well, it's not the "The cross-stitch is finished" post (sorry Amber), but it's still pretty cool none-the-less. :) Irene's been accepted to her pre-school. We're very excited but boy..was last Friday hard. I had to tell her day-care provider that she would be leaving at the end of August. :( I was in pieces, and both Fuzzy and Claire were in pieces. Fuzzy didn't want to talk about it, which I can accept. We all have to work through things in our own way. I did find that Claire was willing to cry with me though. That helped a lot. I took flowers to them on Friday evening from Flower Outlet here in SV. They were quite pretty and I was very pleased. Highly recommend it if you're looking for some nice ones - especially roses.

I am now working on a special project which I am hoping to finish and order from Shutterfly.com tonight. I am taking pictures from across the last 3 years that they have known Irene and make them into a nice 8x10 cloth album. If you haven't experienced Shutterfly, you should try it. I am a regular user. They have come out with a new studio program for organization, importation and upload. It's really nice. Much faster than using Adobe's Photo album which I am a firm believer in as well. But unless I need to make web pages, I use shutterfly. Adobe's program is just too slow now.

I can't wait to see the finished product. They will get that on Irene's last day. :) I hope they will enjoy it.

Things are busy

Well, the world seems busier and hotter than possible. Living in our wonderful pool has truly brought a new perpective to the word HOT. Our pool over this last week has heated to a balmy 84 degrees. Last night it was a bath! The pool was warmer than the outside temperature at 8:30pm.

You guessing right if you think that is where I am going to be again tonight. :)

Besides temperatures, I am finally getting back to Cross-Stitching. I went on hiatius for 2 weeks (sorry Amber). But it's making progress again finally. Dark Shadows accompanies my evenings that I get to myself in order to work on it and continues to make me giddy with anticipation to get both going after getting the baby to bed.

We're still waiting for info on whether we'll get into Quail Hollow Children's Center. We're hoping so. I have to figure all that mess (moving out of current daycare etc) out but am being a stick in the mudd (head down - what an image eh?). When the time comes, I'll deal with it.

We're 3 weeks away from going on vacation to my Mom's up in Sacramento. The little one can't wait. She asks about "Grammy and Tata" almost every day. I am looking forward to it too. Would like to be able to just enjoy my family without the stress of worrying about my house being clean enough, the things picked up, etc. There's just something about going home to Mom's house that makes me relax. :)

Work is still insane. This scrum stuff I think has changed my view of the world and what I need to accomplish. I suddenly feel if I stop, the world will move without me and leave me in the dust. So thus I don't write too often here anymore again. Not sure if I mind though. I feel accomplished and that's good.

Hopefully next post will be: Cross-stitch is FINISHED. :)

Time for an update

Well, I have been told that I need to update my blog. :) It's been soo busy right now and so many things to do and keep up with that this has gone by the way-side. Today, however, I decided that I would take care of some of those "by the wayside" things. This included going through my home email which I haven't touched for a month and a half. *scary*

So what's happened, you ask?
Well, we (we meaning my honey bunny) took an application down to the Quail Hollow Children's Center today. We now have to follow up with the owner to find out if there are spaces available for Irene. We'll see.

I finally got around to talking with our current Daycare provider to let her know that we are in the process of getting this done. She's trying to convince me to look at other places but I am currently doing the nodding and smiling and we're going to continue to do what we would prefer to do. Things went a lot smoother than I expected in all honesty. I told her "Heads up, we're looking to put Irene into The Children's Center in Sept." She of course wanted to know why we were doing things earlier than expected. I explained that we thought it would be a good opportunity for her to try. She still talked about "going to school" and was very excited about the whole thing. I also explained that she might enjoy the older age group a bit more and that because potty training was not as big of a requirement, that we wanted to see if it would help her to not do the regression she is currently going through. I know it's expected, but still going through it is causing me a bit of concern even though. :) Needless to say, the ultimate answer that came from our provider was "We have to do what's best for Irene." I was relieved to put it mildly. Then the guilt set in *sigh*. Doing better with it now. That was around Wed or Thurs of last week I think I did this.

Gone back to gym! YAY! It's been wonderful! It's amazing what situps weights and walking will do.

