Things I learned in August

Hair damage.

Letting Jovey do my hair from time to time seemed like an innocent activity.  I even used it as a reward for her not crying while I detangled her hair.  It worked, by the way, but I will not use it ever again.  She snuck up on my while I was reading and started brushing my hair recently.  Which is fine and normal for her.  I didn't know she also had a comb in hand, which she used to wrap round and round to the roots.  I could not get it out. (insert me crying right here)

I do indeed have self control.

I did not kill Jovey after I had to cut off a big chunk of my hair.  I should have donated it for a wig, but I wasn't thinking about others at the time.  I was seeing red, but no blood was spilt.  ;)  Patience, who knew I had it in me.

Miley for president.

I put Miley in charge of most of her birthday/baptism extravaganza.  She did it all.  Planning, greeting, activities, food (well not the actual purchasing, but she did pick out her own cake and what it should say on it, but I wasn't supposed to tell you that part ;), you name it and she had a hand in it.  It was perfect that way.  She loved it, and I think it made her feel invested more in the event as well, if that's possible since it was all about her anyway.  My only complaint; I should have put her in charge of taking pictures too. . . well she could have assigned that job to someone.  Oh well, next time.  I think I'll put Miley in charge of Jovey's birthday too.  Jovey can be her assistant.

Bite me.

Mosquitoes live down here.  How did I live here for 10 years and never get bitten by a mosquito until this past month???!!!  I thought I moved away from those little suckers, but alas three bites later and I believe my blood has been calling them south.  Or it's a fluke.  Or it's a scorpion sting.  Is it weird that that might be preferable?  ;)  At least I could see my attacker and possibly avoid it, well except for the three times in August.  Ahhh dang.  Probably a stretch for the scorpion then.  Sad face.

Netflix makes me sad.

Finished another series, White Collar.  It was a good show.  I hate that shows end.  OK, I realize they have to or else they turn to crap, but still now I need to find a new show.  Oh and Mr. Peabody disappeared from their listing, so that means I should probably buy it, cause it was a good one and the girls watched it a lot.  Netflix is an emotional rollercoaster ride.  ;)

3rd grade two thumbs up.

I don't remember 3rd grade.  I must of really hated multiplication or cursive.  Ok, I actually do dislike cursive, but I don't know if that's the reason I blocked the year, or was it 2nd grade.  I guess I don't remember much at all.  Anyway. . . experiencing third grade again through Miley is turning out to be an enjoyable experience.  It may be too early to call it, but so far the teacher, curriculum, class, experience is all rose colored glasses.  Hallelujah.

Bodyguard duty.

Jovey starts preschool this month.  At back to school night there was a little boy who kept giving my girl the stink eye.  I tried not to punch him in the face.  *self control*  I may be overly protective of my baby.  Or maybe I've seen people treat her differently and now I can no longer tell why people act the way they do.  My view has changed.  White privilege is a thing, and it sucks.  I want to protect her from stupid people, but it turns out I am outnumbered.  ;)  (insert deep breaths)

Lefty loosey.

Speaking of a world made for me. . . right handed people are spoiled.  Jovey is a lefty.  I've been trying to help her write her name.  Oy.  I am not good at being left handed, everything is made for righties.  Try to open your fridge with your left hand, I bet it was made for a righty.  The more I look around the more I see my right hand overlording it everywhere.  Wow.  The computer keyboard. . . not that Jo is using that yet, but still.  Time to work on being ambidextrous, for both of us.

Boom Boom, ain't it great to be crazy.

Bear is terrified of thunder.  This is new.  She didn't use to be scared of it, just strangers, and well lots of other things probably.  Now she's a big chicken during storms.  August was a rough month for her.  Thunder storms every stinkin day.  I carried her around constantly.  My left bicep is pretty impressive.  ;)

Faint of heart.

Jovey can't stand the sight of her own blood.  One scraped knee on a walk led to a whole day of recuperation.  Oh. my. stars.

Voter anxiety.

I have come to terms with this year's election.  I've accepted that I do not agree with the majority of citizens of this beautiful country.  I didn't realize I was such an outlier.  I'm ok with it.  I cannot support the candidates for our highest office, but I am not fretting about it.  It is out of my control.  I will vote with my conscience and be at peace.

Turn.  Turn.  Turn.

I don't remember being sooooooo ready for the summer weather to be over.  Do I block this part of the year out each time?  I am done with the heat.  It is a killer in July and August.  Thankfully we have felt the break, the shift.  We are that in tune with the weather that we can feel Autumn coming, deep in our bones.  It's a gradual change in temp here, but the fact that it isn't 100 from the moment we wake up until we go to bed, is progress.  A change is coming and I LOVE this time of year. . . or I will in a week or two.

Preparing for disappointment.

