update-diddy-do-da

I've been trying to write a decent blog post for over a month, but nothing seems to come out when I sit in front of the computer. It's quite frustrating. I feel like I have so much to say, so much to talk about, but nothing comes out. It's weird.

I'm doing my monthly IVIG treatment right now. It took them 3 tries to find a vein this time. I just keep telling myself, only two more after this one. Then I get to meet with my Neurologist in December to discuss my future. I truly hope that these treatments will be done after that. I just want to be cured. I hate having to come here for a 7-hour treatment of the most expensive medication ever, next to Chemo. I hate that I have to pay hundreds of dollars every month for my health insurance so that these expensive treatments are covered. My family could be on our own feasibly if the money wasn't being spent on over-priced health insurance.

They always have a hard time finding a vein on me. My veins are practically non-existent, they say. Even the veteran nurse who's been doing this for 20+ years said that she's never seen someone so young with such poor veins. I think I'm dehydrated despite drinking plenty of water. Pretty sure I couldn't drink enough water to do anything. Plus, having to pee every half hour is annoying. I don't have time for that.

I do appreciate my treatment day each month though. I get some free time to myself, I can browse Pinterest all day if I want to, the nurses are so nice to me, I could nap all day if I wanted to. It's the little things, right?

Anyways, so how many of you are watching the new fall TV shows? Some of them are pretty great! Pan Am might be my favorite so far. I just love that time period, The 1960's. The style, the elegance, the grace. My main beef with that time period is how women were treated, like they were significantly worth less than men. Just eye candy and baby making machines and cooks. Ack. But the clothes and hair and makeup, just love it.

I'm also into Prime Suspect with Maria Bello. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed her cocky hard-ass attitude. She's a guys gal, I dig it.

I've also been watching The Playboy Club, which I thought was going to suck, but is actually pretty decent so far.

One show I'm always interested in watching is What Would You Do? on ABC. I think that show is so funny and sometimes infuriating, but also can help you keep your faith in the human race or lose it, depending on the situation. Watching how people react in tough situations is very interesting, seeing what can push people over the edge of what's appropriate and what's not. It makes me more conscious of situations that happen in public and how I should stand up for people more often. I think people should do that, help each other out more, stand up for each other, for what's right. I think there'd be a lot less hate in the world if people could do that.

Last night Hubby, Penny and I went to a new restaurant in town, The Wooden Spoon, to celebrate our 7 year. It's a rustic, expensive Panera Bread, essentially. It was good, but holy crap, their Signature Mac n Cheese (mac n cheese with spinach and bacon) tore my stomach apart. SO oily and WAY too rich. Next time I'm going to try a salad or sandwich, because that Mac n Cheese, well, it was a hot mess. A hot tasty bacon-y mess, but good god, never again. I did love the decor and general feel of the restaurant though. It's small, locally owned and they even use Mason Jars as their glasses. It made me want to get some Mason Jars for our home someday. Just gave it a home-y comfortable feeling.

I've been looking into going back to school recently. I really have no idea how I'd do it, but I want to finish my teaching certificate so badly! I don't think it'll happen anytime soon though, timing just isn't right.

Yesterday we put Penny's lady bug costume on her to see how it fits. It pretty much fits her, the hood part is a little too big, but holy crap does she look cute! Our little ladybug's first real Halloween, and I cannot wait!!! Last year she was too tiny and we were in TX so we had nowhere to go anyways, but this year, we'll be out in full force! I'm so excited to see how she'll do with it all and just thinking about the future and what she'll want to be gives me a fuzzy tingly feeling inside my heart. I remember when my mom made me a Storm (from X-Men) costume for my 5th grade Halloween, I wish I could find a picture because it was awesome. I was SO excited to be storm, I could not wait to show off my sweet costume. The part I loved most was that my mom made it for me. I don't know if she knows that or not.

Enough for now, I am tired and I need to rest a bit.

planning things

I will have a big ol update soon, friends. Life has been BUSY lately! Sorry for the month-long delay in posts!

Duckponds and Swingsets

Summer time is coming to a close. It's been fun, but I'm so ready for fall! Here's some of the great highlights from this summer:

It's been a great summer, with lots of sweet memories including Penny saying her first words, crawling, lots of long walks at the Mill Pond, feeding the duckies, napping, snuggles, messy baby kisses and hugs.

I'm a lucky mama.

Autumn is coming

While it's still 90+ degrees in MI (and has been for like 4 weeks now, ugh!) my mind still starts dreaming of Autumn when August comes. I know Autumn doesn't officially start until late September, but it's my favorite time of year, BY FAR, so I can't help but think of it whenever possible.

Living in Texas was hard for Hubby and I because we are so used to having four seasons and in Houston, well, there's barely two seasons there, and fall is neither of those. So this year, we're very excited for fall!

Things I love about Autumn:

• the clothes. ohhhhh the clothes! The warm colors, the scarves, the boots, the coats, the hats, the gloves, skirts with tights or long leggings, etc........
• pumpkins. need I say more?
• the food: caramel apples, nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin butter, hot chocolate, baked pumpkin seeds, and OMFG apple cider!
  
• The decor: the changing leaves, hay, corn stalks, scarecrows, cornucopias, carved pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, halloween themed anything
• Check out this cool wreath tutorial too: http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/2010/contributors/tutorial-autumn-yarn-wreath-diy-halloween-wreath/
• Fun stuff to do: haunted houses, hay rides, taking back roads to anywhere just to look at the leaves changing colors, clear nights looking at the stars while curled up in a blanket with your love because it's kinda chilly out, going to the apple orchard to pick apples instead of Meijer!
  
