Monday Madness

I'm finally taking a much needed day off from work. I have a ton of things on my to-do list to get done. We'll see if it happens.

I've been having one of those days.....for a week now. Hopefully I can find a reset button tomorrow so that I can start a good week. I think my sinus infection could have a little to do with it.

We're having a party on Saturday for Hunter's birthday. We usually wind up doing it on Superbowl Sunday and this year I thought we would try to avoid it, since everyone usually has plans. Hopefully Saturday will work better.

Rylie is doing great with her potty training. She's still having some issues with #2 but she's making it through the days and most nights with no accidents. After a full year of training with Hunter, she's making it seem like a piece of cake.

I've had so many bloggable things to say but no time to say them. If I just had a job where I could get paid to surf the web when I should be working then I would have it made........

Potty Training by Force

She's only 21 months old.

She knows what she wants.

She wants to wear big girl pants and no one can tell her otherwise.

I bought her 3 pairs of Tinker bell underwear for Christmas.

Last Monday we tried them out...just practice.

All 3 pairs.

We taught her doll how to use the potty...(she's a pro now).

She showed promise, one accident was just after getting some toilet paper and on her way to the potty chair, just not enough time.

She's great at getting her pants down, putting the little seat on the big toilet (and back under the sink), wiping (50 times), and flushing (at least twice), all no problem.

On Saturday I was at the store and decided to actually be prepared for when it was time....you know.....in a couple of months weeks.

My mistake was showing them to her when I got home.

She had to have them on immediately, even though it was bedtime.

When I tried to put a diaper on her for bed she was hysterical.

I finally had to wait until she fell asleep so I could put a diaper on her.

Sunday morning we started bright and early...her choice.

She woke up dry.

We got the potty chair and put it in the living room.

She immediately sat down and went.

We had a party! Hunter was there too and we were all clapping and yelling YAY! (Imagine your 4 year-old yelling YE-AH, like it's a sporting event with his fist waving and everything).

Rylie's cute, she gets up, we look and start yelling "yay!" and she has already got the bowl out to go dump it! She has to set it down so she can clap with us while we're yelling!

She did good, only a couple of accidents yesterday morning, then back with diapers when we left the house and for the rest of the day.

This morning, it was back to Drill Sargeant Rylie.

I thought I was going to be a hostage in my own house so she wouldn't have to get dressed.

I had her all dressed with a diaper on and ready for daycare, and as soon as she saw that potty chair she had to take it all off and go potty.

She did pretty good at daycare in underpants, a couple of accidents, but not bad.

She's at the point at home now that she'll just go over and go without being prompted or needing help.

She's doing great so far.

Thursday 13

I don't really know how it works, but I'm just going to give you 13 random things from my head right now.

1.I think finally, after my machine has eaten 3 of my projects, I have figured out the cause. Go me! I'm hoping this new found wealth of information may save me some grief in the future.

2. Seth got a PS3 the other day. He also got the Rock Band 2 game along with the guitar, drum set, and microphone. I bet you couldn't guess what's been happening at our house this week....

3. I was desperate for some storage containers to help get my sewing stuff organized. The desperation resulted in a pretty big sacrifice. My mint condition beanie babies which are worth approximately $00000.0000. I'm not really sure why I was keeping them, but I do know that this picture will be the last time they are all together and in one this good of condition. I've already had to wash the panda (chocolate handprints), and most of them no longer have their tags. I'm also pretty sure the little princess bear was lost to daycare.

4. That sacrifice wasn't nearly so bad since I got to see this girl and her wonderful smiles. It was like Christmas all over again.

5. I thought about doing a post about money this week, but didn't have the time.

6. I've still been busy sewing. That doesn't look to change anytime in the near future.

7. All of this sewing has really cut in to my blogging time. It's also cutting in to my tv time, but I will make time for LOST next week....if I remember.

8. I've added some things to my etsy store. I am also thinking about doing a giveaway, but not really sure how, so if anyone has a suggestion, or wants to volunteer to be the host of the giveaway, let me know (there will be something in it for you....Krystyn, I thnk you should volunteer).

