Wordless Wednesday - Kitchen Helper

Bean wanted to help make some marshmallow lollipops last week.

 

 

I hope you all had a great holiday.

I hope every one had a great holiday, whichever one they celebrated.  I apologize for the lack of posting.  I took vacation from my fulltime job last week and then had some internet trouble so there wasn't much of a chance to blog.

Bean enjoyed Christmas once she woke up.  We had to wake her up so that she could open her presents before we headed out on the road to the Great-Grandparents' house.  She kept saying "No Daddy!".  She didn't want to be bothered.  I'm sure that will be the last time that happens on a Christmas morning for many years to come.  But she perked up once she got into the living room and saw all the presents around the tree.  She wanted to take time after each present to bond with her new toy but we had to just keep plopping new ones in front of her. 

Santa brought her her very own "bike". 

It's an Elmo tricycle and no, she can't quite reach the pedals.  *Note to all the toddler parents out there - while the Elmo tricycle is cute, it has a button on the handlebars that you can push and Elmo will sing you a song.  The manufacturers must have a sick sense of humor cause there is no volume control on this lovely feature and it is the loudest, nerve-grating, sing-songey thing you've ever heard.  Stick with Radio Flyer.  There's no such button there. 

She also got another new doll.  (Too bad I can't file for Social Security numbers for all these new "dependents".)  She got a wagon filled with blocks.  The blocks are all over the floor in her room, the living room and our bedroom, and the wagon is still sitting in front of the tree. Don't know why the blocks can't live in the wagon that they came with but evidently there's some sort of domestic dispute going on there and they have to camp out wherever the Bean drops them.

But I think Bean's favorite new toys are the least expensive ones we Santa got her.  She has spent the most time playing with a $5 doll stroller I got at a friend's yard sale a few months ago and a make-up bag filled with chapsticks.  She loves grabbing her make-up bag under one arm, tossing a doll in the stroller, usually upside down, and pushing it all over the house.  She especially loves pushing it right up behind me while I'm standing at the stove because the floor show Mommy puts on when she turns around and starts to fall over the stroller, doll and all is the most exciting one she's seen in a long time.  She hasn't had that much fun since watching our lab chase his own tail round and round. 

We had a great time watching Bean enjoy her Christmas.  It wasn't her first but really the first time she's gotten into it all.  I did find myself feeling very melancholy over the holiday because this time of year always makes me miss my own Mom and Dad so much.  I am grateful for the family I've married into but I wished my own was here to see Bean and share in the joy of the season with me. 

So now it's almost time to take down the tree, ring in another New Year, and relocate the blocks to the wagon.  I'm tired already!

Merry Belated Christmas!

Visiting Santa

I took Bean today to the mall to visit Santa. My wonderful cousin, Boo, went with me to help me out.  All I can say is what is wrong with you people?  Why did all of the rest of you wait until 4 days before Christmas to take your kids to see Santa, too?  I was thinking that we wouldn't have to wait in line, we wouldn't have to walk through a sea of people and we wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg to see the Old Man.  I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

This year was Bean's first visit with Jolly Old St. Nick.  We wanted to take her last year but all three of us, Bean, Hubz and I, were sick for the whole month of December so we didn't do much visiting at all.

But I was determined to have a picture with my kid and the Claus this year and I got it.  Bean did surprisingly well.  She's been going through a shy phase where she has been sucking herself to my legs when we get around new people.  The kid has a grip, let me tell you.  But she got up in the chair and sat next to him.  She was accompanied by her new best friend, a dolly from our Yankee friends, so maybe that's why she was a little braver.  She never told him what she wants for "Sis-Mas" but I think he already knows.

Look Ma! No hands!

*Yes!!!  Yes!!!  Yes, she is still on a bottle.  I know!!!

