Curly Q

I went to Sally's Beauty Supply yesterday to get Mana a new hair net for putting her hair in a bun for ballet. I came across some crazy looking rollers that I have never seen before. They are called Curlformers. The first one I put in Mana's hair was hard to do. I thought I was going to have to cut the roller to get her hair out of it. I figured out what I did wrong and the others went easily in. I only bought one set of them just to try. They were not cheap. They average $2 a roller. Mana slept in them last night. The curls were so cute this morning, even with only the top layer of hair rolled. I sprayed it with freeze spray. When I picked her up from school the curls were still in her hair! I like these rollers and I will differently be getting enough to roll her whole head of hair!

Pictures of the day...

"The Curlformers""This Morning""This Afternoon"

Other Half, Text, & Swirly Cheetah

Tonight I started a new Bible study at church. It is "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I am really looking forward to this study. I know it is designed for a man's Bible study, but how great is it that we women want to learn more about our other half! It shall be interesting to say the least!!

I have been working on the Builder all week. We upgraded our program at work to Publisher 2007. So far, it has a lot of new things in it that I am excited to learn about. It seems to be closer to two other publishing programs that I have used in the past. That is good. The bad part is that it has been frustrating learning the upgraded program in the middle of doing the Builder. I have had no time to play in the program to figure everything out. I have had some difficultly with importing and editing text. I am starting to think it is just a setting that is off. Figuring it out will be the hardest part. Surely they would not have made it this hard to handle text. When importing text, each sentence comes in in its own text box inside a big text box. I can not just highlight, copy, and paste like before. Strange! I will figure it out. Just not before the end of this Builder!!

When Mana got home from school, I took a break from working and took some pictures of her. I took some the other day also. Mana wants to be in another pageant so I am trying new ways of curling and setting her hair. We would like her hair down next time. The problem is that the curls fall out so fast. Mana wanted me to paint some swirls on her face to go with her cheetah dress last time. They were cute pictures, but I wish she didn't have the swirly design.

Pictures of the day....

Cheetah Dress PicturesToday's Pictures

Neighbors

My neighbors' boys were in their school pageant this past weekend also. I took their pictures for Mr. Photogenic. One of them won Mr. Photogenic in his age group and the other won overall in his age group.

Mr. Photogenic

Overall Winner

Pictures

These are pictures my friend Sherry took before the pageant.

I helped her set up to take all the girls' pictures before it started.
I put the top one together.

Miss Photogenic 2009!!!!!

We got to the school around 6:15 pm. We were suppose to be there around 5:30 pm. Thank goodness we were not the last ones to get there! We were really rushed. I am very proud of Mana for being quick on getting ready once we got home from the hair appointment. My friend Sherry was taking the pictures. She asked me to be her second camera person. I got in a great spot to take pictures. I took some pretty decent pictures of all the girls. I messed up on Mana's pictures. She was blurry in the closer up ones. I know that Sherry got some, so I'm ok with that. It always happens that way. All the girls were lovely. They all did well. We had 37 girls compete. There were 11 in Mana's age group. (1st - 3rd) Mana won Miss Photogenic for her group!! She is so excited that she is still in her dress at 11:16 pm!!

Pictures of the day...

"In the Pageant"
"The Winners in Mana's Group"
"RK, Mana & Lauryn"
"RK & Mana"

Getting Pampered!!

After school, Mana had her hair appointment to get ready for the pageant. We got there at 3:30 pm. We did not leave until 5:20 pm. She got a lot of attention. She loved getting her hair and makeup done. She had a grin on her face a mile wide!

Pictures of the day...

"Rolling her Hair" "Unrolling her Hair" "Makeup""The Look"

A Field Trip & a Manicure

Mana's class went to the theater to see "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" today. They went to CiCi's Pizza after the play. Most of the mommies met their children at CiCi's. They arrived there around 11:45 am. We stayed until after 1:30 pm. All I can say was that I was ready to get out of there. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades went. There were a lot of children in CiCi's. To many for me. I am one that likes my space. Over all it was a nice time. The kids kept asking for money to play in the arcade. After three times, I think Mana got the picture that Mommy did not have any more money to give her!!! I do wish I had brought my good camera. I did not get one good picture of her at all. They all were blurry. Oh well.

After I picked her up from school, I took her to get a manicure at 3:45 pm. This was her very first one! She will be in a pageant at her school tomorrow night at 7 pm so I thought it would be nice to fix her nails. Mana picks and bites her nails constantly. I made a deal with her that if she will stop and let her nails grow, I would bring her for a manicure every once in a while to get a color polish on. She liked that. So far she has not picked at her nails!!!

Mana did not like getting her cuticles done.
(As you can tell in the picture below.
The drama queen came out!)
She was not sure on the hand soaking.
She loved the lotion part.
That made it all worth it.
She loved the polish part.
She wanted pink. Not for the pageant!

