Cooking again? Could it be?!

I am actually getting in the mood to start cooking again! Maybe it is the cooler weather headed our way..maybe it is the fact I am finally starting to have an appetite again...or both! Def both!

I went to the library yesterday and picked this up

It has some great looking (and EASY!) recipes in it! I highly suggest to check it out! I plan to make some copies from it this weekend and of course will let you know when I try any of the recipes out and what we thought.



I also grabbed this to ogle at and maybe get my creative juices flowing



I like many am always looking for more economical gift giving ideas so thought this would be great to maybe get some holiday gift ideas out of! Again will make copies of any of my faves to perhaps try out in my new crafting area once we move!!! YAY!

Job Interview EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I am sooo beyond excited and nervous! The interview is for next Wednesday. This will have been 3rd time I have applied to work at this place (County's mental health office) but first time I have made it for an interview!

I sooooo could use this job not only for the nice raise but also for a more secure job (current job I am in I love but it is a contract job that is renewed yearly so it can be sketchy!).

Now to make it through the interview....then to worry about how soon health insurance would kick in LMAO! One thing being pregnant I believe I would automatically be covered through medicaid until baby was born but still would be nice to not even have to worry about all that!

Now for a whole week of stressing! Hopefully after I have the interview they don't make me wait too long for an answer! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE so happy and scared!

Packing Packing Packing

Yup our life is pretty uneventful at the moment (which is actually nice). All we seem to really do is go hunt for boxes then bring em' home and pack em' up! Feels good to get more and more packed but will feel even nicer to actually start moving the boxes out of our place and into the new place! Cannot wait to have those keys in our hands!!! Only a few more weeks hopefully!!!!

I got Muffin's school picture back and she looks innocent as can be of course haha...will have to maybe scan it in tonight and share. The girl will def always at least be seen as innocent in the begining I will give her that haha!

She had a good day at school Friday and bounded out with two stickers plonked on her. We took her to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D on Sunday and all three of us enjoyed it! I think Bear giggled more than her or I did haha!

We are really excited about a few upcoming movies especially the re-make of A Christmas Carol with Jim Carey doing the voice of Ebenezer...it looks soooo cool! And of course Where the Wild Things Are that comes out next month! Just put the book on hold at the library for us to read first (I cannot believe we do not own it will be keeping my eye out at thrift stores for a copy)!

Bear is thrilled as he found a nice computer desk on craigslist for $20 so cannot beat that! Poor guy has been using a tv tray up until this point which gives very LIMITED room for mouse action haha. Now on the hunt for craft tables for my side of the (Wo)Man Cave! :)

Met with the Muffins Principal

I really love Gabby's principal he is prob only a few years older than myself so he def is open to newer more progressive ways of thinking etc...He even said although they are a public school he prides himself on letting the teachers take more progressive approaches to teaching etc...
Anywayyyyy I expressed all my concerns and said how I was very open to anything they wanted to try with Gabby that ultimately my child has always had issues with transitions and change, has A LOT of changes going on in her life, and frankly has a wicked stubborn streak that does come out time to time haha.

Her principal knows her quite well and said how even when her latchkey (she went in kindy and then part of first grade) teachers would say they were having troubles with her that he didn't believe them until she had a visit or two with him in 1st grade for digging her heels in over NOT wanting to go outside to play (hey winter is cold here I cannot say I blame her!). He said although it is not funny he had a hard time not laughing since she looks so clean cut and polite and happy but then when her mind is made up it is MADE UP. He said that he knows she is bright and thinks 2nd grade overall is going to be great for her since will challenge her more than last year.

He brought up different things that her particular teacher does that may be causing Gabby anxiety and was going to speak with her but also have Gabby's first grade teacher pow wow with them to let her current teacher know a little more of the ins and outs of my Muffin haha....

When the child study was brought up he said it is not at all what I am prob thinking and that at their school it is actually called TAT (umm cannot remember what it stood for except teacher aide something). Basically what they do is have her current teacher and her past teachers get together with maybe the social worker as well and all observe her maybe together and/or one on one etc...then they come up with more of a plan of action on how Gabby learns best and how the teacher should be approaching her etc...he said of course if the social worker has any other concerns she would express them to us and then we as parents would have to pursue it further if we chose.

I brought up the positive reinforcement as opposed to the minuses system and taking things away since that doesn't bother her...the principal nailed it on the head when he said Gabby seems more like a "show me the carrot and then I will come" type of kid and how if she doesn't see the reward in something she is not going to waste her time. haha. That is about right!

He said when he had Gabby in his office before and how she spoke of England and how intrigued she was when he looked up her old school on the internet etc...he could see what a thinker she was and how she def loved learning new things.

We agreed Gabby just needs to be able to have a bit more control in her day and although it may seem silly to us but something as simple as letting her choose the order of when she does worksheets might be the choice that makes her happy etc...

He thanked us soooo much for coming in and how he loves how hands on we are and he knows Gabby has great support at home and how concerned we are for her.

So overall the meeting went great. We of course said he could share all with the teacher as well as we certainly weren't trying to go over her head we just know she is so busy with school just starting herself.

