Freezing!

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I am not a fan of cold weather. Today the temp is like 7 degrees! Tomorrow and Thurs. are supposed to be even colder--shiver!
This morning when I got up and started getting ready, I looked at my hair and remembered that I had wanted to get it cut this past weekend. Well, that didn't happen since we painted and did other things. I decided I didn't want to wait any longer and asked Josh if he would cut it. He asked me if I meant right then?? I said that I did and he thought it would take forever. He got the scissors and I took them and cut off a chunk on the side to which he gasped. I pretty much cut it all with the exception of a few spots I couldn't see in the back. Yes, there was lots of hair in the garbage can. I think I cut off 3 or more inches--I don't know.

There are several things to do inside on this freezing night and I was reading a couple of blogs that I check in on pretty often. I don't have this one linked on my sidebar, but I have been reading regularly for almost two months now. It is about Magdalena. She is a Trisomy 18 baby. I have a friend who was my college roomie that had a Trisomy baby who only lived 11 days. They don't live very long usually so Magdalena had survived many odds. I was sad today to read that she passed away =(. What a cute little girl and a blessing she was. Say a prayer for her parents as this is something no mommy or daddy should have to endure! Hug your children and thank God for each and every moment with them--good and bad!

Show

It was fun watching the show come together last night. We thought they did a very nice job putting it all together. I had seen pictures of some of the rooms before they were all done, and they definitely looked better finished.
We were glad to finally see and figure out for sure the Ying/Yang chairs. They brought those to the house at two separate times right before the family came home. They must have been very heavy because it took several men to life them off the truck. Everyone was wondering what in the world they were and what function they would serve.
Other observations...Ty doesn't come off quite as high-strung in person as he does on the show. What's interesting is that on the show it appears he is yelling and everyone can hear him when in actuality, I barely ever heard him. Even when he comes running out of the house...they told us not to cheer and we didn't really hear him talking. Of this crew, we saw the most of Michael followed by Rib. The only time I saw Ed was at the reveal and even then he kind of hung back.
Yes, we did find ourselves on the episode--only because we knew exactly where to look. We were in the section behind the family at the reveal and we were behind this lady in a mint green jacket standing on a chair holding a sign. Apparently, she forgot she wasn't the only one who wanted to see--lol!

Our weekend was nice. We saw "Bride Wars" and thought it was a fun & cute movie. We painted the girls' bedroom. It looks very nice and they are excited. The color is called "Rainforest"-- appropriate for Aliyah! We also re-hung/rearranged pictures in their room. It's much better to paint when it's boring outside than when it is summer and you would rather be outside doing something else!

Josh continued his winter baking err whatever with peanut brittle or lotsa peanuts with some brittle--lol. He makes great peanut brittle--when he doesn't mis-calculate and put in LOADS of peanuts. We had a good laugh about that one. It tastes good, it's just VERY PEANUT-Y. To give you an idea...he used 2 cans of peanuts!!

Well, that pretty much wraps up the weekend. Tonight is school with Aliyah and a few TV shows. What else can you do on a wintry January evening?

EHM Reminder

It's finally time for the show to air...Sunday, January 11 on ABC at 7 pm CST. This is the Extreme Home Makeover that was completed just 3 blocks from our home. I am interested to see how the show comes together after seeing them film a good portion of it. I think it will be fun to see the little things they film around town. Don't forget to watch!

Other than that, it's January and it seems Aliyah is experiencing the winter blues. Fortunately the sun was shining today, just not WARM!

We enjoyed a scrumptious comfort-food dinner at Cracker Barrel this evening. MMMM--delicious. Everyone was full and the food was great. That place is so warm and cozy in the winter and the food warms you as well =).

Have a nice weekend!

Routine

With all of our decorations put away including the outside ones, I must say it is bleak looking. January gray doesn't really brighten anything. The decorations all got put away before the "cut-off" of being tacky which is January 6th (today). The last time we really turned them on was New Year's Day.
All of that means the holidays are over and things are a bit more slow-paced and more normal in the way of that routine schedule.

Aliyah is back to doing her work and we are pressing on to our finish date in the first week of March. So far, we are right on track =). We do this so that we can fully enjoy the days when it starts to get warm. We go on walks, the girls play outside, and we do projects outside like getting the yard ready for spring/summer. There's always plenty to do that's for sure.

I've started a couple of new things to motivate Aliyah in school. If she does a good job and doesn't complain about work, she gets to play Beanie Babies online--she really loves playing. Another thing that we are working on is the bedtime routine. The girls like to look at books after going to bed. I don't mind that, however when it turns into getting toys out and into the bed and making a mess while failing to go to sleep--that doesn't fly! Since Aliyah wasn't going to sleep as she was supposed to, we made her get up and complete a couple of pages in her schoolwork. This was to remind her that she goes to bed when we tell her on our terms and not on her own. It worked...we didn't hear a peep out of either child all night. The same will happen tonight. Keirah gets a swat or something else since she's younger.
Things feel decently organized since I made that a project over the extra days off.

