It is HOT TAMALES!!!

Anchorage has been reaching record highs the past few days, and to tell you the truth, I'm over it. I don't think it would so bad if we had air conditioning in the housing, but seeing as we do not, I'm ready for cooler weather. Apparently the weather here is being talked about in the lower 48. The meteorologists are baffled as to why we're getting such warm weather. Phew. I lived in humid Louisiana for three years and was super excited when I moved here, because I knew that hot summers were in the past! Or not. My friend Jenn came back yesterday from Ohio and was happy to be coming back to cooler weather. Or not. It's supposed to start cooling down here in the next week or so, keep your fingers crossed!

School is...well, school. I like my English class because we never stay for the full time. The other day we were there for fifteen minutes, we're supposed to be in class for a full two hours. My math class on the other hand runs for the full two hours. I am overloaded with algebraic formulas by the time I leave, I leave with a headache. There's only a couple more weeks of class left, and then it's some good ol' down time. No school, no homework, just chillaxin time. :)

The parents-in-laws are coming up here on the 25th. They'll be here for about days, so that means I need to clean. I hate cleaning on my own. Eric usually does it, so I'm really dreading this. I mean, the house isn't too bad, I just need to declutter and organize my craft room (where they'll be sleeping), clean the bathrooms, Brooke's room and tidy up the living room. HEADACHE FORMING.

My kid is starting to chunk out a bit. I hope it's because she's about to hit a growth sport and not because she's eating too much. I know I don't overfeed her. Speaking of my child, she is fearless! And it shows. Literally. She has bruises and owwies up and down her legs because she's either constantly running into things, climbing up things or just plain being destructive. She tripped over her own feet in the Toys R' Us parking lot (thanks mom for those genes) and now has a huge scrap on her knee. It's a good thing I'm over prepared and had a first aid kit in my diaper bag. :) She also got a bug bite on her right eyelid, so her right eye is partially swollen shut (thanks again mom for the genes that make me extra sensitive to bug bites).

Alright. I should get going. I have a long night of DVR ahead of me!

Happy Fourth!

Not a whole lot to update on. This is a long weekend for Brooke and I. Classes were canceled for the holiday weekend, so we have Wednesday through Sunday off to spend together! I am already pulling my hair out. Brooke has started a new phase. Her stubborn/no phase. Let me share with you how pleasant it is. Brooke has been saying no and knowing what the meaning is for quite some time now. But up until recently, it was used sparingly. Up until recently. I would say in the past week or so, this child has gotten so bull-headed stubborn I am ready to pack her in a fedex box and overnight her to her grandparents. (Don't worry, I'd give her enough water and snacks to tide her over for the trip.)(And for those who don't have a sense of humor or understand sarcasm, I'm kidding.) Her latest thing is not wanting to eat. Now, if you know my kid, you know that she loves food. She loves ALL food. I can't even bribe her with a cheeto now days. I ask her if she wants to eat, and the response back is a sassy little "No!" with attitude. At first I would just pick her up and strap her down, while fighting the brutal strength of a two year old. And two year olds are feisty! She would sit there for the next ten minutes screaming her lungs out while I completely ignored her. After a while she opened her eyes long enough to see me eating and realize, "Oh, okay. Maybe I will eat." Today I tried a new approach. I told her that her meal was ready, got the same sassy response back and left it at that. I took both of our meals to the table, set hers down in her spot, sat down in my spot and started to eat. A couple minutes later guess who saunters up to her seat saying, "My eat! Mommy, my eat." Yup, my divalicious two year old. I think I'll start using this method from now on. If her food gets told, her fault. Hopefully this will last as long as the hair pulling did, about a month. Brooke tends to go through phases really fast so I hope this is one of them.




These are some pictures of little miss divapants. It's very rare these days to get a genuine smile, but she was in a hammy mood that day, so I got some pretty cute shots. It's hard to stay mad at a face like this.

