January 21, 2010

I took this test that I found through http://www.jessicasprague.com/ on one of her blog posts and I thought I would share. You can find the test here: http://www.sproost.com/

My results really didn't come as any surprise to me, I mean come on I live in a log cabin in the woods. Granted both of those were my husbands idea, but I didn't balk much.

I thought maybe this site would give me some great ideas for our "new" bedroom once we get moved down there.

Anyway, here are the results I got:

Traditional Country

Even if your backyard isn't acres of farmland and you don't actually have a chicken coop, your house sure brings you back to a time when that was the case. You love spaces that feel casual and lived in. Furniture is practical and comfortable, and yet at the same time it's very stylish. The best part of country style is how much it highlights collection and found objects. Antiques here, garage sale finds there, Aunt Milly's hand-me-downs throughout. Unique items that used to serve very practical purposes are now on display, and their history seems to permeate the home. Each space in the home seems to invite friends and family to come in and stay a while. There is a true sense of home felt throughout.

Materials

When it comes to materials in Traditional Country homes, think rustic, warm and comfortable. Wood or natural tile floors, natural or painted wood tables and chairs, and natural materials on the soft furnishings. Stripes, plaids and florals are popular and often all are mixed in one room. Soft vintage leather and suede are common, and wrought and rusty iron also reinforce the rustic nature of the rooms. Large wood pieces of furniture are very common, and help manage storage throughout the home. Wallpaper is very popular and most often highlights floral patterns. For traditional country, the concept of minimalism is avoided at all costs. It's the collections that give the space character and reinforce the lived-in nature of the spaces.

Colors

For color, spaces can go either bright and airy or soft and muted. Think of the countryside in spring and summer with yellows, bright greens and blues. Or you can go for more of a fall country day, and go a bit darker but still stay in the earth tones. Dark browns, reds and greens. Either direction you go in, be it light or dark, the key is warmth. Traditional country rooms rarely, if ever, feel cold.

Well this all fits my entire house. The only bold color I have in my home now is in Josie's playroom and it is turquoise and lime green. With pink accents. I love this room and it makes me want to bring more color in.

Our new room has a beige color wall and instead of painting the whole thing, one because of the shelves around the top of the room, two because of money, I think I will be painting the bottom some shade of brown. I am thinking a chocolate color and then have accents of red in our room. And I'm talking RED, everything in my home is blue, burgundy, and green and I'm over it!!! I am slowly trying to redo things and have actually used some things I have to redo it. I also plan on crafting as much of it I can myself. With my new sewing machine and all! :-)
That's it for now!

January 18, 2010

Well unfortunately I do not get Martin Luther Kind day off. So I am here at work, doing nothing and twiddling my thumbs.
I've been trying to figure out something to start a business up on Etsy. I've wanted to do this for a while but after Josie was born I just didn't have the time. Now that she is a little older, she is allowing me to do some of my own things. Or it's easier to pacify her. I don't know which! :-)
Anyway, I was thinking either sewing some kind of things, but that one I'm new to so I don't' think that would be a wise decision until I get my sewing machine down pat. So then I thought about doing some miniature scrapbooks. Maybe like a theme scrapbook that a person would buy and then put their own pictures in. Which that one I am still leaning towards, because I love doing it and that I know I am good at. I would really enjoy it if I could figure out how to also do it digitally like I am doing with Josie's books to date. So much quicker. But I do really like the little theme albums.
Then I also thought about cupcakes! I absolutely love cupcakes. Give me a cupcake any day over a full cake. So I went to Barnes & Nobles not with this in mind at all. I had this idea several months ago but talked myself out of it. Knowing all the "food" rules with my Mom being a Unit Leader in the cafeteria for so many years. But then I ran across this book and it got me thinking about that again. I mean what is the difference between that and all of these wedding cake decoraters that do that in the house as well. Plus I don't' have any inside animals anymore, unless you count Mikey! :-) So why not?!
So I have convoed someone on Etsy about this and how to get started. So we'll wait and see. Now I just need to come up with a name but with cupcakes being my main store and the scrapbooks being a secondary item. Any suggestions?!

This weekend it had warmed up out so Mikey put Josie's coat on her and let her go out and run around the deck. Levi is loose and on the deck. Last fall she was scared of him if he got to close. But not now. Mikey knocked on the window for me to look and she was yelling at "Evi" to "itdown!". It was so cute. She looked so small standing next to Levi. She was doing really good with him, didn't mind him much and he didn't mind her either. But then he got in her face sniffing and done his snorting and that was all she wrote. Mike had to bring her in and she came crying to me "Mommy, Evi, (raspberries), Evi, (raspberries)" It was funny! But then about 10 minutes later she was back at yelling for him through the windows.
She is learning so much right now and I absolutely love it!!! We were playing this weekend and she was signing Ring around the Rosie, you can really understand the Ashes, Ashes part and the Fall Down part.
She is also playing with her Lego blocks and actually connecting them and stacking. Then when we were done and we were cleaning up, we sing the clean up song, because Kayla does that. And she has said Clean up for quite sometime, but while we were singing it, she also said Everybody. Stopped me in my tracks, and I asked Mike if he heard her. Which he didn't and she hasn't said it since.
Really is making me not want to be at work, because I don't want to miss anything she is doing and learning. But I know I have to be here. Sorry baby girl!!! :-(
Well that's it for now. I'm in the process of working on my photos so that should be coming up soon as a post.

