And this week

Well this week has been the same as other weeks I suppose. The beginning at least.

Shark and I went on a double date on Tuesday. It was really nice for us to go on a date. Lately our dates have had a 3rd wheel. It's not that we can't find someone to watch Danger, it's just that lately our dates have been sort of spur of the moment. We just sorta get in the car and go. 

Then Wednesday, The Headache hit me. It was the worst headache I've had since before the heart surgery! I haven't had a bad one like this in a long long time!! Thursday I went to the chiropractor and the crick in my neck went away, but the headache stayed. Today (Saturday) is day 4 of this blasted headache. Day 4 of the aura, of the lightheaded ness, of the dizzy spells, of the pain. Ugh. I can tell you, after I went to the chiropractor, the pain changed. I don't know how to explain it, it's like it went from an external pain that can be fixed to an internal pain that I just have to deal with. I've been dealing with headaches for a long long time. Thank goodness I have a flexible schedule and am able to just hang out on the couch with Danger. 

Friday I went to drop off stuff at the DI, then ran to Walmart, and I ended up parking next to a friend of mine! So we hung for a while that day. Her youngest son is 2 months older than Danger. I decided I needed something else to do so I thought I'd make some "calm down bottles" I found on Pinterest. 

The pink and purple don't have the stickers off yet, and I have to use goo-gone to get the sticker residue off the blue and green. I took SmartWater bottles, bought way more glitter than I'll ever need, and some tacky gel glue. I used hot water, poured the glue in first to mix it in, then dumped copious amounts of glitter in. Then, since super glue didn't keep the lid secure I used Gorilla glue. They last for about 3 minutes. 

I've been working on Christmas presents, wedding presents and baby gifts. My sister is getting married next week. (I KNOW!!!) And so I've been working on getting something together for them.  Danger and I are flying back to WI for the reception. It'll be his first time on an airplane. He's going to sit on my lap, he won't be 2 yet, so he'll be free. We're bringing a portable DVD player and plenty of fruit snacks. Grandma and grandpa are so excited to see him. 

This kid is why I can never find my cans of food!

Peace love and cheesy grins!

Me - 16 weeks. 

Thursday Nap 4-11

Well, hello again.

Nap times are a cherished thing around here. Whenever Shark is around, he and Danger take naps together.

When Shark is at work, Danger naps while I try to do something around the house.

Keyword : TRY

Anyways, today here is what I tried to accomplish.

Taxes. We've had our taxes done for over a month... We have already got our Federal return back, but we had to mail in our payment to the State. Which means I had to print out our State forms, which I have been totally slacking on.

So I printed out our completed return, and got the check ready to mail out. Too bad the mail man came 20 minutes early today....

Taxes for next year. Yes. I know I'm a planner, but I'm not that good. This year, my taxes are going to be a little different. I need to prepay on my taxes for my babysitting job. So I had to print out those forms.

More forms. One of my goals is to write up a living will. So I printed out those forms today too. Shark and I will start working on those forms on his next weekend.

Christmas. Yes, I am already working on this year's Christmas gift. I've got it all planned out, expect for a few people's gifts. Shark has 2 months where he gets a 3rd paycheck. Those months are so awesome! And I've already been talking to Shark about how we are going to allocate that "extra income." Here's the plan, some of the "extra" paycheck from the 1st month goes to Christmas, and some goes to registering our cars. (We NEVER plan for registering our cars!) The 2nd month's "extra" income is partly going to Christmas and partly going to our trip this Christmas, we're heading back to WI for Christmas with grandma and grandpa.

Shark says he likes it when our Christmas budget doesn't hit our bank account all at once. It hurts the money bone much less when the Christmas budget hits a bit at a time. Also, it's one of my goals to make and keep a Christmas budget. :) We shall see.

Yeah - so nap time was good time for me. I like getting things figured out.

I'm also pretty excited about Christmas this year. I mean, I'm excited every year. I'm excited to get/make gifts for each individual person on my list. I love finding THAT gift for them. I'm also planning on making quite a few things for people. This year, I've planned to only get/make a few things per person. It seems like every year I plan to only get each person a few things, and I always end up going over the top. I keep finding things for them, so I keep buying things for them. I feel like I'm being a cheapskate for only getting people 1 or 2 things.

 But this year, we are trying to get out of debt and save money. So this year we're pretty freaking serious about sticking to our holiday budget. Sorry everyone, but it's going to be a few things this year, like 1 or 2. Seriously.

But you're probably going to like it. You better!

Like I said, I'm excited about getting presents for people! I find things specifically for YOU!

Yay! Anyways, that's been my day so far. Just chilling with my little guy. We've been dancing to all kinds of music lately. That little guy loves getting his groove on. Too bad he stops dancing as soon as I pull out my camera. I'll try to get some footage of it soon!

Love to all -

Christmas 2012 photo dump

So, this year for Christmas, I didn't photo document my gifts as well as I have in the past. I bought a lot more than I have in the past, as well .

