Looking for Training Panties

I cannot believe how hard it is to find cloth training panties.  You can buy them on line but then the delivery charges are outrageous.  I had to call three different Baby's R Us stores to find one that had them in stock.  I had already called 4 Walmarts and none of them had them.  So Lanie and I will make a trip to Baby's R Us tonight and get the training panties we need because I am somehow going to get this child potty trained! 

Work has been quite slow this past week and I am really trying to keep busy and at least look like I am doing something.  I try to get every client I can that walks through the door but we just don't have many people coming in.  They come in for Electric and Gas bill help but not water, food or weatherization and those are the only ones I can help them with!  I do what I can, hope they will keep me on through my supervisor's maternity leave and go from there. 

Poop Painting Problem

This weekend my beautiful little girl decided to "Poop Paint" again.  I was at the end of my rope and didn't know where to turn for advice on how to stop this or if I had the only child in the world who ever did this.  I turned to google.  It led me to a web site that not only gave me some sound, logical advice but also gave me a sense of comradery because there were lots of parents who had posted the same questions.  The sound, logical advice was to let her finger paint or be creative in a messy way and see if that helps.  I went home Monday and Tuesday nights and let her finger paint in the bathtub/shower with pudding.  I didn't have any finger paints and did not have the money to go buy them.  I did however, have some butterscotch pudding in the pantry that no one would eat and decided that would work just fine.  At first she thought it was a trap and that I was going to spank her. I convinced her that it was ok and she decided that pudding painting was so much fun!  She loved it and also loved cleaning it off the shower walls.  The second night went well along with coloring in her color books using mess free color markers (BTW- big rip off-They do not write on anything but the paper that comes with them but they barely mark on that!)  She bites the tips off of those though so I have to watch her like a hawk. 

I also let her play in the dirt Monday night which was a big step for me.  I don't like messy so this has been a testing experience for me.  But I am really trying to let her be little, get messy and just have fun.  I will pretty much do whatever is necessary to keep her from "Poop Painting" again.

Still not feeling well.

I am still not feeling well.  I keep coughing and coughing.  I can't sleep more than a few minutes at a time because I wake up coughing.  Trying to talk with clients is a joke.  I can't even get through an intake without having to leave 2-3 times so that I am not coughing in their faces!  Thank goodness I do not have many scheduled this week.  I am wore out from no sleep-I think I am going to try to take a nap in my car during lunch today.  We'll see how that goes. 

Just not feeling well and am having a hard time being positive so I am not going to write anymore today.

I am sick...again!

Since moving into this house (18 months ago) I have been sick about 4 times and each time has lasted a long time.  I got a cold the day after Thanksgiving and it lasted for 17 weeks.  I still had the cough from that cold and now I have another cold.  I don't know what I am doing that is making me stay so sick.  I looked up COPD online today.  I do have all the symptoms except hard to breathe especially after excercising.  That really is no different most of the time.  There are a few times now that I am so congested that I have to concentrate on taking deep breaths.  Lanie also has a runny nose again and Nonnie is getting sick too.  I would really love to move and get us out of this house because I really do think there is something in this house that is causing this.  I have never been so sick so often before.  I bet there is mold in the basement or something. 

We worked on Lanie potty training again this weekend and Nonnie said she would work on being more consistent with her during the day and I will be more consistent in the evening and hopefully we can get her trained soon.  We had a pretty good weekend this weekend though.  Lanie was a happy camper most of the weekend and I did not do a whole lot of yelling.  I feel that it was a positive weekend. 

I got Lanie's hair up in a pony tail this weekend.  She calls it her Pone.  Here is the front view...

the back view

and now it comes out!

Started an excercise routine last night

Last night I started doing Turbo Jam again.  I enjoy it because of the music and the fact that it is low impact and I can actually do it.  Lanie was watching me last night and she was trying to do the same moves I was doing and then I could see the light go on in her little brain saying "Oh screw this"  and she started running circles around me as I did the routine.  She was so cute and when I collapsed in my chair aftter 14 minutes, sweat pouring down my face, breathing very hard, she plopped down on the floor, took her blanket and started wiping her face just like I was with my towel.  We had a good laugh and now I can't wait to do it with her again tonight. 

I wrote yesterday that I was looking for a way to make extra money.  Today I was looking at the online ways to do it and was pretty depressed after googling a few of the more prominent programs.  I did sign up with a Mystery shopper thing.  That might be kind of fun-but I am concerned about the gas getting to and from these stores.  We'll see how it works. I don't think that blogging to make money is going to work for me.  I can't even get people to read my blog so that keeps me off the paying list. 

Just another day in paradise.

Good morning all. (Like there is actually someone reading this!)  Yesterday seemed particularly long but it was worth it when I came home and Lanie ran to me to give me a kiss and a hug.  She is just so flipping cute.  Just look at that cute little face.  See the roses in the vase beside her.  She loves them and asks us to let her smell them...which she blows on them instead of smelling them.  Just so cute! 

