Monday, April 30, 2012

BelVita

I am not sure how many of you are like me. Growing up I always ate breakfast, as an adult I always ate breakfast until I had my daughter. I no longer have the luxury of leaving my house at 7:30am to get to work. Now I have to be out the door a little before 7am in order to get Kaitlyn to daycare and make it to work on time. I use to wake up at 6am watch the news for a half hour, get ready then eat my breakfast after 7am. Now I get up about 6:15am, rush to get myself ready by 6:30am, get Kaitlyn up and dressed then head out the door. I know, I know, why don't I just wake up earlier? Because I hate mornings. Waking up at 6:15am is already hard enough. I could probably get up at 6am again, which I will have to start doing once I start teaching, but that still does not leave me with enough time to eat breakfast. I have been surviving on coffee till 11am for a year and a half now.
Anyways, Vons started carrying this new product called BelVita and had a ton of high value coupons for them so I picked up a box to try them out. OMG they are so good! I really like the apple cinnamon flavor and the box contains 5 packs = perfect for a work week. So now I can eat breakfast again. I suggest you give them a try if you are like me and don't have time for breakfast.
That is my PSA for the day.

Teaching Update

Well things are certainly moving fast. I first found out about the TTT program in December of 2011 and May 29, 2012 is my first official day of school. I will be finished with school and have my teaching credential as of May 2013!
School is expensive. They provide a $5K stipend to help with the cost but the total for the 8 units I have to take in the summer is $2,775.00. That is only for 8 units! Next semester I have to take 14 units. I was hoping to not have to add to my student loan debt but it looks like I will have no choice in the matter. For now I paid for summer session with the first half of my stipend but going forward I am going to have to revert back to charging my student loan.
Summer session is going to suck. It is only 11 weeks long but it is 4 days a week from 4:30pm to 8:30pm which means I will only see Kaitlyn for a short time in the morning on those days. I was really worried about how this was all going to pan out as far as somebody watching and taking care of Kaitlyn but it seems a plan happened very quickly and effortlessly. My mother in law, Pam, came up with the plan. David will pick Kaitlyn up from daycare and drop her off at Pam's house. Pam will feed her dinner and give her a bath at her house. Then at about 7:30pm she will drive over to our house and put Kaitlyn to sleep in her own bed and wait for me to get home. WONDERFUL! I am so happy about this plan. I was very concerned about having to wake Kaitlyn up to bring her home then try to put her to sleep again. David said he will try to work more on the weekends so he can be home more during the week too. Fall session should only be one day a week in the class room so that will be a little easier on all of us.
I still have to pass the two sections of the CSET which I am scheduled to retake on Cinco de Mayo. Wish me luck! I have to pass algebra this time at the very least. They want us to pass both, which is what I would love to happen as well so I don't have to worry about the tests anymore, but in all honesty I truly only believe I will be able to pass one at a time. It is very hard to focus on both tests while studying, there is too much information that needs to be mastered. Maybe if I had just graduated college I would not have this problem because all of this would be fresh in my mind still, but it has been years since I took a math class. At any rate I am taking Thursday and Friday off this time so I can master algebra and fit in as much geometry as I possibly can. My focus will be algebra though. Like I said I NEED to pass at least one and since I was so close on the algebra last time I figure I would go full force.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Work fridge

This is just wrong:

And you are looking at the freshest layer, dig a little deeper and you will find out where the smell is coming from...
I cannot deal with this, time to invest in a small personal fridge or resort to good old ice packs.

Monday, April 23, 2012

insipid

Word of the day: insipid.
In the text as it was used when I learned it...
"to be honest Brittney has never featured in any of my dreams, not even before her train wreck. I find most of the pretty pop stars pretty insipid as fantasy material. You make a much better slave than Brittney, Id sure pick you over her."
LOL
I had to Google insipid to find out that it means lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge : dull, flat.
This started when I called my boss a slave driver because he makes us work most holidays...
Compliment, insult or lets not go there?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

First Dentist Visit

Kaitlyn had her first dentist visit yesterday. I love the office and the location is perfect, right down the street from our house. When we walked in they had a white board that said Welcome Kaitlyn - very cute. The dentist was trying to get Kaitlyn interested in her but she was acting shy. I let her draw a happy face on Kaitlyn's hand, that seemed to work. All that was done was a count of the teeth that are in or just about to pop in, a cleaning with a standard tooth brush and a fluoride treatment. She went over how to properly brush Kaitlyn's teeth and what to look for in regards to cavities. I held Kaitlyn in my lap and laid her back onto the dentists lap while this was going on. She did not scream but was very scared. I held her hands and she whined the whole time but overall she did great. Weird thing - the dentist makes the kids take of their shoes before going into the exam room. I don't understand why because she did not make me take off my shoes and she left her shoes on as well.
After her appointment Kaitlyn got two stickers, one that said something about being cavity free and the other was to remind me that she had a fluoride treatment and could not eat or drink for 30 min. She also got to pick out a toy, she picked the smallest ball looking thing. I will have to hold on to that one for a while... or watch her very closely with it. She got to keep the tooth brush used to clean her teeth too.

