Sunday, June 28, 2009

On a Roll...

Just wanted to relay my excitement over here on my blog as July is roll out month for my new PartyMe Princess business! The site is not perfected yet, but it is well on its way! Pics to be added next and a calendar as well as some other details. So keep checking back and be sure to look for our add in the back party time section of the July 2009 Upstate Parent Magazine!

www.PartyMePrincess.com

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Truthfully, I don't feel like this was a terrible horrible...day, but to most I suppose it would be. I wanted to do something nice for my nearly 4 yr old girl. So I decide if I can play child swap with my friend B, I'll take M and her friend to the free family movie festival. That is of course, provided that friend "B" could trade her daughter for my son, cause I'm sure that W wouldn't fare well in a movie. So we are making the swap and running a little late for the movie, but no big deal. As friend is pulling away I realize that I had laid my keys in her car...so I try to flag her down but she doesn't see me. so I try to call, but she had left in such a hurry that her phone was at home.

When she finally got home she had to drive the keys back to me, but by then my free movie option was out! The girls were very upset...so we chose something else to do, but ended up at a McDonalds (not my choice mind you) that happened to have a very large playground! They enjoyed it and I ate something that I'm bettin was a good two times the amount of calories that I was supposed to have for a meal! Then we went to Wilsons! Now for those of you around these parts that needs no explanantion, but I will say it is a five and dime. So much tiny random cheap stuff the girls thought it was the best thing ever. My main focus there was 2 fold. Find dog related birthday stuff for W's first bday celebration...nothing. And to collect things to create a violet costume for M (that's Violet Incredible "Parr"). I found plenty of stuff along those lines but didn't realize that I needed orange felt for that too! We also got distracted and found an astronaut helmet, one for Cuz and M, and a pirate eye patch which she has long asked for.

Then girls came home to swim! and they had a ball. They even cooperated when it was time to leave to take Friend home and swap children again. Then came the even worse part. Seems like everythime I am going to get my kids weird things happen. Not long ago it was the hit and run in my front yard that took out the traffic light sign. Then it was this huge storm that came out of nowhere and caused me to have to dodge tree branches. This time as I'm at a red light...stopped. The 18 wheeler in front of me starts to roll back. No big deal. I understand they do this and I don't ride bumpers. But he continues to move closer and closer to my car. At this point I am laying on my horn! I mean seriously. And put my car in reverse anticipating trying to get out of this guys way...but I (unlike him) have to check to see if I'm going to hit anyone. And then he hits me. This is almost simultaneous to me realizing that I have some space to back up cause I'm not sure if he's going to keep coming or not. Then the light turns green. And I'm thinking that he is going to pull over, and he doesn't.

Bad has now turned to worst. I am dialing 911 and instinctively putting my car in drive to chase him down (honking all the while). Finally about 3-4 lights down (all the while on the phone with a dispatcher), I get his attention and he pulls over. He is irritated and clearly doesn't want to file a report. Well, he didn't seem extremely trustworthy and I like to do things by the book so we have filed. Thankfully everyone was ok and the air bag didn't deploy so that I could chase him down. I mean that would have been even worse if he had hit and run for real. Let me tell you it is hard to pull over an 18 wheeler without police lights. All in all it is working out ok. We have to take some digital pics and get 2 estimates, but everyone has been pretty nice considering.

Was gonna take M to vacation bible school tonight...and still might, but she fell asleep inside her Rose Petal Cottage while she was playing. Late naps were a result of all the chaos of the day. I'm looking forward to going to sleep so that I can try again tomorrow!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Using What You Have...and other things

Tonight, after catching up on one of my fave blogs, I was encouraged to play raid the pantry, raid the freezer. In the spirit of using what I already had, I had put away in the freezer a casserole gone array in the hopes of getting a second chance. See there is this dish we like to call Texas Hash that I used to have to eat all the time and desperately didn't like it. Well, I'm a grown up now and though that I'd get the recipe from my grandma and try it. So I tried it awhile back but only after it was supposed to be finished cooking did I discover that the rice was supposed to either have been pre-cooked or of the minute/instant variety. So I had this dish that was deliciously flavored with hard rice bits in it. So sad. I froze it and decided I'd thaw it later in a pot of hot beef broth and hope it not only cooked the rice but also made a pretty decent soap of sorts.

