Abbey was pulling things out of the Arts and Crafts box I found in my old closet at my parents house before she had her coat off.  I was trying to think of a cute Christmas project we could do off the top of my head, but it turns out that she was happy rubber stamping, and gluing colored shapes to paper for an hour and a half.  We decided we were a little hungry for dinner afterall so we had Krafts Maccaroni and Cheese…Mmmm!  Then we decided to have a movie night…we made our dinner and then I thought it would be fun to watch our movie while lounging on the sofa bed.  Abbey did not know that our sofa was a sleeper so the expression on her face when she saw a bed coming out of our couch was priceless LoL.  Our dvd player is on the blink so luckily the Hallmark Channel came to the rescue (or was it ABC Family?), with ‘Silver Bells’.  Not exactly a Christmas Classic, but it would do.   It was pretty good and Abbey only asked Why did this happen or Why did that happen 786 time LoL!  At one point she was asking me about some part or other and I was explaining it to her and apparently my explanation was far too intricate because in mid sentence she stopped me and said ‘Ok, can you go make the popcorn now?’ LoL.  I’d have to say that the popcorn would have to be the best thing about movie night as far as Abbey was concerned LoL.  Anyway, after the movie was over we went up the bed.  Now, over the last few months bedtime has not been a very good experience in our house…most nights it is a struggle (errr, battle!), but tonight I read Abbey her story and I swear she was asleep in less than two minutes after I turned out the light.  It was such a perfect night…I can’t wait for my next day off so we can do it again . 

In other Black Friday news…I swore I would never do this but i got the paper on Wednesday and K-Mart had MP3 players on sale for $10 on Thanksgiving day…so I went to K-Mart on Thanksgiving and got the last two…one for Scottie and one for Abbey.  I couldn’t believe it, I was sure I would find them all sold out. Then, today, the only deal I really wanted was the 1/2 price Fisher Price Mini-Van that goes with the Loving Family Dollhouse Abbey’s getting for Christmas, and again, I got the last one…maybe I should play the lottery or something LoL.  I also found a Thursday only deal on Spiderman Walkie Talkies for my nephew, the only kid I wasn’t done shopping for by August.  Let’s see, what else…Oh, we visted with Santa today and it was the first time we got a picture with Abbey where I didn’t have to be in the picture too.  I was so thrilled…even if she didn’t smile in even one of the pictures LoL.  Ok, enough for tonight.  I PROMISE to be better about posting more often from now on…I swear ! 

Ok, that’s enough for tonight.

Five Minutes for Mom is  having a photo contest called The Kid in You and looking for the Spirit of Childhood…this is the photo that came to mind of my hubby at the Bronx Zoo.  My daughter wasn’t even one yet at the time so he was forced to play with all the cool stuff at the children’s zoo by himself LoL.  There’s lots of very cute photos to check out over there!  Wish us luck !

I also got to take my daughter to her sports camp this week and this week’s sport was baseball.  The group was made up of three girls and one boy.  The boy was 4 and seemed to be a T-Ball veteran, but he had to leave after the first half hour.  It was very cute to watch the Coach try to show three 3-4 year old girls how to throw, hit and run the bases when they would have been more than happy to just play catch with each other.  He came over to us Moms/Grandmas at one point chuckling because when he asked the girls if they were leaving him, one of them said to the others, ‘We can’t leave or he’s going to cry’ LoL! 

Hmmm, maybe tomorrow I’ll post a Wordless Wednesday Photo LoL!

 Tonight’s plan was to finish Abbey’s presents for her grandmother’s.  I just came across two little heart shaped plastercraft sets I’d bought two years ago for Mother’s Day…at the time I opened the box and read the directions for the craft that lets you make a mold of your little one’s hand, “Be sure to keep your child’s hand still for 60-90 seconds until the gel mold sets”.  I read that and put it away…there was no way my 18 month old was going to keep her hand still for 5 seconds, nevermind 90.  Exactly what made me think I’d do much better at age 3 and a half I’m not quite sure.  The other night we did the gel molds…the more I told Abbey to keep her hands still the more she wiggled her fingers LoL.  Tonight I mixed the plaster and poured it over the gel mold, following the instructions exactly.  After a half hour I popped the plaster heart shape out of the mold and turned it over where the directions said I’d  have to pull out the gel mold with a butter knife.  So…I turn the mold over and its a perfectly smooth, plaster heart…no gel mold in sight.  You should have seen me excavating the mold of my daughter’s little hands out of the plaster, using the back end of a butter knife like a chisel.  I felt like an Archeologist at work LoL.  I’m sorry to say, however, that only one of the gifts survived my excavation…well, partially survived.  The good one has only four full fingers…a good portion of her pinky finger got chiseled right off, but the other one was worse off that that and ended up in about five pieces.  So tomorrow we’ll be scrambling to make another Mother’s Day gift before Sunday morning !    Hopefully I’ll get some breakfast in bed first LoL!