One thing I made this year, (that totally rocked!) was Ninja Turtle hats, with a mask that folds down over the eyes! I made one for Shark and his 3 siblings. They used to play Ninja Turtles growing up, they were each one of them, and Shark's dad made them all their own weapons. So I crocheted them hats! They loved them!

This year, my big thing I made for (almost) everyone, was Hogwarts House scarves. I made some Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. I made some of each, and I'm pretty sure they all loved them.

I also made sports team glasses. I found out which team they liked and I etched the team logo onto the cups. Pretty sure they loved those too.

I made an awesome plate for the grandparents (Shark's and mine).

 

(I'll post a pic once they all get it!!)

 

I made this freaking cute shirt for Danger cuz I realized he didn't have any Christmas shirt.

 

And now for the photo dump!

 So much cheese!

 Danger and Aunt!

 By the Power of Gray Skull!

Yeah man!

 Christmas!!

 

 scarf!

 shake shake shake

Little Man has started to make a CHEESE face when I get the camera out. Even if I'm just moving it from the shelf to the diaper bag! He toddles over with his huge CHEESY smile on his face. He squints his eyes up and has this big huge freaking grin! He's so stinking cute.

It's been so much fun discovering his little personality and finding out who he is. He loves buttons, and flicking switches. He loves shaking anything that makes noise. He also loves destroying things. But he's super cute when he's destroying things. For the most part, he only destroys his cheap dollar store toys. :)

We had a very Merry Christmas! We hope you all did as well. Happy New Year! Love to all!

binky clips

Ok, so I've been searching for a way easy binky clip. I've bough a few, but decided not to spend ANY more money on the, - cuz I knew I could make them!

So when I found tons of suspender clips on Amazon AND that I had a credit on my account from a gift card, I jumped on it. {I found some mitten clips in the dollar section at Target, but only found 1 set! grr!}

So, cheap and easy binky clips! These clips are useable with ANY binky! I had a hard time finding a clip that would work for the Soothie binkys that Danger likes. The elastic cord fits thru and loops around any hold or ring!

What you need :
- suspender clip
- length of ribbon (I went for about 22-24 inches)
- elastic cord
- sewing machine

Ribbon and suspender clip.

Get your ribbon, fold over the edges and sew the ends in - facing the inside of the ribbon.

Now make sure when you put the clip on, the clip part is on the side you want, the outside of the ribbon.

Put your elastic between the sewn ends of the ribbon. Now I go to town and sew this bad boy up, like 20 times. Just make sure the ends are sewn together and the elastic is secured {remember, little ones are going to be tugging on this!} Don't lift the needle from the ribbon, just lift the foot and rotate the ribbon.

Sew down the edge of the ribbon, stop just short of the suspender clip, lift the foot and rotate the ribbon again, sew across the ribbon - parallel to the suspender clip, lift the foot when you get to the edge and then rotate the ribbon. Sew up the other edge of the ribbon, back to the end with the elastic.

So basically, you sew a square around the inside of the ribbon.

I love the football one I made for Danger!

suffering and crafts

So I've been missing for about a week. Shark has been sick. So work on top of school on top of sick means no ones been doing really anything but sleeping, eating and coughing.

Cuz oh yeah, I'm sick.

Yeah 3 days ago it was just a sore throat, but now its a full blown cough. Ugh.

Danger has a touch of the cough too. Humidifiers and vapor rub all around. Our house smells like a mix of Halls cough drops and eucalyptus. {spelled that one right on the 1st try!}

I'm going in today to InstaCare, to see if there's something they can give me, or hopefully to catch this before it becomes pneumonia. {spelled THAT one 1st try too!}

This weekend my sister in law and I got CostCo memberships. I love it. We might always have king size jumbo food service size containers at our house. Hmmmm we might need another fridge.

Also, my brain function hasn't returned to normal. I'm forgetting things and not remembering things off the top of my head like I used to. And it bothers me. I hate not being able to remember little things, like where something is, or all the places I need to go. Argh!!

I really wish I could watch Rachel v Guy Celebrity Cookoff. I'm watching little clips on Swagbucks TV, and I love it. Hurry Netflix, add the Food Network! Please!

My love affair with American Idol has ended. No more running around trying to spend a few minutes with it. I was only watching cuz Scott Dangerfield made it to Hollywood week again. And he made it to the Top 40, but didn't make it to the Top 24. Which I'm bummed, I think they let some people thru who shouldn't have made it. And they hardly showed him at all. Every episode, I was squinting my eyes trying to catch a glimpse of him. Hardly a glimpse at all, ever! Oh well. At least now my Wed & Thru nights are free for baseball, come April!

So our mailman is seriously afraid of our dog. Well, not just our dog, but all dogs in general. I feel bad, cuz Bandit is a scary looking dog {let's face it, if that big furry face is charging at me, yeah I'm a little freaked out.} but he is really just excited to see everything. So he runs fast, at everything. He scares kids sometimes. But he really is a sweet dog, and wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone. Oh well, I know Bandit is a good dog, but I also know he sounds scary when he barks.

