Georgia's Birthday

As I said before, my little monster has a wonderful imagination.  Yesterday was her stuffed monkey, Georgia's, birthday.  Now, there's some debate as to which birthday it is.  When she asked me to bake a cake the other night, she told me it was Georgia's 3rd birthday.  However, when we cut the cake yesterday, she informed me that it was her 1st birthday!  So, anyway, we had a birthday party.

The birthday girl had a wonderful time!  We had a veritable feast (although I'm not sure what the food was since it was all pretend and Mariah just said it was tea party food).  Mariah brought out her birthday tea set (the teapot used to play Happy Birthday but it's worn out now) and fixed dragonberry tea since that's Georgia's favorite.  Georgia got a basket full of gifts including a Holiday Barbie and a fire truck.  Very eclectic taste, wouldn't you say?

Then we cut the cake.  I baked it, and Mariah frosted and decorated it.  I think she used half the sprinkles in the pantry!  :)   All in all, it was a very nice birthday party and the leftover cake will taste very nice at our picnic in the park today.  Provided it doesn't rain.  Then Mariah has declared that we're going to the drive-in movie theater (otherwise known as our living room) to watch Toy Story while we eat our picnic lunch.  Isnt it great to be a kid?

More fnishes and stuff

Stitching

I've been on a roll this week.  I finished both Mariah and Rich's coffee cups. 

Now it's back to crocheting!  Today I'll finish putting together my crocheted book cover.  I still need to figure out how to decorate it.  Then I'll be working on my tea cozy.  Both of these are my own designs so I'm pretty proud of them!

Mariah

My child's imagination never ceases to amaze me.  We've been going through boxes in the garage, a couple a night, and sending a lot of things to Good Will.  We've so far come across 2 boxes of stuffed animals that we had forgotten were out there.  Most of them have gone to new homes.  However, there was a baby monkey in one of them.  Mariah picked it up and declared that it was Georgia.  Georgia has a pacifier and a cloth cubical that Mariah has decided is her playpen.  If you watch her carrying her around, you'd swear it was real.  She even jiggles it while she's talking to you just like you would a real baby.  Last night, she informed me that today is Georgia's 3rd birthday and we needed to have a party.  So, guess who got to make a birthday cake this morning?  Real, of course!

I got a call from the social worker at the elementary school yesterday.  Even though Mariah is home schooling, she is still entitled to the services that she would have gotten if she were going to public school.  So, on the 30th, I will meet with the social worker to set up the times for her OT and social therapy.  That'll be a good thing!

We've been using dominoes for several different lessons - math and science both.  Mariah has discovered the dominoes projects.  You know, where they line up a massive amount of dominoes and push one over?  Well, she's been building her own, but we only have 1 set so they're small.  Today, we'll be working on how to make a square pattern fall over without stopping.

Well, off to Mariah's reading lesson!

And how was YOUR day?

Major happy dance!!!

It's finished!!!  I finished the model that I've been working on for the last several months. 

Now I can send it back to Carla so she take pictures.  She's already published the chart and is offering it for $10.


Doctor notes


Mariah had her 7 month follow up on her hearing today.  The problem is definitely congenital and called otosclerosis.  One of the bones in her middle ear (and they can't tell which one at this point) does not move.  She has lost 20% hearing of the low frequencies in her left ear and 50% of all frequencies in her right ear.  There is a surgery that can be done to correct it, but one of the outcomes is a very real possibility that instead of correcting the problem she will be totally deaf.  Not a good option at this point in time.  We go back in January for another test and to fit her for a hearing aid in her right ear.  If the left ear stays the same, that's that.  If there is a change for the worse, they will fit her for the left ear also. 


Fitness stuff


I worked out with the personal trainer again this morning.  He made me do arm weights and dumbbells and then 30 minutes on the treadmill.  My arms are going to fall off!!  On a brighter note, I lost 2 lbs. last week.  Only 64 more to go by New Year's!!  He set me up with a really good workout routine and now I'm on my own until October.


Well, off to work on Mariah's coffee cup!


And how was YOUR day?

School, work and other stuff!

Well, that didn't go so well.  I spent Monday thru Wednesday training for my new assignment.  Monday I created a worksheet for the plant manager in Excel (which he loved), Tuesday I input data into another Excel spreadsheet (which took about 15 minutes) and then spent the rest of the day training in a different system to learn how to release and schedule orders for the floor to process.  I got to do it myself for about a half hour and did pretty well.  Wednesday, I input more data into the 2nd spreadsheet and then went into the other system and started going through the steps to release orders.  I was making an instruction sheet for myself because I didn't know how long it would be before I actually got to do it myself after my training.  When I got to the point where I had questions, the trainer walked in and we started training again.  He took me on a tour of the factory and showed me where all the different sizes and types of steel tubing are kept, where the saws are, which ones cut which tubing, etc.  Then we went back to the office and he let me release and schedule all the normal orders and he doublechecked them.  He made a few minor changes, but, all in all, said I did pretty well!  Before I left, he asked how I thought I was doing.  I told him that I didn't feel comfortable doing it on my own yet, but that a day of doing it with him checking would probably do it.  He said ok, see you tomorrow and I left!  Thursday, while I was getting ready for work, Office Team called.  The company had called to say that they did not want me to come back.  I didn't have enough experience in Excel for what they wanted.  Huh???  So, now I'm back to waiting for a new assignment!