• Halloween: do I need to explain this one? costumes, candy, and Penny's first real time out trick-or-treating!?!?!?!
  
• My daughter's first birthday, October 7, 2011!
• My 27th birthday
• Thanksgiving
• Stimulated senses: blushed cheeks from the chill in the air, the smell of campfires and burning leaves, the crunch of leaves under your boots, being able to run around and jump in piles of leaves, hanging on tight to your kiddos while on hay rides, the first bite of pumpkin pie with whipped cream, the first crunch of a caramel apple inside your mouth, going on evening walks and breathing cool air into your lungs.
  

Autumn is so romantic to me, it's when Hubby and I started dating and consequently fell in love. It's when our beautiful daughter was brought into the world.

I seriously love fall so much.

Tell me friends,

What do you love about fall?

well, it's official

I got the second job! YAY! It's at a 4D Ultrasound Studio here in my hometown and I'm SO excited about it!! Even if it means I'll be working 50+ hours a week between both of my jobs, if it'll get us out of my parents' basement sooner, then I'LL DO IT!

Other than working like crazy, I've also been painting a lot. I'm working on an under-the-sea themed set of 4 paintings for a little girl's bathroom. I like how they're turning out so far, perhaps I'll post pics of them when I'm done.

Unfortunately, that's all I have for an update right now. Not much is going on. I hope I can get better at this, I know I've been slacking big time!

A Family Picnic

This past week the weather here in Michigan has been sunny and warm! Summer has finally really arrived! As part of my 101 Things in 1001 Days, one of my things to do is to take Penny on a picnic. So we did!

We packed up the Focus and headed over to Kensington Metro Park (one of our favorite places on the planet) and found ourselves a cozy little spot to picnic by the water and boat launch.

Even Miss Penelope was happy to be outdoors and getting some fresh air! It was fabulous getting out of the house and enjoying nature a bit.

We brought some veggie sushi, veggie chips and chocolate cake for dessert.

Once we finished the sushi, we realized we forgot to bring forks for the cake! DOH!

It's a good thing I'm an expert chopstick user. I taught Jim how to do it.After lunch, we sat on the blanket under some trees and watched swans swimming in the lake. Penny also showed me how she does the chicken dance. (never mind the giant pole sticking out of the back of her head, silly flagpole in the way of the cute picture!)

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon together. I can't wait to have more picnics this summer at Kensington!

Do you go on picnics? What are your favorite snacks to bring?

blogging fail

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been working A TON and actually interviewed for another job which I REALLY hope I get. I'm a busy lady.

I've gotten a few painting orders as of late too, which has kept me busy too. I wish I had more time to devote to my painting, I feel like between work, family time, sleeping, painting, and getting in some relaxing time, I'm just totally spent. Why can't there be more hours in the day? And why can't I do better on less sleep? Sleeping is silly, but I love it.

Miss Penelope is doing well. She's got two little teeth popping through, one's already all the way through, the other is causing her all kinds of trouble and pain and this Mama Bear doesn't like it! I hate seeing her in pain, she's so little and can't understand why she's hurting and she just gets this look in her eyes that's like, "why is this happening to me, Mama? It hurts so bad!"

We've been giving her a mesh teether thing with frozen juice in it to help soothe her gums, which she seems to looooooove. See exhibit A below:


But for the most part, she's a very happy almost 9 month old (holy crap, 3 more months and she'll be a year old!) and she's getting to the stage where she's figured out how to throw tantrums and scream about anything and everything. But she's also moving around like it's nobody's business. She's thisclose to walking, she keeps standing and holding onto something, then letting go and slowly bending her knees til she's on the floor again. We seriously need to invest in baby gates. Right now we're using those huge blue storage bins and they are an eyesore and a pain in the ass to get over with a sleeping baby in your arms. But overall, things with Penelope are great, she's really funny and has started dancing to music (I'll post a video soon). She waves and smiles and plays games with you (peek-a-boo mostly) and she has really started amusing herself. She's realized she has these things called HANDS and you can move them around and open and close them and grab things and WOW! It's a whole new world!

Look ma! I've got hands!

I've been trying really hard to think of things I can write about in here, but my brain is so mushy most of the time from doing something constantly that it's just like, meh.

Oh! My wonderful grandparents are in town for 10 days visiting from Florida, and yesterday was the first time they met miss Penny. They just adored her and it was so cute to see them with her. Penny has also reached that stage where she doesn't like strangers much, so she cries whenever someone new holds her. Which always baffles me because some people get all offended when babies cry when they hold them, they're like, "aww he/she must not like me at all! waaaaa!" It's like, no, you're a stranger, they're a baby. They don't know you. If some weird person picked you up and made googly eyes at you and weird noises and you couldn't talk yet, you'd probably cry too. Just sayin'.

So today I have a day off of work, I'm trying to decide how much time to dedicate to painting, to family time, and to cleaning. I need to do all three today, as all three are important (one more than others, obviously). So perhaps we'll go to Kensington today and have a picnic (on my 101 things list!) or something. It's a pretty perfect day for it, 78 and sunny! We might also go to the Salvation Army just to peruse around. I have a few crafty ideas I want to get started on, so we'll see if that happens or not...

What are you doing today?