Weekend Projects and Certainly Not Me!

This weekend - unlike most other weekends - I set a couple goals for myself. These were things that needed to be done and SHOULD have been done a long time ago. One of them is a "Not Me!" that I was too embarrassed to post until it was fixed. Okay okay .. I will admit it! BOTH of them are "Not Me!"-worthy. Both of them should have been fixed a long time ago.

I took some Before and After pictures to explain. "Before" pics were taken on Friday and the "After" pics were taken today.

Emily's Sleeping Beauty Vanity set

Vanity set - Before

Vanity set - After

This Vanity set was a 45 minute project! It had soooo many parts and so many stickers and decals. And after everything was said and done, I still had one little screw left over. Bummer.

I did not wait over three weeks to assemble one of Emily's Christmas presents. What kind of parent would do? That would be like torture to a little kid, especially when the box has been sitting in the living room the entire time.

Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree - Before

Christmas Tree - After

This was an all evening project! Taking down the tree was the easy part in this project. Getting all the ornaments back into the boxes and getting everything back into the closet was the real challenge. While we were putting everything away, I predicted that I would find something I missed just as soon as the last box was tucked safely into the closet. (As usual) I was right! And (of course) there is no extra room in any of the storage boxes. Bummer.

I did not leave my Christmas tree up until January 18th! Who would do something like that? I don't know, but it's certainly not me!

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Recipe - Reeses Cups

I had a very special request for the Reeses Cup recipe that I made at Christmas. I wish I had a picture of the final result. I took pictures of everything else I made at Christmas, except that!

Reeses Cups

Melt together in microwave:
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 sticks margarine

Add:
1 lb powdered sugar

Mix well and spread into buttered pan. Top with melted chocolate chips and 1/2 block paraffin melted. Chill. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!


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Okay that's the "official" recipe - not a lot of detail. I use creamy peanut butter and a 9X13 pan. I think the hardest part is the melted chocolate on the top. I have tried the paraffin, but I didn't like the way it turned out (eww!). The real problem is that the topping is hard to cut without it cracking. This year, I tried putting a few squares of white almond bark in with the chocolate chips. That worked better, but I ended up letting the pan sit out on the counter for a half hour or so until the chocolate was softened a bit and then cut it into squares.

Have you ever run into a similar problem when working with chocolate? What worked best for you?

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Purse, Penguin and Prayer Requests

My new purse was delivered today. I'd been to the store to check the price on it every weekend since Christmas and it was never on sale enough for me to be willing to buy it. Last weekend, I found it on sale online and ordered it using a click-through from Ebates.com (If you haven't signed up, do it now!) which earned me 8% cash back. Then I found another website online that was even cheaper than where I ordered it and so I cashed in on the 110% Price Match Guarantee and got a $30 credit! Woo! I also got a $10 coupon for using the Price Match service so I went back and ordered a checkbook wallet. I wish they had another color besides green, but I like all the pockets and card slots and compartments.

Penguin

Emily brought a cute penguin thermometer home from school today. I think it's very cute! Emily doesn't seem too upset that her best friend is not in her preschool class any more. I told her that we'll still see her at Sunday School and Cubbies. She seemed fine with that.

Prayer Requests

Two blogger ladies that I have been following had babies this week and BOTH babies had breathing problems and they were BOTH flown by helicopter to Arkansas Childrens Hospital in Little Rock.

• Please pray for Jenna and baby Brayden (born Wednesday - 7lbs, 1oz)
• Please pray for Kelly and baby Harper (born tonight - 9lbs, 12oz)

Both babies are very serious and the families are having a hard time. This is the first baby for both families. Please visit their sites and PRAY!

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Laptops and Legs

This evening, Emily sat down next to me to "work" on her laptop for a bit. She's got several games that she likes to play on there. She asks me what number to push to get to certain games, but sometimes I don't know what she's talking about. Tonight, she was asking me what number to push to get to "cup". Uhhh, no idea on that one.