**Listen, I don't know what you people want from me.  I mean the kid is bathed weekly, fed daily, we play with her once in awhile and..AND...I might add...we try to limit the bad words said in front of her.  So she's in love with her ba-ba.  Let the kid have some joy in life, okay!?!  Goodness!  I'm not a miracle worker, people.

Happy 23rd Month Birthday!

On December 15th, Bean turned 23 months!

Yay, Bean.

My baby is almost two.  It's hard to believe.  She has turned into a repeating machine.  Even the bad stuff.  If she happens to repeat some bad word that is uttered and you tell her not to do it anymore, she says "Mommy said it".  Already selling me out.  She loves to tell me "no".  She wants a bike for Christmas even though she can't reach the pedals of many tricycles.  She likes Elmo.  She likes "Macky Mouse".  She can tell you what a cow, dog, kitty, and a duck say even though when you start this exercise she will tell you at first that they all say "moo".  She loves purses and her doll Katie.  She is excited to see Christmas lights and will tell you that Santa says "Ho, ho, ho."

Still trying to convince her that Santa needs to take all her "ba-ba"s if she wants him to leave her any toys.  She's not really buying it.

Wordless Wednesday - Funny Faces (Way Back When)

Update on life.

Well, my week hasn't gone much better than the end of last week. 

My aunt Be-Bek passed away Friday evening.  Her real name was Rebecca or Becky but when I was little somehow I would call her Be-Bek and it stuck.  She was such a loving woman and she will be missed.  I regret not taking the time to stop and visit her like I should have.  All I can say to that is the same thing I've been saying over and over in my head since I found out Saturday morning is "I'm sorry, Aunt Becky.  I'm so very sorry."  She was like my second mom when I was growing up.  She had two boys and I think I was her surrogate daughter.  I know I was more than just a niece.  And she was more than just an aunt. 

No progress has been made in my friend fight. 

And some people still seem to amaze me, well after any amazement should linger, with their new heights of selfishness.  These are supposed to be some of the more "enlightened" people I know but when it comes to others' lives and feelings, their knuckles still seem to scrape the ground.  I truly hope, and maybe I shouldn't but today I do, that karma will bite them in the booty.  To anyone out there that happens to think they are better than anyone else, please check the earth's gravitational pull and notice that the world does not revolve around you. 

I'm sorry I haven't posted more or had more "in the spirit" posts lately.  I've just been in a funk.  If anyone can point me to the exit door of Funkville, I would really appreciate it.

This just has not been my week.

First I had to suck it up and buy a new car. Josie is no more but Essie the Escape is on the scene. And so is the car payment booklet.

Then when I chose to have a different opinion on a subject than my closest friend, she told me we aren't friends anymore.

And now today I've been reprimanded by my boss for doing exactly what he told me to do.

Yeah, I know. I don't get it either.

The one thing I do know is...they better watch out...they better not cry...cause if you piss me off you're going to wind up in my blog.

JOY TO THE WORLD!!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Bean in a Basket

 
*Yes, my floor is always this messy.
*No, I never clean it.

Christmas Gift Idea --- Rem-i-nisce

I found out about Tabetha and her Rem-i-nisce Heirloom designs through TipJunkie.com.  I loved her stamped jewelry and ornaments and charms as soon as I saw them.  I contacted Tabetha about making some gifts for some special people on my Christmas list.  I can't tell you what I ordered or who it is for until after Christmas but I wanted to let you know about her designs in case you were looking for a great gift for someone special. 

I emailed Tabetha to find out about pricing and she emailed me back right away.  Her prices are wonderful and I was able to cross a few names off my list.  The items came beautifully wrapped and they arrived quickly, too.

I very highly recommend Tabetha to you for her beautiful stamped jewelry, charms and ornaments. 

Can you see me?

I need your help.  I've had several people tell me that they are having trouble viewing my blog either on the page itself or in the emailed posts they have subscribed to. I don't know if people that might be using Readers are having problems as well.

Can you please take a minute and email me if you have had any of these problems viewing my posts or my site?

