Visions of SugarPlums dance in her head

Mia fell asleep in my lap (which she NEVER does). She usually doesn't sit still long enough. Also here is a sneak peek at some of my decorations.

The PERFECT coffee maker. . .

I said I would research for a coffee maker and here it is. . . . . . . . .The Westbend 3-in-1 Coffee Center. It's makes coffee, it makes cappuccinos, lattes and mochas. It's $49.76 at Wal-mart. I know my mom thinks her $2.00 coffee maker is the best one in the world but can she make foam? NO!!!! If I was to buy my coffee at Starbucks I could get 14 of them for the price of this machine. I know Starbucks is overpriced, but they do have the best flavored coffee, which is what I love. I know the link above is hard to read just click on it and you will be whisked away to the wal-mart website to further inspect what I want for Christmas. Happy Shopping.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. . . .

We don't have a tree yet, but I put up the other decorations today. Garland, wrapped with lights and wreaths above the mantel and stockings. I got new decorations this year. All from IKEA. Love that store. Can't get enough of it. I got ornaments and stockings and lights. Browse for yourself and see what I got.

• Stockings
• ornaments
• lights

Our color theme is red and silver. It looks great. Can't wait to get the tree. I will post pictures when we have it all up.

Just Hangin' Out

Mia likes to play under my computer table when I am working on the computer. Sometimes she gets stuck. She doesn't seem too upset. . . yet!

Quote

Saw this on someone else's blog and JUST HAD TO SHARE IT!

When you get in a tightplace and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Got to remember this one.

Top 5. . .

Since I am hosting Christmas for my side of the family this year I have been thinking about it a lot this week. I fully intend to start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. . .or as soon as Saylor says it's o.k. Who are we kidding. The day after Thanksgiving. I thought today would be good for a top 5 list.

Sooooooooo.....

My top 5 favorite memories from Christmas as a child:

1. Getting to open 1 present before leaving for Granny and Grandpa's house.
2. Homemade Chocolate Christmas candy
3. My grandmother's tamales on Christmas Eve.
4. Helping my Grandpa hand out the presents
5. Spending time with my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

I am looking forward to having my family here in my home for my daughter's first Christmas. I hope she has as many good memories when she grows up as I do now.

Introducing the beautiful Lila. . .

As a baby shower gift I took some photos of the baby of a friend of mine. Here are my favorites. I took 93 pictures and ended up with about 25 good ones after editing. A lot of them were different color variartions on the original. I am VERY happy with how they turned out! I really had no idea I was able to do this. Maybe this is something I could do in the future. I enjoyed every second of it, from taking the pictures to editing to printing and framing them. I even enjoyed wrapping the present. I hope I can do this again for someone else!

So the stress of the holidays begins soon. What to buy, What to buy? I have a list of everyone's name that I need to buy for. So far Mia has the most items listed. That's o.k. it's her first Christmas. I have an idea for my niece and nephew but when it comes to the adults. . . .CLUELESS. So if you are reading this send in your wishes. If you don't then you will be getting just whatever I run across that I "think" you might like but probably won't. You could also send in your list of don'ts. For example. . . Don't get me anything edible or don't get me anything that I won't actually use. I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee anything. As for me for some reason I can't think of anything that anyone else would be able to get me. For example, I would like some curtains for my living room and bedroom, but please don't get those I want to pick them out myself! I want to paint my bedroom and front hallway, but want to pick that too. I have also been thinking I might need a coffee maker. My parents will definitly agree with that after 3 mornings with none. The problem there is I want one that is easy to clean, but also makes foam or something. Maybe a cappuccino machine, but a small one. I'll have to find one I like. I'll be the only one using it so I want a small one. Also I would love some flavored coffee and stuff to put in it. . .you know syrup, creamer etc. I might also need a coffee recipe book to go along with it. It could be the cold weather that makes me want coffee. Tomorrow I may not want it, but sounds good right now. And of course I could always use more scrapbook supplies, but I DEFINITLY don't want anyone else picking that for me. Sounds like gift cards for Cindy. In case you want to know. . . .IKEA, Wal-Mart, Scrapbook Warehouse (Lewisville) or the Scrap Bucket. Of course, Target and Kohl's are always popular with me too. So now I am sure you have no idea what to get me still!

Anyway can't wait to decorate for Christmas.

Oh. . .and my Thanksgiving resolution is to update my blog more often.

Can Mia come out and play?

