Jimmy has been sick for almost a week and he is "almost better". He missed work last Friday because a cook can't be coughing into people's food. His cough sounds really nasty and besides energy spurts, he's pretty tired.
I'm almost done with midterms. I have one more midterm, which I should do tomorrow night(Halloween)... but probably wont do until Wednesday. When I have all my grades back I'll let yall know how I did.
It's almost Halloween!! (i.e. excuse to dress funny)
We're taking the kids to a fall fest at Denton's First Baptist Church. It only lasts two hours which is about how long we can count on our kids cooperating. Pamela is taking Kaylee and Cole to the same event (it's on her street), so we all hope to run into eachother. I haven't seen Cole since he was one day old. Jimmy dropped some of Allan's clothes over at Pamela's house for me last week, so he got to see them.
Speaking of Halloween, we went to the Grocery store earlier and they had a bowling game set up for kids. Elaine played and won candy and a balloon. She ran through the store cheerfully announcing, "I'm a weiner and I got a a-balloon!"
Monday, October 30, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
discovering the new Microwave
The kids shared the kitchen stool. Allan just learned how to step up on it.
yay new project
We got these blankets in the mail from Hope yesterday. She knitted the solid pink and blue ones, and sent us princess and sport themed fuzzy blankets for me to sew to the knit ones. The plan is to make the blankets warmer and more durable. I started sewing Allan's together last night by hand, so I could sew with yarn for extra durability. I'm about 3 quarters done sewing the two layers together. I'll start Elaine's sometime soon. Hope also included a LARGE navy blue knit blanket she made for Jimmy. He was home sick from work today with a cough and sore throat :( He stayed wrapped in the new blanket for a while.
Future Farmers? Well...the dairy part is right.
Who's that handsome boy on the right? It's not Allan, Jimmy or Pawpaw.I got this last weekend from Margo.
Cuddle Buddies
Micah had plans to go see a friend last Friday night, but Allan fell asleep on him and Micah fell asleep next. 
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Allan Mitchell, Elaine Marie and me ...plus a wagon
The pic is so cute. It's sad about the sun's glare though... but it does look like a spot light on my wedding ring.
Jimmy 2006
Yall missed it! Elaine was already up on the hay bail and Jimmy JUMPED up there. It rolled with her on it! ...Allan had a less eventful experience.
The pick of the Patch
He tried to lift any pumpkin we let him near. The little ones, he threw downs a nearby hill.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Hell House - Pumpkin Patch - Garland - School
I am A-C-H-Y.
We chaperoned a church youth trip to 'Hell House' last night. We stood in line for over 3 hours after getting our tickets...this was just waiting for our turn. Standing that long made my back unhappy. The performance was cool, but I wouldn't recommend it. It showed sins and then hell and a glimpse of how heaven might be. The pay off was a good mini sermon at the end. The performance was very effective for the younger youth and some of the older teens also seemed effected (they kept talking about the abortion clinic scene). The reality of hell gave them a lot to talk about.
We left our babies with Trisha from church. We ended up picking up the kids 2 and half hours later than we expected! The evening was supposed to be from 6pm-9:30pm. We got out of HellHouse at 11pm. Jim kept calling Trisha's husband with a progress report as we inched our way through the HellHouse line. But since we rode in the church vans to Cedar Creek, TX we couldn't cut out early as it got late. We appologized profusely and begged for the sitters to not hate us. Mike, Trisha's hubby, was nice when we picked the kids up at Midnight. Trisha has baby sat for us twice before and she always re-dresses our kids. It's funny. She has boys that are older than Elaine, so Trisha ends up with lots of hand-me-downs for Allan. When we picked up the kids last night, they were asleep in new clothes. Elaine had barrettes in her hair and Allan was in cute quilted PJs. They look better leaving the babysitters than they do at home. :))
Before meeting the youth for HellHouse, some friends from church took us to the Pumpkin Patch down the street from the church. Allan kept throwing pumpkins and yelling "a ball!" I took a bunch of pictures and used the video camera from my grandma. I still have to figure out how to get the video from the video tape onto the memory stick, so I can share the video with yall.
