Nearly ready...for the trip anyway

I think I've just about got everyone packed up for the next couple of days! Cassie and Joshua are going to my parent's house tonight and Mike and I are leaving here for Washington D.C. at 2:30 in the morning. I'm SO excited I can't sit still! I more excited about this trip than I was about the trip to Chicago. there are so many things I want to see and I know we'll have to be really quick about it but I think we can get to most of what we want to. I can't wait to report back with what we did accomplish in the short amount of time that we'll be there. Hopefully our flights will be on time and uneventful. Mike hasn't flown in a really long time and I can tell he's pretty nervous about it even though he doesn't say so. I feel like a little kid right before something big. I'm SO excited to be going with him! I think all I have left to do is print out our boarding passes. I'm betting you money that I'm the one who will end up driving to Dallas. Mike is not a morning person. Especially not a 2 o'clock in the morning person..lol. Oh well, I'd might as well drive. I can't stitch in the dark now can I...lol.

Cassie and I both had hair appointments today. We both have really long hair and she popped in yesterday and said "Mom, I wanna get my hair cut to here. Now, I know that's a lot but I've looked at myself in the mirror and I know it'll be cute." WOW! LOL! She's not had short hair in FOREVER!! I tried to talk her out of it at first and reminded her that once it was cut it was a done deal, you can't put it back. I decided if she really wanted it cut then I wasn't gonna hold her back. Long thick hair is a hard thing to have in Texas in the summer anyway. When we got to the salon and my hair dresser asked her how much she wanted off and she told her, she interrogated her for about 10 minutes to make sure. LOL! She took off over 9 inches! She looks so much more grown up. Mike's gonna hate it! LOL! It's SO cute on her! She really really loves it. She also inquired about getting her ears pierced. HUH? Come again??? I think she's evolving in to something today and I'm not sure that I like it...LOL! We got her hair done & I painted her finger and toe nails...I think we're gonna have to stop at that for now..lol.


I got quite a bit of stitching done on my fairy this past Friday night for the Friday fairy SAL. I'm not gonna get in to my rant about the wings again. It's done...I'm annoyed about the situation but I've fixed it and shall move on...lol. I stayed up half the night fixing it but I did and now I only have 1/2 a wing left to stitch in that horrid Dandelion Stem. If there would've been enough of it in the kit to begin with I wouldn't have had a problem. See...there I go again...I really need to let it go..lol.

I guess I better scamper off. Mike's getting off work in about an hour and I need to do a few more things. I can't wait till he sees Cassie's hair. I might have to sit by the door with the camera...LOL!! Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll be somewhere by The White House ot the National Archives. How cool is that?! Be good and I'll look forward to posting pictures when I get back. Keep your fingers crossed for Mike at his interview! If one of these jobs is what he's really wanting then I really hope he gets it. I'm a firm believer in if it's meant to be then it will be and if it's not then it won't.

Getting ready for another trip!

Mike got a call yesterday and will be leaving for Washington D.C super early Tuesday morning for 2 job interviews! And the best part is.............I'm going too! YAY! Mike asked me to go with him this morning before he bought his ticket and I was thrilled that he did! I've wanted to go to D.C. for a really long time! I'm really in to history and so is he. It should be a really fun little trip together. We'll only be there for a short time. We'll be coming back really late Wednesday night. We won't have a lot of time to do touristy type stuff but we do plan on seeing The White House, the Pentagon, and Arlington National Cemetery. We're hoping to swing by the Smithsonian to go to at least one of the museums. I bet you're wondering how we're gonna do all that in such a short amount of time, aren't ya? The hotel we're staying at is in Arlington, Va. According to the website, it's right down the street from the cemetery, within walking distance of the Pentagon, AND the White House is supposely really close as well. How great is that?! We're both pretty fast and don't mind footing it so I know we'll get to see quite a bit even though we'll only be there a short time. Well, that's assuming our flights won't be delayed, ect...Speaking of....we have a layover in Milwaukee each way so guess what that means?! Yep, it means I'll probably get to see my stitching buddy Jodi that I met in Chicago last month! She doesn't live too far from there so hopefully she'll be able to swing by during our layover time. I'm not too terribly excited to hop on a plane again...not two times but four. I think Mike's even less excited than I am...lol. I'm really looking forward to the two of us going alone. Do you know we've not been anywhere alone in 10 years? The last time we went somewhere alone together was when I was pregnant with Cassie. That's horrible...lol. I've REALLY been wanting to go somewhere alone with him and this was the perfect opportunity. Hopefully all will be well with the kids and the dogs while we're gone. Cassie wasn't happy at all that we're going and she's not. I reminded her that if he gets one of those jobs she can see the White House every day if she wants too...lol. I feel bad that they can't go but it was too expensive for 2 more last minute plane tickets.