So our Halloween costumes this year. . . well they'll be a little different.  I'm afraid they will not live up to your expectations.  The few I've told, seem let down.  I need a low key year here people.  And my girls are picking them this time around, and get off my back about it.  ;)  ha.  Ok, you probably don't care about our costumes, but I feel like you do.  I have issues.  ;)  Jovey is experiencing some disappointment in our costumes since she found out that the wings I am making for her will not actually allow her to fly.  She had that much faith in my costume building skills, and I failed her.

Hiccups as torture.

I don't know what's happening here, but my girls have had an epidemic of hiccups in August. . . and I am slowly going insane listening to them.  No really, hiccups are evil.  ;)  Side note:  Have you ever heard Dave hiccup?  Trust me, you'd remember.  Then you'd believe me that they may be the most obnoxious thing to plague mankind.  Evil, likes fru-its of the de-vil.  ;)

Disney addiction.

So Disney created a new princess on the Disney channel.  Her name is Elena. . . of Avalor. . . and my girls LOVE it.  Something about a strong girl singing catchy tunes and they are hooked.  Adoring fans.  Well played Disney.  Just FYI, if you're thinking of getting something for Jovey's birthday in November, I'm sure she'll still be a HUGE fan of Elena. . .

House plans.

If you mention that you have plans to build on to your house, then people will ask you every time you see them/talk to them if you have started or when that will be happening.  I can't answer this question anymore.  I can't.  I'm never sharing any information with anyone ever again.  Yes, I'm looking at you. ;)

Cleaning off my phone

Birthdayness. . . yeah I needed to clean off my phone for some time now

Miley drew this awesome Tiger, cause it's my favorite animal, for a game on my birthday.  I kept it.  It's a keeper.

 Dave bought these twisty balloons and filled them up with helium the night before. . . they didn't make it a couple of hours before they were on the floor, and by morning they looked like this. . . ha

Finished our backsplash.  It's tin.  I was most freaked out about cutting the pieces.  I was sure I would cut it wrong or just cut myself.  Of course that made it my job then, but thankfully I only scratched my arm on an edge and cut everything like a pro, or pro-ish.  ;)  I really love how it looks.  We got a new dining room pendant as well.  My kitchen is looking nice.  I just need to decide what to do with the island.  I'm thinking a red glaze.  Oh and cabinet hardware.  We've survived without it for so long it's weird to think about putting it on.

They were doctors, despite the fact that they were working on stuffed animals.  I guess veterinarians  doesn't sound as cool.  ;)

 Miley scratched her forehead, but thought a bandaid on it would look ridiculous. . . so a piece of a tissue taped was the obvious choice here.  Oh and she's been doing her own hair, check the braids here and then whatever else is going on in the next pic after. . .

Art project:  Make Harry Potter wands. . . chopsticks covered in hot glue and then painted.  Boom, magic.

Freakiness from a phone app they HAD to do because cousin Paiz was having so much fun with it.

 Father's Day with this lucky guy.

 Since I canceled Jo's nap, I instated quiet time. . . which sometimes looks a lot like nap time.

 I took the girls with me to vote in the primary.  I may have voted 3 times.  ;)  I explained to them what I was voting for and Miley decided she wants to be governor now, but only if everyone has to do what she says.  ;)  The next morning Jovey asked me, "who won the government?"  Raising some voters here, or possibly tyrants.  ;)

Stuff I have to take a picture of because I am forcing Miley to throw it away and she requires evidence of her inventions.  I have a lot of these pictures actually.  But very little duct tape left.

We may be REALLY addicted to Chicken Minis from Chik-fil-a.  They are just so conveniently located on the way home from tennis early in the morning.  Mmmmm.  What will be do when tennis is over?  Starve, I guess.

What it looks like when you are sick and your kids need to be with you anyway.

Cute Bear.  Found an old picture of her recently.  I had forgotten that Bear was once all brown without any white fur.  I still love her cute little face.

 Just call her Miley lizard catcher.  You'll have to ask her about her success rates. . .

And now my phone even feels lighter.

Morning pictures

I found these on my phone. . .

I programmed a Miley fingerprint in my phone for emergencies. . . apparently we had one that morning.  ;)  It did buy me a few more minutes of sleep, so there's that.

Remember when I used to have a blog. . .

It turns out I still do, but it's getting dusty.  I have mentioned how I despise Januarys, right?  Well there's the reason, well one reason.  Lately I have been feeling oddly exposed.

I bailed someone out of jail in England recently.  Yep, I'm a do-gooder all over the world.  ;)  OK, they bailed themselves out with the help of my stolen credit card.  You are welcome.  Stupid stinkin !@#$%*#%&^.  That's not cussing, I just can't type all that well.  ;)

Thankfully credit card companies are quite adept at fixing these things, but it's sad that it happens at all.  This is my second experience.  You feel a tad bit violated by it.  That is my name you are using, and of course there's the money.  We watched a movie recently with a character in it named Mindy, and freakishly enough, she was a lot like me.  Dave found this hilarious.  I found it creepy.  Identity theft, I'm sure.  I'm being watched.  Or my name is somehow linked with my personality.  Or I'm reading too much into this. . .