Continuing to backtrack through my weekend: Saturday we went to Garland. We ended up staying at Margo's longer than expected. Some of the family were starting to clear out Pawpaw's garage. Margo wants to park her car inside, because acorns have been landing on it. Plus some neighborhood boys were throwing acorns at her car!! A neighbor lady scared off the boys and talked to the boys parents who couldn't care less. So getting her car in the garage is becoming a priority. Margo wants to get the garage organized and streamlined, so any of the grandkids can come work on our weekend warrior projects with Pawpaw's tools. She didn't seem to care much what we all took from the garage. Everyone has a different idea of what is sentimental to them, or what they can use. I got 5 birdhouses that Pawpaw made, since he use to give me birdhouses to paint. Whatever that's been taken from the garage has been written down by everyone. So we all know who has what.
Dave met us at Margo's house. All he wanted was a cowskull that is wired with lightbulbs. I called Scott (who was working in Tyler Texas this week) to see if he had anything senimental in the garage. He wants us to find his baseball glove. We've found Pawpaw's glave and another one, but not Scott's yet. Everyone knows he wants it, so they are keeping an eye out. I found 3 un-worn Lion's club hats and since Pawpaw had 3 kids It was easy to divide them up. We took Scott's hat home with us, along with an Army patch that we've been told was Scott's. Margo gave me some newspaper clippings of Scott in the FFA (she said she has more copies). Dave took Scott's old Army Dress uniform with him, because it wouldn't fit in our car. We're getting later. There are lots of tools, and educational memoribilia, and misc. items, like a box of tisues from 1972. My favorite finding was a band-aid tin from the 50's. It has a fifties housewife on the front. So cool. It's gonna take a lot of man-hours to really get it sorted and cleaned in ther garage. Once some shelves get cleared off, then tools and such car be put away on the shelves to make room for Margo's car. Margo joked that she wont have to Christmas shop for years, because she can give the grandkids goodies from Pawpaw that they'll treasure. It's really really hard to look through all the belongings. It stirs up good memories of him. It makes his death feel more real; more final.
--------------------------
Last week I got my best grade so far in my Physics lab. Also, I earned a 86% on my last Spanish test, so I'm getting out of my downward spiral in that class. I feel really good about my Psyc midterm, but I wont have my grade back until tomorrow. I still have midterms coming up in Anthropology, Sociology:Marriage & Family and History of the Renaissance. The History one is next. Tonight in class is the review for my Sociology Final. This weekend left little time to hit the books, so once again, I have to get back on track. This sign that use to hang in my mom's kitchen comes to mind... "Always be like a duck; Calm and composed on the surface, but paddle like the devil underneath".
I didn't end up going to UNT's 'Three Sisters' production. It came down to a matter of time. Jimmy worked all Friday, we were in Garland all Saturday and Sunday we were at church in FlowerMound (or near it) all day, then at HellHouse all night.
Friday I gathered up a bunch of hand-me-downs for my theatre buddy Ted. His son is Allan's age, but much thinner than Allan and with much smaller feet. Pamela's son wouldn't use these clothes for another 18 months, and they'd be the wrong season when he's that age, so Ted is getting first dibs. I dropping off the baby clothes and shoes at the UNT theate today before class.
We chaperoned a church youth trip to 'Hell House' last night. We stood in line for over 3 hours after getting our tickets...this was just waiting for our turn. Standing that long made my back unhappy. The performance was cool, but I wouldn't recommend it. It showed sins and then hell and a glimpse of how heaven might be. The pay off was a good mini sermon at the end. The performance was very effective for the younger youth and some of the older teens also seemed effected (they kept talking about the abortion clinic scene). The reality of hell gave them a lot to talk about.
