Day 13: The Core of the Problem

So I'm reading the devotional book called "The Frazzled Female: 30 Days to Finding God's Peace in Your Daily Chaos". Well this week's topic is time management which happens to be something I am great at. Anytime I find an article on time management or tips to get things done faster...I'm all on it. So Day 13 was about being too involved in things even if they are good things. So that made me think about my daily routine and things I add to it that although they are good - are they what I should be doing? I have been pretty bad about doing my quiet time in the morning/night since Blake got home because I have less time by myself and I enjoy being in his company. So this statement was attention grabbing "God does not want you to do every good thing. You must check His thinking and seek His counsel in everything you do. He alone can tell you what you need to be involved in during this time in your life." She then went on to say that every morning during her quiet time she goes over what her "to do" list is along with her schedule and prays about the things that need to be done and what is not important will be made known to her. Then in the journal part it asks: "Too many good women doing too many good things! Do you fall under the umbrella? It's so easy to get caught up in doing good things because...well, they need to be done! Free yourself from the anxiety of trying to do it all, by realizing that God never intended for you to do it all in the first place. Where do you think He's telling you to cut back?" I make "to do" lists all the time and love checking it off to show how productive I am...no one else sees the list but me. I have been adding hobbies to my life slowly one at a time...but the thing that I feel that needs to be cut is my television shows. They take away from my time with Bailey and not just me but her - she loves watching her movies as well. I feel like that is time wasted that we could be spending together. I bought a preschool workbook about 2 weeks ago and we have only done one page together - after reading this I want to get my priorities back in line and only put what is truly important on my "to do" list.

Six Flags

We went to Six Flags with a group from church this past Saturday. It was fun - I haven't been in 4 years so it was time to go again. We rode the Goliath, Batman, Mindbender, Thunder River, The newly renovated Monster Mansion, Superman, Scream Machine, Ninja, and the log rides. We got there at 10 AM our time and we pulled back into Montgomery at 1o PM. The heat was bad the first 2 hours while we waited to ride Goliath and Batman but after that the sun hid behind the clouds...but by that time all my makeup was sweated off. This was the first time I had ever been to Six Flags and people got sick...I won't say who! For some reason I have no picture with Sarah and Matt, but they came too.

Bailey is wearing the shirt we got her from Six Flags with all the characters as babies and it says "Group Hug Six Flags". She had just woken up and was sitting on the potty...isn't she beautiful! I wish I was that pretty when I first woke up after sleeping 11 hours...and yes that is a Diego bandade covering up a "boo boo".

Update on Potty Training: 2 1/2 Weeks

Well the mornings are going good - she wakes up and goes about 4-5 days out of the week and gets 1 M&M. Today I took "Easy Ups" (Pamper's version of Pull Ups & they are cheaper with DORA!) to her "School" instead of diapers. I told her that she needs to not pee in them and always go to the potty like the other boys and girls in her class. I guess I will see today how she did. Pull Ups/Easy Ups are so much more than diapers because you get half the quantity for the same price and when your toddler is going in them like they are diapers...well you go through them pretty quick. She does go about once a day on the potty during school but the other times she doesn't and when she is at home she goes about once and the other times she doesn't...we're getting there! My favorite part is when I go and she says, "Good Job Mommy!". It makes me laugh each time because she is still sitting on her pink potty with the pink cushion wondering if she is going to go or not. The worst part is when she is still sleepy in the mornings and I am sitting on the floor waiting for her to go as the clock ticks on by and I know I am going to be late for work because Bailey needed 10 minutes to pee or not pee. As long as she is potty trained by Christmas I will be happy...or next week :)

Bows, Bows, & More Bows

I have been wanting to learn to make Bailey some hair bows instead of paying $3 - $5 for one that she will get dirty or loose. I have around 8 different ribbons at home left over from different projects or for decorating a gift. There is this place in Wetumpka that offers a hair bow making class but it is during the week day and only once a month so I haven't been able to go. So yesterday I youtubed "hair bow tutorial" and there were over 10 good videos teaching you how to make a "boutique" hair bow along with many other styles. So these are my first two that I did last night. On the football one I could add a crimson ribbon(RTR), but I have a cute houndstooth pin with "M" embroidered on it to place in the middle for Bailey to wear this year. The black bow with the pink and black flowers is really cute - that ribbon is left over from the picture board I did a few months ago. I had just enough to made 1 bow with it. I'm excited because now I can make Bailey bows to match all her outfits plus there will be lots of extra ribbon for me to make for my friends little girls or to sale if I ever do a boutique. While I was making them Bailey was coloring with crayons and getting into all the ribbon spools (AKA: helping mommy).

Cake Decorating Has Begun!