I've done something crafty!! I made pacifier clips. Yeah sure you can buy them, but they are so stinking expensive. I took a piece of ribbon {I like grosgrain ribbon best, satin is fine, but hard for me to sew, satin ribbon might like you better, it doesn't like me too much...}, some elastic cord, and a suspender clip. I like the elastic cord cuz I can keep track of Danger's Soothie binky and all his other ones too!

So easy and so cute.

hair tie lollipops

Earlier this week, I was shopping around at Michael's. I was wandering, and in the baby shower section, they had these Hair Tie Lolli-pops.

Well, I have a few friends who are pregnant with girls, and while I thought these were cute, I really didn't want to pay $4 a pop! So I figured I could make them!

 I bought (2) packs of 100 hair ties each, at Dollar Tree.

 I know I could have made 1 with the pastels and 1 with the brights, but I wanted to have a mix in each lolli-pop. So I divided each 100 pack into 2 groups. There were 5 glittery hairties of each color and 5 solid of each color, so I went 2 solid and 3 glittery then 3 solid and 2 glittery.

 Then I started wrapping the hair ties around the sucker stick. I was extra careful not to PULL too tight on the hair ties, we all know if you pull too tight, the elastic breaks.

 When I felt my lolli-pop was big enough, I wrapped it in cellophane and tied it with ribbon!

At first I thought I would get 1 lolli-pop out of 1 pack of 100, but I ended up getting 2 lolli-pops out of each 100 pack! Sweet deal!!!

And so darn cute for gifts for little girls!!

Christmas 2011

**LOTS OF PICTURES**

*Apparently, I cannot win with Blogger, my pictures NEVER freaking EVER are turned the way I want them to be!!*
If anyone can help me figure out how to get the pictures to turn the correct way when I upload them from my computer, comment or email me...

Ok, this is my annual Christmas gift post.

My mom's gift this year was :

An apron in her kitchen colors!

A keyring with pennies from the years her kids were born. There are 6 of us. And I put another jump ring on it with seed beads for Danger, her first grandchild.

Next is Gwen:

Hot pads to match the apron from last year, along with some new recipes.

Redneck wine glasses!

My younger sisters, Alex and Meg got :

plastic bag purses and jewlery holders! (I apparently only took pictures of 1 of them, the other bag is red and white with yellow stripes and the other jewlery holder is yellow.)

Heather's gift:
Alright, apparently, I was terrible at taking pictures of my Christmas gifts this year! I made Heather an apron to match her kitchen, green, yellow and red. I was kinda nervous about it, but it turned out way freaking cute!

Earlier this year, Heather mentioned that she wished someone would create a book of FHE lessons for a whole year. Well, I found a place that has that and I made her a binder for Family Home Evening for 2012. I found this blog, called a Year of FHE on pinterest and compiled lessons from 2010 and 2011 to fit the months and weeks for 2012. I bought her the Primary Children's songbook on CD and the Gospel Art Kit so she's prepared for her lessons. I printed out the lessons and the printables that went with them, and put them in a binder, divided by month and added a calendar for each month, with the lessons written on each Monday. I also printed out extra printables/handouts so she can copy them if she needs more.

Whitney :

I made an ABC book!

I also made her a hat that has braids on it. But it didn't fit, so I'm going to make her another one, a bigger one!

Sammi :
She got baby things :burp cloths, peepee teepees and a diapre clutch. She had her cute little boy at the beginning of this month!

I also made her some hot pads to match last years apron, and some recipes!

Jena :
She got a Recipe binder, to match the apron I made her for her half-birthday.
And a plastic bag purse to fit a binder in! Her's had orange and yellow stripes!
I also helped my MIL with a picture frame for her!
Katie :
She got headbands, crocheted and sewn. She got more recipes, and a chicken wire board!

She also got hot pads to match her apron from last year!
Katie's girls have been in LOVE with the movie Tangled. The girls have been tying scraves together to make long "hair" - so I crocheted Princess crowns and attached long LONG "hair" to the back, so now each girl has a 2 foot train of hair! They loved them!

My dad :
I made him an album of the ultrasounds and pictures of Danger.

The boys:
So Shark's brothers were watching The Michael Vick Project, and there was a shirt on it that just said VICK. The boys said it would be awesome if they had shirts that said COLLARD on them.

Even Danger got one.

Earlier this year, the brothers were obsessed {yes, really obsessed!} with Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog (Netflix it, but there's some language in it, so you're warned.) and the boys all got Captain Hammer shirts.

Danger got one for Christmas!

My family :
Shark and I made marshmallow shooters for my family. I even spray painted them! They had loads of fun.

Ok, that's all the gifts I can think of right now. I'll post more if I can remember them and if I can find pictures!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!