Terrarium Watch 2009

February

My New Album

Kelly tagged me on Facebook to do this little activity to create my own random concept album. I'd seen a couple of other people's posted on there and thought it was neat! So, my new band is Charlottetown, the title of our first album is "You live, if you do...", and the picture is a shark egg. I tagged some of you on Facebook, but all of you should give it a try and post it on your blog!

Here's the directions...

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random” or click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or another editing program to put it all together.

Surprise, Surprise!

Last night, we went to eat dinner at my parents' house. When we got there, a package had been delivered for Saunders... and he gave it to me and said, "Surprise!" It was a new camera for me! It is a Canon Powershot just like my old one, but the new version... a lot of cool new features and 10 megapixels vs my old 6. It even has a continuous shooting option that takes pictures on repeat... you know I'll be using that a lot! I am so excited! Here are some pictures I took last night with my new, crystal clear camera. (There are none of KA because she was asleep by the time the battery charged.)

Thanks, honey!

Dad in the kitchen

Momma gives Saunders a squeezeMy Diet CokeAn oil painting I did of my parents' house

Success!

Sewing ... with Abandon

In Writer's Workshop, they call it abandoning a piece... it means realizing that this particular piece of writing is not for you, putting it aside (or even tossing it), and moving on. Saying "abandoning a piece" has always made me feel bad, like I was leaving a little piece of writing, sad and alone, in the woods or something.

However, as a teacher, you come to realize you have to encourage students to abandon their pieces sometimes. Even though you may really want to write about a topic, sometimes you get so bogged down in the process or details or conventions or whatever that you just can't continue, and it not only stymies your writing, it kind of takes the joy out of worktime because you're stuck.

Well, this happened to me last week in sewing. I started making Katie Anne a pair of overalls last November, before mono truly set in. I was practicing on her to make a pair of these because I was making some as Christmas gifts for some little boys, and I didn't want to make something as a gift that I'd never actually sewn before. So, I made her a little pair of brown and pink overalls with an inset panel on the chest. I didn't hem them or put buttons on... I just wanted to test the overall idea, and then I paused to start the boys' ones. I also planned to make her a matching shirt out of the pink plaid fabric later.

After I bought all the new summer fabric last weekend, I thought I'd better finish up this last winter outfit before I started the new stuff. So, I quickly finished the overalls... just buttons, buttonholes, and hemming the pants legs, and they were done:

Close up of panel...Well, I then began the shirt, using a pattern. Now, I've used patterns twice in all my sewing adventures... for sizing on the A-line dresses, and for sizing on the overalls. However, I never even opened the directions for them. I just used the cutting pieces and figured out the construction on my own. For this shirt, I wanted to really follow the directions line by line and try to do it by the book.

Here's how far I got...
This little beast is what confused me... who can understand this?

Obviously, many people can understand those goofy words and make a great shirt out of them, but not me. The shirt wound up looking like a half-made Elvis Vegas-style jumpsuit shirt... and I mean Elvis, The Later Years. I was just sick of working on it, but I didn't want to give up. However, I didn't really want to work on it... so I avoided sewing and would work on it for about 15 minutes a night, really just treading water. Then, I tried so hard to iron the Elvis collar flat that I kind of burnt it, and it looked sort of browny-pink.

Saunders encouraged me over and over to let it go - she could easily wear a pink or white shirt under the overalls and be fine. At about 11:00 pm Thursday night, after a frustrating night of trying to follow that goofy pattern, I agreed with him, and little pink plaid Elvis starred in a one-night-only performance in the trash can.

I kept the pattern, of course... I may try again later when I've gained more sewing expertise. But, for now, the best thing for this sewing ingenue was just to abandon that piece and move on to fun, summer sewing.



(Mom, did you notice ingenue!?)

Princess Save-A-Lot

Today, I went shopping at Target for the upcoming birthday girls Emma and Lily. Emma's party is this weekend and Lily's is next weekend. I got both girls some fun stuff, and Katie Anne is so excited about both parties. She keeps saying, "Emma birthday gurl, Lily birthday gurl."

Lily is having a Princess Party, and all the kids are supposed to dress as princes and princesses.

