Thursday 13: Catching Up

I haven't written here in awhile. I actually have like seven drafts since my last post but I never actually finished them. I do that a lot. :-/ I either get bored with it, get busy, or I change my mind about posting what I'm writing about.

But...I really like doing Thursday 13...I like lists. :) So here's 13 updates for our life lately...

1. Last week, the girls and I had lunch at a sports bar. A local non-profit group that I support was having a donation drive and lunch there. The girls just thought it was SO cool that they were in a BAR and there were BEER signs on the wall! :-P But there was no beer going on...just lunch. I had chicken tenders, Ashlyn had corn dog bites and chips, and Aubry had a grilled cheese sandwich and waffle fries. ;) And there was a lot of items collected so I'd say it was a pretty good day!

2. Last weekend we went to Chuck E Cheese. A lot of parents loathe that place, but I like it. They have good pizza and it keeps the girls occupied for awhile. I really, really love that the kids can keep their cash-out tickets (and they never expire!) to save up for a bigger item instead of just coming home with crappy plastic tops and candy all the time. The girls each found something for 1500 tickets. They have about 1000 more to go! 

3. We also went to the drive-in last weekend. We go about once a year and the last couple years my parents have gone with us. We pack up some snacks and drinks in the cooler and take some chairs and enjoy the evening! We saw Ice Age 4, Brave, and Madagascar 3. My mom slept through the last two movies and Ashlyn fell asleep about 20 minutes before the end of the last movie. ;) But me, dad, and Aubry stayed up for all three! We had a really good time. I love the drive-in because it's a lot more economical. All 5 of us are able to see 3 movies for $28...it costs that much for just me and the girls to see 1 evening movie at the theatre. 

4. Tonight the girls and I went to Michaels. I found a 25% off coupon that's good until Saturday. Since it's been so dang hot lately (it was 106 today and supposed to be even worse the next couple days) we've been doing a lot of arts and crafts. I wanted to pick up some canvases. They had value packs on sale...I got 5 16x20 and 7 12x12 for $15 each. There was also a rolling 10 drawer cart on sale for $38. Then we grabbed a couple little art sets the girls picked out and some acrylic paints that were on sale for $.89 each. I got it all for the original price of the organization cart! Here's our art area now (in my bedroom). 

 

5. One simple art project we did not too long ago was one I found on pinterest. You just trace your hands and draw lines across the paper with curved lines where your hand is...makes your hand look 3D on the paper. The other picture is something I used to do when I was in middle school...the teacher would draw a line and you would draw a picture from it. I also found this site on pinterest and printed a bunch of coloring pages. We've spent a lot of time coloring them before bedtime. 

 

6. I took pictures of the girls and my nieces this month. My oldest niece has hit a stage where she HATES to have her picture taken. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of all four girls but I got a couple good shots that day anyway: 

  

  

 

7. And then there was some swimming: 

 

8. Board games are another favorite on a hot summer day: 

 

9. A good friend of mine just had a birthday last week. He is a big fan of all things Civil War. We went out to dinner with several friends and I gave him this picture that I drew. It turned out a LOT better than I expected. I usually do not draw portraits very well. Had I known it was going to come out looking so well, I would have used my charcoal pencils instead of a mechanical pencil! 

10. I am SO glad that Burn Notice is back on right now. It is one of my favorite shows...and it's nice to have some new episodes while all my other shows are on hiatus. The girls like Burn Notice, too, so we've been watching a lot of the older episodes that I have on DVD, too. 

11. I also recently found Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken really cheap on Amazon.com and bought it for the girls. I hadn't seen it since I was in middle school...but I knew they would love it. It has horses (which they love) and stars Gabrielle Anwar (who plays Fiona in Burn Notice) so they thought that was cool. 

12. Speaking of Amazon.com, I really, really love having free streaming video with my Amazon Prime membership. I've had it for quite awhile but never really took advantage of the streaming video part of the membership. I don't have cable and couldn't sleep one night...so I went looking for stuff to watch. There's SO MUCH on there. I started watching a new show...The Secret Life of An American Teenager. I like watching a series from the start so I'm all caught up now...and I like that it has new episodes through the summer, too. But there are a LOT of shows and movies on there...I could keep myself busy for quite awhile! 

13. I think today we are going to do one of the things in my Stuff To Do With The Kids board on Pinterest...but I can't decide which one! We might have to do a few. :) 

Happy Happy Happy!

- I'm happy that I'm starting to actually DO more with Pinterest. It's inspired me to think of new ways to be more organized. And I've tried some new recipes. Last week I had my parents and my sister over for Crockpot BBQ Chicken. It was hard smelling it cooking for 4 hours! Aubry and Ashlyn thought it was a bit spicy but everyone liked it. Last night, I had two leftover chicken breasts and I felt like more BBQ chicken. I decided to change it up a bit...biggest thing cooking it in the sauce on the stove instead of the crockpot. I cut it into strips so it didn't take long to cook. And it tasted AWESOME. It wasn't as spicy, either, so I think the girls will like it better, too. I kinda just threw some ingredients together but I did try to put the recipe together and added it to pinterest. My cameraphone doesn't take the most awesome food pictures but I only had about 5 seconds before I started stuffing my face. ;) This summer I hope to do a lot of the craft projects with the girls that I've found on pinterest.

