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Here is my last entry into the Halloween Blog Party being thrown by Amy at Living Locurto...
I recently purchased Photoshop Elements and decided to try it out on a Halloween photo from last year of my girlies dressed in their poodle skirts.
Going Green or just Going Safe? Then I have the product for you. Recently I was contacted by Kay Green from My Precious Kid and asked if I wanted to try out their new product, the Klean Kanteen, for my son. Of course I jumped on the opportunity! I love trying out new things, especially when they are FREE. Kay not only sent me one for Noah but she sent me an extra one to giveaway to one lucky reader. Yep, you read that right, I get to give one away. Cool, huh?
I tried/kept the blue one for Noah.
Drum Roll Please...
Presenting my long past due "Stupid People Trick"! First let me introduce this 'stupid' trick. For those of you who are new to my blog, I was awarded a Gold Card in this post. As I was following the rules and handing the award back out to other fellow bloggers I decided to send it over to Half Past Kissin' Time. Well to my surprise Mrs4444 has an humiliating entertaining little challenge, we shall call it, that everyone must commit to in order for her to accept an award from them. You must check out her challenge here and see her stupid people trick. Now at first when she informed me of this ridiculous interesting challenge that I must perform on the internet for everyone to see... well let's just say I was sure she was getting the last laugh. After seeing her stupid people trick in a photo and heading over to Zoe's Dad to see his video, I felt much better. Okay well maybe that's not true, I still don't feel great about it. But at least I know I'm not alone. I would like to however clear up one thing. I do not believe these are 'stupid people' tricks, I believe these are 'stupid tricks' done by people. So read it like 'stupid' people trick. Just to make that clear!
Without further adieu...
Yes, I am able to move my ears. Yes, I just posted that video of myself on the world wide web for everyone to see and I have no makeup on. Yes, I was trying very hard to be serious yet continuously busted out laughing. Yes, I am embarassed but hey what's the harm in a little fun?! So now that I have shown you my stupid trick I thought I would also share this video of my daughter's useless people trick.
They call it the "Human Ball"
Maybe her display of rolling on the ground will distract you and make you forget my stupid people trick.
.... yeah, I didn't think so.
In celebration of the Halloween blog party going on over at Living Locurto I have decided to share some photos from our most recent Halloween activities. Today we went to Six Flags Over Texas to their Fright Fest which the kiddos loved! Gab actually rode a ton of rides including some really fast moving rides and roller coasters. Of course only the ones they allow six year old children on! I was still surprised to not see her get scared of anything. Not even the spooky people walking around. She is growing so fast, too fast! Since they were not allowed to wear their costumes, T wanted to at least spray her hair with color. Hot pink and black color to be exact. Ever since Miley Cyrus became so popular with T, her new craze is pink and black. When T cut her hair over the summer she removed ten inches to donate to Locks of Love. She could literally spike it in the back although the front was longer reaching her chin. Well she has let it grow since then so when we bought the stuff to put in her hair I stupidlythought I could still spike it. We bought black hair gel with hot pink color hair spray. The idea was to make her look like a rocker chick while still maintaining the look of age 11. We got completely ready and started to do her hair right before we walked out the door. "I mean come on how long could that possibly take?" I started by trying to spike her hair with regular gel then adding the black and planned to spray the pink at the very end to touch it up with color. O.M.G. What a mess! Her hair has obviously grown a foot and is now way too long to spike. Therefore at this point we had a black gooey mess. I took baby wipes to the side of her head and face where the black mess had gotten. Also had to clean her ears. I never wanted to be a hair stylist. Instead of stopping and rinsing, we continued. I then added the pink spray along with some spray gel and two different kinds of hair spray to help 'hold' the hair in some form of place. I did my best to at least get the back some what slicked into a type of mini mo-hawk. Now remember, this was for Halloween rocker chick ONLY! I would never let my child normally leave the house looking this way. We then decided to add a little glitter spray that we had bought for Gab's Halloween costume of Cinderella. So now it was black with hot pink and glitter. T left the house with having regular molding gel, spray gel, two different brands of hair spray, black dye hair gel, hot pink hair color spray and glitter spray in her hair. I have never known someone to have so many products in their hair at once. We finished up the little touches with a couple of temp tattoos and TADA! Rocker chick. Check out the photos below.
Now Gabby did not do anything today as far as dressing up for Halloween but she did have a bunch of fun at Six Flags. I managed to get a few photos of her with some characters dressed in costume and next to a few life size blow up decorations.