When I saw there was a Motherhood Photo Contest  on Five Minutes for Mom, this is the first photo that came to mind!  A picture of my daughter and I when she was just 6 weeks old…seems like just yesterday and a hundred years ago all at once. 

ETA: It appears that I’m too late to enter the contest but what better photo to have up for Mother’s Day Week anyway.  Here’s a link to Five Minutes For Mom’s Mother’s Day Giveaway post with lots of giveaways you can enter to win.   

Ok, here’s my list!  I just added as I went so its a big mish mash…I’m going to try to rearrange the list so its in catagories that make each thing easier to find so stay tuned.   Numbers that are bold are in progress and the one’s that are struck through like this   are finished.

So, here are my start and end dates…

Start date: Feb. 21, 2008                                                                                                

End date: Nov. 18, 2010

024. Go to a restaurant we’ve never been to before once every 6 months

025. Twice a year try a wine I’ve never had before (and make sure it comes in a bottle with a cork)

026. Have Sunday dinner at our house once every six months.
027. Have at least 6 game nights.

028. Plan a girls night out every six months

3 Times a Year

029. Go to the movies with Scott at least three times a year (0/9)

 

One Time

030. Re-do bathroom

031. Put knobs on kitchen cabinets

032. Get a new fridge

033. Get a new washer/dryer combo

034. Get a coffee table to match the rest of the furniture

035. Re-Do hardwood floors in upstairs rooms

036. Buy a new beadspread and some curtains that match

037. Transition Abbey’s baby room to a little girl room

038. Have another baby

039. Get Abbey 100% potty trained

040. Take Abbey to Disney World

041. Take Abbey to an amusement park and let her go on the kiddie rides

042. Take Abbey to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade

043. Make Christmas cookies with Abbey

044. Teach Abbey to play Go Fish

045. Get a passport for each of us

046. Go on a cruise

047. Visit Niagra Falls

048. Visit a state I’ve never been to

049. Go to an Irish Festival (take Abbey)

050. Go to NYC at Christmastime including the tree, the Lord and Taylor windows and the living tree at South Street Seaport

051. Go on a vacation with just the three of us

052. Go to the Statue of Liberty

053. Go to at least one zoo we’ve never been to before

054. Go through Abbey’s books and bring a bunch to the second hand bookstore

055. Weed out Abbey’s old toys and donate or sell

056. Save all my cd’s to my computer

057. Figure out what music to add to my MP3 and add it

058. Buy a new digital Camera

059. Learn how to work all the settings on my camera

060. Carry my camera with me all the time so I don’t miss great, unexpected shots

061. Scan in my photos and negatives and get them on disk

062. Make a dvd slideshow to music for the grandmas for Mother’s day

063. Complete the 100_snapshots challenge

064. Take a picture of one local spot in each of the four seasons and frame the pictures together (0/4)

065. Frame and hang more photos

066. Submit a photo in a photography contest
067. Submit a page for publication in a Scrapbook mag

068. Make a photo book on kodak or snapfish, ect

069. Print out some of the digital scrapbook pages I’ve made and put them in an album

070. Work on geneaology and concentrate on recording cool, touching, memorable, funny, stories in addition to facts.

071. Collect family recipes and make a book of them on line

072. Buy a new crock pot

073. Make fondue from scratch

074. Learn to cook 25 international recipes, each from a different country

075. Re-design my blog

076. Do a giveaway on my blog

077. Take an online course in Paint Shop Pro

078. Sell stuff I don’t use/need on ebay

079. Finish Christmas shopping by Halloween in 2008 (almost)

080. Buy a fireproof safe for important papers

081. Write up list for Scott of stuff he needs to know in case I go before he does

082. Put part of tax return in a CD to come due in October, just in time for Christmas shopping

083. Get my wedding ring re-sized

084. Clear my junk out of Mom and Dad’s attic

085. Hang the wall organizer I bought for arts & crafts stuff and use it

086. Send a message in a bottle

087. Fill out a comment card or e’mail a comment commending an employee that went above and  beyond

088. Buy a new tv

089. Stop biting my nails

090. Do 100 days of no meat (not in a row)

091. Lose XX lbs (I’ve got a number in mind but I’m not posting it   )

092. Go one full week without nagging Scott about anything

093. Get new glasses

094. Giveaway 101 things to the Salvation Army 

095. Adopt a family/child for Christmas each year

096. Read profiles on each 9/11 victim from the 9/11 Victims Book or this website  9/11/01 Victims 

097. Plant herbs and remember to use them

098. Weed out Abbey’s old toys and donate or sell

099. Plan a date night at least every other month

100. Organize the rest of my digital pics and make back up discs for all of them.

101. Re-organize this list into catagories to make it easier to cross items off as I go

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

As for Halloween…we were thinking since Abbey is totally mesmerized when she’s watching Curious George cartoons that that would be a good costume for her (especially since the other cartoon she’s totally mesmerized by is Calliou…a bald, three year old boy).   Of course actual, Curious George costumes go for about $45 and look pretty much like the monkey costume from Old Navy so that’s the one we went with (and Scottie managed to grab it for 50% off too).  Last year, when Abbey was a chicken for Halloween, Scottie decided to dress up like a Farmer, so its our new tradition that Dada and daughter dress up with a theme ( I can already see the heartbreak it will cause for Scottie when Abbey’s a tween and done with this tradition   ).   So the obvious choice was for Scott to dress as the Man in the Yellow Hat.  Of course that meant finding an extra large outfit in Yellow for a grown man…not an easy task but we did it so that’s what they will be.  We have a dress rehearsal this Sunday when they have a costume parade at our townhouse so I’ll have to post some pics then. 