Well, Katie Anne is just getting into the whole princess thing, and we don't have any dress-up gowns yet. Of course, I immediately thought upon getting the invitation, "Oh, I'll sew her a princess dress!" But, I had to get real and realize that I don't have the time (and probably the expertise, either) for that big of a project right now. So, off to hunt I went.

At Target, there is a wide variety of princess dresses, ranging from $19.99 to $39.99. Now, that's a great deal compared to The Disney Store prices of $50+, but I was really afraid that our little princess might not wear the dress. So, I was trying to make my mind up between two $19.99 varieties, and I wasn't in love with either. I kept coming back to this little blue dress that had a neat pair of sparkly butterfly wings (or maybe peacock feathers) with it, but didn't have a price. But, I figured since it had the added wings/feathers, it was probably out of my price range.

Finally, I thought, "Well, just take it to the little price scanner and see." Lo and behold, the peacock/wing dress was $9.99! Clearance! Sweet! So, of course that little number came home with me. I was so excited that I called Vanessa as soon as I got in the car to tell her that Katie Anne would be decked out for Lily's party, and on budget to boot!

Katie Anne was very excited about the dress, and we tried it on as soon as we got home. She loved it! She immediately wanted to check herself out in the mirror. The only change I think we'll have to make for the party is to put a shirt under it... she thought it was itchy on her belly, and it is a bit low cut because its a smidge too big for her. Perfect to grow into, though!

Here's some pictures of Lil' Princess Save-A-Lot!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?

A side view...
The whole thing!

Our Weekly Project- Birdfeeders!

Since Katie Anne and I had so much fun making all our Valentines' projects, we kept the good times rolling this week with a new project. Katie Anne absolutely loves listening for birds each morning, so we decided to make bird feeders to hang in the bushes outside the kitchen windows. Here's a Smilebox of our adventures in crafting.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So far, there haven't been any takers on our seedy snacks, but they've only been in the trees for almost two hours, so the night's still young. If I can catch pictures of birds eating the goodies, I'll post them later.

Where oh Where is Marvin?

Katie Anne is just crazy about our neighbor, Marvin. Marvin and his wife Jenny are our backyard neighbors, and their yard runs the length of our fence. One neat thing about them is that they're my parents' across-the-street neighbors, so I grew up with Marvin and Jenny as neighbors, too.

Katie Anne just loves Marvin and talks about him all the time. As Katie Anne says, "Marvin sweet boy," ... except this sweet "boy" will be celebrating his 80th birthday this summer! He's super-active and is constantly out in his yard, working hard enough to put us 20-somethings to shame. Marvin has been big friends with our puppy Ginger since we got her three years ago (Abby being a bit more aloof with the neighbors than Ginger), and now he's friends with Katie Anne.

Last week, Marvin and Jenny had a big tree cut down in their backyard, and we walked over to talk to Marvin and see the tree after it had been cut. That event made such an impression on Katie Anne. First off, it got her thinking about big, old trees, which she now points out and screams, "Cut dat tree DOWN! It OLD!" It impressed upon her that you should not touch rotten old trees... "Marbin touch old tree. He touch HAND! No touch, Marbin!" But most importantly, it has cemented her love for Marvin... and his red coat, which she's always looking out for. So, now she spends a lot of time looking for Marvin out the windows and wondering where he is and when she can go out to the fence and talk to him again. Last night, when she came walking in with my mom, I heard my mom telling her, "Marvin's gone night night," so I assume she was looking for him again. Katie Anne logically replied, "Marbin go night night. Marbin big boy. Marbin have big paci." Haha!

Here's a video of the Marvin hunter on the prowl.

I'm Totally Biased...

but is this not the cutest kid?

Total bedhead, scratched-up daycare nose, first thing in the morning... trying on a sweet little much-loved hand-me-down shirt that one of my students brought in for her. I had to make a picture to show the student that Katie Anne loved the shirt, and this is the silliness I caught.

Little Girl, Big Balloon

Little bitty girl, big pink balloon...
courtesy of the sweet Best Buy employees.

Georgia Girl @ Heart

On Sunday morning, Saunders got the once-every-few-years urge he gets to head toward the mall. I told Katie Anne we were going to the mall (or as she called it, "mall-a"), and I doubt she even knew what that was... we literally never go.

Well, I told her that she'd get to ride in her "Georgia Buggy", which is a UGA stroller my parents bought her. I was trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that she'd actually ride in the stroller... Katie Anne staying in a stroller is hit or miss, but the Georgia Buggy is our best chance.

