Family Living: Abbott Style

I have so much other stuff that I have to do right now, but instead I am blogging and my child is getting a lesson in patience.  And I...am deep breathing--because simply breaking down and yelling at the top of my lungs out of frustration will only teach my toddler to do the same.  So I will not yell....I will not yell....I will not yell.... What an eventful day.  Sorta of.  I worked most of it.  I am generally avoiding a full 9 hour day with my little buddy because it is nearly impossible with a one-year-old; but the situation called for it so I did it.  Luckily Ian had Haley for part of the day, so that eased some of the craziness for me.  Luckily I am only going to have to juggle the two kiddos for two afternoons and an evening from here on out as there is a new chicka who will also be pitching in this summer.  Met her today, she is fabulous.  I approve, not that it matters.  But it should be a good summer.  Get to spend s...

Well, it has been awhile since I have just rambled just because--so here it goes. Friday I didn't post because I didn't work at the salon.  Ian got called into work early and I didn't have a sitter, so I was off to be productive. Well it was thought that one girl was going to cover my shift but it ended up being another.  Well since Ian was covering in that area he decided to stop in and tell the girl who he thought was covering my shift "thanks" but it ended up being another girl that he didn't know as well, so he decided to have some fun with her. So he goes in and says that he has a spray tan scheduled with the other girl.  Well the girl who was working, her eyes got really big realizing that there was a possibility she was going to have to cover the spray tan for her thus having to spray her first nude/ semi-nude gentleman.  He kept it going for a few minutes, until she almost started  tearing up.  He could tell she was freakin...

Looking around on the net, I found crib savers/ protectors for teething toddlers starting at $20 and up.  They looked simple, so I figured, why not tackle this myself.  Plus, when you DIY, you can custom your own colors and design. (Which if I could do it again, I would do black one side and pink on the other by doing a simple stitch lengthwise down the center, but I didn't want to get too fancy and spend to much money just in case it was a bust. Well I found a DIY no sew version of a crib saver, and had pretty good results. To be honest, I totally rushed through this project.  Haley was in the room with me, I had a million other things on my mind, and I just wanted to check it off my to-do list.  So I rushed and I was sloppy, yet it turned out nicely. You know the fleece tie blankets that are so popular, well this crib saver is the same idea. All you need is one yard of fabric and a pair of scissors. Here is the link if you want the ste...

So I think I might be able to sneak in a blog here.  My kiddo may or may not be napping and the young gentleman I am watching this afternoon is also napping.  Talk about luck. I have a simple problem that most parents experience at some point.  My child has become a beaver.  Today, I noticed she has 8 teeth now.  Which is totally not the point, but 8 teeth.  When did that happen? Well she has been taking all 8 of those teeth and eating the crib rail.  My beautiful baby furniture looks like a beaver has started gnawing on it.  Sorry future baby number 2, but you're going to have jacked up baby furniture because your sister is a beaver. So come to find out, you can buy crib rail protectors.  But buying one already made doesn't sound like much fun.  I am officially unpacked, so I think I am ready to start taking on projects again.  My first project being...a crib rail protector.  I am so excited to give it a s...

As we get settled into our new home, I have been working hard in finding great organizational ideas.  I have a type "A" side of me that appreciates things having their very own place and with its very own purpose.  Many of these ideas I have borrowed from others, but here they are with my own twist.    3M may have one of my new favorite lines of products...I hate the idea of putting nail, screws, and tacks all over my brand new walls; so I picked up a random assortment of products to give a try. (Honestly, with a hint of skepticism)  Originally, I thought the prices were a little steep for their products, but they proved worth it.  What I wish they would invent is a product to hang curtain rods without  putting holes in the walls.  If they could come up with something like that, I would probably buy stock in their company. One of the products I picked up was the "Command Damage-Free Hanging".  And here is how I...

Looks like I have some catching up to do.  In random, and no particular order: Last night, I unpacked my last box.  Ian has a mess in the garage, but I don't know what-is-what...so it is officially in his jurisdiction.  Now all I have to do is put the girlie finishing touches on everything.  Maybe, eventually I can post some pictures of some of the decor & organization ideas I went with, but I can't make any promises as I am busy as ever. Wednesday was Haley's first birthday.  I don't even really want to talk about it.  I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by.  She started taking a few steps...like holding on to something, letting go, then 3 or 4 steps-then she falls on her tushy.  I give her another month before she is going to be running.  She still isn't talking much.  She says Da-da-da-da all the time.  When she is fussing, she will through in a ma-ma or two for good measure--but it's neve...

