The Great Purse Clean-Out of 2012

I would say that we are in Spring Cleaning mode.  But that would be a lie.  We are in "Company is Coming" cleaning mode.  Usually I don't care because people who know me know that I'm not obsessive about my house.  Sometimes it a little embarrassing and sometimes there are too many things going on to care.  Since we are having Clover's birthday party here, I'm tidying up more than usual.  The entry way hallway got cleaned out on Friday.  Apparently thats where all of the belts and purses go to die.  I have a bad habit of taking out my wallet and just leaving the purse.  The final count was ten hanging in the hallway.  All filled with old receipts and junk.  There were tons of snacks, about 28 crayons, four pairs of clean undies for Clover for those "just in case" moments, lotion, neosporin, boogie wipes and three bottles of nail polish.

Yeah, this was only half way through.

So after cleaning out ten bags I figured out that even though I forget to put it on, I have a lot of lip treatments.  Clover was hunting around the counter for treasures.  She managed to find $1.38 in change and stole one of my chap sticks.  So she scored.  After I cleaned out and sorted I washed most of them and hung them to dry.  Once they were dry I stored them back in the closet.  It's nice to have a clean entry way.    Hopefully it's a metephor for 2012.  The clean entry way, not the pile of junk I pulled out of my purse!  

That Time Of Year Again

 I'm going to get a little sappy on you.  My not so little Clover's birthday is coming up.  Her party planning started in January.  We started by picking a theme and brainstorming.  She is old enough now to have some major input on what she wants.  She even helped me make the invitations.  Even though I said we were doing a small party we ended up making 16 invites.

Im keeping myself busy with tiny details of party planning and vacation checklists.  Little bits to keep my mind distracted.  All that effort to stop myself from focusing on how my little baby is no longer a little baby.  She hasn't been a baby for while and mentally I know that but still...she's going to be 4 years old!  I know all you veteran parents out there are probably rolling your eyes and telling me to get over it.  Kind of how I giggle at new parents when I realize that I was once like that.

She will tell you that she is absolutely not a little baby anymore.  We've had many conversations about not to be rude when informing people that she is indeed a big girl.  There has been lots of "I"M NOT A BABY" moments.  She loves to correct waitresses and checkers at the grocery store.  One guy commented that she was being such a good girl and her first thought was "Mom, at least that guy didn't call me little!"

Since I can remember she has always had an opinion.  And even though we have our battles every now and then I really do love how independent she is.

Even her face looks like it's changing to me.  Every year I notice how much older she looks.  This year she is a preschooler.  That is so much older than I think I am ready for.  I was good with the infant/toddler years.  I had plenty of experience with that age group after having my own classroom for many many years.  After she outgrew that stage I have been winging it.

I can't help but get a little teary eyed when I think about how far we have come and how big she is getting.  They are absolutely happy tears.  I'm not sure why it seems to hit me so much right around her birthday.  I guess it's just that time of year again.

Wacky Fun

Yesterday was awesome.  We had a ton of Seussical fun to celebrate the author's birthday along with Read Across America day.  We played with Ooobleck and had lots of yummy treats!  I thought about writing a post but I already did a Sesuss quote page.

We also found this little gem on Netflix.  It's the Cat in the Hat play done by the Royal National Theatre.  There is a preview on YouTube.  I guess you can rent it on YouTube but you can also watch it on Netflix.  Clover has fallen in love with the play and follows along with her book.  The scenes are so much like the illustrations that it's so easy to find where she is in the book.

We had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures.  Bad me.

Don't Forget the Pig

Along with the dog, cat and multiplying hamsters...we also have a pig.  Not any pig.  A very snugglable, very loved pig named "Olivia"

She posed for the family Christmas picture.

Snugglings

I picked up the pig at Kohl's as part of their book special.  They do fund raising for the local children's hospital.  They have books for $5 and the accompanying stuff animals.  This was part of "If you give a pig a party".  I bought some books and the pig.  The pig sat in her room for some time as a decoration and then one day something made sense to Clover and from then on the two of them have been virtually inseparable.  

When I worked in a day care, parents were always telling me tales of stuffed animals and disaster.  I knew that eventually as a parent it could happen to me so I always thought I would prepare myself and buy two of everything.  Or at least know where I could buy a replacement.  But here is the thing...you never know what your child is going to get attached too.  EVAR.  There is no way you can predict these things.  The odds are worse than the lottery.  And if you do find something you think they might get attached to, like say for instance it's cute and you like it...it will, for reason be invisible to them.  Needless to say from that paragraph, I only bought one pig.  Since it was part of a book drive I can't just walk into the store and buy another one.  I could buy one off of ebay if I really get desperate, so there is always that option.