Getting prepared for a vacation in Aug. Daycare is closing for a week and so I am going up to my Mom's to get away. Granted it's going to hot hot hot (Sacramento area) but we're goijng to see "Grammy" and that is Irene's favorite person in the world. :)

Irene is recognizing her #'s out of order now! That's been a new thing for the last 2-3 days. It's been fun for her to pick up a shoe or a book or something and say "Seven! That's a Seven!". :)

Irene's also been in a growth spurt. A pair of pants that have fit perfectly for over several months had to be safty-pinned to keep them around her waist. Jeez. Gotta measure her soon.

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean on Monday night while Irene had a babysitter! YAY! First time out in months it feels like where we are doing something we wanted to do, instead of something we were obligated to do. The movie is awesome! Highly recommend it. In our opinion much more violent than the first. But the special effects were awesome and the end was a complete surprise to me! (I am not going to ruin it by posting what happens - go see it. It's fun! :) ).

Last but not least, I am still working on the latest huck towel. Stopped stitching for a week - maybe more. So did some more this weekend. It's so much fun to pet (literally). I don't know why but after I stitch a block, I have to go and pet it. It's so pretty. :) Can't wait till it's done. Time for more Dark Shadows and Cross-stitch. :)

That's about it for this round. Hope it helps to update everyone. Will try to post more in a couple of days. Might be next week though.

Star Wars vs Star Trek

This was totally cool. Marcus sent me this one as well as the previous.

Star Wars Vs Star Trek

This one was fun. :)...course..you do have to consider the person that is posting this. :-/ heh. I am such a geek

ROFL

Ok, This is so totally wrong but the music was intensely catchy. You'll need speakers or headphones. I had to share.

Mai Ah Hee

there are TONS of videos with this same piece of music...talk about totally wacked. I guess that one person makes loads of different types of stuff. So much so so that she caught the attention of MTV and now has a TV deal. *shaking head*..go figure.
Music by: O-zone
Title: Mai ah Hee

Purchasing Cross-stitch

Well purchases in the area of cross-stitch has gone up the ying-yang. I just got the order in on a new set of huck towel designs (3 new books bwwaaaahhhahah). Then I actually had to replace my Ott-lite desktop lamp bulb (first time ever and I have had this thing for a long time). BTW: if you're a stitcher..this type of lamp is SOOO nice for detail work and when you don't have natural light available. Have a look here for all their stuff. *wide evil grin*

Then of course there is the finding and purchasing of the butterfly switchplate kit. That came in this weekend. So needless to say that one will be done after this huck towel I am working on is finished. See...it has all these...umm oh.. I can't say what the huck towel has *wide evil grin*. Sorry amber..no hints :).

Then of course I am *dyin*. My new The Cross-stitcher mag came out and of course the set of Sandy Orton pieces I am drooling over was printed on the first page. The following

Winter Sampler

Autumn Sampler

Summer Sampler

and of course the Coming Soon Spring Sampler which they had in the mag but not on the web site all continue to be a central drool point for me. I have put these on my wish list. My mother is happily supporting my habit when it comes to birthday and christmas ideas :). Then of course there is the Iris I still want to do and and and and and. :) You get the picture. :)

To put a better spin on the day

Well this afternoon was much better :) To the wonderful friends in this world, I so appreciate everyone's company. It always makes me feel better.

I started on Amber's project in Cross-stitch last night. It promises to be just as wonderfully beautiful as the previous it already. :D Can't wait to get to it tonight ( hoping the weather won't kill me first). It's currently registering 102 outside. Pool here I come!

I just have 1 question

I will preface this with, my child isn't old enough to use a computer and I realize that I am probably on my "high and mighty chair", but where were the parents in this whole thing??? I just saw this, and am wondering how the *mother* can actually believe they are going to get away with this law suit???

Where the hell are the parents? If the parent can't handle a computer but feel they need one in the house, then a) get lessons b) find out if there is community support to help educate parents on things to look out for c) talk with the kid about what they can and can't use on the computer d) talk with the internet provider about blocking software. I am ready to rip my hair out on this. I can't say as I am surprised though considering how the social mentality seems to be "Teach my child about sex cause I can't talk to them about it." "Please rip out content that you think is in appropriate cause I can't seem to make my own decisions."

I think my Grumpy mug fits me perfectly today.

To Friends and Their endevors!

Today is yet another day in many, but my pal Rebecca is moving on to bigger and better things in this world. I am rather feeling sorry for myself because I will miss having coffee with her in the mornings (hmmm..hey Rebecca..had a thought..how about outside in the courtyard every now and again?). *wide grin*.

