So-niele

So although we have nothing going on this afternoon, and despite my having to get a few things done before next week, I’m not going to bother. I’m just going to sit here, feed my kids leftovers, and put it off for another day. Yep! I am! I had all these things to do this morning and be in places, and my plans got jumbled up, I hate that by the way. Had my panties in a bunch, ended up having to double back, back track, and then some. But I got what absolutely needed to be done out of the way.

Allowed the lilmiss the deciding power for lunch, Dim Sum today. And treated myself to a Tall Chai Soy Latte. First time for me, and boy was it yummy. I would have gone bigger but I didn’t know what to expect, and now I know! But man those things are costly @ $3.35 for the tall, sheesh I’ll have to limit the intake of those huh? I’m so used to ordering my Venti Passion Iced Tea at only $2.25, but alas… I must lay off the caffeine.

Lilman has a diorama that needs to be put together by tomorrow. So I’ve got that on my plate for the evening. And I also wanted to make a lil hand wreath of the lilmissy’s this year. So another thing for me to do. While @ my mom’s today I went snooping around for her fakie Christmas tree and amid all the junk, I came up empty handed. I suppose I could have called her as to its whereabouts, but I saved us all a headache. Sadly though, the keiki have no tree this year . They’ll have to settle for the minimal decor we have on the one wall in the house. KUWAWA fo’ sho!!!

Maybe I’ll wrap gifts, or maybe I won’t. And shitkabobs I need to go to the post office and get my aunt’s cookies to her in San Diego. So much to do, so little time…. but so much time to procrastinate and find other non-important things to do eh?

They’re in the plans today and I’m determined to get them done. I know it’s a little early for cookies for Santa, but that’s okay we’ve got nothing else to do today. So it should keep the keiki busy but unfortunately I’ll probably go all OCD on them and “advise” them on how it should look . As you can see we’re not doing it completely from scratch, these are just as good man. I’ve got all the stuff to make ‘em from scratch, I’m just too lazy. It’s the thought that counts right?

The other day I thought about doing one of those gingerbread kits with the kids, up until I saw this thing on Food Network. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about crafting and decorating and cooking and fun stuff like that. But I thought about the gingerbread house and if we’d actually eat it, and NO we wouldn’t. I would spend money on food that wouldn’t even be eaten, and just thrown in the garbage after the holidays were over. That thing I saw on Food Network was about the gingerbread houses that are made every year at Disney World. Just how much ingredients are used for the sole purpose of looking at the food got me annoyed. Hundreds to thousands of POUNDS of ingredients go into those things and then where do they go after the holidays? In the garbage. B/c who wants to eat month old cookies that have been exposed to the elements and people. ICK! Horrible. We’re horrible. So yeah no offense to those of you who have the tradition of making gingerbread houses and such. Maybe I’m wrong and your family eats it. We wouldn’t.

I intend to have all those cookies devoured, and if not in this house then we can give some away at karate and hula .

At least 2 nights out of the week, we drive at night. To go to karate and hula. And on those nights we get to enjoy some of the homes with Christmas lights . It’s fun to hear the delight and excitement in the kids’ voices as we drive past homes. This will be lilmissy’s 3rd Christmas and she’s really getting into it all. I thought for sure she would fear a visit to Santa but she even gave Santa a kiss…. on the lips *shakes head*. Yeah I know. I scrubbed her lips right after. I couldn’t stop the “process” as I was being photo mom trying to capture moments, thankfully NOT that one *tsk, tsk*. She is in love with her Christmas outfit and whenever she sets her eyes on it, she wants to wear it. We don’t have a tree yet, but I can’t wait!!! I’m just afraid the touching and touching and touching of it all Of course with lilman we never had that problem. I wrapped some gifts tonight as we’re exchanging tomorrow evening with the Toots and she sat in awe. Of course the chants of “Where’s mine?” were blurted every 2 minutes, but she really delighted in all that was paper, ribbons, and bows!!! A crafter in the making??? Maybe!

I need to find some local neighborhoods with lots of lights! So we can do a driveby drive thru! There used to be one in a neighboring city, but I’ve heard that the families have become lax in the decorating over the years!

67 Envelopes addressed and stamped. Just need to either write out our return address or have some labels printed out. I’m thinking the latter but S mentioned something about the printer being on the fritz. And I don’t know if my printer even has ink in it. So that leaves 8 cards without homes to go to, and I’ve significantly cut back on sending cards out too. I nixed sending out to my mom’s siblings, just b/c I can.