Please email the problems to pinkiefae@gmail.com.

Thanks everyone.  I'll try to get it all worked out for you.  I might have to take all the graphics off and take the site back down to the bare bones and start again while I'm waiting on my blog design to be done.  

The Break Up

Have you ever had something happen that at first you laughed off and thought "Oh well, it's just another one of those things", but then later on, the more you think about it, it makes you cry and feel completely knocked down?

I had that happen to me today.  In fact, it's still going on so I'm writing about it to hopefully get it out of my system and maybe it will help to put it in perspective and move on.  This is just another one of those life challenges and it too will pass.  That's what I keep telling myself but I am still wallowing.

I'm probably making this seem way more important than what it is, I know.  Anyways, onto the wallowing...

I have blogged here about my car, Josie the Jetta, before.  I pretty much cursed Josie and myself when I wrote about her hitting the 200K mile mark.  I should have known better but if you knew her backstory (shades of Lost), you'd understand why 200K was a huge mark in her life.

I bought this car all by myself in 2000.  It was my first big purchase on my own.  Maybe it should be my last, I dunno.  Hubz says that I should have known better but you see, Josie seduced me.  She was cute and red and had tons of buttons and the most amazing feature ever...heated seats.  Yep, I was drawn in and there was no turning back once my backside got all toasty that first time.

I had Josie for less than a year when she first started having problems.  And I mean PROBLEMS.  Josie had to have a new transmission before she was one year old.  That should have been my first clue to break up with her but I just couldn't do it.

I JUST CAN'T QUIT YOU, JOSIE!!!!

 
I figured that she was under warranty and it was probably just the luck of the draw and I assumed that the dealership would take care of it all.  Well, they did.  I got a brand new transmission and off we went.  Less than a year later, I was in an accident with her.  Had to have a new radiator, new hood, new front end and a new VW symbol put on it.  It was all quite heartbraking to see Josie there crunched up like that.

Then, again, less than a year later, she had to have another transmission.  Now you might say "Good Lord, Pinkie, how do you drive?  Don't you take care of your cars?"  I drive just fine, thank you, and yes, I do take care of them.  I figured this was some problem stemming from the accident I had.  So back to the dealership I went to get my sweet, sweet lady fixed up.

 Here we go again...less than a year later...more tranny problems.  Uh huh...why didn't I get out then???  Heated seats, remember.  Please try to keep up.  So I figured that this couldn't be just luck of the draw because by God even feral cats and Rodney Dangerfield have better luck than this.  So I fiiled a Lemon Law claim and actually won.  But Volkswagen didn't offer to buy my car back or swap it with another.  They didn't want her either.  So I got a settlement check instead.  Normal people would have taken that money and the car and traded it in on something reliable.  Well, I think we've all figured out by now that I am not normal, right?  Right?

As part of the settlement, I requested that a different dealership install the new transmission because I didn't think my local dealership knew how to spell "German automotive excellence" much less know how it was supposed to be performed.  Everything was taken care of and Josie was washed and waxed and handed over to me.  This should be the point in my life where I realize I am the mom who blindly loves their child even after realizing their child is a serial killer.  "Oh no, my child is perfect, wonderful and can do no wrong."  Plus, my kid has heated seats.  (It's wonderful.  If you don't have those on your car, you should think about it the next time you shop for a vehicle.)

Josie actually did reform for awhile.  She and I moved into a new house, got married (not to each other), and had a baby.  We've been there for each other.  Now, she has had some relapses.  Her heater core went out causing me to have to ride around for 3 months in the winter with no heat while I saved up the $1,800 to have it repaired.  She's had some bad O2 sensors and bad window motors but who doesn't???

