Oh how time flies

Is is just me or has anyone else noticed that the older you get the faster time goes by? I remember as a kid it seemed to take forever for anything to happen, to reach a certain age, it was always the longest day if you were waiting for something to happen. Now though, even if I am looking forward to something, time just seems to speed by.
After you have kids it gets even worse! It's like I blinked and she got to be five. Last Friday she finished her first year of school. It feels like it was just yesterday that her dad and I were explaining what junior kindergarten is, telling her about all the new friends she would make and all the things that she would learn. Now she is already finished! One year is all gone! I remember being so worried about her starting school. My daughter is one of those children who have never been with a babysitter, other than family, she was never in day care, or any pre-school. I was always the one to take her to any "classes" that we put her in. School was going to be a big step for both of us. Where we live they start at four years old and they go all day every other day, this was going to be a HUGE change. She was great though, I think the only reason I even got a hug good-bye on that first day was because I asked for one! She just took to school, loved being there, loved her firends, loved learning. She was always asking me when she got to go to school next. I can't beleive how much she changed either! It's like she went in my little baby and came out my little girl.
I do have to say that I have totally lucked out on most of my daughter's first big things. Her first birthday was massive! We rented a hall, it was catered, open bar, there were about seventy or so people there with about thirty kids all under the age of ten! Her first library "class" wa a small group, her first swimming lesson she was the only kid in the class, her first dance class she had a great teacher. Her first year of school? A class of thirteen, and the best teacher I could ever have chosen. The teacher was great, all the kids loved her, all the parents loved her. I think it helped a bit that she also had a son going into junior kindergarten, not at the same school, but still. She even got chocked up on the last day and had most of us parents choked as well, she will be missed next year. I really hope that she has as much fun at her new school as she had at this one.
Over all it was a great first year at school. I realized that my daughter can be away from me and survive, and so can I. She is growing up and learning so many new things, she has so many questions about everything and always has something to say. She found some of her voice at school, and learned that she will make a great leader. She loves people and always wants to help everyone. Really, she's a great kid. I realized that sometimes it takes looking through someone elses eyes to see just how amazing your kids are!
Now that summer is here though, I have no idea what to do with all her free time!! lol It will be fun though!

Pregnancy Brain

It's funny how you seem to totally lose your mind when you get pregnant. Things that used to be so easy suddenly become almost impossible. Working in a bar (as I did) became incredibly complex, I couldn't ermber what people ordered, I had a hard time hearing people right - I once had a customer come in and ask for a vodka and orange juice and what I heard was a bucket of oysters - making change was horrible even the simplest of math, what's the change for a $4.25 drink when the person gives you $5.00?? I mean these things used to be easy!!
It's like your mind just decides to go on vacation, like you really don't need it anymore. You can't remember anything, you go into a store for socks and come out with ten items, but forget the socks. Anytime you put something down and walk away you can't find it for a week. Walking in flip flops feels like you're on a tightrope. Then there are the hormones..... I will always remember the day I made myself some pasta for lunch, I was happy and hungry and just about to eat, then the plate tipped and my pasta ended up on the floor, I promptly began to cry. Even as I was crying I kept telling myself that there was no reason to cry I could make more- out loud of course because that's what happens when you are pregnant- but my pregnancy brain just wouldn't listen.
It's like your brain becomes a completly separate person, a totally new entity, you can tell it what to do and what you want till you're blue in the face but Pregnancy brain just doesn't care. Pregnancy brain only has three concerns, food, sleep, and baby, not necessarily in that order. You get up in the morning, Pregnancy brain is still tired, sometimes still asleep. You have breakfast, Pregnancy brain is still hungry. Then of course every conversation you have with anyone, relates somehow to the baby- friend 'I got a new car yesterday' Pregnancy brain "really? that's nice, the baby moved yesterday" friend gives you an odd look, Pregnancy brain just keeps smiling that odd fawaway smile.
It is a good excuse though, 'You forgot to get socks again!' "Sorry Pregnancy brain" grin, 'oh you want a screwdriver not a bucket of oysters, hehehe Pregnancy brain", and people are soo understanding about it. Though as ggod of an excuse as it is, there should probably be some kind of expiry date on it, I used that excuse at work the other day and the customer said 'oh that's alright, when are you do??' my reply? "I'm not she's four now". For some reason the customer gave me a really strange look.... I guess I'll just have to go back to my old stand-by, "sorry, blod moment" teehee.

Keep the innocence alive

When I was a kid I had so many ideas about how my life would turn out. There are so many choices out there of what to do and who to be, you can dream big! Then I got a job, moved out, moved a few times, had a few different jobs, tried out different things, grew up. As I did I realized that some dreams just aren't going to happen, especially if you haven't got someone shouting encouragement at you from the side lines. You need that little bit of pushing while you are growing up. I'm older now but still young enough to dream, the dreams have just become a little more practical.

I now have a daughter of my own who is still in that dream huge stage. Like any other mother I tell her the little fibs of childhood, you know the ones I mean, Santa, the Easter bunny, The tooth fairy, the kinds of things that keep children innocent. I also try and encourage her to keep dreaming, I want her to believe in herself, that she can do anything and be anyone and that I will always be right there by her side shouting encouragement. I want her to believe in magic for as long as possible, and hope that at five years old she still has many years of believing left.

