Sick Days

Feels like my family has been sick for the past month. Yuck!
At the beginning of the month I had a cough that lasted 2 weeks, I kept hacking up stuff. I felt better for like 5 days and then my throat started hurting and I got the sniffles. Warren has been sick too. Ella has had a continually runny nose for a couple weeks, with a cough some days and then yesterday she picked up pink eye......So much fun. *sigh*

So I took the day off. We are supposed to go to LA on Friday and Warren is leaving to Reno tomorrow morning so I'll be by myself for the next couple days and there is just too much stuff to do, and being sick on top of that is not nice.

The other annoying thing about being sick is that I don't feel like working out, or I don't know if working out would be good for me. So I feel fat because I'm laying around, eating and drinking more and I'm not getting any exercise. Sorry this isn't a fun post, I just needed to vent a little bit. I hope other people are doing well.

Conclusion of the day

Yes. She was stripping. She only slept for like 45 minutes and then woke up whining and I hear a loud Uh Oh (that is her favorite phrase) I go in and yes she is butt naked and has whizzed the bed. Ahh the wonderful life with a kid. I talked to my sister earlier today and she has 4 kids so she loves to hear what Ella is up to and then she'll say "Yeah, and then you have 3 more." Yeeeeaaahhh......We'll see about that. :)

March is marching on

How's it going? I'm going pretty good. Took a couple days off because I'm trying to get rid of a little cold. Eleanor is in her room playing in her bed, hopefully not stripping. I am fine with her playing as long as she isn't crying then we are good. She is supposed to be taking a nap but I guess I didn't wear her out enough this morning.

Lately she has been into this stripping phase. A couple times last week I went in the morning and she was naked, funny the first time, not so funny the second time when she wakes you up at 4 in the morning and she peed on herself and she is shivering. Not so funny. So now I safety pin her pajamas at night, but you can't do that when she lays down for a nap, so I hope she doesn't strip today.

Warren is out of town to LA this weekend. He has a financial class next to LAX airport. So it is just Ella and I for the weekend. He has another one next weekend, I'm trying to decide if I want to go to, I'd love to hit up the garment district again and see if I can find anything really cool.

The craft fair is doing well, I went to a meeting yesterday and we have about 54 vendors signed up so it will be a good size. I'm trying to get my hair clips ready but I am also procrastinating.

A couple weeks ago we left Ella at my parents house while we went out to dinner, when we got back we talked for a bit and while we were hanging out Eleanor fell and hit her head on the corner of the wall.  Warren was holding her and then I looked at it and almost had a heart attack because it was sticking out a half inch and was this huge bubble on her forehead. It almost broke then skin so we would have had a huge bloody mess but luckily it didn't. Still, I freaked out and we called our nurse line and I put ice on it. She was fine except for this Lovely bruise that lasted like 3 weeks. Then the bruise sank down in her eyes so she has green on the inside corners of her eyes. I think she looks like a vampire. If I had some vampire teeth it would make a great photo.

I subbed at my mom's school for a couple days and they were having spirit week. One day was rock and roll day so I had fun dressing up. The kids asked who I was, I said I was one of the many aspiring rockers that never made it. :) That was a fun day.

Alright, now that I've done a little update I need to go work on my hairclips, Hope you have an awesome day!

Back to work

January was a hard month. We were trying to fandangle a deal were we would buy a really cheap house and eventually let our house go so we could pay off our debts easier but it didn't work out which was hard for me to deal with. We had a nice chat with my parents and they suggested that I go back to work and it was kind of an inspiration ah ha moment. I've been a stay at home mom for 19 months now and I love spending time with my daughter, she is amazing, but I hate being at home ALL the time. It drives me nuts. I don't feel motivated to do anything. I think, why should I clean this up when it is just going to get dirty again? I started to feel that way about everything, but I also felt that I couldn't go back to work because that would be terrible for someone else to take care of my daughter. So when someone else finally suggested that I should go back to work it was just a quiet thing like, Yes, I should go back to work. I am happier when I am working and that makes my time with my family more quality time. So I found a great mom who lives by us who has a little boy the same age as Ella and she is just amazing. She takes care of Ella and Ella just loves it. She just plays all day.

I've put in my paper work to go back to teaching. Hopefully I can get into a good school in the fall to teach art. I'm excited about that but a little worried because of all the financial stuff our school district is going through.