We had a pretty good evening last night and she ate well with no fighting.   We played outside on the slide before we had dinner.  All in all a good evening with my baby girl. 

I have got to figure out how to make more money.  I am seriously thinking about doing the online work.  It will cost me $200 to get into it so I am really afraid that it will be wasted money and that would kill me.  I cannot afford to lose money when I am trying to make it.  I cannot seem to get ahead or even catch up.  I am 2 months behind on my Laclede bill and the Water bill is due now and I can't pay it.  I take intakes on people who make more money than I do so they can get their water and electric bills paid but I can't get my own done!  It is a very frustrating aspect of my job.  I cannot take a second job because I need to be home with Lanie but if I could do something at home that would not take me away from her maybe that would be the answer. 

Too Much Sugar!!

The Easter Bunny brought way too much candy and Grandma let Miss Lanie Lou Chickee Poo eat too much because she was bouncing off walls last night.  The child was in perpetual motion and could not stop.  She absolutely did not listen to anything she was told and could not stop doing what she wasn't supposed to do.  She does not get candy again until she is 47 years old.

Oneita and Travis were here for the weekend with Devon and Mason and we had such a good time. It was Mason's birthday and he wanted a blue cake so we made a blue cake.  He got to put the food coloring in and he thought that was so much fun.  You can't tell but there is a spiderman candle on the cake along with the #4 and then four regular birthday candles.  We also sang him all four birthday songs and he thought that was pretty special.  

Ok, so you know the trials we have had with Lanie painting with her poop.  Well, Papa got a picture of it the other day.  He said she was just laying in her bed rubbing poop all over her like it was lotion-singing as she went.  This picture is blackmail material for when she grows up!  

We played outside alot while the cousins were here and had so much fun. She tried so hard to keep up with the cousins.  She ran after them, played on her tricycle with them.  She colored Easter eggs right along side of them. I did not get pictures of that as I was too busy keeping her from drinking the egg dye but Oneita got photos so I am hoping to get them from her. Lanie really "got into" the blue dye.  

She really enjoyed her cousins though.  She would wake up from her naps or in the morning saying..."Cousins" and running down to see them. 



Getting ready for Easter weekend

Today my niece and her family are coming to our house to spend the Easter weekend with us.  They should already be there but I am stuck at work and cannot get out of here until 5:00.  I have not seen them since Christmas so am looking forward to visiting with them and playing with the boys.  Mason turns 4 on Thursday so we are celebrating his birthday here this weekend and he wants a blue cake.  Nonnie and John picked up the cake mix and frosting today so I will make that tonight.  We will also fill easter baskets tonight.  I picked up some regular old egg dye at Walgreens today but am still looking for the Paas Color Swabs.  I will try to get out to Walmart tonight for those and for Mason's Birthday present.  I also bought some brushes so we can paint with food color.  We will have fun no matter what we do...as long as we keep a positive attitude and not expect perfection from the children!

I was going to make some sugar cookies for them to decorate but I did not get to it.  Oh well, I think we have enough to do to keep them busy...or at least keep me busy. I hope I can get pictures this weekend and then get them downloaded so I can add them to my next posting. 

Oh what a pain in the tushy

My sciatic nerve is acting up right now so I literally have a pain in the tushy.  Lanie decided that it is really fun to poke at my tushy and watch me jump! I would bend over to get something and she will poke my right cheek really hard and laugh.  She also laughs at Nana when Nana uses a tennis ball on her back to work the muscles.  I think this child has a sadistic streak in her.

Here is a picture of Lanie when I picked her up at Day Care yesterday.  She loves her shades and think she looks so cool.--even with them on crooked. 

Here is just another one of her being her cute little self.  I really love taking pictures of this child.  She is so photogenic and looking at the photos brings a smile to my face even when clients drive me crazy!  (oops, did I say that out loud?!)





First BBQ of the season!

We had our first BBQ of the year this weekend. It was so good.  I made Macaroni Surprise which is a normal Mayo/mustard macaroni salad but I put fresh veggies in it like Broccoli, cauliflour, carrots and sugar snap peas.  Oh man it was good-I made a huge bowl to last a few days.  I even brought some to work with me.  Lanie loves it and eats it by the handful-literally. 

Nana bought Lanie 3 new pairs of summer shoes; gellies, crocks and flip flops.  No little girl can live without them in the summer. She loves them and keeps changing them throughout the day.  She even mixes and matches.  She is just such a cutie!

Nonnie has started up smoking again.  She said that it was because it is March and that is Tonya's birthday month.  I can understand that but she cannot let that get her off track, not to mention that I really hate waking up to the smell of smoke in the middle of the night.  That is just so irritating because I was really get used to not smelling it.  She said she is going to have the accupuncture again this week.  I don't think she wants Oneita knowing that she has started smoking again.  I really hope she does it this week because I really don't like the smoking thing.  She tends to not watch Lanie as well when she is smoking because she goes downstairs and leaves Lanie alone for too long and then Lanie gets into stuff she shouldn't.