A Little Bit of Crazy

Part of being sane, is being a little bit crazy. - Janet Long

The above was one of my quotes for the day and I laughed out loud when I read it.    The last couple of weeks have been a lot of crazy for me.  I'm hoping that makes me very sane, because right now, I sure don't feel that way.

I've had a sinus infection since the Sunday before last which has completely colored my world in every shade of green and yellow.  I haven't been this sick in a long time and it's really wearing me down.  My mornings are spent getting cereal and chocolate milk for Billa and then hacking up my lungs and clearing my sinuses of all the gunk that's collected there during the night.  I spent an entire week working from home because I felt so yucky and I had to bail on baking a birthday cake for a friend's son.  I thought I'd recovered enough, but I was just too worn down.  Earlier this week I thought I was getting better, but now I think it's turned into bronchitis or something similar.  My coughing at night has become so bad that I had to spend last night on the couch to keep from waking everyone up.  I can't speak half the time which is really frustrating.  Sometimes answering a question with a simple yes or no is even too much at times. 

I'm trying to remain upbeat about it all though.  I'm grateful I have a job that allows me to work from home, so I didn't have to miss any work, although in hindsight I probably should have taken a day off to rest.  Things financially have been terribly hard lately and by not going to work, I saved considerably on gas since I didn't have to go anywhere except daycare and back.  It also enabled me to get a bit of cleaning done around the house that desperately needed to be done.  That meant more time with Billa and Michael.  It also meant enjoying the view outside my window and being able to sit in my pajamas while orking.  That's always a plus, right?  I don't know about this one, but my pal Wendi says that all my coughing is giving me a workout and rock hard abs.  I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on that one, lol!

I'm hoping that this will all pass soon.  I'm ready to climb back in the saddle and have some sense of normality, whatever that looks like.  I'm taking the day off tomorrow to go to the pumpkin patch with Billa's daycare and I think spending the rest of the day lounging and doing nothing is just what the doctor ordered. 

Cheers,
Kelly

Weekend Recap: Fun with the Marinos!

It felt weird not to have a cake to make this weekend since my friend Beth picked up the cake she asked me to make her on Friday afternoon after work.  So Saturday I spent some time giving my baking blog a facelift and letting Billa get some additional rest, as you can see here.  She was watching UP for the fifteenth time this week (ok, really the fifth time, but it feels like we've seen it almost fifteen times!) and feel asleep while watching.  I love the little arms behind her head!

Typically Saturdays are spent running errands and doing shopping or delivering a cake, but since we'd  done most of that already during the week, the only trip we made was to Sprouts to pick up some specialized ingredients for a baking challenge I'm participating in this month.  I had planned on making cookies and it was good timing too, since we got an invite to hang out with the Marino family for hot wings Saturday evening.  Things got started with an impromptu dance party (I wish I had taken video, the kids were hilarious!  Billa especially was jumping around with her arms in the air, waving them back and forth) and we had a great time visiting, eating hot wings and trying my new cherry double chocolate chip cookie recipe that I had thrown together right before we left.

The Marinos invited us for more fun on Sunday for a dayhike to Pedernales Falls, just outside of Drpping Springs.  Michael and I have both camped and hiked there, but it had been YEARS since either one of us had gone so we were very excited to go.  Unfortunately, Billa was not as excited.  Our timing was all wrong and it was a little too much for a kid who had spent the majority of her week in bed, in her mama's arms, and sick.  She did enjoy herself, but we should have eaten lunch first.  She also didn't nap AT ALL, despite hanging out in the car with myself and Baby Hayden (who also didn't nap and probably should have).  She slept on the way home, but it was too little, too late at that point.

I'd post some pictures of our excursion, but both sets of camera batteries were dead.  Fortunately, Anthony had a spare point and shoot Canon with them that he let me borrow.  Unfortunately, our card reader is dead and our USB camera cable is incompatible, so I have to wait for him to get them to me!  But they probably deserve a post all of their own anyway :o)

Our weekend was capped off by a lovely visit from Michael's mom who dropped by for dinner.   She and I went to go get Chinese while Michael stayed home with a napping Billa.  We enjoyed dinner and I made the rest of my cookies.  She gave Billa a bath while Michael and I did some much belated house cleaning, which was a really nice break actually.  I don't mind doing housework, but if Billa isn't occupied, it can get really frustrating very fast!