Her next appointment is in 6 months  :)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Bento

I stumbled across Bento when I was doing a Amazon search for kids feeding sets. I was looking for a plate and bowl set for Kaitlyn, found what I was looking for - Mickey Mouse set. Anyways, this Bento stuff looks fun and the utensils required to make and pack it are pretty cheep. I just added a ton of it to Kaitlyn's Amazon wish list. It also looks like a great way to pack my lunches as well. I would consider it for David but he is not into that kind of food.
If you have a chance Google Bento or even do a search on Amazon for Bento. FUN STUFF!
American type Bento
I will probably end up doing something more American style. On ambitious days I will break out the fun stuff.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Cancer

Cancer is a scary word. I hate Cancer and would never wish it on anybody. I have seen many people fight it, a few have beat it. All I can say is it is not a pretty fight.
My wonderful in home daycare provider just informed me that she is fighting breast cancer. I am so upset. It took everything in me not to break down and cry in front of all the kids. She has started chemo and will have surgery once the tumor shrinks.
Kaitlyn absolutely adores Gracie. She has been going there since she was just under three months old. Gracie's house is Kaitlyn's second home. I could not imagine taking her any place else but there. Please keep her in your thoughts and send positive vibes her way. She has requested that the kids keep going to her house. She hired a helper and her husband is around on the days the helper is not able to be there. Gracie LOVES her job and ADORES all the kids she watches. I am so blessed to have been able to take Kaitlyn there from the start.
This is Gracie and Kaitlyn on her first birthday:

Monday, April 9, 2012

CSET Fail

Five minuets ago I got my CSET scores....
Algebra 211
Geometry 180
I needed to get a score of 220 for each in order to pass.
BOOOOOOO
Taking the tests are expensive. If it was free it would not bother me to have to take them again. Those two failures cost me $132.00!

Action Packed Weekend

We had a very busy weekend.
Saturday morning our new neighbors across the street invited us to an egg hunt. I am always game to attend any events hosted by our neighbors. I love getting to know them and wish I had more time to hang out with them. We have a wonderful group on families on our street.
At 11am we headed over there. Kaitlyn got to decorate her own bag to put her eggs in. She had a great time playing with the markers (I only have crayons for her). There were about 7 families total that showed up. After decorating her bag she got to play with some of her new friends. She kept going back and forth from playing with the kids to wanting to color some more. She takes after me in that aspect. I have always loved art! The egg hunt started at about 11:45am. Kaitlyn did very well for her first egg hunt. She picked up about 10 eggs and put them in her bag. Then she pulled them out of her bag one at a time and put them back. There was an older girl with her little sister, who was about the same age as Kaitlyn, standing right there swooping the eggs up as she put them back. So at the end of the hunt she left with 3 eggs. Unexpectedly they neighbors had lunch for us all as well. That was a great surprise. We ate some lunch then headed home for a nice nap.





After Kaitlyn's nap we had to dress up again so she could look cute for her little cousin's first birthday party. We got over there about 3:30pm to find a toddler sized bounce house, a small ball pit, a petting zoo, and a hamburger truck. Not a lot of people had shown up yet so we headed over to the petting zoo. Kaitlin loved the little fluffy white chicken and she is very good about petting gently with an open hand. At a certain moment we spent about an hour inside the house playing with the doll stroller. One day Kaitlyn will get a doll stroller of her own, for now the shopping cart she got for Christmas is doing the job just fine. The rest of the day was spent talking to family members who we have not seen in over a year and bouncing in the bounce house. We did not get home till 7:30pm. It was a very long day but worth it. All of us had so much fun!


Sunday = Easter!
This year Easter was hosted by us since David's brother just had a huge 1st birthday party at his house the day before and Grandma's kitchen just got demolished a couple days before (remodeling). Grandpa Keith even drove down for the day.
First thing in the morning when Kaitlyn woke up I took her to the living room to see what the Easter Bunny brought for her. When she saw the baskets on the coffee table she let out a gasp of joy. It was so funny. I think her favorite toy from the baskets is the play cell phone.


After her nap everybody started to show up. We all went out side where Kaitlyn's new water table was set up and ready to go (thanks Grandpa Keith). It was a big hit! All the kids (Katherine, Kaitlyn, and Joe) played on the swing set for a while so I could get the eggs out and "hide" them. Joe crawled right over to some eggs opened them up and ate the goodies inside. Katherine walked around picking up eggs like a pro. Kaitlyn picked up one egg at a time, she had to eat the goodies inside before moving on to the next egg. Goodies = puffs and a couple Reese's Pieces. All in all it was a fun egg hunt. Then it was off to play in the back yard again till dinner was ready. Thanks to my wonderful husband, I got to stay out side and play with everybody, he cooked everything. I even went in to see if he wanted help and he told me "NO". We had a delicious deep fried turkey with mashed potatoes, green beans, asparagus, and a killer salad. Everybody ended up leaving the house around 7pm.

It was an exhausting weekend but I would do it all over again in a heart beat. It was so much fun.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Big girl undies update

So Kaitlyn and I went over to Grandma's house on Saturday to do the modifications on the undies I purchased for her. Well grandma's sewing machine was on the fritz so they did not turn out as perfect as I would have liked. Glad I only brought one over... some parts are strait stitch, the thread kept breaking so there are a lot of stops and starts, but overall they will work. I think I need to dig my machine out and just go over the outer layer once with a good solid zigzag and it will be ok.
I might just sew the rest myself or send everything over to my mom to complete. She is retired and I am sure would love the challenge. For now these will work as testers.
Ya, not the best pictures = used my phone.
INSIDE:
 OUTSIDE: