Headaches!

Well hey, it's me again. For those of you who have had your wisdom teeth removed or any teeth removed might understand why I haven't been in too much of a writing mood. Today, I've experienced more headaches/face aches then yesterday. I've been trying to take it easy on my pain pills because I don't know how many more days I'm going to have these headaches and the pills knock me out. Yesterday, I tried to be brave enough to touch my stitches and holes with my tongue, but they were too sensitive. Touching my gums with my tongue caused my stomach to flip. Yuck! I'm so weak. Today, my gums are not as sensitive, so I've been feeling my gums again with my tongue. I didn't get sick this time, so that's a big plus. When I eat, it feels so weird because I've always had those teeth back there and I never imagined how much I really used them. I'm still hanging in there and hoping each day that goes by will be better than the last. I want to thank all the people checking in on me. I've had so many sweet concerned people calling on me and I want to let you know that I appreciate it so much.

I have some sad news to report. Toni, the one I've been asking for special prayer, passed away this morning at the age of 49 years old. She had been fighting Parkinson's Disease for close to ten years and now has gone to be with her Lord, Jesus Christ. Who was Toni? What kind of person was she? When she was well, she loved life itself. She always had a smile on her face and loved to make other people laugh. If she knew you were having a bad day, she would do little things. There have been days where I would find a piece of Special Dark Chocolate candy with a special message stuck to it on my desk. We really helped each other out when it came to a good ear or having to get a project done. Like most Mother's, she lived for her three children. She tried to set a good example for them to live by. She talked to them about the hardships of life and listened to their problems. She was a dear sweet soul with a heart of gold and she will be dearly missed. Thank you so much for all your prayers and God heard every one of them. She is now free from the disease that destroyed her appearance, but not her spirit.

Among The Living

Yes, it's me. I made it through my teeth extraction surgery. I feel pretty good, I'm just a little sore in my sinus region and jaw area. The document I had to sign before the surgery stated I might have TMJ problems or my TMJ condition may worsen. I hope it doesn't, but right now I can't open my mouth very wide - too stiff & sore. Under the circumstance it was a nice experience at the oral surgeon office. The doctor and his staff was so considerate, understanding and sweet to me the whole time. All I remember is talking with the doctor's assistant, she is due (pregnant) on the 25th of July, all of the sudden I got really dizzy and I was trying my best to tell them what I was experiencing - LIGHTS OUT. The next thing I remember is them helping me walk from the surgery room to the recovery room. They brought Doug back there with me to help me wake up. At the time, I was so drunk that I was seeing double of everything. I remember, I started laughing. Doug was laughing at me the whole time. Here I needed consoling and he takes my pictures because I looked silly in my condition. I didn't care, but now he's threatening to put it on the web. tehe! There is no telling what I looked like, but I'm sure it was funny. I want to thank you for all your prayers, they were definitely felt. I'm so thankful to God for such a smooth transaction.

Millard & Peggy were nice enough to stay most of the day with us and help take care of Katie. I made them all a big pot of roast beef, potatoes, carrots and onions. Peggy brought some of her famous Mexican Cornbread to go with the meal. Me, I got to eat Strawberry-Banana Apple Sauce (Yummy!), Chocolate Pudding and juice. At first I tried sipping on some Chicken Broth, but I could tell real quick that it was going to make me sick if I ate anymore.

Poor Katie couldn't understand what was going on. I tried to explain to her a little bit before I left that I was going to the doctor to get a shot and Grandma Peggy was going to look after her for me. Of course, she had to repeat everything I said, so I knew she was listening to me. When I got home, I was still really drunk feeling and she knew right off the bat something was different about me. She kept coming over to me in my recliner and touching me. I tried to explain to her that Mommy was sick. She was concerned enough about me that she wouldn't leave me alone for a minute. She would break between playing time with Grandma Peggy and check on me. She is so sweet! There was even a time or two when she told me to "get up Mommy." I let her crawl up in the recliner with me off and on to rock with me.

I think Doug is going in to work late tomorrow and just work for a few hours. Meanwhile, my Mom will be staying with Katie and I. She is excited to come over and play with Katie. I hope Katie doesn't wear Mom out and get too rough with her.

Happy Birthday Aunt Mary!

First, I would like to wish my Great-Aunt Mary and very Happy 97th Birthday!

Please keep me in your prayers! I go in the morning to get all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out. Yuck! Luckily, I'm suppose to be drugged and taking it easy. I've got my pain and nausea prescriptions filled and ready to go. YES! I've got the apple sauce, jello, pudding, fat-free ice cream & juice stocked in the fridge. I went ahead and restocked the napkins, toilet paper, and the paper towels are accessible. I hope everything will run well without anyone wondering where somethings at. I asked Doug tonight if there is anything he needs to know and he just looked at me like - why, where are you going? I told him depending on how I feel, I might be out of it from the meds.

Today, Katie and I went to WalMart to get some groceries for the next few days - something simple for Daddy to whip up. I got Katie all prepared - pizza, chicken, chips, fruit parfaits, and juice. By the way, Katie was very good at WalMart today. Of course, I gave her a talking to at the house (before we left) and I talked to her again in the truck before we went inside the store. This time, I loaded up her silly sac with all kinds of snacks. I quickly found out that her and jelly beans don't mix. She loved chewing them and she had a blast shoveling them into her mouth, but she didn't know what to do when they stuck to her teeth. She soon started pulling them off of her teeth and placing them on her floppy. She, her floppy and I was sticky all over. I had to stop, get the wipes and clean off everything. What a mess!

Katie's new things are: She likes to wear her Princess Dress Up Skirt only and one play shoe around the house. Now I'm waiting for the day she insists on wearing this outside the home. She has a new saying: "That's Good." I know I say it, but I didn't think it was that much. I've noticed her saying it more today then in the past. It's so darn cute when she says it.

Lots Done Today

Sorry, I've been out of touch for a few days. Katie is feeling much better, but honestly I don't know how we are handling the terrible twos. I'm to the point to where I'm afraid to get out in the public, she is so embarrassing! Right now, people outside of our little home probably think we are raising a Katiestein (Frankenstein). When it is just me and her, she just loves all over me and is as sweet as sugar. If people come to visit or if I get her out into the public view, Dr. Jekyll comes out of her and I'm completely shocked how she acts. Today, we were at WalMart and as I was looking at material for her doll's bed (I'm refurbishing), she had a complete come apart because I put the material she really liked up. She flung her head back and the alligator tears were just a pouring. I had already given her two previous warnings because she was wanting everything she could get her little hands on. I got the buggy over to the side (hardly any traffic) and slapped her little leg a couple different times because of her behavior. She still wouldn't let up, twisting around in the buggy to where she could get her seat belt off and snatching everything. Earlier (when she was good), I picked up some bubble bath for when her and Alise take a tubby. On the bottom shelf was some tub toys and Katie saw a rubber fish that looked like Nemo. She really wanted the Nemo fish, so I didn't see a problem with it. Yeah, I didn't see a problem until she started acting like a little brat. I gave her two warnings to either straighten up or no Nemo fish. Needless to say, she pushed too many buttons with me and back went the fish. She had a complete meltdown. I don't know if me doing that actually taught her something or not. I hope it really connected with her and her behavior because she really wanted that fish. I hated doing it to her, but I felt it had to be done to show her bad behavior cost her the toy. I felt so bad, I thought it was a good to time to explain to her exactly what had just happened. I kept asking her if she knew why I took the toy away from her. I hope she understood because she wouldn't talk to me. Oh, it doesn't end there. Oh, no! I put her in the car and she was fighting me to buckle her in. Thinking she might be hungry and tired, I asked her if she would want some chicken and fries. "Yes," she said. Okay, here we go. Chickfila is next door to WalMart, so we went in the drive through. On Katie's car seat there's snack holder, so I put a piece of chicken in the holder. She starts, "no, Mommy!" Trying to be patient, I told her that I thought she wanted chicken. Again, "no!" Well, I just left the chicken in the holder, thinking she might change her mind. Sure enough, after she calmed down she ate the chicken. When she seemed to be ready for another piece, I handed it to her. She took the chicken and threw it. I had enough! Yes, I told her "No!" and spanked her leg (not hard). She ate another piece of chicken. I asked her if she wanted a fry and I thought she said "yes." I handed her the fry and she slapped my hand to where the fry went flying through the air. Well, the child not only got another slap on the leg, but a piece of my mind. I gave a 2 mile lecture on our bad behavior problem and how she needs to straighten up or she may not get a birthday party. In her defense, she was tired. As soon as we got home, I put her to bed and she was out like a light, but it is no excuse for her behavior! What do I do? She can be so lovable and sweet, but the terrible twos are destroying my baby!

I have to tell you this story. As you know, we've been talking up the whole big birthday party event with Katie. I name off all the things we are going to do and all the people that are coming to the party. She loves me naming off everyone and she makes sure I don't leave anyone out, especially Grandma Peggy, June & Pat. To back up, Katie has picked up the phrase, "that's mine!" I can't stand to hear children/kids say this phrase; even though, they are going to say it. I figure she's picked up the saying from the children at church. Knowing this, I've been talking to her about Alise coming to visit her on her big day and how Alise will want to play with her toys. I'll ask her, will you let Alise play with your toys? So far, she'll answer yes. What hasn't gotten out of Katie's mind is Alise is coming to see her and play with her toys. Tonight, every time she heard a vehicle drive down the road or the dogs started barking, she thought it was Alise coming to see her. She'd ask me, "Mommy, Alise?" I'd have to tell her, no that's not Alise. I'd remind Katie, "Alise isn't coming today. She's coming for your birthday." When Doug drove up she asked again, "Mommy, Alise?" I'd have to tell her "no, honey that's not Alise." This went on and on, Doug and I thought it was funny. She is so excited to know Alise is coming to see her.

