Valentine's Day

I'm less than a month behind on blogging now (if you factor in the posts I have scheduled for the next two weeks)!

Yay for me! I should have a party to celebrate!

Speaking of celebrating, how did you all celebrate Valentine's Day?

My sister and her husband don't. Like ever. Sillies!

Me, on the other hand, I enjoy a good celebration so Russ and I gave each other cards. And then he went to a friends house for a man-date to watch the Thunder lose to Miami.

Um!?!? I know!

So I decided to take Chloe Jo out. When we were talking about where to go I asked her if she wanted to go to Olive Garden to which she immediately replied, "No. I don't yike dat pace." She doesn't know. She's never been. So then I suggested IHOP and Cherry Berry afterwards to which she replied "I YUV IHOP AND PANTATES AND I YUV CHERRY BERRY. I WANT TO GO THERE TO GET ICE CREAM. THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST! I LOVE PANTATES WITH SEERUPS AND STRAWBERRY YODURT! ICE CREAM FROM CHERRY BERRY IS THE BEST!"

So that's what we did.

I like for our house to be a tiny bit festive for holidays. I especially like decorating the fireplace. I can't put a bunch of tall things on the mantle because our TV sits in in alcove behind the mantle so I mainly like to use banners. I made this cute Valentine's banner and this year I remembered to put out my Valentine's quilt that my mother made me several years ago.

Of course, Chloe Jo and I had to take a picture with the festiveness. She wanted to wear her shirt with a "scarf" so she could be like Mommy. Scarves are my favorite fashion accessory.

Love this picture so much (even though Chloe Jo is being a tad goofy)!

Our friends, Ross and Tia, gave each family that was at Wednesday evening Bible study a box of Glacier Confections. While I am not really a fan of this type of chocolate, I thought they were so beautiful! I did eat one that was filled with caramel apple and it was yummy! Then I ate one that wasn't so yummy and that reminded me of why I don't care for these kinds of chocolate. If they would just say what was in them, it would be all good.

And that's all she wrote!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-30-1996 and 3-31-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-30-1996

G and B left for the states today. B gave me millions of kisses. She is so loveable! They will get home on Sunday. After we went them of thier way we went sight-seeing with Seargae. We went and saw Merinski Palace and the Silver Lady. We were taking a picture of a neat looking building and some militia people (or police as they call them in the states) told us we couldn't. Oh, well, all's well that end's well. Then we met dads class and ate at the Boston Burger. Artiome, Liza and R taught me how to play pig. It's exactly like spoons except you stick your tongue out instead of picking up a spoon. Those burgers were real good. :-)

3-31-1996

*This is the last entry for our 1996 trip.

We went to Centre again today. K1 taught on faith again. There were no Africans that day in the class. There are usually around ten. The Ukranian time change was during the night so alot of Ukranians got there an hour late because it caught them by surprise. After services we went to the Cs for Ks birthday party which was a day early. We had this nasty Chinese noodles with wierd flavoring. That's the only thing of Ds that I thought was awful. The kids all talked in the Boys room. I read Js book of great insults. Most of them were ok. A lot were stupid. A few were really good. :-)

Old Kindle Out, New Kindle In

A looooooooong time ago, back in 2010, I bought a Kindle Keyboard and I loved it.

I loved it so much that 2 years later, I set it on the armrest of the couch and it fell off, leaving an ugly mark in the middle of the screen that would not go away no matter what I did.

And then I remembered that I had bought a 2 year protection plan for it! The accident happened in October of 2012 making it just inside the 2 year limit on the plan.

I'm not usually one to buy the protection plans for things so that, in and of itself, was odd, but I am so thankful that I did! I dialed up the Target protection plan hotline and they immediately said that they would issue me a -get this- FULL REFUND. This Kindle was 2 years old and I was getting back every cent that I paid for it which ended up being $190 for a Kindle that is currently going for only $90.

Are you thinking big upgrade? Because I sure did!