I do not have the photo shop programs on my computer to make cute little collages but I did manage to find this neat digital scrapbook page from photobucket. I thought this was perfect for the Halloween Blog Party. So here are a few photos from today that I uploaded into photobucket.
This scrapbook Halloween theme slideshow was free and easy to create. I am actually very impressed with the online program. They have a ton of other themes to chose from, not just holiday related. Check it out here. It is called Scrap Blog but is partnered with Photobucket and uses your photos from your already created albums. Pretty neat and you do not have to be crafty to know how to do this. The themes are already laid out and you just upload the photos right into place.
Now that I have left you with some photos, a cute little short story and a Halloween tip that can be used anytime with all digital photos.... I am calling it a day, off to bed for me. Giving Gab several piggy back rides today has worn me out. Had a blast though and was well worth it!
Wow, where to start. I have to admit I have kept all my blog posts pretty light hearted so far and this one is going to be deep. For all of you bloggers out there, have you ever thought about writing a post and almost written a post, yet didn't? Maybe since I am still fairly new to the blogosphere and have not completely cracked out of my shell, it is still hard. Hard to just put it all out there.
Last Thursday I had a blog post I was going to submit that again was very light hearted, witty and carefree. I stopped from submitting it because I ended up having other things on my mind. My friend Teri from Sweet Surprises By Teri called me up from our local children's hospital to inform me that her son who just turned three last Monday has a brain tumor. *Sigh* They took him into surgery first thing Friday morning to remove the tumor. Teri is a very good friend of mine who I met through Noah's Ark Animal Workshop which I started once I found out my daughter was having brain surgery last year. I knew then I would have to stay at home. Teri does other businesses as well so when I opened my store this month she actually created my business tags, coupons and other marketing materials for me. She is truly GREAT! Teri has a four year old son as well that she takes care of full time. This news was devastating, to say the least. Johnathon (Teri's three year old) had not been feeling well for about a month now. He had been stumbling, throwing up, complaining of headaches, etc. First the doc said he had the flu, then it was 'oh he is a typical three year old who is just off balance' whatever like Teri wouldn't know if her son was usually off balance. I mean come on, I know little ones take time learning balance but do they learn it then lose it again right before they turn three? A mother knows when something is wrong. So of course after a few weeks of worrying Teri finally had enough and demanded a scan be done. Sure enough, tumor! Now we talked over the weeks about him not feeling well and even though I could hear in Teri's voice that something was wrong, I NEVER thought tumor. That night I couldn't sleep. I was worried. No, I was scared to death for Teri. I know you are thinking, for Teri?! Don't you mean Johnathon... Yes I was worried about Johnathon of course but for me this was like re-living my daughter's surgery last year. I know what I went through and never wanted anyone to go through that. Of course for those of you who don't know, Gab's surgery and Johnathon's were completely different. Gab did not have a tumor.
A quick recap: Gab had a stroke when she was in utero and was born with Cerebral Palsy, then came Epilepsy, mood disorder and ADHD. For years we had done medication to control her seizures and therapy to help with her CP but last year her seizures got out of control. They were causing brain damage and were happening daily. The neurologist said the only way to stop them was to remove part of her brain. So I, like Teri, had to go through all the warnings of the surgery. Gab had the whole left side removed so we were not sure if she would talk, walk or ever wake up the same, again. The wonderful Make-a-Wish Foundation sent us to Disney World before her surgery, another great story for another day.
Back on track. So I knew the neurosurgeons working on Johnathon and also know there are many wonderful people praying for him. I couldn't stop worrying about Teri. I was so afraid that she would go through what I did. Not knowing what would happen come surgery, not knowing if Johnathon would wake up and know who she was. That feeling never goes away. You can push it down and try to clear the image from your mind but it's there, forever. I went to the hospital during the day Friday to sit with Teri while Johnathon was in surgery. I was not able to stay the whole day due to picking up kids from school. But the little time I was there, seeing Teri with her swollen eyes and worried looks, just broke my heart. The memories of sitting in that surgery waiting room, the same smell, the same lights and sounds... The same fear. The fear of losing your child. The feeling of no control. The anticipation to hear everything went okay, to see your child and to know they are the same. Words truly can't describe it. I was so nervous yet hopeful! When Gab went into the hospital for surgery she was supposed to be in and out in two weeks, well let's say FOUR MONTHS. When she woke up from surgery she knew no one. That night she cried for her mommy and when I went to her side eagerly, knowing she said my name, she did not know me. At one point she asked me to go get her mommy. *Sigh of broken heart* All I kept thinking and feeling last Thursday night and Friday were those same exact feelings again. Scared to death that Teri would have to feel that. Thank God that afternoon when Johnathon came out of surgery he was himself and he knew his parents. YAY! That was so important for me to hear. Unfortunately his tumor was cancer and their hospital road is not yet over. Although they will be able to go home within the next few days, soon they will start the chemo and radiation process. Something I was fortunate to know nothing about.
