The Weekend

Not much going on here. Saturday was very uneventful. Cal had to work from 3am-7am and then back to work from 4pm-7pm. Alexis and I stayed in our PJ's until about 3pm, when I decided to get dressed and be somewhat productive=)

Sunday we went to a Gun Show. The did some stuff around the house. I had to stain all these wood pieces that I am painting on for Alexis' room. Oh, I found a bed, finally. I don't have a pic, but I think I will keep what it looks like a surprise until I finish her room=) I told Cal I want to have everything for her room before we put it together. I think we are heading to Target this week to get sheets, mattress cover, toy box, and maybe a rug. Our carpet in this house is light beige and where she plays in her room is looking worn, so a nice area rug should work.

Oh, I also wanted to share this awesome recipe I found, but then adjusted it to how I like it.

Baked Broccoli

(Amount of ingredients is adjusted to how much broccoli you use)

Fresh broccoli, cut into chunks

Olive oil

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan cheese

Put broccoli in zip lock bag. Coat and toss with Olive oil. Toss in lemon juice, to your taste. Let sit for 30 minutes. Drain out excess marinade, and toss with salt, pepper, and cheese to coat. Layer on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 10-13 minutes. Depending on how crunchy or mushy you like broccoli.

This was yummy!

Well I will leave you with some pictures of Alexis from yesterday.

Ouch!

My body is killing me today! At the gym I go to, they are now offering a new "aerobics" class called Bootcamp. I tried it out yesterday and am paying for it today. I do aerobics and spinning classes 4X a week, plus walking with Alexis throughout the week, but this workout made me aware of muscles I never knew I had=) Unfortunately, I can only attend this class 1 X a week, so hopefully I won't be this sore every week after taking this class.

Not much else going on here. I have some FRG training I have to attend this morning. I have already taken the classes, but I took them online when Alexis was 2-3 weeks old......so my mind was completely on the task at hand. I am actaully doing the classroom classes this time around. It is nice though, because they provide free childcare and it is a way to get out and have a little adult interaction without Alexis. It is a nice little break.

I also got Alexis enrolled in a Mommy and Me tumbling class called Wiggles and Giggles. I love that name. We will be go every Tuesday in Feb. I will be sure to take pics. Especially since for her to do the class she has to wear a leotard=) Should be cute.

Well the monster is waking up, so I better wrap up. Have a great day!

Furniture Shopping......again!

Aaarrhh! So the person that I tried to buy the bed that I posted previously about had already sold it. So I thought I would just get on Ikea website to buy the same bed. The bed was $170.......and shipping was about $250.......You have to be freaking kidding me! So that is a no go. So we went back out to my favorite stores (hint of sarcasm there) and Nothing! So Cal has decided he is going to try and make the bed. You have got to love the internet. I swear you can find anything that you want to make. So I'll let you know how that goes.

Not much else going on this weekend. Cal had a crazy weekend with work issues. All the guys in his brigade are at NTC (National Training Center) in Ft. Irwin, CA. With the wife issues we dealth with this weekend, I am so afraid for this upcoming deployment. I swear, I do not know what goes through these wive's minds. If they are freaking at right now wen their husbands are only gone one month, I can't imagine what they are going to do when they are gone 12 months. Only time will tell.

Well here are some projects I have been working on this week.

Here is a pic that I painted for Alexis' "new" room. I am doing a cute girly hawaiian theme. Mainly becuase I have this beautiful quilt my aunt made for me and I want that to be one of the highlights in the room. I have been looking at Hawaiian decor, and they are so expensive. This sign cost me $1.50 to make. Well I just had to buy the board, I already had all the paint. I am doing about 6 pictures like this, hanging ribbon off the top and doing a collage type wall piece.

Also, here is a pic of my homemade swiffer duster. This one actaully goes onto the Endust brand dusters. Easy to make and works great.

Furniture Shopping

Have I said how much I hate furniture shopping. The saleman can be worse than car salesman. Anyways, Cal and I went to a couple furniture stores yesterday trying to find Alexis a new bed. I actaully found one I loved at the Furniture Row, but it was bugging me that the bed alone cost $500 for a full size. Orginally I was going to find a twin bed for her, but Cal wants to get her a full sized one. Plus, if we get a full size bed we don't have to buy a mattress because we can use the mattress that is on our spare bedroom. We were planning on getting a daybed w/a trundle for the spare room anyways. Well it got a me a little frustrated the prices for beds. How can something that has so little amount of parts to it, be so expensive.

Well to my suprise, I come home and was looking at Craigslist. And low and behold, what do I find. A bed I was orginally looking at online through Ikea. A military family bought it a year ago and have now decided to buy a bigger bed. So they are selling this one, with the attachable nightstand for $100. Score! I am crossing my fingers and hoping the sale goes through.

Here is a picture of the bed (without the nightstand):

Here are some new pics of Alexis also. She was playing so cute in the backyard, but, as you can see in this picture, she runs to me when she sees I have the camera=) She couldn't get to me fast enough

Finally got one of her playing with the rocks

And this picture crack me up. She has the Little People animals stuck to her face. She looks a little annoyed in this picture, but she was actually loving it. Just squeeze the animals, apply to face, and they stick. I was doing at first on her stomach, but she liked them on her face. You should have seen the little red rings on her cheecks when we took them off. Oh BTW, don't mind her boy PJ's.