Yesterday was a mix of emotions.  Stress.  The dislike of moving.  Anxiety.  Joy.  Relief.  Thankfulness. But I found two things that brought me the most happiness, joy, and thankfulness yesterday--and neither of which were materialistic. The first one being friends and family.  First off, my dad arrived--truck and trailer in hand to help us knock out moving.  He was there throughout the whole thing, busting his back and working WAY too hard to get us moved.   Not out of obligation or reward, but simply because he wanted to. Then our good friends Erin and Ryan came to help too.  Erin works extremely hard on weekends (well she works extremely hard EVERY day, but on the weekends it happens to be out of the home and away from the family) on her part time gig.  She had the day off for a family event, yet spent her downtime helping us move.  I was--astonished.  How selfless is that?  The ONE day she has off in a...

Of course, the moment I even think about blogging is when it starts getting busy here at the salon.  Happens to me every time.  I guess I do get paid to work and not blog. This week has been kinda crazy.  We had Ian's birthday Wednesday.  Tuesday night, I spent most of the evening baking goodies for his birthday.  I am pretty proud of the self-control I have demonstrated around his goodies.  I have a huge sweet tooth.  My usual behavior is to either gorge myself on yummies or stay away from them completely, depending on the trend of the week.  Not this time, I indulged a bit--without over indulging.  This is kinda huge for me in changing my eating behavior.  Especially considering my current state of mind this week--which has been stress and chaos. Thursday, which I guess was yesterday, we closed on the house.  I was glad to get that out of the way.  It was kinda an anticlimactic kinda day--bec...

Hey remember me?  I use to blog all the time..now, not so much.  Why?  Because I am crazy and have a ton of stuff going on 24/7.  Literally from sun up to sun down--go-go-go. I'm loving every minute of it. First, I've started sewing. I've determined that I can only have time for sewing at night (.  So after Haley goes to bed is my sewing time...thus far I've made hand towels and baby sheets (thanks to my momma who gave me the hook-up on fabric....I could blah blah blah about it but I'll just show you.  I would post step-by-steps--but I simply don't have time today.  Maybe another time.... Hand towel-- I didn't buy the right kind of towels to make this with.  So I ended up having to do a lot more cutting and sewing--but on the positive side it gave me a lot more practice which was the idea of this project in the first place.    My first attempt didn't go well, so it ended up being a decor ...thing....to place a candle on. ...

I've been terrible about keeping up with my blog recently.  And I have a feeling I am going to jinx myself here at work.  Every time I sit down to blog, then the salon gets busy and people expect me to work and clean up their  butt sweat and such.   I'll start off by saying that Ian and I celebrated our 3-year-anniversary.  It took me 3 hours to make his anniversary card.  I was pretty proud of it and put a lot of thought into it for sure.  Ian took off work so we could go out and celebrate.  We had a fantastic evening.  Went out to Hereford House for dinner where I ate entirely to much and then went and saw the Hunger Games.  It was a perfect evening out that was definitely needed.   Anniversaries are always a time for reflection for me.  3 years really is not a long time in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes you have to look back in order to look forward.  Marriage is not easy, espe...

So I did it.  I found a great deal on a sewing machine online and ordered it. Basically it was a $500 sewing machine only used once that I won on eBay for $150. I eagerly waited a week for it's arrival. It has everything I wanted and more.  Including the ability to stitch in 9 different languages.  More of a sewing machine then I ever imagined, but the possibilities were endless.  I haven't sew anything more than a pillow, and I haven't even done that in over 10 years.  But if I am going to try this whole sewing thing out, I was going to do it right.   When it finally arrived, I knew something was wrong before I even opened the box.  The box was flimsy and very beaten up for it's trip from Minnesota.  Literally, the seller placed the machine in an over-sized-crap-of -a-box.  Threw in a few pieces of foam, a single page of newspaper crinkled up, and a piece of plastic.  Wow.  Thanks...