Well I found this book "Creative Cakes anyone can make" at Ross for only $3.99 and I didn't realize it came with a "How To DVD". Well I told my friend about it and she wanted to do it with me, but they sold all the other copies so we are just sharing this one. We met on Tuesday and had our first trial run of decorating a cake...well we ran into some icing issues but all in all it we were pretty good at it. I read the book and watched the DVD before going to her house and she did the same...so we knew how to do it but we had never decorated before. Well our cake turned out to be a blank canvas and we tried about 10 of the tips out and different styles all over it...there wasn't an area that didn't get covered with some decoration. We did have problems making the roses - that lady made them look so easy to do but I couldn't get the hang of it. So the next day I youtubed cake decorating and a lady had a 2 minute video showing how she made them and BAM! It hit me and I realized how to do it and where I went wrong. A big issue was that the icing wasn't thick enough and the other big issue was....I was holding the tip upside down. Those two things will make a big difference. So last night I got out the left over yellow icing and added flour (I ran out of powered sugar) to make it thick and well they turned out really good! So my friend and I are going to do one more class together before our real class starts on July 9th at Hobby Lobby. They only charge $17.50 for 4 classes and they are giving us a $15 gift card to use on cake products...what a deal! We skipped Course I because the DVD taught us everything they would teach us in Course I which is why I have to practice because I don't want to look like we skipped Course I. I'm making my best friend's bridal shower cakes so they have to be perfect...I have a while to get good at it. Here are pictures below and keep in mind it was our first time & we were just doodling on it. The big green blob was us practicing the grass look with a particular tip. The roses were done last night...practice makes perfect.

Peaches at Snack Time

Okay....so can you tell I'm bored! This is my third blog today. Blake went to pick Bailey up yesterday from school at around 2:00 PM which is the earliest he can pick her up because their nap time ends at around 2:00 PM everyday. Usually when one of us shows up she comes running to us and gives us a hug - we sign out, check the cubby hole, and go! Well yesterday Blake got there right at 2:00 and they were just passing out the snack. He walked in and Bailey said, "You sit here." She was not going to leave just as snack was getting there, so Blake sat down and waited for her to eat her snack and then they could go. I have only been there a few times when they eat, but it is amazing what they let those 2 year olds do. They have them serve their own food and pour their own drinks...then they put up their plate and throw away their napkins when they are done. How do they do it? At home Bailey still throws her sippy cup around but at school they drink out of regular glasses...she has me, her daddy, and all her grandparents thinking she can't do things when really she can do a lot more. She has us trained.

Blogging Just Got Better

So I have had all these great little photos of Bailey and random things on my phone, but I changed the password so many times that I was blocked from the photo album on the Verizon website so I couldn't get them from my email! Well yesterday I was sitting at my desk and thought...if I sent my picture to my email address just like I would someone's phone number would it go? It did! Now I'm going through old blog posts and putting pictures with what the heck I was talking about. It makes it easier on me knowing that all those great photos I took of Bailey are not wasted on my phone and I can email them to people...plus my blog looks better and more interesting when I add photos. So really I'm spending less time with pictures, but it looks like I am putting forth more of an effort! Love it! Always make it look like you are busy is what a good boss once told me...I'm A Professional at Looking Busy.

Sales

So lately I have been only shopping when I have a coupon or if there is a sale going on because I just refuse to pay full price for anything when I can wait and get a better deal. Last night we went to Ross and I wanted to look at their home stuff...what's new?! I love home stuff and would spend entirely too much money on decorating if I could. Anyway I am wanting to get a nice book to put all our wedding photos in instead of the proof albums. So I went and looked in their book section and found the best deals on books! I got the Southern Living Cookbook "Busy Moms Weeknight Favorites" for $5.99! It is regularly $25 plus like $8 Shipping. I have wanted this cookbook for a while because it is simple recipes but they taste/look so good. They also had these $35 baby books on sale for $4.99...I bought one of them in the Classic Winnie the Pooh because you can't find that anywhere and I'm going to save it for a friend who loves Classic Winnie the Pooh. But the other ones were adorable for little boys with a choo choo train on the front. I'm such a sucker when it comes to sales and I buy things I don't need, but it does save me money in the future. Well they didn't have a good selection of photo albums so we went to Kohl's and they had these long ones in different colors on sale for $15 marked down from $25 and I had a 15% off coupon for my purchase. I bought a brown one for the wedding pictures and a green one for the photos of the family. I think I will go back and get the orange one to hold just Bailey's pictures since she was born. I have the perfect place for them to sit on our entertainment center in the living room - it will be decorative and filled with memories for only $15 each! I will post some recipes from this book soon because they look oh so good!