As soon as she heard Georgia Buggy, she said, "Katie Anne wear Georgia outfit," over and over. That means only one thing- her UGA windsuit from Saunders' parents. Saunders tried to talk her out of the total UGA explosion, but she wouldn't hear of it. So, we took a complete Georgia girl with us to the mall!
(By the way, the Georgia Buggy worked its magic, and she rode in it without complaint the whole time!)

Yummy Meatloaf!

I love meatloaf! One of my earliest memories of my mom cooking is laying in the living room floor on an old yellow, flowery blanket, looking at my mom in the kitchen over the breakfast bar. I was waiting on the meatloaf she'd made to cook, and I kept asking... "How much longer!?" I remember waiting that hour for meatloaf to cook was like an eternity.

Well, I actually don't make meatloaf a lot at home. I tried twice in college, and once was really dry and once was greasy. I haven't tried I know since I got pregnant with Katie Anne almost (shock!) three years ago. So, I ran across an easy recipe online last week, and I thought I'd give it a try. We bought a lot of really high-quality beef from one of Josh's customers that slaughters his own cows. We got a ton of meat at a great price, and I was looking for new ways to use the ground beef. Meatloaf sounded like a fun Saturday night adventure!

The meatloaf turned out really, really good. Katie Anne absolutely loved it! She doesn't eat a lot of meat, so I love to find recipes for proteins that she enjoys. You can see from this picture that she chowed down the meatloaf- a real kid taste pleaser! I took pictures of the process because I love reading about Trisha's recipe adventures on her blog. So, here are the steps in a Smilebox if you want to give it a try. I highly recommend it!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Practice Makes Fun!

Carrying an old Glawson family tradition...

Yesterday, while I was at Hobby Lobby, they were putting out all their Easter goodies. I saw rows upon rows of plastic Easter Eggs... it reminded me of when I was little and we had "practice" egg hunts. Of course, I don't remember when this tradition started, because I was about Katie Anne's age. My parents knew I wouldn't understand the egg hunt process, and so many kids are intimidated by the running around at egg hunts. So, they bought some eggs and hid them throughout the house and let me search for them. I had hours and hours of fun roaming the house with my basket, looking for the hidden eggs. Then, on Easter, I totally knew what to do and had a great time! I remember there always being a pack or two of Easter eggs in the bottom of my parent's china cabinet, and Greg and I would hunt eggs year-round for fun.

Of course, I had to buy a package of plastic eggs for Katie Anne to hunt. When she woke up from her nap and saw them, she was so excited! We got down her Easter basket, and I hid the eggs in the kitchen while she waited in the living room with Daddy. She absolutely LOVED it! We played Easter Egg Hunt about 10 times in the kitchen, then after dinner in her room for about 5 more times.

Here's a Smilebox of Katie Anne's first Egg Hunt practice. I highly re- commend you other toddler parents give this a shot... for $0.67, you too can have an afternoon of pre-Easter fun!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Baby Dobis

Katie Anne has named two of her many babies... one of them is named "Crawly Baby", which was her Valentine's gift from my parents. This is easy to understand... Crawly Baby is a baby that crawls.

However, her other named baby is called... (drum roll please)... "Baby Dobis". (Pronounced
"dough-bis".)
Why Baby Dobis? I don't know. Last weekend, she just announced that this baby (which was actually the first baby doll I ever bought her) would be called Baby Dobis. We have no clue where she got the name Dobis - we don't know anyone by that name, nor have I ever heard of it. But Dobis it is, and she hasn't forgotten about it... she's called it that all week. This morning, Saunders had the audacity to ask her if Baby Dobis was a boy. She answered with much disdain, "No Daddy, Baby Dobis baby girl." Funny little imagination!

Sew Happy!

I went to Hobby Lobby today while Katie Anne and Saunders napped... look at all this fun fabric... all 30-50% off!

Easter dress...
Sundresses...

Smocked dresses...
Shorts sets...
Is it wrong for fabric to make to make you this happy?
I've got "sew" many projects to do!

Happy Birthday to You, Carlton!

Today is Carlton's birthday! Unfortunately, there won't be a Smilebox of celebrations of his birthday because he and Trisha are out in Arizona. However, Katie Anne was so excited to call him tonight and sing her latest song for him...