We left our babies with Trisha from church. We ended up picking up the kids 2 and half hours later than we expected! The evening was supposed to be from 6pm-9:30pm. We got out of HellHouse at 11pm. Jim kept calling Trisha's husband with a progress report as we inched our way through the HellHouse line. But since we rode in the church vans to Cedar Creek, TX we couldn't cut out early as it got late. We appologized profusely and begged for the sitters to not hate us. Mike, Trisha's hubby, was nice when we picked the kids up at Midnight. Trisha has baby sat for us twice before and she always re-dresses our kids. It's funny. She has boys that are older than Elaine, so Trisha ends up with lots of hand-me-downs for Allan. When we picked up the kids last night, they were asleep in new clothes. Elaine had barrettes in her hair and Allan was in cute quilted PJs. They look better leaving the babysitters than they do at home. :))
Before meeting the youth for HellHouse, some friends from church took us to the Pumpkin Patch down the street from the church. Allan kept throwing pumpkins and yelling "a ball!" I took a bunch of pictures and used the video camera from my grandma. I still have to figure out how to get the video from the video tape onto the memory stick, so I can share the video with yall.
Continuing to backtrack through my weekend: Saturday we went to Garland. We ended up staying at Margo's longer than expected. Some of the family were starting to clear out Pawpaw's garage. Margo wants to park her car inside, because acorns have been landing on it. Plus some neighborhood boys were throwing acorns at her car!! A neighbor lady scared off the boys and talked to the boys parents who couldn't care less. So getting her car in the garage is becoming a priority. Margo wants to get the garage organized and streamlined, so any of the grandkids can come work on our weekend warrior projects with Pawpaw's tools. She didn't seem to care much what we all took from the garage. Everyone has a different idea of what is sentimental to them, or what they can use. I got 5 birdhouses that Pawpaw made, since he use to give me birdhouses to paint. Whatever that's been taken from the garage has been written down by everyone. So we all know who has what.
Dave met us at Margo's house. All he wanted was a cowskull that is wired with lightbulbs. I called Scott (who was working in Tyler Texas this week) to see if he had anything senimental in the garage. He wants us to find his baseball glove. We've found Pawpaw's glave and another one, but not Scott's yet. Everyone knows he wants it, so they are keeping an eye out. I found 3 un-worn Lion's club hats and since Pawpaw had 3 kids It was easy to divide them up. We took Scott's hat home with us, along with an Army patch that we've been told was Scott's. Margo gave me some newspaper clippings of Scott in the FFA (she said she has more copies). Dave took Scott's old Army Dress uniform with him, because it wouldn't fit in our car. We're getting later. There are lots of tools, and educational memoribilia, and misc. items, like a box of tisues from 1972. My favorite finding was a band-aid tin from the 50's. It has a fifties housewife on the front. So cool. It's gonna take a lot of man-hours to really get it sorted and cleaned in ther garage. Once some shelves get cleared off, then tools and such car be put away on the shelves to make room for Margo's car. Margo joked that she wont have to Christmas shop for years, because she can give the grandkids goodies from Pawpaw that they'll treasure. It's really really hard to look through all the belongings. It stirs up good memories of him. It makes his death feel more real; more final.
--------------------------
Last week I got my best grade so far in my Physics lab. Also, I earned a 86% on my last Spanish test, so I'm getting out of my downward spiral in that class. I feel really good about my Psyc midterm, but I wont have my grade back until tomorrow. I still have midterms coming up in Anthropology, Sociology:Marriage & Family and History of the Renaissance. The History one is next. Tonight in class is the review for my Sociology Final. This weekend left little time to hit the books, so once again, I have to get back on track. This sign that use to hang in my mom's kitchen comes to mind... "Always be like a duck; Calm and composed on the surface, but paddle like the devil underneath".
I didn't end up going to UNT's 'Three Sisters' production. It came down to a matter of time. Jimmy worked all Friday, we were in Garland all Saturday and Sunday we were at church in FlowerMound (or near it) all day, then at HellHouse all night.
Friday I gathered up a bunch of hand-me-downs for my theatre buddy Ted. His son is Allan's age, but much thinner than Allan and with much smaller feet. Pamela's son wouldn't use these clothes for another 18 months, and they'd be the wrong season when he's that age, so Ted is getting first dibs. I dropping off the baby clothes and shoes at the UNT theate today before class.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Is this unsafe?