And here is my new Kindle Paperwhite...well sorta new...I received it back in December...blog slacking much?

I have been so happy with this new Kindle. The best upgrade is that it has side lighting so that you can still read it in the sunlight without any nasty glares like you would get with backlit electronics. I also like the fact that it is completely touch screen. It is smaller than my previous Kindle so the accessories I had for that one didn't fit on this one, but that just gave me a good excuse to buy a new cover. :)

I picked this one up for a great price at TJ Maxx...anyone else love that store?

Now if I could just find more time to read....

and blog...

and sew....

and play....

and relax....

Sometimes

When there is music playing...

And you are cleaning with Mommy and Daddy....

You just can't not take a moment to dance.

Yes, Christmas is still up in these pictures. I'm very behind in my blogging.

All Things Pony

I loved My Little Pony when I was little. When Chloe Jo really started liking watching TV (as if there was a time she didn't like it) I bought her one of the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic DVD's. From that moment on, she was hooked. She love everything Pony and I am not one bit disappointed about this because I love all things Pony, too, now.

I really do try not to go overboard buying her toys. We are so incredibly blessed and I don't want her to think she should get everything that she wants, but this is our (yes, I said "our") Pony collection at this time.

Um...yikes. Most of this stuff was given to us, but a lot of the single Pony's (that didn't come with playsets) we did buy. I'm pretty sure she is finished collecting Pony's for a while!

Just a few weeks ago the season finale of season 3 aired and Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn. This episode is so good and we have watched it several times over. The Twilight Sparkle alicorn toy is not being released until the fall, but we are excited about it anyway.

In light of this development (that has the Brony community up in arms, by the way) I decided to make Chloe Jo a Twilight Sparkle inspired shirt. She didn't understand that the shirt wouldn't actually have Twilight Sparkle on it, but after I explained to her that wearing the shirt makes her Twilight Sparkle she was totally down with it.

I also have a Pinterest Board that I call "All Things Pony" to pin ideas or Pony things that I like or think Chloe Jo will like.

Source: kwejk.pl via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

Gotta love Twilight Sparkle!

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

Can you believe I did a whole post about My Little Pony?

Me neither.

HA!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-28-1996 and 3-29-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-28-1996

Today we went to B's and visited for about an hour. Andrew had just gone to her flat and she bought sixty-eight eggs and at least 15 laquer boxes. I read a book all that visit. The book was sister of the Bride. It is real good. She told me about a Russian Book printed in English about folk tales. I read one and it was real good. It was about a girl who fell in love and the guy married another so she walked out into the sea and drowned herself. After that we went to the Ss and Babysat S, C, and A. A was very bad. He went through about 10 pair of pants and underwear. I watched movies and played the computer all day. I love that game called Chips. It is great. Dad will have to get it. We spent the night with R. :-)

*I had no patience as a teenager for children and I really wish I would have cut the poor kids some slack (especially since I apparently did not babysit while I was playing the computer "all day"). I'm not sure the exact ages of the kids, but I think S was probably about 4, A was younger than her and C was a baby.

3-29-1996

We stayed at R's all day until 2:00. RC went to look for a store to print some tracks for the Russians. R was being such a brat. She was calling us loosers because we played monopoly. Last night she was sitting in her room knitting her socks. We were bored so we played a game. There's something wrong with that. Finally her mom told her to shut up about us being loosers. I think she was mad because of Michelle. Michelle stayed half of the night in the boys room talking to C in the dark while R and I watched Old Yeller. It was an ok movie. Well thats all we did. I zonked out at 5:00 and slept for 14 hours straight. I was in a great mood when I woke up. :-)

Quilt Day

A few weeks ago (I'm pretty behind on blogging) I got together with two of my crafty friends and we made quilts. Rebecca's mom was in town and she is an avid quilter so we wanted her expertise. We met at 10:00 that morning and I didn't get home until 9:30 that evening. To say we enjoyed ourselves is an understatement! It was also Rebecca's birthday so she called our get-together her grown-up birthday party.