I'm in a birthday group and got word that two of my stitching friends received their gifts so I can post pictures now. This first one was for Peg. I made a needlebook for her using Blackbird Designs latest book called With Needle and Thread. The piece is called "Bluebird's Needle's and Pins". I also sent her a pair of scissors, some needles, a chart off of her stitching wish list.

The next gift is for my stitching friend, Dane. She loves the color blue so I made a blue needlebook for her. I stitched Abbey Lane's "In a Quaker Fashion" for her on a blue linen in a very dark blue DMC. I really love how it turned out and hope she does too. I forgot to take a pic of the goodies I sent along with it. In addition to the needlebook, I also sent her some needles, a pair of scissors, and 6 or 7 skeins of variegated threads.

Well, I decided to make some more of those Chips Ahoy Cheesecake Sandwiches yesterday since I still had enough stuff to make another batch. They came out much better the second time! This time I made the sandwiches & froze them for 3 hours. After they were frozen I took them out and dipped them in the chocolate and then put them back in the freezer. They look a lot better this time and were much easier to dip when they were frozen.

I have a lot of cleaning to do, so until next time..........

Cassie's back and other stuff

Cassie got home late yesterday afternoon! You know what that means?!?!? I didn't have to puppy sit anymore! YAY! To celebrate that I baked a couple of cakes. I made a chocolate cake for Mike and a German chocolate cake for my parents. Aren't they pretty? I love making double layered round cakes.

While I was baking Mike called me outside to look at a really neat spider. She had made a web on the inside of a gate in our backyard. He noticed her when he was trying to open it. She scared the poo out of him..lol. I got the best pic I could of her. Anybody know what kind of spider she is? I think she's really pretty. At least I assume it's a she..lol.

Cassie had a really great time in Branson! I can't beleive all the things that my parents took her to do! They took her to do more in 3 days than they took me to do my entire childhood! LOL! She got to ride the ducks twice. She got to drive the boat while it was in the water and thought that was really cool. They even gave her a certificate that says, "Captain Cassie Coss is a certified duck captain." How cute is that? They also took her to the Titanic attraction, the Butterfly Palace, the Hollywood Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not, some kind of dinosaur museum, and a haunted house thing next door to the dino museum. That doesn't even count all the shopping they did. Get this...I've been going on an on about how I've been having needlework shop withdrawals and really want to go to a shop. We don't have one here and the closest is 2 hours away. It's been about 4 months since I went to one. They call me Saturday from here. Man...lol. At least the brought me something back..lol. Cassie did a really good job shopping! Here's what she brought home for me. Didn't she do good?! She knows that I love The Prairie Schooler so they picked up one of their latest charts for me called Thanksgiving Comes again. It's a really great chart and I'm looking forward to stitching the piece. Check out that necklace! Isn't it fun! Just like the one Rose had! Well..not exactly..this is costume jewelry..lol. My dad did buy my mom a real one though. They did the Titanic thing on their anniversary so he bought it for her. How neat is that?! They also got me a package of replica boarding passes. They're pretty neat! The inside of the has info on a passenger and it tell you all about them. I believe there are 6 in the box. I really enjoyed reading them. Cassie got me that very neat I Love Lucy musical snowglobe while they were there! It's a very limited edition and I'm thrilled to have it! There were only 5,000 of them made. She knows that I really do love Lucy..lol. Last but certainly not least she got me that yummy Yankee candle. It's so pretty that I just hate to burn it! It looks like a jar of fruit..lol. OMG it smells SO good! I had my face stuffed in the jar last night and she said that I reminded her of the woman on the Febreeze commercial who has her faced stuffed in the couch sniffing it..lol. That candle smells good enough to eat...lol.

Well, I didn't get to stitch on my fairy with Rachel on Friday so I stitched on her yesterday instead. I tried to stitch on her at my parent's house but every time I pulled the thread through Sparky was jumping for it...lol. I did spend a lot of time on her but part of it was ripping out stitches. I ripped out all of the green that I had stitched in the left part of her wing. I had stitched it horizontally and wasn't happy at all with the way it looked. I went back and fourth and the stitches laid differently each row I did. It was really bugging me so I figured I might as well redo it so it didn't keep bugging me. I ripped it out and restitched it vertically. It looks much better now so I'm really glad I did that. Here's what she looks like this week. The pic came out a bit blurry but you get the idea. I'm looking forward to stitching on her agin this Friday.