Mia loves her new toy from my mom and dad. She has barely touched any of her other toys since she got this. I'm going to have to teach her to put on a robe before she answers the door though. Her new favorite thing besides this is visiting our dog Kasha in the backyard. She throws a fit when we come back inside. She is getting so much better at walking, but is still a little wobbly. Mia is getting better at telling me what she wants too. On Tues. she pushed her car over to me and grabbed my hand and put it on the seat. Then she crawled on and I pushed her around the living room. She grinned so big as if to say "finally you are catching on, Mom!"
Two weeks to Thanksgiving. We'll see how my diet holds up through the holidays. I had my meeting this morning. Lost .4lbs. Not bad considering what I ate this weekend. Also, considering I had a steak for dinner last night. Kindof a heavy meal for the night before a weigh-in. That makes my total minus 2.2 lbs. in 8 weeks. I'm going to try taking some vitamins and see if that helps before going to see a Dr.
This week has gone so fast. I'm looking forward to a restful weekend.

My little sweetie. . .

Mia in her costume. She left it on only long enough for pictures. Oh well! At least I got some pictures. That's all I could hope for her first Halloween. Here are some pictures of Saylor and I from our costume party. Love that mullet Saylor!!!



Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

My aching thighs

I have been working out like a crazy person recently. I got a new DVD and it is great! It came with a resistance band (like a big rubberband) and my poor body is so sore I can barely stand it, but at least I know I am doing it right. I had my WW weigh-in this morning and lost .2 lbs. .2 . . . .what the heck!!! That is like the difference in taking a deep breath before I weighed or letting it all out. .2 could be the weight of the hair I've grown since last week. .2 could have been the face powder I put on this morning. I have worked my butt off this past week trying to lose at least a pound and. . . .2 Next time I'll make sure I clean the wax out of my ears and trim my finger nails and take off my toe polish and maybe I'll lose .4!!!! My total loss is 2.4 lbs. in 4 weeks. Not too good but it's a new week and this week I'll do it!

Dr. Appointment this morning. .

Mia had her 9 month check-up this morning (even though she is almost 10 months). She weighed 18lbs. 3.5 ozs. and is 28 1/4 inches long. She didn't get any shots but got an anemia test and her levels are normal. The doctor was amazed again that she is already trying to walk. She says Mia is way ahead on her developmental schedule. I don't know where this Dr. went to school, but I have met lots of people who walked around 9 or 10 months so I don't think we have a budding Einstein on ours hands. Now if you want to talk about her ability to dance and stay in rhythm that's another matter. She swivels her hips and bounces her head back in forth in perfect rhythm to the music. Anyway, all is normal and she doesn't have another appointment until her 1 year birthday.

Finally...

This morning I was digging in Mia's mouth fishing out some paper (I do this several times a day) and I felt something sharp. "Oh, my gosh!! What is that Mia?" It is a TOOTH!! You can barely see it (on the bottom in the middle) but you can definitely feel it. I thought she would never get any teeth.

Also. . . .
On Thursday night I was putting some stuff in the laundry room and when I came out Mia was standing in the living room (we've gotten used to her standing on her own. . .she's been doing it a whole week) and suddenly she took a step with one foot and then the other and started to take a third and fell. Saylor was in the living room and we both yelled "Hey, did you see that???" I was so excited!!! What are the chances we were both watching her when she took her first steps? She has tried it a few times since, but hasn't had as much luck as that first try. It won't be long now!!!

Mia also has a new favorite thing to do. We put a comforter in the living room floor and she likes to stand next to it and do belly flops onto the comforter. Then she rolls off onto the floor and does it again giggling the whole time. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen!!! What a character.

The State Fair Report . . .

The State Fair was great!!! We saw the auto show and drooled over the new cars (even though we LOVE ours) and we saw the butter sculpture which in my opinion is not that impressive this year. It was Elvis and didn't really look that much like him. We went to the Natural History museum (see the photo of the day for a picture of Mia on a HUGE piece of Quartz) and the Aquarium where we saw sharks, and stingrays and seahorses and my favorite jelly fish. We ate turkey legs and french fries and a funnel cake and I still managed to stay on my diet. Mia loved the funnel cake. And we walked, and walked and walked and walked some more. I think we walked off the funnel cake.
Saylor's favorite thing was the Aquarium, mine was just getting to be together and Mia's was the Fisher Price playground. They had all of the new toys for kids to try out and she loved it.
I couldn't resist a picture with the giant stacking rings.

And here Mia is with what I think could be at the top of her Christmas list. She opened and closed and crawled through that door I don't know how many times.

We had a great time at the State Fair!!!!