But ever since the 200K post I made, Josie has been stabbing me in the back over and over again.  First there was an antifreeze leak into the cabin of the car which requires $1,100 and removing the entire dashboard.  This causes condensation to form on the inside of my windshield and I can't see out to drive.  (No safety hazard there, huh?)  There's the cracked windshield that wants $300 to be "like new".  Then there's the broken fuel injector for $350, busted hose or hole in the windshield cleaner container, something is causing the ABS light to come on and off randomly, the front passenger window won't roll down, the knob you use to move your mirrors broke off, the cup holder is hanging on, the rear-right taillight won't light up and it's not the bulb.

Now this morning, the incident that has sent me into fits of alternating laughing and crying, and sent me to my keyboard to rant is this...

I'm driving up the highway on my way to work.  It's a nice morning because it stopped raining (Thank God!  You'll see...), I'm listening to Mariah Carey belt out my favorite Christmas song, All I Want for Christmas is You, and suddenly I think to myself, "It sure is a lot colder in here suddenly.  It sure is a lot louder in here suddenly."  I thought that the tractor trailer next to me needed some serious servicing cause it had to be the loudest one I ever heard but I still couldn't figure out why I was suddenly so much colder.

Then my hair blows around.

I look up to find that my sunroof had come half-way open all on its own.

"Hello!  McFly!!!  It's 40 degrees outside, why are you open???" 

I reach up to fiddle with the switch to close it and...nothing.  The thing would not close.  At all.

And I was only 5 minutes into my hour long drive to work.

By the time I got to work, my hair looked like Mariah Carey's in the beginning of her career and I was absolutely freezing.  When this first happened, I just had to laugh cause why not, right?  As they say, "it's par for the course".  Typical.  But I still thought that maybe once I got to work and I let it sit for a couple of hours, it might start working enough that I could close it.  I need to stop thinking cause I'm not so good at it.

So Josie hates me.

It's evident.  Most folks would go out and get a new car but we aren't in a position to do that.  I haven't had a car payment in eight years and I don't have any money in the budget for a big one now.  We don't have any money saved for a down payment either.  So now I'm crying and freaked out.  I stop to tell myself that it's only a car.  No one is sick, no one is hurt, everything's fine.  But it just feels like one more knockdown and it seems to get harder and harder to get back up.  I know that's life but today, right now, life is kicking my butt.

At least my butt is still toasty, though.

Wordless Wednesday - Cool Daddyo

Sometimes Dads can be cool.

Crafty weekend

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We didn't do much of anything really. Hubz had to work all weekend so that left Bean and I to entertain ourselves.  I'm not sure how much entertainment I was.  I probably just got on her nerves but she'll just have to get used to that.

We did do some craft projects I had been wanting to do for awhile.  We first made a new wreath for our front door.  I was inspired by this post on U Create.com. I still need Hubz to lend some arm strength to the project to finish off the top but I think it turned out pretty.  These are some old glass ornaments and I highly recommend using shatterproof ones instead but I didn't want to go out and buy different ones.  But the glass ones do make for quite a wake-up call when one of them hits the floor.  I was lucky and only had one ornament fatality while making this wreath.

I started with these

and finished with this.

We also finished up a project that Hubz started for Bean last year.  He made her a "doggybank" and I wanted to paint it up in University of Georgia colors.  Here are the beginning and ending pictures for her bank.  She loves to drop change in it.

 

 

The polka dots aren't as neat as I'd like them to be.  I think I needed a newer brush and maybe different paint.  Hubz made the bank out of a propane tank.  On the other side I painted her name but since it's her real-life name, I can't show it to you.  It's just as well cause between the old brush, wonky paint and Bean's help in fingerpainting, that side is really messy. I'll just say it's "artistic". 

I have some more projects I'd like to do like some hairbows and a holiday star but those will have to wait until I can find all the materials.  The wreath on the door is all of the Christmas decorating I got done this weekend.  I hope it isn't all I get done this season but if Scrooge, I mean Hubz, gets his way, it will be. 

Wordless Wednesday - Memorable Feasts of the Past (WBW)

Way Back When (WBW)

Memorable Feasts of the Past

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Enjoy your own feasts.

