D Blog of D Life

I was very proud of Shayna today - and yet sad for her too. Today there was a pep rally that the cheerleaders performed at. Shayna has worked since the holidays on the choreography and music for this pep rally and has been teaching the dance to the girls in school during cheer class since classes resumed. Several of us cheer mommy's had the privilege of seeing the whole thing put together with all of the girls for the first time last night while they practiced in the park after their last basketball game. We all were very proud of them and loved the dance! It was great! Today they were very nervous. Particularly Shayna since this was sort of "her baby". Unfortunately, some things didn't go as well as planned and things went a bit awry - Shayna came home pretty upset. :( Something she had hoped she would be very proud of - turned out to be something that she was pretty upset by. It's a long story - and not something I want to go into great detail about in...

I used to love playing on the slip and slide when I was little. Throw on the swimsuit, run and jump with abandon onto the slide while water sprays all around you! Sooooo much fun! Unfortunately, I discovered yesterday that slip and slide is not near as much fun as an adult, and even less fun when the slide is your driveway instead of a long yellow piece of vinyl sitting in grass. Yesterday was a "snow day" which in Texas translates to, there was a little bit of ice on the roads and those of us who live in Texas have no clue how to drive on ice, so the schools and local businesses all shut down for the day. It was great, Shayna got to stay home from school - Steve worked from home instead of driving in to the office - and Addison and I had our normal day except that I do not go anywhere on bad weather days so we had plans, plans to have no plans. Around 11:00 I remembered that it was also trash and recycle pick up day....and our bins were not at the curb. I considered ...

My friend Kristina and Addison's friend Ryder (Kristina's son) came over to play last week. They didn't get to spend huge amount of time together due to their nap schedules being different these days. :( We did have a great time though while they were here and are looking forward to seeing Ryder and Kristina again - hopefully very soon! For those who don't know - Jeremiah and Kristina went to our church *though we did not know them at the time.* They had their son Ryder (ironically the same name that we had planned if we had a boy) at Medical City Hospital (same place we had Addison) just a few hours before we had Addison. He was a red head, and so was Addison. We were introduced to them when our Pastor came to visit us and we have enjoyed knowing them ever since. I even had the pleasure of keeping Ryder here in our home a few days a week when the kids were infants. It was almost like I got to have my red-headed boy girl twins that I used to want - without having t...

While I did not vote for Barak Obama - he is our president and I pray for him and for the decisions that he makes for our country. I think that the sentiment of this video (though I don't necessarily agree with everything in it) is great. I think it was made by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher - and I just liked the overall message. Here are a few of the things that I pledge: To cut back on the waste of the plastic water bottles we use To finally buy the reusable grocery bags that I have been contemplating for a long time now but not taken action on getting To focus on making our home more energy efficient What is your pledge?

Addison and I had a great morning at the Arboretum on Thursday. The weather was GORGEOUS so it was a great day to get out of the house and let her stretch her legs. I packed a lunch for each of us and we ate at an Addison sized picnic table where a very friendly squirrel let us know that he was eager to share some of our food with us. Addison accidentally spilled her hot dog pieces onto the ground beneath the table at one point and I thought the two blackbirds that were loitering were going to attack her they moved in so quickly. She was very fascinated by all of the wildlife and even chased after the squirrel when he moved away from us. It was a great day. :) We have an annual pass that my parents gifted to me this year for Christmas - it was the PERFECT gift for us! Thanks mom and dad!

Sigh...I am officially a victim of the Ebay machine. Well, not really a victim because I am wise to the ways of the scammer and will not let them win. Two days ago I sold my water damaged iPhone on Ebay. It sold for $217.50 + 12.98 shipping. I had it listed as a US only sale. It was purchased by some fool who "lives" in the UK. Alright, I decided when he won the auction that I would allow that but would let him know that I would be adjusting the shipping price and would contact him the next day with the new shipping price (have to do it with confirmed receipt of product as well as sending it insured). I then received, rather than a response to my email, a "paypal" payment for $317.00 that was awaiting approval as soon as I provided a tracking number to provide that this item was shipped and asking -- no demanding is more the right word -- that I ship it TODAY to an address in Nigeria! Needless to say, I was suspicious - so I looked deeper and saw that it was ve...

Sometimes a kid just picks up stuff from a parent, even when there is no blood relation. All who know my wonderful husband know that he is KING of the goofy face in pictures. He is RARELY photographed without doing rabbit ears to someone or crossing his eyes, or sticking out his tongue. It just is almost unheard of for him. Well, like step-father, like step-daughter...haha Never a dull moment with these two in front of the camera.

