Evie's best friend

Evie's friend, Mariah visited a couple of days with us.. it's the 2nd time we've gotten to see her since her move to Maryland and the girls are still so close. We're hoping that they will move back sometime in the future.. but we'll enjoy our visits when we get them!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls.. (their faces are covered in "Baked Lay's Cheddar and Sour Cream" potato chips).

Oh how I love The Picture People

I gotta tell ya.. the girls at The Picture People never disappoint me.. We took Evie today for some photos, we wanted the big "Trilogy" frame with portraits for our bedroom (since it has been newly painted and has new furniture..) and we got lots of great photos! These are 4 that I purchased and scanned.. I bought two more but they are already in the frame and I don't want to take them out! LOL These are the best ones anyway!

Her friend, Mariah was here today visiting as well.. I have a few pics on my camera that I need to transfer to the pc, I'll do that tomorrow and post them!

50 Things to know about me!

Okay!!! After reading Joanna and Dontia's lists, I felt like it was time for me to try and compile my own.. (plus it's Saturday, Joe is playing his guitar, Evie is watching "Snow White" quietly and I have free time!!!) Let's hope that thinking of 50 things about me doesn't take all day!

1. 50 Things about Me!

1. I love the color pink and wear it often.

2. I was a wonderful speed skater and backwards skating competitor in grade school all the way through high school.

3. Like Donita, I love lipsticks.. I usually wear browns but have been really liking pink glosses right now.. Red is not my color in lipstick.

4. The more weight I gain, the less time I take fixing my hair. It boils down to not likeing the way I look, so I have decided that fixing my hair is a waste of time.. you'll be noticing me in pony tails more!

5. My favorite movies are "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogies.. I simply love the acting and story.. and oh so many great looking actors!

6. I love 80s metal music.. Van Halen, Def Leppard, Ratt, Megadeth, Skid Row, Savatage.. you name it.. the bigger the hair the better.

7. I also love old school 80s rap.. (can't STAND the new stuff).. bands like Run DMC, The Sugar Hill Gang, and Grandmaster Flash are good ones that come to mind... before "Gangtsa" became popular.

8. I used to call up friends late on a school night and we'd leave our speakerphones on all night in case one of us woke up and felt like chatting.

9. I am a POGO.com addict.. but most of you know that!

10. One time, I bit my own arm and blamed it on my sister and even though her teeth marks could never have matched mine, she still got in trouble. (One of my finest tricks)

11. I love Oreo McFlurries (just finished one)

12. My best friend growing up was Coleen Murphy (now Mercilliott).. to this day, I would have to say we are still best friends.. from age 7 until now.. amazing.. but she lives in Florida.

13. I put about 15 Glade Plug ins in my house at a time (usually about 3 in each major room and one in each bedroom/bathroom) to keep the house smelling fresh

14. One time when I was a kid, I fell off of our pool deck backwards and passed out in a pile of red hot fire ants. OUCH!

15. My dream is to pay off my debts and live comfortably without having to worry so much.

16. I have a reocurring dream (since childhood), that my teeth are falling out.. like crumbling before me.. it's terrifying each time I have it.. yet I keep having that dumb dream.. about once every couple of months.

17. Sometimes I wake up from nightmares screaming bloody murder and my husband says that I almost give him heart attacks.. usually dreams about beetles crawling over me or in my hair.

18. I have always had long hair except one time in 5th grade, my Mom took me to get a short hair cut and I got mistaken for a boy so often that I swore I would never have short hair again.

19. I have had some bad perms LOL

20. I have been to Disney 4 times (2 of them since Evie has been born) and it never gets boring.

21. I have never been out of the country.. and have never been out far east or west.. just midwest to down south.

22. I love road trips and stopping off in small towns in Tennessee and Georgia for souvineirs or pecan logs!

23. I grew up loving boiled peanuts.. we used to have a fresh fruit and vegetable stand by our bus top when I lived in Florida and they boiled them fresh daily.. I couldn't get enough of them!

24. I am a lousy artist.

25. I love sunbathing at the beach or even just outside in the backyard on a hot summer day.. (not that I get to do that anymore :o( )

26. I wish we had 7 -11 stores here.. I miss SLURPEEs... other places carry slushies or icees.. but they are not the same.

