Kaylee's 1st Birthday Party

So yea... I spent all week cleaning and prepping. I had several meltdowns. I panicked to the point of wanting to cry. I think I may have issues. I honestly don't know why I'm like this, but I have in my head that everything must be PERFECT before company comes over. Why do I care so much??

We moved the party from the park to the house. We thought we could fit everyone in here. While we did, it was incredibly cramped. We have way too many family members that love us. HA. Kaylee got some great developmental toys and a few cute outfits. The kid even raked in the dough! Yay for baby saving's accounts.

The cupcakes came out great. Everyone seemed to really enjoy them. 

Panic

Kaylee's 1st birthday party is tomorrow morning. And I'm all in a tizzy. I have the house looking mostly ok, but every time I turn around, there's something else that I notice... that I know someone else will notice... I spent all day baking. Never again. That was ridiculous. Next time, I'm making 1 cake. This cupcake craze is dumb. They are cute and all, but omg are they time consuming! And they take a ton of batter. Then there was the pinwheel disaster. I don't know why we couldn't get them to work, but they came out like big sandwiches... I finally said F$%# it and went to Target.

Tomorrow morning will be busy. I have to get Kaylee up by 6:00 so she can nap from 8 to 10. Otherwise, she'll be napping during her party and that's no good. She needs a bath. She decided that she wanted to play in the backdoor track... which is nothing but grease. UGH. I hated putting her to bed dirty -- I did wash her off, but still... I needed her to get to bed since I'd be waking her an hour early.

I have to..... roll up the waterhose (might do that in a minute), DRINK, swiffer the floor, DRINK, set out pinwheels to thaw, DRINK, preheat oven to bake the other things I grabbed, DRINK, fill buckets with ice and put sodas and freeze pops in them, DRINK, pull out sherbet, make punch, DRINK, put cupcakes on display, DRINK, uncover Kaylee's smash cake, DRINK, put dogs up, DRINK, vote on my picture,.... did I mention that I really wanted Kaylee's party to be dry? There was several good reasons for this, but it appears I have been overruled.

It's 9pm. 14 hours until the party. 14 hours until I'll have a house full of people. I need a valium.

Civic Hybrid... My Initial Take On Them

It drives pretty smooth, which is a change from my truck, which would bounce around on any bump in the road. I was used to that though...

This car will now become a big game. Who can charge the battery the best! So far, Brian is winning. I have no idea how. I am grateful that we live in Austin instead of say.... flat East Texas. Going down hill really helps the battery charge. As does braking. Going to Brian's work today used 2 bars, but I was able to charge 3 bars up on my way home... I guess it's the difference between going up and down in elevation.

The other thing I'll have to get used to is the headlights. Obviously, a hybrid car won't have the running lights or auto lights on. That's just a waste of energy. The truck did have this though, so I knew I wasn't ever driving without my lights on. I feel like I'm going a little back in technology on this one, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

AutoStop. This thing turns itself on and off when you come to a complete stop! Weird. The console has all sorts of things on it... it tells me how many MPG I'm getting, when the AutoStop is about to kick in, tire pressure, oil pressure, maintenance due... So much technology that I'm not used to.

The good thing with this little car is I'm convinced I'll finally slow my ass down. Not that I was a big speeder before, but you just can't slam on the accelerator and expect your battery to last.

The thing that will suck is I'll have to find a new mechanic. I'm 99.9% sure my father does not know how to work on a hybrid.

So far, so good....

Apparently, we crave change.

The last 3 years have been nothing but change. My life is so incredibly different, as is Brian's. And today, we made another big change - hopefully the last for a little while. Like Brian, I also gave up my prized possession. And I hate material things. I gave up my American built truck. I am now the proud of a foreign hybrid. I went from a 5.2L engine to a 1.3L. Yea.. I'm hating myself a little right now. But then I think I'm going from 19 mpg to 40+. It's hard to really complain when I'll basically cut my fuel bill in half.


Goodbye Blue... I'll miss you!

The fastest project ever!

The sod is in! And it was probably the easiest thing we've had to do to the house. It looks great. I've already gone out there and sat with Kaylee... in 100F weather, the grass was nice and cool. This will work nicely, thank you!

The thing we call the backyard....

So, over the years, I've worked rather hard at cleaning this thing up. But, I found out that the "grass" that was back here was just weeds... I've tried seeding the yard numerous times, but nothing takes because the dogs stomp it to death before it has time to really establish itself. So, this year, we're getting sod. In June. Where the temperatures are already consistently over 100F. In fact, tomorrow, it'll be a brisk 105F.

I can't wait to finish the preparation of the yard in that. Thankfully (hopefully?), I'll have some help by Brian. We are creating a dog run... basically, we're putting chicken wire up around the flower bed so the dogs will stay in there instead of stomping the new sod to death while chasing their friend Fred the Squirrel. We also need to finish really clearing that out... Then we need to treat the yard for ants since our pest control guy said there aren't any... right. I have like 4 different kinds of ants. He must be blind. And be void of nerve endings.


Here's the lovely, yet embarrassing 'Before' picture.

More updates to come this weekend and by the end of the day Monday. I *can't* wait!

Why I became a parent....

The reason is simple really.... so I can relive the good parts of my childhood... yaknow, the parts where you got to run around carefree in the backyard... ya got to watch Fraggle Rock and movies like The Land Before Time... and naps... we got to take naps!

Because I'm attempting a run for "Mother of the Year" (in the good way.. not the sarcastic, I just let my 11 month old crawl down our cement patio steps head first... yaknow, like I did yesterday...whoops! She did it quite well without falling!) I get to do all these things WITH my daughter. I'm probably a little more excited about this than she is... she has no idea how much fun being a kid really can be... so far, her smiley little self seems to be pretty content though.