Pot Holder

So as promised, here is the picture of the wood hanging plant holder I will be making. Please do not mind my dead plants in the pots=) Planted them and then a really cold cold front came through and killed them. They will look nice in the spring when I replant new plants.

This plant holder is wonderful. It hold the terra cotta pots in place. Even with the super strong wind we get in El Paso, the pots stay in place. You are supposed to the terra cotta drip plates also, but all they had were the plastic ones at the store when I purchased them.

Also, went to the fabric store today and found the fabrics that I will be using to make Alexis' t-shirt quilt.

Alexis' Hat

Here is a hat that I had made for Alexis.

And Cassie, the pattern is McCall's #M5253 (Sorry it took so long, I just found the pattern)

Crafting Phase

So I have been in this crafting mood for the last couple of months. I am so afraid I am going to spend way too much money, but I have been enjoying it. I also haven't had that may "tools" to complete them, but now I am ready. Cal just got a work bench, saw, and jig saw so now I have the tools for my wood crafts. The main wood craft that I have wanted to make are these awesome plant holders. I will post a pic later of the one that I have that I want to make.

Cal also bought me a sewing table for Christmas. My sewing projects include ( I might add that if i get enough of these certain ones done in a large amount, I might try and sell at local craft fairs....I hope this doesn't make me sound like an old lady):

-Making a t-shirt quilt of all of Alexis' onesies that I love and some blankets. I found this fabric that you can put through your printer and then sew, so i think I will add one pic of each month up to 1 year of Alexis into the quilt. I am so excited about this one.

-I am redoing Alexis' room so I will be making her curatins, duvet cover, bed skirt, and pillows for the bed. I will probably make a lot of the wall hangings, since the ones I have found are not exactly what I had in mind or are way too expensive.

-Spa bags......filled with rice and can be microwaved or put into the freezers. Soothes achy muscles and can keep you super warm.

-Boppy covers

-I found a similar pattern, but I changed it to make Swiffer refils. Using microfiber cloth I can make the dusters that go onto the swiffer 360 handle and pads for the Swiffer Sweeper and Wet jet mop.

So those are projects I have going for now. Usually something new pops up here and there.


Just a side note, most people don't know that I self taught myself to sew, crochet and a bunch of other hobbies....mainly by using the internet to "figure it out". I think I may start adding some of my favorite craft links to this site. I also have a few sites that have a ton of sewing/knitting/crocheting patterns for free.

So as these projects progress, I will definitely post pictures.

2009 is going to be Crazy

Wow, 2009 is already starting out crazy!

Alexis had her 18 month well appt. last week. Everything is going good. She is 23.7 lbs and 33 inches long. According to her percentile she is tall and lean like daddy. I think she is creepy into that terrible two's stage. I have been having my work cut out for me=)

Cal went to back to work on Monday and we both have been adjusting back to it. His complaint...."I just can't get a snack anytime I want now." I am glad that is his only complaint. With him going back to work, I am getting back into working out. I have been doing an aerobics class then a yoga class on Monday and Friday and then on Wednesdays I have my spinning class, which I absolutely love. Alexis is in daycare while I work out. I am glad she is back in for a couple hours a week. I need that small break from her, as much as I am sure, she needs it from me. Plus, I think it helps so much in building up socialization skills and her immune system=)

And to add to the crazziness, Cal has volunteered me to be the Rear-Detachments FRG leader. I didn't really want to do it, but no one else is wanting to and the FRG is so important. For those that don't know what it is.....FRG stand for Family Readiness Group. It is a group for each company in the Army where the spouses get together to pass information and to support each other during deployments. Fortunately for me, Cal is not deploying this year becuase of his back, but he is now the head rear-d guy for his batallion. Rear detachment is a group of soldiers that stay at the homefront while the other soldiers deploy. Most of the time rear-d is made up of guys for various reasons cannot deploy (like Cal with his back). So overall, my job is to take care of the spouses whose husbands are on rear-d and also new guys checking into the Brigade. I'll have to orientate their spouses to the base, area, and Army lifestyle before their soldier deploys. I have my work cut out for me, but it will keep me busy and then when I do finally go back to work, it will look great on the resume.

Well to wrap up, here is a pic of Alexis and I at Chuck E Cheese's yesterday for a little girls birthday that we are in a playgroup with. Alexis was being a crank butt and didn't want to take this picture. And then I thought the pic was done being taken and looked up to see what it looked like, and as you can see the picture wasn't done being taken. I couldn't get Alexis to get another one done. So here is our end result

October through December

Sorry i have been terrible about updating this. I check it everyday, but have yet to sit for a few minutes and write.

This has been a busy last couple of months. To start, Cal had his back surgery at the end of October. They fused L4, L5, and S1. He was hurting for a while and still is, but he is doing a heck of a lot better. He has to go to PT 2X a week, which is helping him with his flexibily.

November brought Thanksgiving at our house. Cal parents and daughter flew in from Washington and his grandparent came from Arizona. It was a crazy week but we made it....barely=).

December brought Christmas. We drove through the night to San Antonio to my mom's house. Had a blast.

And now the New Year.

Here are some new pictures since my last post.

And Misty, I promise I will be better

Alexis helping Cal push his walker after surgery
Alexis with her 'Cheeseball Smile"

X-Mas Card
At Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio

Chillin'.....are you suprsied Daddy actually dressed her this cute=)

New Years Resolution

UPDATE BLOG=)