Anyway, I digress.  You know those people who constantly talk about themselves.  They seem put out if you even try to offer up your own personal experience to a conversation. . . Annnnd back to me.  Yeah, I know those people.  I just nod and smile and try not to roll my eyes when they are looking directly at me.  ;)

The thing is, I'm not the person who likes to talk about themselves.  You may be thinking I am full of crap after reading more than one post on this blog, but you are WRONG.  Wrong I tell ya.  ;)  I don't offer up personal anecdotes easily in casual conversation.  It's easier on the computer cause I don't see ya rolling your eyes at me.  ;)  And I can pretend that no one is actually reading this most of the time. . . hint hint.  So I don't have to worry that I'm giving away too much of my power.  I don't need more people understanding me and dissecting me by the information I've given.  That sounds a whole lot of paranoid.  Wowza.  Let's just say, it's nice to be surprising, not predictable, a mystery.  So no one can steal my identity.  Except people in Nottingham, and actors in B movies.  ;)

And that brings us to the blog, where no one else does it anymore, blog I mean, but here I am babbling about myself. . . like those people that are really easy to talk to because you just have to stand there.  I am now that person that can't stop when everyone else has.  I don't want to be that person.  Don't roll your eyes at me!  OK, you can, but I feel like that person now and it's quite uncomfortable.  I'm having trouble finding a purpose here these days.  WHY, why do I come back?

Dave thinks I should keep plinking away at these keys as a record for us of our life, our family.  He's right, it has been nice to go back and read stuff we've done or said.  Sometimes it's been not so nice, but that's reality.  I can even scare myself.  ;)

So there you have it, what's been blocking me.  In an effort to ignore it I will post these tidbits today, since well I'm already here. . .

I now find my phone filled with Jovey pictures.  She is my buddy all day and so her pics vastly outnumber Miley's at the present.  Poor Mie baby.  I'll have to remedy this, or I'll probably hear the dreaded 'fair' word.  It's banned in this house.

I've lost a good portion of my hair.  I don't have enough hair as it is, but since it's not my pride and joy I let her have at it.  Oh well.

This is what Jovey's hair looks like when I take the twists out.  She can wear it like this for a few days before she plays with it too much and it gets messy.  It actually helps keep her hair from tangling this way.  Next time I'll do more twists so the twist out will be even fuller.  My fingers aren't ready to go again just yet.

This is how you keep yourself from buying too much crap at Target.  Add a wiggly Jovey to the cart and it's pretty full already.

Jovey was asked to give a Primary talk, barely three weeks into her stint in Primary.  Oy.  Add in the fact that she's the youngest one in there, and has stutter, well I was less than thrilled with their timing.  Jovey was happy to do it, or so she said.  She memorized her little talk really fast and kept practicing it.  That's how I know she was, in fact, quite nervous about speaking in front of everyone.  She does not like it when people laugh at her stutter, and unfortunately that is what EVERYONE does.  I don't know why.  Cause they think it's cute, or they feel uncomfortable.  I don't know,  I try not to punch people in the face.  ;)  

She did really well.  She got stuck a few times and some people laughed, but she was so brave and kept going.  Despite our praise, it cost her some confidence and she struggled for a few days to regain control of her speech.  She's resilient though and told me she'd do it again when they asked her to.

Dave is undertaking his last inventory this week.  He won't have to do them anymore when he's no longer manager.  Yes, he's still manager until February.  And unfortunately he is also two people, cause the new manager will not be here until February, but you cannot pay someone to be two people.  Life is not fair.  ;)  He is way too busy and the girls are constantly saying that they miss him.  We are just happy that this is almost over.  Thank heavens.

Dave had jury duty this week, but he wasn't called on to be a juror so he had to go to work.  It would have been lovely to see them deal with inventory without him.  The thought had his boss really freaked.  That inevitable mess would have been left for the next manager anyway.  Dang it.  I think he would have loved sitting on a jury for a time instead.  A nice change.  ;)

I gotta say I am so very proud of Dave for the work he has accomplished.  The pharmacy had some big issues and he fixed them.  Three huge things, turned them around.  It's kind of frustrating for me to see him accomplish these long standing issues and then let the next guy have an easy gig, but I know that it was exhausting for him to do and he deserves a break.  I just hope his replacement appreciates the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it, and those were just from me.  ;)

Speaking of proud, let's talk about my Miley girl.  I taught her how to do regrouping with subtraction.  She had it down.  Then her teacher added something else to the mix.  I don't even know what it was she did, but it threw Miley.  Mind blown.  Subtracting no more.  We practiced and practiced when I found out the test was the next day, two days earlier than expected.  She aced it.  Her teacher was surprised.  Yeah, it was that big.  I could totally do this homeschooling thing.  ;)  Yeah no I couldn't.