9. Hunter knows what a debit card is. My fear is that he thinks it has a never ending supply of cash built in. My wish is that it did have a never ending supply of cash built in.

10. 13 things is way harder than I thought it would be.

11. Rylie said to Hunter the other day, "don't hit me". I think it was the first sentence I have heard her say.

12. My little boy is going to be 4 in 2 1/2 weeks and I have no idea how that happened. It makes me sad, happy and a little jealous all at the same time.

13. I'm going to be 30... 2 weeks after he turns 4....hence the jealousy.

Photo Contest- please vote!

Last May when we went to Iowa we had our pictures taken with my sister and brother and our kids (without spouses). Shannon -our photographer- is running a contest to vote on your favorite photo out of her top 140 of the year. If you have some extra time go vote, you can pick as many as you want. The link is http://www.2008innocentmomentsphotocontest.blogspot.com/ . There are a few in there of our shoot, so if you recognize those pictures vote, vote, vote.

Randomness...but not really.

I have been so busy, I haven't forgotten to blog, I just haven't had a lot of spare time.

Seth was playing Mr. Homemaker today. He got our closet all cleaned out and organized. He also accomplished laundry, getting the bathroom clean, and got the cedar chest moved in. Yep, it's finished, looks great!

Hunter has started playing outside with the neighbor kid who's a few years older than him. Since he's too young to just let go someone always has to be out there. He's having a blast climbing their tree, I'm just waiting until he falls and breaks something. He's getting so big. I think he's growing right now because it seems like he ate lunch 3 times today. Last night we were all hungry (Rylie was asleep, but the rest of us were) at 8:30pm because we ate an early dinner so I ran out to pick up something and Hunter was so tired. It was kind of cute, he had a meltdown because his hamburger fell out of the bun. Talk about crying over spilled milk.

Rylie is just all girl (with just a little bit of tomboy mixed in). She got a Baby Alive for Christmas and she's such a little momma, putting her babies down for naps. I could swear she's trying to force me to potty train her, but I'm trying to put her off for a couple more weeks. Hunter keeps forgetting that she's just a little girl and plays a little too rough. Last weekend they snuck outside to the backyard and he came in a minute later saying Rylie was hurt. I think she tripped on the rock and took a header into one of the flagstone steps. She had a bad road rash under her eye and a knot on her forehead.

As for me, I've probably used my new machine every single day since I got it. Take out the holidays, and I know I have. In total for Christmas I made 5 quilts, and 1 1/2 bags (my machine got a little hungry and decided to snack on one of them). I told Seth's sister she could pick out some different fabric because hers was the one that got eaten. I'm almost finished with the 3 quilts I'm making for a fellow blogger, and then I have birthday presents, baby gifts and other fun things to do. Seth's mom found some Santa bags and I'm embroidering names on those for her to have next Christmas.

I was able to salvage the bag that got messed up and I finished it for myself. I needed a new purse anyway and it's just right. It's got pockets on the inside and I was trying out how to do applique so I monogrammed it.

I also gave this to a guy at work for his new baby....

His wife loved it.

I also decided to start a new blog with my listings for my Etsy store. That way I don't have to bore you all with my stuff that I'm listing on there. (Oh wait, I just bored you all with all the crap I've made lately) so anyway, you can get to it by clicking the picture in the sidebar.....or just click here.

Let your wife do the work.....

Here's a really easy recipe for Cheesy Crockpot Hashbrowns I made today that turned out really good.

You need

1 frozen ham steak

1/2 large bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns

1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup

6-8 oz of sour cream

6 tbsp finely chopped onion

I cut my ham into cubes right out of the freezer, it made it really quick and easy to cut into small cubes. I threw that into the crockpot along with the onion, soup, and sour cream and then sturred all of it up good. Then I threw the hashbrowns in and stirred it good. I cooked it on high for about 3.5-4 hours (you'll know it's done if the hashbrowns are nice and soft). I stirred it a couple of times after the potatoes got thawed out.