She's become totally obsessed with birthdays lately. I guess it is because Greg's was in January, then we had Jillian's, then my dad's was actually last week (although we haven't had a big family celebration yet with all this sickness running rampant), and then Carlton's today. So, last weekend, she started singing the Happy Birthday song and hasn't stopped since! She did a great job of singing it to Carlton over speaker phone today, and in his words, "Oh my gosh, that's so adorable!" Couldn't have said it better myself, Uncle Carlton.



**Edited to add... my stern voice in the beginning of the video is because she was totally ignoring me. :)

Now, Sicky Me!

Saunders infected me with his mystery sickness... which (Thank goodness!) is not mono because he's feeling a little bit better. Late last night, I started feeling weird, and all day long was a gradual decline... so I felt like total crap-o-la by the end of the day. My entire neck, throat, and ears were just killing me, and I had a major headache.

My mom encouraged me to be proactive about it and go on to the doctor, so I did. And, I'm really glad I did, because they actually gave me a shot! Isn't that crazy? Seems like you never get shots anymore. I actually have Katie Anne and Saunders to thank for that, I think... the doctor said, "If you've got a sick husband and a one year old at home, you've got to feel better fast, so I'm giving you a shot today." Yippee! It was an antibiotic and a steroid, so they said I should be feeling much better in the morning. I also have a prescription for an antibiotic, too. So, hopefully I'll wake up much improved.

So far, Katie Anne just seems to have a cold. She hasn't complained of her throat, neck, or ears hurting (and she was very up front with telling us, "My ears hurt," when she had her ear infection last month), so hopefully she's dodged the bullet.

Sicky Saunders

Saunders is under the weather. He felt really bad all weekend, and he went to the doctor yesterday. His strep test came back negative... his symptoms are exhaustion, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, headache... let's all chant together, "Hope it isn't mono! Hope it isn't mono! Please, don't be mono! Please, don't be mono!"

Hopefully, it is just a really bad sinus infection. He had one in the fall, and the symptoms were similar. They didn't do a mono blood test yesterday... they'll wait two weeks and see if he still feels the same, and then do one. Really, there's nothing you can do if it is mono, so there's no point in rushing the test other than peace of mind.

He came home from work and fell asleep on the couch for about an hour. He stayed up with us about 45 minutes or so, but was too sick to do more than sit there- he didn't even eat anything. Then, he went to bed tonight for good at 7:20... not like him at all. Poor kid!

Tuesday Night - Chore Night

Yep, I'm still keeping up the New Year's resolution of Tuesday Night Chore Night. This is my "take one room and super-deep clean it" night. Tonight- master bathroom, again. Boo. This should've been last Tuesday Night's chore. I cleaned it regular-style (toilets, sinks, mirrors, shower) barely a week ago, but it seems like the master bathroom gets dirty again the second you clean it. The shower was pretty funky, but Saunders and I really can't judge the shower because neither of us puts our contacts in until after we shower... so it always looks spotless to us! Yesterday, I had already put my contacts in before I showered, and so... master bathroom got on the schedule asap! It took me almost two hours to get it done, but it is looking good in there. Blinds cleaned, window cleaned, all decorative items washed and dried, light fixtures cleaned, baseboards and doors wiped... the works, in addition to all the "normal" bathroom cleaning stuff, which I do every other weekend.

Here's a fun shower cleaning tip: I buy that toilet cleaner that is liquid that comes with a nozzle meant for squirting it underneath the rim of the toilet bowl. I do not use this to clean the toilets (I prefer Comet for that job), but I use it to clean the shower. As my first cleaning step, I take that nozzle and run the bleachy-cleaner (get the strong stuff) all around the corners of the shower/where the walls meet/around the door where it gets gunky. Then, I clean the rest of the bathroom while that cleaner sits on the gunk and eats it up. My last step is to rinse the shower down... that cleaner "sticks" better than a regular squirt of 409, and it really makes cleaning it a lot easier. Just a little scrub down with a scruby sponge, and - BAM - clean and shiny.

Also, I had NO idea how skanky my master bathroom light fixture was until I climbed up on the sink tonight and scrubbed it down. Saunders's light over his sink wasn't bad at all, which tells me it is probably my hairspray shooting up there and making it gross. Almost makes me never want to use hairspray again... almost...