She's not moving far away. In fact, she'll be in the same building but just in a different mod than where we are now. It's been a fun time and I am ever so glad that we got to do things that we have done here together.

I am crossing my fingers and toes and every other possible thing on my body that she'll find wonderful new challenges and happiness in this new job. She really deserves happiness.. :)

*HUGS* my dear..... ok ... feeling sorry for myself needs to end now... OH LORD!! I gotta still make reservations!!!! *doh*

Ok..here are the pics!!!!

It's FINALLY HERE!!!!

They were up on Yahoo yesterday when I posted the fact that I was finished *evil grin*, but I decided to wait till Rebecca got to see the piece first before I posted.

To the left is the full piece in all it's glory. Close up shots of the Butterfly and the grapes can be found at:

Butterfly Upclose 1

Butterfly Upclose 2


I am really going on a Butterfly kick me thinks. Irene's room is going to get a butterfly upgrade by getting a new switch plate which I ordered a few days ago. I'll probably finish Amber's piece and then stop and do that. Waaaayy too much fun.

BWAAHHHAAAHHH!!! Success!!! It is finished!!!

I have so much to catch people up on..it's not even funny. We have the pre-school episode, the let's decorate the little one's room so I stop calling her "The Baby", as well as I have found all the towel designs I am going to make for everyone. The best one, though!? Guess what I finished last night!? :)

The house warming cross-stitch pieces are moving along. 2 Down..2 more to go. :) oh..and ladies, I found some better patterns than I was originally going to do for the last two. *wide evil grin*. I went shopping at Beverly's and they happened to have a couple of towel design books that I *had* to pick up.

I will post pictures as soon as I give the gift..I don't want to ruin the suprise ;) . *wide evil grin*. It really did come out better than the original picture in the magazine. I am so pleased with it.

enjoy the suspense!

Potty training moving along

Well...the Memorial Day weekend saw an interesting furtherance. The little one decided to actually go poopy in the potty. :) Momma was very pleased with this as it was the first time at home. She's been doing this at daycare pretty well lately. I have to say I am surprised. I was not expecting her to figure this out the way she is. Right now, it's been a trip to the potty when she realizes that she wants to try, or Momma finding she is concentrating a bit too hard and can catch her in the process. Daycare has been catching her in the mornings at times and then always after nap she will go pee pee. I hope that this turns out to be a wonderful blessing. I guess it's time for me to get that portable potty for the car that I planned on getting from One Step Ahead. :)

Growing Pains - Pt2

Well..just got a call from the Pre-school. We're scheduled for an appt to say hello on Friday June 2nd at 10am. *sigh*. I think I am going to go insane.

Oh the pain of watching your child grow

Pray for me. I just called Quail Hollow Pre-school to begin the process of figuring out where to put Irene as she moves forward and turns 3. If you had asked me about pre-school and putting your child in prior to my having a child, I had no qualms of telling people it was a necessity. Now..having a child turning 3 I am recognizing the ramifications of this thought. MY BABY IS GROWING UP!!!!

May the gods of parenthood take pity on me. *sigh*. My heart is thumping. I left a voicemail message and I stuttered all the way through it. Hopefully the poor people take pity on me and call me back. I hate doing cold calls.

More to come.

oh my goodness...

I have to say Patterns Online is adorable!!! I found Irene's next piece that I want to do for her. :)
Soccer balls have always been a passion for her. Now...I have found one I want to do for her. :)

Have a look.

man...now what do I do?? The Iris or the this piece first??? *biting nails*.

BTW: The towel is alllllmmmmoooost finished. I have one more section that is about 2 fingers wide and the backstitch to do. I am still aiming to finish it before Fondue night. Talk about a nail biter!!! I so am looking forward to seeing what this piece comes out to be.

I LOVE CROSS-STITCH!!!!

I am such a geek

I know everyone pretty much knows this, but I had to make another confession. I am such a geek. E3 just finished it has spurred me into another frenzy of game play *sigh*. There is a serious problem here because now I am torn to play games and I *really* need to finish this gift I am working on. Yesterday, I sat and cross-stitched for an hour or so and then couldn't stand it anymore. I pulled out my GameBoy SP and played Sims 2 till my honey got home from D&D. God it was fun!!!

I was very bad and brought it with me to work too. *sigh*. Fortunately I am resisting to go down to my car and get it, but I have to go get my allergy shot today, and figured I could get some time in during the lunch hour :)

I am such a geek.

