a missing word

This is quintessential "workplace" nonsense.  I put up with the diet and "no sweets for me!" talk around any sugary items someone dared bring into the office, I respond appropriately to people who do not care about my answer ask about my weekend, and I see fliers like this every day without making smart comments.  C'mon, people.  Are we really supporting cancer?  You know what belongs after "cancer"?  Hmmmm, maybe "survivors" or "research"? Because no, I don't support breast cancer.  But I won't say anything about it, because Lord knows I don't want to spend two hours in a "sensitivity training course."  

And am I the only one who sees the random bolding of first letters?

the punkin patch

Yes, the "punkin" patch.  That is how Britton pronounced "pumpkin patch" all day yesterday and I just giggled every time she said "punkin." It totally reminded us of that "Modern Family" episode about "punkin chunkin" so Memaw, the hubs, and I ended up yelling "punkin chunkin!" at each other!

We had actually been planning on going to the punkin patch for weeks now.  Before we left for Disney, we had placed an ad in Craigslist to sell Memaw and PawPaw's golf cart.  We ended up selling the golf cart to a farmer whose wife has arthritis, and she needed help getting around the farm.  He gave us a flier for their punkin patch, with a pass for a free family hayride as a bonus!  

We ended up leaving with SEVEN pumpkins!  Three for the front porch, one small one for Britton, and three pie pumpkins for Britton's class to decorate.

We also got to meet some goats, donkeys, roosters, and baby chicks.  And of course go on our hayride (where we were treated to the view of a farm cat eating a mouse!).  We finished off our trip at the farm's market, where we bought a pumpkin roll, some cookies, a brownie, apple cider, and so much yummy goodies!

38 months old

Back for our monthly check-in!  Well, we've experienced a first for Britton - her need of winter clothes that last more than two months!  It's starting to get colder here, and so I've gotten a chance to buy her a winter wardrobe, something I never really got to do in Texas.  She's in 5T/5 clothes, which just blows my mind.  And Britton has taken to pants very well, which I wondered about since she refused to wear anything but skirts this whole summer!

Britton's sleeping has gotten so much better too, now that she's settled in the new house and her routine.  One night I just had enough, I threatened to take a stuffed animal if she got out of bed, and lo and behold, she got out of bed.  So, I took her stuffed animal.  She cried, told me she got her friend at the store and it was hers and I couldn't take it, which of course made me feel bad.  But the consequence had to mean something, and it did.  We've had no problems since.  Now she knows Mommy means business!

Britton loves going on walks in the neighborhood, especially when her "friends" are out playing.  "Friends" can be any of the number of children who live on our street!  Britton wants to hang out with them all (with me in tow), which often times leaves me chatting with the moms while Britton tries to keep up with the older kids.

She's still eating well, though she has definitely developed a sweet tooth!  This girl loves her lollipops and Oreos!  But she's also really enjoying fruit and veggies regularly, so I can't complain - everything in moderation.  

Likes:  walks, going to the park, playing with Sadie, dressing up in Princess dresses, school, dancing, singing, the original "Parent Trap" movie, reading books at night, going to the library and visiting the library parakeets

Dislikes:  not much these days - this girl has gotten to be so easy to get along with!

ornery and ugh

Yep, that's how I'm feeling right now - ornery and ugh.  With a bit of sourpuss thrown in for good measure.  See, I start a new out-of-the-house job tomorrow and I'm downright cranky about it.  Despite moving every 1.6 years for the last six years, I do actually prefer stability and routine.  I wish I could say that I'm one of those women who love to meet new people, and join neighborhood clubs, and think a new job is a great opportunity for growth, whathaveyou.  I'm not.  I don't like change.  Never have.

So I'm DVRing my beloved "Revenge" premiere and going to bed early, and hope that I make it through the day without writing my resignation letter in my head.*

*To clarify, I don't always assume the worse.  I really don't.  But I've never had a job where I didn't spend the entire first month deciding on how to quit.  It takes me a good month to learn a new job and the people and the company, and that first month is excruciatingly hard.  And some jobs that I have hated the most early on have been the ones I ended up loving the most (like the public defender gig).  It's just that I know it's coming and I can't/won't change my attitude about it, so I'm predicting ornery and ugh overrule growth and acceptance tomorrow.  That's all I'm saying.

dancing in the rain

I remember when life was like this. I remember when my sister and I would splash in rain puddles, throw our pink ruffled umbrellas to the ground and walk in the rain until we were soaked to the bone.  We were young, but not so young that I can't recall how it felt.

