Kitty Cat Chef

Why does my lovely daughter feel the need to fill the cats' food bowl with water over and over and over again after she's been told not to do so and that they do not like water mixed with their food?

"It looks gooooood like dat," she says, seconds after she's emptied their water bowl into their food bowl.

Maybe I should feed her that for dinner since it looks so "gooooood."

The Clothes

God blessed me with a little girl, and as a result, a huge dent in my pocketbook!

The clothes for little girls are absolutely adorable! Of course, I pay no attention to the boy clothes because, right now, I don't have to. And, well, they don't seem all that cute either.

I've never been the best dressed in town. And, frankly, I don't have much of a sense of style (for myself that is). Mostly because I can never find anything that fits me properly in my size (either too long, too big or both)! And, I'm too darn cheap to spend a lot of money on clothes for myself. Now, my daughter is a different story!

One trip to Gymboree, and I've spent the year's budget! You've got the dresses, the leggings (in the winter), the tights, the socks and the cutest matching barrettes and hair bows! How can you not blow your budget?

And, Annabelle is learning very quickly. I am afraid of the mess of a little girl we are going to have on our hands in 7+ years! Shopping with her today was a challenge. The girl has got an opinion. Does anyone know who she got that from? If you ask her if she likes something, she will tell you, and it doesn't take her long to decide.

While in Gymboree redeeming my Gymbucks for the least possible amount of money, Annabelle found three bracelets at $9.95 each, two sets of barrettes (one with butterflies and the other with flowers) at $7.00 for the set of two and approximately 10 pairs of big girl panties that we needed to buy (according to her) at $3.49 each!

"We need to buy dese Mommy," she would say.

Then, "Dese are pity!" Translation: These are pretty!

She walked away with nothing that she wanted to buy because her taste is NOT located on the sales rack.

As we walked out of the mall, she felt the need to touch everything in her sight that she could reach. Again, not sure who she gets that from! We passed some very big girl (teenage) belts that Annabelle thought were "pity." I hope her tastes in belts changes in a few years or we're going to have to watch the boys. That dimple is already going to get her in enough trouble!

Perhaps I should pray that my next child is a boy!

P.S. I have apparently always been known to touch everything in a store just in passing. I know I do it, and I even touch things I'm not even looking at just to feel them. Sometimes I think I do it subconsciously. Hubby noticed this himself very early on in our relationship. So, now you know who she gets it from! I'm afraid I cannot deny this child. She has my personality inside and out except she may be a tad bit more outgoing than me.

Random Thoughts

Because I know you all really care about the following!

1. Country music soothes my soul.

Whenever I am feeling unmotivated, overwhelmed, sad, lonely or even just plain happy, country music lifts my spirit. That probably doesn't make any sense whatsoever either. I mean, have you listened to the lyrics to most country songs? Depressing, right? But, regardless, it keeps me going and on some days, I need my country music to motivate me to clean, empty the dishwasher, declutter, etc.

Honestly, I think country music has always soothed my soul. I remember listening to country music in my room during those boy troubled teenage years and sometimes just crying to the lyrics, but, it still lifted my spirits!


2. Knoxville, Tennessee - Those were some of the best days of my life! I didn't realize it then, but I sure do miss Knoxville now.

It was great to literally have to drive an agonizing 15 minutes across town to meet with friends. It takes me that long to go to the grocery story only 2 miles away now!

The commute to work for both of us was just as awesome! We worked less than 5 miles away, and it took 15 minutes at the very max. I would often come home to our very tiny one bedroom apartment for lunch. Hmmm. Very tiny living quarters. Seems to be a recurring theme for us. One day, maybe one day!

The view from our apartment was breathtaking! Mountains in the distance, and the price was even right for this outstanding view. Too bad we didn't sit outside and enjoy it more.

We had so much more time for each other then. And, I know, a child changes the dynamics of everything, but even before Annabelle was born and we reentered our "old" life in Hotlanta, life seemed to move 20 X's faster.

And, we made some lasting friendships. Some of our Knoxville friends were very quick to invite us into their home and lives. Thank you Chris and Vonda! It took awhile to get to know others, but we still made some great friends. Just wish we had time to make more while we were there.