Google Says...

Okay, I got tagged in a note on Facebook that's "Google Says". I thought I'd do it on here instead of on Facebook because I thought it would be a funny blog post and because I don't want to tag a bunch more people who have to do it on Facebook.

The premise is that you put your first name, plus the given phrase, in Google and search it. You just type whatever comes up first in the search. Easy! Here goes...

Q: Type in "[your name] needs" ...
Katie needs hula lessons!

Q: Type in "[your name] looks like" ...
Katie looks like an oompa-loompa with t!ts. (Hilarious!)

Q: Type in "[your name] says" ...
Katie says "iron" in a funny way.

Q: Type in "[your name] wants" ...
Whatever Katie Wants. (True!)

Q: Type in "[your name] does" ...
This site provides a great overview of EVERYTHING Katie does. (This could also describe this blog.)

Q: Type in "[your name] hates" ...
Katie hates her hair. (Interesting how the random searches are bringing a lot of truth with them...)

Q: Type in "[your name] asks" ...
Katie asks Howard Dean about Green Video.

Q: Type in "[your name] goes" ...
Katie goes to Tokyo.

Q: Type in "[your name] likes " ...
Katie likes her Binkie.

Q: Type in "[your name] eats " ...
Katie eats a potato bug.

Q: Type in "[your name] wears " ...
Katie wears the trousers in our marriage. (Hahaha!)

Q: Type in "[your name] was arrested for" ...
Katie was arrested for peeing in public in Times Square in New York on New Years' Eve. (Hilarious again!)


I won't tag anyone so no one is forced to try it, but blog it if you want to! I'd like to see other people's results!

Happy Presidents' Day!

Happy Presidents' Day from Katie Anne to you!

Delivering Our Valentines

Yesterday, we delivered all the Valentines we had made. Katie Anne had a great time giving treats to her daddy, grandparents, and the dogs. Here are some pictures I made as we passed out all the goodies we'd created.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Making our Valentine's Crafts!

Finally, all our Valentines have been delivered, so I can reveal what we've been doing all week!

Katie Anne and I have been so crafty this week, and I've been in absolute mom heaven. Before I had kids, I would stare at my Martha Stewart Livings and Family Fun magazines and just dream of all the different holiday crafts I'd do one day! We "did" a lot of crafts last year, but it was mostly her holding a dry paintbrush while I did the craft, and then we'd do a photo op at the end. This year, she is a total participant, and I don't know which of us had more fun! We did crafts every night last week, made post office runs to mail surprises almost every day, and literally spent all day Friday finishing up our projects.

We had a couple of different projects going. First, we made lollipops and decorated them. These were for grandparents, aunts and uncles, her teachers, and two surprise ones for Daddy, who didn't think he was getting any. Katie Anne loved "counting" out the chocolate chips ("One, two, five... one, two, five..."), tap-tap-tapping the molds, putting the sticks in, squeezing the icing bags (I quickly learned, the smaller the hole I cut, the better the lollipops looked) and - of course - shaking on lots and lots of sprinkles.

Then, we made heart shaped pins and paperweights from plaster of paris (incorporating recycling of the chocolate lollipop molds!). The pins were for KA's great-grandmothers, grandmothers, aunts, and teachers, too. Paperweights went to grandfathers and Daddy. I actually made this project with my first graders, too - it is really cheap and easy for kids to do! Then we painted them and glittered them to high heaven. Katie Anne didn't participate in the gloss coating (that was Mommy-only spray painting), but she did everything else.

Finally, we made dog treats dipped in dog-safe yogurt chocolate for our dog friends. We tried baking our own dog biscuits, but they never firmed up, so we resorted to our backup plan... Milkbones. This was by far Katie Anne's favorite thing to do... she loved swirling the dog bones in chocolate and sprinkling them.

Here's a slideshow of all the things we did...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had so much fun! I'm already thinking of our next projects!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

This morning, we gave Katie Anne her Valentines from us when she woke up. We gave her some board books, a coloring book, and a little "itsy bitsy" spider- you can read the story of the spider's conversation hearts in the Smilebox. :) She loved it all and had a great time with her "balentimes".

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I bought the board books on clearance last year after Valentines, and it was so great to have almost everything for her bought already... I've got to remember to pick up some stuff next week for next year.