I finish up my diet on Sunday. Which will be awesome. I lost 13 lbs. Which I'm sure some people are like, well thats not very much but heres the thing, it was 13 lbs of fat, not muscle, fat. I've been this weight before and not been this skinny. I'm normally like a size 9. When I exercise and eat good I wear a size 8. I'm at a size 6 now. I don't remember ever wearing a size 6. :) So, that is the great thing about the hcg diet is that you lose fat while with any other diet you usually lose muscle. And you lose fat in all those annoying spots that never seem to lose fat. So I'm happy. I probably could have buckled down and lost some more, but I'm not anal about my weight. I'm happy that I've lost this weight and I look better than I ever have before. Now I want to get back to exercising so I can firm up and feel better mentally as well.

I'm glad it is february, I'm glad I am working, I'm glad I lost 13 lbs without feeling super hungry or working out like a crazy person, I'm glad that I am getting this craft fair going and I'm grateful for everything the Lord has blessed me with. I hope you have some love and happiness this Valentine's Day.

Love,
Melinda

January. A new start?

It is nice o have a new year. It gives you hope that this year will be better than the last. I'm trying to do things to change my feelings about my surroundings and in turn myself. Last year I felt very powerless about changing things around me. I felt like I had no control or influence to make anything better. So I decided to put one of my ideas into reality.  I contacted UNLV and I will be organizing a craft fair that is just for local artists and it will take place in April. I'm excited about this project I think it will be an annual event that people will enjoy.

I gained some weight over the holidays and still had a little baby weight so I wasn't feeling to happy physically. Of course people are nice and say you look great but its like "well yeah cause these jeans squish all my fat in!" So I started the HCG diet on Monday the 3rd. Warren and his family have all had great success with it so yeah I've lost 12 lbs in 12 days! Pretty nice huh? It is really great to see your shape again, makes me feel much better.

Today Ella has a little cold. She woke up a couple times last night and I had to give her some medicine at 4 this morning. So it has been a tv day. She will run around and do stuff but then she gets worn out and we watch some tv. Thank goodness for pbs! Something to show she is definitely not feeling well is she needed an extra nap in the morning. Poor little runny nose kid. :)

Money is really hard, it gets really frustrating when you have no options but I just pray and trust in the Lord that things will work out. I know this year will be better. Hope everyone else is doing well.

My Ella Bean

It is crazy that it is now December and Eleanor will be turning 18 months. She is so much fun and turning in to quite the little helper. Whenever I go to empty the dishrack she gets all excited and helps me  empty the bottom by handing me each item. Then she runs and pushes her chair over so she can help me with the top rack.

This past weekend we went to Los Angeles for a convention for Warren. He was gone during the day so Ella and I got to putz around and do stuff on our own.

We stayed at the Sheraton right by LAX and it was soooo nice, except the walls are very thin. I could hear our neighbors having some fun, luckily Ella and Warren slept through it. :)

On Saturday we went with my sister in law, Shauna and her husband Richard to Knottsberry farm. I've never been before. Sadly I was hoping there would be more farm. Also it was Toys for tots weekend and get in free with your military or government ID so it was crazy busy.

Shaunna was so nice and bought Ella a push along duck with rubber feet that smack when you push it. Ella had a ball with it and it kept her busy and close by when we would take her out of her stroller.

I went on this ride but I also got a picture of Shaunna and Richard on it. It swings you up 70 feet in the air so you are perpendicular to the ground.  

Here we are in front of Snoopy camp.

So overall it was a fun weekend. Nice to get away and not have to think about cooking or cleaning for a couple days.

Halloween, our little farm.

Halloween

Alright!!! So it is Halloween, which is one of my fav holidays. This year we got three pumpkins, one for each of us. I got the big one from bountiful baskets and the two smaller ones we picked ourself at Gilcrease Orchard here in Las Vegas. This year I decided to try etching one because I have the tools for that, then the other two we did some regular carving on. Warren did the big one since he is the big man of the house. :)

Eleanor at 16 months

 Ella knows where the food is, so she lets you know when she wants something.

Enjoying the cool weather by playing in the backyard on her slide.

playing in the rain

Last month we had a thunderstorm that came up pretty sudden. We were all outside enjoying the cooler weather and then it started raining. I retreated inside to take photos from the shelter of the doorway. Warren stayed out for a while but then he came in too. Eleanor LOVED it. She always enjoys playing in the water and this was a smorgasbord for her.