All in all, despite our hiking setbacks and ridiculous amounts of TV viewing, I'd day it was a stellar weekend!  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Adventurously yours,
Kelly et al

Christmas #3 Recap

And the fun continues!

Michael's dad had asked us to do Christmas morning with him and his wife and we were happy to oblige so we stayed the night at their place in order to do so.  Michael's sisters stayed too and we chatted and sang karaoke (I love that stuff!) before heading off to bed to await Santa's arrival.


Billa was the last one to get up Christmas morning, enabling Michael and I to get some coffee and visit a bit with everyone before we all tore into our presents.  Michael's dad gifted him with a laptop which he is very excited about.  Actually, I think I am more excited than he is...no more fighting over the Mac!  My present made us all laugh out loud...it was a duplicate of what Michael's mom got me!  Yep, I ended up with TWO mixers!  Since we'd opened the other one already, I took the unopened one back and got myself an iPod touch, of which I am overjoyed.  I definitely made the nice list this year!

Can you tell we're not really morning people?

Mama's got her coffee, I got my milk.  Everything is good now!

Trisa laughs at Mike's hat...it says 'Bah Humbug'

Billa got a fun ride on that also doubles as a little wagon for her to pull all of her toys around in.  It's just perfect for dolls and other small items.  Mostly she likes it as a ride on, or rather a chair, in the middle of the living room while she watches TV.  She also got some super cute outfits from her Tata and Michael and I gifted her with some new movies.

I got a banana!  Let's open presents now!

Caitlyn LOVES her new Harley shirt.

Michael says I make the best faces on Christmas morning.  Whatever.

What's in here?

Billa loves her new rider toy!

Sweet!  I got movies!

I totally surprised Michael with a boxed set of Mel Brooks DVD's that he'd been eyeing at Best Buy.  I got them for significantly less at Costco and in the words of my brother Philip, "Nice way to give to yourself too! For the win!"  Seriously, I don't think anything could have excited Michael more than those DVD'S...except maybe the flannel pajama pants and boot socks and I got him (yes, I know, a bit odd, but whatever makes the man happy).

"You can't Tokomada anything!"

I was very happy to receive a baking book I've been eyeing and a cute little cloche hat that I'd seen at Target.  Love love love it!  I've been wearing it every change I get!

I lurves my hat!

We finished up the morning with a wonderful breakfast and then we all parted ways so that we could continue our visits to other family and friends. It was a wonderful Christmas morning and we very much enjoyed doing something a bit different this year!

Cheers,
Kelly & the Gang

Weekend Recap

Today I decided that I would switch from coffee to black tea since it had been upsetting my stomach lately. I bought a box of Celestial Seasoning's Nutcracker Sweet which is a delightful black tea blend with vanilla and cinnamon. I was doing pretty good until about 10 am when my head started to ache a bit. I got up and fixed myself a snack and that seemed to help. But alas, an hour later when I went to run errands during lunch, I felt like I was having a migraine. Of course, it didn't help that I happened to see an article in the Statesman about how Harvard Medical School just released info on how coffee is NOT bad for you. Argh!

In other news, yesterday marked a huge milestone for us. It was the first time that Michael and I had to purchase a "I'm sorry my kid broke this let me pay for it" item. Hopefully this will also be the last time we have to do that, but I know that's very optimistic thinking and all the experienced parents of small children out there are laughing their butts off at me. I partly blame Michael for this, because it never would have happened if he'd just let me go to the craft store by myself and stayed home with Sybilla instead. But nooooo, he didn't want to be stuck at home on a rainy day with her, so off we went. Fortunately, the item in question was a $7 resin snowman figurine from Michael's, but still. That $7 could have gone towards two gallons of milk, or 4# of butter from Costco, or as my friend John pointed out, a bag of Starbucks coffee from the grocery store. Grrrr!