They only had the holiday knits stamps available @ Costco and they wouldn’t have been my first choice, but there was no other choice so oh well.

The keiki are fed, they wanted hot dogs a la Costco and who am I to say no. I grabbed a salad but have yet to eat. I like Wednesdays. Don’t have much to do today .

Okay S i know you read this. And if you get me this we might all benefit from it.

Thanks justjenn for the idea!

I made dinner tonight! I mean I made something last week, but today I went all out today. Heh. Tri tip, asparagus, and rice! Yum! And the keiki cleaned their plates. Very satisfying. Home cooked meals rock my boat, I just need to get back into my groove. Heh. Funny thing, I been in the baking mood too just not too sure what I wanna bake. Saw a cool recipe for pumpkin bread pudding on View From the Bay. Only it takes 10 egg yolks. Good Lawd that’s a whole lotta eggs. But it’s nearly pumpkin season, if you didn’t know I like the fall. I like the brisk weather and the smells. Yum. Need to find a more reasonable recipe though.

Lil man is doing wonderfully in school. But it’s what’s to be expected moving him from the school he was at. It’s just the politics @ the past school were the PITS! He’s now in public school and well ahead his classmates so his teacher is assigning him MORE work. Good! I’m glad. . Him not so much. He likes all the free time he has when he’s home. I don’t. I remember him last year having 1.5 hours of homework. Now it’s barely a half an hour. Egads! But he’s a kid right? And he needs to enjoy his time as a kid.

So I’m still contemplating the costumes this year. I was leaning towards fairy for the lilmiss. I still might. I’m just not too keen on the commercialized stuff as of late. I’ve pondered the crafting of her costume, and I’ve still got a bit of time, we shall see. Lil man has expressed NOTHING in the way of costumes. BLAH! Which is only going to make it harder for me.

I’m getting sooooooo tired of reruns! What am I looking forward to? How I Met Your Mother (9/24), Ugly Betty (9/27), Grey’s Anatomy (9/27), Brothers and Sisters (9/30), Lost and maybe even Desperate Housewives (9/30). And I suppose in replacement of Gilmore Girls, I’ll see how Gossip Girl (9/19) goes, although it’s quite a different genre. Also might want to check out Dirty Sexy Money (9/26). Seems most everything starts next week. Whew! FInally!

…. or at least I hope so!

I came across another mommy’s tutu tutorial on flickr and I’ve been meaning to pick up the supplies to make it. Well lookie whose got the goods! 4 yards of pink tulle to accompany 6 yards of the floral ribbon. And 4 yards of red tulle to accompany the 6 yards of polka dot ribbon.

The tutorial is complete with photos, but why can’t I figure the numbers out right. D’oh! Yeah I’m a bit of a geek like that. I want it to look EXACTLY like the pictures and if I take my scissors to that stuff… I just don’t know! But at only 77 cents a yard for the tulle, how can I go wrong? And then if all goes well, look out anyone who has a little girl and invites us to one of your birthday parties, b/c guess what you’re getting as a gift. Muahahaha.

So far the shots I’ve taken with my new toy *look 2 posts down* have come out beautifully. Unfortunately this is going to be one expen$ive little hobby.

*I just ordered this bag in the brown/olive color. Thanks to the gc that my sister gave me, it cut the price down just a teensy bit.

*I was told I might want to consider getting this book from a fellow flickr friend.

*My favorite photo mama in Florida told me I also might want to consider getting this lens and this lens.

*Eventually I’d like to get a wireless remote and this speedlight.

Don’t know much else in the way of lenses though. Any suggestions?

I need to break out the sewing machine and get it cranking again. Not that it was ever in crank mode to begin with, but I’ve been seeing HELLA cute things that I could possibly be making for the lil one, in the hopes they turn out right. I’ve got a few scraps of fabric around and there’s this tutu pattern I found that I been itching to make her. Yeah she’s a girl. So what. LOL

I thought about making her a scarf b/c she finds mine and walks around the house with ‘em. Not sure she’d ever really wear one for very long though.

So yeah the goal of the month is to make her something homemade. Make sure it’s super cute. And let her sport it around!