Cinnamon Rolls, Comfy Couches and a Valentine Banquet

Saturday, February 14

Saturday morning, Mana and I slept late. Mana got up before me. Usually I put out her surprises the night before. I did not this time. I forgot to. When I woke up, she had her blankets and pillows all over the chair and couch. She said she did that so where ever I sat, I would be comfortable. That was so sweet of her. I made her Cinnamon rolls in the shape of hearts. (kind of!) She really liked that. She made her daddy a sign and we took a picture of her holding it and emailed it to him at work.

That afternoon, we met Debbie at Wal-Mart to help pick up a few things left for the Widow and Widower Valentine Banquet. We then went to the church to set up. We had lots of help. There were around 15 teenagers and lots of adults to help setup, serve, and clean up. The process went quickly since we had so many helpers. We had a great turn out from the men and ladies that came to attend the banquet. There was a man who came to entertain them that sang wonderful. The whole event was great! I hope our Women's Ministry does this every year for them.

After we cleaned up at church, Heidi came over to our house and we watched the movie "Nights of Rodanthe". I would have to say I did not like this movie. Especially on Valentine's Day. It went rather slowly. I was bored. We were going to watch "Momma Mia", but I had already seen it. I wish we would have watched it anyway.

Pictures of the day...

"Mana and her Heart Cinnamon Rolls""Mana and Daddy's Sign""Valentine Banquet""Some Mood Lighting""Heidi, Debbie, & Jamie""Some of our Wonderful Helpers""Some of our Wonderful Ladies""Mana & Katherine"
She was so sweet to come and keep Mana!

Making Strawberry Pies

I do not cook much. I like microwaves and fast food! Cooking is not that fun to me. I do like making sweets! It is probably because my kitchen is at the back of the house, away from everything that is going on in the house. I am isolated in the kitchen. Yesterday, I made three strawberry pies to take to the Widow and Widower Valentine Banquet at my church today! It has been a long time since I made these. I even had to call and ask a few questions because the directions I had written down were not clear. They turned out pretty well I think. I made three! Two that are sugar free and one that is not sugar free! I happen to like the sugar free ones best! I did not expect that!

Pictures of the day...

"Strawberries""Washing & Cutting Strawberries""My favorite cooking tool""Strawberry Pie"

Keeping my Right Arm!!!

I think I am completely done with all the sickness except for the tired part! I went and worked out today. That workout was hard! I did come away from it with some feeling of accomplishment! I weighed in and I did lose almost 2 pounds this past week!!! So that means, (if I remember my weigh in weight correctly) that I have lost 7 pounds!!! Jamie, so far I get to keep my right arm!!! This might not seem like a big deal to anyone, but I actually walked on the treadmill with out holding on today! That is just scary to me! I feel like I am going to fall off and bust my head repeatedly! I also did 40 sit ups and touched my toes on the exercise ball. Most of the time I do not make it to my toes. It is so sad! I worked really hard today and I am just a little bit proud of myself! Just a tiny bit!!!!!

Mana and I went for the last fitting of her pageant dress. Ms. Kathy did a marvelous job. I can not wait to see Mana in the pageant! It is Friday the 20th!!

A Gas Leak, Sleep & a Dress

The Gas Company has been working on the gas line up the street from my house for a week now. The smell of gas has been bad. I did not think to much about it, since I knew they were working on it. I figured that the whole neighborhood smelled like gas. My neighbor, up the road, came over for me to take some pictures of her children. I told her that I would be glad when they finished working on the line so the smell would go away. She said that she has not been smelling gas all week. I then asked my other neighbor. He had not either. I called the gas company right then. They did not come. I called after hours. I talked to a lady at the fire station. She got in touch with the gas company again. They decided that they would come today. I told them no, that I was the only one on my street smelling the gas. They changed their mind and came out around 7 pm. The man stepped out of the truck and made an awful face. He knew I had a problem. The meter by the house was leaking. He showed me that the gas was bubbling around the seal. They changed the meter out. Then he checked the inside of the house, foundation, basement and the line out to the street. All were clear of gas fumes. I am so glad I decided not to let them wait until today.

I was feeling a lot better today. I went into the church to work on the Valentine Banquet menu/programs. Then I went to get Mana from school. After I got home, I felt so tired. I took a nap until it was time to go and let Mana try her pageant dress on. (It looks pretty on her. Just one more small adjustment on it and we can bring it home!) I came back home and went back to bed. I just woke up and now church has already started. Ahhhh, for being exhausted!!!! I'm gong back to sleep!

Her Thought Process!!

