Saturday, July 23, 2011

101 Update

Time for another update (yeah... a little late, ah well).

9. Visit something at convention center
We went to Ai-Kon this last weekend! It was great! Plan on going again next year!

26. spend a weekend with spouse away from the kids
Did that for the Ai-Kon weekend, haha. I missed the kids... is that weird?

51. Don’t use any bought salad dressings for 3months… make own Started this April 1 (shortly after running out of what we had), and haven't bought salad dressings since. I don't think I will, either. Homemade ones taste better. Plus, there's always Epicure... :)

55. Participate in a Cosplay
Did that this last weekend as well. Wow... what a weekend! I have pics of it here, on my gaming blog. I think that's where I will post any cosplay pics I've done. Yes, it is Zelda... I redid a bunch of stuff (all the stuff I never classified as finished anyway), and I'm thrilled with it!


Now for some changes and some stuff I'm working on.

76. Take a pottery class
I think I might change this to learning metallurgy... I'm not that interested in pottery anymore (when I wrote this on my list... it was actually near the beginning of my last 101 list).

80. Purge old toys that aren’t played with (remove at least 25lbs of toys from house)
I've started on this. There are too many toys in this house, and I'm sick of cleaning them up. Sigh. We'll see, though, as I feel this will take many purges to reach 25lbs. Oh, wait. My son is practically 25 lbs... maybe not as many purges as I thought...

82. Create an organizational system in my wardrobe unit for crafts/scrapbooking
I can't wait! My office is now primed and ready to paint, and when that is done, the flooring is in (we need to get underlay, but we already purchased the laminate... 4-5 months ago), and the trim is up... I can furnish and decorate! Woo HOO! I am SO ready to have my office/craft room back!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Through Little Eyes

I've been wanting to post another one of these for months now, and I just haven't taken the time.  Let's see if I can remember everything I wanted to put here...

Through the Eyes of my Son

-Hats are great chew toys... and the last place they belong is on my head!
-If I am in my highchair, I get food.  And if I want food, I must get it NOW or SCREAM the ears off of everyone in the near vicinity.
-If hungry, cry while standing near the highchair.  Food will appear magically.
-Standing by myself is a punishment.  It's ok if I have something to hold onto, but if anyone makes me stand and then leaves me, I must cry to show my displeasure... but heaven forbid I fall on my bum!
-Everything goes in the mouth.  That's just the way it is.  If you don't want it drooled on, don't put it anywhere I can reach... and don't let me see where you put it either, or I will cry for it anyway.
-If my big sister can eat it, so can I.
-Bathtubs are for splashing.  Sinks are for splashing.  If you don't want a bath yourself, stay away.
-Mud tastes good.
-Bugs taste good.
-Grass tastes good.
-Rocks taste good.
-Music means 'shake your bum'.
-Buttons are fun!  I will push any button that I can reach, be it remote, laptop, car keys, phone... even better if something happens when I push it.
-Is that fruit?  GIMME GIMME SCREAM!
-Walk?  Are you kidding me?  I'm much cuter on all fours.
-Wave 'bye bye' and smile 'hello'
-Puppies = 'awooooo' (thanks Aunty J for that one, haha)
-Toys in baskets?  Throw all over the floor.  Toys laying around?  Empty basket?  Put them inside.

My son is learning to say please now.  As of yesterday I've been trying to get more communication from him besides wailing.  He makes an 'sss' sound for 'please'.  He also took his first steps yesterday!  It was out of nowhere.  I knew he could already, he just refused to.  I was holding him, standing upright, and removed my hands, and he held my knees, then let go and walked 3 steps before grabbing my arms and laughing!  I'm so proud!

Through the Eyes of my Daughter

-Chins that have little clefts in them are 'bums'.  I guess they resemble each other?
-Chairs are meant to be pushed everywhere.  And every box is a table we must put our chair next to and climb.
-Brothers are NOT to play with the same toys as sisters... especially if it's on the table.  "No!  Mine!  Go way, *brother's name*"
-'Pooping' is anything that involves whatever is covered by diaper.  'Potty' is where you sit and have stories read to you.  Farting is funny.
-We must spend all our time 'outside'.  Or at grandma's house.  Or at Aunty J's. 
-Whenever we go to the chiropractor, we must 'play new toys'.  When we leave, we hear 'I yant new sticker, peese'.
-Anything that shows your bellybutton is 'bellydancing'.  Music?  Bellydancing.  Jingly clothes?  Bellydancing.
-Mommy is supposed to exercise when the tv is on.  That's just how it is.  And if mommy is exercising and daddy comes in and does different exercises than what is on the tv, it's 'no, daddy!  NO".  Plus, it's fun to copy mommy while exercising.
-Everything that is broken, mommy can fix.  Even booboos.
-If we're frustrated we say 'come ON'
-If our brother is too loud, we say 'EEE NUFF'
-We must 'get dwessed' right away when we wake up.
-If someone is barefoot, we must exclaim 'look!  No wearing socks!"
-If we want to be by ourselves ... 'Go way, mommy, daddy, peese, go away'
-When hungry, we go through the list of favorites... "umm, copcorn?  Jelly beans?  Mo mos (marshmallows)?  Um, chocate bar?  Candy cereal?  Cheerios?"
-Sharing isn't hard, as long as I have one, too.
-Pirates say 'arrrr' and turtles say 'dude' (thanks to Disney world... the pirate rides and the 'Turtle talk with Crush')
-If I am supposed to remove my clothes, I must grunt in frustration and say 'mommy, help'.  Since mommy isn't helping me all the time anymore, I must continue to make frustrated sounds until the pants are off my bum, and then try to push them over the toes of my feet until mommy shows me, each time, to push them off my heels first.
-Whenever I do something new, I must exclaim "I did it!"
-'Mommy, I potty'.  -"Well, let's go to the potty, then"  -"No, tank ooo.  I yant new kitty kat diaper"
-Whenever I cry, I must have a 'keenex'.  Every. Single. Time.  Even if no tears came. (ever since I used a Kleenex to wipe her face from sweat while in Disney, this is something we hear every time there is any liquid anywhere on her face).