Mummycakes! I can’t remember which magazine I had seen it in, but I like the way thay came out. And so simple too. Not to mention there was quite a bit of frosting leftover. This batch went to the karate picnic. Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Just the way I like it, too bad I never got to sink my teeth into any. And so ends the baking for the Halloween season. J has a class party on Tuesday but I’m going to make it easier on myself and just bring in a bag of chips. There’s only 10 kids in the class anyhow.

24 cupcakes for the carnival bake sale are done. Nothing fancy. I just don’t care to deal with fancy and crafty as of late, good thing I grabbed the $1 sprinkles from Target at the start of the season. French vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Actually not my favorite as I prefer just the opposite, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Yumm-0

There are things that I want to do (cooking and crafting). Things that I want to say (on here and my other 3 blogs). Things that I want to take pictures of. But I’m in a rut. I’m feeling so boring lately. I’ve gotta bake some cupcakes by tomorrow evening so that they can sell them at the Halloween carnival at J’s school tomorrow. I suppose I should do them today/ tonight but I don’t have the motivation to do so. But why does buying something sound more appealing?

Thanks to Ms 6 I found out the author of Lemo.ny Snick.et*s went to my HS alma mater. His graduation speech just brought back so many HILARIOUS memories. And b/c I have until February to read my next installation of the Darlington’s, I kinda want to pick up his book The Ba*sic Ei.ght. I seriously need to put my library card to better use huh? Which reminds me, I need to check when the lil man’s research books we took out are due. I’ll need to renew soon. Thankfully I can do it online now .

I’ve been in a wannabe cooking mode, but not so much as cooking but eating lovely things. Heh. Too bad it hasn’t happened.

And in other wannabe modes, I’ve been itching to craft something but nothing has come of it. Too lazy.

Last night wasn’t fun with the sickies. BLAH! I couldn’t breath through either nostril which sucked. And now, I’ve got chapped lips from breathing through my mouth.

Downloading frenzy, there are a few shows that I’ve been missing here and there and thanks to the VooDoo, I don’t need to worry about that anymore. WOO HOO! What shows am I in love with this season? There are far too many, thankfully my Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays do not involve much telly watching. But yesterday b/c I was nursing the cold and refused to go out the door… there came the realization that there ain’t jack sh*t on tv, even beyond football.

I am having material envy as of late. There are things that I want, but don’t need. And if I had the money to get these things, I probably wouldn’t even get them and instead get things for the kids. I still need a wardrobe relift, anyone want to submit me to “What Not to Wear” or “How Do I Look?” Seriously!

Need to put on some gloves tomorrow, we’re hopefully going to get down and dirty *get your head out the gutter*. Going to the dumps, purging and donating *cross your fingers* oh yeah and recycling this week too, hopefully!

It’s time I broke out the needles, the knitting ones. I contemplated crocheting even. I need to make the lil miss her very own scarf. EEEK, I’m so giddy about it. She needs it to go along with her ON pea coat that she’s been sporting b/c of the nippy weather we’ve been having. I can’t even tell you how many compliments she’s gotten on her coat, and people think we dropped a whole lot of money on it too, NO WAY! Got it during the ON baby sale and it was 25% off, so it was less than $20! And it’s come in handy! WOO! So yeah I’m on a mission to break out the needles and whip her up an adorable scarf. Similar to the one I saw at Bab.y Ga.p. Didn’t think I wanted to spend money on that when I could make one myself and be proud of the creation. Encourage me along people. It’s getting cold over here. Heck we’re supposed to be expecting rain next week. YAY !

The show went well . My son is a P.I.M.P. He is the only male dancer in the whole halau! The lights went out on him during his solo perfomance , but he knew to keep on going! He looked like a deer caught in the headlights for the first dance. Smiled all the way through the 2nd dance, and P.I.M.Ped his way through his Tahitian SOLO!!! The photos are still sitting in the camera though. We gifted him with a Bui.ld a Be.ar b/c I knew he wouldn’t care much for flowers. Big hit with him. Do I know my boy? Or do I know my boy? They were selling leis at the Ho’ike and my mom bought him one. J wore it for awhile to humor her and then it became mine. All mine .

An orchid and tuberose lei. YUM. The tuberuse is one of my most favorite smells. EVARRRRRR!!! It’s actually draped on my night stand lamp right now and the smell is just delicious.