Potty Training

So last night while I was watching the first episode of the new season of Army Wives on my DVR I noticed Bailey did not have on a diaper...the daycare put her in a pull up. Not only was it not a diaper but it was a boy's pull up with "Cars" on them. I don't know if they were sending me a sign saying, "HELLO!!!! It's time you potty train your child!!!" or they could have just grabbed a blue pull up and put it on Bailey?! I will ask them about it today when I pick her up. She has Dora the Explorer Panties and a pink potty chair in the bathroom with a cushion seat, but still she has shown no real interest in going. I show her the panties but she doesn't ask for them to be on her and she likes the potty chair but doesn't do anything inside of it. So last night I put a pair of the toddler panties on her and told her to tell me if she has to go and if she goes then she gets an "M&M". I know...I'm promoting childhood obesity, but I didn't know what else to do and Kate off of "John and Kate plus 8" trained all of hers by luring them with jelly beans. So when I get a break today at work I will google "Potty Training Tips". Anyway, she was playing and pee-pee'd in her panties and that was that...she didn't even go at all in the potty. I didn't get mad because I know that only makes it worse but she got upset because she didn't get an "M&M". What to do!? More on the adventures of potty training to come...stay tuned! I guess I will be making a chart tonight for her to put stickers on it every time she goes. She loves stickers so maybe this will be a good tool.

Debating School Once Again!!!

Ugg! I don't know about school again! I have been making out the 2 year plan and going over what I want to do verses what should I do verses what am I supposed to do?!?! I can't move up with my job because of the position and yet I don't have enough experience to truly do what I want to do which is market events. So there is this event certification program opening in the Fall 2009 through Summer 2010, but should I just get an MBA in something else to open more doors?!?! I could start the Event Certification program this fall since it is not too time consuming, but I can't start back on my MBA until Blake is completely done with his degree this December because there isn't enough time for both of us to be in school at the same time...plus I still have to take that dreaded test to get into the core classes. I just wish I knew the path to take and what I am suppose to do because I'm not moving anywhere! I've been stuck for almost 2 years in the same place...HELP PLEASE! I just hate treading water! So this summer I am going to take up hobbies and read. In previous posts I put that I will learn to sew and read books that are beneficial. I also thought about learning to play guitar since a friend of ours teaches classes...why not? But that won't be until after the sewing classes are over...not too much at once but just enough to keep me busy.

Sewing Time!

Well I have been looking online for a portable but nice sewing machine to take classes with and I bought a refurbished one for $45 with only $10 shipping today on Amazon.com. I am really excited about making my own stuff! I have lots of ideas for Bailey and gifts like Aprons, blankets, window scarves, super cute luggage tags, hair bows, bags....I just can't wait to learn to follow patterns and then branch out and do my own thing. I won't be making matching sweaters for the family or anything like that, but boutique style clothing and accessories that when you see them you say to yourself, "Now I could make that!". I have a whole bunch of those moments which is why I take pictures of those things and collect them because I know I can do it myself. Plus I have the perfect model for children's clothes and everyone loves a cute homemade item at a baby shower. I'm going to take the classes soon, but I may get a jump on things and learn from a book so I'm not stuck on step 1 while people are on step 10. I will post pictures of projects as soon as they start. I guess this is my project for the summer: learn to sew.

Wow oh Wow has stuff happened!

Blake got home on Wednesday night. Thursday night I started feeling a little sick with a sore throat. Friday morning I went in to work for an hour and came home because I knew I was deathly ill. I went to sleep and woke up around 12 and called my parents to tell them I was not doing so good. My dad came and picked me up and took me to Pri-Med since I could not drive. I had the shakes and was aching all over with a fever and a severe sore throat. Well they did a strep test and it was positive so they gave me an antibiotic shot which felt FABULOUS and put me on amox for 10 days. They also said my tonsils were infected and swollen. Well the throat only got worse and eventually the aches went away, but not the fever. Saturday I wasn't able to eat anything and my throat was KILLING ME! I knew that I had only taken a few days worth of antibiotics but I should have been feeling better by that point so Sunday morning at 6:30 AM I told Blake to get up and lets go the ER. They tested us both for Strep and Mono and his results came back negative on both and mine were both positive...even after a shot and being on pills for 2 days it came back positive for Strep. So here I am a 24 year old with Mono who hasn't seen her husband in almost 2 months and can't even kiss him and too tired for anything else. So they gave me a steroid shot which felt even more FABULOUS than the antibiotic shot and put me on 16 days worth of some horrible tasting antibiotic to go along with the amox horse pills. But I am feeling better and started back at work today because I have zero leave saved up and LWOP won't pay the bills. So now I am settling back into normalcy after being gone for over 4 days - my inbox is full and there is was this morning waiting on me...an answer to a long overdue prayer: AUM dropped all the charges of a class that I was billed for last semester but never went to....a $600 bill gone. When that bill showed up two months ago after I damaged Blake's car it felt like things were crumbling all around me when my faith was the strongest it had ever been. I just kept praying that God would handle all of it and so far he has. I knew the money would be there or God would make things possible. So while I was "dying" over the weekend God had an email of hope sent to me to let me know that I am His and that He never will leave me. Yes there are still areas that I pray for everyday for answers but to be able to check one off feels so good! Thank you Jesus!