I finished stitching on one of my PIF gifts this weekend! This one is going to Missy! I hope to do the finishing within the next week or 2 and then I'll see about getting it off to her. I really like what I stitched for her and hope that she does too. Every time I look at that piece I think of her :). Missy, I'll let you know as soon as I mail it :).

It's pretty quiet with one

I've noticed since Cassie's been gone it's pretty quiet...lol. Don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces but it's been a nice break to not have to listen to constant arguing. I'm really looking forward to her coming back tomorrow. The break was nice but I'm starting to miss her. I talked to her a little bit ago and she said she's not ready to come back yet. I think she's just been having so much fun that she wishes she was gonna be there a little longer.

We took Joshua to see Transformers today and it was FANTASTIC! We all LOVED it! This is definately one that we'll be buying when it comes out on DVD. It was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. Joshua was on the edge of his seat the entire time. I don't think I've ever seen him that interested in a movie. Afterwards we took him shopping for a transformer. He didn't have any so we thought it would be fun to take him shopping for his first one. I think Mike's the one who really wants them. He's mentioned that he really wanted one when he was a kid but never had any. I remeber when ET was re-released I bought myself an ET doll. I really wanted one of those when I was a kid but never got one. Isn't that funny how you remember those things? One other thing I wanted that I never had was an ALF doll. I really loved ALF. I remember thinking he was real for the longest time...LOL! I think my favorite thing I had when I was a kid was my Peaches N Cream Barbie. YAY! THis is the last night at my parents house and my puppy sitting duties are over. You have no idea how happy I am about that. I'm half way tempted to buy a bottle of something to celebrate and I don't even drink... LOL!!

Chips Ahoy Cheesecake Sandwiches

I made some Chips Ahoy Cheesecake Sandwiches Wednesday night and they were SO good! While they were fantastic I discovered that if you follow their directions they don't come out as pretty as they are in the pic on their site. If you dip the sandwiches in to the chocolate immediately after assembling them, the filling oozes out from you holding the 2 cookies together to dip them. The next time I make these I'll lay one cookie down, add the filling, add the top cookie, and then freeze them overnight. After freezing them I'll get a knife and run it along the edges to make them nice and smooth. After that I'll dip them in the chocolate and then put them back in to the freezer. By doing this you'll keep the filling from oozing out when you dip them because it'll be nice and solid. The chocolatey sides stuck to the bottom so if using a glass dish be sure to line it first. Everyone here loved these and they only lasted a day. Here's a pic of my first batch -the 3 that were eaten..LOL! They're a really nice summertime treat. I'm thinking I might make some more of them this weekend :)

Sleepovers at my parents house are not fun

It's 6:50 in the morning here and I've been up for nearly 2 hours. I have a huge problem with this! When I dropped Cassie off Wednesday night my parents handed me a nice amount of money and told me it was for taking care of their furbabies. I tried to give it back to them as it wasn't necessary and they've watched mine on several occassions but they insisted. Now I know why they gave it to me. Because they knew what I was in store for. All their fault nonetheless. Mind you, this is the first time I've slept over at this house with these animals because my mother doesn't usually ever want to go anywhere. She doesn't want to leave her dogs. As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken it's been about 7 years I think since she and my dad did go somewhere together. So, she has 2 Pomeranians. A really chubby and fluffy grouchy one named Rocky and a 7 month old dainty little sweetheart named Sparky. If I so much as look at Rocky cross eyed he growls at me. He's too fat to jump on anything but every time I try to help him he growls at me. Sod ya, ya ungrateful little beast..sleep on the floor then. No, I can't leave him on the floor because he sits on the floor right by the bed howling at me until I pick him up. I pick him up and he growls at me. Right after I put him on the bed and go to lay back down he has already taken over my pillow. I try to move him and he growls at me more. I finally talk fatty in to going to the foot of the bed with a beggin strip. So I lay back down and..oh..I think I forgot to mention Joshua was in the bed too. This is a king size bed, mind you. Let me tell you why I don't like sleeping with him. I don't know what it is but when I sleep with him he feels like he has to be sandwiched up against me. I DON'T like to be touched when I'm sleeping by anybody/anything. It drives me nuts. If there's ever a time when I need personal space it's when I'm trying to sleep. That's not too much to ask for, right? Oh, and to make it a little more fun I don't believe I mentioned that this bed we're in is a waterbed. Ain't that great? So every time the kid moves or a dog feels like walking around...whoooooosh. *sigh*. So at about 5 till 5 this morning I wake up to something chewing on my fingers. My dad gets up for work in the mornings at about 4:30 and apparently Sparky does too. I rolled over which apparently ticked him off because he jumped on my head and started rolling in my hair. By that time Joshua was up (for the day!). I tried to talk him in to going back to sleep but he was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Not that it would have mattered. Did I mention my mother likes clocks? You know, the kind that make noise every hour? When you have 3 or 4 of those going off at the same time, it gets pretty loud! It was like having a constant alarm clock last night. Before she left I asked her if those clocks did that all night. She told me they were light sensitive and when it gets dark they don't do that. She was wrong! I've got to spend 2 more nights here. She might be clockless when she gets back. I talked to Cassie last night and she seems to be having a really great time (much better than me!!). They have a lot of really fun things planned for today. I can't wait to hear about their Titanic adventure.