The Dirt Monster

I have pictures of this, however I don't have them uploaded yet..so you'll have to bear with just a description.

2 weekends ago there was a little 2 year old that didn't like to get her hands dirty. She would try to make sure they were always clean. Mommy thought this wasn't a natural thing for a two year old and attempted to change this thought. Mommy went to the garden store and bought Terra cotta pots for vegetables that were growing larger than the kitchen window and on that Saturday afternoon, started to move soil into the pots. The conversation goes as follows:
"Momma, What's Dat!?"
"It's okay, baby. Momma is getting her hands dirty and putting soil into the pots."
"Dirty?" she asks curiously
Momma holds out her hands covered in smelly soil.
The 2 year old backs up with a look of horror.
"It's ok, sweetheart. See? Momma loves the dirt." Mommy proceeds to drop more soil into the pots. "Do you want to help momma?"
"Yeah!!!!" with great enthusiasm and prompty puts her hands into the soil bag and starts to move soil to the pod - one hand at a time. Suddenly realization dawns on her adorable little face and she looks at her hands in horror. "MOMMA!!!! " showing her hands "YUCK!!!!"
Mommy smiles shows her hands to her little one, "See sweetheart. Mommy's hands are yuck too. It's okay!" Mommy continues to move soil. Little one watches and helps for a little while longer and then gets bored. Her hands, however, remain dirty.
Mommy smiles in contentment.

The following weekend the little 2 year old is running around wildly with waaayyy too much energy. Mommy, needing a little time to continue to get somethings done, remembers that there are digging toys in the garage. When said 2 year old shrieks, Mommy decides "To hell with a Sand and Water table. We're going to use what we have." Mommy brings in the digging tools from the garage into the house, to which the little 2 year old says, "Ooooo...What's dat, momma?"
"It's your digging toys. Do you want go play in the sand?"
The little one looks with questioning eyes at her mother, unsure what is being said.
"Come on, baby..let's go in the back yard."
"OUTSIDE!!!!! YAY!!!" She scrambles out the door barely missing the door on her way out cause Mommy can't get it open fast enough.

Side note: Please note here that the entire yard is built on top of sand. You dig *anywhere* in our yard and you'll find sand. So the plants that were pulled out recently result in a large length of sand box revealed. It will ultimately be partially planted again, but who can pass up a pre-created sand box!?

Mommy crawls over the bench to where the sand is and pulls out all the sand toys. The two year old watches curiously. Mommy pulls out the shovel, "See sweetheart? You use a shovel and dig." The grin that appears on the 2 year old's face is from ear to ear when she realizes the potential. Two year old scrambles over the bench and grabs the shovel.

Needless to say, Mommy walks into the house after applying 50 sun block to childs' skin and doesn't hear a peep for an hour and a half. After arriving home from going to the store (just at nap time), 2 year old delcares "I go outside now." Mommy doesn't think this is a bad thing - 15 minutes of getting the groceries etc in, would be a good amount of time. *sigh*

45 minutes later, getting caught on the phone, Mommy looks out the window just in time to see said toddler dump an entire bucket of sand down the front. Mommy suddenly is realizing the ramifications of showing her baby that it's ok to get dirty. *sigh*. In short, there were 3 changes of clothes that day with as many face and hands washings and the look of a racoon that was just adorable. Pictures were shot and Daddy got to experience the changes that occured. There is now more sand toys added to the area and said baby has found another way to spend time outside - much to her delight.

Ultimately, mommy and daddy aren't too unhappy as the little one is able to entertain herself with great gusto and not be watching TV. The baths are worth it.

A confession of PMS and Krispy Kremes.

Well it was a looooonnngggg weekend and this chickie's PMS did not improve much. Saturday was the worst culminating in my doing the the absolute worst thing I could think of to make myself "feel better". I decided that the best thing I could do for myself on the most evil days was to go straight into the back area of Nob Hill where they keep the yogurts and pick up a box that contained 1/2 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

You say to yourself..oh no! I say: "oh yess...and it would DELIGHTFUL!" But we didn't get the most evil part of this whole thing yet. *wide evil grin of magnanamouse proportions*. I paid for said Krispy Kremes and the entire shopping cart full of food stuffs along with an adorablely sweet child of 2 followed me out to my car (the baggers help to deliver stuff :) ). I had the bagger load all the bags into the back while I packed said 2 year old into her car seat. I then walked around the back (the bagger had left) and opened that door. I went through every bag of groceries till I found that box of Krispy Kremes. I pulled one out and ate it as I walked back to my car. Darling 2 year old child wanted to visit a friend 1 last time, and who I was to resist? So we drove over to the store to see Claire. After that we visited the fish and then headed back to the car. I again, went into the back of the car and pulled out another doughnut. BTW..they were both just beyond yummy.