Doug is taking a couple of days off after the 4th of July and he mentioned to take Katie to get her pictures made at Portrait Innovations. I made sure he still wanted to do it and after I got confirmation from him, I made the appointment today. Now, I don't know whether to just take her birthday dress or if I should take a change of clothes with us.

I was going through the Katie's Birthday list. Yes, I have a list. tehe! I went through the list and started wondering about the cake. How much time should I give Publix in advance (so they will make sure they have the kit) to order the cake? I called them up and asked if they could make the cake. Thankfully I called because they didn't have the kit. They would have to order the kit in order the do the cake. Shoo! They went ahead and had me place the order, so I can just pick it up early Saturday morning. I'm glad I got that done.

I got a hair appointment scheduled and tried to get Sassy an appointment from the pet groomer, but Melanie wasn't in today. Getting the cat's hair cut will be the last appointment have to make before the party.

The lady that cuts my hair knows Toni, lady with Parkinson's Disease. I wanted to make sure she knew about Toni being in the hospital and she said she spoke to Toni's ex-husband. He said he found a "Living Will" and he was going to take it to the hospital today or tomorrow and have them remove the ventilator. I have views about Toni's husband, so we won't get into that subject. Hearing this new information today, made me very curious. I called the hospital since I really can't rely on any of her family members (messing situation). Of course, they can't give me any information because she is in the Critical Care Unit. The Receptionist forwarded my call to the CCU waiting room and as expected no one from her family was in the waiting room. I called another friend, Debra, she had not heard of the ex pulling the plug. Even though, it might be best to remove the machines because Toni seems to be in so much pain. Please keep her in your prayers.

Katie Still Sick

Well it's official, Katie has some type of virus. Yes, I said virus. This morning, baby girl got a bellyache (if you know what I mean). Fortunately, it didn't last long, but she still has the high temperatures (100.7 - 102.8 degrees). Yuck! Bless her heart! I felt so bad for her because I know she didn't feel good. We just curled up on the couch today and watched movies. Her new favorite movie of the month is "Beauty and the Beast." I got so tired of watching it three times yesterday that when she wanted to watch it for the second time today, I suggested to watch Bambi. Lucky for me, she liked that suggestion just as well. Since tomorrow will be the third day of this stuff, hopefully she'll be feeling better. Please note: It's amazing how kids bounce up and down when it comes to being sick. Right now, she is bouncing around on the bed with us. She is playing with her Daddy and won't go to sleep. Yeah, I tried putting her in her bed, but she kept crying and carrying on that she didn't feel good. She loves playing us and she does it so well.

Ya'll are going to think I've bumped my head! On eBay, I've been watching the DVDs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Beauty and the Beast." I'll tell you one thing, these people that buy up the Disney movies (keep the wrapper on them) will make some money, as soon as the movie is taken off the shelves. I've seen a "Beauty and the Beast" and "Sleeping Beauty" go for over $40 a piece. After several tries, I finally won bids for both "Snow White" and "Beauty", just don't ask me how much I paid. tehe!

I called Portrait Innovations today and scheduled an appointment for next month to have Katie & Alise's picture made together.

I got so aggravated about the table and chair set I ordered for Katie. I was expecting to have it here in time for Katie's party. I ordered a Step2 Lifestyle Folding Table and Chair Set from the Step2 Company. I received an email from Step2 a week ago Wednesday stating, they had shipped my order via FedEx and I should receive it in 3-8 days. It's been 7 days, I got a little excited so I thought I would check the tracker. FedEx was saying online, it was not a known number. What? I called FedEx in hopes there was some mistake. Nope! There was no mistake. I called Step2 to find out what's going on and it's a good thing that I checked into this because they said my order never made it on the truck. What? They gave me an option to either get a full refund or have them send me another and they would refund my shipping cost. Yes, I want the order! This lady said she would send me an email next Tuesday or Wednesday with the status of my order. I hope they can get it to me as soon as possible.

I got an update on Toni this morning. The nurses can't seem to keep her fever down. The high temperature wants to stay around 104 degrees. I've been told this isn't good. I know nothing about the medical world, so I have no idea what a constant high temperature like this will do to your body. I've also been told, she is basically letting the breathing machine breath for her and I know that's not good.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Take care and keep us in your thoughts as we try to get Katie through this virus.

Special Prayer Request

My friend, Toni, is in the Critical Care Unit at a local hospital. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years ago at the age of 41. It is very rare for someone at that age to have Parkinson's. She has lived nearly 10 years suffering from this disease. She has gone from every drug on the market, severe brain surgeries, in and out of hospitals to eventually the Nursing Home. Her disease has taken over her life and family. It is so sad and painful to watch! Yesterday, one of the nurses at the Nursing Home found her non responsive in bed. At first they thought she had a heart attack, but it was ruled out by the time she reached the hospital. June and I went this afternoon to see her, but it was hard to bare seeing her. She was hooked up to all of these machines - life support. I was afraid to touch her for fear I might disturb a wire or tube some where. I tried stroking her finger and talking to her. I wanted to let her know we were there and just wanted to see her open her eyes. She kept making these faces like she was in pain. I don't know if it is a good sign - making pain faces - with her being basically non responsive. Doctors still don't know what's wrong with her, but do feel she had a seizure at the Nursing Home. Please keep her in your prayers. I don't know how to ask you to pray - to survive or die. God knows how much suffering she has had to bare and I don't know if she can handle anymore. Only God knows! Sometimes, I feel she would be better off going on to be with the Lord and leave this world and pain. June and I really felt this was probably the last time we will see her again, but God may have another plan for her. I know God's Will will be done. I just hate to see her suffer anymore than she has already.

Also, please remember Kaitlyn as well. As some of you already know, she's been fighting a bad cold she caught last Sunday (Sunday School Class). Last night, she had bad diarrhea before bedtime. No problem, I immediately took her off milk and juice. I had Doug go to the store and get her favorite yogurt and some Pedialyte. Fortunately, he came back with Propel water as well. She hates the favored Pedialyte, even if you add Sugar Free Cool Aide with clear Pedialyte. Last time she got sick, she would drink the plain clear Pedialyte without the Cool Aide. Unfortunately, the clear Pedialyte wasn't going to help me this time. She took one sip and she made this awful face. Yuck! She wouldn't touch it and she begged me to give her milk. I felt terrible. During the night, she woke up crying. I couldn't calm her down and the more she cried the more she gagged. So, I picked her up, wiped off her tears and we went to the Living Room and rocked for a little while. Rocking her seems to calm her down pretty good. About an hour later, I put her back to bed and she drifted off to sleep. Bless her heart! This morning, she seemed to be doing better but she had a slight temperature. Ugh! I knew if she didn't feel better by this afternoon, I was going to have to cancel going with June to the hospital. I put some Tylenol in her and put her to bed. She went right to sleep, which isn't like her at all. I knew she didn't feel good. After she woke up from her nap, she felt much better. No temp, no diarrhea, she ate two hot dogs for lunch and ready to go outside to play. Okay! Everything looked good enough for me to go with June. Mom came over and stayed with her, while I was gone. I explained to Mom what's been going on and she agreed with me that it might be just a little bug. By the time we got back home, poor Mom didn't know what to do. She said Katie started acting like she didn't feel good. They went outside to play, but they didn't stay long because Katie wanted to go back in the house (not like her). Mom said she kept coming over to her and cry a little bit. Mom said she felt hot, so she gave her some Tylenol. Doug got home just in time to help out Mom. He took Katie's temp and it was around 101 degrees. I felt so bad for both Mom and Katie. I shouldn't have left when I knew she hadn't been feeling all that great today. I'm a bad Mom! When Mom and June left to go home, I put Katie in the tub. I put some Vapor in her tubby and just let her play for a length of time. She was having a blast! A tubby always seems to help lower her temperatures. I let her run around in her diaper until it was time to get ready for bed. Doug went out and got us some more Motrin, Tylenol & Gatorade for Katie. While he was gone, Katie sat in my lap and ate two tubes of yogurt and a stick of cheese. I don't know if it gave her a bellyache or not because when I put her to bed, she kept rubbing her stomach. Every once in a while, she would start crying. I asked her if it hurt. She'd say "uh, huh." I eventually got her back out of the bed and we went to the rocker. Doug seems to think she was playing me because her stomach ache went away. She was so tired because as soon as I put her back to bed, it didn't take her long before she was out. I'm hoping she'll feel much better tomorrow.

Maddie in Grandma's Flower Garden

My niece, Liz, sent me these photos of her daughter, Maddie. I can't get over how big Madelyn has gotten just in the past few months. The pictures were taken in my sister's (Liz's Mom) flower garden. I thought Liz did an excellent job taking these photos. I tried to post these pictures on my Photosite, but I don't have the program on this computer. I thought this would be the second best way to display Maddie's cute photos.

Proud Papas!

These pictures were taken on Father's Day! Katie is riding a toy horsey that once belonged to her Daddy. When we visit her Grandparents, she has to see her horsey. Of course, this doesn't mean she wants to ride it, she just wants to make sure it is still there.

Shop, Shop, Shop!

I got the cutest Lion outfit for Katie to wear for our zoo trip. Gymboree has a bunch of these little tank tops on sale right now. I got this shirt & a matching pair of orange shorts for $12. I didn't think that was too bad. Since Katie loves Lions, we had to get it. It was hard for me to keep my hands from grabbing the Zebra & Giraffe shirts as well. Oh, they had a cute pair of denim Safari Shorts (Zebra & Giraffe). I was tempted to get them, but didn't. Since we're going to the zoo next month, I was afraid she would be too hot in the denim shorts. I also bought the matching corkscrew barrettes. I like Katie's hair up in pig tails, so the corkscrew barrettes work best. Since we were at the mall, we had to stop by the Disney Store. Katie & I love the Disney Store. We just have a field day! She likes to look at all the toys and characters, while I like the sales. They are trying to push the Summer Tiki wears (shirts, plates, silverwear & glasses) out, I guess to get ready for Fall. I had bought Katie an Ariel Tiki plate a while back for around $3. Well now, they had just about everything for $1.99. I went ahead and grabbed a Nemo Tiki plate & plastic glass and Minnie Mouse plastic glass. They also had several select t-shirts on sale for $4.99. I picked up Katie a Minnie Mouse & Ariel T-Shirts, they are cute as can be. Before we headed back home, I needed to go pick up another pack of invites for Katie's party. Would you believe she remembered the store, we bought all of her party supplies? At first, I didn't know what she was talking about. She kept saying something about Mermaid. Then it dawned on me, she remembered buying her Mermaid/Princess stuff here. I put her Teddy Bear harness on and I'm glad I did because as soon as we went inside the store, she went crazy. I couldn't keep her hands still. As soon as I found the invites, I handed them to her and thankfully I did because it kept her hands busy. Right now, Sam's Club is selling a wide selection of Dr. Seuss hardcover books for $5.97 or you can get 4 small board books for $12.97 (approximately). I can't remember the exact prices on these. I wanted to start introducing Katie to Dr. Seuss books. I've checked out several Dr. Seuss from the Library in the past, but she never seemed that interested in them. I couldn't pass up this offer, so I got her "Put Me In The Zoo." I figured with her love for animals, she might like reading the story. I guess we'll see.

Rain, Glorious Rain!!

I want to take this time and Praise Our Dear Heavenly Father Up Above for hearing our many prayers for rain. It rained most of the day mostly soft and silent, but we have a few welcomed down pours. Needless to say it was a perfect movie day. Katie insisted on watching "Belle" aka "Beauty and the Beast." She not only wanted to watch it once, but twice today. I have to say watching "Belle" was a tight race with "Snow White" because Katie couldn't make up her mind. After Supper, she wanted to watch "Belle" again. You would think she would be tired of "Belle" by now. She gets so excited when the beast is mean to Belle's Dad and takes him to the tower. She'll tell me, "Beast get Paw-Paw." She calls Belle's Dad "Paw-Paw." She calls him that because he has white hair. I know this because any white haired man she comes into contact, she calls them "Paw-Paw." We had to have a tea party with all the stuffed animals and dolls on a pallet in the middle of the Living Room floor. Katie loves playing tea party. Hopefully, she will learn how to play tea party a little better when her table and chairs come in. Right now, when I get everything set out and ready for the party, she'll get right in the middle of the party. I mean right in the middle, on top of the tea pot, cups & plates with play food on it. I've tried to show her differently, but I don't think she comprehends what I'm talking about. To end the day, we read stories and sang songs as well.

I'm in love with a new ice cream! Have you tried Breyer's Double Churn Fat-Free Ice Cream? I picked up 2-1/2 gallon containers, I bought 2 because I wanted to make sure I had some when I have my surgery. I bought the chocolate flavor (of course) and it is so good and creamy. If you haven't tried it, it is a MUST and don't let the little words "Fat-Free" scare you because it is delicious!

Start Potty Training Again?

Okay, we are going through the sporadic potty training phrase. What do you mean, you ask? Well, there are days or most of the time, moments, where Katie feels she must announce to the world, she has "Poopied!" For a little while back, she'd wake up in the morning hollering "Mommy, I poopied!" She obviously can't tell the difference between poopy and pee-pee. She calls it all "poopy." She likes sitting on her Dora the Explorer Potty Seat. There are times when I catch her sticking her leg or hand inside the potty, as she is sitting on her seat. I'm hoping to get her broke from sticking her body parts in the potty. This morning, she came and told me she had to go poopy in the potty. Okay and away we went to the bathroom. Not expecting anything, I left her on the pot to get her another diaper. I took my time, straightening up her room and she started hollering "Mommy, Mommy, I poopied in the potty." Still not expecting anything because this has happened before and nothing has ever happened and sure enough as I'm walking down the hallway, I could hear her pee-peeing in the potty. Hurray!!!! Her eyes were huge with pride and she was so excited, she had to tell me 4-5 times that she poopied in the potty. I was so proud of her, we started hollering and I couldn't praise her enough. She had this big grin on her face. I really didn't have anything to give her at the moment as a reward for her effort. The last time she pee-peed in the potty, we went to WalMart that afternoon and she got a prize. So it was easy at that moment, but I wasn't planning on going any where today. I went little overboard on the birthday gifts this year, so I let her have the Snow White doll, she wouldn't let go a month ago from WalMart. I explained to her why she was getting a prize and her little face lite up when she saw Snow White. She kept saying "Snow White, Snow White" over and over. I asked her if she liked her and she responded, "uh huh, Mommy. Snow White cute." Cute is one of Katie's new words, she likes to say a lot. If we go shopping, I ask her if she likes something and I'll get "uh huh, Mommy, cute." I've been teaching her to say "pretty," it's cute hearing her say it.

When Katie got her Snow White doll this morning, she insisted we watch "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs" today. She loves the dwarfs, she thinks they are so funny. She held her doll the whole time she watched the movie and every once in a while, she would tell me she had Snow White. As most of you know, she's been getting over a bad cold. Bless her heart, I don't think she was feeling too good today because she really wasn't in her usual rambunctious mood. In fact after her nap this afternoon, she was a little clingy & whiny. All she wanted was for me to hold her and Snow White. I felt bad for her, so I let her watch "Beauty & the Beast." This movie along with "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs" is one of her new favorite movies. She has so many favorite movies, we now have to stand in front of the display case and decided what movie we are in mood for. She's her Momma's girl - LOVE MOVIES! I've been looking at eBay for Snow White, Beauty & The Beast & Sleeping Beauty DVDs. Wow! I could kick myself now for not getting the DVDs when they were out on the shelves a few years ago. I have several Disney animated movies on VHS, I've been collecting since 1992. My VHS videos are shot! I don't know if it is the heat in the entertainment center or from old age, but everyone of my videos are in terrible shape. I never took the wrapper off "101 Dalmatians" until just recently and would you believe it had places in it in terrible condition. I've been watching some auctions for these movies and I finally had to delete my watch on a few because the bids would be as high as $30.00 or more per DVD. Oh my gosh! I found a few sites from Canada & Malaysia selling these videos, starting bid at $.099, but I felt nervous about these sites. Lord willing, I'll be able to get one or more DVDs for Katie some day.

Take care and have a good day!

My Light!

Laura - I did it! I tried the Slide website you sent me the other day and it is very simple to do. You should try it sometime.

Take care and see you soon!

Happy Father's Day!

I wanted to wish all the Daddy's a wonderful Happy Father's Day! I took a picture of Katie, Doug & his Dad today. I will try to post it tomorrow. We had a real good Father's Day! We started off visiting our Heavenly Father. I know I've mentioned it before, but I tell you again. Katie loves her Sunday School Class. You know, I was hesitate to move her up from the 1 year old class a couple of months ago. Now, I think we did a good thing. I think it's because not all of the kids in the 2 year old class cry and carry on like one year olds. She can't handle the crying because she feels she must chime in. This morning when I dropped her off, she went right in like she knew exactly what she was doing. She seemed disappointed I came back to pick her up. There were approximately 6 (2-3 year) children in her class at the time. I tried several times to get her to come on. After the fifth time of "Katie lets go," she got the message and had to tell everybody (individually) goodbye. I was cute! All the kids were telling Katie "Bye, Katie" and of course, she would say bye back, everytime they said bye. As you can imagine, this took some time for them to get their "byes" out. There were a couple of children that had to say "bye" two or three times. The Terri, teacher, and myself just laughed because it was the cutest thing. After church, we went to Millard & Peggy's for lunch. I was so glad Katie took one of her two hour naps at their house because I knew she wouldn't have taken a nap at June's house. We had a real nice visit. Henry & Keisha came by for lunch and visited a little while. Keisha is doing good. She is still working at BTB and is still single. I think Henry likes it that way! tehe! Around 5:00, we headed back home to reload the truck and head to Pat & June's for supper. Thankfully, Leslie still had on her bathing suit because Katie was bound and determined to go swimming in the big pool. We suited her up and she basically stayed around the stairs. This was a good thing because June, Mom and myself sat around on the edge of the pool where the stairs are located, talking and watching Katie. Katie kept wanting to put her face in the water. There were a couple of times where she got too much water up her nose, but she'll learn. I told June how she does during tubby time, she lays on her belly in the tub and likes to put her face in the water. Fortunately, she doesn't get a nose and mouth full of water. June says it's a good thing because then she won't be terrified of water. I know when one of June's nieces (on the other side of the family) was around 4-5 years old, it took forever for her to warm up to getting in the pool, she was terrified of the water until she got older. Katie loved having all the attention. She threw rocks with Aunt Sue-Sue, which was right up her alley. She went swimming with Jon and Leslie. She was chased around the yard by Leslie, Grandma Jerry, Ryan, Sue-Sue & June. She had a ball! She also stayed busy by giving ice to the dogs. Maryann & Kevin brought their two dogs, Mom had her dog & the next door neighbor just bought a Jack Russell puppy. The little puppy has taken up with Pat & June's house, so he comes over everyday around 4:00 because that's when June, Pat, Mom & Dad like to sit outside and talk about their day. It's a cute little puppy and just as friendly and sweet as he can be. Katie had a field day playing with those dogs. I don't care for her messing with Mom's dog or Jack (Maryann's - Chihuahua) because they are older mean dogs, but now I love Lala (Whitney/Maryann's - Longhaired Dachshund). By the time we got home, Katie was wiped out. At bedtime, we had to relive the whole day. She had to name off all the people she played with today - a few times.