It's been raining here all week.  And instead of making Britton cranky or ornery, she's taken it all in stride.  She tells me, "If it's stormy, we can't play outside because we could get hurt.  But it's ok if it rains because the flowers and birds love the rain."  I can't argue with that logic.  Yesterday afternoon I opened the garage door so we could scurry in quickly from the car, but Britton would have none of that.  She kept venturing back out into the rain, shrieking, laughing, then hightailing it back to the shelter of the garage.  Again and again.

back from disney world!

Britton, Memaw, and PawPaw left last Wednesday for Disney World!  The hub and I followed on Thursday morning, but almost didn't make it.  Let me explain - our flight was set for 7:30 am.  We set our alarms for 4:00 am but it seems that I turned mine off in my sleep.  The hub woke up at 6:05 am yelling that we were going to miss our flight!  We got out of the driveway at 6:12 am (a personal best!) and made it to the airport one minute before the cut-off for checking our bags.  We were the last people on the plane, but we settled into the flight, relieved the hubs remembered his Dallas-traffic driving skills!

Here we are waiting on the bus to take us to Magic Kingdom...

The carousel!  One of Britton's favorite rides.  This was the first trip where Britton had real preferences about rides, and everything we rode we had to get back into line to ride again (sometimes up to 4 times in a row if the lines were decent!)

The tea cups - Memaw and PawPaw took this one on, because I get vertigo easily and the hubs gets sick on the tea cups.  We sat this one out!

The Winnie the Pooh ride.  Britton did NOT like this ride because part of it was in the dark.  She got through it, and we promised her we wouldn't go on it ever again unless she wanted to.  She didn't!

We kept park visits to under four hours, because the heat, humidity, crowds, and miles of walking just wore all of us out.  Every day on the bus ride back to the hotel, Britton fell asleep anyways!

Friday morning, bright and early, we hit the Dumbo ride four times in a row!  This is Britton's favorite ride, hands down.

We even managed to catch a parade (and a pineapple popsicle).

On Friday night we went to dinner at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Hotel.  The monorail runs right by the Polynesian, so while waiting for our reservation, we took Britton on a monorail ride around the park.  She wore her new Snow White dress, and just soaked up the compliments!

The Snow White dress came out for our trip to EPCOT Saturday morning too!  An adorable shot of Memaw and Britton on the bus.  Memaw understands Britton's need to be a princess, and Britton loved having her Memaw and PawPaw with her.  Disney World is truly a family trip.

After Britton, Memaw, and PawPaw went to the aquarium while the hubs and I went on Soarin' (our favorite ride), we all went over to Magic Kingdom.  We spotted Sleeping Beauty doing pictures, but the line was cut off before we could get over there.  I asked the handler where we could find the other princesses, and she pointed us over to the Theater.  Jackpot!

On the way out of the meet-and-greet with Cinderella, Belle, and Rapunzel, with a quick stop in the gift shop for a Belle dress, we met Memaw and PawPaw.  PawPaw spotted the elusive Snow White, and we bolted over to the line so Britton could meet her!  We were told Snow White was leaving in 5 minutes, but I spotted Memaw buttering up Snow White's handler and we made the cut!

It's so funny, because we talk about how the princesses never break character.  They always use the correct mannerisms and accents.  But Memaw and PawPaw reported that Snow White handed Britton her Winnie (the one she chews on) and broke character for a minute when she felt that cold slimey Winnie and winced!

Bye Bye Disney!  See you next year!

red and tan triangle quilt

I saw this quilt on a quilting blog a year ago and just loved it (check it out Cluck Cluck Sew).  The only problem was, the quilt was supposed to use up red scraps.  And I didn't have any.  If my fabric stash is void of any color, it's red.  But why let logistics stop me?  I just bought as many red fabrics as I could!

Admittedly, this quilt became a pain very fast.  The process was easy, but tedious.  I pulled the blocks out last week, and when I started sewing them together, none of the points were matching up.  Plus, I was not prepared for how big the quilt was, which made quilting it cumbersome.  

Adding to the problems, I used a polyester batting to make the quilt lighter.  I had no idea that my spray baste wouldn't hold the batting to the layers, so as I was quilting it, the backing started slipping around. 

But as luck would have it, I ended up loving it!  The batting, even though it wouldn't cooperate, makes the quilt soft and light.  The quilt is just waiting for a rainy afternoon nap!