We all made the same type of quilt. We watched this tutorial on Youtube to learn to tube quilt. It turned out to be fun and simple. I highly recommend this type of quilting if you are a beginner.

We all started with 2 jelly rolls (these are rolls of 2 1/2 by 42 inch strips of fabric).

 We then went by the tutorial and cut another strip of fabric in a coordinating color. We sewed two strips of the jelly roll together and then sewed that on to the coordinating color strip. This made our fabric tube.

 Whirrrrrrrr!

We then used our square to cut the fabric tube to get blocks. I guess I didn't take a picture of the cutting part. If you are really interested, though, go watch the tutorial and you will understand what I'm talking about. 

After cutting the tube, we ironed the pieces flat which gave us small squares. Each tube gave us around 10 small squares.

The tutorial says that you can make your quilt in a chevron pattern. This ended up not to be true (more on that in a minute), but we didn't know so we all laid our blocks out in a chevron.

Rebecca picked this beautiful orange and blue jelly roll with a coordinating blue fabric.

Kristin and I are way too much alike and chose the same jelly rolls! She did get a lighter pink coordinating fabric, though.

We were so disappointed when Kristin sewed a strip of chevron together and the points didn't line up! Since we were all beginners we didn't even think about the fact that this can not mathematically work out since the blocks made a perfect chevron when all laid out not sewn. Once you factor in the 1/4 inch seam allowance there is no way this could work.

My mom, who is also an avid quilter, said that she has used several patterns that gave wrong information and that it is nothing new to have to rethink your quilt.

I finished making my blocks (or so I thought) while I was with my friends and then took them home to figure out what the new pattern was going to be.

 

I ended up doing a diamond pattern instead but did have to make a few more square for it to work out correctly. I ended up with a stack of leftover squares because I wanted there to be a pattern in the quilt even though the chevron did not work out. To achieve this, I had to discard some squares and make others. Kristin is making a quilt for her daughter's twin bed so I gave my extra squares to her to use. At least they didn't go to waste!

I still need to put a border on the quilt and then I have chosen to back it in minky and tie it. I think I will be listing this quilt on Etsy once I am finished with it.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-26-1996 and 3-27-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-26-1996

Today we babysat A, C, and S. I played the computer and watched Pocahontas. K1 has a really neat game called chips. You have to go around and colect all the chips to get to the next floor. It is a great game. At four o'clock mom came and got us. We went to our flat and got the chili. Then we went back to the Ss. C came and got Michelle there. Then we ate tacos and chili. It was a wierd variety. After we ate we had Banana Splits with chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge, and pineapples. It was really good. After supper and desert we played a really neat game called mind trap. It was a game where you had to solve wierd questions. Even though my team lost it was fun. :-)

3-27-1996

Today we went to the Cs around 10:00. We watched the sound of music. It was a really good movie. After we watched that we took R and a grumpy Michelle to St. Andrews street. I bought some key chains and a shirt with the Russian alphabet on the back and on the front was a Koca Kola slogan in Russian. Mom bought a shirt and Doll. R bought 4 metrouskas and 4 key chains for her friends in Tiawan. Michelle was just grumpy all that time. R was so rude to them. She would look at their stuff and they would try to get her to buy something and she wouldn't talk to them. She would just walk away. She knew how to shop on that street. We went to Centre again tonight. :-)

*R's family were missionaries in Taiwan for several years before moving to Kiev.

Crazy Hair Day

One of Chloe Jo's favorite things to do right now is play with my hair.

One day (apparently a very long time ago as there is a Christmas tree without presents under it in this picture) she decided she wanted me to play with her hair. She wanted me to use every single barrette and clip that she had.

This is what I came up with:

I can't wait for Crazy Hair Spirit Day when she goes to school!

Slump Shlump and Snow Day

I have been in a blogging slump and I'm not sure why.

I haven't had the motivation for the last few months to blog, but I'm not ready to let this little ol' blog go, either.