It's in the 50s maybe even close to 60s here lately, but we're still cold.  Not freezing, we'll go outside and survive, but spending time out there in this wintry temps, ummm no.  Something is wrong with us.  Maybe if we wore shoes. . . ?

Oh January

It's still winter, but at least I only have to see it in the distance.

January is a troublemaker, but we're surviving. . .

The girls loved Disney on Ice, Frozen.  I like the shows that aren't watered down versions of movies better.  We'll see what next January brings.

We opted for the balcony seats this time around.  I told Miley if we got the cheaper seats I would buy her one of the overpriced nasty sno cones in the special cups.  She jumped on that deal.  So I guess, she doesn't really go for the show anyway. . . as long as there is popcorn too.

 I need winter to be over to get rid of colds.  Jovey now has the nasty cough/congestion thing that we've all had at least twice this winter.  Why won't this go away?!!  Oh right, cause everywhere we go people are coughing.  We're surrounding by germs!  This virus has been the plague of winter 2015/16.

I like reading reviews of kids books.  Some people, wowza.  So I bought The Day the Crayons Came Home, cause I liked the first book and then there was this one review where a mother angrily argued how inappropriate it was to have the word "puke" in the book and a picture of a dog licking itself.  She provided pics of both instances.  I had to buy it after that.  I guess if you don't have dogs that might be offensive.  ?? Or some people just really need to calm down.  Either way, thanks for the extra push to buy it angry mother.  We love it!

Why do people say BFFs forever?  Isn't forever in the acronym?  I'm so confused by this.  Miley and her friends say it all the time so therefore Jovey does as well, and then I found it on this shirt.  I had to buy it for these two BFFS 4ever.  Whatever.

Oh and Jovey was in no mood for pics, so covered up the words on the shirt to spite me and then looked away.  Her two year old attitude is holding on with a death grip.  ;)
 

Miley's hair has already grown at least 2 inches since we cut it this summer.  I may covet her hair a little, or a lot.  Lucky girlie.

See the light dot on Jovey's forehead?  It was once a little scratch.  When Jovey scratches or scrapes her skin it will be a light mark on her for what seems like forever.  After the scab goes away her new skin is always light because it doesn't have the same melanin level in it.  White skin experiences the same thing, but it's less noticeable.  Her wounds are so superficial, and yet they seem serious because everyone thinks it's a scar left behind.  Let me assure you, she is not scarred for life.  It blends away eventually.  In August she ran into the rose bush and the scratches are still visible on her arm.  I really want to put her in a bubble.

Sometimes I buy things that are still too big for the kiddos to wear and put them away until they can.  Sometimes I forget that I bought things and then miss most of the season they are useful in when they are finally uncovered in the closet.  Enter this jacket.  She loves it, but it's getting warmer already.  Oops.

I have an evil rug by the back door.  I didn't know it was evil when I bought it.  I might have bought it anyway even if I had known.  ;)  Anyway, my dogs nails' catch on it from time to time.  This time it tried to pull Nilla's off, therefore blood and drama and what Jovey calls her 'cast'.  Poor Nilla baby.  Her nails aren't even long.  I cut them, I swear.  Alright, this has happened twice to Bear so I will find a new rug already.  Such a pain.  All of it.

Jovey took good care of our little patient.  Nilla is a big baby nowadays.

Miley did some Chinese jump roping in PE this last week.  I was so happy to hear that they are doing things I loved as a kid in school.  So we made a rope and tried to teach Dave how to do it.  Miley showed us her Black Diamond routine.  Yes, she names these things.  I was the other half of holding the rope so the pics do not do it justice.  It was impressive foot work.  ;)

I got a video of Dave doing it, but it is on his phone and he won't let me have the video cause he knows where it will go. . . . ;)  He has some potential, despite working with those giant feet of his.

 I may or may not have over worked my knee demonstrating all my elementary school skills.  Dang you Chinese jump rope.  However, no one fell down and so that is a win for us.  ;)

I threw together an album for 2015 in a weekend so I could make it in time for Shutterfly's sale.  Then Dave convinced me to try out Costco's book instead.  Lost a weekend; hopefully Costco doesn't disappoint, cause now I really did miss the sale.

I consider this next picture a parenting win.

They dress themselves pretty much every day.  It isn't always a fashion win, but I feel pretty confident they are cute enough to pull off whatever they mismatch.  ;)  They were playing vampire hunter when I stopped them for a picture.  They won't be deceived by a pretty sparkly vampire boy.  I appreciate that.

I don't know who Jovey is texting.  They both think they are tweeners.  That part is less fun.