The next thing we are looking forward to is getting the additional cabinets in our kitchen. We will be ordering them in a little less than two weeks. My kitchen doesn't have much space for anything really. It works because I don't have a lot of extra stuff--I keep things cleaned out. Adding cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling plus some trim and wood valances across the windows will be great. We get a new countertop as well since we are adding a small cabinet on the other side of the stove. Josh has become "project man". He is the one coming up with projects to do--get that! He has several he wants to tackle. It feels so nice to not have any portions of the house undergoing a project at the moment, I just may want to keep it that way a bit longer. I thoroughly enjoy that new bathroom, that's for sure!

Well, other than to say that normal routine is back and that's perfectly peachy for me...some new shows have started up. I watched one called "True Beauty" last night and thought it was quite funny.

Observations

A note from PJ day yesterday...I finished off my list (with the exception of windows). It's a little senseless to wash them when it is rainy/cold outside. I did wash the inside windows that needed it though.
Today has been relaxing and nice. A few observations from our afternoon...
*I don't know if the economy has driven places out of business so much as has poor management & poor hiring practices.
*Krispy Kreme closed down in our area and from everything I've heard the management and workers weren't anything to write home about...
*A visit to Wendy's today at Aliyah's lunch request reminded me of how popular a place can be, however made me question how long it would remain popular with days like today. The line was extremely long as only one employee worked the counter. They had no drinks...(WHAT))))...fries were like styrofoam or something, no BBQ sauce etc... If I had known that upon entering the line, I wouldn't have stayed in it. Something tells me that hiring some competent workers (since so many need jobs), and planning for busy weekends or general planning would make this place thrive and people would keep on coming back. That will be my last visit for awhile.
*While in Target, I noticed the new Always Infinity product. I wasn't stopping to look, but I couldn't help bu notice the price in big Target red letters as we wheeled the cart down the aisle. $10.00! This was not the giant economy-sized package, so I'm unsure as to the relevance to paying $10 for a package of these??? Then again, with a name like Infinity...that means like forever???
*There are some odd folks out there--like today this person in Wendy's who came in and asked the person in front of her to "hold her place" in line. She proceeded to do a multitude of things...go to the restroom, talk about her child named Solomon (no kidding), read the newspaper, and who knows what else. As they went to the restroom, they left the child's toys sitting on random tables. When she returned to stand in line for 5 seconds, the child wandered around Wendy's dining area and do whatever he pleased while mom talked about him and blah, blah, blah... Hopefully, Solomon gains some of the wisdom that THE Solomon is known for, because he certainly wouldn't get it from mom!
On that note, I will finish...tonight is TACO NIGHT---MMM!
Tomorrow=back to normal schedules & reality.

PJ's

January=blah & boring thus today has been a pajama day. I don't do well with pajama days because I don't feel motivated to do much of anything. The gray sky doesn't help much either.

A few things have gotten accomplished like some laundry, dusting, window washing, and organizing. I really want to kick it into high gear tonight so I get my list all finished.

Next week is back to the normal schedule of work, Aliyah's schooling and all of that good stuff. Maybe it will keep me busy enough to forget about January and move on into the happy months of the year where it is warm and bright!!!! Can you believe that on a pj day, I haven't even turned on the tv?

NYE & NYD

A few things I am enjoying right now...sunshine in January (we don't see that often in Jan), a few extra days off, Keirah playing with her Bitty Twins kitchen, Aliyah looking at books, health, and a chance to catch up!

We spent New Year's Eve having family time. We went to our favorite pizza place...we have officially become regulars. We got a free pizza and drinks so for 9 people, it was a whopping $28.00 to eat!! Can't beat that--right? The rest of the family went off to do their own stuff, and we went to Walgreens to rent a movie from Redbox.

Josh made Chex party mix--a family favorite--and I salivated the whole time since it smelled so great! Pretty soon, we got a call that grandma & grandpa's power was out--that's a bummer...and so we told my family and them to come on over. Everyone ate some snacks and then we started playing this new Monopoly World game (the banking system is electronic). It was really fun and took a few hours. Even better, I won! Five minutes before ringing in 2009, Josh ran and got everyone something to drink and then we counted down---Happy 2009!

We stayed up late because I wanted to watch the movie we rented--which was funny. It was a 2:30 bedtime =).

The shut-eye was short as we got up at 6:30 to get ready to leave. We went up by Chicago again to do some shopping and a little eating at none other than PF Changs.

The trip was nice--there were virtually no cars on the road. The mall was pretty empty as well (such a stark contrast to the last time)! The sales were AWESOME!!! We got several things at Banana Republic, a few items at Pottery Barn, some cute things at Hanna Andersson, and a coat for Josh for $32.! Lunch was fantastic and we ordered some to take home--as usual. The drive home was as quiet as the drive up--traffic-wise. The girls slept the whole time.

We washed the car to get the salt off from our snowstorms, and then did some house-straightening. It was a fun day!!

The girls have now come out in their new tulle skirts from Hanna. Aliyah calls it her dance outfit. Keirah has it on over her new pj's. Hanna pj's were only $15!!!! The skirts were only $12!

Our Christmas tree & decs are already down as of 12-30--the earliest ever for us. It helped that the top half of lights on the tree decided to quit working. Those lights don't really last anymore. The max is probably 1 or 2 seasons. That's ok--I'm thinking that will save us some $$ on the energy bill =).

Josh has to work this weekend so it will be us girls chillin, cleanin, playin, havin fun! Happy Friday & weekend--enjoy it!