I did end up making some really yummy goodies the other night. I'll post a pic of what I made along with the recipe when I get home. I forgot to bring my camera with me and the pic is on there.

Packing up the kiddo

I'm packing Cassie's things up for her trip with my parents to Branson. They're leaving pretty early in the morning so I'm taking her over there tonight. She's so excited! They're staying at the Hotel Grand Victorian. I took her to the website and let her do the online tour so now she's counting down the hours :). It'll be really good for her to spend some time alone with them. I know she could also use a break from Joshua and I could use some time alone with him. I try to do things alone with her but rarely do things alone with him. I know we're going to see Transformers on Saturday. I think he wants to go bowling as well and we may pop in to Chuck E Cheese. I'm sure the time will fly by. I know he's gonna miss her when she's gone. They're taking our DVD player for the car and I bought her some new books to read so hopefully the drive will go fast. I think it's only about 6 or 7 hours. Joshua and I will be staying the night at my parent's house Thurs, Fri, and Sat. She's got a couple of furbabies that need tending to.

I was looking at sandwich recipes the other day on the Food Network's website. I found a yummy looking recipe for a grilled peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwich. I made some yesterday and they were SO good! I didn't have a panini press or a brick (LOL!) so I just used a spatula and pressed down firmly on the sandwich. I thought they turned out really great! They're pretty messy though so if you make them you better have a napkin handy! The next sandwich I want to make is a Monte Cristo. That one lookes really good and simple so I think I'll shoot for that one. Instead of blackberry jam, I'll get some raspberry jam and I'll also sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the sandwiches. I've really been in a cooking mood lately and I think sandwiches are fun to make :). I think this recipe for a California BLT looks really good. I love that it has avocados in it. I'm probably gonna have to give that one a try. After I drop Cassie off at my parent's house I'm gonna stop at the market and get some goodies to make some things. I'm not sure if I'll make anything tonight but if I do I'll be sure to post pics. I'm really craving avocados so may have to make one of those BLT's. I'd love to go to cooking school :).

So what if I don't have a license to groom...lol

My pomeranian has been miserable because she's been so hot. I guess I could've taken her in for a haircut but didn't for a couple of reasons. First, she's a big chicken. She won't set foot outside of our yard. I've tried taking her on walks several times but she just plops her big brown butt on the sidewalk and refuses to move. No matter how much you try to pull her she resists. When I have to take her to the vet she throws a fit like you wouldn't believe. I figure if she's gonna throw such a big fit and make herself sick over the whole thing I'd might as well not spend the money to do it. Instead, I got some scissors out and trimmed her up myself. It may not be all that pretty but she feels much better and it'll grow back in no time. I left all the fur on her head and neck so she sort of looks like a lion...lol. I cut the hair on her head and neck one time and she looked so bad. I swore I'd never do that to her again LOL!

Poor thing....I hope she's not too traumatized over her new "do"! She really dislikes having her picture taken and took off about 2 seconds after I took this one LOL :).