I hope you have a great week!

Portrait Innovations

Do you have one in your area? They have a special package offer for $9.95. The only catch is you have to pick just one pose per family. You are not charged for sitting fee and you can pick your portraits up the same day. Check it out: http://www.portraitinnovations.com/special_offers.html
We have a friend that takes his little girl to this group. They love the pictures they receive and especially for the price. Doug and I are thinking about taking Katie to have your picture made. The only problem I have is, what if I like more than one pose. What will the price be then?

How to Use Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0

The following instructions will show you how to edit your movie clips in Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 and prepare them to be uploaded into Google Video for posting purposes into Google Blogger.

How To Use Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0

Insert your Mini DVD into the disc holder & copy the disc onto the harddrive. Make sure it is copied to your specific place.

Open Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0

Open the video clip in Adobe

1. Select “Get media from:”

2. Click on “Files & Folders”
3. Browse to find file
4. Open the actual clip you want. This will take some time of load.

In order to create the video clip.

1. Under “Media,” click & drag the clip into Video1 below timeline. This will probably take awhile depending on the length of clip. Note: Your Audio should show underneath the video.

2. View your movie, if you don’t know where or what you want to split and cut out. Note: Watch your length of the finished movie, you want to show on the blog. I would recommend no longer than 4 minutes.

How to cut out or split a video clip?

Go to desired area, you would like to start or stop. In the preview screen, notice the button in the bottom left corner. There is a button named “Split Clip.”

Click on Split Clip. You will notice a marker created on the video timeline below.

If you want to delete a section of the video, select the clip on the video timeline. Make sure the clip you want cut out is highlighted. Right click on your mouse, select “Delete and Close Gap.”

Your Ready to Upload to Google Video?

Save your video as a different name onto the desktop.

Click on “Export.”

Select “Windows Media.”

Select “OK.”

Name the file again. Doing this will save the file as a .wmv. Google Video will not accept an Adobe Premiere Element file (.prel). Maybe this will change in the future.

Open Google Video. Read “How to Post Personal Videos onto Google Blogger from Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0.”

How to Post Personal Videos onto Your Google Blog?

I've had a couple interests as to how I posted my personal videos onto my blog. I typed up some simple instructions and I thought it would be nice to post them, in case someone else has the same question. There are two separate instructions because some of you may not use Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0. I do use Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0, maybe your video editing program will be similiar to Adobe. If you do use Adobe, I will create a separate post with instructions on how to edit your movie clips. I just hope they help. If you need these instructions emailed to you for printing purposes, please let me know (by comment). I will glad to send them to people I know.

How to Post Personal Videos onto Google Blogger from Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0

Open Google’s Video https:http://video.google.com/?tab=wv.

Select "Upload Your Videos." Don't be surprised if you have to sign in. Since this is a Google Program, you use your Google Account Sign in name & password.

Under the Google Video Upload Program, click the link “Upload Video”

Click the button “Upload Your Video”

Under the section: “Video file,” click the “browse” button

Find where your video is saved on the C: drive and open

Type in a “title”

You have to type in a very short “description,” in order for it to take

Select “Genre”

Under “Access,” you must select “Unlisted”

Agree to the Google Video conditions and terms

Click the “Upload Video”

It will take awhile for the video to be uploaded, this is because Google has to approve your video before loading it onto their video program

After it is approved, it will take you to a screen to where you can email the video to someone. You can preview the video, if you wish

In order for it to be posted onto the Google Blogger, you must have the embedded code

Click the link that says “Embed this video on your . . .”

Highlight the embed code, right click on your mouse and select copy

Sign in to your Google Blogger

Select “New Post”

Make sure you are under the “HTML” and not “Compose”, in the body of the text right click on your mouse and paste the code. If it worked, you will see the code on the body of the text. If you would like, type in your text underneath the code

You may have to publish your post in order to make sure the video is there. I don’t think you can preview the video under “Compose”

Don’t be alarmed if at first on the blog the box is black. You may have to select play to buffer and play one time before it will show a picture

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Surgery is scheduled!

Today was my consultation with an oral surgeon. I mentioned a while back, I would have all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. I'm having them pulled because during my regular dental cleaning, the hygienist found a cavity on the back of my top right wisdom tooth. It should be a no big deal procedure. The surgery will be done in two weeks. I will be sedated (thank you very much) and Doug will bring me home after the procedure. The nurse assured me, I would feel better in a couple to three days. Katie had a great time this afternoon, getting to play with Grandma Peggy & Paw-Paw Millard. They stayed with her while I was at my meeting. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks!

Did you remember this Sunday is Father's Day? I didn't think about it until June called me yesterday, asking if we were coming over this weekend. What? This weekend, what for? Oops! I forgot about Father's Day! Sorry, Dad & Doug. I've just had a little bit on my mind - having my teeth (I've had since I was 19 years old) yanked out of my head; trying to get Katie over her cold & going over party stuff. I have to do a few errands tomorrow, so maybe we can get some shopping done during that time. Our plans are going to Millard & Peggy's after church for lunch, visit for awhile and head over to Pat & June's for Supper. My Dad loves chocolate covered peanuts. He has been hollering for a little while for Sue to make him some of her delicious homemade choc. covered peanuts. Sue told June, she was making Dad choc. cover peanuts for Father's Day and June got upset because that is what she was going to do for him. I told Sue, wouldn't it be funny if we all three gave him choc. covered peanuts. I think it would be a good gag gift. You have to know my Father! If you buy him something (apparel, gadgets, toys, etc.), he'll throw a fit - "Why did you buy this?" "That's hard to digest!" "You need to put your money away and not spend it on me." This continuous lecture could last for a couple of minutes, depending on what you got him. One year, for Christmas, I thought it would be funny to buy him nothing but food (items he likes to eat) because it is easy to digest and wrap them individually. He had like 6-7 presents from us. After the third gift, he unwrapped from us, everyone was laughing and jokingly asking "What could it be?" "Uh, food, again!" I'm very tempted to do it again, but this time for Father's Day. We will have to see.

I saw Laura's blog and I so excited about the princess party this July! I love either one of the dresses, Laura has picked out (on web). I think Alise will look adorable in either one because they are both blue. I think she looks so pretty in blue, I think it's because of her eyes being blue. Like Laura, I hope the girls will be willing to wear their princess outfits for a little while during the party. Maybe everything will work out! I asked Sue what Leslie was up to the Thursday before the party. I explained to her I was going to need some extra hands. I think I'm going to ask Natalie & Whitney as well, to see if they can help. I've never been too good with streamers (crepe paper), but you can't have a princess party without lots of streamers. I plan to have streamers all throughout the Living Room, Dining Room & Kitchen. Who knows, if the girls go crazy with it, we may have streamers in the Bath Room. tehe! I probably won't have that much time Saturday morning to blow up balloons & I'm not blowing them up myself, like last year. This year, I'm buying two tanks of helium and we will have them blown up that way. I got a terrible headache last year from blowing up so many balloons. We had balloons for nearly two months after that party. I think this year, we might attach a note to these balloons and let them go during or after the party to see where they go. My question is: If I blow the balloons up with helium on Thursday night, will they still look good by Saturday evening? Please let me know what you think? I don't know what time we'll be home Friday night. If we get home at a good time, maybe I can get most if not all blown up that night. I don't know. Oh, I didn't know what to do about Katie's two year old pictures. I haven't scheduled it because I didn't know how this surgery would work out with our schedule, plus we are trying to plan a quick trip to Atlanta with my sister & her family. I know I wanted to get Katie's pictures made by Scrappy Frogs (free sitting fee), but I think it would be wise for me to get a price list from a few photographers. I got to thinking the free sitting fee from Scrappy Frogs may really not save me any money. I may have to wait until after her party to get them made & just mail them out when we get our order in.

Cinderella - Beautiful

This video is especially for Alise from her Aunt Mirya! Love ya!