I have a good friend who recently started a blog and I visited it tonight. It reminded me of why I love to blog and how fun it is to share my life with others. I know, at first, this blog was mainly for my eyes only and it was a journal where I could write down my thoughts about infertility. Along the way, I came out of that time in my life and I enjoy sharing craft projects and stories about my day to day life and parenting. Her blog helped me decide to get out of my blogging slump right now.

It couldn't have come at a perfect time as I am celebrating my 5 year blogoversary in 7 days. It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that this blog has existed for 5 years.

So I freshened things up. I updated my sidebar information and my More About Me tab. I'm ready to lay aside my slump shlump and get back into it!

How much more perfect could this day have been? When I woke up this morning, I spied the tiniest bit of white peaking through the gaps in our blinds. Snow! Glorious snow!

Chloe Jo was beyond excited! We ate breakfast, cleaned a little bit and bundled up to go outside to play.

My silly girl was so funny! She stepped into the snow, realized it was "messy" and looked at me like I had betrayed her! This girl does not like any kind of mess on her! I explained to her that it was okay and took a few steps into the snow and, for once, she decided that it was, indeed, okay. After that I couldn't stop her from playing to her hearts content.

Our first snowman! We had snow once the first winter we were in South Carolina, but it was powdery and not good for making snowmen. Before that, she was too little to go out and play. This was an exciting, memory making day for us!

Now that we have had our snow and played in it this winter, I am ready for Spring!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-24-1996 and 3-25-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-24-1996

Today we went to the Centre Congregation. It was so cold! Michelle wore my dress when I didn't want her to. Sometimes I wish I could strangle her neck. KS taught on Faith. R preached for the first time. After church we went home. That night we went to the D's apartment. to have supper. They had also invited Sasha and his wife and little Boy. The boy's name was Andrew. He was 18 months. He could talk really well and he was potty trained. He was the smartest boy I think I have ever seen. He was really cute to. After we ate the delicios meal we sat around and played phase 10. That was all we did today. :-)

*I admit I was a selfish teenager and I still struggle with selfishness as an adult.

3-25-1996

Today we went to the Cs around 9:30. R and I followed Michelle and C out but lost them around a corner. So we went to the Gastronom and bought some ice cream cones. After we bought those we went to slide on the ice and we found Michelle and C again. They were so mad at us. Then I fell on the ice and got all wet. When we went home, I got into the shower the first thing. That night R came over and she spent the night. We gave ourselves manicures and played games all night. I won the two times we played phase 10. And both of us won at master mind. Except that's a very easy game to win at. All you have to have are brains. :-)

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-22-1996 and 3-23-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-22-1996

Today we met R, S, and A at our metro to go to Geedro Park. None of the rides were open. But we got in the gate for the cages. R and I went around 20 times. It was great. We met the Boys around 12:00. We all got shishkabobs. They were really good. Then I took A across some ice that was in the way. He fell and when I tried to get him up he would slip again. He laid in the ice for about 30 seconds. Then I got made fun of because of it. I was so mad at C and J. They can be two great guys one second and then another second they are total jerks. When we got home Anatolie asked Michelle and I to go to the lavra with him, Vadime, Marina, and Lacia. The lavra is a Orthodox monostary. All the building had gold tops. It was really bueatiful. After we went through a tunnel with a bunce of dead people we got to keep the candles as souveniers. It was awesome. After that we all went to see the Mother Ukraine. Then Anatole took us home. :-)

3-23-1996

About 10:00 in the morning C and R came over. C come to pick up Michelle for a date. R came to play or get together with me. We played poker with nerds all afternoon. At 2:15 R left to go help the Ss get ready for Rs party that was over here. I helped mom make a prune bush and I frosted a birthday cake. R turned 40. Also I made a banner out of Russian toilet paper that said "Over the Hill and Startin' down the other side." When we sang happy birthday the Ns sand their version. B sang another song someone from her congregation made up. It was really cute. That night we had roast beef with barbecue for supper. It was pretty good. After we ate K asked a lot of over the hill questions. :-)