I really like this little Vtech laptop because it has a mouse with it, but the mouse doesn't move all over. It only moves a big side to side and front to back. Much easier for little ones to get the hang of using the mouse without getting frustrated. The only thing that I don't like is that it has a "10" key and no "0" key.


And notice Emily's pants. Yep, she's got her pants pushed up to her knees and then pink pantyhose over her pants. Lovely!!!!

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Cubbies Update

Emily and I went back to Cubbies tonight. We missed last week because I wasn't feeling good so it was good to be back.


It looked like Emily had a full class. She was glad to have her teacher "Mrs. Jennifer" back this week. Emily was telling me all about Mrs. Jennifer, how "she didn't have her baby any more" and "her daddy" stayed home with her baby. I think she was really interested in all her teacher's business.


My class was bigger this week. We had two little girls to make a total of five. The new girls did really well. They just got right into the swing of things and were very sweet. When the mom and dad of one of the new girls dropped her off, they came into the room and talked to us a bit about what we do in class. The little girl was off playing and talking to us and the dad finally told the mom to "just walk away" and she would be fine. And the mom said "well, I want her to miss me!"


I also found out tonight that Emily's "best friend" at her preschool will be leaving. Her last day is tomorrow. She's going to be starting a full day preschool. I'm not sure how to talk to Emily about it. I guess I'll wait until she gets home from school tomorrow and see if Emily says anything about it. I'm glad the other mom said something to me about it so that I would be prepared to discuss it. The girls will still see each other at Sunday School and at Cubbies so that is good.


It's supposed to turn very cold here tomorrow. I hope we are ready!

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100

100 tiles in a standard Scrabble set

100 yards in an American football field

100 yards minimum for a Par 3 on a golf course

100 degrees is the boiling point for water

100 in Italian is cento

100 as Roman Numeral = C

100 legs on a centipede

100th day of a (non-leap) year is April 10th

100 United States Senators

100 blog posts

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Yes, you heard me right ... this is my 100th blog post. It sure didn't take long to get here.

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Wii Love to Play

I think I mentioned this before, but we got a Wii for Christmas. We usually play games several nights a week and then on the weekends.


I like to do step aerobics on the Wii Fit. Emily likes it too. She says she wants to play the "step on, step off" game. I have tried some of the yoga poses, but .. uhhh .. some of them are kinda weird and I'm not too good at that part.


We also like several of the games on Wii Play. Emily likes fishing and shooting and the cow racing game. I don't think Mike likes playing shooting with me very much because I always win that one. He likes the laser hockey though. He's pretty good. He goes for the aggressive moves and I just sit back and wait for him to sink the puck into his own goal for me. hehe


I like the games where we can play together. Bowling is fun, but I like the Wii Play games that we can play at the same time.


I looked at some games online the other night. I think Dance Dance Revolution looks like a lot of fun. Have any of you ever played it? What other Wii games do you enjoy?

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Boomer!

Sooner!


Well the big game is tonight. It's the Something Something National Championship Bowl. You know the one, I'm sure. Oklahoma vs. Florida.


After work, we went over to my in-laws house for dinner. My mother-in-law fixed some awesome tacos. While we were there, I hooked up a wireless router for them to use with their new laptop. Yep, you heard me right. My in-laws have finally joined the information age. They're all set up with email and have found some favorite websites. And yes, they are turning into faithful blog readers, too.


Emily and I left about the time the big game started. She goes to preschool on Thursdays and Fridays and they don't get to take a nap this year. By the end of the day, she's pretty well had enough. It's important for her to get in bed on time on Thursday nights so that she can make it through the day on Friday.


Emily and I drove by Wal-mart on the way home and I noticed that the parking lot was almost empty! That's Oklahoma for you! They are serious about their football team and nobody was out and about after the game started.

Mike came home at half-time and he's watching the rest of the game now. Not sure if he's happy with how is Sooners are playing tonight.


I guess we'll see what happens.

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Wile E. Coyote's Nemesis

So you guessed it ...

This fine feathered friend is a Roadrunner.

This one (no, I don't really know that it's always the same one) likes to hang out in our yard. When Mike came home the other day, this little guy was by the swingset. When I got home, he was out closer to the driveway I snapped this picture from the car. I'd been trying to get a picture of him for a couple weeks, but ... uhhh .. they're pretty fast, ya know.

Just so ya know ...

I've got a yucky chest cold. It's been hanging around since Friday and my voice is pretty much gone at this point. Uggh! At least it waited until after the holidays, but it could not have come at a worse time as far as work is concerned. I was training a helper at work this afternoon and I could not quit coughing. I felt sooo bad.

And poor Emily ...

The other night, I was telling Emily that her teeth looked bigger. For some reason, that really upset her. I tried to make it better by telling her that it was okay because her head was getting bigger too. She didn't want to hear that at all!! I decided to stop while I was ahead, but really .. I think her teeth are getting bigger. This is not a great picture, but what do you think?

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What am I?

• I am a a bird.

• I can fly, but I usually don't.

• I like to eat insects, lizards, small birds, eggs, fruit, berries, nuts. (I'm an omnivore.)

• I'm a fast bird. I'm so fast that an ISP is named after me!

• Seriously, I can run up to 15 mph.
  

• I build my nest out of sticks. I usually put it in a low tree or bush.

• I make a dove-like "coo" sound that is slow and descending.

• Sometimes I make a rapid clattering sound with my mandibles .. meep! meep!

What am I?

And a Tidbit ...

And I just couldn't resist ... a picture of Emily from lunch today at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The waiter played a little trick on her.

We were ordering our drinks and I said she wanted a Sprite. She said "and not water!" So when the waiter brought our drinks, he sat our glasses down and said "An iced tea, a diet coke ... and a water for you." She just kinda looked down and softly said "I didn't want water." I said "You didn't? You better take a drink." She took a drink and said "It IS Sprite!"

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2,009 Reasons to be Thankful

Seriously? You seriously thought I was going to list 2,009 reasons to be thankful on my blog?

And where would I find the kind of time it would take to list 2,009 reasons? I'm at work today, ya know!

Although I will not be listing them all on my blog, I do have at least 2,009 reasons to be thankful at the start of this new year.

Looking back on 2008, I had plenty of reason to be thankful last year as well. I wish I could do a "Year in Pictures" post, but I don't pictures of a lot of things that we did. I'm really bad about remember when things happened and this is yet another reason to start using that new calendar that I bought this week!

As I was sitting here reflecting on 2008, I tried to come up with a list of memorable events in 2008.

• Our nephew, Carter, was born to my brother and sister-in-law in February.
• My sister, Heather, married her long-time boyfriend, Stephen, in a beautiful ceremony in March in our hometown.
• My parents put their farm up for sale.
• Emily had her 3rd birthday in June, complete with a big celebration at Orr Family Farm.
• Mike's dad turned 60 in July.
• Mike and I joined the church.
• Mike was baptized in July.
• Emily started AWANA Cubbies and I became a Cubbies leader.
• Emily started gymnastics classes.
• Mike got a promotion at his work.
• I got a promotion at my work.
  

I feel like I'm leaving some things out, but those are the things I thought of this morning. Isn't God awesome? He has done so many great things for us in 2008. I can hardly wait to see what's in store for us in 2009.

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Hello, 2009

Happy New Year!

I always like this time of year where you can get a fresh start on things. The end of a year always seems like a good turning point to change some of my bad habits. I get to start a new calendar and get busy with organization again.

But all of that will have to wait until I've eaten my black eyed peas! I'm not really superstitious that way, but it's a good excuse to get some vegetables into my family. I thought we were going over to the in-laws, but apparently we're not. I better get in there and start some peas then.

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Ho, Ho, Ho

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you all had a great Christmas. We sure did!

Emily let us sleep in a bit this morning. When she woke up, we went into her room to tell her that Santa Claus came to see us while she was asleep. Emily wanted to know if he ate all the treats that we left out for him. As you can see from the picture below, he definitely did!


After that, we opened all our presents. We all got lots of nice things. Way too many things to list, but ...

Emily got a water baby that she named Lucy.