Katie Plays Outside

Katie and I hung out one day last week. It was a nice hot day to get out the baby pool and chill.

Katie Goes To The Beach

First time Katie goes to the beach. She had so much fun & didn't want to leave when it was time. We had to carry her back to the car. I felt so bad for her having to leave the big sand box and water. She had fun picking up shells and putting them in the ocean. I'm excited for her when we get to go back.

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

This is for the girls! Count down to the big birthday party has begun. tehe!

Remember When - 1988?

Remember when this commercial was on national television? Where were you and what were you doing? I was new to the high school scene, in 8th grade. Yes, normally High School starts in 9th grade, but my school had to move the 8th grade class into the high school building. It was scary, yet exciting! Remember when Michael Jackson looked like this? Pre-crazy Michael Jackson - pre-nose job; bleaching his skin and hair weaves.

Play Day at the Park

Our Children's Ministry Director from church scheduled a "Kids Play Day" at a local park. It was today at 10:00 this morning. I really wanted to put forth the effort to get Katie and myself to the park in order to meet new people. I've tried to get a little more involved with church jobs, so I can meet all kinds of people. I sound pretty pathetic because I really don't have any close friends. It's amazing, when I was single my close friends got married; therefore, I was a third wheel. I got married and the women my age were having children - out again. Now, I have a toddler, the women my age have older children. Ugh!! I've basically become a social friend, but no real close friends (this statement doesn't not include husbands). I've always put family first all these years and that's all I know. Well, this thought process isn't helping Katie in your social skills. Yeah! I know, she'll develop friends when she gets to school or in some activity. God knows my heart is sad about this situation I've put myself in. I've been talking to Him about it and then I saw the notice in the announcements Sunday about the Kids Play Day. Thank you God! At least I'll put forth the effort to meet people and hopefully I'll either rekindle on old friendship or ignite a new one. More importantly, Katie will get to meet and play with children her own age. At first, I was scared because when I'm nervous, I can say some pretty stupid things. WHY?!? Of course by the time it's out there and I try to reel my words back in, I'm getting the dreaded silence and strange looks. So before I got out of the truck, I took a deep breath and asked God to watch over me and my tongue. I was just going to take it easy and go with the conversation. I have to say I had a good time. Right off the bat, I saw a few ladies I knew. Two of the three women, I was in their Sunday School Class a few years ago. They are real sweet girls! Their children are (of course) much older than Katie, but it was nice to get to know them once again. I didn't get to fully catch up with their lives, but I didn't want to seem badgering. The other lady, Sash, has a little girl Katie's age, Sophie. I've mentioned Sophie in my past postings. Sophie and Katie (or "Soapie" as Katie calls her) had a good time trying to keep up with the older kids. The park we were at has a small water area (sprinklers & water gun). I'm glad I took Katie's swim suit because those girls went running back and forth between the slides & playground and water area. I got to video a little bit of it, but I was having too much fun talking and laughing with my company. I'm so glad we did this. Unfortunately, Sash is a teacher (works full time) and just an acquittance. Lord willing, this might be a start to a new friendship. I kept telling the girls this was such a good idea and I would love it if we could do this again. They all agreed, so hopefully they were not just saying it. I did learn a few things with the girlies. If we ever decide to build a house, I have the name of a contractor. It's strange because I know the contractor, I went to school with him & go to church with him and his family. The only thing is I didn't know he was a contractor. Laura, the girls told me of two different condos we have to stay - "The Lighthouse" and "Phoenix." The Lighthouse is newly refinished because it was destroyed by Katrina. Delaine & her husband always liked to stay at the Phoenix. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/promo/genericPromoLandingNav?id=Q407FreeDineNavPage Sash & her husband are going to Disney World this fall with their children. They found this really great deal and she said children under 3, eat free and won't be charged the extra fee. I told her about Doug and myself wanting to take Katie to Disney World, but we felt she was too young to know what's going on. She disagreed. She told me once Katie saw all the characters from the movies, she would understand and remember. She said it was hard to pass up such a great deal. Above is the link and it does sound great. Delaine, Julie & their families went together last year and they loved it. I don't think Doug and I can take advantage of this great deal right now, but maybe you can. I nearly hated to leave my company, but we stayed there for two hours, Katie was getting tired and we had to stop by WalMart before going home. It was so sweet, Katie had to tell everyone and I mean everyone "Goodbye!" She had to tell some "Goodbye" twice before she was comfortable leaving.

I had a video ready to post - our short trip to the beach, but Google's video site is temporarily down tonight. Hopefully, I'll get it and another video posted tomorrow.

Take care and God Bless You!

Alexandra Musical Doll

This doll is similar to the one we bought Katie. It definitely has the same face. It's named "Alexandra Musical Doll" and it plays "Fur Elise." There are several to the collection - Swan Lake, Cinderella, Happy Birthday, Tooth Fairy & more. I think they are a precious keepsake!

Our New Little Addition

See our new baby! Liz sent us this new picture of her and baby boy. She looks so cute pregnant. I think she looks good compared to when I was pregnant with Katie. I was huge and swollen every where.

Aunt Sherry wrote me and hopefully they will be coming up the end of July. I wrote her back and asked them to come over for Katie's birthday party.

Katie and I went Father's Day shopping for Paw-Paw Millard. I can't tell what she got him in case he might read this, but hopefully he'll like it. While we were close by, I stopped by the shop that has the little Happy Birthday musical dolls. They had two brunettes and one blond Birthday dolls left. They did have a couple of Cinderella & one Swan Lake dolls. The Happy Birthday dolls are still my favorite. I had the clerk wrap up the brunette birthday doll. Katie was upset at me because I wouldn't let her hold the doll. Isn't that awful of me to purchase the child's birthday gift in front of her and then not let her play with it? Bad Mother! In my defense, I rarely get to go shopping without her. Next Christmas and especially next year, I will have to be more careful to not let her see her gifts. Doug is the champion when it comes to knowing everything he gets for Christmas. He is the biggest snop! Of course, it doesn't help that I can't hide things very well. He always "accidentally" finds all the presents from me.

Happy 12th Anniversary - Baby!

Happy Anniversary Baby! I've got you on my mind! I would like to wish my wonderful, thoughtful, sexy husband a very Happy Anniversary. We have shared 12 wonderful and memorable years together. Hopefully, we'll share another 12 more wonderful years together.

Millard and Peggy picked Katie up to spend the night with them Friday night. Again, Doug and I didn't know what to do. Sometimes I have to ask myself, what did I do when I wasn't a Mom. We went to Johnny's for our Anniversary dinner. I had to stop by Books-a-Million and pick up some cards. Guess what? In one of my past postings I mentioned the children book series called "The Froggy Books." Well, BAM had one of the Froggy books on sale for $5.97, "Froggy rides a bike." I had to get it for Katie's. I just wished some of the other Froggy books were on sale. There are quite a few Froggy stories. It is so cute! Another series of story books I would like to add to Katie's library is the bear books - "Bear Snores On" is one of the books. We have "Bear makes a friend" (something like that). Anyway, I think they are precious story books. We've read almost all of Eric Carle books that's Katie's age. There are two or three Eric Carle books, I feel are for more advanced reading. I checked out "Mister Seahorse" by Eric Carle from the Library this past week. Katie seems to like it, but nothing like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear." I bought her "The very hungry Caterpillar" and "The quiet cricket" a couple of months ago to add to her library. She's starting to warm up to them.

Do you find yourself not knowing when to stop buy things for your child's birthday or special occasion? Ugh!!! Sometimes, I feel like we are going broke buying stuff for her. Of course, they are things that we would like to get her for her special day. I don't think we are going to get her table & chairs in before her birthday party. I ordered them through the Step 2 company. I was wanting to go through Toys R Us or WalMart, but Step 2 was much cheaper then either one of these places. I couldn't hardly believe it. Doug and I wanted to get the Lifestyle Collection folding table and chair (for easy storage) from Step 2. We saw one on display at Toys R Us and Doug didn't want it right then. Instead, he wanted me to just order it from home for her birthday. Well, the set I wanted was the tan instead of the colored. Apparently, this set is in high demand because Step 2 had them on back order. I'm hoping to get it before the party because Alise is coming and I think this set will make it easier for the girls to play and eat at a table their size. I'm wanting to get Katie this musical doll, like we got Alise, as a keepsake. I think these little dolls are so precious! They have the windup on the bottom and their little heads move while it plays the music. I haven't even gone back to the store that I picked Alise's up to see if they have anymore. Lord willing, when I go back they'll have them in stock.

Yesterday, Doug & I did a few small chores around the house. We took Millard and Peggy out to dinner for his birthday. He wanted to go to Logan's. Ever since my Mom's Birthday party this past February, Millard & Peggy have been hot for Logan's. tehe! I didn't know it until last month, but Peggy had never been to Logan's until my Mom's party. I had their Southwest Chicken, it was juicy good. Katie doesn't like sitting in a highchair in restaurants, so us getting a booth helped a lot. Katie sat between Doug and myself and was showing out! I sure hope my friends are right when they said she'll be out of the terrible twos soon.