27. I do laundry daily so that it never gets out of hand.. one or two loads a day will keep me organized.

28. I hate mopping and washing windows.

29. My favorite dessert is Tiramisu.

30. My favorite Jellly Belly flavor right now is 7-UP.. (this changes frequently)

31. I have always dated DJ's or musicians... really.. I can't think of anyone that I have dated that wasn't one of the two.. funny now that I think about it.. once a groupie, always one, I guess LOL Really, I think it's just because I love music so much.

32. My favorite Wiggle is Anthony, the blue Wiggle.. I got to hear him say Evie's name on stage last year when she was asked up to give Dorothy The Dinosaur roses... it was fantastic!

33. My best friends, Renee, Coleen, April and I used to steal Real Estate signs and plastic lawn ornaments out of peoples yards and started a collection in my closet.. then we'd go out the next nights and redistribute them into different people's lawns.

34. I used to love to sneak out of my window at night to meet up with friends but that was often a problem because we lived on a lake that was filled with alligators that would sometimes come into the backyard.

35. I love getting pedicures but haven't had one since after Evie was born.. (damn, I'm overdue!)

36. I have had the screenname "Tinajo" online since I met my husband, Joe, 12 years ago.. even before we dated, I idolized him and wanted his name to be part of mine.

37. I have 4 tattoos

38. I just love a clean closet but rarely have one!! When I do get one organzied, I am proud for weeks and love to look at it and show it off.

39. I never miss the shows "Survivor", "The Amazing Race" and "The Apprentice"

40. I am not a great cook.. I wish I was more inventful with my recipes.. I love to cook stuff out of the box that is easy.. but wish I didn't have to.

41. I am a good optician, know more about my job than I want to - but now that I stay at home most of the time with Evie, I wish I could quit.. I love being a stay at home Mom WAY more.

42. I only like ankle socks.. can't stand feeling socks up past my ankle bones.. must be because I broke my ankle a few years ago and don't like the feeling of things on it.

43. I always say that I hate chick flicks.. but I don't think that is totally accurate, sometimes I'll catch myself watching a movie that I would consider a chick flick and it becomes one of my favorites.. but only if I can watch it alone..

44. I am close with my Mom and Dad but have lived miles apart from them for years.. I miss them :o(

45. My sister has 5 children that I was always very close to growing up.. in fact, her oldest kids were like siblings to me growing up.. but I haven't seen them in a very long time.

46. I do not own an ipod or palm pilot.. (I feel so out of touch!)

47. I have 5 pairs of prescription eyeglasses right now that I switch off between.. and one of those are sunglasses.. (I LOVE GLASSES)

48. I just bought an awesome diaper bag on ebay that I saw at my salon the other day.. it's $95 brand new from the manufacturer and the salon, but I found it on ebay for $53!http://www.beijobags.com/bp_13.aspx

49. I love buying cheap jewelry from AVON (the Avon lady was just here)

50. I love getting together with friends during Evie's playgroups

You know.. that wasn't too tough.. in fact, I believe I could come up with 50 more pointess facts about myself, but I'll stop now so that Evie and I can play with Play-Doh!

Good luck with your lists!

How peaceful

I just love when naps go smoothly! Here's Evie in our brand new, mammoth sized King bed.. It's sooooooo freaking big! And TALL! You literally have to get a running start and leap onto the bed! LOL Evie found a way to climb up by using the side rails.. so after doing some artwork (pictured below), and having a much needed bath, (since she loves the artwork to be on her face as well), I looked around the house for her.. and found this wonderful photo opportunity. She had climbed up onto Mommy's new bed and went right to sleep.


I have found that if I get some paints and paper out and make s huge spread of stuff to do at the kitchen table, I can get things done around the house! She has been enjoying painting lately. with washable paints, of course so that when she paints the table on accident, it cleans right off.. no matter when I happen to notice it.
I also found a cool paint set that offers three different types of paint colors.. most of them are glittery.. (You'll notice all of the glitter on her face in the rainbow picture) Some of them are NEON and the other batch is just regular primary colors. We've had alot of fun with them so far. In fact, she's in the kitchen painting right now! Let's hope we have a repeat of last week... let's see.. we'll have lunch, take a bath.. and maybe a nap! It's cold, cold, cold outside right now.. and raining. It's supposed to get VERY cold this weekend and the beginning of next week. I can't say that I am looking forward to that.. but that's life out here in the midwest!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I'm off of work all weekend so I know it will be a relaxing one for me for a change!
See you all soon!

A recap of Christmas

Well.. Christmas was somewhat of a bummer this year.. First, the Friday before Christmas, Evie came down with a terrible cold and a double ear infection. Her cold aggravated her asthma, so she's back on albuterol and taking antibiotics for the ears.. So she has felt miserable. Saturday was the morning that we opened presents at our house because I was home from work since Evie was sick and I knew I had to work on Christmas Eve, and we had planned on going out of town to my brother-in-laws house on Christmas day.. so Saturday, Evie got everything she wanted... including a Butterscotch Pony.. (too lifelike to explain!), a Furby, a digital camera, and all of the dolls and dresses that she had asked Santa for..



Joe ended up getting the bad cold as well and was very run down.. He and Evie pretty much slept all Christmas Eve.. I had to work.. BLAH!
Christmas morning, we had planned on going out of town.. Joe still felt kinda crappy but he was okay with going.. Evie was feeling wonderful and I woke up feeling pretty decent as well.. then, with no warning, I started feeling queasy and lightheaded.. I went into the bathroom and told Joe I thought I was going to pass out, and no sooner did I sit down on the toilet and Joe put his arms around me, I was out like a light.. It was terrifying for Joe because my head fell back and my pupils dilated and my body went comletely limp with heaviness.. he said I was making choking noises as well.. once I came to, I vomited.. and I'm telling ya.. I was pretty miserable the rest of the day.. so, of course we stayed home.. Evie felt cooped up.. and there was no food in the house for dinner.. so we ended up eating our Chritmas dinner at the Four Seasons Chinese buffet. LOL
So.. everyone was sick, we went nowhere.. but Evie loves all of her gifts and it was nice to spend some time with Joe and Evie alone for a change.. with no plans, no running to do. It seems that we are all on the mend as well.. I'm hoping I don't have another fainting episode like yesterday.. I'm so nervous about it.. my doctor said that it was pregnancy related and it's not out of the ordinary... it sure seemed like it to me!

Joe bought me a Garmin StreetPilot for roadtrips.. and a new King sized bed, nice headboard/footboard, two dressers, and new bedding.. what wonderful gifts!!
My family, though, was all I needed for Christmas, and I have that.. so life is good!

PYOP Studios

We had a fun outing today.. we started the day out at Monday Mania, which is always a blast for Evie.. she picks a bike and stays on it the entire time!
Then we went to lunch with Daddy and then off to PYOP Studios to paint something!
We met up with Dee and her kids, Brynn, Aidan and Sadie for an hour of painting our own pottery. The kids had a fantastic time and were very good, (and creative!).. It's tough to be a toddler in a room full of ceramic things, but I think they did awesome! (The owner only had to scold them 5 or 6 times) LOL
They each painted something for Christmas gifts.. and I think we're taking the kids back soon to do one more thing each.. there were several items that were $8-$12 (like ornaments) but Evie, of course, had to pick a $20 item.. I can't wait to see how her creation looks once it's fired and glazed.. we get to pick it up after Friday.
We had more errands to run afterwards so Evie is napping right now.. (hence the reason I have time to blog!) Hope everyone is having a great day!

Evie's first dentist visit!!

Well.. my little girlie went to the dentist today for a cleaning and her first checkup! She was so good! She loved the hygenist and the dentist and was cooperative to every thing they asked of her.. no problems with the cleaing, suction, water pik, flouride tray, x-rays, you name it, she did it, and with a pearly white smile! I can't tell you how proud I was! I happened to snap a few pics with the camera phone, LOL I'm sure the hygenist thought I was loopy.. she was very cool about it. Anyway.. her brushing habits are perfect and she goes back in 6 months.. a successful visit!

She also had her first "Book Cooks" class today and today's story was "Miss Spider's Tea Party".. naturally they made snacks that pertained to the story... BUGS!
snacks were; a butterfly, a caterpillar, a beetle, a log with ants, and of course, a spider! She had such a great time and did a wonderful job spreading the peanut butter.. what healthy snacks and she was eager to eat them up! What she didn't eat, we took to Dee's house to share with her friend's Brynn and Aidian.








By the way.. these were all taken with the camera phone, hence the small size and not the best quality.. I can't ALWAYS have the real camera with me! :o)

We're gettng crazy rain and ice tonight.. I hope the mall closes tomorrow so that I don't have to work! HA HA! That was a laugh.. they wouldn't close if the roads were closed! Drive safe everyone!