I do not understand teens. Teen GIRLS in particular. They are best of friends with each other one minute, then the next they are talking about each other behind their backs (and EXTREMELY mean spirited stuff sometimes too). The particular issue that has me standing up here on my soap box is this. Shayna's cheer squads have both had many girls injured this year. Pulled muscles, fractured vertebrae, torn ligaments, injured ankles, wrists, knees, etc. You name it (other than broken bones) they have had it. Now, an adult female with a friend who is hurt would be asking her how she is doing, checking in on her, see if there is something she can do to help out if it's a big injury, etc. A teenage girl however will do quite the opposite it seems. They have shown themselves to be more apt to slander each others names, accuse them of faking, roll their eyes when the doctor gives them a note saying they can not work out for a week, and then go talk to all the other girls about how ...

....BED! First off, No...she is not sleeping in it yet, haha. That's going to be some work - a lot of it I suspect. But we have the bed, mattress and bedding all set up in her room now and she LOVES it. She kept throwing herself on her toddler bed and kissing it. This is her "big girl bed" and the crib is her "baby bed" - we figure we will do a lot of talking about it, and let her lay down in it for a few minutes here and there to start getting used to it and maybe around the time she turns two years old she will be ready to start sleeping in it (without destroying her room each day/night in the process). We will see - this child is setting her own time frame for everything - I have found that just because Shayna did something at a certain age, does not mean that Addison will. She may do it earlier - or she may do it later - but one thing is for certain --- she WILL NOT do ANYTHING until SHE thinks it is time. haha. Here are a few pics of the princess in he...

I run a home based business, I am a beauty consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics. I have been doing this for almost 6 years (in February). I have learned a lot over the years. I was a consultant, then worked my way into the Director position - earned a car, then worked my way back down to a lesser level of stress and time. I stepped down and went back to the roots - I actually SELL the product - and a fair bit of it too. However, with as much as I have learned - every year, about this time, I run into the same issues. First, I realize that I really, really need to start counting my inventory and reconciling my accounts monthly instead of (ahem) yearly. It always seems like such a huge undertaking so I avoid it like the plague. The reality however, is that it wouldn't be so bad if I would just do it more often! I am going to have to try that this year - it would make tax time not near as frustrating. Second, I become keenly aware that I did not pay close enough attention in my...

I love to read. It has long been a passion of mine, a passion that I have unfortunately not followed consistently throughout the years. A few years ago however, I made a new years resolution (one that I did not keep I might add haha) that I would read 6 books that year. I did not complete six books that year, but I did get the ball rolling again. The books I did read got my juices flowing again and got me craving more. The next year I read six books in just a few months...last year I read The Bible nightly until mid June - then I started reading "The Shack" and that started my cycle of fiction reading back up again. This year, I have already read The Host and am halfway through "Sarah's Key" (this was a random pick that I just grabbed off the shelf at Target because it looked good - it turns out it is better than good - this book is such a page turner that I can hardly stand to put down!) I am planning to pack in the books this year - there is just nothin...

Many years ago - my aunt married a man who had two children, girls, that were 2 and 6 years old.  Their marriage was a very unhappy one - the man was, well, not what he had seemed at first.  The home was filled with sadness, isolation and abuse - mostly deeply inflicted mental abuse and neglect.  After many, many years of this my aunt was basically forced by family to end the marriage.   Sadly, ending the marriage with her husband meant losing contact with the children (who were now teenagers) as well.  One can not expect that the girls would have been able to understand at that time all that was going on in the home during those years...nor could one expect that they would side with anyone other than their blood relation.   Fast forward 17 years - and the wonderful invention of Facebook.  My sister found the oldest of the two girls on Facebook around Christmas this year.  I then found her when I saw her added as Debi's friend.  We started emailing, and I began to ask questions, an...

I probably mentioned in a previous post that Santa was quite good to us this year and brought us a Wii - along with my sweet husband buying me Guitar Hero (I'm still not sure how he knew what Santa was bringing us ;)).   Well, I really wanted a Wii Fit big time!  However, that is apparently the gift that everyone else in the world wanted too cause for a very long time now they were nowhere to be found.  Not that it mattered so much to me when we didn't have the Wii - but now...I was getting impatient.   Everywhere I went I just had to ask if they had one - I was even registered on amazon.com to get a text when they got one in stock.  Sure, I could have paid a jacked up price and gotten one on craigslist or Ebay - but I refused to give in to the greed of someone else by lining their pocket with easy money for something they were lucky enough to find.  I can be more patient than that believe it or not.   Well, Tuesday I was in Gamestop here in Allen and about to buy a used copy ...