My lil girl can stay dry most of the day... granted, she is holding it the whole time.  She will sit on the potty for up to an hour (I can't leave her there any longer than that, but yes, we've done a whole hour before) and do nothing until minutes after I put the diaper back on her.  She knows when she has to go, and when she has gone, but it's just getting her to go on the potty that is difficult.  She has a few times now, and I'm so proud of her each time, she wants to do it again.  I'm not sure how to help her figure out how to 'go' though.

Disney had an impression on her.  She still talks about seeing Mickey and Mermaid, and wanting to visit them again.  And that Tinkerbell gave her a kiss.

I'll be honest, I am getting a bit tired of having her ask me to 'help' with everything.  She can do a lot of things herself, already, but she wants me to do it instead.  I've been forcing her to do it herself with my supervision (like cleaning up books, taking off pants, socks, jackets and shoes, and fixing her own blanket), but she still cries and gets all frustrated.  I'm not sure how to deal with it right now, especially since I've been so irritable lately.  Ah well.  We'll figure it all out eventually.  She can open doors, too, she just refuses to.  Has to sit in her room and wail until I come up, and then informs me that she's been crying all calmly.  I wonder if she does it for attention more than anything else, lately.  It wasn't much of an issue before.

That concludes another "Through Little Eyes".  I hope to do this more regularly.  Maybe even monthly, since the kids are doing all sorts of strange things lately.  We'll see.  I need to get on here and blog more often.

101 Update

Quick update...

Here are the things I did this last month... or at least worked on.

13. go to disneyworld - DONE may 17
Woo Hoo!  Who'd have thought we'd win the trip, too!  And it only cost us $1650 for a family of four for a 10 day trip.  You can see my week in review posts on our trip on this post.

14. take family picture with an iconic character (Santa, Mickey, etc) DONE May 21
Did this in Disney.  Had a family shot in front of Cinderella's castle and the statue of Walt and Mickey, one with Donald and Daisy, and one with Pluto (various other shots too, but none as iconic as these).

20. Take part in Teddybears picnic
I'm not saying this is done yet.  We did go this year, on May 29th, but we didn't really do much except watch Fred Penner and go see the new emergency vehicle... it was a converted transit bus with beds and such like an ambulance.

51. Don’t use any bought salad dressings for 3months… make own
Still doing this.  I think we started the first of April, so I'm almost done this one.

53. Try 20 new recipes (14/20)
Only did one new recipe this month, grilled chicken with quinoa/peppers salad.  It was pretty good, too.

55. Participate in a Cosplay
I'm working on costumes now.

58. Catch up on scrapbooking (digital)
Still going.  I thought I finished September yesturday, but forgot that there was still a bunch of pics from another disk to go through.  Sigh.  That is one long month.  It's 8 pages long already (6 pages from one weekend... Fall on the Farm) and I've got 2 left.

63. Do a ‘week in review’ scrapbook for one year (at least) and print it
See my latest post?  Yeah... still working through it.

96. Slide down a park slide DONE may 19
I didn't realize this, but while at Disney world I went down the slide a few times with M.  Animal Kingdom... boneyard playground.  She was a bit afraid to go by herself at first, so I went with her, then went again because she wanted someone to come up to the top with her, but wanted to go down herself.
Well, that's that!  3 more down in a month (which is just what I like).  18 down, 83 to go.

Weeks in Review... 2 months!

Well... it's been a while since I last posted these.  Wonder why?  I just haven't been blogging much anymore.  Sigh. Life has been busy! 

Well, here is a rather large 'review' post... if you want to read the pages, click on them to see a larger view.










Yes, I have my Disney Trip in here, too.  I'm too lazy to do a seperate post on that right now.  I don't know if I ever will.  I'm hoping to do a trip post about tips for going to Disney, although having only gone once doesn't make me even close to being an expert... just a bit of info from our experience, I guess.