We got home and got all the food into the house. I then put on a movie for the my little darling and went back to the kitchen where all the bags had been put, pulled out the Krispy Kreme box and put it on the counter. I then went ahead and had my 3rd doughnut in < 1 hour.

Now..you shudder..but it gets much much worse. >:)

I paused to attempt to control myself only to find that I couldn't. Kripsy Kreme #4 went down the hatch about 15 minutes after that. I found that was suddenly not feeling too great (funny that) and decided that it was time to stop this little sugar binge. I got a cheese stick at this point, a glass of water and sat down for a while to cross-stitch. I really started to not feel good. The sugar binge is really starting to hit. The little one and I get up and go outside. It was time to garden. I had to do something.

Dinner time occurred and hubby returned home from his day of gaming. I admitted to the eating of 4 Krispy Kremes, head hung in shame. Please note that at the beginning of this, I said that I box of a 1/2 dozen... so there are 2 left still. (you can start to run now..if you wish).

Since Hubby is out all day gaming and I am on my own with the little one, bath and bedtime end up being his job that night. As squealing ensues in the bathroom and splashing abounds, I go into the kitchen and pull the 5th doughnut out of the box and gobble it down happily. I suddenly begin to notice a small headache..but don't think much of it (seriously.. you can run for the hills now).

2 year old is heard being extracted from the tub of delights and taken into the bedroom. Feeling guilty that I didn't participate, I head into the back room to help with the dressing. Hubby gets little one dressed and we go out to the front room to watch the last little bit of hockey. It's 8 o'clock and Hubby and baby go back for bedtime read and night night. The door closed and I calmly and delibrately walked into the kitchen, grabbed the final Krispy Kreme and shoved the box into the trash. I relished that wonderful doughnut with all that is evil in PMS. My butt will show off the entire half dozen by the end of the week I am sure.

My body's repayment for this terrible deed? I got a HUGE migraine for the rest of the night and into the next day. I accept my punishment and still can't believe I did it, but GOD it was good going down!!!!

Making up for lost time :)

wow!!! 2 posts in 1 day - don't get used to this. ';) I have to say..I just saw the latest trailer out for the new Superman movie and I am soo ready to see this. It looks AWESOME!!! If you're curious go to:

Superman Returns

enjoy!

Ode to PMS

This just has to be posted.....I can soo RELATE!!! FYI: I had problems gettting this to work in Firefox..you might want to bring up IE to do this. :) You're supposed to hear a .wav file while you're viewing this page.

http://www.badgirl1.com/PMS.htm

Don't know why

But I have nothing to talk about for several days now. I think somthing is wrong with me. Rebecca: behave yourself. :P

Spring Fever has arrived

And it's about time. Course...work-wise it doesn't help any more than all this rain, but it's definitely a better feeling than depression. Now, however, I want to go to the garden center and get a whole bunch of HUGE pots to grow my vegetable patch in.

You should SEE my cucumbers and carrot plants in my kitchen window area. They are beautiful. Course, I also have Basil, and Cilantro, and Lettuce all growing too..but There is 1 iddy biddy problem. I mixed up the Lettuce with some of the other plants and I now wondering which is which *sigh*. Oh well!!! I am sure I'll find out eventually. :)

I need to run away!!!!

Made a fun discovery

Well..I recently did a Pampered Chef show and it was a great deal of fun. I was originally thinking that this would be the show that would shove me into the consulting world of Pampered Chef. I have since discovered that I am not nearly as interested in becoming a consultant as I am just gathering all sorts of people at the house (regardless if it's for Pampered Chef or otherwise). I am discovering that I want to cook for the people and have them come over and enjoy a glass of wine and some fun. Course...I love food..so what can I say? *wide grin*

Therefore, I am posting out an possible idea. What if I held a party every couple to 6 months that involved a theme (ex: Indian, Thai, a new recipe, or Ice Cream???) Timing would vary depending on the meal/endevor that would be done. Perhaps we could even turn this into a cooking event where everyone could try a new recipe of their own at the house or bring it (potluck fashion). Some occassions would even work that we could bring kids in the afternoon :)

Anway I had to let this out...as I was surprised to discover this in myself.

