27lbs 32.75" long... and you just think I'm talking about my 8 month old...

Nope, I'm not. I caught a fish that is twice the size of my 8 month old baby. More about that later....

So, technically, February 29th would be 8 months old. But, that date doesn't exist this year, so we're going to 'celebrate' the survival today instead. February was a big month for all!



You are now a crawler.


The funny thing is, you just learned how to roll from your back to your stomach this month as well. I'm hoping I have a little while until you start walking, but I know an awfully lot of 1 year olds who have been walking since 10-11 months. You love playing by yourself, which is kind of nice because I can kind of relax and just watch you.


You still love your jumperoo - so much so that you'll jump yourself to exhaustion.


One of your "big girl" toys has arrived. You probably won't play with it much until you have a few more months on you, but you are pretty cute sitting here in your own little chair!


You'll hang out with your dad in the carrier for hours, but can't stand it when I put you in it. Ohhh my back.... thank goodness you are pretty light in comparison to the other 8 month olds I know!


You are now eating banana is actual pieces instead of pureed. This has it's pros and cons. You aren't exactly feeding yourself, so this process is taking forever. I'm going to start on other things like this soon... green beans, sweet potatoes, etc. Should be fun! The kitchen just needs to be put back together first.


On top of everything else, you also experienced your first snow! I hafta say, you did not enjoy it. But, the good thing is - we live in Texas. So, at most, you'll see a light dusting once a year to once every 5 years...

Kaylee's first snow angel! A few hours later the snow started to melt... the little leg prints make me giggle.


I didn't really get to play in the snow much, so Brian came home and made me 11 snowballs to throw at him. I need to work on my arm. My aim is no longer very accurate. Booo


Chewie had a blast in the snow. This is his SECOND snow. He ran for a long time and attacked it anytime he saw some fly up (from him running). It was highly amusing.



On top of all the other events, I had a pretty big month myself. Your Mima asked her friend over one day to give me a makeover. It was much more fun than I was expecting. I'm not very girlie girl, so I was scared of what I might look like when she was done. It turned out pretty well!


A finally... the ultimate outdoorsy trip... 66,000 acres of natural beauty. Fishing, hunting and crabbing. While looking for a horn to a nice cow skull, I noticed a blue crab on the shoreline of this tank. I knew blue crabs were good, but I had never even heard of them in a tank, so I asked... "Are blue crabs good to eat?"
Brian replied, "Yea.. why?"
"Because there's one right here!" and I ran to grab the net.

The tank where all the magic happened.


Do you see him?


When I scooped him up, I noticed the entire shoreline was covered in them! I started scooping as quickly as possible. The next thing I knew (after looking up limits... there are NONE!) I had over 100 in the ice chest.



We went back to the compound and started boiling them up to freeze.



Later that evening, we went fishing. And the first cast brought me this! I was so exhausted that Brian had to help finish bringing him in... it's by far the biggest fish I've ever caught. I'm a professional perch fisherman, but never in my life have I been successful at catching anything edible. I think I found my niche!



Here's some more random pictures from the weekend:

Dogs hangin' out in the jeep, waiting patiently to go quail hunting.

Lovely scenery while driving around.



Brian and his dad stalking a nilgai... the cow was later shot by someone else :(


Roadrunner! I love these birds.. so neat.



Playing with the fisheye lens... this is the common area for dining and drinking.


Horrible picture... but apparently, I forgot to go back and get another one... this is the map of the property.


Weird birds...

I have to thank my friend Mr. Baking Soda

I'll admit. I am not the greatest housekeeper. I try, but as soon as I start to clean something I'm attacked by the "But, first..." disease. Eventually, things do get clean, but it's such a frickin' chore... A long time ago, I started thinking about simplifying my life. I started with the sock drawer and worked my way up to negative family/friends. But... I ignored the housework part of things. I guess that's how much I really dislike doing it.