I've spent a lot of today cleaning and doing laundry. I've also been getting Cassie's things together for her trip with her grandparents. We're gonna run out and do some shopping tomorrow for some things she wants to take. I told her I'd pack some snack for her in her backpack just in case she was starving and there was nothing around. Sometimes grandparents forget how needy kids can be so I thought it would be best if she had some things her backpack just in case she gets really hungry when they're at the hotel. That way they won't have to leave to go find her a snack. I really wish I was going with them. They're going to that Titanic museum attraction while they're there and I REALLY want to go! I was telling Mike that I REALLY want to go to that New Year's Eve party they're having. We never go out on New Year's Eve and how much fun would that be to get all dressed up and ring in the new year on the Titanic?! I know they're all gonna have a great time. I know my mom and Cassie have been counting down the days.

I have a hankering for a pickle snow cone...luckily there's a snow cone place right down the street :).

Had a busy busy weekend

WOW! We had such a busy but fun weekend. Friday night I took Cassie to the local theatre. The Summer youth Musical this year was Disney's High School Musical. We had SO much fun! It was really really good! They did a really great job putting on that show. When we got their my best friend and her husband were already there. They were sitting in the front row and our seats were on the third row on the aisle. She mentioned when we got there that she thought someone was sitting in our seats. Sure enough they were sitting in one of them. I got our tickets out and headed that way. Before I had a chance to say something the snooty woman sitting in there looked at me and said, "I guess we can move down if the two of you want to sit together." PFFFFFTTTT! You're darn right you will! I paid for this seat so scoot! LOL! Some people...lol. Cassie is a huge High School Musical fan. She did a lot of singing and clapping. She was really thrilled after the show because she got to meet the guy who played Troy. His mother is a good friend of my best friend so she made sure Cassie had a chance to meet him. We got home pretty late and she was so tired she konked out as soon as we got home. I was pretty tired too but still wanted to stitch on my fairy for my Friday Fairy SAL with Rachel. I didn't get a lot stitched on her but I did make some progress. I'm thinking Rachel's probably gonna finish hers before I finish mine. She seems to get a lot more done on our Friday's than I do. I got to bed pretty late that night and was really surprised when the kids woke us up Saturday morning and told us it was 10:20! That NEVER happens! I must have been really tired because I just don't sleep that late. After I finally rolled out of bed and got dressed we went out to lunch. I LOVE Mexican food so we went to El Chico's. After that we ran to Target to do some browsing. I found some really cute outfits for Cassie for 75% off. I've noticed most places are clearancing out all of the summer stuff and putting out fall and winter. That's really insane because it seems like summer just started here. It stays pretty warm until at least October. I noticed they're already putting out the school supplies which is pretty depressing. I'm not one of those moms who looks forward to sending her kids off. I actually do want to be with mine. I don't like it during the school year. I feel like I don't get to see them very much. That being the reason I hang around at the school so much I guess. After school starts back I'll probably start working back up at the flower shop more. I want to save up for a couple of trips next year. Anyway, after we left Target we took the kids to get ice cream and then came back home. We were only there for a few minuted though because Mike's mom was coming over to watch the kids while we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. I thought it was great! I liked this one better than the last one. Mike doesn't agree though...he said he liked the last one better. I'm gald we didn't take the kids with us. This one was a lot more scary than the previous ones. The union Mike's in for the post office had a picnic today. It was SO hot! Before we left forthe park I asked Mike to get our bag that we usually take to the park out and put the sunscreen, bug spray, and whatever else we might need in it. This is what he decided to put in it..lol. How cute is she?! I tell ya, this dog will let you do whatever the heck you want to with her. She's not the brightest crayon in the box but she is so much fun and loves the heck out of me :). I thought the picnic was pretty boring. I think most of the people in that union just come to eat and win prizes. They just sit at the tables like stumps on a log waiting for their food and the drawings for prizes and then they just take off. I got sick of sitting their twiddling my fingers so headed over to the park to watch the kids play. After we left the picnic we drove to Holliday and met Nealy (My BF) & her family at Dairy Queen. We don't have a Dairy Queen here in town and we love blizzards. After we left Dairy Queen we went over to their house for a bit. They took a trip to Colorado recently so we got to flip through their pictures. She called me about an hour after we got home and said she was coming by. She knows how much Cassie likes High School Musical so she went and bought her the soundtrack. I thought that was incredibly sweet and Cassie was completly thrilled. Especially since in addition to the soundtrack, it also came with a karaoke CD. Cassie has one of those machines and uses it all the time. I could hear her in her room singing even after I tucked her in :).

And Rachel makes 5!