And lastly, Michael and I have given in to the dark side and bought a fake Christmas tree this weekend. There were some really killer sales this past week and the more we talked it over, we decided that right now, aa fake tree fit our lifestyle a lot better than trying to deal with a real one. We both grew up with real trees and we love them dearly, but couple that with a toddler and a very full holiday schedule and it just wasn't worth it. Not to mention that neither of us really likes to string lights on a tree! In a few years when Sybilla is older, we'll make it into a tradition where we take a day to go to a local Chrsitmas tree farm and pick one out, cut it down ourselves and then spend the rest of the day decorating, singing songs, and lounging by the fireside. In fact, I wish we were doing that right now. [sigh]
So that's what's happening with us right now!
Cheers,
kelly

Time Flies...

I apologize for the lack of Billa related posts this week, it's been very hectic for the last week and a half! I didn't have the energy to really post or edit or do anything, but I am taking a day off tomorrow and should have some things posted for your perusal. But in short, a summary of our past week and a half:

We celebrated our friend Cameron's 3rd birthday! His grandparents got him a cool swingset which we set up on Saturday. I made him a Bumblebee transformers cake (picture of which to be posted soon on BillaCakes) which he really loved. Billa had a great time and surprised all of us by figuring out how to climb UP the slide unassisted. She also got bitten by something in the yard which led into Tuesday...

...where we went to the doctor's office because the redness and swelling from the bite on Saturday had not gone away and not diminished in the least. We'd actually starting using Benadryl the day before but it didn't seem to be doing anything. Dr. Patil looked it over and said that it didn't appear to be scorpion related or showing signs of secondary infection which was very good. We upped the Benadryl intake, used some cortisone cream and so far, her hand is looking much better! Her allergies however are another story...

...yesterday Billa got home from daycare with a wicked runny nose. By the time we got home from Rib Night at the Marino's, her voice was getting scratchy and she was not happy. In fact, before we'd left the marino's, I asked her if she was ready to go bye bye. "Yesh!" was her plaintive wail. Poor kid. She didn't sleep well that night and by the time she arrived in bed with us at 6ish am, she and I didn't sleep beyond that. Hopefully she's not sick and it's just a reaction to the increased allergens in the air, but we'll see. Tomorrow is Pumpkin Patch Day at daycare and Michael and I are really looking forward to going with Sybilla and all of her friends there tomorrow. Although that means I have to finish her costume...yikes!

In other news I am officially now coordinating/planning/organizing part of my high school's ten year reunion! It's going to be very exciting, although it was near panic-inducing on Tuesday before our meeting. Coupled with Billa's visit to the doctor, everything going on at work, and trying to get everything done around the house, I was in a right state of craziness just prior to the conference call we had. Billa behaved herself though and the meeting went really well. I decided that I wanted to help out with the reunion because, well, let's face it--a lot has changed in the last 9-10 years and I'd like to think that there can be some good memories made from that era of my life! Not to mention, it would be really nice to meet up with folks from high school and make some new friends (or renew old friendships). I don't care that my life is vastly different from what I thought it would be (seriously, I thought I would have Oscars by now, lol) and if anyone thinks I'm lame for that; happiness is a choice to make and I'm happy with the ones I've made. I could spend my life wishing for something else, but it won't change where I am or who I am.

So anyway, with that said, time for me to log off and get some stuff done! Pictures and other things to come soon, I promise!

Happy Birthday Papa and Memorial Day Weekend Happenings

After a looooong three day weekend, I am left wanting a weekend from the weekend. Michael started at Harley on Friday, and his second day was on Saturday, so Billa and I hung out all day. We went out in the afternoon to go see Daddy at his new job and meet all the nice people he works with. I tell ya what, bikers are some of the nicest people. They really get a bad rap thanks to motorcycle gangs. You don't believe me? Then Google BACA, aka Bikers Against Child Abuse. That'll make you run up to the next biker you see and practically throw your arms around them for a hug. Saturday evening we FINALLY went and saw Star Trek, thanks to Kellie and Anthony. They paid for the tickets and even babysat for us so we could go out for our anniversary! Love you guys!