Last year, I made my own laundry detergent. I also made a vow not to buy anymore household cleaners. I can use vinegar, baking soda or borax. But, then I sat there and looked at all that money I was about to throw away on the cleaners I had already bought. I just couldn't do it. I finally ran out of dishwashing detergent. And stovetop cleaner.

I took a big risk (in my world) and decided to clean our nasty, nasty stovetop with baking soda. A stovetop I normally have to spend hours on because it's soooo greasy.

I'm proud to say that I just cleaned my stovetop in 10 minutes. TEN MINUTES. With baking soda and water! My back doesn't even hurt from the scrubbing!

Since the kitchen makeover will officially begin Tuesday, I'm going to give away all of my commercial products. I know it's a lot of money I'm throwing away, but the clutter and the fact that I probably won't ever use Windex on windows again just means I'm holding on to crap for no reason.

My new goal is to find a cure for the "But, first..." disease. It's really not doing me any justice...

I'm so excited!

Seven Months Old

Kaylee,
You turned seven months old last Saturday. I was still having a hard time since my beloved little Hershey boy died. I managed to take your picture though, which was good all things considered.

Month 6 to 7 was a rough one for me. It was riddled with guilt and wonder. You are a small child, but you eat well and are developing, so deep down, I know there is nothing wrong with you. Your doctor and I had it out, so I went for a second opinion. The new doctor said you are a perfectly healthy child. This set my mind at ease, but for those few weeks, I was in agony wondering... am I starving you?

Miss Thang, you have developed a bit of a personality. And I'm slightly afraid. All of my friends with little girls have told me "Girls are so dramatic!" You already are. Some of it, I will associate with separation anxiety. But, the rest? Ha! Yea.. these tantrums were not supposed to have started until like the Terrible Twos.

All in all, you are a great baby... very playful and happy. Your favorite thing to do right now is jump in your Rainforest Jumperoo (AWESOME FIND, thank you, CL!) and roll from one end of the playroom to the other. You still aren't crawling, but can get around amazingly well like this. I can tell when you are annoyed or mad. The best part is when I realize you are just lonely. If you have been playing by yourself for a while and all of a sudden realize - wait.. why am I alone? Where are my people? You'll look around, groan... I'll look back at you and smile, which makes you smile. My heart melts.

You are so sweet...

One More Day

Hershey, your story began while I was in high school. My mom got you for me for my birthday. We scoured the newspapers and ran all over town looking for the perfect dog. Finally, later in the day, we were way down in South Austin off Brodie and her cell phone rings. It's a breeder in Liberty Hill. She had one more miniature dachschund for sale. She warned us that he was the runt of the litter and his tail was broken because his momma got tired during the delivery.

We all met up at the Taco Bell parking lot in Georgetown (waaaay north) and bought Hershey. It was the best $75 ever spent. It took me days to figure out a name for him. I finally landed on Hershey. Mom wanted to name him Bentley because of his tail. But, that's a rich person's dog's name... He was later registered as Hershey von Bentley Mueller.



Hershey was curious about everything. He was my bug dog. Flies and spiders were no match for him in his younger days. He would run constantly either chasing a ball or a bird or a squirrel. He played so hard for so long.

When I was in MS, he fell out of my truck (it was parked) and hurt his back leg. I took him to the vet for xrays. It turns out, even though I have had this dog since he was 8 weeks old (and did not leave him for more than a day until 2003) and there was no sign of trauma to him when we got him (minus the tail), he had a metal pellet in one of his back legs. It never bothered him, but I always wondered how it got there.





Later in life, he would still play with his ball, but not nearly as much. To help keep him young at heart, we'd stick a ball in a box. He'd go NUTS, often times attacking the actual box and forgetting about the ball.

He also loved chasing my RC car that I got as a gag gift one year.



When not running, he would cuddle with anyone that would have him. After about age 10, his breath was named "Death Breath." It was pretty horrid. Only a mother's (and adoptive father's) love could really handle it.



You were a funny little dog... If I didn't pay attention to you, you'd get in my lap. As the minutes of no attention grew, you'd get closer and closer until you were finally resting your forehead on mine.




