amazing

whoops! I posted the wrong link for D beauty, the correct one is here. I also corrected it in my review so you can click there as well. http://www.dbeautyshop.com/

Its not like I forgot, but lately, I've been so amazed at my daughter. I know she's wonderful, and perfect and cute, but somehow she still manages to blow me away with her sweet smile, or a cute hug, or falling asleep in my arms. I don't know what I did to deserve her, but thank goodness!

I'm going shopping for a wedding tommorow. I need a dress, cause the only nice one I could wear is black, and thats taboo. So wish me luck in finding something cheap and nice. I hate clothes shopping. I loved it when I looked better, but now its just kind of demoralizing.

I'm working on getting back into shape. Bella and I have a picnic lunch and walk it off in the park every day. I'm watching calories, and all that boring stuff. I haven't seen any improvement from it, but hopefully I will soon. I blame breastfeeding for now. The good thing is if Bella's with me, no one looks twice at me cause she's perfect :D

The husband has finals next week, so things are about to become very fun in my house. Stressed out daddy's + teething baby makes for an irritable me.

Wish us all luck

Radiant Writing

Be sure to vote for my entry of radiant writing! I could win a critique of my work from Melissa Marr, the writer of Wicked Lovely, which you can still download for free on amazon.com kindle. I would also win all four books in the Wicked Lovely series autographed, and win a twenty five dollar gift card to apple :), which will go towards my i-pad fund. If I win, my ipad fund will go up to... $25 dollars :D

(I'm sort of hoping to get one for mothers day, but kind of doubt it will happen unless my bank account grows discretionary funds between now and then)

Bella is doing wonderful. She went to her friends birthday party the other day, and tried some cake frosting. Unsurprisingly, she loved it. I was pretty proud of the gift she gave her friend, who was turning one. We got the leap frog counting candles birthday cake, and Where is baby's birthday Cake by Karen Katz.

I've started to plan Bella's birthday party, I just couldn't help myself. I hear people planning things and start wondering what I would want, and then before I know it I have a two page list of ideas and pictures of birthday cakes saved to my computer.

My idea so far is to have her birthday party at the wow playground, which is this great playground that looks like a castle, and has a separate area for toddlers to play in. It will be princess themed, with pink and purple for the colors. I'm thinking mostly purple because thats a the royal color and what not. I'm going to decorate her high chair like a throne, and get her a little crown birthday hat.

I haven't chosen a cake yet, but I'm leaning towards another 3d teddy bear cake, like I had at my shower, but this one decorated like a princess instead of a baby. Yes I have gone off the deep end. Care to join me?

Colored Contact Lenses

The wonderful people at D'Beauty were kind enough to send me a pair of colored contacts to review. They came in the mail on Saturday, and was I excited. I chose a blue pair of contacts, which is a nice change from my plain jane brown eyes.

I had fun being blue eyed for a day, and I still have the contacts to wear on special occasions. The blue is kind of hard to pick up in the pictures, but its a nice dark color blue, like my moms eyes are naturally.

The contacts are prescription strength, but can be ordered at zero strength for anyone who just wants to change their eye color for fun. They have lots of cool designs and colors. Check them out, it's fun :)

Ok, so that didn't work

Ok, I love iweb, really I do. I'm going to continue to post on iweb as well as here, because Iweb is missing one component, google friend connect does not work on iweb. So no followers, and no comments :( Hopefully that will change one day, and I'll be able to move everything over.

Also could not figure out how to get the domain name to work right.

I'll be posting on here again, and tommorow you can expect a review of some colored contact lenses :)

Rates

A word to the wise. Babysitting or nannying is not the cheap alternative to daycare. It never will be. The babysitters who are willing to charge the same rates as daycares, run in-home daycares with 7-10 kids in them. Better ratios than daycares, but if you are looking for individualized attention for your child, be prepared to pay at least minimum wage for it, and I would think a little more.

The people I’ve been interviewing with who are looking for full time care for their infants, seem really surprised when I don’t jump to meet the daycares $100 dollar a week rate. Ideally, I’d like to make $250 a week. Add in a sibling, and I’d like to make that $300. Is that expecting too much? I’m really curious here. What would be an acceptable rate if you want something better than daycares?

Should I lower my price and take more kids? No... I’ve already decided the most children I would take is three, and that’s only if there are siblings involved. One to two children (again with the sibling clause) full time, with one position available for part time kids. Like this adorable two year old I watch for a few hours on Tuesdays. I can hold out and wait for the right people. I’m in a position right now where I can wait for the right person. So I will. Maybe once fall rolls around, and all the teenagers and students looking for extra cash drop off the radar, I’ll be able to find the right client for me.

Wicked Lovely

Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr is available as a freebie on amazon.com, and that is so exciting! I’m only about halfway done, but I’ve been dying to read this book since I first heard of her. It’s the best of The Moor Child, and Tithe.

I’m also loving having a form of transportation. I’ve been going to every kid event in Athens and having a great time. I need to find a Baby Signs class for Bella, but there doesn’t seem to be one in the area. I’m signed up for Mama-Baby Yoga and Gymboree right now, but I’m thinking next month I may just do Gymboree. I love mama-baby yoga, but you only go once a week, as opposed to gymboree’s one class a week with two playtimes a week. Mama baby yoga is more for me than for her, but I can do yoga at home with my wii.

I don’t think I’m going to do Kinder music. There classes are like $95 for six weeks, and again, its only once a week. Bella learns a lot of songs at the free infant playtime. I would sign her up if it had the baby signs class. Ah well.

I’m writing again, and I have a fantastic idea. I want to write a series rewriting the Greek Myths. I can set it in modern day, start with the myth of Persephone, and have her meet all the people from the real myths in the underworld. I could call it the Eleusinian Mysteries (google it, and you’ll get it), rename Persephone Cora (her name changed from Core to Persephone when she was abducted) and go from there.

Very excited.

mobile

I had a great weekend! I Went to Columbus and had a fantastic time. I saw Clash of the Titans (was underwhelmed) and took Bella to the easter bunny. Bella got mum-mums in her basket, and loves them, and I can now drive my car :D. Financially that may not be the best thing for me, lol. When we got back to Athens I went grocery shopping, bought Brandon a present, and have been going to baby places hanging up babysitting flyers today, and consequently buying stuff! I need to stop that right away!

I bought Bella new nail clippers (we lost her old ones) new hangers, and a mirror for the car. (It’s so cute, its shaped like a puppy and now I can see her when I’m driving.) Then I went to gymboree and got her a bubble blower, not to mention the cost of printing the flyers, and buying the gas, and all of that good stuff.

Ah well, I promise not to buy anything tommorow :0

It’s been a great day, heck, its been a great week. I wrote a poem in my poetry class that my teacher said was exceptional, and I taught a poetry workshop at the elementary school tonight. My house is clean, I have three babysitting interviews scheduled this week, and things are looking up :D Now if I could just win the lottery so I could buy the rest of the things in those stores....