In other news, been busy with party things. Finally settled on a cake topper for the lil man’s cake and I am still looking around for the cake topper for the lil missy’s cake. Reserved the jumper for the park. And got the playlist selected for the CD favors. Working on some art and then it’s up to the mister to get the CDs done. The kiddie favor are done. All I need to do is get the food all ordered and the big Cos.tco run, and still find that damned cake topper. Lots and lots to do still. UGH.

WAHOO!!! I swear, I don’t know what I was thinking. But I’m a bit glad the day is over and done with. We had 3 events to attend today, one right after another. Big mister came along for 2 of the three and the third one, everyone was asking where he was. Work, of course.

So anyhow the first event was at the Karate school. I was so happy to learn that my friend was hiding in the Bunny Suit. Unfortunately Icouldn’t talk to her, so it wouldn’t ruin the “fantasy” for some of the kids. J did some arts and crafts, the keiki took a couple photos with the BunBun and then we were on our way to destination #2.

Destination #2 was an Eas.ter get together with some friends and their keiki at the Toots house. Yummy food, good company, and keiki = good times. I managed to order S a birthday cake and hide it at their house so we could sing Happy Birfday to him, his Birfday is Monday. A MMMMMMmint one from Cold.stone. Man oh man, that thing was huge… I thought more people we’re going to show up, I guess I should have stuck with a smaller size. Unfortunately the big mister had been feeling ill the majority of the day and ended up going home to rest up a bit.

For us… it was off to destination #3, the Karate Professor’s son’s 7th Birthday. J had a blast. Lil miss got passed around and fell asleep in someone’s arms. I got to hang out and hear some of the gossip around the school .

We got home around 9 and I had to start my homemade cheesecake. Which is just about finished right now. Just need it to cool a bit and then wrap it, put it in the fridge, and bring it to party #4 for the weekend.

I am soooooooo beat. Can you tell?

I had high, high hopes of sleeping in this morning. FAT CHANCE. Lil miss wasn’t having it . Not fair and it wasn’t even 7 yet. What time? What time do you wonder? 615! Hmmph!!! I guess I have a small compromise though, as I fell asleep before 9, before the opening ceremonies to the Olym.pics even , I was hoping to watch the walk through and who was holding the torch. Yeah that didn’t even happen. I didn’t even get to do my Valentine’s cards and they need to go out TODAY! I suck, royally.

Lil man’s half birthday went well yesterday! I didn’t even take photos of the cupcakes/ ice cream cones= ice cup cakes (heh?). I was actually ready to toss them at the last minute b/c I thought they didn’t taste good. The cones were just way too stale tasting for me. Big mister did some other taste testing and thought they were fine. Well they were a big hit with J’s friends so it didn’t matter. The cups were a hit too, which I totally forgot to take pictures of too. GAH!!! Losing my mind I thinks.

Nothing much planned for the weekend. How about y’all?

Next week marks the lil man’s half birthday. B/c we missed it last year, he has been adamant in reminding me this year that it’s coming up, next Friday, the 10th to be exact. I already cleared it with his teacher and we’re bringing in cupcakes and goodies . Lil man is excited. I’m happy that there are only 11 kids in the class. So easy I’m going this route with the cupcakes, just a little iffy on the decor. We’ll see. Any suggestions? I was going to do chocolate cupcakes with some sort of white frosting.

F’in hilarious!!! Thanks to voodoo, this crafty site for Christmas tree decor, is just hilarious!!! I quite like the star and the string of lights!!!

So it looks like it’s not too late!!!!

I’m feeling like such a horrible person. Why? b/c there are so many wonderful people out in i-net world. I’ve been getting lovely cards left and right and I got an even more wonderful package from Hawaii today . Someone in Florida designed me a lovely Christmas card, which a FEW people may have received while others may NOT receive them b/c I already ran out. Yes I need to reprint some more… meeting with family and friends and the thought of saving on postage stamps came into play.

Wrapping of gifts has yet to occur. Shiiiiiiiiiiiet, how many days til Christmas? Mind you there are still a handful of people that are in need of gifts.

I’m telling you I’m feeling like such a horrible person right now !!!! It doesn’t help that I’m under the weather either. GAH!!! I can’t smell I can’t taste and every now and then I get THE headache from hell.

