The best early birthday present yet!

All day today we have been laying hardwood floors. This is my birthday present from Todd and I know he wanted to get it done while he had some time off (and before my birthday). He had my dad come out on Saturday night and help him get started. They got off to a SLOW start and at 11pm about half of the dining room was done. Todd and I got up at 8am to begin today and we worked (with the help of several good friends) until about 11pm tonight.

There is just a small section by the front windows that need to be done and all of the connecting pieces around the doors and fireplace need to be done also. I am super happy with what it looks like already....it is such a great change. I was so sick of cleaning that carpet! I can't believe how much the look of the room changed. It's like a whole new house! I am thrilled!

Here are the pictures I took tonight after we sort of cleaned up. I will post the finished product as soon as we finish. Isn't it beautiful????

I am already planning my next project. I am going to (re-)paint the front room. Not the blue wall---I love it. I will be repainting the rest of the walls a shade darker of brown.....I think Todd will be thrilled to hear this! :)

Our Relaxing Christmas

It's hard to believe that this year has gone so fast. I will be 31 this week and that is even harder to believe! We had a great Christmas. I will attempt to tell the story in photos---so here goes....

The first picture above is of our sweet little Sophie. As you can see, she is thrilled about the hat. She is our timid and relaxed dog....such a sweetie. Picture #2 is of Sophie and Lola together. Lola is my sister's dog and such a funny little thing. I believe the reason she looks so ornery in this picture is because she had just peed on the floor and suffered a beating from my sister.

Karley had a few "must have" items on her Christmas List this year. One of them was a hair studio equipped with all of the bells and whistles of a working mirror, hair coloring station , drying chair, hair dryer and curling iron. She now has her very own station set upstairs so if anyone needs a new hair-do let us know. She is cheap. I forgot to mention that she also got a TON of makeup so she is doing a 2 for 1 with her hair studio and makeup studio. It is quite the sight.

My parents were the first suckers.....I mean clients of Karley.

Along with the hair studio she was asking for an American girl doll. To keep up with the tradition of being totally spoiled, she got 2 new ones. (the baby one was from last Christmas) She also got 5+ outfits for each so we have been changing their clothes every hour for the past few days.

After opening presents, and taking GG home, we put our PJ's on and set out cookies for Santa. We also tracked him online which was an amazing thing because we saw that he was in Nebraska and Karley ran to the bedroom saying:

"I better get to bed!!"

So, as you can see below, Santa got a little carried away. Yes, all of this is for ONE child. :)

We woke up on Christmas morning and went to the Fireplace to check out the loot that Santa brought. He was definitely good to us! After doing this we fixed breakfast and Karley was on to her next client, Aunt Jamie. She got the full makeover that included hair, glitter and makeup.

We decided to stay in our PJ's ALL DAY (heaven!) and watch movies, play the new wii games, etc. Below is a few photos of Karley beating the junk out of us at her new game---AKA the wii fit for kids. What a blast. We also got Mario Cart which Karley is a pro at too. I have decided that kids are born with a gene that makes them good at these sort of things. I am horrible and get last place almost every time. LOL

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So, now we are gearing up for the New Year. We went out the day after Christmas and bought a new flat screen TV, dishwasher and some hardwood floors. (my debit card got a workout.) Todd and I put in the TV and the dishwasher in last night---we were up until 3am!! So, tonight it is Hardwood floor night. I am typing this while my dad and Todd are tearing up the molding and trying to figure out how to lay this stuff. Karley has her I-pod in because she can't stand the noise!

I just ordered out pizza tonight because I literally can't get to my oven (oh damn). I better go pay this guy feed these boys.

Have a great new year!

Sometimes I'm sorry doesn't cut it.....

Karley and I were in the car today going to run some errands and she was complaining that she was HOT in her coat. I told her that I was sorry about her luck (which is something I say A LOT to her!) and she looked at me very seriously and said:
"Sometimes sorry doesn't cut it mommy."
I am so proud of my sassy girl!

Last night Karley and I were laying in bed watching TV and Todd came in to see if Karley would cuddle with him. She said:
"yah, yah, yah.....in a minute daddy."

This past weekend we had the Zimmerman Christmas in Belle Plaine. It was a friggin zoo with 75 people crammed into a house that was made for 4. These 75 people are Todd's dad's siblings and their kids. No other relatives....just his dad's side of the family. Dennis (Todd's dad) has an aunt that has 12 kids--another one has 10---a few that have 6 or 8.....it was crowded and crazy. We were laughing that we don't know half of the kids anymore because there are so many new ones each year.
It was nice to have Sunday morning where it was just Todd's parents and us.....well, that is not exactly true....there were a few "extras" there (this is still bugging Todd so I won't go into that story. If you want to know the details you are going to have to call me for them.) ANYWHOO....It was nice to not have 75 people in the area so that Karley could play with her cousin, Madison in peace.
I have been busy getting ready to have Christmas with my side of the family. There will be 6 of us. I am super excited for Christmas Day....we hang out in our PJ's and do NOTHING all day except eat, play games and nap. After the past few weeks, we all could use a little relaxation.

Happy Holidays everyone!

5 things I want my child to know.....

I came across this list today and thought I needed to post it....Here is a list of 5 things that I hope and pray that Karley learns from us.....
1. Life's Not Fair. Bad people often win. Good people often lose. Jack gets a Mercedes for his 16th birthday. You might be lucky to use the family's 10-year-old Accord. Jessica cheated on her test and got an A. You studied hard but ended up with a B-. Your friends get to stay up late to watch a TV special. You have to go to bed on time. Railing against the unfairness of it all won't help. That's not to say that you shouldn't fight against injustice. It's just that sometimes you won't win.
2. Be The Kind of Friend You'd Want as a Friend. And seek out those who know what being a friend is. Friends should be amazing and loyal. Not people who talk behind your back and treat you with no respect. But you can't have good friends until you're a good friend yourself. You'll outgrow some people and some people will outgrow you. But if you're holding up your end of the friendship, you could very well end up with friends who will be there your entire life.
3. Death Will Always Happen. And it will be so incredibly difficult to keep going on sometimes. Your parents will die. Friends will die. Your grandparents will die. We can hope that it doesn't happen for a very long time, but it will happen. Faith will see you through: faith that God will take care of the one who died and the ones who remain. While you go through it all you will wonder how you'll ever enjoy life again. But you will. You must.
4. Do Good Things for Others, Even Strangers. Karley sees me do this quite a bit. (She also hear me cuss out stupid drivers, (and neighbors!) but, hey, I never said I was perfect.) The bell ringers at all of the stores this time of year... we donate EVERY time. The person behind us in line with just an item or two? We let them cut. The poor dude trying to get out of the gas station and into traffic? We let them go in front of us. The "bad" kid at school whose parents seemed to have forgotten it was early release day? We let call him or her them on our cell phone and wait until he's picked up. Doing small deeds like these make you feel good. And don't we all deserve to feel good?
5. Value money less and put your family first. I want my child to not let her career dictate her time and define who she is. In fact, I feel very sorry for people who do this. (and believe me, I know a few!) People who think that they are important BECAUSE of their "title" at work or how much money they make.
Instead, I want her to live by the quote below:

"One hundred years from now, It won't matter what car I drove, What kind of house I lived in, How much I had in my bank account, Nor what my clothes looked like, But, the world may be a little better Because I was important in the life of a child."

I hope to teach her how to find joy in her family and friends, to find her happiness not in her workplace alone. I also hope to teach her to save more and spend less and to not have to continue upgrading her spending habits to match her earning increases. This could be the most difficult task of all! Take a look at me for example, I am a SAHM with a college degree (that I don't use at all.) I have so many "side jobs" that it equals a full time job. I work at a dentist office Mondays all day. Tuesdays I work at my dad's store and then mid-day I run over to Karley's school to volunteer for the afternoon. Wednesday's I am back at dad's store all day. Thursday's I clean at Mary and Adrian's house (I like to call this my down time) And Fridays I am back at Dad's store and usually, mid-day try to run over to the Dentist office to clean there. I never have enough hours in the day and am ALWAYS on the go. I will never regret the time that I spent with Karley as a baby, toddler and now little girl. I was so thankful that I didn't work full time--and we didn't need the money from me doing that. Don't get me wrong, I did (and do) have days where I wonder where I would be if I was still working for Menninger's. Would I be in management? Still a case worker? Who knows.....Looking back now, I wouldn't do anything different. I want her to be able to have the same opportunities that I have....and instill the insight to know that no matter what she does, she is important.

So, my fellow blog followers, I am very interested in what you want my sweet Karley to know as she grows up.....Sunni, Jamie, Cyndi, Calli???? Any takers? Or does anyone even read this blog?? LOL

Karley's Christmas Program

Tonight was the Kindergarten Christmas Program at Indian Hills Elementary School. Karley was so excited she could hardly stand it! It was, by far, one of the most adorable sights I have seen in a very long time I have an amazing amount of respect for the music teachers at her school to be able to get 100+ kiddo's to stand on stage and sing (really well too!).

We started with taking some silly pictures at home while we were waiting for Dennis, Debbie and my dad to show up. (Mom couldn't make it because she had Bunko at her house) But don't worry, I took lots of photos for her!

When it was time to head to the school she could hardly control her excitement. I had to drop her off in the lunch room while everyone else went into the gym to get seats. (there were tons of people there) I did get some good photos of Karley and her friends in the lunch room right before the program.

Then it was time for the program to begin so all of the cute kids marched on stage and sang their little hearts out.

At the end of the program, Santa came to visit! Each kindergartner got their picture with Santa and could tell him what they want for Christmas. (Thank God because I was really not wanting to do this at the mall!) Then Karley couldn't resist getting her picture taken with Ms. Little. (who, in my opinion, is the Best Kindergarten teacher at that school!) Lucky us!

After the program, We did a little photo shoot with the neighbors, Brandon and Alli. Here is Brandon with his 2 best girls.

Since Todd's parents came to town for the Program, we decided to go out to eat at Tailgater's before they went back. Here is a photo from the end of the evening.

This school year is going WAY too fast! I can't believe that Christmas break is almost here already. I am the room mom for the Holiday party next week so I will be busy planning for that over the next few days! I love doing stuff like this so I am very excited about it.

And, in case anyone was wondering......we are over the flu. Thank God! It was a nasty one that lasted almost a full week and I am pretty sure I am not a believer in flu shots anymore so I think that next year we will go ahead and skip that nonsense. Todd (who did not get the flu shot) managed to not get sick (knock on wood) and the house is totally disinfected.

Have a great week!

Our Visit to the Doctor this morning....

Karley was still complaining about a "sore neck" last night so I decided to hold her out of school (again), suck it up and take her to the doctor.
Usually, we go to the doctor and they charge us $85 to tell us to go home and sleep it off.
Today, however, was different. I took her in at 9am for a throat culture and the nurse said it would be 5-7 minutes for the results.
We went to the waiting room to wait. Not 2 minutes passed and she called us back into the room to tell us she does, indeed have strep throat and she knows it is bad because the reading came back immediately.

HOW HORRIBLE DID I FEEL?

She has been complaining about a "sore neck" since Saturday and I just blew it off. So, we have strep throat, the flu and diarrhea which I am sure, is now more than anyone cared to know.
They put her on a round of antibiotics that she will be on for 10 days and can't go to school for 24 hours which means that she will not only be out today but tomorrow also. Poor baby!
Now, we are laying in bed watching The Muppet's Christmas. I am enjoying the fact that she is wanting to cuddle with me---this is something that doesn't happen often from a very active 5 year old. So, I have put my cleaning (or obsessive disinfecting) on hold just to hang with my sick daughter.
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We were kind of hoping for snow today.
Karley is still naive enough to believe that whatever the weatherman says is true. I told her this morning that it is no longer going to snow and stick like the 1 1/2 inches that they promised us yesterday. She asked why they lie so much. LOL
We decided that from now on whatever the silly weatherman says, we will just assume the opposite.

Have a great Wednesday!

Cancer Sucks.....

So, yes. We have the flu.

I have been up a million times with Karley today watching her throw up in the toilet and doing what seems to be a thousand loads of laundry. I have been feeling sorry for us--feeling like nothing could be worse. Until I read a classmate from high school's blog update. I literally cried for the first time in I don't even know how long.....Here is the long story short. She is 30 years old and in March she was diagnosed with stage 4 Rectal cancer. She has had a blog since the diagnosis and has an amazing support system and strength that I am sure one can only hope for. I was thinking today as Karley and I were getting sick how we really ARE going to be okay. This will pass for us in a few days and life will go back to normal. For Megan, however, her recent blog is about how she keeps receiving bad news after bad news with this latest being one of the biggest blows yet. Over Thanksgiving break she had some painful bloating in her belly that made her look pregnant. She went to the ER and they told her it was nothing and will pass. After Thanksgiving she drove to Houston to see her oncologist and begin radiation (one of the many attempts to fight the cancer---none have been helpful so far) and the oncologist told her that he is worried that it is fluid in her abdomen. He was worried that her liver tumors were causing fluid to drain and there was even the possibility that the tumors were now attached to the inside of her abdomen and creating the fluid. BAD NEWS.....
She is scheduled for a CT scan tonight and I am sure she is scared out of her mind. Can you imagine being 30 and going through all of this? I am 30 and I would have lost my mind by now.
If anyone is interested, here is her website.....http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/meganfranz
Get your tissue box out......It's very heartbreaking.
I have often wondered why this sort of thing happens to people. Why did Todd's cousin's baby get cancer when he was an infant when his parents were the picture of health during the pregnancy. I don't even think she drank a coke the whole pregnancy and I call that AMAZING!! Reese is now cancer free but has a long road to go as far as catching up with other kiddo's his age. He does therapy and has the most wonderful parents with such patience. He is a cute little guy too....here is their blog if you are interested.
http://www.the-mousehole.net/Reese/ReeseHome.html
Life is not fair.

