Notes I would Like To Send Out:

On any given day, there are multiple things I would like to say to people or things. Yes, things! lol. Just little tidbits of information that I feel like passing along, but don't. Mostly b/c it would not do any good. For example,

Dear car,
Please stop beeping at me. I promise I will be okay- even though I am low on wiper fluid! It is not urgent enough for you to beep at me every 5 minutes- you keep making me think I need gas! Thank you,
Your owner

or

Dear Milk,
Please quit upsetting my stomach. I really like my Starbucks frappuchinos and you're making it so that I can't enjoy them. I would appreciate it if this lactose intolerance would go away. So please, can't you and my tummy just agree to get along? Thanks!

Dear husband,
You know those new granola bar commercials where the ppl go around sticking giant wind up keys in other people's backs so that they can turn them on and give them energy to go again? Do I need to put a giant wind up key in your back and turn you on so that you work? Sometimes I swear you're broken. But I still love you. :)

Dear rude girl online,
Next time you decide to write a smarta** email, you might want to consider that the person you're emailing could
a- not be very receiving and willing to help when she gets rude emails
b- be sick and exhausted
c- have a whiny, also sick 2 year old hanging onto her leg and screaming.
So if you're wondering why you got a not-so-nice email back, it's because you didn't take into account what kind of day someone else might be having. And you sent that little smart mouthed email to the wrong mama. Better luck next time.

Dear house,
When are you going to learn to clean yourself?

Dear cats and dogs that reside at my house,
When are you going to learn to clean up your own poo or use a toilet? Come on- the cat on Meet The Fockers could do it. And you're all smart animals... Well, most of you! ;)

Dear whatever sickness has taken over my body,
Please go away. I do not have time for you. Come back later, after I am done with school, retired from teaching, and all my children are grown. Thanks so much for your understanding! :)

and last but not least...

Dear God,
Thank you for everything I am blessed with- annoying car, broken husband, lactose intolerant tummy and all. :)

Changes....

Wow. The changes that are going on in this house and in our lives right now. There are so many. Abbie will be starting PRESCHOOL this week. Now she's only 28 months old, so I'm not completely freaking out about this... yet. It's not like she's going to kindergarten yet. But after our first Parents' Night, it may feel real and I may have a meltdown due to the fact that it feels like she is growing up too fast.
She also just finished her last week of daycare on Friday. She has been there since she was 9 months old and all of her best little girl friends are there. So I am going to try and keep those relationships in tact while she stays home with me for atleast this semester.
Yes, let's not forget this semester. I am praying (HARD) that the 10 hours I have cut my schedule down to will feel easy breezy compared to previous semesters (and it defintely beats the 19 hours that I WAS signed up for!). I am really hoping that this semester goes by at a manageable pace. Cus that's not usually how my semesters go. No- instead, by the time it is Christmas/ summer break, I am at my wits end and Jeremy and I are usually on the brink of divorce. Not really, but you get what I mean. It is stressful. So I'm hoping that not working as much, having a more flexible schedule, and taking less hours will be better for our whole family.
So it looks like I'll spend this fall studying, substitute teaching (hopefully- I STILL have to hear back from BISD! grr), tutoring, continuing my Mary Kay business, and doing a little babysitting here and there. And that's an EASY schedule- lol! But I'm super excited to stay home with my precious girl 4-5 days a week. That's a big, positive change for us compared to other school semesters.
Also, it looks like the hubby will fly to Orlando in January for his classes that will solidify his readiness for a general manager position (i.e.- a better schedule and a much better salary! YAY!)
Reflecting on all these things, I realize that this summer has really changed our lives for the better. If I hadn't put Abbie in daycare part time and stayed home with her 2 days out of the week, I wouldn't realize how much I did not want to live without that time with her. I probably wouldn't have cut my school schedule down and I wouldn't be making the financial and family changes I'm making that are for all 3 of our best interest. Alot has just changed. I've found a much more sound way to balance our priorities and I'm incredibly happy about the direction we're headed. There are a lot of changes in the near future for our family, but I'm excited about every one of them. :)
Melissa

That's It- I'm getting these finances IN ORDER.

Allright, ladies... hold me to this. Yes, I am a coupon clipping, deal-getting, frugal lady.. But I have been leading a double life. The truth is I have a problem with credit cards. Whew, I said it. The first step is admitting, right? When I get too stressed out about saving money or just have the urge to go and shop (which also comes from getting stressed out about money), I end up charging way too much money on credit cards. For as much as I have saved over the last few months (particularly this year), I have charged hundreds if not thousands more on CC's. And it has got.to.stop. So I'm cutting up atleast one and putting the others in a bag that will stay at home. Locked up. I'm making myself poster boards documenting how much I pay off and anything I charge (I don't plan on it, but if I have to, then I am accountable b/c it is there in writing). I am going to set goals and meet them. It will be hard, but I know I can do it. So that's what I'm doing. *sigh* That's all. Pray for me!