I'm starting to gear up for craft shows. There are two big ones coming up that I'm sure I'll do well at. The first one is the Elmendorf Arctic Bazaar. It's held on Elmendorf Air Force Base and it always draws a large crowd. I think I'm going to change my products up a but this year. Last year I mainly had bows and a few beanies. This year I'm going to focus on the smaller pinwheel bows, simple clips, bug bows, small korkers, hand crochet beanies, hand crochet hats, hand crochet booties and pacifier clips. With the crochet items, I should bring in more money, because they cost more. But they won't bee too expensive where people will be put off on buying them. Beanies are so popular right now, so I think they'll be ok. I plan on having some of the nylon headbands as well, I think they look cuter than the stretch lace or the mass produced crochet headbands. The second one is the Fort Richardson Craft Bazaar. That one is held in November, so I have about a month to replenish my stock. People say that the Elmendorf show draws more of a crowd. I thought I did pretty well at the Richardson one last year, so to have two huge shows consecutive months will be great.

Eric comes home soon for R & R. I'm so excited. His parents are coming up for a few days to see him, so it will be nice to have a babysitter here so we can go out a couple of times and spend some one on one time together. I miss him so much. I'm worried about him right now. The soldier that was captured is in the same area where Eric is based out of, so I have this feeling that Eric's platoon was called up to help find this guy. So please keep him and his brothers in your thoughts. They need all the positive thoughts right now.

I'm heading to bed. I don't know what we're doing for the fourth tomorrow, so we'll see what the day brings! Night!

Want to see another side of me?

Check out my new blog where sarcasm and snarkey thoughts are divulged. :)

www.aimlessrealizations.blogspot.com

I'm dreaming about algebraic expressions

I am so inundated with math that I'm dreaming about numbers and solving algebraic expressions. Someone save me! I have only been in this class for three days, but it comes to a total of six hours. Wow. I have math class tomorrow, but no English.

I have no idea what Brooke and I are going to do for 4th of July. It doesn't get dark until after midnight, so fireworks are out of the question. It's not like she'll know it's a holiday, but oh well. Maybe we can do something fun next year when she's more aware and daddy's home.

I snapped these pictures of her the other day. I think they turned out super cute. When Brooke gets out of the tub, sometimes I braid her hair. I love to unbraid it the next morning because it's all wavy, totally 80's style. :)

The, "Mommy, I'm not listening to you" face.

Showing me her shapes that she put in her doll's pillowcase by dumping them all over the floor so mommy can step on them later.

She may look innocent...but mommy's not fooled.

This is the result of me saying, "Brooke! Smile!" Do you think she could look any more Korean?

And this is the exaggerated smile...She can't even see.

I ordered some embellishments to make into clippies, and I think they turned out super cute. Now I just wish someone would buy them! Otherwise, I'm stuck with a gagillion of them.



I took the picture above to show how CUTE they look in. :)

I'm off to do some more number crunching. Yay. My life is so exciting.

Come on summer!

My second summer class started. I'm taking math, and it's going to be a busy class. It's two hours a day, Monday through Thursday. Then I have my English class for two hours on Monday and Wednesday. For the next month I will be up to my ears in homework. They changed my professor out too. I had signed up with a professor who gave homework, but it was optional. This professor assigns homework and all of the problems are worth a certain amount of points, AND they're the evens, so the answers are not in the back so you can check if you got it right or not. Blech.

I will have to wait until my upgrade date in order to get the new phone. They're all sold out and they don't know when they're going to get a new stock. So when my date comes up in July, I'll have to call and if they haven't gotten a new shipment in yet, I'll have to order it off of Apple or AT&T. I hate waiting. I am so impatient when it comes to things I want NOW. I'm spoiled. And FYI for anyone who has my phone number, Eric and I will be changing our phone numbers in the near future to Alaska numbers. My Louisiana phone number is just a constant reminder of the fact that we lived there. Ack.

Brooke's final two year molar is finally breaking through the gum. Yay! I wonder if she'll get her twelve year molars when it's time. I never got all of mine, and I never got wisdom teeth either. My dentist said I was evolution. Haha. I think Brooke is starting to get a trace of her daddy's nose. I'm looking at her profile, and it's starting to not look like mine so much from the side. From the front is still does, but it seems like hers sticks out a bit further.