I’ve been slacking on the menu planning too.  I really want to get in this habit (as I’ve said on previous occasions) so I’m going to work on that tomorrow if its as slow at work as it was today LoL.  As for tomorrow I think its Biscuits and gravy…quick easy and good.  I’ll figure out the rest of the week tomorrow I hope. 

Oh, and I’ve joined a gym…never thought I’d say that since I’ve always just walked for excersize and I’ve done it outside or around the hallways at work or at the mall.  Anyway, they offered us a  really good deal for a monthly membership at work so I took it and so did Mom, so hopefully we’ll keep each other motivated.  Hmmm, I think that’s all for now!  I swear I will do better with keeping up with the posts for now on . 

QOTD:

Have you started Christmas shopping yet and if so how far have you gotten?

Let’s see, what else…I’ve pretty much gotten the goodie bags together.  Abbey’s the only girl and the ages range from 1 to 9 so this wasn’t an easy task.  I picked up a bunch of sports themed little trinkets on clearance after Easter at Wal-Mart so the older boys get a little trinket box , a mini bubbles bottle and a maze puzzle that is either a baseball, soccer ball or football.  The younger boys get toy boats for the bath and frog bath toys.  Everybody gets a couple of Tootsie Roll pops and a liquid freezer pop (unfrozen) to take home, and all but the youngest one gets a little Play-Doh container, and a stick of sidewalk chalk.  I also picked up a bag of little toys like you’d get in a coin machine at the after Easter sale so I divided those up evenly, stuff like fake gold coins, little parachute men, super balls, ect. 

My Mom picked up some really cute napkins that are lavendar and have little teddy bears having a tea party on them.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find matching plates so we have a hodge podge of plates, napkins, tablecloths ect that don’t exactly match but all are primarily lavendar…so I guess our theme is lavendar LoL.  The hats and goodie bags have butterflies and some of the cake plates are butterflies, some are fairy princesses. 

I’ve been going back and forth on games and stuff.  I think I might get Scottie to do a couple of games with the kids.  I saw a suggestion on some web site for each kid that gets knocked out of a game to get a prize but the prizes get gradually better as you get closer to the winner.  Personally,  I don’t have a problem with only the winner getting a prize, especially since everyone is getting a goodie bag, but I know everyone doesn’t agree with that.  Anyway, any suggestions for good games for a wide age range (but not many kids)?  I’m thinking maybe Duck, Duck Goose and/or Musical Chairs and, of course, Pin the tail on the Donkey.  Maybe Simon Says?  Not sure if that’s good for 3 year olds though. 

So the main thing I haven’t decided on is the cake.  But for age one and two I’ve just gone down that morning and bought a quarter sheet cake at Wal-Mart.  Their cakes are surpisingly delicious and you can always find one decorated with purple icing and butterflies or princess decorations are pretty common too.  What I would like to do is make one myself if time allows.  I may just see how things go on Friday and give it a whirl…if it doesn’t work out I can still get the Wal-Mart cake on Saturday morning.  I really like the Raggedy Ann cake I mentioned in an earlier post and I know the kids would like the red licorice hair, but I also found a couple of cute Curious George cakes on line and Abbey is absolutely mesmorized by that show when its on TV so that would be a good one for her right now.  I don’t know…we’ll see what I decide on Friday…Abbey doesn’t seem to care one way or the other as long as she gets to blow out the candles LoL. 

I was planning to get Abbey a Fisher Price Little People play set for her birthday present, but then I came across these cute doll outfits Snap n Style   on sale at Wal-Mart.  They’re also Fisher Price and are  plastic and the outfits just snap onto the dolls.  Unfortunately they didn’t have the dolls themselves at all, but I took my chances figuring if worst comes to worst you can find anything on ebay right? LoL.  Anyway, it turns out Kohl’s is having a 40% off Fisher Price toys Sale this week so I was able to get the doll, plus two more outfits.  They’re so cute…I can’t wait to play with them with her LoL.  Each outfit has a theme so there’s Bedtime, Flower Girl, Karate Class, Soccer Player, Ballerina, and Snowboard fun.  I think there’s only two that we don’t have and ironically one is the birthday one LoL. 

Ok, I think that’s it.  Sorry for the book but I had to put it all down on paper for myself .