WOW! I'm really surprised that it took less than 24 hours for me to get all of my PIF people! My PIF sign up is officially closed but there's still room to participate with my other PIF gals if you'd like. So my final 5 are: Rachel, Missy, Patti, Gaby, and Juli. What fun! I can't wait to start on your gifts :).

PIF Update!

I'm excited to say that I only need 1 one more taker in my PIF challenge! So far I've got Juli, Missy, Gaby, and Patti. Missy, I don't think I have your new address since you moved, could you send it to me please? My email address is located at the top left corner of my blog. I love looking at the pictures on your blog of your flowers and trees, btw. It look so peaceful where you live :). I know you're gonna love that hammock :). Thanks so much for the compliment on my stitching! Hopefully I'll get another taker in the next day or 2. I've already started flipping through charts and have some really good ideas. Thanks for participating, girls!

Pay it Forward!

Today I signed up for Julie's PIF exchange and am inviting you to join me in mine. She only needed 1 more person to stitch for so I decided to hop in :). Here is how it works: I will send a handmade gift to the first 5 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I have no idea what that gift will be and only promise that you will receive it within the next 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog (or - in your life - if you happen to be blog-less). I hope you will join me in this exchange. All I need is 5 interested stitchers! I LOVE these kinds of things and know it'll be tons of fun :). You know you wanna join :o).


Moving along.....

You should've seen the lightening show we had last night! It was awesome! A big storm rolled through but we just got the edge of it. Mike got Cassie out of bed so she could watch the lightening as she'd never seen a show like that one. Very neat but then again I love stormy weather :). It rained again for a while this morning but dried up quickly and got pretty hot again. My little fish are swimming once again so I was able to catch up on some things inside without having them yell for Mama a bagillion times. I tell ya, they'd live in the water if I let them. I'm not a big pool person but once I'm near the ocean I don't want to leave either. That's how I felt when I was in Chicago last month. I wanted to hang around Lake Michigan a lot because it reminded me of the ocean. Anyway, I LOVE summer and love it when they're home with me but they just don't ever seem to get tired. I can't imagine why either. They don't drink anything with caffeine in it. You'd think I pump them full of sugar all the time..LOL!

I think I'm melting

It's so hot! I always keep my hair pretty long but it's days like this that make me wanna shave my head. I think it's my hair that makes me so hot. Thank goodness for ponytails! I don't usually get a chance to post during the day but the kids are swimming so I have a few free minutes :). We've been out and about running errands today. Nothing exciting...just your typical boring errands. I picked up my contacts and was pleasantly surprised when I did. I have to have toric lenses and they were a whole lot less than I thought they'd be. YAY! We did stop off at Backdoor Theatre so I could get some tickets. I'm taking Cassie to see Disney's High School Musical Friday night. She's so excited! She LOVES that show. My best friend and her husband are going too. We're not sitting with them but pretty close. I had planned on taking Cassie on Saturday night until I found out Nealy & Patrick were going on Friday. We decided it would be more fun to go at the same time. Plus, she's good friends with the mother of the guy who's playing Troy so I'll be able to get some pics of Cassie with them afterwards :). We did make it to Penney's to get Cassie a new swimsuit. I don't know what happened between March and now but she really grew. I bought this other swimsuit for her in the spring and she can't wear it. I have a hard time finding swimsuits for her because she's so tall she can't wear a one piece, they don't fit her right. She's not much shorter than me..lol. If we get it to fit lengthwise then it's too big everywhere else. We don't do bikinis, only tankinis that cover just about everything up. Those aren't easy to find. I don't understand why they have so many skimpy swimsuits for little girls out there and why people buy them. There's plenty of time for that later. Sure some of them are cute but you never know who might be out there lurking about watching a kiddo in a teenie bikini. I think little girls should look like little girls :). No offense meant to those of you who like the teenie bikinis....it's just my own personal opinion. I must scamper off and figure out what we're having for dinner. Something Mexican sounds really yummy...a cake or pie doesn't sound too bad either :).

Well part of the day was good...