Slacking

I have been lazy about taking pictures recently. I wanted to have a photo every day, but some days it is just hard to find something new to take a photo of. I am trying not to feel guilty about this, but it's not working. I feel guilty. We are planning on going to the State Fair on Monday so I should have plenty of pictures to share from that trip. I still haven't moved the pumpkins outside yet so when I do I will have a photo opportuity there. I haven't felt good for the past two days. My eye is swollen. Not sure what is wrong with it. Allergies I think.

Swollen eye=bad pictures.

So I am NOT going to feel bad about missing a few days of the photo of the day. I'll get back on track soon!

I told you

See I told you I could feel fall on it's way! I hope it sticks around! I get to get a brand-new sweatshirt this weekend (or so I've been told) and I can't wait to pick one out. I think this year I may go with the Old Navy sweatshirt. I haven't decided yet. We're going to get one for Mia too. Her first sweatshirt. AAWWW!!!!
In other news I had my first weigh-in today after starting Weight Watchers (again). Last time was pre-married, pre-baby and I did very well. This time it is a little more difficult but I lost 1.2 lbs. this week. Not too bad. I didn't have to try that hard and I only got really hungry once and managed not to go too overboard. I didn't exercise at all so when I start doing that (week 3) then I am sure I will do even better. I am happy with it. Mostly I am happy that I made it through and didn't cheat and most of all didn't feel cheated! Tune in next Thursday for the WW update.

Enjoy the fall weather. We are going pumpkin shopping on Sat. Can't wait.

There's something different about today. . .

Something feels different about today for me. Suddenly today I feel like something new is in the air. I think it could be Autumn coming. So in honor of that I will now type in only lovely autumn colors. . .I know that it is still over 95 degrees in Texas, but for some reason this morning I opened the blinds in my scrap room and lit a candle and started working and I just felt it. It is hard to describe. Of course it could just be the new hazelnut scented candle, but I think that it's something else. I love fall. It means I can finally start wearing my worn out and well loved sweatshirts I've had since college. Everyone seems to think of Spring as a time of new beginnings, but I tend to think of fall as that time. When the old way is dying and the new is lying in wait for the perfect time to make it's appearance. My other favorites about this time of year are. . . (this calls for a list)
1. pumpkins
2. halloween
3. leaves changing colors
4. crisp, cool morning air
5. snuggling weather
6. Thanksgiving
7. Thanksgiving
8. sweatshirts and jeans
9. football
10. the state fair

One more week of September left!!! Then out come the Halloween decorations. I can't wait.

Anniversary flowers

Beautiful flowers from my wonderful husband!!! I love flowers. No. . .I mean I LOVE flowers! Just in case you were wondering he loved the Motley Crue T-shirt I got him. Don't ask just be happy that he liked it. Have a great Thursday.

On this day. . .

three years ago I married Saylor Mills. Boy has it been some three years too. We have been through things that some people will never face in 50 years of marriage and I think we are closer for it. Hard times always seem horrible when it is happening but you always (or usually) see it as a blessing later on. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband!!! Isn't he cute? He even got me flowers for our anniversary!

New pet peeve

I have just discovered that on my photo of the day blog (which you can find by clicking of the link to the right) that people have been leaving comments. The problem is they are not really leaving comments they are leaving COMMERCIALS!! They say "I really love your blog check out mine" and when you get there it is just an ad for something. HOW RUDE!!! I can't believe people would go to the trouble to do that. I am thinking about turning the comment feature off. Just thought I would share.

Lot of updating to do. . .

I have gotten so behind on my photo of the day so rather than trying to go back and update I think I will pick up posting pictures starting with today. Some of the pictures are from last week when we visited Mom and Dad. Mia loved the okra!

We had a long weekend. Saylor got home from Mississippi about 2:30am on Friday morning and we spent all day Friday just hanging out at home. Then I went to a cropping party at church that night. It was a lot of fun!! Saturday we attempted going to the Trade Days at McKinney but only stayed for about 45 mins. Mia couldn't take the heat. Her poor little face was all red and she seemed a little weak so we decided to go shopping at the outlet mall instead. I couldn't find any clothes that fit (as always) so we went home. Sunday was church and lunch and grocery shopping and I started feeling sick while at the store. By the time we got home I felt awful and had a fever and felt achy all day. Actually, I had a bit of a fever still this morning. We think it may have been the Taco Salad I had for lunch. Mia is super grouchy this morning and can't decide whether she wants to be held or wants to play on the floor. I hope Tues. will be a better day. Well, I'm off to post a photo of the day.