Sunday we went to the lake. We visited with Michael's dad and stepmom and had a lovely day relaxing, although it was a bit stressful for me really. I am NOT a fan of lakewater, so I was a little anxious being near the lake and then totally worried that Munchkin would go and take a dive. It also got REALLY hot and I didn't drink nearly enough water. No sunburn though! No tan either, boo.

And then finally, my daddy's birthday was on Memorial Day this year, so on Monday we went to visit him and my mom and have some BBQ, chocolate cake, and homemade ice cream. Yum! Billa had so much fun playing in the garden and the fountain that she can't wait to go back next weekend when Michael and I go to Papa Carl's birthday party on the lake. My dad enjoyed the chocolate cake I made for him, which incidentally is the first time in years he has not made his own cake. After a long day, we came home exhausted but well fed.

Tonight, I am making a cake for Kellie's baby shower at school and I am ever so grateful that tomorrow is Wednesday and not Tuesday. Yay four day work weeks! Anyway, I will post some pictures later from this weekend when I am not covered in MMF and cream cheese icing.

Until then,
Kelly & the Gang

Silly Saturday...and Sunday!

This weekend was a doozy, that's for sure! First up was Friday night. I can't even remember it now. Michael and I were so wiped out, Michael made a Wendy's run and we had a "picnic" in the living room while we watched CSI. I then stayed up way too late blogging, reading, watching TV, etc.

Saturday started out slightly overcast and then turned into a rainy mess. Our good friend Josh has just arrived home from Iraq and his welcome home party was postponed as a result of the rain. Instead, Michael and I took the time to do a little housecleaning, play with the baby, and do some grocery shopping. Michael's sister Caitlyn is also active in theatre and her high school's UIL One Act Play made it all the way to state! Both of us were in One Act in high school, but we were never lucky enough to make it to state. We went to see the play and then out for an impromptu birthday dinner with Michael's dad and stepmom and his other sister, Michelle. It was a lovely evening that was then topped off with Billa throwing up everywhere on the way home. We had to pull over and strip her down it was so awful. We don't think she was sick, just that she had eaten too much, too fast. We got home and everybody crashed hard.

Sunday dawned bright and early as Billa decided 6:45 is never too early to start one's Sunday! Yargh. We've been slowly starting to wean little munchkin from her wake up feedings, but she HAD to have one yesterday. So I let her for a few minutes. When she was done, she smacked her lips and then said "Mmmm, that's good!" (Really, it sounded like "Mmm, dat goo!") Michael and I just about died from laughing so hard. I'm sure our neighbors found the situation as hilarious as we did. After some homemade muffins, we briefly went back to Mike & Trisa's to pick up laundry (and run another load thanks to the vomit the night before). From there, we headed to Josh's party! We had a great time but since Little Bit had refused to take a nap, we packed it up early. We were pleasantly surprised by a visit from my little brother Philip who is in town to visit friends when we got home. After he left, I took a quick catnap to regain some energy to make dinner. Billa had had so much fun playing in the Ingersoll pool that she wanted to take her bath early so she could play in the water some more! Silly little Pisces baby...

After dinner, Billa suddenly had new found energy and she went to town undoing all of the cleaning we had bothered with on Saturday [sigh]. As you can see below, every room in the house is becoming Billa's personal play land...every room except her own! She was not very happy that we wouldn't allow her ballpit in the living room.

Once we put Billa to bed, I baked a lemon cake in anticipation of our third wedding anniversary on Wednesday and Michael went to join my brother and his buddies for a couple hours of poker. Finally, these two pumpkins called it a night at midnight.

Hope you enjoyed the wacky weekend recap!
Until next time,
Kelly & the Gang

Need a weekend from the weekend!

Well, I was going to post pictures of Billa's first egg hunt, egg-cept (tee hee!) Mommy and Daddy forgot their camera when they raced off to Mass at 8 am on Sunday morning. It's really not that early I know, but I was up late finishing the wedding cake. So I don't have pictures of Easter, but my mom does. And Lord only knows when I'll get THOSE... no pressure Mom & Dad, but can I please have pictures now?!