My personal trainer is working hard.  He had me work on Tuesday with just the leg weight machines (40 reps each on 4 different machines), then a couple of core exercises, and then 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Wednesday when I went in, I told him that I was pressing charges for attempted murder!!  I get to work with him again on Monday on the arm weight machines.  Then I'll have 5 weeks on my own before I work with him again. 

Mariah has officially started schooling at home.  We enrolled her in Oak Meadow Elementary School in Vermont, but she's doing it online.  After speaking with the special ed director and going over all her test results from last year, we felt that the best way would be to have her repeat 2nd grade.  There were too many core things (like multiplication and division) that she just was completely lost on.  So, we have 1 year to get her through 2nd grade.  We can fly through what she knows and mainly concentrate on what she really needs.  We have a nice little rhythm set up.  In the morning, we do either math, science or social studies.  Her science project is her favorite -- she's growing strawberries!

You can see they're starting to pop up.  She's been very diligent about watering them, just a tiny bit, every day!  She keeps a journal in which she writes her observations about them once a week or when she sees something new.

After lunch, we work on reading.  We take the chapter of the book we're reading and she writes down 3 things about each chapter into a notebook.  She's getting pretty good at telling me what happened.  Now we just need to work on her handwriting!

After that, she has arts & crafts.  She's learning to knit on my Knifty Knitter looms. 

Right now, she's making a scarf.  As soon as I figure out how to wrap the small round right, she's going to make a hat for her new cousin for Christmas.  We have a stuffed mouse to make that goes with a book and she's giving that to Diana.  Then we have to figure out something for Luke!

As far as my crafts go, I'm almost finished with Carla's model!!  I am 100% done with the black thread and have only the red left.  I'm working on the line that seperates the last two bands today.  I got some more done on Mariah's coffee cup.

I also am working on two crocheting projects, both are for an exchange.  The first is a book cover.  I'm going to put it on a copy of 'In the Kitchen with Rosie', a cookbook by one of Oprah's personal chefs.  I still have to block, stitch and decorate it. 

The 2nd is a tea cozy.  It's a pretty mustard colored yarn and I'm going to thread a green ribbon through the top of it.

Both projects are my own design!!  I can't wait to get them finished!

Well, that's it for me this week.  I still have 2 more assignments to finish for school by tonight.  Then we're going to watch the finale of Food Network Star and the season premiere of The Great Food Truck Race. 

And how was YOUR week?

New things

I started my new assignment for OfficeTeam yesterday.  I'm working in the shipping office of a factory doing data entry.  At least, that's the way it was explained to me when I was offered the assignment.  The hours are supposed to be Monday thru Friday 1pm-6pm.  Perfect, I thought!  I can get up early like normal, do my schoolwork, go work out, come home and do Mariah's schooling then go to work.  I'll get home early enough to go over whatever Mariah did while I was gone, tuck her into bed, finish up my own homework and then do some stitching!  Then I got to work yesterday.

The big boss is who I report to.  We sat in his office while he completely overwhelmed me explained to me what he wanted me to do.  It seems that I'm going to be entering every single form, piece of paper, etc, that the entire factory uses.  I will be designing spread sheets, going to safety meetings and designing a safety plan for the factory.  He anticipates the hours increasing to full time plus and permanent.  I was pretty much hyperventilating by the time we got to my office.  Yes, I'm a temp with my own office.  Today I get a phone, scanner and he told me to just let him or HR know what other supplies I need and he will make sure I get them.  I almost asked for an espresso machine!  :)  Last night went pretty well, we'll have to see how it continues.  Full time plus would not work for me, especially since we're hoping to move out of state by this time next year.  We'll see!

On a stitchy note, I started Mariah's coffee cup the other night.  This is the design she picked:

This is my progress after two days.  I HATE borders!

It's going to be really cute though!

My friend Sarah over at CraftyMoo is having a holiday giveaway.  She loves cows so I guess I'll have to hide Mariah's coffee cup!  Swing on over and take a look at her website, she's got some beautiful stitching!
http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com/2011/08/holiday-give-away-from-cr4ftym00.html#comment-form

Well, that's it for now! 
And how was YOUR day?

Frogs a-leaping!

I finished the square on Deb's RR.  I think he came out cute!

Good stuff!

The mailman came yesterday and brought me good stuff!  First, I got my package from Mare for our Summer exchange.  She sent me several summer charts, a hand towel to stitch on and a pretty card.

Then, I got my Christmas in July package from Tinna.  She sent me the most beautiful Christmas ornament annd WDW threads. 



I love all of it, thank you so much ladies!!! 

I'm working on Deb's RR today.  Here's a picture of the progress so far:

I think he looks pretty cute!

Speaking of cute, Mariah was working on her knitting loom for arts and crafts the other day.  She's so intense and actually got a whole row done!

Yesterday I took her to get her hair cut.  She wanted to grow it long, but she & Daddy can't do anything with it if I'm not home.  So, now she looks quite pixie like!

Well, that's it for today!

And how was YOUR day?