01-15-10

Today is Granny Glodyne's birthday. Happy 79th Birthday Granny! We are going to her house tonight and Mom is making cheeseburgers and french fries. Sounds so yummy to me! I have been craving them.
I have decided I will not be getting a Flu Mist next year. I have been sick three times now already this winter. I am never sick. I didn't think much about the first two sicknesses because Josie was sick and I caught it from her. But this time only Mommy has the cold and I am trying my hardest to not give it to her. Her being sick is absolutely NO FUN!!! She won't let anyone else deal with her except for Mommy. Which I love that she is so dependent on me, but on the other hand it is also very tiring!
For her 2nd Christmas, it wasn't all that much fun. She got strep throat. I took her to the Dr on Tuesday morning the 22nd. They took a strep culture but said it was negative. The poor kid kept running a fever. I was switching Tylenol and Motrin trying to help her with her comfort level. She would do okay about an hour after you would give her one and then about an hour before it was time for her next dose, you could tell she was really uncomfortable and her temperature would get really high. Well the Dr's office called on Wednesday evening right before I left work and said that she did have strep. So off to Marsh I went to get her Amoxycillin. All Christmas this is what we dealt with. She didn't feel well enough to have much fun and no one could touch her except me.
I came down with it on late Saturday evening. I laid around all day Sunday and told Mike that if what I had was what she had I didn't blame her for being so grouchy! That was awful.
By New Year's we were all doing good.
Then she got to enjoy all of her new Christmas presents. She got a bounce house from Grandpa & Grandma Jones. That thing is huge and is taking up my kitchen and living room but she plays in it daily and really likes it. I have been trying to get a good picture of her in it but haven't succeeded yet.
She got a kitchen from Papa Doug and Mama Carole and we have "offee" daily. Along with pancakes. She really likes playing with it.
She got an American Girl stroller from Uncle Rick, Aunt Michelle, Riley and Kayla. The girls always fought over Kayla's at her house so Michelle got Josie her own. She is really getting into playing with her dolls. She will sing Rock a Bye to them. And now she even cradles them and bounces them around the house saying "shh shh". Just like Mommy does to her.
Mommy & Daddy got her a 4 wheeler. When we can get her on it, she likes it but she doesn't get on it much yet. I figure this spring she will have fun with it out on the decks.

Josie's actions and temperament right now at 17 months:

• She loves to color. And when she says color she rolls her "r". Sounds very redneckish.
• Is obsessed with Elmo, we have to tell her Elmo is sleeping. But now she is also getting into the other characters and when you tell her Elmo is sleeping, then she will say Big Bird, sleeping, Cookie, sleeping, Abby, sleeping, Grover, sleeping and lastly Zoe, sleeping. Then she gets off the subject for a few minutes.
• She is singing along with her cartoons now.
• She loves books. She will sit down in the floor open them up and just start babbling as if she is reading them. We took her to Barnes and Nobles on New Year's for the first time and she wanted her coat and hat off right then and just started going through the books. Made Mommy very happy because I love books.
• She is more about fruit than she is about chocolate. She was a sweets baby but now all she wants is fruit.
• She throws everything. Especially when you are getting on to her for something. That gets really annoying and I can't wait til she outgrows that one.
• When she knows she is going to "Aunt Chelle's", she will say "Iley" for Riley but she won't say anything about Kayla, so when you say what about Kayla she will say "Be Nice". Those two fight, take toys from one another and Josie pulls Kayla's hair. Mom says it is getting Michelle & I back for all the arguing we did.

I think I have us all caught up now.

14 Days Left

I can't believe we only have 14 days until Christmas. Seriously, where does the time go?! I am excited to see how Josie does this Christmas. She is starting to understand things. She points at our trees and says "pitty". When we go to bed at night she waves at her snowman outside and her tree in the toy room and tells them 'night night". She is trying to say Merry Christmas but only gets out "mas". She is noticing the houses with the lights on them.

And here I am, it's not even Christmas yet and I'm already obsessed about her birthday party this year. I know she is going to change her likes and dislikes between now and next August but I can't help but think about it. I was thinking about Elmo because she loves him and Cookie Monster but I know that could change by then. So now I'm really thinking about finding either an outfit for her to wear that day and plan it around that or a piece of fabric for the tablecloths and plan around that. Or I've even thought about planning around her birthday month items, such as flowers are gladiolous and water lillies. Something like that.

Really what it boils down to is I love to throw parties and now that i have her i have a reason to do it. I would love to figure out how to get a business up and going around here that revolves around children's birthdays. But I don't know how to go about promoting it.

I called Rising Star yesterday and I think I am going to enroll her in a tumbler class that they have. That is really the only thing I can find here for her age group to get her involved in. Everything that I am finding is during the week and not every Mom has the luxury of not having to work people! You need to have some weekend stuff too.