- I've started playing Draw Something. I've seen people talking about it for awhile and I downloaded it...but hadn't played. Last night I couldn't sleep because of vertigo and a headache so I thought I'd jump in. I really like playing it...even though it kinda makes me feel a bit self-conscious about my art skills. Especially when they can see the pictures you've "trashed" too. lol. :P I've discovered I'm really not that great at drawing with my finger on my phone. And I have a Zagg screen protector and it's kinda rubbery-ish and not very smooth so that doesn't help. But I've really liked playing and seeing what other people draw. :) My username is tinycandi if you want to play with me!

- The school called to say that Ashlyn has a fever so I went to pick her up. I'm not happy that she's sick...but I'm happy that it means we get to cuddle on the couch together until her dad gets home from work. She's asleep now.

- Watching CSI Miami makes me happy...and I'm super happy that there were new episodes this week. Of course, I haven't watched the two newest episodes because I've been busy working on pictures so I just watch reruns on my TV instead of the new ones on my computer. But they're there when I'm ready! :)

- Speaking of pictures...I finished the 1 week photo shoot of my niece! So now I just have her baptism pictures...which I'm about 1/4 of the way through. :P But I really like working on my pictures so it's not too bad. After the baptism pictures I'll have some time to catch up on my own...I have Ashlyn's music program and need to catch up on my 366day photo project.

- The weather is BEAUTIFUL. Today it's supposed to be 80 here in Kansas! My friend Mark is going to take me out for a ride on his motorcycle this week...if the weather stays nice. So hopefully it works out! :)

- My phone is dying...which doesn't really make me happy...but I am available for an upgrade in April so that makes me happy! I think I'm going to get the HTC Rezound...anyone have any experience with that phone? According to the specs it has everything I want (mostly impressed with the 8mp rear camera and 2mp front camera). Right now I have the HTC Incredible which I've LOVED but after the phone upgrade a couple months ago, my phone hasn't been the same. It randomly turns off, does funny things when I'm on the phone, and just in the last couple weeks my speaker blew. BUT...just one more month and I get a brand spanking new phone! :) Shiny new electronics make me happy.

- I'm just in a really good mood today...which is nice because I guess I've been PMSing the last week...I've been pretty darn cranky. So...being happy goes on my happy list! :)

What is your happy list? Link up and share!

1 week

I took pictures of each of my nieces when they were 1 week old.

Here are a few of Bug in April 2010:




And here are a few of Bebe in March 2012:

Happy!

I literally have about a dozen unfinished posts in my "drafts" folder. Most of them end up being long rants about my ex-husband...because it seems his aim lately is to be the biggest jerk ever. Then I get myself all mad again and never end up finishing them. Because really...all it boils down to is that he's the biggest jerk ever.

SO...instead of wasting my time rehashing things that never change anyway...here's a much more happy post!



I'm happy that...

...I made some progress getting photos done. I took the 1-week photos of my niece over a period of 2 different days and I finished post-processing the first batch. Now I just have the second day of photos to finish and her baptism photos that I took on Sunday.

...My grandma called me yesterday and left a voicemail telling me how cute I looked in my black corduroy pants and my grey shirt while I was taking photos on Sunday. It's always nice to hear something like that...but it was extra nice because I was feeling pretty sicky over the weekend.

...I was finally able to take the girls to the eye doctor (I had to take it upon myself to get the girls' insurance card because XH wouldn't give me one). I'm really glad...because Ashlyn has been having some difficulty at school...and it turns out that the issue is likely because of her eyes. We're hoping that the glasses she is getting will help that! And I have to say...she looked pretty cute trying them on. Hopefully they will come in soon...she asks me everyday if they've arrived yet. :)

...Had my parents over for dinner tonight and that's always nice, too!

Overall, it's been a pretty good week. :)

Slacker-ness!

I don't think slackerness is actually a word. Actually I did google it...I found it on urbandictionary.com but I don't think that counts. But anyway...it's been about 4 days since I wrote in here and I was hoping to be a little more consistent.

I've been feeling like crap the last 2-3 weeks. I've had a constant headache. Sometimes it's better and sometimes it's unbearable. It's definitely wearing me out, though. It's also messing with my sleep. I was all excited because I actually got to bed at like 8:30pm...except then I woke up at 11:30pm and now I can't sleep. :P At the moment my head doesn't hurt very bad though so I'm putting that in the plus column.

Right now I'm trying to work on some photo-editing. My mom took some photos for me and I've been working on getting the finished product done. I'm also watching Dawson's Creek while I work. Did anyone else watch that show in the 90s? I was in high school at that time so it was rather pertinent to my life. I spent every week during the first several seasons watching the show with a friend of mine. It's funny to go back and watch it now that my life has experienced a lot more things. Of course, it does make me a little terrified of the fact that my own children will be teenagers before I know it.

But for right now they're still my little girls. And they're doing really well in school! We just got report cards back from this quarter and I'm so proud of them! Aubry got all As including 100% in Science, Health/PE, and Music. She didn't get lower than 95% in any of her subjects. And Ashlyn got all As and 1 B! She is reading 3 levels ahead and her teacher says she is "an absolute joy to have in class." I have such good kids. :)

I'm contemplating school, too. I just graduated in December and I'm already thinking about going back. I really do want to become licensed...either as a social worker or psychologist. I could get my Substance Abuse certification and become licensed and start practicing without my Master's degree but it's limiting. And it would be almost 30 credits to get all the required coursework...but with about 15 more, I could actually have my Master's degree. But there's so many issues about going back to school...what program, where, how much, etc. So...trying to figure it all out.

But for now...back to editing photos.