Taking a Break

Since I been a terrible blogger lately and just haven't been motivated to write anything, I'm going to take a bit of an extended break. I do not want to delete my blog but obviously, since I update so infrequently, now is not the right time for me to be doing it.

I'm sure I'll get motivated again and I'll be back... but for now, I just didn't want people to keep checking in and finding nothing new. If I start posting again, I'll be sure to visit my favorite sites to let my bloggin' friends know I'm back!

Don't worry... everything's fine around here! Just a sorta non-bloggin' season of life for me I guess!

Updating

You might have noticed. I haven't been doing a very good job lately remembering to update my blog. :( And then when I do remember, I cannot think of anything to write about so I sit and play solitaire instead! This must be what they call a slump!

Things are going well here... I've been busy ebaying, trying to make some money to buy this girls (mainly my four year old) spring and summer stuff. This week, I've got 20 things up. So far, 7 are selling and I'm at just over $35. Hoping to make around $200 at least so I can go shopping for more! Wish me luck! If you're in the market for little girls clothes (mainly 12-24 months), my ebay id is meandmy2cuties. Feel free to have a looksee!

Tagged again...

I've been tagged again! By my friend Beanhead over at Beanhead Babbles.

Soooooo.... here goes...

Q)What were you doing 10 years ago?

A)I was teaching first grade in a low income district. Dating and living with my future (now) husband.

Q)What were you doing 1 year ago?

A) Same thing I am now... I'm a stay at home mom to my two cute girlies

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. potato chips
2. chocolate chip cookies
3. popcorn
4. fresh fruit (gotta have at least one healthy thing!)
5. M&M's

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
2. Rappers' Delight (the older version)
3. Redneck Woman
4. Just about every Dixie Chicks song
5. Ain't Going Down Till the Sun Comes Up

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Build a new house
2. Take care of my extended family
3. Donate to charity
4. Shop till I dropped
5. Vacation in one of my five vacation homes

Five bad habits:
1 cussing
2. yelling
3. losing my temper
4. missing church too often
5. messiness

Five things you like doing:
1. reading
2. sewing (I'm a total beginner!)
3. spending time with my kids
4. scrapbooking
5. selling/buying on ebay

Five things you would never wear, buy or get new again:
1. leg warmers
2. stirrup pants
3. straight leg levis
4. crop tops (not with this belly!)
5. two piece swimsuit (again, not with this belly! LOL)

Five favorite toys:
1. my computer
2. ??
3. ??
4. ??
5. ?? Guess I'm not big on toys!?!?!

So this is the plan: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot
the state of indiana
watching me grow
from maternity to madness
Beanhead Babbles
cathy with a c

So now I am supposed to tag people so I am going to tag... anyone who visits my blog and hasn't done the meme yet!

Potty Woes

(warning: not for the faint of heart... LOL)

Cass, my just-turned-two-year-old has started taking off her diaper ALOT. Just this morning, I went in to wake her up and found her sleeping in her big girl bed with just her shirt on. Her diaper was lying to the side and her pants were farther down the bed. UGH!! And of course, she sheets and shirt were wet with pee. And she's lying there sleeping peacefully. I had to strip her bed and the sheets are comforter and pj's are currently in the wash.

The other day, I went into her room at naptime and she was lying by the door sleeping.... with her diaper off. UGH!!!! She'd only been asleep a short time as she'd spent 2 hours playing while she should have been napping!!!!! But I had to wake her and put a diaper on her so our carpet didn't end up soiled. However, she didn't want me to put a diaper on. So I got out her new Care Bear panties and put them on her instead. Then I kept asking her if she had to go peepee. Nope. The little fart will not even try to go on the potty but yet she won't keep her diaper on!! UGH!! Right before we ate, I decided to put a pullup on her because I didn't want her having an accident in her booster seat. When we were done eating, I checked her and she'd peed. Did she tell me? Nope. Just went right on playing.

This past Sunday, Jenna and I went to church. Left C here with Andy.

