"Jolly" Old St. Nick

Here the girls are sitting on Santa's lap. I was wondering how Bailee would react but she did really well, she didn't even cry. She just looked at me like, "Why are you setting me on this strange man's lap and laughing?"

Do I look like an incapable mom? I'm just wondering, because "The Santa's" seem to think so. For example this year Santa (above) asked me what Bailee would like for Christmas. I said she'd probably like a Little People Princess Castle (which is what we got for her). So, he asks me if she'll put the pieces in her mouth. I told him she probably would, and he asks me if they are small pieces that she'll choke on. Uh...No, duh Santa I'm not going to give her something that she'll choke on. Good heavens, I hope I know better than that. (I didn't really say that last part to Santa).

Now, this next story about our visit with a different Santa, tops that one. This happened a few years ago, Madison was 2 1/2 I think. It was quite cold that day, and the heater in our car took a while to warm up. By the time we arrived at the University Mall we were finally starting to get warm. So, we went in the mall and got to see Santa right away (shocking I know). Madison sat on his lap and he commented that her hands were cold. We'd had her bundled in a blanket in her stroller, but her hands were still chilly. So, he's holding on to her hands and says it again, "Her hands are cold." So I said, "She takes after her mother." My hands are often on the chilly side, which I don't think is too uncommon for a woman. So, he says, "What, No Blood?" Excuse me Santa, should you even be saying the word blood. I thought that was a little bizarre. I'm sure her hands were cool, but holy cow we'd just come in from the freezing cold, that tends to happen in the winter, unless you've been sitting in a toasty hot car with layers of winter gear on. I refer to him (only to Jeff) as Butt head Santa. He's not at the University Mall anymore, darn. At least now we have a mini van that gets warm very quickly, but us Redford girls still might have chilly fingers. As the saying goes, "Cold hands=Warm heart".

O' Christmas Tree

Jeff and Madison putting ornaments on the tree. What good little elves. I sure appreciated their help. I love our pre-lit tree, it sure is a time saver. You might notice there aren't many ornaments near the bottom of the tree. We figured if was safer that way, from big girl Bailee.

Trying...

and trying to get the star on top of the tree.

Finally, success. I realized this year that the star is quite small for our tree. You can hardly even see it in this picture. Maybe I'll get a new one during an after Christmas sale.

Hallelujah

Hallelujah, I'm back.... pretty much. (It sure is hard to think and type up a post with Suze Orman yakking in the background) You probably didn't know I was gone, but I was, with the stomach flu. It started Thanksgiving morning. I wasn't feeling the best on Wednesday, I didn't have much of an appetite that day, but I didn't think too much of it, little did I know what was lurking around the corner. So, no Thanksgiving dinner for me, I had Saltines crackers instead. Jeff and the girls went over to my parents house while I stayed home, layed on the couch and watched two Little House on the Prairie Christmas shows on dvd, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and part of The Incredibles. I wish I could have been with my family, but hopefully there will be more Thanksgivings to come. Poor Jeff started coming down with it Friday, but we're both doing better today. We still don't have much of an appetite, I told him this is what it feels like to be pregnant, with the queasiness.

I feel bad because we were supposed to help my sister move, but we couldn't even do that. This next week will be catch-up week on all the stuff I couldn't do the past few days. Actually it's not too much, I'd just really like to get the bathrooms cleaned and Christmas decorations put up. Our neighborhood has been totally on the ball this year getting their Christmas decorations up. (Come on Jeff, we gotta keep up with the Jones'). We did get our Christmas tree put up today, it was quite easy since it's pre-lit. Madison wanted to get out all of the decorations but I didn't have the strength for it. I hope the tree can survive Bailee this year.

Back to Instacare we go...

Your not going to believe this but we had to go back to Instacare last night. Actually, Jeff and Madison were the ones that went. After dinner Madison started complaining that her left ear was hurting. I looked in her ear canal with a flashlight, couldn't see much. We rinsed it out with warm water and vinegar and I gave her two children's Tylenol pills. Nothing was helping, and her squealing was getting more intense. I've heard that blowing smoke in a hurting ear helps it to stop hurting for some reason. Probably some old wives tale, anyhow I thought we could give it a try, but we couldn't find any matches. I'm quite sure we have some in our 72 hour kits, but by this point we'd decided she'd better go see a doctor otherwise she, Jeff and I would be having a miserable night. So, about 8:30 they headed off to Instacare. They were gone for at least 2 hours, it took stinkin' forever. And of course while they were gone I heard some odd loudish noises coming from our backyard. So, I got spooked and was really hoping they'd get home soon. They finally got home about 10:30 or so. Her ear was infected (actually the doctor said it was red and angry) and they rinsed a truck load of earwax out of it too. Okay, not really that much, but there was a fair amount. So, we got her started on the meds and we all went to bed.