As some of you know, I take care of the 2 year olds once a month. Katie moved up to the 2 year old class a couple of months ago. Because of Ryan's Graduation & Decoration Day, I've had to get a substitute for my class. Today was the first day, I got to be in Katie's class with her. I don't know if this is going to work or not. I told Truett, I would see if it would work. I hate dropping the class because he is so short on help with the preschoolers as it is. If anything, I guess I could move into the 3 year old class until Katie moves up. I'm hoping why she was grumpy today was because she decided to get up at 6:30 this morning. She was tired and whining. At the playground, all the other children were running around and playing. Katie saw me holding Harrison and she didn't like it at all. She kept it up until I put Harrison on one leg and Katie on the other. She tried her best to push Harrison off my lap. Well, Harrison is a year older then Katie and a big boy, so she wasn't making any headway. He just looked at her. I explained to him that she is jealous. When we got back in class, she finally got over it and continued playing with Claire and Sophie. I think Claire and Sophie are her close friends because she would just hang with them. Claire is a little older, almost 3 years old, but she is like the big sister to Katie. She really takes care of Katie as far as playing and taking up for her. Preston, in Katie's class, is a little girl crazy boy. He likes to get in the girls face and act funny to get their attention. Some little girls think it's funny, but there are some that find it annoying like Kaitlyn. I had to tell Preston to stop aggravating Katie. Everytime he got in her face, she would get mad. First she hit him and then run away from him yelling. I guess he did that a couple of times to her and another girl before I had to tell him to stop. I was afraid he would get hurt. Sure enough, he pushed too many of Sophie's buttons and he fell and bumped his head.

Auburn Graduate

This ad was sent to me today and I thought it was cute! Sorry, Auburn fans!

Katie playing in the mud puddle

Okay this is the last video for today! I've just had too much fun doing this today. I explained this story on the video, so I won't go into details. It was one of those moments that you had to be there to see her. My little stinker winker!

Katie at the Park Video - March 2007

Some of you have already seen the pictures on Katie's website of her at the park. Now that I'm learning how to post these video clips on my blog, I thought you would like a little clip. Because of a few youth baseball tournaments, kids were every where not to mention it was the weekend. Katie had a blast being around the other children. Some of the older kids really took up with Katie and helped her out. She loves going to the park, it is our special treat.

"Empty Arms" by Pam Vredevelt

I read Laura's blog late last night and I am so sorry about her Doctor and friend, Dr. Sheppard. If you don't know, Dr. Sheppard recently had a miscarriage. She miscarried twins at 23 weeks. I can't imagine what she might be going through, but I do sympathize as a Mother. I started to just leave Laura a comment on her blog, but I thought I would spread the word about this book: "Empty Arms" by Pam Vredevedt.

Laura - I don't know how close you are to your doctor. If you can, I would recommend her reading this book. You know even doctors need spiritual encouragement. When my niece was going through so much trouble with her miscarriage, I kept asking for prayer in my Sunday School class. A dear friend came up to me and recommended this book to give to my niece. I didn't know at the time, but my friend had suffered through the grief of a couple of miscarriages. I sent my niece the book and she said it really helped her. She said it explained every possible feeling she was going through and encouraged her to keep going day after day. Since then, my niece and her husband gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. My great niece is now 18 months old and Liz, my niece, is expecting her second child in August/September. Of course, they went through some tough times conceiving my little niece and soon to be little nephew, but she had her book and lots of family support to get them through these experiences. I ordered this book through Books a Million, so I'm sure you can get this book at any bookstore, in the self help section. I will keep Dr. Sheppard in my prayers and hope everything will work out for her (family & career).

Katie - Ring Around the Rosies

Nick came by for a visit and got Katie talking about an event that happened at the pool. She got onto Jessie for pushing Jodie into the pool. Later, we got Katie playing Ring Around the Rosie and got dizzy going around in circles. Funny!

Happy Birthday Millard!

I would like to start off by wishing my father-in-law a very Happy 64th Birthday! I know he had a wonderful day because he and Peggy finally got their floor installed. Hurray!!!! The guy, they've been dealing with, called them and his crew had the floor finished in less than 2 hours. They are coming by tomorrow to pick up Katie for the night. They love it when she spends the night. I know they will all have a good time and I think Mommy needs a little break. Of course, we'll have to check in with them once or twice before bed time.

I think Katie is slowly turning into a little Disney Princess fan, which there is nothing wrong with that. I've been talking to her about her up coming birthday and she would have a Princess party. I also have told her about all the people coming to her party. Today while we were in WalMart, I started talking to her again about her party. She kept saying "Princess party." "Yes." I told. I asked her who was a princess and she looked so puzzled. So, I started naming off all the Disney Princesses, I knew. She just looked at me funny. I asked her if she would like to look at a princess. "Uh, huh." she said. I took her down the baby doll & pretend play aisle. On one of the Disney Princess toy boxes was a picture of all the Disney Princesses. Her eyes lite up, like it finally clicked in her head. There were some Disney Princess barbie dolls on the shelf. She wanted to see them, which I had no problem with her looking at them. She kept hugging on the Snow White, which I have to say was a beautiful doll. I started putting all the dolls back up on the shelf, but she didn't want to give up Snow White. What was I going to do? Normally, if I tell her we have to put the toys back for the other children to look at them and she'd give them up. Nope, not this time. I told her that if she's a good girl then maybe she'll get one for her birthday. "Okay, Mommy." she said. As I grabbed it to put it back, she started to cry. Ugh!!! I wouldn't have minded getting it but there were a few small pieces, so I didn't feel comfortable buying it. Luckily, I found a bigger Snow White doll with bigger accessories that was just as cute as the other doll. Fortunately for me, she liked it better. I explained to her, she won't get the doll until her birthday and she seemed okay with it. I have to say, I was surprised she wanted a Snow White. A lot of you know she just adores Little Mermaid, in fact, that is how we even ended up with the Fairy-tale Princess Birthday Party at all. When I was little, I loved Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. I love the fact that my little girl is following in her Mommy's footsteps. I say this because I don't push her in anyway as to what she likes or dislikes. But like me when I was little, she loves dolls and stuffed animals.

I'm refurbishing an old cradle for her baby dolls. I've got pictures on her website of her rocking her baby in the cradle. The cradle isn't in bad condition, it just needs some paint and new material for the bedding. I picked a pretty lavender pattern from WalMart. In a couple of weeks, I hope to check Hobby Lobby's material. I would like to get either a pattern with lavender or pink or both in it to match her bedding set. I also want to get material to make her a no sew blanket and pillow for her baby doll bed.

I previously uploaded a new movie of Katie, titled "Katie - Ring Around the Rosies." Don' forget to scroll up and watch it. It was a funny night with Nick, Doug, Katie & myself. I cut a lot of clips out just to get the funniest on the web. What started it was Nick was on me about not video taping Katie enough. But every time I grab the video camera, she clams up a little. The night I took this video, Katie was in rare form talking to Nick, Doug and myself. She carries so that you can't hardly understand what she's saying. Nick was so tickled at her, he told me I needed to get it on video. Well, I grabbed the camera and sure enough, Katie calmed down. He soon found out what I was talking about. A little later that night, Nick and I got her stirred up again, but it wasn't as good without the video camera. I need to get a few other videos post, to keep me in exercise as to uploading this clips into Google. If you don't do it all the time, you tend to forget.

Take care and enjoy the video.

Little Princess Katie

Katie loves wearing Mom's shoes. She has pranced around the house with my shoes since she was 18 months old, now she has her own. Millard and Peggy have talked about getting her a pair of play shoes, but were always afraid to get them for her because it says on the package for 3 + years old. Doug and I went ahead and gave them our blessing to get them. I've been keeping up with WalMart's stock on Princess shoes & outfit because I was going to get her a Princess Pretend set for her birthday, if Millard & Peggy decided not to get it. I told them WalMart had just gotten in a new shipment of Sleeping Beauty pretend outfits. Later that week, they came to our house with the outfit. Katie just loves it! She likes her "Princess shoes," what she calls them. They stay mostly on her hand then her feet. I think it's because they are still a little big for her, but they are smaller than my high heel shoes. She pranced around the Living Room after we put her new Princess outfit on. When she was done, she wanted the shirt taken off, but not the skirt. Instead, she would pull the skirt up like a dress. It was funny when she would do it. Millard figured the Princess shirt was too itchy and that's why she didn't want it on. Who knows, but it was funny. By the way I love my husband he is the greatest!!!! (written by Mr. Doug Mason, while I was away from the computer). I've got more photos on Katie's website, so you'll have to check it out.

Do you go through this routine? Our normal routine with Katie at night is the following: After supper, we take a tubby; she gets her jammies on; I get a book and her milk; I put her in her bed and we read a story while she drinks her milk. As most of you know, she may be put to bed at 8:00, but that doesn't mean she actually goes to sleep at 8:00. I'll hear her talk, playing & jumping around until close to 10:00-10:30. Last night, Katie added a new routine to our schedule. When she hollers out, I usually go see what's going on. Most of the time, she's wants more milk or needs another stuffed animal put into bed with her. This time, she needed to go poopy in the potty. I went to change her diaper, but she insisted to go to the potty. Okay, I thought. As soon as I put her down, she tore off to our bedroom and had Daddy rescue her. We let her cuddle up with Daddy for a little while and back to bed she went. Tonight, again she called out that she had to poopy. I finally got to her room and she was already trying to take off her diaper. I thought she had already pooped, so I went to change her. "No, mommy, no!" she said. "I poopy in potty." I repeated what she said to confirm what she wanted to do. "Uh, huh." she said. I remembered what happened last night, so I made sure she went to the bathroom this time instead of the bedroom. I sat her up on the big potty, but she just pee peed a little and that was all. I guess this will be our new ritual - going to the potty before bed.