Technically, she got them right. She numbered them 1 though 5 and put them in order. .Mana tried to explain to her teacher what she did. Like I said, it took me fifteen minutes to understand her process! I had to write it down to even grasp it. It is rather simple when you come to think about. Why was that so hard to figure out??? :)

A Mind Puzzle - Can YOU figure it out?

Mana had a language test today. It was on alphabetical order and some other things. She missed this whole section. I knew when I looked at this section that her interpretation of the directions was wrong. There was no way she could miss so many of these. We went over this the night before and she does know how to put things in alphabetical order. I spend all of fifteen minutes trying to figure out what she did. She had to explain her thought process to me three times. I finally got it. She is so complex! Let us see if you can figure it out and leave me a comment.

Posted with permission from Mana...

It is hard to see her answers since they are crossed out.
If you click on the picture, you can see her answers better!

I hope they stay Well!

I have been fighting a head cold for a couple of days now. Not a bad one. Just enough of one to make you feel not up to par. My friend, Anggie and her daughter spend the whole day with us yesterday. We went to McDonald's for the girls and to Books-A-Million. I was looking for some of the books they referenced from in our Bible study. That was quit embarrassing to ask for. They did not have them. Anyway, we all went to church last night. In the middle of the service I started getting cold and had to snuggle up in my sweater. I got home and I had a 101 temperature. I really do not like it when I get sick when I have friends around or I am out. I feel bad that they may come down with it also. I hope they stay well!! The sad part was that I looked in my cabinet for me some medicine and all I found was children's medicine. I had to take Mana's Triaminic. It didn't help! I was up all night. Now I am going back to sleep!

Filling that Lonely Place

I met a group of friends last night for a movie and dinner. I know this group of women from my church. This was my first time going out with this particular group. I know of all of them. I have some connections with two in the group. They all are connected together from the Youth and College and Career Ministries. Being that I have a nine year old, I do not hang out with this group much. Really, not at all. I was glad that I got invited. Overall, I felt a little nervous for the beginning. I even went as far as to ask if I could invite a few of my other friends. (ones I know I can talk to - none of them came) I am socially challenged in the communication department. If you follow my blog or know me, you know that I do not go into conversations easily. In fact, I do alright with a one on one conversation after I know you. Throw another person in there and I do not talk. I feel like I am ease dropping on their conversation and I don't seem to get a word in. If I do, I usually feel awkward about it. As soon as I met these ladies last night, I felt comfortable. Jamie and Kara are great wranglers of conversation. They will talk and include everyone in their conversation. They have a great way of making people like me feel included. I did not talk much at all, but I did not feel awkward either.

We went to see "He's Just Not That Into You". It was a great movie. I did not relate to the ladies in the movie that much because I did not do a lot of dating. I did not sit by the phone and wonder if he would call. I only did that one time in my lifetime and he did call. Which I was surprised since this particular guy had my number in his memory and not written down. We met at a concert. Plus he was from out of town. I just knew he was not calling. The few other guys I dated, I was friends with first (Including my wonderful husband!). They were already calling. Anyway, I did relate to these ladies in other terms. I do this with my friends. Because I am so challenged conversationally, I do feel a little lonely at times being a stay-at-home mom. I will not put myself out there. All my friends work. Even the stay-at-home one. My husband works a lot. I really rely on my friends for Adult conversation. I am a little needy in that area. I love all my friends. God has sent me some wonderful friends, through out all my life. But He is really wanting me to let Him fill that lonely place in my heart that I keep trying to turn to my friends for. So as I call my friends repeatedly, sit by the phone wondering why they are not calling me, and keep checking my blog for comments, I should be getting more in His word and letting Him be my companion.

Our Two New Visitors

We have two cute dogs running around the neighborhood now. I am one that is all for people making sure their dogs are in a fence. I am not a fan of dogs running around outside their own yard. I did not go outside when these two dogs were in our yard for a couple of days because I did not know them. I had to take the trash out last Friday morning before the garbage truck came by. They were in the yard. I had to go out. I did and they started running up to me. The darker one likes to jump up on you some. The lighter one whines at you to pet it. Now, every time I walk out my door or get out of the car, they are right there. The first couple of times they scared me. I would be walking down my front steps to the driveway and I would hear a rustling in the bushes and I would turn around and they would be running at me full out. Now I expect it. They are sweet puppies. I figured that I better get use to them so when they are bigger I will not be scared of them. Mana just loves them. She wants a puppy so bad. I always say no. I do not need anything else to take care of. I have had some of my friends threaten (Atleast that is what I call it) to get Mana a dog. Heidi gave Mana a stuffed dog for Christmas since I said no to a real one. Keeping Heidi's puppy started all this!! :) Now she has two she can play with after school. They come visit as soon as we arrive home.

Pictures of the day....

"Our Two New Visitors" "Mana Petting the Puppies"