I gotta go make sure Karley is okay. She actually ate dinner (kind of) tonight and I am afraid of what the night might bring. However, as I said before, this too shall pass. We are lucky. No matter how much I bitch and moan about silly things I do know that I am lucky for all I have.

Have a good night!

Potwin Pottery and the neighborhood Kiddo's.....

Karley had last Wednesday off from school and like usual, the doorbell rang at around 10am with the neighborhood kiddo's wanting her to play. (She is very popular!! LOL)

Our neighbors, Martin and Lisa were getting their carpets cleaned so they sent their kids down and the neighbors behind us came over too. It doesn't bother me when that many kids come over as long as they follow our rules, play nice and pick up after themselves. In fact, we know some people who I won't allow their kids into our house because they are HORRIBLE and disrespectful. For the sake of storytelling I will refer to them as "the brats".

They are the kids that cause a mess just to cause one and have no respect for other people's things. They wine and cry about everything! On more than one occasion, they have torn up a favorite toy of Karley's and when I ask them to pick up they yell "NO!" and go home leaving Karley to clean up all by herself. I have even gotten Kicked in the face by one of "the brats" while I was trying to put on her shoes to send her home (because she pushed Karley down the stairs) It has gotten so bad that if NO ONE is available to play in the neighborhood, Karley would rather watch T.V or play by herself before she plays with them.

I know people think I am mean for not allowing "the brats" to play in the house but you just need to understand how bad it can get. We were out of town a few weeks ago and the neighbors behind us invited "the brats" into their house. Turns out that lasted about 45 minutes because they filled water balloons in the house and tossed them, they broke a picture right off the wall, they got a hold of a Lysol bottle and emptied it on the wall and they drew on the walls. ALL IN 45 MINUTES!! Neighbor mom was super pissed and said that they spent most of the time crying about something so It wasn't a good play date anyways. I am not sure if she is letting them in their house again....ever. So, If I am mean, so is she! LOL

Okay, enough ranting about that. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we played here at the house. If you know me, you know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to sing and dance.....the kiddos know that if i have music playing in the kitchen, they can assume i am dancing and usually join me. It really is fun.

Later in the afternoon, my neighbor took Karley and her kids to redeem their book-it certificates at Pizza Hut and then to Potwin Pottery. I needed to run some errands and I met them at the pottery place. It was a lot of fun and they were all excited to do this.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

THE FLU SUCKS!

We had a great Thanksgiving here in Topeka with Todd's family coming to visit. They all came on Wednesday and stayed until Friday.

After they left we went to Kansas City to visit my sister and help her decorate her house for Christmas. Keep in mind that a trip to my sisters usually involves a lot of shopping and this trip was no exception. We hit up target, the mall, Pottery Barn kids, William Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, and ate at some wonderful restaurants in Kansas City. I am always so jealous of the selection of places to go there--it makes Topeka seem so boring.

All day Saturday Karley was complaining of a sore neck which turns out is a sore throat. We pumped her full of liquids and kept shopping chalking it up to the fact that she didn't sleep so well the night before. However, at dinner, she didn't eat a thing (not like her at all!!) and Todd and I skipped out on the trip to Walmart and Target to take her home and put her in the bath and to bed. She was fine during the bath. Jamie has an amazing whirlpool bathtub that Karley loves to play in. After her bath we were on the couch watching Annie and she fell asleep. I got up from the couch and left the room and not 5 seconds later did Todd haul her into the bathroom while she was throwing up all the way. It was EVERYWHERE!! Poor baby. After washing her off and the furniture, and the hallway and the bathtub and the 500 blankets that she had on her, we put her to bed in the bedroom where (luckily) she made it the whole night without getting sick again. In the morning, she felt better and played Mario Cart on the Wii most of the day.

Fast foward to this morning where I wake up at 4am and the whole room is spinning and I feel like crap. I got up and threw up all over the place. The flu has struck at out house.

I am kind of a chicken so I had Todd call me into work this morning. I have a very guilty conscience because I only work one day a week and it seems like if Iam going to be sick it shouldn't be on a Monday.

My wonderful mom came out and got Karley on the bus for me (I was hanging out in the bathroom) and after they left for the bus stop I crawled back into bed where I stayed until 3pm only getting up to get sick. Which was about 300 times. ICK

Did I mention that the flu sucks.

When I got Karley off the bus she said that her throat is sore (again) so I am anticipating another great night.

So, everyone, please feel sorry for us....and pray to God that Todd avoids this mess. I can't remember the last time I had the flu and I was even on the ball this year and got Karley and I the flu mist to avoid this......No such luck.

Right now, Karley and I are sitting on the couch, covered in a blanket, watching some silly cartoon on T.V. I need to clean this mess of a house and get to the grocery store but it is just going to have to wait. I am thinking that we will be in bed by 7pm tonight.