And the new cross-stitch piece is....

Halfway done!!! god.. I love this new piece I am doing. It's just beautiful. The picture does it no justice. I was originally hesitant to do it, because the picture wasn't to the quality of what I expect cross-stitch pieces to be (thinking that it was the cross-stitch piece to blame).

My lesson: If you like the picture, even if it isn't a good picture..do the piece anyway. It's turning out to be 100% better than the pic. Can't wait till it's done so I can take a picture of it myself. :D. I might even send this back to The CrossStitcher (the magazine I pulled this from). Maybe they'll republish the pattern in a future mag (which they've been doing a lot latetly) with the new pic. *wide grin*.

Child wants to stay in bed????? Heaven or Hell?

6:45am. Alarm goes off. Mom had a rough night with coughing issues and so gladly snuggles into the blankets for a few minutes longer. Toddler is still sleeping.

7:10am, mom gets up sadly thinking that said 2 year old will be bouncing off the walls any moment. Mom wonders if maybe she could sneak back to bed for a 2 minute snooze.

7:20 am Having gotten dressed, Mom goes out to feed and de-pee the dog. Mom realizes that the kitchen is a disaster and should empty the dishwasher. 2 year old is still asleep. Is this heaven or hell?

8am: Child is still sleeping. Mom is definitely feeling like this is hell. She could have been sleeping in more. *grump* Why is it that on days that we have to get up and get going they sleep in? And days on the weekend they're up at the god awful hour of 6am. *sigh*. This has to be hell. Only hell would do this such an evil thing on a weekday.

8:15am: Mom has to go into toddler's bedroom and wake up child to get ready for daycare. Said 2 year old looks so cute and comfy in the blankets. Mom seriously considers going back to her own bed at this point.

8:30am: Having made Eggos for toddler, it takes mom stripping the blankets off the child's bed before said little one will come out to eat. Mom is definitely feeling ripped off today.

8:50am: Hubby asks "Can you stop by McDonalds and bring me breakfast?" sure..why not..nothing else is on time today....

9:15am: Child and mom walk out the door and go to McDonalds to get said breakfast.

9:30am: yes..it took 15 minutes to get throught eMcDonalds line today..*sigh* Drop off food (make hubby come out in his jammies for it), and drop child off at daycare praying provider will read the note and update information.

10am: Mom really is ready to go back for a nap. Grabs coffee and begins the real day *sigh*

House warming gift #1 complete

Well..I said that I would post a pic when the piece was done. Click on the link below. It *should* take you to photos.yahoo.com where I have put up the latest pieces.

Update: decided to upload the pic directly. Still annoyed that Yahoo photos requires you to have an account to see...grrrr

Easter Poem 2006

Well..I got inspriation and hope finally from looking at the green - even though it is still raining. May you enjoy this Easter Poem as much as I did in making it.

Easter

Easter fun with eggs and cheer.
Bringing chocolates all the year.
Spring comes forth to share the glee.
Eggs are found on the wonderous green.

Life picks up as clouds dash by.
Rain goes away and birds will fly.
Flowers pop up with colors abound.
Bugs and worms popup from the ground.

Family, friends, and people bring,
Cheer and life and reason to sing.
Children laugh and play all day.
Treasures are found, in baskets to stay.

Chilly evenings send all inside,
To eat their fill and grin in pride.
Children examine their basket in depth.
Parents look on with bated breath.

The clock announces time for bed.
Children cling to the basket instead.
Announcing firmly it's time to sleep.
Stories of Eggs and Easter to keep.

Warm glow of nightlights bring dreams of the day.
Little ones sigh, in bed to stay.
(c) 2006 SE

The Easter Egg Eggstraveganza

Ok. Picture a happy toddler slamming an egg into the color dye bucket, looking up and saying "What happen, momma?" A blue streak runs across the tile counter and little blue hands are now being thoroughly examined by the toddler attempting to figure out if she needs to have a fit about messy hands or not.

We made it through all 12 eggs without breaking or cracking during the process, which was rather amazing. We had to give a new definition to the word: "gentle" at this point as well. After a while pink and blue splashes became minimal, but hands turning colors was not ok. She was still not too sure even after the bath.

