Making Spaghetti 12/21/2019

Over the years, there are a few things I have been teaching Skye to cook.  We started with pancakes and scrambled eggs.  This year I taught Skye how to make a basic spaghetti. 

This sauce is what we used to make our Christmas dinner of lasagna.  I supervised, of course, but she did the majority of the work herself.

Watch that here:

See ya soon!

Danielle

Wild Turkeys 12/19/2019

On the way home from the last day of school before Christmas break, we were surprised to see wild turkeys in a field near our apartment.

You can watch the video here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Gingerbread House 12/17/2019

We bought a gingerbread house to assemble and decorate, but we were disappointed to find it was pre-assembled and broken.

It ended up being just a fun play with the icing and eat the gingerbread cookies instead.

Watch her antics here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

First Hoverboard Ride 12/17/2019

You saw Skye open her gift from my brother and sister-in-law. 

Now watch her first ride:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Making Christmas Ornaments 12/13/2019

When I was growing up, we didn't have much.  We had what we need and I don't remember a time when we went without anything important, but back then we didn't even know we were missing anything.

One of my favorite memories growing up were the hand made Christmas ornaments we would make every year.  They weren't always the same, but it was always so much fun.  We didn't even realize that we didn't have an expensive designer tree or ornaments. 

Sometimes the ornaments were Christmas scenes from coloring books that we colored, cut out, added glitter, and then glued to old cardboard cereal boxes.  Then punched a hole in the top, tied some string through it and then added it to the tree.

Or we would trace our hands on cardboard, cut them out, and cover them in foil.  Whatever the ornaments were, we always made sure to mark our names and the year on them so we could look back and see how we have changed over the years. 

Here is this years ornament making session:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Skye's Christmas Gift 12/11/2019

While I do have a small smattering of family here in Tennessee, the majority of our family members are still back in Illinois and Indiana.  Because of this, my family tends to send Christmas presents to us when we can't make it back for the parties. 

This gift was sent by my brother and sister-in-law.  Skye is always excited to get gifts from them since they spoil her like crazy.  I love the fact that it makes her feel special.

See her excitement here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Snow in Tennessee & the Big Guys Birthday 12/10/2019

Its not very often that it snows here in Tennessee, but when it does it is still amazing to me. 

Coming from Illinois and Indiana, I have seen my fair share of snow and lots of it.  One of the things I loved about Tennessee was the lack of the messy, yucky, cold snow.  Being out of Indiana for about 18 months now, has given me a bit of perspective on snow.  I still think it is absolutely beautiful to look at, but not good for much else. 

I have always said that I hated snow though, especially with having kids and pets.  Let me explain, the dogs must go outside at least a few times a day, then they cart that nasty wet stuff all over the floors for me to clean up.  The same goes for the kids.  It also makes grocery day a pain, carting in snow multiple times to get all those bags in the house, and they certainly seem to multiple in the back of the car with each trip in and out. 

Not only that, but I am not a big fan of the cold.  Between the arthritis and the fibromyalgia, cold weather is not my friend at all.  It makes all my joints stiff and I feel like the tin man that needs an oil can to move freely.  For me, snow is not my friend.  Thankfully, snow doesn't happen often here in Tennessee, but when it does it doesn't last long either.  Ours didn't even stick to the ground this time around.

Watch our short snow day here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Skye's Christmas Program 12/8/2019

The Christmas Program this year was an hour long singing sensation involving the middle schools in town and the high school.

They broke the program down into groups of kids based on their grade.  I recorded the songs that Skye was in completely and then took clips of the rest of the kids singing their songs.

Enjoy the Christmas program here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Decorating the Christmas Tree 11/28/2019

Skye decorated our Christmas tree this year, adding each of the ornaments that we purchased from Walmart as cheaply as possible.  I say that because we do still have quite a few Christmas items still back in Indiana that we are planning on getting during spring break. 

But in the meantime, we didn't want to NOT decorate for Christmas either, so we improvised.  We got our tree from Walmart for about $35 and spent another maybe $20 on ornaments to put on the tree. 

Unfortunately, when I went to upload the videos we had a problem with some of the footage.  You can see what happened here:

See ya soon!

Danielle

Making Christmas Stockings 11/28/2019

Now before you get too excited, I bought the main stocking from Walmart and used my cricut to put names on each stocking for the people that would be here Christmas morning.

I used a font I downloaded for personal use only from defont.com.  I can not remember the name but it is one of their Christmas fonts.  Then I cut out the design using heat transfer vinyl and ironed them onto the purchased stockings. 

I do want to eventually sew stockings for everyone but it just wasn't in the cards for this year. 

Watch my process here:

See ya soon!

Danielle

Deep Fried Thanksgiving Turkey 11/28/2019

Turkey is a big part of the regular Thanksgiving tradition.  At least, it always has been in my family, along with a ham of some kind too usually.

This year I was able to use my turkey fryer for the first time.  And I was excited.

I had gotten the turkey fryer for myself for Christmas a few years back, but hadn't had the opportunity to use it so I was all a twitter at the thought of finally using it.

I didn't do any special seasoning on or in the bird, mainly because I wanted to see how it would turn out without doing so, but also because I had forgotten that aspect of the turkey and wasn't sure what would or wouldn't be good to put in the deep fryer. 

I followed the directions that came with my fryer and show you my process here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Running the Dogs 11/23/2019

We have dogs.  Big dogs.  In an apartment.  Do I need to say anything more? 

They love to run but don't get to do it as often as they would like.  So we take them to the baseball fields by our apartment, lock the gates with their leashes so they don't escape.  Trust me, this is needed because these buggers are a pain to catch when they escape.  Then we let them run for a  while.

They enjoy the run, usually get muddy, and get the kids muddy in the process.  But that's ok, it just means showers/baths for everyone when we are done.

Watch their crazy antics here:

See ya soon!

Danielle

Replacing Skye's Bedroom Floor September 2019

Back in September, we decided that Skye's carpet was disgusting, worn and torn in places, and needed to be replaced.  Living in an apartment complex, meant contacting management. 

We spoke with the apartment manager and she didn't have any flooring available to replace the gross carpet in Skye's room, but I had some peel & stick tile left over from my trailer back in Indiana and she authorized our changing out the carpet for it. 

She requested we take pictures of the before, during, and finished product.  Sadly, we did run out of tiles before we completed her room so we will be redoing her floor again when we tear out our carpet in our bedroom, but the job works for right now.  Luckily, the main area we ran out on was in the closet, so its not really visible anyway. 

I had planned to record the entire process, but was bouncing around a lot in her small room, plus the carpet was just gross and I didn't want that gunk in my phone while I was recording.  The difference in before and after is pretty dramatic though, so I hope you enjoy.

Watch the video here:

See ya soon!
Danielle