We watched "America's Got Talent" tonight - so funny! I love the contestants that have such a great imagination. They were showing people from Dallas, TX. The guy originally from Russia, but is currently living in Orlando, FL. As David Hasselhoff puts it, he looked like a giant human intestines. The newest judge is Sharon Osbourne, which I just adore. Doug wants me to add that Ozzy ROCKS! Anyway, tonight is a two hour premiere of the show & I have to say it was a little rocky between Sharon & Piers. It might be all show, but they don't seem to like each other too much. It kind of reminds me of Simon & Paula from "American Idol." Sharon left the stage after Piers blamed a mother for pressuring her 9 year old daughter to perform. The mother & daughter were defending their intensions and Sharon had had enough and left. She said that she didn't sign up for this, Piers dogging a contestant and her mother.

Happy Birthday Emma!

I would like to wish my great niece, Emma, a very Happy Birthday! We Love You very much and hope you had a wonderful day today.

Hell's Kitchen is back! I'm so excited about the new Hell's Kitchen. This could be the best yet! They have this cute little guy named Eddie, 28 years old, that I'm pulling for. I think the Cowboy Asian, Aaron, is funny! Doug thinks the women are terrible. He doesn't know why we (women) away get so mad at one another.

Do you think Paris Hilton will make it out of jail in one piece? How will she take hard time?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Exclusive Video

http://search2.foxnews.com/search?access=p&getfields=*&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=my_frontend&filter=0&site=video&proxystylesheet=my_frontend&q=ayaan%20hirsi%20ali

For some reason, I couldn't connect the exact video interview to this blog. In order to see exclusive interviews of this couragous woman, please click on the link above and select the video you would like to see of her.

"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This morning on Fox News, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of "Infidel" was interviewed. She explained about her young life as a Muslim in Somalia and watching how the Islamic faith (Quran) teaches the men to beat the Muslim women, especially the free well or ones who thought differently. How she escaped to Holland to begin a whole new life, including becoming a member of parliment. How she wants to spread the word against the Islamic Religion - in order to educate those who are not Muslim and hopefully help free the women in captivity by their own religion. She saw first hand what her Mother and other women went through and she wants it to stop. She confirmed like so many others that are either scholars of this type of religion or once was a believer of this religion that if you are not a member of the Islamic Religion, you are an infidel; therefore, you must be destroyed by death. Yes, it is hard to fathom the thought that someone would try to kill me just because of my religion. They don't have to know me personally and I don't have to do anything wrong. To them, it is my destiny! We try to make excuses, I know I have, that just because a few mislead people that happen to be Muslim went on a killing frenzy doesn't mean everyone else from the same religion is that way. I still don't know a whole lot about the difference between Muslim and Islamic. Are they one and the same? I don't know. I do know Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a book out called "Infidel" available in most big named book stores (Books A Million, Barnes and Noble). I plan to buy this book and hopefully get a better insight on the whole "Infidel." Below is an article from Fox News about a movie director, Theo Van Gogh, that was murdered, shot to death. The murderer was Mohammed Bouyeri. Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh because he became outraged after watching a film "Submission" made by Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali. Now there is a threat against Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life. She is forced to walk around in pulic with a full time body guard to help keep her alive and her message to the world. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar19/0,4670,NetherlandsSlainFilmmaker,00.html . This is the article I found on Fox News. Since the interview was this morning with Ms. Hirsi Ali, I'm hoping Fox will have the video available to watch tomorrow. I'll have to check it out.

Where Has Time Gone?

Laura, I know what you are talking about. In your blog, you were talking about Alise getting up earlier in the mornings. Well, Katie has gradually started getting up earlier and earlier. This doesn't go well with my late night ritual - watch local news, while blogging, then I have to watch Bernie Mac (love it!) & don't forget Seinfield soon after. Depending on how much I have to blog & if I need to key in any reward points (pampers & coke), there are nights when I don't turn everything off until 1:00 in the morning. I do this at night because it's the only time I have to myself. I guess you can say this is my winding down time. We put Katie to bed around 8:00 at night. Of course, I hear her play in her bed until around 10:00-10:30. If she falls to sleep that late, she normally doesn't get up until 8:00 the next day. For the past few days, she has been getting up at 5:00-6:00 in the morning. She has gotten up as early at 3:00 in the morning and will not go back to sleep. So, I shut our bedroom door that way Doug will get some sleep and Katie & I will go into the Living Room to settle down. I've tried putting her in bed with us, but that doesn't work anymore. She starts crying for milk. I've been allowing her to drink a little juice rather than milk, so I wonder if there is any connection. Is she not getting enough milk during the day? She's still gaining weight, but nothing compared to most children her age. Her next doctor's appointment is not until the 25th of July, so I need to try and measure how much milk she is drinking now. I do this because her doctor will ask. Normally, she'll drink approximately 30-32 ounces a day.

Katie's cold seems to be getting better. There have been days where I've wondered if I should take her to the doctor (colored mucus discovered). Really that was the only symptom she had to let me know she might be getting an infection. With all the controversy about children's cold medicines, Katie's doctor and I feel better not giving her any at this age. All I knew what to do is give her apple juice for the drainage and keep her humidifier going in her room. Thankfully, the mucus went back to clear. Today, her nose wasn't runny at all. Her poor little nose has gotten so raw and sore. We've kept lotion (my age-fighting moisturizer from Mary Kay) on her nose. Bless her heart, after forcing her to hold still, so I could wipe her nose good. I had to get the hard boogers out with a wet wipe and I know it hurt her getting them out, but I had to do it. I felt so bad for her with all the crying and begging me to stop, broke my heart. Each time I had to do that I asked her if she wanted lotion on her nose. "Uh, huh." she said. So I put a drop on her finger for her to wipe it on her nose. Of course, I had to help a little and make sure it was on her nose good. The lotion on her nose put a smile back on her face.

Millard and Peggy stopped by this evening and visited. It had been awhile since we saw them last. Bless their heart, they've been trying to have most of their floors replaced. They are having wood flooring installed in four rooms and hallway. The person they hired to do the job told them he had plenty of the wood in stock to install in their house. His crew started on the job last Thursday and by Friday, the guy told Millard he didn't have enough wood to finish the job. He would have to reorder the wood and come back early next week. One of the four rooms and the hallway are all that's left to be finished. Needless to say, Peggy was about fit to be tied and I don't blame her one bit. It sounds like the guy has been so disrespectful and unprofessional the whole time she has had to deal with him. Now, they are afraid the guy won't finish the job. He has in his possession a little more the half the money it cost to finish the job. Please keep Millard and Peggy in your prayers - the guys will come back early this week and finish the job to their liking and all will be okay.

Doug had a deacon's meeting tonight, so Katie and I took a nap (make up the hours that I lost last night).

Where has time gone? I just knew I had a week to rest and get my house in order before anymore upcoming events. I was reminded tonight, Millard's birthday is this weekend. Okay! It looks as if we are going SHOPPING! While we are out, I think I will go ahead and knock out Father's Day gifts. Doug and I will be celebrating our 12th Anniversary on the 10th of June. I'll have to see if we can get a babysitter (hint, hint!). Even if we do get a babysitter, we'll probably end up staying at home. Do you know why? WE ARE BROKE! Yes, between last month & this month, I would have to say - We're Broke! Not to say we were ever rich to begin with. Besides, we have to save money (Doug) for our little princess a dream castle birthday cake & ribs (tehe! Inside joke).

Okay, I know I was one of those people that said she would never watch "The DaVinci Code." I didn't know it, but Doug TiVo'd the movie last night. I do appreciate a good mystery movie (one of my favorite types of movies), but I hesitated to allow myself to get involved in this movie. Before I watched it, I reminded myself it was completely fictional and I don't believe a word of it to be true. I definitely do not encourage anyone new to the Christian life or with little faith to watch this movie. I can see where some people could get confused because there are so many truths and events twisted and intertwined, which would make it seem possible when it is completely FALSE. I know as soon as Doug watches this crazy movie, it will be deleted from our TiVo ASAP.

Take care of each other & God Bless!

Birthday Princess Castle Cake

If Katie had several little girls coming to her party, we would have to get this cake. Wow!!! Our local Publix makes this cake. It serves between 25-30 people. Guess how much it cost? $55.99! What a cake! Don't be surprised if we have this cake for Katie's party. I say this because Doug likes it and he thinks we should get it. SHOCK! I have to remember this is his little girl's party we're talking about.