The last two weeks my little Clover has been fighting off a bug.  She got full blown sick and then it's just been lingering.  It seemed like every time I looked over at her she was wiping her nose on everything.  Including poor Olivia.  Olivia was pretty gross by the end of the week.  So into the pillow case she went and I tried my best to sneak her into the washer.  About twenty minutes later Clover asked me where she was.  Frantic that she couldn't find her.  She usually doesn't notice where she is during the day but for some reason her Olivia-sense was tingling.  She seemed quite upset that her pig was now in the dryer.  I told her how gross she was.  She calmed down a bit and waited.  When Olivia emerged from the dryer soft, clean and downy fresh,  it was like reuniting with her best friend.  The pillow case did a great job of protecting her eyes and tail from the washer.  Since she has been attached to Olivia for some time her neck is starting to get a little wobbly however.  It just occurred to me that I could preform surgery and add a little more stuffing in there.  It would have to be something I do while she is asleep.  I wouldn't want to traumatize her by cutting up her precious pig in front of her.     

Maybe I should have been more specific when I said I wanted to live on a farm.  It may not be my big red barn but there sure are a lot of animals around here!  

   

Happy Hearts Day!

Welcome to the Happy Sappy Love Song Station Hosted by yours truly this afternoon.  :)  Don't cap on my music taste either!  I love them all!

Along with Don't Give Up from Darren Hayes (via Grooveshark)
I love this song as well!
Bloodstained Heart Video via YouTube

One of my all time favorite songs
So Beautiful by Darren Hayes via YouTube

I love this song by JC.  No matter what I will always be right there by Hubby's side.
Right Here (By Your Side) via Grooveshark

Another song I love from JC.
You Ruined Me via Grooveshark

It's got what it takes.  So tell me
Why Can't This Be Love by Van Halen (Sammy) via Grooveshark

Because this song makes me laugh
I Wanna Have Your Babies by Natasha Beddingfield via YouTube

Blast from the Past
Get into the Groove by Madonna via Grooveshark

OH YEAH!

Have you ever had a moment where you want to shout something off of your rooftop?  I am having one of those moments!

A YEAR AND A HALF IN THE MAKING...AND IT'S FINALLY DONE!  252 HOURS OF KNITTING...2 HOURS FOR THE CROCHET BORDER.

If you knew how much I worked on this you would be shouting from the roof top with me!

Hubby's Zelda Blanket!  Yes, I know it's Link.

252 mitered squares!

Don't forget the sword.

The wheels started turning when I saw this Mario blanket crocheted with Granny squares.  I discussed it with the Hubs since he is a retro gamer.  He said he was much more of a Zelda fan boy than Mario.  I was never that into Zelda but since it was his blanket I went with his idea.  I started sketching out a chart which I thought would be easy since it is 8 bit so it's all squares anyways.  Three charts later I came up with the chart.

I freaked out about three times when I lost it.

After a year and a half this is what it looked like.  

This is a point in the story where I say that I meant for it to be a massive project but that would just be a lie.  When I started I wanted it to be lap blanket.  I obviously didn't concentrate on gauge.  When I started I knew that each square would take an hour so I wanted the square to be large enough to justify knitting for an hour.  I don't knit little things.  If I spend the time on it I want it to be big.  It is huge.  So much larger than my king size bed.  No wonder it took a year and a half.  Although I did take a couple breaks from it to work on some baby blankets.  I started with three skeins of each color and lost track of how many times I went back to the craft store for more.  It is knit in acrylic.  And there is where the hard core knitters *gasp*.    But after you wash it with some fabric softener it softens up.  I wanted to keep track of everything so I could write my own tutorial but I lost track of so many things so many times I just gave up.  So it's not really a tutorial or anything.  I just wanted to scream that IT'S DONE!  

Adapting

Adapting seems to be the theme around here as of late.

I guess I should fill you in.  I'm okay.  I will be okay.  I just have to change the way I do things and adapt to my condition.  My MRI showed a Chiari (Ky-Ry as my Neurologist pronounces it) Malformation.  The spot where my spinal cord connects to my brain is lower than where it's supposed to be.  It's something I may have been born with and have had my whole life.  Apparently one in five people have it.  It's been causing some weird symptoms which so far have been annoying.  They aren't exactly sure if it was what was causing my dizziness or not.  I am getting a lot of could be's and maybes.  I guess that's why it's called "practicing" medicine.  The human body is very complicated.

So it's taken me some time to get used to the fact that I will have to live with all of this stuff for the rest of my life.  There has been some down points and in all honesty a bit of depression.  It's been difficult to get out of this hole.  Been...past tense.  I'm ready to move on.  There are still so many things I can do.  The list of things I can do is greater than the list of things I can't.  So I am taking that momentum and running with it.  Well, not literally because running is on the don't list.  There goes my dream of running a marathon.  The running thing isn't that big of a blow because like I have stated before...Juju doesn't run.

So...NO sky diving or bunji jumping.  No more roller coasters which is kind of a bummer because I love me some Space Mountain.  So basically nothing that will jar my neck all around.  And I am limited to lifting no more than 15 pounds.  So let me introduce you to the newest member of the household...

I'm lazy!

  
I got tired of making ten trips out to the truck to get the groceries so now I can just wheel everything in.

It's been about perspective, adapting and keeping a positive attitude!  I may not have the greatest of health but I have my Hubby, my Clover, my loving supportive friends and family, my positive outlook and my run on sentences that make up my blog.  Sorry it's been so far between posting.  I'm starting to get back to things as I work on everything in between.