It's not you, it's me.

My mother-in-law thinks I don't trust her.  I keep trying to explain that it's not her, it's me. 

You see I think I'm a freak of nature.  I have trouble lettng my daughter spend the night with my in-laws.  If it were up to me, Bean would never sleep away from home.  In fact, I get so antsy when she does spend the night that I can't sleep and I rush to pick her up the next day.  I would rather Bean stay at home with me every night.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with my trust in them. 

Our daughter spends the majority of her time with other people.  Both Hubz and I work fulltime and Bean stays with family during the day.  When you sit down and figure up the amount of time that I see her, it's pretty slim.  I am more than thankful that she is able to stay with family members instead of having to go to day care but I wished more than anything that I could stay home with her.  I wished I was there every day, all day to be the one to tell her "feet don't go in the toilet" or "please put your pants back on", or be there to kiss away every "boo boo".  But that's just not our reality.

So since I get the smallest amount of her time, when there is time to spend, I only want to spend it with her.  I hate to be away from her.  It still gets to me every single morning that I have to drop her off, even though I know and love the nannies that Bean stays with and she knows and loves them, too.  I know she is loved and looked after.  It has nothing to do with that.  I just wish that I could be the one that she shares her days with.
And her nights. 

Tagging along...

Mighty M from The Mighty M Family (Happy Belated Birthday BTW) tagged me in this meme.  I've never done one of these before so bare with me.

1. Name someone with the same birthday as you:

Tammy R. who is one of my oldest friends.  Tammy and I have known each other since first grade.  She and I were not only born on the same day, but also the same hospital in The Big City and wound up living in the same small town.  We always called each other "My Sister". 

2. Where was your first kiss?

Well...if you count cousins then my cousin Ricky slapped one on me when I was six and he was five. Yep, early starter.

3. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property?

Ummm...I remember we toilet papered Amy M.'s house one Halloween.  We were all still in elementary school and it was Tracey T.'s birthday and my very first sleepover.  Don't worry.  Amy M. was with us so it wasn't that scandalous. 

4. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex?

Which time?  Oh wait...only jokingly, of course. 

5. Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people?

We had Christmas pageants in elementary school.  God love our parents.

6. What's the first thing you notice about your preferred sex?

Height.   And eyes.  And hands..  Oh crap!  I already messed up.

7. What really turns you off?

If someone can't speak properly when I know they've been to school...

8. What do you order at Starbucks?

Caramel Machhiato grande.

9. What is your biggest mistake?

Not listening to my gut instincts.  Every time I've gone against it, I've regretted it.  Big time.

10. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?

I don't think so.  All the times I hurt myself on accident doesn't really leave much time to do it on purpose.

11. Say something totally random about yourself.

I'm going through a phase now of "I just don't care".

12. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?

Pam Tillis.  Sadly, the person that told me that was a victim of #4, above.

 

13. Do you still watch kiddie movies or TV shows?  

I absolutely love to watch The Goonies.

14. Did you have braces?

Nope.  Needed it, went to the consult, but couldn't afford it so we didn't do it.  Later on, when my wisdom teeth started coming in, those teeth pushed my others together and kinda fixed almost everything themselves.  If I would have had braces, my wisdom teeth would have messed up all the work they would have done.

15. Are you comfortable with your height?

Yeah, I don't mind being short.  It only bothers me when I want something off the top shelf in stores.  I'm only 5'2", 5'3" on a good day.

16. What is the most romantic thing someone of the preferred sex has done for you?

Married me even after they got to know me.  *snort*

 

17. When do you know it's love?

Isn't this a Van Halen song?

18. Do you speak any other languages?

I can understand some French cause that's what I took in school.  I know how to say "my name is..." and "I don't know."  I figure that's all I'll need if I ever get to go to France.

19. Have you ever been to tanning salon?

Yes.