My daughter has officially............

Tried to eat poop. Yep, it's true. Apparently, a single little terd dropped next to the litter box (which I am unbelievably anal about keeping clean, including the surrounding areas). Abbie apparently picked it up and as I walked in on her 5 seconds later, I could tell she had tried to put it in her mouth. She waited 2 years to develop the habit of picking up random things and putting them in her mouth, but not it is in full swing. I could tell by the way she was moving her mouth around that she had probably tried to stick it in her mouth. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEW. That's all I have to say about that. She got her hands washed and her teeth brushed immediately, but I am sooo grossed out. I am a huge mess/germ-o-phobe, and this is the ultimate fear of mine. Okay, it would have been worse if I had found it in her mouth of if she had eaten it. But still...
And it's almost comical because she's sitting here next to me (doing "work" on her kiddie laptop). And I ask her if, indeed, she did try to put the poo in her mouth. "Mm hmm," she says, still playing with the computer.... as if it's nothing. Just another day in the life of Abbie. And now she's putting on my chapstick... I have to go.

A Great Bedtime

Tonight, as I pulled Abbie out of the bath and dried her off, she jumped into my arms. She loves to cuddle when she gets out of the bath. So I hugged her, cradled, her and rocked her there on the floor. She looked at me, smiled, and said "Mama, you have your baby in your arms" :D My heart just about burst. I smiled and said "Yes, I do. You're my baby." Of course, then she went into a joke about how I was a baby. Lol.
Then we read our bedtime prayer book. The book talks about how everything calms down at night (the sun, the flowers, the trees, the dogs, the cats, mommy and daddy) and goes to sleep to get ready for the next day. The end of each page reads "Night, night ____" And she started kissing the pictures good night on each page and saying "night, night sun. Night, night birds. Night, night doggie" After we were done, she gave me a BIG hug and kiss and told me night night. I am so in love with that little girl. :)

The Blonde and The Red Head Eat Green!

So, I have a problem with eating vegetables. The problem is I don't. For years, the only vegetable that has entered my body is corn. However, since having Abbie, my body has been screaming at me to eat veggies. I have been craving things that I know I don't even enjoy. Add to that the fact that Abbie is imitating my distaste for anything green (or for any vegetable, really) and I knew something had to give. Ironically enough, I am SUPER anal about ensuring that Abbie gets plenty of veggies. I hide them in nearly everything since she won't eat them.
But lately, I have started finding more discreet ways to hide them. And I have been eating the disguised recipes as well. :) For example, veggie pancakes. I am IN LOVE. I puree green beans or whatever else and you can't even taste it in the pancakes. We pour a little syrup over it and neither one of us can tell that we're eating vegetables (despite the fact that the pancakes are green- lol).
I have also tried shakes/smoothies, which work out better for me than Abbie. I mix up fresh fruit, veggies, and yogurt in a blender (sometimes with flax seed oil and whey protein for mommy) and enjoy!
But I think our biggest feat would have to be that Abbie and I are both eating fresh spinach salads. We went to dinner a few nights ago with my best friend and her family. And I remembered that she had turned me on to this spinach salad a few months back, but I had never gone and bought any myself. Well, after seeing how Abbie ate the spinach with no complaints (I wanted to jump on top of that table and yell PRAISE GOD! But I didn't.) I had to go buy some. So for the last couple of days, it's been chicken salads for lunch. And I am pleasantly surprised at how much we both like the spinach more than lettuce. We have also both started eating tomatoes over the last few months (yes, it's a fruit, but it's also progress).
Now we just have to tackle brocolli, squash, peas, and maybe some zucchini. I'm so glad that both of us are headed in the right direction. I pray that I haven't damaged my body by not eating vegetables for so many years, and I will not even give her the option to do that to herself. So that's what's going on at the Garner kitchen table! :)
Melissa

What should I do with my laundry?

I got to thinking tonight about my laundry. I've got a HUGE hamper full in my bedroom that needs to be washed, an equal amount in my living room that needs to be put away, and then a couple loads downstairs in the washer/dryer. I've been meaning to get to it for about..um.. 3 weeks or so. My husband is getting annoyed. (Yes he can do it, too. But his crazy controlling wife keeps him SUPER busy on his days off :)) So I got to thinking what I should do with all of this laundry. So far, I have thought about...
Burying my head in it so that the screams I need to let out don't disturb my child.
Sleeping in/on/under it.
Seeing if I can set a world record for the largest pile of laundry.
Doing an experiment to find out if, in fact, the laundry fairy really does exist.
If you have any other ideas, you just let me know. And take your time brainstorming... my laundry and I will still be here. :)