I took the plate-thingy out of the microwave to stick it in the dishwasher and noticed the paint is peeling under the path of the rotating plate.
Does anyone know if peeling paint in a microwave is dangerous? I mean, I know it doesn't look good... but could it poison the food or make a spark or anything?
I sewed this valance yesterday during Dr.Phil & Oprah. I got the fabric for $2 per yard at Walmart and it only took 3.5 yards. Not bad.
I still need to make some panels, but I haven't bought the fabric yet. I think I'll do white panels to reflect sun light back out when it's sunny and keep the room bright.
I still need to make some panels, but I haven't bought the fabric yet. I think I'll do white panels to reflect sun light back out when it's sunny and keep the room bright.
Sept's Home Renovation projects.
In September Jimmy installed this florecent light. It made the kitchen much much brighter. I installed a little light under the cabinet, above the sink, so I can see to wash dishes. We plan on living here for a while, so we want to make it comfy.
This is our dining room, in it's natural state. :) The dining room was white until the first week of September. It had the same stains as the rest of the house. I Kilz'd them with primer and then picked the green paint. I like how the green makes the wood trim and table stand out. I don't love the wooden trim, but it's throughout the whole house, so I wanted it to look on purpose. As you can see, I took down the drapes from the previous residents, because they smelled of smoke. For now we have a sheet tacked up for privacy.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
allergy-brained update
I know I have a bunch of little updates, but I'm struggling to remember them all. Bare with me.
Last night we handed Allan a fruit snack wrapper and said 'trash' (like we do with Elaine). He ran over and put the garbage in the trash can and got lots of accolades from us. He waited, wanting another wrapper to throw away. He just loves to copy his sister.
Today when I changed Allan's diaper, Elaine grabbed the wet diaper to toss it out. Allan chased her down, got the diaper from her and he threw it out in the trashcan. I guess if it's his trash, he gets to throw it out.
+This week Allan has said: Wait, Nose, Eye, "a ball", apple, Hi, bath and Clap.
Elaine discovered her lincoln logs. She makes houses with no doorways - All windows. Elaine got her new bunkbed from Phyllis & Dale (people from church). She likes the top bunk. She pointed out that "Baby can't reach my pillows and book up here. He's not strong like me." The bunkbed has a full mattress on bottom and a twin on top. I assumed the kids would share the bottom for a while, but Elaine keeps flip flopping between the top and bottom bunks.
I thought I had fullsized sheets somewhere, but I haven't found them yet. I had a fullsized bed in my apartment as a single gal, so there should be some in a box somewhere. So far I've only found Full top sheets. Right now there is a queen size sheet on the bunkbed, with the slack tucked in against the wall.
With the bunk bed assembled, we decided to get rid of Allan's race car bed. We're keeping the twin bed (my old bed from Houston) until after the holidays. We are likely to have Micah around and my family is coming to Denton for 3 days, so extra beds might proove useful. We'll see how it all plays out.
I played with the video camera my grandma Polly sent me a while back. I can take photos directly onto the memory stick. But for video I have to record it to a small video cassette, then transfer it over to the memory stick. So it's gonna be a little more work than I hoped to get all yall videos on disks of the kids playing. I'll try to figure it all out soon.
My allergies have been keeping me up late. It sucks. I got some Tylenol allergy medicine, but it doesn't seem to stop my allergies... it just makes me super dopey. I wait to take it before bed, and my nose still runs all night.
I've gotten A's or high B's on all my Spanish quizzes until this week... Then crash & burn. I'm blameing fatigue. I got a 100 on my movie review for Anthropology. Yesterday I got back my History paper about 'the Decameron'. I earned an A. This is the class where I earned a 75% on the first test. It feels like all my classes are averaging themselves out to B's. The classes where I started out slow, I'm doing a little better in. And the classes where I started out strong are at a low point. I can live with B's. :) I have another Child Development test this coming Thursday. Midterms for all my classes are in the next two weeks.