She's doing better today, her ear hasn't been hurting and her lip is shrinking although the white cap on it is becoming more conspicuous. Madison did have one more adventure this morning. While I was making her breakfast she managed to get a tiny little fan with foam blades caught in her hair. It was so knotted up I just had to cut the section of hair out. Luckily it wasn't much hair and near the bang area so it blended right in. I'm hoping we have a boring weekend.

Here's a picture of Madison's hair after I cut the knot out. Doesn't look too bad. Ha! just kidding.

So, Carrie what do you do all day, sit around eating Bon Bons?

I wish. No,that would get boring and I'd get chubby. But here's what we've actually been doing the past few days. As expected Jeff is searching for a job, not an enjoyable task. I do have a bit of good new though, we finally got our new computer stand, it was an early Christmas present from my parents. It has aided in Jeff's job searching and I really like having the computer out in the family zone.

Here's a pic of little munchkin with the new desk.

Sunday night we rushed off to Instacare with Bailee who had a temperature of 104.1. She was so hot. She'd had a fever on and off since Saturday afternoon and all she wanted to do was sit on my lap, which is not like her. The doctor couldn't figure what was wrong with her, how comforting. The lymph nodes were enlarged in her groin area so that meant she had some type of virus/infection. So, they took a urine sample after inserting a catheter. Yeah, so I was stressed out and Bailee sure didn't enjoy one bit of it. The doctor said we'd have to just wait and see. Finally, on Tuesday the fever broke and the spots came. She had Roseola, Madison had had it at about the same age, so at least I was a bit familiar with it. Bailee is feeling better now. Phew...

The Rash

Wednesday Jeff and Madison went to the dentist, they both needed to get some work done. Madison got a cavity filled, so they numbed the right side of her mouth. After they finished her filling Madison was sitting there waiting for Jeff to get finished up. Apparently she was hungry or something 'cause she starting gnawing on her numb lip. I don't think she realized how hard she was biting since there was no feeling. Here's a picture of the results. I was afraid we were going to have to go to Instacare again last night, but the dentist called and told us to give her ibuprofen and put ice on it. This is a picture of if from this morning. Sorry if anyone is squeamish. The dark specs on her teeth and mouth are left from her Cookies & Cream Pop Tart, I should have brushed her teeth first.

The Mouth

So, these are a few of the biggies we've been dealing with this week. Life is rarely boring.

Halloween and other stuff

I've been wanting to post for a while now, but it's hard to find the time especially with the computer in Bailee's room. I've been debating whether we should get the new computer desk sooner than later to go in the kitchen. Now probably isn't such a great time to be buying extras since Jeff lost his job this past week. It would help with job searches though. Yep, Jeff lost his job, it's probably for the best, he deserves better, but it's still humbling and scary.

So, life's a little rough right now, but we've been through hard times before, so hopefully we'll survive. I am excited for Christmas. I love it. I've got all of my Christmas shopping done, except for stocking stuffers. I don't really have any ideas for stuffers this year. We were cutting back on gifts this year, and after the job thing happened, it became definite. No big deal, it's just stuff.

Here are pictures from Halloween.

My Pretty Kitty's

Jeff and I were dressed up as dancers from Dancing with the "Scars". We'd taken a few falls and were sporting some fresh wounds.

Uh-Oh, It's Michael....

This past Saturday we went to the new Kohl's here in Orem. I must say that store looked pretty good (as it darn well should since it's brand new) all clean and organized. So, we were looking around, I was actually looking for Halloween pj's for the girls, but they didn't have any. We split up into to teams to look at different things, so Jeff and Madison were together and Bailee and I were together. Bailee and I were in the girls section when lo and behold I look up and there's Michael walking down the main isle pushing his baby in the stroller with his wife and other child coming behind.

Here's some background on Michael. I worked with him at Shopko about 9 or 10 years ago. Michael was kind-a infatuated with me. He was a nice guy, but a bit different. He liked to wear a long trench coat and dark sunglasses, I think pretty much year round and he was tall, so it was noticeable. But we were friends, I didn't dig him the way he dug me, but he was usually nice and I was nice, so we were friends. I had another guy friend that worked there too, his name was Geoff and he liked me, in that way, but once again I only liked him as a friend. I worked with Michael and Geoff quite a bit especially during the evening/closing shift. They didn't get along with one another (love triangle jealousy I suppose). They were usually fairly close by and I often had the feeling they were watching me. Well, one day my suspicions were confirmed when the Security Guy wanted to talk to me, and told me that they had been keeping an eye on Michael and Geoff via the security cameras and that they were pretty much stalking me and to let them know if I wanted them to do anything about it. I was a little surprised but I didn't have them do anything. Even when I quite Shopko and went to work at the Hallmark store in the Prove Town Centre, Michael would still come visit me. Once Jeff came into the picture Michael finally backed off.