20. Have you ever ridden in a limo?

Yes, on my wedding day to the Hubz.  

21. What's something that really annoys you?

Whistling.  If you can do it right, I like it.  But most of you can't.  I'm just sayin'.

22. What's something you really like?

Muscadines.

23. Can you dance?

How drunk are you gonna get me?

24. Have you ever been rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room?

No, Thank God.

 

I'm supposed to tag 5 other bloggers but I won't at this time cause I'm afraid everyone is very busy with Thanksgiving.  But beware for the next time!!!  Bawahhhhhh!

The Lipstick Incident

One morning last week, I woke up and checked on Bean.  She was still sleeping so I tucked her in nice and warm and then went to hop in the shower.  I left our bathroom door open a little bit so I could hear her if she woke up while I was showering.  She normally sleeps through and doesn't waddle into the bathroom until I'm out of the shower and getting ready.

When I stepped out of the shower, I noticed that the bathroom door was open wider and when I turned around to say "Good Morning" to Bean, this is what I saw.

 

 

Bean had decided she wanted to do her make-up and thought using half a tube of Estee Lauder lipstick was the best way to get that "perfect face".  Well, most of it did wind up on her face but I know she also snacked on some of it, too.

*I apologize for the fuzziness of the pictures.  I took them with my iPhone.  That phone used to take really great pics but now seems to have fallen off some.

The view from my office window...

This is what I see when I look out my office window in the fall.  I love to see this tree change colors every year. 

Wordless Wednesday - Hairbows

Operation Bye-Bye Ba-Ba.

Okay, I'll confess.  I'm a horrible mom and I should be fined or something.  Why?  Well, Bean is 22 months old and still addicted to her bottle, a/k/a her "Ba-Ba".  Bottles!  Bottles!  Bottles!  I am so sick of washing these danged bottles. 

Bean doesn't just drink out of her Ba-Bas.  They are her security item, her best friend.  She can't go to sleep without one.  She doesn't even seem to be able to go a day without one.  She will beg for one and when I cave in and give her one, she'll pop it into her mouth and walk away as happy as a clam.  She'll just walk around with it dangling out of her mouth.  No drinking, just companionship.

Why couldn't it have been a stuffed animal?  A soft, sweet blanket?  Even a pacifier?  Pacifiers are more acceptable for little kids to hang onto.  I know I get looks when we go out in public and other moms see Bean using a bottle.  I know what y'all are thinking.  I can read it on your face.  "Bad mom!  Bad mom!  Bad mom!"  Blah, blah, blah-da-di blah!  Listen, she's my kid.  I'll ruin her if I want to.

When she starts begging and whining and crying and...driving me crazy for a Ba-Ba, I can usually stand my ground for about 2 minutes and then, well, then I just think "she's so little, she needs her friend".  And over to the cabinet I go to get a clean Ba-Ba and put a smile back on my child's face.  Evidently, when I gave birth to her, they removed my spine cause I have no backbone when it comes to this fight.

But I came up with a wonderful, amazing, completely uber-fantastic plan on getting my child away from the horrible, evil Ba-Ba!  I've been telling her all weekend that if she wants Santa to leave her any presents at Christmas then she has to give him all her Ba-Bas.  Isn't it great that I can make Santa the bad guy?  Thanks, Santa!

Now I realized yesterday that Bean probably still has no idea who Santa is, what presents are, or what a Christmas is.  So that might be the fatal flaw in my plan.  It might all fall through.  But I figure I have a month and a half almost now to hype it all up and get her ready for the turnover. 

Please pray that this works.  Please pray cause frankly, I'm tired of getting those looks from y'all.

Happy 22 Months!

Bean was 22 months old yesterday!  She celebrated by partying with her cousin, The Only Boy, at his 5 year birthday party.  A good time was had by all, little and big kids.  Even with lots o' runny noses.

I guess it might be time to start planning another birthday party.  Any suggestions or ideas for a 2nd birthday party?