I loved how he knew if I was sick. He wouldn't leave my side.

Hershey, I always said you were the only man that ever loved me unconditionally. It was true. You were a good dog and friend. I'm going to miss you very, very much. If only I had one more day...


Your final sunset....

Saving money.. one dollar at a time.

Coincidentally, my friend Tricia asked me about how I'm saving money with homemade household products. I had just run out of dishwashing detergent yesterday, so I was planning to test out the baking soda and borax dishwashing detergent. It calls for 2T of each. I found out that my detergent holder does not hold 4T of powder, so I may have to rewash this load. I'm remedying this by mixing a bunch up and just doing 2T of the mixture.

Last year, I made liquid laundry detergent. It cost me approximately $2. And at the rate it's going, I won't have to make another batch for at least another year. That's right. $1/per year for laundry detergent. I can't even fathom how much people (and myself) spend on something that I'm finding out is a HUGE MARKETING PLOY.

Vinegar is still my best friend. I use so much vinegar, I'm actually considering making it myself to save even more. I just need to get my garage to be organized so I have a place to do so. For vinegar to work, it has to sit for like 6 months.. but if I can figure out how much I'm using, I could literally setup 2 different stations.. one that is sitting and the other that I'm using. By the time I run out, I can make more to sit and start on the batch that is ready. That is a dream at this point, so I have no idea if it'll ever happen.

I also have started following a friend of mine. Her blog talks about how she's working on being more green. So far my 2 favorite posts are: self watering containers and how to drink and be responsible.. haha.

From bachelor pad to a nice starter home...

In every sense of the word "perfect" - that is my home. Why? Because it's a fixer-upper. This house screams "project!" I love working on the house, even if it is time consuming. The bones of the house are great. I hate the floor plan, but it'll be good for someone. I hate the way the HVAC vents are set up, but it is what it is. Those are things I can't/won't change. But, everything else is up for grabs!

How did the snowball effect of remodeling start? Well, it's a funny little story. Before Brian and I got married, I told him I could not live in this house as-is. It's a serious haz-mat issue. I may or may not be exaggerating. So, I asked if I could stain the concrete or redo the dining room floor. This is the same room where there were 8 fish tanks. He said, "Ok." Little did he realize, I had a box cutter in my hand. Before he was able to return from the kitchen, I had the carpet cut along the dining and living room line. This was started almost 2 years ago. The stain didn't end up working out because of that giantic 185 gallon tank. So, I put a vinyl in around it. I can still finish once we move.


Before


After

I also went ahead and pulled out all the old laminate in the small bathrooms and laundry area and put down the same vinyl.

After that, I decided the wall to wall carpet in the bathroom (gag me... ) had to go.

Before


After

And then the blinding floral disaster that was puked all over the walls.


Before




After

Somehow, I managed to convince Brian that the carpet in the rest of the house needed to be replaced.

Before


After

I'm also slowly working on the yards. I've put in a large flower bed in the front. I hope to finish it off with a monkey grass edge this Spring. The backyard needs a lot more help. But, the hot tub, aka another fish tank, was the first thing to go. After that, down came the deck.




Before


After

Our latest project will be the kitchen. It was supposed to be our last project before we sold the house, but when opportunity knocks, you answer!






Before... a nice hot mess.

The plan started with cabinets. Well, of course if you replace the cabinets, you have to replace the counter tops. Well, if you replace the counter tops, you might as well replace the builder-basic back splash. If you replace all of that, you might as well get rid of the floral puke on the walls and paint. Why not just finish the whole thing off and replace all the light fixtures as well, including knocking out the light box (not pictured) and putting in something other than a florescent bulb.

I'm hoping we're done by the time the weather warms up (March/April), because I want to get back to the yard. Cross your fingers for us!

While we're hoping to sell in 4-5 years, I keep having dreams of being in the house until the kid(s) graduate high school. Crap. But, that won't be horrible since when they are gone, we could go buy a house out right. We'll just have to wait and see what happens....