Katie and I had a baby shower to go to today. A lady I worked with once upon a time is expecting her first child (little girl) July 3rd. We got her a few sleeper gowns, a cute monkey sleeper, and receiving blankets. I made the biggest mistake by taking Katie with me. I thought it would be fun for her to attend a party, you know cake, gifts & hanging with the girls. I was really hoping there would be other little girls. Nope! I was wrong and I regretted it. She was so good for the first 10 minutes, but as soon as she warmed up to everyone the mischievous Katie came out and my little angel disappeared for an hour and 30 minutes. The shower was scheduled to last for two hours and as slow as Jill was opening up presents, I'm sure it lasted a whole lot longer than 2 hours. Needless to say, after an hour and a half during this shower I had ENOUGH! Katie pulling tissue out of Jill's gifts, throwing her toys in the fireplace, hiding behind this wooden screen that was making a couple of the women nervous that it might fall, running around the room like she was high on sugar, and not minding me at all because she knew we were among other company. I was so embarrassed! I lend over and told a couple of people I knew that this would never happen again. I was so uncomfortable and felt out of place. Why is it that children love to embarrass their parents? I had planned to go to WalMart after the shower, but I was so upset and mad at Kaitlyn that I went straight home. I know she's going through her trouble twos and I try to understand, but I feel like such a failure as a Mother at times. I'm sure some of the women at the shower understood, but I could just feel the eyes burning a hole in my back when Katie was misbehaving. I took her out of the room a couple of times and really got on to her. I guess the scolding straightened her up for maybe 5-10 minutes and she would be right back at it. Ugh!!! What am I going to do with her? I know she's been sick with her cold, but my patience have really been wearing thin with her. Laura, I even tried the wooden spoon. She just looked at me and then asked for the spoon. Ugh!!!!!!!!! I've gotten away from the knotty chair (time out), so I think we will have to go back to "The Chair."

I did get to go to WalMart, without Katie. I needed some space and calm myself down, so it was a good time out for me. Doug stayed home while Katie was in bed sleeping. I got a few more things for the birthday party. I'm beginning to get excited. Doug and I talked about the menu tonight for the big day. He wants ribs, cowboy baked beans and I think potato salad would be good. I suggested a cold cut tray with finger foods, but Doug doesn't like sandwiches. I don't think Doug wants hamburgers because last year he didn't cook them long enough and they were still a little pink. Bless his heart, he got ragged about it. He must be scarred.

We got a visit from Nicholas tonight. He was on his way home from a wedding and wanted to come by and see us for a little bit. We always enjoy visits from the nieces and nephews. Katie loves the visits. They are nothing but big playmates for her and she loves the attention. He had her so stirred up - running up and down the hall. We got her a little bit on video. Nick was on me about not video taping her when she gets so excited. I told him that as soon as I pull out the camera or video camera, when she acts so silly, she straightens up and doesn't talk. Nick didn't believe me, so I had to show him. Well, now he believes me. As soon as she saw the camera, she stopped acting goofy and stopped talking.

Here's a little tidbit. I just watched a clip from our local news and "The Black Pearl" ship from "Pirates of the Caribbean," was actually built in Bayou La Batre, Alabama.

Your Dreams are Wish Your Heart Makes . . .

We have a party now! Tonight, Katie and I went to Party City and would not leave until we both agreed on a theme. She wanted Little Mermaid, but there was hardly any decorations to get other than the plates, napkins & table cover. I first thought I would be creative and splash a little under the sea type decorations, but I just didn't care for anything I saw. We went back and I held up two plates. One was Little Mermaid (alone) and the other was the Fairy-tale Princesses (includes all the Disney Princesses). She had the hardest time to decide because she wanted both of them. She finally grabbed the Fairy-tale plate. Shhhhuu! I was glad that was over and pleasantly surprised. I honestly thought I was going to have to leave that store, bringing home a Shrek party. I didn't get everything pictured on the left, but very close to it. I think the castle centerpiece is what makes it. Don't you? While we were at Party City, Katie made a friend, Rachel. She looked to be maybe 7 years old. Her birthday was in July as well, so her Mommy & I talked about the party stuff and how confusing it was - yada, yada, yada. I was glad Rachel was there to keep Katie occupied while I shopped. I don't like going to the closest Toys R Us store for us because it is in the bad side of town, so Doug was nice enough to go with us, after he got home from work. Katie is on such a Mermaid kick, especially now with the party, that she went crazy over all the Mermaid toys at the store. I let her walk around the store for the most part. That's were all the fun is - walking around and seeing all the great things in a toy store. I guided her around to the toys she's mostly interested in - pretend dress up, dolls, etc. She had a blast! We went ahead and let her pick out the doll she wanted. It was a hard choice between the "Wizard of Oz" witch and "Little Mermaid." After much deliberation and Daddy's patience wearing thin, she put the witch down and got back in the buggy with her mermaid doll. We won't give it to her until her birthday. Katie has this doll (we bought when we visiting relatives), it's made by "You & Me" named "Darla." The doll giggles, if you squeeze her tummy or tickle her toes. She cries if you rub her arm & says "Momma," if you rub her cheek. She even makes a sucking sound when you give her her special bottle. Anyway, Darla is a big deal at the house. Katie loves her Darla, so I thought I would get Darla some new clothes to wear. We got her some PJ's, which comes with a pillow to lay her head on and bunny slippers. You can get all kinds of accessories & even furniture for Darla. She's a cutie! We all love Darla! We went to Target, hoping to find a Jumpoline for Katie but they didn't have them in stock. I think I'm kind of changing my mind about the whole Jumpoline. Katie has so many toys as it is outside and the only thing she'll really play with is her sand box and cars. After her party and Alise goes home, she may never step foot in that Jumpoline again. Doug and I were talking about a Play Tent, which suits us better. If she doesn't use it, fold it up and store it away. She'll be able to play with it much long then a year or two, especially if we get the Over sized Cottage Play Tent. If we decide to get this tent, I may have to order it because Target didn't have it in stock either. Katie & I went through the toy section and we saw this magical wand and shoe set. She wouldn't put it down. It is pretty neat. You press a color button & then press this main button and both the shoes & wand light up. It tells you what princess goes with the color you selected. It's like a wireless system between the wand and shoes. Here's another present down. Katie liked this other wand, but it had a string of pearls on it and I was afraid they would come off. I hated to take it away from her and put it back, but that's when I found the wand & shoe set.

Today, Katie and I dropped off some movies Doug rented for me. They were all chick flicks - "Because I Said So," "Catch & Release," and "The Painted Veil." I was a little disappointed with Jennifer Gardner in "Catch & Release." I like Jennifer as an actress, but I thought this movie was a little ho hum for me. I was pleasantly surprised with "The Painted Veil." It is not meant to be seen in the presence of children (some sex scenes). It was a little rocky in the beginning, but the ending was so unexpected and beautiful. It was very well scripted. The credits acted as if it was based on a novel. I would love to read it, if it's not too long. I prefer short story to a big novel. Then there is "Because I Said So." If you haven't seen it, you've got to get it. Again, not meant to be seen in the presence of small children. It is so funny! Doug and I kept giggling throughout the whole movie. I recommend this movie! We left the Movie Gallery and mailed Emma's birthday package (I know there's a chance it will get to her late, but I had a little problem). I'm hoping it will get to Allan on her birthday. We left the Post Office and went to the Library. Katie loves going to the Library and she does so good. I let her go back to her area, while I dropped off books and DVDs. This past couple of weeks, we checked out "An American Tail" and "Angelina Ballerina" DVD movies. I've been dying to start reading "Angelina Ballerina" books to Katie, so I thought I would introduce her to Angelina. She liked the whole mouse concept, but after the first few minutes of Angelina, Katie was off doing other things. In fact, she found an Angelina Ballerina doll in Toys R Us today and she remembered seeing her. She patted her on the head and made sure I knew Angelina was there. I asked her if she liked Angelina - "Uh, Huh!" she said. We left it at that. I guess the "Angelina Ballerina" books will have to wait another year. I can't find them at the Library or I would check them out and see how she does. This time, we checked out a Strawberry Shortcake DVD along with 12 other books. We have to read at least one book a night. I've been encouraging her to pick out her own books that might interest her. She picked out a "Bear in the Blue House" book and told me she wanted a "Blue's Clues" book. I looked high and low for a "Blue's Clues" book, but I couldn't find one. I did find "The Polar Express." I want to get her the book for her collection so bad, but I don't know if she's ready for it. Doug and I got her the movie last year for Christmas, but I think it might be too old for her right now. I checked out "The Polar Express" today, hopefully she will enjoy it. If I kind of know how the story goes, I'll add sound effects and change my voice to make it more interesting. I'm just glad no adults listen to me! I would be so embarrassed. I noticed the Library Staff added a new little edition - A spider! Katie has to see Eeck & Squeak (two white mice) at the Library everytime we go inside, but this time there was a new edition a Tarantula. Katie has never seen one before, so I showed her where it was and it was a spider. That's all it took. As I was checking out the books, she stood by the spider and told everyone (as loud as she could) in the Library (whether they wanted to know or not), there was a spider.

I called the oral surgeon today and scheduled an appointment for a consultation with the doctor. The earliest they could fit me is on June 14th. I think I'm going to ask his advice, if I should do the procedure before the party or after depending on recovery time. In a way, I want to get it done and out of the way because if I continue to think about it, I'm afraid I won't do it. Yes, I'm chicken, yellow belly, scary cat - call me all the names you want because that's me.

Tomorrow, Katie and I have a baby shower to go to. Doug will have the house all to himself for a few hours because I plan to stop by WalMart after the shower and pick up the remaining items I need for Katie's birthday party. I would also like to stop off at the Bakery and see if they can make a Fairy-tale Princess Pull A Part Cupcakes. I would prefer the cupcakes (pull a part) instead of a sheet cake.

I hope you have a great weekend! Take care of each other and God Bless You!