Guess what I came home to?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Daddy sleeping on the couch and Cass in the other room with her POOPY diaper off and poo ground into the carpet. She'd used her hands so they were covered too. She went straight into the bath.

If you can't tell, I'm frustrated! I honestly do not think she is at the point where she's ready to potty train. The longest she's ever sat on it has been, oh, 15 seconds or so. If I ask her if she's ready to wear big girl panties, the answer is always a resounding NO! If I encourage her to sit on the potty, she is up in a matter of seconds. Then she wants to run around sans diaper.

My older child was a bit of a challenge in this department too... although she never took her diapers off! But when she was 2, there was no way she was going to use that potty! When she turned 3, and was ready, I trained her in about 3 days.

Cass isn't giving me the "luxury" of waiting till she's three.

I think next time I'm shopping, I'm going to pick up a bag of M&M's and try using them as a reward. That is one thing that worked with Jenna. But Cass has proven to be different to J in a lot of ways. I imagine that'll carry on to potty training...

Any advice?! I'm already trying to figure out a way to sew her clothes on her!!!

Tagged By Mrs. Fun...

If you've never read Mrs. Fun before, do yourself a favor and check our her blog! She's lots of....well.... fun! :)

Four jobs you've had in your life
1~Daycare Center during college summers
2~Wendy's.... front register
3~Teacher... LD, first grade, and Title I
4~Mom

Four movies you'd watch over and over
1~Grease
2~Pretty Woman
3~Rainman
4~Sixteen Candles

Four places you have lived
1~Springfield, Oh
2~Bowling Green, Oh
3~West Carrollton, Oh
4~and the tiny town I live in now :) (also in Ohio!)

Four TV shows you love to watch
1~LOST
2~Survivor
3~American Idol
4~All My Children

Four places you have been on vacation
1~Cape Cod
2~Myrtle Beach
3~Disneyworld
4~Dale Hollow, TN

Four websites you visit daily
1~Babycenter Bargain Board
2~Ebay
3~a private bulletin board I post on called KISS
4~Blog Explosion

Four of your favorite foods
1~Salad
2~French Fries
3~Pizza
4~Fajitas

Four places you would rather be right now
1~On the beach
2~Holed up in a cabin in the woods
3~Working out at the gym (if only I had the motivation!)
4~Lazing on the couch watching a chick flick

Four bloggers you are tagging
1~Beanhead, my current "tenant" by the way! CHECK HER OUT! by clicking on my sidebar
2~Indigo
3~Connie at Mumbo Jumbo
4~Dena

I Got Me a Renter! :)

Yesterday, I went over to Blog Explosion and listed my blog to be rented out! First timer!

Checked today and there were 9 bids! Ok, so I listed it cheap... since it's not a high traffic area! Anyways, one of the bids was from my friend, Beanhead!! Now how in the world could I resist letting a friend rent my blog! I know she'll take good care of it and leave it clean and sparkly at the end of her lease! Not to mention, I don't think she parties till all hours of the night so she shouldn't bug the neighbors too much! ;)

Plus, she's a pretty fun read. This bloggin gal works full time, has 3 kids (with tons of activities!), AND goes to school full time! Plus she takes care of a household and helps run the school PTA! How she finds time to blog is beyond me but the stuff she blogs about draws ya in! SOooooooo, do me a favor and click on the little icon right under my profile! That'll take you right to her site!

Tell her I sent ya....

Battle of Wills

Lately my two year old has become a VERY picky eater. She refuses to try anything new. You should have seen me trying to give her her medicine last night, but that's a totally different story!

Anyways, today for lunch, we had leftover broccolli cheese soup. Cass won't eat it so I made her a peanut butter and jelly samich and gave her some applesauce. She ate the applesauce fairly well but refused to eat the sandwich. Keep scooting her chair away from the table using her feet. Normally she'll eat pb&j with no problem.

SO when Jenna and I were done, I told her she had to sit there till she ate. We've got a strap on the booster that keeps her in, most of the time. So, I put Care Bears (which she LOVES) on in the other room and started cleaning up the kitchen. She kept saying she wanted to "get out of here. Watch Care Bears." I told her again that she needed to eat first.

A couple minutes later in the kitchen cleaning up process, I ended up tossing a few of the pieces of sandwich in the trash to make it easier for her.

After about five minutes, she finally decided to start eating. Took her good sweet time. Finally, she got down to her last piece... and refused to continue. Since I'd thrown some of her sandwich away already, I decided to make her sit there till she ate that final piece.

Cut to about five to ten minutes later. She's still sitting there. Chair scooted back, feet up.

I stood my ground and wouldn't let her out. BUT I told her if she finished her lunch, she could watch Barney. That is eventually what did the trick.

Five minutes later, after repeatedly telling me she wanted to watch Barney and me telling her to eat, she finally gave an exasperated, "Ok..." (I could *almost* hear the words, "I give up" following! LOL)

She picked up her sandwich piece, stuck it in her mouth, took a few more minutes to swallow it, then announced she wanted to "get out of here."

I went over, bent down to her level, told her what a good girl she was for finishing her lunch, and gave her a kiss. After I wiped her down, we headed to the other room to turn Barney on. She spent the next half hour sitting on the couch with her blanket watching it.


I guess that food battle went to Mom. I'm figuring it'll be one of the few I actually win.

Out with the Junk!

So, a couple of days ago I mentioned that we're in the process of moving some rooms around. Cass has pretty much already moved into Jenna's old room (and she's still doing a fab job in her big girl bed! Go Cass!). Now tomorrow and Sunday, the plan is to move Jenna into her new room. Hubby's been painting it but is not sure he's satisfied with the job yet. We're using a can of pink paint we bought 2 1/2 years ago when we were first moving J out of the nursery. It's been opened for a while so it's not totally fresh (is that a word that can describe paint?!). Well, anyways, it seems to be going on a bit thick and uneven. And there was barely enough to cover the walls, let alone enough to fix all the places that need more. SO he might be heading out to buy some more tomorrow. We'll see!

Now before we move J's stuff out of her old room, I decided to go through and get rid of all the junk. You know, those toys that only have one piece left that isn't lost or broken. All those ridiculous Happy Meal and other kids' meal toys. Mitchmatched stuff. Stuff with stains, rips, tears, etc, etc, etc. I cleverly waited till J was helping Daddy paint before I started. Figured she'd be less likely to see me throw away her "treasures!" She did keep wandering in and otu trying to take things back out of the bag but I wouldn't let her! I know, I know... mean momma. But I was on a mission! When all was said and done, I threw away enough to fill the garbage bag. Go me! I would love to start her new room without all the silly clutter she's accumulated in baskets and drawers over the past couple years. She didn't pitch too much of a fit... but then again, she didn't see everything I got rid of! I doubt she'll even miss any of it!

I did the same thing in Cassidy's old room. Boxed up all of her crib bedding and some of the decorations on the walls and shelves. We did the nursery in Noah's Ark and I have so much stuff it's crazy! I'm debating trying to list some of it on ebay but I think I'll end up putting most of it in my moms' group kids' sale this spring! And hopefully, I'll make some moolah on it! If you're looking for any NA stuff, let me know... I just might have it!

During all this room moving, hubby is going to be unhooking the computer network he's got set up and I imagine it'll be a few days at least before we're all hooked back up! :( Hopefully he can get it figured out soon so I don't go through major withdrawal! Do they have a Betty Ford clinic for internet users?!!? lol

So if I disappear for a bit, you'll know why!

My Thirteen Favorite Websites

Thirteen Things about ~~CATHY~~ I'm an internet junkie, I admit it! Below are just some of the sites I frequent most (in no particular order)... A few of them are private boards so I'll just describe them... 1. Ebay I buy AND sell things on ebay. Seems to go in spurts where I'm constantly looking for things then not even logging on for a week or two. I have a ton of things I need to list before spring hits! Once they sell, then I'll shop till I drop (or run out of money, whichever comes first!) 2. Gymboree One of my very favorite places to shop for my girls' clothes. Often the money I make on ebay goes towards shopping here! 3. Babycenter Bargain Board WOW! This board is hopping!! Lots of good deals to be found but most of the time, you have to be quick quick quick or you miss out! 4. KISS This is a private board so no links for ya! This is a group of moms that I met on babycenter, the Dec 2003 board specifically. We've all got little ones born in late November/December of 2003. I'd have to say this is the site I spend the most time on. We're quite a chatty chatty bunch! 5. JustFriends Yet another private board I post on! I met these ladies on babycenter too, many moons ago when we were all trying to have a baby. Jenna, my almost 5 year old, took awhile to conceive. This is the group that got me through it with a shred of sanity! 6. Blogger.com Well, of course, I have to list this site since it's where I started this blog, huh?!?! ;) 7. Blog Explosion I haven't been here in awhile but there are lots of cool blogger features. I've done Battle of the Blogs once and lost. :( How sad is that?!?! 8. Google Anytime I need to find something, google is where I head! 9. Make-a-Word Yep, I'm a geek. I found this on nerdtests.com. You have a matrix of nine letters and you get 2 minutes to make as many words as you can. For some reason, I love words games like this. I haven't played lately but for a while, I'd get stuck on this site nightly, trying to get in the top 25! 10. Emeraldisle This caringbridge site belongs to a friend of mine who lost her daughter to cancer almost a year ago. She writes totally from the heart.... 11. edgeofthetub My friend above... this is also her website. She makes and sells homemade soaps and lotions. Part of her proceeds go to brain cancer research. I ordered some for Christmas and am planning to order more soon. The lavendar vanilla smells wonderful! 12. Yahoo What can't ya find on yahoo?!?! 13. Funtrivia This site offers a daily trivia contest that you can invite your friends to play. We've been playing it on KISS for several months now! Ok, so maybe those aren't the most exciting websites out there..... but I enjoy them! What are some of your favorite websites!? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



Movin' Night

Oh geez!! On a total whim tonight, we decided to put Cass in her new room, in her new big girl bed! For the past few months, she has been climbing out of her crib around 10 times a night. So rather than risk her falling and hurting herself, we began to make plans to change the rooms around and get her out of the crib.

She's actually going to be moving into Jenna's room and we're moving Jenna into what is now Andy's computer room (she wants a pink princess room). His stuff and the bowflex and possibly the treadmill will move into the nursery since it's a bit bigger.

I put the new Care Bear sheets and her Care Bear comforter she got for her birthday on Cassidy's new bed (which is Jenna's old one!) . She's been in there for an hour and a half and seems to be finally starting to settle down to go to sleep. Crossing my fingers here. I've already put her back in at least 10 times! She seems to think it's a bit of a game! Last time I peeked in though, she was quiet and still in her bed. So maybe, just maybe, she tuckered out!

Jenna is sleeping on the daybed in Cassidy's nursery (which is going to be her bed in her new room). She was going to sleep on the couch but changed her mind when I informed her that the TV was NOT going to stay on. This weekend, we are planning to get her room all painted and get her moved in!

Oh a whim tonight, my hubby figured it would be a good idea to get Cassidy started on moving. Tonight. Just before bedtime! I was actually putting the sheets on while she brushed her teeth! I wish we would have planned better (there's lots of stuff in there for her to get out of bed and play with!) and actually gotten things organized first! But instead, we jumped in head first.

Sometimes just jumping in and doing it isn't so bad, right?!?!

Hopefully I won't be up a gazillion times tonight!! I'll update and let ya know how it goes!

~~
This morning it took me an hour to get Cassidy *out* of her bed! LOL

She did great last night. Once she was sleeping, we didn't hear a peep! And I had to wake her up this morning!! Of course, first I took a few pictures (you know me and scrapbooking!) then I videotaped for a few minutes. I woke her up with the tape rolling!

Isn't she the snuggliest?!?!