Today was that day. I had left over cornbread from the red beans and rice I made. I had sticky white rice that was leftover from the chinese we had eaten earlier. So I pulled out the beef broth and thawed out the existing casserole. I put in the rice and it smelled fantastic! I was the only one brave enough to try it initially. And it was awesome! It was the consistency of gumbo over rice...soupy but chunky...almost stew like. And it tasted great with a nice spicy kick at the end. So I tell this to my hubs and his interest is peaked. He tries a little first and then decides to fix it up the way he does with chili! Fantastic he says! It's like the best chili I've ever had! Haha!

So I feel I have succeeded on two counts or maybe three...not wasting and therefore saving money. Getting my hubs to eat leftovers! And getting a compliment out of it all at the same time!

Now onto the other things...we have been at wits end with mosquitos here. You'd think we'd know a thing or two about all this in that we previously lived in New Orleans, but alas. Nothing we have been doing has worked for very long. Until now! J tried as a last ditch effort to rid our usable outdoor areas of the pest by going to the CVS across the street and getting the only 2 boxes of moth balls they had. He tossed them all around the outside and smelled foul afterwards! But we have been very nearly mosquito free at our door and getting into our cars! It is hard for us to believe. We both had very little faith. And supposedly after the first rain it is really supposed to kick in. So we shall see.

And onto a 4 yr olds discussion in the bathtub...I'm bathing the kids together and I'm cleaning W's essential areas when M says that his private look weird. I say well remember boys and girls have different privates. She said yes but his look weird. I say well his are on the outside and hers are on the inside and then she interrupts me saying, "But what is it called?" And I say it does have a name. it's (the p word which i'll refrain from spelling out lest I get strange lerchers). To which she basically acts as though she hasn't really heard me (and I'm a little relieved) and said I call it a wootie. I'm just guessing that's how you would spell that. Oh! I say, now understanding that she doesn't care about technical terms...I say, hmmm, well I guess sometimes we call it a wee wee. To which she replied, I'll just call it a wootie. But we're not supposed to talk about that. I say, well, you can talk about it with mommy, just not when we are out or at the dinner table. the bathtub is the perfect place to talk about that kind of stuff if you need to.

Oh the entertainment value of kids!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Birthdays

My kids bdays are creeping up on me. I have had so many things on my plate that it is a good thing that I put things away for presents all year! Otherwise I'd be in bigger trouble than I already am. We'll be having multiple parties as usual. We technically already had M's bday bash at Monkey Joes with her school friends. She's the youngest of the bunch and had been attending there's all year. So the big shindig is out of the way.

However, for M's first bday we had 2 huge blowouts! And for W, poor 2nd born...I have barely thought about it. I decided that the Hallquist side of the family's celebration will be themed with dogs. Dogs are seriously one of W's favorite things! I don't know why. We don't own one, but not only does he sign the sign for dog, but he says "Gog" and makes barking sounds. So we'll have a dog cake and probably plates and such. But this will not be quite the same ordeal as was M's first bday party. The we'll have anoher celebration for both M and W when we visit the Young side of the family in July. You see my kids bdays are 6 days apart. W will be 1 and M will be 4!

As for presents...what do you get a 1 year old. Most of my facebook suggestions say not to get him much. just have good family fun and take lots of pics. I like that. I actually do have lots of things put away for him...but they are not quite age appropriate yet. I have an immaculate rug that has roads and a town on it for car play when he gets bigger. I have tons of those cardboard bricks for building...again when he is bigger...there is more, but just not ready for those yet.

For M, I have one main thing that I got in a yard sale before Christmas. It is a Fisher Price FP3 player. It is for kids and is downloadable with headphones. I also have a Transparent Man that I got at the Goodwill Clearance Center for $1.09/lb. He is missing some of his parts, but I don't think that really matters at this age. She is just so interested at whats on the inside of her body.

Should be interesting to see what else I come up with. I do want to get W a little tikes hammer, cause he loves his but it has a short and only works part of the time. And I am looking to get M one of the MLP's she's been asking for since before Christmas.

Also get to schedule and accomplish their yearly pics! So much to add to my plate!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Anticipation

I have entitled my post thus because I am living in anticipation of July. June has been crunch month in so many ways. As for summertime activities, we have been filled with June time things and not so much for July. As for PartyMe Princess roll out dates...they are happening the first of July, if not the very tail end of June. Not to mention my baby turns 1 on June 30th! And my first born will be 4, 6 days later! Sheesh!