I finally got my Gina, George, & Lucy messenger bag. I love it. It's so cute and the best part, the gagillion pockets!!! It has so much room, but isn't too big. Best bag ever. :)

Below are some pictures I took of Brooke the other day. I made a small korker bow to match a dress I bought at Old Navy. You'll have to excuse the mismatching hoodie, it was a but chilly that day, but Brooke insisted on wearing a dress. :) That's my girly girl!


The one below has to be one of my favorites. I love the random facial expressions I capture.


Brooke was grooving out to the music. When she dances, she does not hold back.



Below are some bows I've been working on. They turned out super cute, now I just have to get them all listed. :)

The clip below is a crochet flower clip. I crocheted the flower myself. :)









Alright. I should get going. Hope this entertained you!

I'm a gadget whore...

If you know me, then you know I have an odd obsession with purses and cell phones. Well, I got most of my purse issues at bay for now, but I've now turned my attention on my cell phone. Lord help me. I have the iPhone and I love it. But now Apple has gone and released the iPhone 3G S. I want it. I want it bad. But before I go any further, you need some background. If you follow this blog then you know I bought the Samsung Impression about two months ago. I got it at the discounted pricing using Eric's upgrade. Mistake. I then started missing my iPhone, especially since the 3.0 upgrade came out. So I switched back to my iPhone. So now I have an almost brand new Samsung Impression and a new two year contract on my husband's line. My upgrade is available on July 13. But then both of us will be tied in with no upgrade options for two years. This sucks for my husband because he'd be getting my hand-me-down 3G (which isn't all that shabby since I take REALLY good care of my cell phones) and I'd have the spiffy new one. Well if Apple keeps their pattern up, they'll be releasing a new iPhone next year and we wouldn't be able to get the new one (I already told you I'm a phone whore right?). So I would have to wait till the next version because of the stupid two year service agreement thing. Ugh. So me being the sly coniving person I am, came up with this idea. What if I...cancelled Eric's line, pay the $175, haulk the Samsung Impression (which isn't a bad idea since someone already offered me $275 for it), re-open a line to get the new phone at the promotional price while keeping my upgrade option open? Too complicated? Am I crazy? My friend Jenn says I am, but what I won't do for a new phone...So the sale of the Samsung would cover the cancellation fee AND pay for part of the new phone. I have issues. I know this.

So what are your thoughts? Crazy? Doable? Check myself into an insane asylum? All of the above? Ha. Well, I'll talk to my husband tomorrow and see what he has to say. Should be an interesting conversation. But he knew I was this crazy when he married me, so it shouldn't come as too much of a shock to him. Plus, he may read this (hi hunny!) before I even talk to him. Ha.

Frustrated

I deleted my Giveaway post because ONE person had entered. ONE. (To that person who entered, if you would like a free bow, message me and I'll send you one.) How frustrating is that? I totally thought it would be a big hit. It was $10 to my shops, not bad! There's a lot of things for under $10 in my shop and you could definitely buy more than one thing! I feel like an ignored failure, and my confidence in my items has plummeted. This has never happened.

My shop is really slow going right now. It picked up a bit in the beginning of June, but that was only because I was running a sale through CafeMom, so a couple of moms took advantage of that. I just don't understand it. I think I have some really cute stuff up. I have several beanies, lots of korkers and simple clips. I have bug bows and pinwheel bows. There are just too many bow sellers on Etsy and I get lost on the crowd. I love Art Fire, but the client base just isn't the same as Etsy. I'm getting frustrated. I can't wait for the craft shows this late summer and fall. I know I'll be stressing to build my inventory but I know I'll love the outcome!

I've made a whole bunch new bows, so I'll have to take pictures and post them. They're all mini korkers and super cute!

I start my Monday-Thursday classes this Thursday. I have a good month of classes everyday, with four hours of classes Monday and Wednesday. This should be interesting...I had been planning on taking a look at my math book this weekend, but got sidetracked by the hair bows, so I didn't. I'll do it this next week and next weekend. I have plenty of time since my friend has gone down to the lower 48 for a couple of weeks. :)

I really don't have much else to say. It's been a little cloudy here lately. I've been waiting for a nice day to break out Brooke's pool, but no such luck. Every time we enter the garage she says, "My pool! My pool!" Poor kid. It's sitting there just teasing her.

Alright. I should get going!