This coming Sunday the church's silent auction is ending. I have two portraits ala Liss in the auction. This is the biggest fundraiser for the Youth all year! I hope more bids come rolling in before the auction ends. The following Sunday Jimmy and I are chaperoning a church field trip to 'Hell House' for the teens. It's like a play showing what happens to sinners when they die, but it's presented a lot like a haunted house. It's gonna be very very very graphic and cool.
Speaking of plays, UNT's play opens this weekend and runs through next weekend. I want to go to the matinee next weekend. I hate being out of the loop from missing one of the plays UNT has done. When I'm more involved in the department next semester and people talk about THIS semester in meetings, I don't want to be lost. It's only $7.50 to go and I'd be going alone, so it's pretty affordable.
Last night we handed Allan a fruit snack wrapper and said 'trash' (like we do with Elaine). He ran over and put the garbage in the trash can and got lots of accolades from us. He waited, wanting another wrapper to throw away. He just loves to copy his sister.
Today when I changed Allan's diaper, Elaine grabbed the wet diaper to toss it out. Allan chased her down, got the diaper from her and he threw it out in the trashcan. I guess if it's his trash, he gets to throw it out.
+This week Allan has said: Wait, Nose, Eye, "a ball", apple, Hi, bath and Clap.
Elaine discovered her lincoln logs. She makes houses with no doorways - All windows. Elaine got her new bunkbed from Phyllis & Dale (people from church). She likes the top bunk. She pointed out that "Baby can't reach my pillows and book up here. He's not strong like me." The bunkbed has a full mattress on bottom and a twin on top. I assumed the kids would share the bottom for a while, but Elaine keeps flip flopping between the top and bottom bunks.
I thought I had fullsized sheets somewhere, but I haven't found them yet. I had a fullsized bed in my apartment as a single gal, so there should be some in a box somewhere. So far I've only found Full top sheets. Right now there is a queen size sheet on the bunkbed, with the slack tucked in against the wall.
With the bunk bed assembled, we decided to get rid of Allan's race car bed. We're keeping the twin bed (my old bed from Houston) until after the holidays. We are likely to have Micah around and my family is coming to Denton for 3 days, so extra beds might proove useful. We'll see how it all plays out.
I played with the video camera my grandma Polly sent me a while back. I can take photos directly onto the memory stick. But for video I have to record it to a small video cassette, then transfer it over to the memory stick. So it's gonna be a little more work than I hoped to get all yall videos on disks of the kids playing. I'll try to figure it all out soon.
My allergies have been keeping me up late. It sucks. I got some Tylenol allergy medicine, but it doesn't seem to stop my allergies... it just makes me super dopey. I wait to take it before bed, and my nose still runs all night.
I've gotten A's or high B's on all my Spanish quizzes until this week... Then crash & burn. I'm blameing fatigue. I got a 100 on my movie review for Anthropology. Yesterday I got back my History paper about 'the Decameron'. I earned an A. This is the class where I earned a 75% on the first test. It feels like all my classes are averaging themselves out to B's. The classes where I started out slow, I'm doing a little better in. And the classes where I started out strong are at a low point. I can live with B's. :) I have another Child Development test this coming Thursday. Midterms for all my classes are in the next two weeks.
This coming Sunday the church's silent auction is ending. I have two portraits ala Liss in the auction. This is the biggest fundraiser for the Youth all year! I hope more bids come rolling in before the auction ends. The following Sunday Jimmy and I are chaperoning a church field trip to 'Hell House' for the teens. It's like a play showing what happens to sinners when they die, but it's presented a lot like a haunted house. It's gonna be very very very graphic and cool.
Speaking of plays, UNT's play opens this weekend and runs through next weekend. I want to go to the matinee next weekend. I hate being out of the loop from missing one of the plays UNT has done. When I'm more involved in the department next semester and people talk about THIS semester in meetings, I don't want to be lost. It's only $7.50 to go and I'd be going alone, so it's pretty affordable.