And, I'll never forget football! Go Vols! I miss those relaxing days of nothing to do but attend a football game for free. Well, sort of for free. Hubby's tickets were free. My spousal tickets were $100 for the entire season.


3. Work (for pay) is overrated, and I'm about ready to call it quits completely, forever, or at least until my children are all grown up!

I mean, seriously, why am I working anyhow? So the government can take everything from my retirement accounts when social security runs out? It is hardly worth working to save to retire early only to have some slacker or over spender take it later (through the divine intervention of the government). I'm going to go spend more time with my daughter who is growing up way too fast!

To Hell in a Handbasket

Fortunately, hubby has traveled for business very little this year. And, I say "fortunately" because the misfortune that comes with him traveling is always fun!

He left last night around 7:00 p.m. to catch an 8:55 p.m. flight.

The following resulted today (in this order):

1. I was a little chilly this morning (even though the temperature in the house was 68 degrees, and I never go above 68 degrees in the fall/winter). So, I decided to crank up the heat just a bit for the first time this fall. And to my surprise, it blew only cool air. The furnace never did kick on. The best part...the fan would NEVER turn off by itself, no matter what I did. I even changed the setting to cool, and the air conditioner kicked on, but after I turned the air conditioner off, the fan continued to run. You probably think I'm crazy, but we've had this problem several times before. The last time was a week before Annabelle was born back in October 2006. Poor child came home from the hospital to space heaters because our heat was not working. Turns out it was a faulty part on the unit which was replaced for free because of past issues with that same part with other people. Fortunately, the part replaced in 2006 has an extended five-year warranty on that part. Have I mentioned that this happened another time (maybe two times) before the year Annabelle was born? Yep! That's right! So, I'm hoping for warm weather because we have no heat, and the space heaters are packed away neatly in the shed.

2. I realized late morning/early afternoon that a bib I had left on the washer to dry before we went camping this past weekend was still wet. No, wait, it was completely soaked! And, the threshold between the office and "laundry room" (aka closet) was wet and warped. And, the drum in the washer was filled slightly with water. Just as a visual, we have a front loader.

3. Annabelle learned to break a circuit (if that is what you call it). She basically learned how to use her bathroom stool to open the door to the circuits in the hallway (which is still really high off the ground in the hallway, mind you, even with a stool) and flip the switch to an "off" position. It took me forever to figure out why the washing machine wouldn't work when I tried to run it at 11:00 this evening.

So, as for the fortunately, my parents came to my rescue! And on their 46th anniversary to top it off! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mother and Daddy! What would I do without you guys?

My Dad helped remove the doors to the laundry room and unscrew the threshold. And, once we determined that the water hadn't leaked underneath the washing machine and had more than likely just leaked internally (which he thinks he can help hubby fix with a $50 part) and as a result leaked on the bib which then just leaked the excess on the floor, he held the flashlight so I could clean all of the dirt, grime and mold out of the inside of the seal at the door. Gross, huh? Yes, pretty disgusting! Especially when you didn't realize until just recently that your washing machine was housing such nastiness. If you have a front loader, be sure and clean inside that seal on a regular basis or you too will have the same problem in 8 years! Holy cow we're getting old! I cannot believe we've lived in this house for 8 years! Well, I guess a year and a half don't technically count since we lived in TN while hubby got his Master's degree.

As for the furnace, my Dad just recommended I flip the circuit since the fan wouldn't cut off on its own.

And, that, my friends, resulted in a new lesson for Annabelle. Flipping the circuit breakers! What do you think I thought when my washing machine wouldn't start this evening after I spent at least an hour cleaning the darn thing this afternoon? Too bad Annabelle wasn't awake. She probably could have resolved the issue on her own immediately by flipping the circuit back to the "on" position.

So, hubby is no longer allowed to go out of town without me! Because apparently, major appliances break and water leaks are inevitable when he travels.

Last October, when he was out of town on business, my kitchen sink decided to leak quite extensively. I had quite a mess on my hands in the cabinet under the sink, and I never could figure out the problem. We didn't figure out until Christmas that our Corian sink somehow had a huge crack until the huge crack showed its ugly behind!

So, I'm off to bed and praying that nothing else breaks tomorrow!