I couldn't sleep at all last night! I kept sneezing my head off and was stuffy. I didn't really feel sick at all I just couldn't stop sneezing. I didn't get to bed until 12:30 and had a buggery time sleeping. When I did doze off I'd wake myself up sneezing. Mike picked a really bad movie to watch last night while I was stitching and that didn't help me sleep either. We watched Sublime...not my choice and I don't recommend it. It was horrible. My least favorite movie in the world is The Hills Have Eyes. Now I can say this is my 2nd least favorite movie. Don't waste your time by watching it. Not a good movie for anyone to watch who might be going in to the hospital for any kind of procedure. Anyway....I was so tired this morning I just couldn't muster up the energy to get myself all prettied up for church. I had promised my mom I would go shopping with her this afternoon so I decided to hang out at home and try to wake up until it was time to go. I usually wear her out but this time she wore me out. I can usually shop until the cows come home but I wasn't worth too much today. I did muster up the energy to try on several tops at Penney's when I saw they they just marked them down to 75% off...LOL! I actually woke right up when I saw that! I ended up buying 4 really really cute tops. I was *really* trying not to buy anything blue. I've noticed I really wear a lot of blue. It was hard to pass them up but I did. Instead, I got all black..LOL! I know but they're all really different and so cute! I've noticed that I wear a lot of blues, browns, and black. I really should wear more colorful things I guess but I don't think I don't look good in light colors at all and I don't think I look good in greens, orange, and purples either. We found a lot of bargains. Just when I thought we were coming home she decided to stop at Cato's when we passed by. I'm really glad we did because I found the cutest things on clearance for Cassie. I got her a long denim skirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of capris with a matching top all for $20. How great is that?! I saved Mike a lot of money today...LOL!

We had a really good time all the way up until she dropped me off. Not even 5 minutes later she called and told me to call the police :(. Shortly after she left my house and was fixing to get up on the interstate, someone pulled right out in front of her and caused her to hit them :(. It turns out the dummy driving that car didn't have her insurance card or license so she got some tickets. Luckily she was less than 5 minutes away so I got to her quick. Why do people do that? Pull right out in front of you? We were going down Southwest Parkway earlier today and some idiot did that to us. There are 3 lanes and we were in the far left lane. This dummy was at a stop sign and instead of pulling in to one of the other 2 lanes guess which lane they picked? Yep, ours. Even though there wasn't anyone in the other 2. Some people just don't need to be driving.

Made a little progress

I worked on my Halloween fairy for a bit last night for my Friday Fairy SAL with my friend, Rachel. I got a bit done on her but not too much. I would have liked to have gotten more stitched on her but am I am still seeing some progress with the little bit that I did. I was just telling Rachel that I really need to stitch more on her wings. See that light shade of green in them? It's kind of hard to see in the pic. There's a bunch of it. I get bored when I stitch with a boring color for very long. I'm afraid if I save all of it until the end I'll just get sick of the piece and toss it aside. I'm gonna try to make an effort to stitch a bit on the wings every Friday when I work on her. I'm really happy with the way she's turning out and can't wait to display her this Halloween. I'm really looking forward to the beading. I love pieces that call for beading.

We've had a pretty good weekend. We're not doing anything spectacular, just kind of hanging around. Yesterday I took the kids swimming. We have a family membership at the YMCA and they've got a really nice pool so we've been trying to take advantage of it. We went out to lunch today and did some browsing around a bit. Tomorrow after lunch my mom wants me to go shopping with her. She and my dad are taking Cassie to Branson in a couple of weeks and she wants to do some shopping for the trip. Cassie is extremely excited. This is the first time that she's gone on a trip without us. My parents are really excited too and have lots of fun things planned. Joshua and I will be puppy sitting while they're gone. Look at this face? How could you not wanna puppy sit this sweet little thing?

I finished up a birthday gift tonight so must go pack it up. I hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Happy belated 4th!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We went to Arlington yesterday for a Rangers game. We like to go on the 4th because they have a fantastic fireworks show after the game. Before we left for the game I was really worried that it would either be rained out or delayed. Last year when we went it was delayed for and hour and a half because of rain. I was watching the weather and it had been raining on and off most of the day. It said there was still a 70% chance for rain at game time but luckily it held off and everything was right on time :).

