Big spender at the Thrift Shop

Our little village has a thrift shop run by the library volunteers. They have all kinds of odds and ends and lots of clothes. Today my boss and I went in to find some "extra" clothes for the day care. We have a few kids who don't have clothes appropriate for the season or who need an extra change of clothes for those "oops" days. The thrift store does community outreach and lets us come by and pick out stuff and take it for free for the day care. While we were there, I found a few things for myself. I found a Bugs Bunny video for Neal and Kinsey. They LOVE Bugs and friends. I found a hard cover Jennifer Crusie book I have not read. And last I found a pair of yoga pants that are basically new (just a quick wash to make them new to me). Guess how much I paid for those 3 things??? Ready? $.85! Yep, that's right $.85. What a bargain. I put my $.15 change into the donation jar because you just can't beat the deal I got. I'll have to go back and check more often and see what I can find!

ps. yeah yeah I know I didn't post for a few days.....

Miss Marley

This is my precious little neice Marley. I just love her to death!

I'm a college freshman now!

I went back to the college today and applied for financial aid and signed up for classes. I'm taking Composition, Basic Algebra, Freshman orientation, and New Mexico History. I think I'm most excited about New Mexico History LOL! I'm taking 3 of the classes online and basic algebra at the college. I had hoped some of my previous classes (1 year) of technical college would transfer but they won't. I took mostly computer classes plus one class each of composition, pre-algebra, and accounting. Oh well, guess I get to start over again.

Well I already blew the post every day thing and it's only day 6!

I had a bad sinus headach last night and went to bed early. Here's a pretty fall pic to distract you.

back to school

I am taking steps to go back to college. It's been almost 20 years since I took my last classes and I'm jumping back in with both feet. Today I took a placement test to see what classes I should be in. Let's just say math is not my strong subject. I will have to start from beginning algebra and work my way up again. Hopefully Kinsey doesn't catch up to me....or maybe it would be good if she could so she could help me with my homework...LOL! Here we go!

on turning 40...

So I turned 40 a few weeks ago. You know how you never really feel the age you are? That's how I feel. I remember being at my uncle's 40th birthday party and thinking "wow! that's so old!" Now I'm thinking "it's really not that old" LOL! I had a really really hard time with it about 2 weeks before my birthday but now I've made peace with it.

My Mom and sister threw me a wonderful surprise party. I had many friends and family there. I guess being 40 isn't so bad after all!

My Fall Fairy

Here is my beautiful fall fairy

I bet you thought I forgot....

It's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)--you know the month where I try to post every day. I may just post a picture or a quick story but I will try to do something every day so check back.

On Friday Kinsey carved a pumpkin at Girl Scouts and entered it into the Smokey Bear Museum and Park pumpkin Carving contest. She won 3rd place!! Here is a picture of her with her winning pumpkin.

Hey look! I changed the back ground!

Yes, I haven't posted in months but I do come around and change the back ground...LOL! It's almost that time of year where I blog every day for a month. Check back Nov 1st and you should start seeing pictures and updates again!

How to make a Fairy Garden

Have you ever believed in something so much that it takes over your thoughts? Did you ever pretend to be something or someone as a child? Have you used your imagination lately? We have.

Kinsey is very much in to Fairies right now. Not just any Fairies but Flower Fairies. These beautiful Fairies were created by Cicely Mary Barker in the early 1900's. Kinsey started reading a series of chapter books based on these Fairies a few months ago. Thursday night Kinsey's Fairy Friend, Carrissa the Rainbow Fairy, left her this beautiful book

The Girl's Book of Flower Fairies

We decided to make a Fairy Garden to attract more Fairies.

After a trip to Walmart we got to work putting it together. Kinsey picked flowers she thought the Fairies would like. We have creeping phlox (purple cascading), salvia (tall red), alyssum (tiny white flower), and a geranium (large peach flowers). First she put gravel in the bottom of a tub for good drainage.

Next you add soil over the gravel.

Then you arrange your plants in a way that is pleasing to the eye and that your fairies will enjoy.

Ta Da! You now have a fairy garden.