The bright pink, purple, yellow, orange, blue and green colored eggs now sit in a container in the fridge awaiting to be hidden by the Easter Bunny. Said toddler still doesn't have a clue what is going on here yet, much to the delight of mother who has all the candy sitting out on the counter because she doesn't know where else to put it. Incidentally, mother had to restrian from getting a beautiful Brazillian chocolate egg yesterday at Cafe Brazil because it would mean yet another upgrade in basket size *shudder*. Mom just couldn't face that yet.

What to write about??

So much can happen in a day and it's hard to actually put things in perspective. I look out at this soggy day and continue to wonder how I could have made my last post. I think I am litterally going to grow moss and mold on my body, I feel so soggy from all this rain. It's time to go home and do some cross-stitch.

OH which reminds me, I need to post the pics of the towel I finished. *wide grin*. 3 more to go...I added another person to my list. :)

It's strange

Today I've been thinking "it's going to rain". I've been anticipating it strangely enough. I thought originally it was because was dreading it happening *again*. But now looking at it now, I am finding that now that i have had a little bit of sun, that I can find the beauty again in the wind watching the droplets hit the window. It's cold, and makes me wish for my cross-stitch, a warm fireplace, and my puppy dog sitting on my feet. :) Don't ask my why.

The other thing that helps me through this I am finding is Enya's new CD. It has a calming song called "It's in the rain". I just went to Enya's web site looking for a snippet of the track so that you'd get an idea of the song. Lo and Behold here is the Video!!! Enjoy!

My god! There was sunlight

Some one hit me over the head now! I had sunlight come in my office for the first time in weeks! I am going to be spoiled if this keeps up. :) I might just go out and plant some of my first spring stuff into little planter pots to put in my kitchen window when I get off work. :)

OH! I did make it outside this weekend!

I actually did do things outside this weekend. I took clippings of my spider plant that has proliferated every where and put them into a couple of clay pots. Putting those in my office soon. :)

And I made a spice pot for a bridal shower that is going on next weekend. I planted it yesterday before the rains came and I walked out this morning expecting everything to be dead. Instead, the plants looked healthier than they had when they were in their plastic containers. I am so proud. :) I didn't kill anything. So I had a grand idea in mind looking for a particular pot. I finally was able to find out that the pot I wanted, was a strawberry pot - go figure. :) Below is the image.

Instead of the strawberries you see poking out of the holes, I replaced it with Rosemary coming out of the top and smaller herbs in each of the holes.

I used Cilantro, Thyme, Sweet Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Parsely, and Peppermint in the holes. I was so proud of how it looked. Am going to go home tonight and take a pic of it if I can.

This wasn't a traditional bridal shower gift by any means, but then again, this wasn't a traditional anything. This shower is a) a surprise, b) the folks are actually already married. They got married in Hawaii and then told us afterwards. :) c) They have been together for years, so they have most everything. I thought this would be nice as a "wedding gift" more so than a bridal gift, but it works for both :). Anyway, I'll try to post a real pic as soon as I take one. Am quite proud of this. :)

Tangent:
So, I as I was searching for a picture of the pot I bought for the seasoning pot, I ran aross this. Go figure!! I might have to get a couple of these. Cool huh?

In case you haven't noticed, I am wild about herbs. I LOVE them. I am growing some in my kitchen along with Lettuce, Carrots, and Cucumbers for this year's summer garden. We'll see how we do. :)

Almost finished... :)

Well with the way the weather has been lately about all I can do is to cross-stitch right now. Needless to say it's I am almost finished with one of my pieces I am making *dancing around*. I can't wait to take photos to put up on the photos page. When I do finish, I'll put up my announcement. It's a very nice piece (which is all I will say due to the fact that it's present. :)).

After that, it is 2 more to go ;). And then my Iris piece . I can't WAIT!!

Must jabber about a tool

Ok, so my work involves quality assurance at a software company. Apart of my job is to figure out all the jibberish that people put in their bugs and come up with a set of steps in English that make sense for an R&D engineer to use to quickly understand the problem.

Have you ever heard of the addage "A picture is worth a 1000 words" ? Well it is very true - especially in my job. So for those of you that really find this to be the case too, I have a free tool to share with you that allows you to render and make shots of your screen to make a quick (no sound) video that can be either rendered as a Shockwave .exe or as a Shockwave object.