I anticipate that July will be, in a lot of ways, a more laid back and relaxed month. Some things are very much under way as far as an ad for my business. The costumes are done (for the most part), the pics have been taken, the website should be up and running in another week or two...and then I wait. For phone calls and parties to book. And the truly busy work of this business will be over and I can move into the maintenance phase.

Of course I will still have to manage the thing with actual visits, calendar updates, LLC paperwork and a separate bank account, taxes...But the due dates and crunch time things will be minimal and for that I will be glad.

On the home front, baby boy still has his adorable curls! Couldn't bear to cut them yet. M is in VBS this week and for whatever reason she says she doesn't like it and just wants to go home to her mommy. Think that may have more to do with being out of school and trying to reattach the umbilical chord. Poor little lost girl... Still she's doing well all things considered. Looking forward to a visit from our cuz and Nani!

Fine in 2009 is going well! Don't know if I've lost much weight, but I have definitely lost inches and that counts for more if you ask me. I feel better about my appearance and that is what matters most...not to mention I'm definitely on the road to better health! I mean I hadn't excercised regularly since high school! My mental health is taking a summer dip as I'm trying to juggle the attention of 2 children 24/7 and a side business start up in addition. Think things will ease up as school approaches and the business moves to a steady, maintenance phase. We shall see.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Summer is Upon Us

I know it's not officially summer, but you wouldn't know that in my house! Today we played in the sprinkler. It was extra hot and there seemed an extra supply of mosquitos and ants in our yard! I stayed in my pj's all day. That's right, you read that correctly...even while playing outside! I have more to do than I can possibly imagine. Even when breaking it up into smaller sections, I still can't seem to get things done.

A great deal of the latter problem has to do with my nearly 4 yr old "M" who seems to be absolutely beside herself with cluelessness at not being able to go to school. It's like she's lost and doesn't have any idea what to do, so she wants my constant attention. This was cute for just shy of 3 days...I want you to hold me. But I don't just want you...as an excuse for not napping or wanting to nap. It's not just me though. Sometimes she says I want my daddy, where is my daddy? And twice today she has said that she wanted her brother.

Good thing Fairy Princess Dance Camp is next week! Hope they still have openings as I haven't signed her up yet. Then, 4th week in June is beach vacation, and the week following that is Backyardigans Camp in North Carolina. At some point in July we will likely make a trip to play with Gammy and Pawpaw and Cousin B in Alabama. Then in early Aug. M will go to an orientation camp at her new Montessori school! Probably the summer will go by faster than it seems at the moment.

W is nearly a year and in desperate need of a hair cut. He is cruisin all over the place and jabbering up a storm. He's not quite brave enough to take that first step, but he seems to be very near giving it a try. He doesn't sign much but seems to fully understand the use of the sign "get down?" when he wants to roam free. He is a chunk. Very easily into 24 month clothes and he's not quite a year.

I am on my way to being fine in 2009. I said it was the year for it and i have not shyed away from making that happen. I signed up at a gym and have been working out nearly everyday for about a month. I've lost at least 5 pounds so far. Hard to say as I don't own a scale. I have signed up for the summer at a tanning salon. Now I have mixed feelings about this, but for this year I'm letting it go. It has allowed me to build some relationships and minister in ways I never would have. I pray God continues to cultivate those relationships and allows me somehow to be a light to those I have met and am in constant contact with.

Speaking of relationships, I'm loving my best friend on this side of the country, B. Nice to have a friend nearby to relate to.

Things are moving along with both of hubs and my new businesses. My new business involves Princess Party Hosting and Appearances. I've gathered up almost all of the costume materials and wigs. In fact, I made an appearance this past weekend as the Under the Sea Princess at a Grand Opening. You can see the pics on facebook! I'm working with a gal to advertise in the upstate parent mag for July so I've got some pics to make rather quickly. But first, we have a yard sale this weekend! Saturday at 8am. So I've got to get prepared for that. It's nice really cause even though it's a lot of work, the result is much like a good Clean Spring Cleaning! Can't wait for this month to be over though and it has only just begun! So much to do and not enough time! So forgive me if I do not post much till after July 6th or so!