I was really happy to discover when we got to our seats they were in their own little section. There wasn't anyone sitting in front of us or behind us. That made it really easy to get out when everyone needed to go potty. We didn't have to hop over 20 people. I may try to get tickets in that section every time we go to a game. Hopefully we'll make it to another one this summer. We just have the best times when we go to those games. As you can see Cassie was all dressed up for the occasion...lol. Since there wasn't anyone around us who could take a pic, Mike tried to take it of all of us. As you can see there are only fractions of each kid in the pic...LOL! Joshua had the best time! He LOVES baseball!! He asked me repeatedly how he could get out on the field. I kep telling him he couldn't go out there so he asked me when he got big like me if I'd take him down there to play. Sure. Nooooo problem...LOL! He was all sorts of in to that game and was thrilled when they won. I just LOVE this picture!! The drive wasn't too bad. I was a little bored though. I sat up front and drove all by myself while Mike and the kids sat in the back and watched a movie. That doesn't seem very fair, does it? LOL :). I waved at the stitching shop on the way to the stadium *sigh*. The next game we go to will definately have to be when the shop's open. The fireworks show after the game was awesome! It seemed to take forever to get out of that stadium though. When we got to the car I had the kids put their jammies on so they could sleep on the way back. It took about another hour to get from the parking lot to the interstate. I don't know what the hold up was but that has never happened before. We usually get right out with no problem. We didn't end up getting home until after 2 this morning :O. I felt bad for Mike...he had to get up at 7:30 to get ready for work. I bet he's in a reeeeally good mood today...lol. Oh well....I have a dinner date with a friend so in the event that he is grumpy I won't have to endure his grumpiness for very long. I'm leaving right after he gets home...lol. In the event that he's REALLY REALLY grumpy, I might just have to find some errands to run after my dinner date...LOL! He usually doesn't have to be at work until 12:15 p.m. but someone went on vacation so he's filling in for them. We already had the tickets when they had changed his schedule. I must go finish folding laundry :).

Cow Milkin

First let me just say how shocked I am that it's raining again! The waters can't recede if the rain doesn't stop! And it's not just a bit of rain...I mean..well, it hasn't been raining for long but it's been raining hard. They had to evacuate another section of town. Anyway....

I bet ya thought when you read the title that I've been milkin cows didn't ya?! Not if you really know me! Anyone who really knows me knows I'd never milk a cow..LOL! That reminds me of not long ago when Mike and I were talking about moving. He mentioned to me how he'd really like to get a ..let me see if I can spit it out..a ffffff...ffffff....farm house...a what?! No...no I don't think we will...LOL! He said, "don't you think it would be great if we had some cows, pigs, and chickens...we could have a little chicken coupe and you could go out and get eggs in the mornings..." No...no I don't think that would be and here's why-

A. Why on earth would I want the hassle of a chicken coupe when I can buy 18 eggs at the market for $2.00?

B. Right....like I'm really gonna roll out of bed and in to the fields or wherever to find the chicken coupe to get ya some eggs...uhuh.

C. What am I supposed to do with cows and pigs? I mean, we're talking about me here...do you really think I'd lay a hand on an udder? And what do I do with the pig again? Is he just for fun?

D. If I'm living in a farm house, chances are that's out in the boonies. I have no desire to live away from civilization..I need to live within 10 minutes of Target or Wal-Mart...LOL! If there's a needlework shop in the area though I might be willing to make a sacrifice.....probably the pig...LMBO!!

E. Exactly who's supposed to be taking care of these things while you're working? I hope you have a job paying a WHOLE lotta money so you can hire someone to run your farm..LOL!!!

Moving along....lol.....

This morning the Soutwest Mobile Dairy Farmers Classroom came to town so I took the kids to see that. Luckily it was easy to get to and not near any of the flooding. It was really neat! We got to watch them milk a cow and the kids learned all about the anatomy of a cow and a lot about milk. They showed them how they milked cows in the old days and they also told them about and demostrated the modern milking process. It's the first time I've ever seen someone milk a cow too. Very very neat. She was a big cow! She was really pretty too....her name was Sister. Look at that face! Isn't she great?! I was really surprised at how many people were there. I didn't think there would be because of all the flooding and such and because it was so early. Joshua thought it was very cool that cows have 4 tummies...LOL. They were a little disappointed that they didn't get to pet her. Apparently they're not allowed to do that any more because of the whole Ecoli thing. I'm sure Mike will find a cow for them to pet. I'm really glad we went. They learned a lot and it was a lot of fun. They gave them some neat goodies when we left so that was really neat. I'm really sleepy today. Mike's off for the next 2 days so I might not be around too much. We're going to Arlington to a Rangers game on Wednesday. I know they're not doing so great this year but they have an awesome 4th of July fireworks show! I'm getting jipped on this visit though...the needlework shops are closed since it's a holiday :(. They're having Christmas in July sales too...bummer. I need to run to the store. I need to get a few things so I make some apple pies for the 4th with those apples I saved the other day...lol.