Enter Wink. This tool when installed is a quick little program that will allow you to take screen shots of your screen at various points through the process of showing what it is that you are showing. It's AWESOME. I was able to have another QA engineer in Singapore send me a shot to explain what was really going on and turns out the naming convention being used in the bug was the incorrect term and thus the reason why I couldn't reproduce. :)

I highlyl recommend it. It's an awesome tool

What is up with the weather???

Boy..talk about sending me on a wave of various moods through out the day. The day starts out being blue as it can be making me think "Oh! I can put the dog outside today. She'll like that." Please note that this is at 8:15am.

I drop off the little one at daycare thinking: "Oh! She'll get to play outside today!" Please note: this was at 8:30am.

I get to work thinking: "Hmm..this would be an excellent day to get the car washed and get rid of all the dust and crap in my car." Please note that this is 9:15 am.

10:00am Darkness in the my office. I begin to have second thoughts about the day.
11:00am: I get notification via my WeatherBug application that there was a wind advisory till 9am tomorrow morning and there was threat of rain and Thundershowers...umm snuh???
11:30am: Who brought in the blizzard conditions???? It's FREEZING!!! I run home to bring the dog back in thinking "hmm...bad idea to put the dog out today." I throw all the outside pillows for her in the toy shed *just in case* *rolling eyes*
12pm: It begins to rain. Oh joy..so much for cleaning the car. I return to work with hot food in my hand rather than the sushi I had originally planned. Seriously..what is up with this weather???
12:15pm: I call my dad to complain to him that it's freezing and that the "rain gods" are in over-drive. His reply: "La Niña" great... For those that are curious - here is the link.

I now look out at the weather and am seriously considering making Curried Shrimp Bisque soup with fresh hot bread. I knew I should have replenished the supplies. *sigh*

My Favorite Cross-Stitch Magazine

Well I have to tell you about my favorite cross-stitch magazine. It has both detailed as well as simple projects to do all year around. It's 6 monthly issues. It's called The Cross-Stitcher. Here is a sneak peak of the April issue. I haven't gotten mine yet, but I dying for it!!!

One of the gifts I making right now is from this magazine.

Getting the itch to stitch!!!

Ok..so here is another test.

I am attempting to figure out what I am going to do about photos. I am currently using Yahoo photos and am going to see if I can link to one of my nature photos.

In trying this out..it's very interesting and very different that loading a profile image. You actually have the choice about whether to load something from your hard drive. This might be worthwhile after all. After all the pain of the setting up the profile, I was having some serious second thoughts about coming to blogger....need to think more.

Need to cross-stitch

I've have come to the conclusion that I want to go and hide under some table and never have another partner than the ones I already currently know. For those of you that don't understand this statement my co-worker and I are realizing how sunk we are feeling about features that were under another's work list and how much chaos it has and still does make us feel like we are in.

I know I would feel very betrayed being a new tester and coming into this mess. *shudder*. I guess I expected too much. I need to go home and cross-stitch.

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

Ok folks, if you didn't see this on my Yahoo site, I figured I would add it here for posterity. This is the The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiney. This just killed me and I was able to download the .mp3 - it made me laugh that much. I ran across this .mp3 today and couldn't help myself. Therefore..please enjoy.

Man..I hope that was the hardest part

Trying to load a picture into my profile is like trying to beat a bear with a plastic baseball bat. Man...that was truly a painful experience. We'll see how this process goes. I might just continue to use my pics up on yahoo and use a link from there to here to see stuff. Cause I am not sure I am happy about it. We'll see if I figure it out.

Just so that you know how painful this was, I went to the help for learning how to update the profile with your picture. Here is the FAQ answer:
How do I upload my photograph?

You need to have a way to upload files to the Web, then you need to put your photo URL in the space provided.

Really??? It's that easy??? *rolling eyes*.

I've moved!!!!

Welcome to those who haven't seen my blog before, and welcome back to those that have seen me on 360.yahoo.com. I had to move. I wanted the freedoms that yahoo hasn't figured out how to do yet. Yahoo, to it's credit, did help me to graduate though. I hadn't blogged before I went yahoo. I wasn't sure if I'd even keep up with it. They gave me the security that I needed to feel like I could blog without having an issue. So now I am going to something better... here. :)

I'll slowly update this with my photos and a couple of the posts that I had on yahoo (cause I just enjoy them so much). I am HERE!!! *dancing*.