   After lunch today - and by lunch I mean that Addison had thrown most of it onto the floor or  directly into the dogs mouth - I decided to give Addison some Applesauce to make sure she      was nice and full before nap.  After about two bites she had had ENOUGH of me feeding it to     her and FLATLY REFUSED to eat anymore unless the spoon was in HER hand.  Fine...I give up - have it your way I decided.  So I handed her the spoon and the bowl of applesauce.                                The pictures will tell the rest of the story.  Such a big girl. :)                                                    First you put the spoon in the applesauce                                                     Then you put the spoon in your mouth!  YAY!                                                                Mmm....This is yummy!                                                                                                           That wasn't so hard...I'll do it again!            ...

This morning I was chopping veggies for a vegetable beef stew and talking to my mom on the phone while I was doing that.  We have gates up that prevent Addison from going any further than the family room and kitchen - so I sorta forgot to pay real close attention to her during this time.  I would just glance up and make sure she wasn't into any trouble and then back to what I was doing.  I saw that she was playing with what I thought was her toys - so I wasn't concerned.  Then, suddenly I realized when I looked up again that her "toy" was a can of ground cinnamon from the pantry.  She had opened it and had shaken all of the contents onto the love seat, sofa and floor in the family room.   I wish I had taken a picture because it was really quite funny!  She was covered from head to toe in BROWN cinnamon dust - pjs, face, hair - all covered in brown including the white sofas. haha.  I am really glad we own leather furniture and have stained concrete floors right about n...

As part of my effort to get more organized - I cleaned out the entire refrigerator the other night. I literally took every single item out - took the shelves out and washed them, then put everything that wasn't expired and put them back in. I did the game closet a few days ago while Steve was still on vacation - oh man does it feel nice to walk in there and not have to climb over stuff, or force the door open lol. Tonight - I moved on to the pantry. It is crazy how much stuff is in that little space. I really think that if we were forced to not go to the store anymore, and had to live off of what we already have...we would likely make it about 6 months just off of pantry items! Unbelievable! Yet, every time I go to make something, or one of us is wanting something to snack on "We don't have any food" ummm...nyeah! I'm just gonna have to say that I'm not buying that (even from myself) anymore. It is time to trim down the fat of our pantry and add it to o...

Today I just feel like posting the lyrics to this song by Hillsong. It has quickly moved into the ranks of one of my all time favs to sing! It's right up there with "Go Tell It On The Mountain", "Already, Alright" and "It Is Well, With My Soul" (which I have yet to make it through vocally without choking up). ________Look it up and listen if you can - it is worthy of downloading (imo) ____________ A thousand times I've failed Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again I'm caught in Your grace Everlasting Your light will shine when all else fades Never ending Your glory goes beyond all fame Your will above all else My purpose remains The art of losing myself In bringing You praise Everlasting Your light will shine when all else fades Never ending Your glory goes beyond all fame In my heart and my soul Lord I give You control Consume me from the inside out Lord let justice and praise Become my embrace To love you from the inside out Ev...

Since the end of December I have been in contact with a long lost cousin (by marriage) that I had lost contact with since she was 17 and I was about 19. I have thought of her so many times, and wondered where she and her sister are and how they are doing. I have recalled many fun times when we were young girls and we would visit my grandparents and get to see Amy and Emilie. I am very excited that today those emails have progressed to the point that we are planning to get together next week and then again when my parents come in town the week after that. I can't wait to see Amy and meet her daughter Rachel that is only two years younger than my daughter Shayna. 2009 is starting off to be a great year... A great year indeed.

I am following up on my December 30th post today in regards to my iPhone. Things are not quite as devastating as they appeared to be when I was in the mix of it all. With some research, perspective (and a gift from my super awesome husband) - I am not so sick about this anymore. (Even though I still wish it had not happened - I hate when I make foolish mistakes). First of all, there is the gift. As anyone who is a friend of mine on facebook has read - this tragedy came with quite an unexpected response from my husband. Steve and Shayna were at the mall - primary goal - replace my phone. Then they were going to just shop around and have some time together. While they were shopping, Steve told Shayna that I was really beating myself up over this phone thing and that he would like to get me a little something special to cheer me up. :) Always a great idea! NOT one I expected from him after having to purchase a very expensive phone. I don't have all of the details of how this ...

It is hard to believe that a new year has come around yet again. I contemplated making resolutions - but really, resolutions are just something I break each year. I am excited about working on two particular areas of my life this year though. First of all I want to work on organization. I have slowly slipped into this chaotic disorganized state that I never imagined myself being in. I will be working on myself in that area this year. We got off to a good start this last week! Steve has been home on vacation for two weeks, so we have used that time to trade off who watches the kiddo while one or the other of us tackles some projects around the house that we have been needing to do. It feels great getting the house in order and semi organized. There is still MUCH to be done...but at least we have gotten a good head start on it and that will make my goal that much easier to follow through with since I'm starting off the year in a better place than I ended last year. :) The second ...