So, there I was at Kohl's and I see Michael go walking past with his dark sunglasses on, I just stared at him and his family like they were a parade walking by. He didn't look at me, but I had the feeling he had already seen me. Who knows. I was done looking at the clothes and Michael, so I called Jeff on my phone and we met up at the front of the store. I told him who I'd seen and that I was ready to go. It was weird being back in a store setting with Michael there. I just had the feeling he was watching me again.

I bet some of you pretty ladies have had stalkerish experiences.

Spookie Ookie Saturday

As you can see I finally got a new background. Thanks for your help Maleen. I had a hard time figuring that one out on my own. Now I can change it with the seasons and holidays.

So, last Saturday was a spooky day for me, but it was fun too. We started out the day going to our Ward Talent Show. I helped Madison make some pumpkin bread for her talent. She did a good job cracking the eggs and mixing all the ingredients together. After the talent show we went to Arctic Circle, we hadn't eaten out in a while and it was sounding good to me, plus Madison wanted a cool Halloween flashlight, so we went to "where the good stuff is". After we came home and had lunch Jeff and I rested on the couch while Madison watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Bailee took a nap.

I was in the Halloween mood that day, so I decided I wanted to read a scary story to Jeff, I was hoping to really scare him. So, while Madison and her friend were playing I read Jeff a story about this girl who woke up one night and went and looked out her bedroom window. Ironically she lived right by a cemetery, and she saw something that looked like two green eyes coming through the dark, up the hill from the cemetery, to her house. It got closer and closer and looked sort of like a man but with bright green eyes. So, it finally came right up to her window, it had a shrunken face that looked like a mummy. It broke her window and crawled in, then it grabbed her and bit her neck, she screamed and passed-out. Her brothers heard her scream and came into her room but the thing was gone. She was sure it wouldn't come back, but it did and did the same thing again, but this time the brothers shot it in the leg. Anyways, long story short, they ended up finding the vampire in its coffin, so they took it out and burned it up.

While I was reading the story it didn't scare me, but Bailee wasn't feeling the best that night and woke up at around 3 AM. So, of course when everyone else is asleep and the house is quiet and dark, what do I start thinking about, Mr. Mummy Vampire. I was rocking Bailee in her room right next to the window. I didn't even dare look out the window, knowing who would be out there staring at me.

Earlier that evening we had some hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, it was way good. Then we went driving around looking for houses that were decorated for Halloween. They were few and far between but we saw a few good ones. We drove around in the million dollar neighborhoods in North Orem/Lindon. I can't even believe these houses, how can people have so much money. One of the houses had a life-size witch on the from porch, there was a wooden sign that said, "Nice Pumpkins", The witch had a low-cut dress with pumpkin cleavage showing. It was funny, and very realistic looking, for a witch with pumpkin boobs.

It was a fun Halloweeny day.

Help?

I want to get a new template from The Cutest Blog on the Block. I've tried to figure it out and can't, can someone help? Thanks.

My House Doesn't Always Look This Bad...

Or this good. I got this tag from my cousin, Brooke. You're supposed to take pictures of these different areas of your house as they look right when you get tagged. I lucked out on this day, the house was in pretty good shape. So, here's a look at my house and some of its private areas. (I'm tagging Melanie, Deanne, and Maleen)

A place I'd like to visit: Paris

My closet: As you see I like to have my clothes in color-coded sections. It makes it easier for me to decide what to wear depending on what color mood I'm in.

My favorite room in the house: The living room. This is where we all congregate. I like being together.

Self portrait: My sister Jill actually took this picture a couple of weeks ago when she and I went to Park City for a girls get-away. We were doing facials at this moment.

The kitchen sink: I lucked out on this day, spick and span (except for the bottle).

The laundry room: Mines in the hallway, which makes it conveinent and a pain at the same time. That shelf sure is bowing, I'd better get some of that junk off

Toilet in the main bath: A sight to behold.

My refrigerator: Not lookin' too bad. I do feel blessed that we have food to fill it

My freezer: It is located underneath the fridge. One of Madison's friends thought that was so weird. It's a bit of a pain having to squat on the floor to look in the freezer. Oh-well, I guess it strengthens my quads.

My favorite shoes. Yes they're ugly, but they're squishy and comfy.