On a super cute note we walked Gabby up to her locker (today is picture day) and two little girls came up and said "Gabby you look so gorgeous today!" it was too damn cute! hahaha

2nd week of School and the Teacher phone call comes

I honestly have no idea what to do. Gabby is stubborn even at home but not to the extent she seems to show at school.

Teacher called Gareth today and Gabby has already done the following since school started...

They have to change into slippers each day (Gabby knew this and was excited as we even got her new slippers to change into) The other day she wore her cowgirl boots and was trying to insist she was going to wear them all day....yesterday same thing she wore sneakers and said she didn't know where her slippers were so she was going to wear her sneakers....

They had a math test....they were to answer the problems in the picture THEN color the picture...Gabby insisted she knew the answers already so colored the picture in without writing her answers (pretty sure all were correct though but that is beside the point)

Then they had some sort of other work time where they were to have a divider up....(desks are grouped into 4's with two kids facing two kids) she insisted on putting up additional stuff from out of her desk as added privacy or something.....

Over one of the incidents the teacher had her aide take Gabby from the class where Gabby cried for 20 minutes.

The teacher said she wants a children study done on her so will fill out the form to have it done....

I am all for having anything done that could help her but any idea what they would be looking for? I know Gabby is really intelligent and does great on all her school work....it is the stubborness and issues with authority I mean what is gonna help that?!

I know she is spoiled and we have been working on that and I have even gotten her to donate several boxes of her stuff and trying to get her to value things more etc....We do not let her always have her way...we do a chart at home where she gets a sticker each day she does not get in any trouble at school etc....

I am scared they are just going to toss a pill at my kid (which getting her to even take would be a whole new battle I am sure!). I did a little research though and saw something about a child lacking in omega 3's and vitamin E could show signs of a defiant disorder or ADHD etc...I am going to try and find her a gummi vitamin to start taking each day just to try that! I also see Jif is doing a pb with omega 3's in it now...

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Fingers and toes crossed

We looked at a prospective rental house today (Shannon it is right next door to Andrew's old home!). It would be PERFECT for us!

It is the cutest little cape cod style house. It has 3 bedrooms and a basement that is half finished off and the other half is laundry and storage area. Has a large fenced in backyard and best part....4 houses from the entrance of my daughter's elementary school!!!! Only down sides of it is only one bathroom (common around this area though) and no garage. It is really quite small but with the basement and large yard it is totally do-able and would be a perfect home for us to live in for next few years!

We filled out application and I played up to the landlord best I could (oh you happen to work with my dads golf buddy, yes I am pregnant, we so don't want to change my daughters school it would just break her heart, we want to be settled in somewhere before the holidays, etc...).

So now we wait..........praying he decides sometime within the next week as I don't think I could stand waiting any longer than that for an answer haha!

We went right out on a box hunt and totally scored at Bob Evans as they had a cardboard only bin full of perfect sized boxes! YAY! So tomorrow I shall buy more packing tape and start the fun chore of packing....we have A LOT of stuff so I am sure many more box hunts are in our future!

Another nausea wasted day

Blech...someone needs to tell Gummi that I entered the 2nd trimester today! Shall see how much longer before I feel normal (I am guessing not until after this baby arrives!).

Today was not completely wasted since I did manage to get myself showered late in the afternoon (mainly because I was jonesin for some fried chicken). We then went and got Lees Chicken (like KFC but better I think) for dinner then drove around the beach where we let Gabby play at the park and in the sand a bit.

I got nauseous so went to go back to the car to lay down and parked right next to us was a super trashed out mini van....in this van sat two classic looking white trash people: missing teeth included. The guy in passenger seat grinned a toothless smile at me and asked if I liked tattoos....I replied sarcastically "no way I hate them" and trudged on over to passenger side of our car. He then says "we could give you one, here take our flyer". I politely declined but now am kicking myself for not grabbing their flyer LOL. Would have been nice to warn the world to NOT go to wherever their shop was (if they even had a shop as I am thinking the van prob WAS their shop).

We then get home and one of our gangsta type neighbors is out on his balcony...nice looking guy wearing some bling...he then says down to Bear...."Hey bro know where I can get some weed?" ummm sorry man no we do not. Oy Vey.....guess we are uncool tattooed people today since we A) do not jump at the chance to get a tattoo from anyone who offers and B) we do not know where to score some weed.

Today was also one of those days where I had to force myself to eat stuff or else I prob would not have eaten at all. This baby seems to make me want very little but then when I do want something that is the only thing I can tolerate even hearing about! So today my menu consisted of the following:
small bowl of fruit loops
take 5 candy bar
small apple
lots of V8 juice
glass of apple juice
plain tortilla chips
and then my only meal today really was dinner where I had the 2 piece chicken meal (one leg one thigh and mashed potatoes with gravy;Bear was nice enough to give me his potatoes too as I gave him my biscuit).

So all in all not horrid since I did get some veggie and fruit servings in at least! Gummi Bear makes me feel so much better when I eat constantly but it is sooo hard to do when barely anything sounds good!

Popped half a unisom to try and calm my self and tummy for the night as I hope to watch something with Bear before crashing in bed. Praying tomorrow and Monday I feel more normal. I also need to get that camera out and take some pics next two days as been slacking a bit.