Kinsey and her beautiful Fairy Garden

Next we will show how to make furniture for your Fairies. We have made a few things out of Sculpy clay. We will also be adding decorations to attrack Fairies. Check back for more updates.

Also, I will explain more about Carrissa the Rainbow Fairy.

Sadness

I wanted to type about a funeral I'm going to Sunday but just don't know what I want to say. It's very sad when a child dies unexpectedly. I really didn't know this little girl very well but I knew her Mom from when she was Kinsey's kindergarten teacher. One of the best teachers I have ever known. I just can't imagine the pain and suffering the family is going through now. I tear up thinking about it..........

Spring school pictures

Since I haven't posted anything in forever I thought I would at least put up Kinsey's spring school picture.

Cable, and plugs, and USB cords OH MY!

Kinsey and I are going on a short little trip to Texas this weekend. We are getting up early tomorrow morning so we can be at my eye doctors by 1:30pm. I started get our things together last night and realized how many cords and cables I have to keep up with. Kinsey is taking her DVD player and her Nintendo DS so that's two chargers. She will also have headphones. I'm taking my cell phone and GPS so I will need charges for those. Instead of having car chargers for all these things we have a converter that plugs into our power points and you just plug your home charger into it. That makes it easier than having to buy seperate car chargers. The only bad thing is if you need to charge more than one thing at a time because we only have one converter. We have 3 power points though...lol! I have everything on it's charger right now so we should be good on the way there.

I hope everyone has a Happy Valentines and a safe weekend!

Guess who's wearing glasses now?

Kinsey has been having trouble copying things from the board and seeing in the distance. I finally got off my butt and got her an appointment at the local eye doctor. Guess what? She did need glasses! I let her look at all of the frames and pick out the ones she wanted (with the help of the girl working there). She picked out these cute blue rectangle frames. She is supposed to wear them all day and has done quite well with them already. She was amazed at the difference they make when she wears them. The doctor said she may grow and her eyes might change. We were hoping she would get her Daddy's eyes instead of mine.

Kinsey and Annabelle....who really didn't want to be in this picture ;-)

Mountain views

On the way home from a movie yesterday I pulled off on a fire road and took a few pictures. I always see such pretty views from here but either don't have time to stop or don't have my camera with me. Yesterday I had both time and my camera. Kinsey was a little scared of me driving up the road without any "edges" but we made it to the top and I got some great shots!

This is looking over the village of Ruidoso, NM. There are businesses and homes all through these mountains.

Yes I changed the back ground again!

I had a valentines type back ground up but after visiting 2 other blogs with the same back ground I decided I wanted a change. I went with this one because I really like the colors and it can be up for a longer time--not just a season or holiday. Enjoy!

Who says you can't make a gingerbread house in January?

Kinsey and I went to Walmart today and they had gingerbread house kits marked down to $2 so we bought one and assembled it when we got home. Here are a few pictures

It takes a lot of concentration to put the candy on.
A little taste test of the frosting had happened just before this picture.This is what she wanted to do as soon as it was done but I convinced her to let it harden a bit and let Daddy see it before we ate it.A fun afternoon activity!

Grrr...

I'm wondering why my little blog reader thingy over there isn't updating like it's supposed too. I rely on it to tell me when people have new posts. I just checked it out and there were no new posts. I go to people's blogs and there are all kinds of new posts. **kicking it** in hopes of getting it to update ;-)

update: well what do you know--it worked!

did I miss something?

For some reason I am suddenly getting junk mail for AARP....isn't that for people age 50+??

Hello AARP people...I just turned 39! Back off for another 11 years!

Whew...just needed to get that out.

edited to add that I finally got out of the house tonight and got the mail--I had a piece of junk mail for a magazine called More--for Women over 40! Grrrr......

Annabelle the kRaZy cat

I'm pretty sure our cat has lost her mind. Suddenly after being alive 15-16 months she has realized there is this thing that follows her every where she goes. It's like she's saying "OMG--there it is! I must attack it NOW!" She's been a pretty docile cat--even a little bit shy around strangers but now she's just concerned about that thing behind her no matter who is here. She chases it round and round, sits and watches it wave, even stares at it like that will make it go away. Yes....Annabelle has a tail.