At five she still loves Princesses and Treehouse, she doesn't quite realize that not everything you see on television is real. She is asking those cute questions that only little ones think of, 'Can I play on a rainbow like the Mole Sisters? How can a big brother be smaller than a little brother (George Shrinks)?' I try and teach her that sometimes things on tv are just pretend. Like most young children she takes it a little further, while watching The Wiggles one day she looked at mea and said ' They're not real, they're just pretend'. I suppose in a way she is kind of right, but I had to explain that they are real people....and we start all over again the next day.

Right now if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up without any hesitation at all she will answer 'A princess ballerina.' I just can't bring myself to tell her that you can't really become a princess when you grow up, after all she has met Cinderella twice and The Little Mermaid once at a few birthday parties. Who knows maybe she will actually meet a real honest to goodness prince someday and marry him, there are still afew around some places, it could happen. Or maybe like the rest of us she will grow up and lose that innocence. All I know is that I intend to keep it alive for as long as it's possible to. And hey, if becoming a princess doesn't happen she can always fall back on becoming a ballerina.

It's officially summer!

Bring on the heat, summer is here. The sky is blue, the sun is out, the bugs are out, ice cream trucks are driving around, people are heading to the beaches, school is almost done and father's day was yesterday. I was actually getting a little worried for awhile there that summer was going to skip us this year, sure we had a few nice days but it seemed to be raining every other day almost. Then even if it was a nice day it would cool way down when the sun was gone. I kept complaining about it, as I'm sure others were too. 'Where's the sun? Where's the heat? I want summer! No more cold.' Well it looks like we got our wish! I can't believe how quickly the temp went from the low teens to mid to high twenties! I also can't believe that I am writing a blog about the weather! Lol, oh well, it is what it is.

I do love summer though, I love heat. Im one of those bad people who love to just lay in the sun and soak up some rays. I honestly love tanning, not so much the tanning bed though that can be relaxing as well but there is just something about laying in the sun and feeling your body soak it in, ahhhh. I think there is only one thing that I really wish I had during the summer and that is a pool. Sure I have the required kiddie pool for the little one but I'm sorry, sitting in a pool where the water only reaches up to the middle of your legs (this is while you are laying down) just doesn't quite cut it you know? Maybe this will be the year that I go all out and get one that I can actually enjoy as well. I do admit that even the kiddie pool can be nice sometimes, at least to cool your feet off anyways. I would really like one where the water at least goes up to my stomach when I sit down. A friend of mine actually has one that blows up but, it has a "seat" in it and drink holders, it's also pretty deep too, I believe she got it at good old Walmart. For now I will have to make do with just getting my feet wet.

Knit one Purl one

I started crocheting about four years ago. With a bit of help from a great friend and a lot of practice, figuring out how to read a pattern, teaching myself all the stitches, I still don't know them all yet. I love it, it's relaxing and when I finish something I always feel great because I have created something with my hands. I usually follow the patterns to start but then I tend to go off on my own. I make all kinds of things, blankets, hats, mitts, scarves, purses, toys. It's something that I love doing. However I have found that a lot of the clothing for crochet is a little odd, at least all the things that I have found anyways. So in order to expand my repertoire I have decided to teach myself to knit. I figure that I taught myself to crochet I can do this too, I'm a pretty smart person. I have tried this a number of times over the years but have never been able to find a good book that has actually been able to teach me. Don't get me wrong, I've had friends that have taught me a bit here and there, I learned the knit stitch and did alright with it. Finally this past Christmas my brother and his girlfriend got me a little booklet: My Knitting Teacher by Susan Bates. It teaches you the basics, and actually has really great diagrams, finally pictures where I could actually see what they are doing!! I am proud to say that after a lot of practice I have finally learned the purl stitch! I started my first project last weekend and after starting over again, and again, and again.... I have actually got a bit of a scarf done. There is one problem with it, apparently I picked the wrong kind of yarn to make a scarf so the side curl in, but I figure that just adds a little something to it, it's like my own way of making a scarf, though I am sure there are probably others out there that have done the same, but have they kept it that way?? Lol Even though it may not be perfect I am still going with it, I am really enjoying my new found craft. I hope that I am able to pick it up as quickly as I did crocheting and learn all kind of new things to make. I also hope that now that I have so much of the scarf done I don't have to end up taking it apart and starting over. I think my next project will be a hat, that's what I would like to do anyways. Though it might take awhile, we'll see.

There's a first for everything

After many many months of thinking and talking about it I finally started a blog. I signed up with blogher.com and wrote my first ever blog. Not very interesting at all, I just kind of did a bit of an introduction, talked a bit about what I was going to write about, pretty much anything.Then I went and looked around at other blogs and realized that most of the people on blogher don't actually blog on it, they just have links to other blog sites. Not really sure why that is. Now that I have signed up here I'm thinking that maybe it's because you get a bit more of a choice with how things look at other sites. I don't know, but I decided to join a different blog site myself, as you can tell.

Isn't this thrilling?? Lol, I know there really isn't all that much of interest in this entry but give me a break, it's only my second blog. I have many things to say on many subjects. Basically if it rattles around in my brain the chances are high that it will end up on here. I hope that those who do read it find it somewhat interesting. I have a number of odd ideas of things to write and I pretty much always have something to say about everything. I hope that people will give me their feedback as well just because.

Well, I honestly think that's about as much as I can think of to say on the subject of first and second blogs, I promise there will be other subjects to come. Though it might be kind of funny to just continually write about previous blogs, I doubt that it would be very interesting though and would probably get rather repetitive after awhile. So while you might find this fairly uninteresting, I will have other things to talk about.

Maybe I'll see you back here, now that I have totally caught your attention!