Josie is really picking up on a lot of words. She now says:

aner "hanger"

andy "candy"

pease "please"

Thank you

co off "coat off"

at "hat"

ooh-daa "doo-daa" (her play sweeper sings doodaa day)

She also getting to be very independent and doesn't really want your help on much. She is also definitely testing her boundaries. You can tell her no fifteen times over one thing and she will consistently do it while you are telling her no and smile about it. Very frustrating! And Mommy is going to have to get a sturdier backbone. Sometimes she'll push me and it's easy to get on her, others, I choose my battles. It's really easy when its something that will hurt her and she seems to get the maddest about those things when she is corrected.

Tomorrow we are going to see Santa at Fountain Square and we'll see how that goes. We ran into Lisa and the boys at the mall Saturday when we went to get our pictures taken so we took the kids down to Santa and we have a picture of the boys on Santa and Josie on Jordan's lap and she is crying. She might be better with Riley & Kayla but I guess we'll find out.

Then after the girls wake up we are going to do our Gingerbread houses. We didn't do them last year because I wasn't up to it, so this is the first year for Kayla. Riley likes doing them because after Christmas is over, he takes it outside and runs it over with his Gator. Which this year he will have to run over it with his 4-wheeler cause he has outgrown his Gator.

Well that's it for now! I'm tryin to add some photos but this thing won't let me!

Thankful For!

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for:
Josie (so much more than you can imagine)
Mikey
My Family
Having the assistance to be over Postpartum Depression (awful!!!)
My Home
My Job
and everything else the good Lord has provided for us.

Now on to the new stats from her 15 month appointment. (Technically 15 mo. and 3 weeks)
Height: 32.5 In (90-95%)
Weight: 24 lbs 2 oz (50-75%)
Stage of development: 21 month and 1 week (she gets that from Mommy! tee-hee tee-hee)

We have had to move up to size 7 in shoes and I don't think it will be long until it will be size 8. She can wear them now but I don't like putting shoes on her that are too big and she can possibly slide around in. I know it would be cheaper in the long run.
We have been potty training now for about 2 wks. I was going to wait until after Christmas but I think she had other plans. Some days she is really into it, others she could care less.
She got her first really bad cold on November 4th thanks to typhoid Kayla. At least that's who we're blaming. She was sick first. Anyway, Wednesday night she laid in bed with me for about an hour and watched TV. That is so unlike her so I knew something was up. She went to bed that night with a 99 degree temperature. Then Thursday morning when we woke up she was roasting and had a 102.3 temperature. We fought the temperature all weekend. By Monday, it was gone but she still felt awful. Plus on top of that she had more molars coming in. When we went to the Dr on the 20th she was still coughing, although it was better, and she still had a snotty nose. So he put her on Amoxycillin for the first time. She loves that stuff. If she sees her syringe on the counter or her medicine in the fridge. She is pointing, whining and saying "cine". I don't know what we'll do when it runs out! :-)
Speaking of her talking, she is picking up so much now and understands what I am telling her. She is mommy's little helper. I can give her laundry and tell her to go put it in the basket and she will. She also takes her toothbrush to the sink when I tell her, and goes and gets her clothes and throws trash away.
She is in to sitting on the counter while I am in the kitchen working so that she can see what I am doing. I'll be glad when she can stand on a chair and not have to worry about her falling cause it's awfully hard trying to do something with supper and having little hands flying into what you are doing! :-) Especially scrambled eggs! YUCK!!!
If you wash your hands, she is pulling up her sleeves and saying "eeves" and "osh". Kind of makes me not want to wash my hands sometimes cause I know she's gonna be next!
Speaking of talking she says the following:
appy "Happy"
oncle "Uncle" (She is obsessed with Uncle Nathan)
Mama (Mama Carole)
Papa (Papa Doug)
Gma "Grandma" (Angalene)
Iley "Riley"
Ayla "Kayla"
crackie "crackers"
eeves "sleeves or leaves"
spooky "anything Halloween related"
ash "trash"
aci "pacifier"
peepee "potty"
ower "shower"
ath "bath"
urkey "turkey"
eer "ear or deer"
pitty "pretty"
incess "princess"
ookie "cookie"
eat (she has that one down pat!)
ater "water"
ilk "milk"
ogu "yogurt"
uit "fruit"
hi "is either HI or if her hand is raised when she says it that means High Five"
ello "Hello"
Get Down "she has that one down pat as well and has a voice raising as she says it"
It Down "Sit Down and she has a voice raising on that one as well"
Eeth "Teeth" (when she wants to brush her teeth)
Ocky "Rocky" (in the rocking chair)
pus "purse"
ackpack "Backpack"
And when she says "pus" or "ackpack" she will also tell you bye as she is putting either one of them over her shoulder.
She still loves playing in her bed as well. We got her toy room done and she loves being down there playing. Everything for the most part is totally accessible to her and she can do it on her own.
I think I have covered it for the most part. I have already made my New Year's resolution that I will be better at this. So sorry for those of you that read this all the way through!