She got a princess video game that you play on the TV ...

and a pink remote control car ...

and a Cabbage Patch kid sailor boy named Adam.

After we opened our presents and played, we went over to Mike's parents for lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me but we had a really great time. It was nice to see alllllllllll the family. We had some really good food and then played Dirty Santa.

Later this afternoon, we came back home to play some more and rest. We have another busy day tomorrow.

P.S. No, Santa didn't steal her Mama's jewelry box! She asked about it this morning!

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Santa Claus Came To Town

On our way home from Nanny and Pops's house tonight, we saw Santa Claus and his sleigh high up in the sky. We could even see Rudolph's shiny red nose! It was all so exciting to see, but we had to rush home. We had to get to bed and go to sleep so that Santa Claus could come to our house.

And after we were all fast asleep, he DID come!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

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Presents and Yum Yums

My group at work surprised me with a birthday present on Monday morning. They got me this ice scraper mitt and a candle. I just loooooove this mitt. I think it's just the best thing since I spend a lot of time scraping ice off my car windows during the winter.

My friend Karen got me this elephant for my birthday. I love it!This morning, one of my co-workers brought in Christmas goody trays for all of us to take home. He claims that he helped make some of the goodies and that he made the tags that were on it. Do we believe this? I believe the part about the tags, but I don't know about the baking part. Ha!

Yum Yums

Goldbrick Candy

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Peanut Clusters

White Chocolate Pretzels

And a couple other things not pictured!

Tidbits

• I got a raise and a promotion at work today. Praise God and Merry Christmas to me!

• Emily is spending the night with Nanny and Pops to decorate Christmas cookies.

• Please pray for my sister-in-law's grandmother. She's in the hospital this week.

• Santa Claus is coming! So exciting!

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Not Me! Monday

This weekend, I spent a lot of time doing my Christmas cooking and wrapping gifts ... in addition to celebrating my birthday. During such busy times, a few little "Not Me!'s" are inevitable. So ....

• I did not turn 31 this past week. Ouch!

• I did not celebrate my birthday dinner (It's supper, c'mon, we live in the south!) at Chick-Fil-A. And I do not have this bad habit of squeezing honey onto each and every bite of chicken nugget directly from the packet. And we did not get a holiday shake for dessert. (How many calories per shake, Heather?) Ummm, yeah, we don't need that at all.

• I did not wrap some of Mike's Christmas presents while he was in the room. We did not have only a few rolls of wrapping paper between us at the time. I did not figure it wasn't such a big deal since all the gifts are stored in the same closet as his clothes. If he'd wanted to see what he was getting for Christmas, he had unlimited opportunities to do so before now.

• I did not make waaaaay more holiday goodies than were necessary. They were not all really good. I did not just have to have one teensy piece of something before breakfast this morning. It was not really hard to choose which something to pick.

• I am not avoiding the mention of what all I made so that I can take pictures of everything and post it on my blog in a day or two.

• I am certainly not leaving out a few choice Not Me!'s because they are just. too. bad. to admit.

Nope, Not Me!

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Cookies for Santa

This evening, Emily and I made Christmas cookies for Santa. We made snowmen, Christmas trees and stockings.

We rolled the extra dough into balls. And the dipped them into red or green sugar.

We decorated the cooled shapes with red icing, colored sugar, cinnamon dots and other goodies.
We finally got them all decorated.So proud of our hard work.
They're so pretty.

And SO good.

Hurry to our house, Santa.

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A Christmas Dress and a Delicious Cake

This morning, we went to church. Emily wore her (other) Christmas dress. I never know the proper protocol for holiday-wear. Is it the Sunday before the holiday or the Sunday nearest the holiday? Anyway, this is a picture of Emily in her Christmas dress. It has an empire waist and a fairly long skirt on it.

After church, we went to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate my birthday with Mike's family.

My cake was soooooooo yummy. It was a marble cake with lots of buttercream frosting. Mike did GOOD on this one! And .. even better .. we have plenty of leftovers. :)

Anyway, we all had a good time visiting and celebrating at lunch.

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