Lately I've been working on finishing our office.  The guy we hired has been super busy with other jobs, and he's a friend, so I figured I should just get going on this myself.  I've sanded and mudded another coat this week, and hope to do a third today... after sanding what needs sanding from yesturday.  I hardly care what it looks like anymore, I just want it done. 

Oh, and shopping lately has been neat... went to LW and found a pair of open toed soft boots that are perfect for my Zelda costume (I'll just need to add some 'toe' to them) for 50 cents.  Yeah... you heard right.  All blue ticket items are 90% off.  I got a bunch of cute tins for baked goods and such too for 9cents a piece.  That's cheaper than at MCC!  Woo HOO! 

I've got a lot of work to still do this week.  It's insane.  Sigh.  Guess I'll have to leave playing my Zelda game for another day. 

Hope you are all having a great summer so far!  :)

Saturday, May 14, 2011

101 update

This month has been crazy busy, with a cleanse in the works, and belly dancing, and a birthday, and of course, me being me.  I love lists a little too much sometimes.  Anyway, here are the items I've been actively working on.

47. Bring down waist to 30inches (May 14)
Due to my cleanse and all the exercising I've been doing, I'm managed to accomplish this.  You can see more on that here.


50. Try baking with spelt flour (May 6)
For Bram's birthday party, I made a giant cookie as the base of the cake.  I used 1/2 spelt flour.  It turned out pretty good.  I also made pizza today with 1/2 spelt.  Mmmm. 


52. Colon cleanse for 1 month (or other detox method) (finished May13)
I've been cleansing now for 5 weeks.  The last 12 days happened to be a whole body detox.  You can read my day to day happenings here.  Thankfully, I'm now done!  Yay!


53. Try 20 new recipes (13/20)
I did another 9 since April 18th.  NINE.  Yeah, having to do a cleanse will do that for you.  One was a whole pan cookie, I also tried a new cake recipe (for Bram's birthday... more on that later).  This last week we tried baked green beans and leeks, ginger beef, and avocado salsa.  The week before there was a Chinese leek stir fry, and we also did Spanish eggs.  I can't remember what the other two were (back in April already... didn't write them down).


54. Try Leeks in a recipe (May3)
As listed above, we had a couple of recipes with Leeks in them.  I also started using them randomly in recipes that I thought would be good with something like that.  They are surprisingly tasty!  And really good for you.  I think this is something we'll be buying more often!


65. Make a belly dance costume (May 12)
I finally finished!  For the Egyptian, I only made the skirt and the arm bands.  The blue part was borrowed from my cousin since I just haven't had the time to make the top. 



For the gypsy, I found fabric that perfectly matched the hip scarf I bought from my teacher.  The scarf doesn't jingle, so I want to find a coin belt to add later on.  Perhaps I'll buy something online... seems to be reasonably priced.  I used the same skirt as pictured above, made an added layer for a 'hip scarf' below the glittery one, and the top... that one took awhile.  When I first made it, I measured wrong and forgot to take into account the need for extra fabric when you tie a top.  If I sew the front shut (or use buttons) it covers fine.  Otherwise I need to pin it (I have enough fabric to tie, but when you tie it, it rides up from below.  Oops).  I added pieces to it so it wasn't so revealing.  My whole back is covered.  I love the arm pieces.  I figure, for not having a pattern and completely winging it, turning two cheap pieces of thrift store fabric into this top is pretty good.  Total cost, 60cents.  And the skirt is yards of fabric (it's 1.75 circles... literally.  I can hold it up by my head and be completely covered, with the skirt still having fabric to spare).  I got that fabric from MCC as well... for $3.50.  I still have more!  I made my arm bands with it as well.  I could probably make even more stuff from it.  Perhaps I'll make a matching mini outfit for M since she wants to 'belly dance' so much.  :)

79. Organize all old baby clothes, donate stuff and store the rest by gender/age (April 29)
Yup... finally did this.  Now they are all in boxes according to gender and size.  I have a lot of baby clothes.  I don't want to really get rid of them yet, since we are planning on adding to the family some more yet... just not sure when.  And I have the space.  So, in storage most of them go.  Yeah... I got rid of some, but not much.


83. Reorganize kitchen cabinets to make more room (May2)
I can't believe I actually found the time to do this.  I have a lot more space in my cabinets.  Really.  I actually purged quite a bit.  And I feel I could purge some more.  Heh heh.  I love getting rid of stuff! 

That's all for now folks.  I won't list the things I wish to accomplish this next month, just because this next month is crazy.  I've got dance performances, a trip, and so much coming up so quickly.  Let's just say that if I don't get anything on my list done this next month, I won't be upset.  However... I already know we are doing 2 of the items.  (wink wink).

How is everyone else doing on their lists?  Have you made a 101 list?  It is actually a lot of fun!  Feel free to look at mine for ideas, and try to make your own.

15 down, 86 to go.