*Please pray*
Now a year ago when Gab was going through all this I created her a web page to inform family and friends of her progress throughout the surgeries. I created it at Sampa which was great for us. We were able to password protect it and all. I have a ton of photos and stories to go along. Unfortunately I did not continue keeping it updated against popular demand. The difficult times were hard enough for me to manage, writing about it was overwhelming. I believe I am ready now to finish the story. So I would like advice. Should I go back to Sampa and redo her old site or create a blog here? I read how I can make it private for only readers I add, yet they have to create a login. Has anyone done this? It might be easier to have both blogs in the same location. If the readers are required to have a login at either place then would it matter? Advice appreciated.
Yes! You read that right, there is a blogathon going on right now. Prizes every hour at The Secret is in the Sauce. Go check it out!
As you all know I took the kids to the pumpkin patch last weekend. I just love Fall! It is truly my favorite season. Nice weather, pretty colors, and the season just seems relaxing. Not to mention all the wonderful holidays. Lately I have been reading a bunch of blog posts that talk about preparing for the holidays and avoiding the stress. Does everyone really get stressed over the holidays? Okay, okay maybe I can see why a little... If you know me... I stress to the max everyday so to me the holidays are nothing different. I love shopping for my kids, absolutely love to wrap presents. I can't decorate enough! I am looking forward to this holiday the most because last year we spent several months in the hospital with Gab's brain surgery. We only got to put up a very small tree near her hospital bed. Of course we weren't home to decorate. I didn't wrap presents but by all means the kids were not lacking in anything. They got plenty. I also didn't get to accomplish my favorite BLACK FRIDAY shopping event which I do plan on this year. The rush from fighting working hard to get the good deals before the stores sale out is priceless!
Okay so not everything that comes with Fall is perfect. With Fall comes sickness. T is already on antibiotics from last week getting the sinus infection crap. Gab had a small runny nose which I am sure will come back and Noah suffers from allergies so I know he will spend most of his time sick. That is the part I dread. We went to the zoo for Gab's field trip (again you know) where the teachers could not use enough Purell. So my goal is to try and maintain a healthy fall. I did a search for some free samples of the needed items and ran across this site. Check it out! "Healthy Fall free samples"
I just wanted to say Happy Fall to everyone! My kids are out of school AGAIN on Monday. Seems like they have had several days off this year already. Watch my post later today about the cool 5th grade trip we are planning at the school. I am so excited to take part in it! I went to the meeting last night and volunteered. I will share the news later.
It's Tooting Tuesday time again and I am not very happy already... This is literally the fourth time I have redone this post. First I had problems creating the links to add photos. I added the photos and they were not showing up, then I had to publish the post to view it so after I edited it the automatic save feature was not on. Therefore when my computer froze up I lost the whole post. So... let's try again!
Okay so it's not Friday but I am typing up some fragments anyways... Why? B/c it's my blog... well to tell you the truth b/c I forgot to post it on Friday. No wait that's not the truth, I didn't forget. Matter of fact my blog has been on my mind every day for the past two weeks.
DJane's Thoughts:
"Don't forget to write blog post"
"Blog about store, post photos you took a week ago"
"Announce the giveaway and how everyone can enter"
"Discuss the new menu plan in your blog"
"Post the cute pics from the park for Wordless Wednesday or Thousand something Thursday..."
"Hell just freakin' take time out to blog"
"Hello! Still haven't blogged"
"Blog about Gab's bad doctor's visit"
"Blog about ANYTHING"
DJane's Actions: (not in correct order)
Took kids to the pumpkin patch.
Opened store.
Still working on stocking store.
Still working on tagging all the wonderful items to place in the store.
Took Gab to her follow-up appointment and it went horribly!
Spent the whole day shopping at the Dallas Market Center from wholesalers to stock my store even more.
Almost forgot, been working on two college courses.
Took Gab to the park.
I know there has been a lot more going on then I can think of to type, such as birthday parties we were invited to, sick kids and doc appts. Other normal yet stressful things.
So although none of these are good enough excuses to not blog, they are my excuses. The thing I hate the most or should I say the thing that bothers me the most is that out of all these things I don't feel like I am accomplishing any of them. I love to blog and this is the only thing that is just for MOMMY! Well okay the store and college is for me too but ultimately they will benefit my family as well. The blog is just MINE!