Enjoy the last few days til Christmas…

Things I STILL need to do before Sunday…

Lil man has his Christmas show next week and his class along with the 2nd grade are performing a song with puppets. Ya know, like the Fan*dango puppets. So on Monday we were sent home 2 paper bags and instructed to help make a Santa puppet and a “Hal the Hamster” puppet.

Lil man was already to go to town on those bad boys with some markers!!!! How dare he!!! LMAO. I told him I would go to the craft store and get some supplies and we could do it together. I already kinda knew I wanted to get some craft foam. And that’s what I did.

I spent like $8 at the craft store today… for the craft foam, googly eyes, pop poms, and some garland (that I didn’t use on the puppets). Good Lord… I haven’t been to the craft store in ages!!! There was a ton of people there too, wth??? It’s Wednesday people, shouldn’t you be at work? LMAO.

Lil man did his homework, went to karate, came home and ate his dinner and then it was time. I broke out the hot glue gun and turned off the television !!! What started as a parent child project came out to be a Di*na production. Didn’t help that lil man burned his hand with some hot glue oh and don’t think I left unscathed either… I did it not once but a COUPLE of times. Lil man helped, a lot. He put the brown pom poms on. He put the googly eyes on. He told me where to place the ears on the hamster. He told me Santa needed a black belt. He told me Santa should have eyebrows. And he held things in place so that they would dry correctly, which is incidentally HOW he burned his hand but he learned quickly to be very cautious!!!!

And the end result…

He wants to bring them in tomorrow, but I don’t want the other kids to see and get ideas. Yeah I know the hamster doesn’t look much like a hamster, but oh well… lil man is happy with them and I’m proud to have helped, assisted, okay okay… I did it , and I’ll do it again if he needs me to!!!

I was thinking that putting one of these bad boys could be great fun to do with the lil man, but then I realized what a perfectionist I could be sometimes and how I might possibly be very picky and mean and take over the whole project. Afterall, lil man is a “boy” and they tend to be messy. Okay strike that, HE tends to be messy and sloppy and half a**es things when he wants, quite like his daddy.

I’ve also gotta get the cookie press from my mom. Scheduled to do some baking with Mama Toots and Mama Baby, anyone out there have a good spritzer cookie recipe they swear by?

Yesterday’s festivities were great fun . I forgot to take photos of my dirt cups though. Strange, the kids weren’t into it as much as some of the adults. The carnival was good fun too. A handful of friends came out to have some free food during my shift at the concession stand. It rained bu that didn’t spoil any of the fun. I love the rain.. I only wish there was more. We didn’t get home til after 12 last night and the kids were knocked out. Good thing the lil miss allowed me to sleep in a bit. Woo hoo 930AMish .

The karate party was today and apparently my spider cupcakes were a hit too , once again I didn’t take photos. Lame me. Then it was off to the 2nd birthday. Good food and good fun. I was too lazy to break out the camera though.

Tomorrow, I think we’ll be hanging out at home and carving some pumpkins.

Here’s a fun little ice challenge that Mama Toots sent. Don’t forget to set back your clocks tonight.

So it has been decided. I’m making dirt cups with gummy flies and gummy worms for J’s class party and then I’m making spider cupcakes for the karate shindig. I’m kinda excited . I just hope the wee one gives me the time to do my “cooking and crafting”!!! I’ll have to bake the cupcakes ahead of time, just for good measure. We’ll be out all day Friday ’tis why. The Halloween carnival should be great fun. At least it was last year .

Went running around with my mom and the wee one today and managed to get everything except the ‘nilla frosting. Which is okay b/c I saw the ads and it’s on sale for $1.

It’s cold still. I don’t mind though. I think I’m coming down with something. My throat is feeling a bit scratchy . My lower abdomen is feeling kinda icky too, like I’ve gotta poo or something, sorry TMI. But nothing comes out .

Someone else isn’t feeling good either. Or at least she’s giving me that impression. Cranky pants all around eh? Not fun.

Need to think of something to bring for lil man’s class party and then the karate thing. I was thinking dirt cups for school complete with either graveyard bone candy or gummy bugs. And cupcakes for karate with spiders and webs!!!

Sounds like a plan rubberband , but then I don’t know what the other parents are bringing and it sucks when there isn’t variety and an abundance of some things. Which reminds me, I need to take a photo of the goodie bags I made for J’s class!!!