Billa didn't have daycare on Friday so I took the day off (needed to bake anyway!) and we went an visited Aunt Debi that morning at Starbuck's. We can't wait for another coffee date! We visited for a couple of hours and Debi is trying to convince me to go get my master's. I just ain't ready for that kind of commitment right now. I have enough student loan debt as it is...We came home and Michael entertained Little Bit while I baked coconut lime cake for the wedding and made marshmallow fondant.

Saturday I made swiss buttercream icing and more fondant, iced and covered the cakes and then started on the designs. I got most of it finished by the time Michael's mom came over to babysit Sybilla. It was really her only time to see munchkin over Easter and it gave her some fun time while Michael and I took our time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner, which was uber fun. Mike and Trisa had the party (there really wasn't a rehearsal) on a boat on Ladybird Lake and we got to see the bats and eat Ruby's BBQ. After that we came home, watched the Untouchables and finished the cake, and then went to bed at almost 2. I woke up not long after and threw up, thanks to too much wine, too little water, too much sugar, and not enough sleep. Go figure!

Ta-da! The Talavera inspired wedding cake...yes, I made this with my own two hands! The bride adores Talavera pottery and given that the wedding was at Fonda San Miguel, it was a perfect match.

On a funny side note, I had a pretty crazy dream that my brother had come over to watch the baby while we were at the party and somehow accidentally ruined the cakes. In order to make up for it, he tried to re-bake them and ice them, but he did it all wrong and by the time we got home, there was no time to fix any of it. Talk about meltdown in a dream. I woke up and was in tears until I realized it was just a dream. Phew!

Mass was nice, but the homily was so textbook that I think everyone seated around us was grateful for the entertainment Billa provided. She did pretty well with Mass and I ran into an old coworker from KW there! We went to my folks' house for breakfast and an egg hunt and Billa had a great time. She really got the hang of egg hunting and would say 'egg' every time she found one, which she also got pretty good at. Afterwards, her favorite thing was to pull all of the eggs out of the basket and put them back in, then repeat ten more times. Now if she could just do that with her toys...

Easter evening was the wedding and what a lovely wedding it was! The food was fantastic, the company wonderful, and the ceremony was definitely memorable, if not embarrassing for Michael and I! Billa decided after 5 minutes she was done and refused to sit still. She was running up the aisle and grabbing her Zeti & Tata's legs and chasing after Daddy when he went to go sing and read. Everyone said it wasn't a big deal, but it really bugged me... it's a wedding for crissakes! My cake got rave reviews and looked beautiful to boot. I definitely learned a lot from this experience which was good and I also had several of Trisa's friends tell me they'd be calling! Yay!

Billa and her cousin Jake who adores Billa. This is the same child who told me "Happy Marry Day!" at our wedding. Jakey has always had a special place in my heart!

Needless to say, it was an exhausting weekend and I definitely need a weekend from our weekend!

I know, I know, it's a terrible picture, but until we get to see the photographer's photos, this is all I got! There wasn't anything else with me in it and very few with Billa looking happy. She got totally overwhelmed by all of her adoring fans that she spent the first part of the evening attached at the hip and in tears. [sigh]

Until then,
Kelly & the Gang

What a week!

It's been a crazy past week! Michael ended up having surgery after all to repair the nerve damage in his thumb. The doc later told me that about 2 cm of his nerves were missing, so he used a vein to repair them. I had no idea you could do that. You learn something new every day! They needed to do a skin graft after all and they took the skin from the palm of Michael's hand to do it. I spent all day Thursday reading every single magazine the waiting room had (quite a selection I might add) and thinking about all of the things I should/could be doing and wishing I had a laptop computer with internet access. I could have at least kept my nerves down by working! Note to self: I should ask for a laptop for my birthday... Oh well, c'est la vie. Michael's hand is in a lot of pain still and Michael sees the surgeon today to remove the dressings and find out what the next step is.

On Saturday, Gigi Judy took Sybilla for a day of fun and shopping so that Mommy and Daddy could get some things done around the house and have some alone time. We figured she'd get tired of her by dinner time, but instead Judy told us to go see a movie and she'd bring her home when we got back! Yes! Score one for Mommy and Daddy :o) We chose to see Twilight, which turned out to be a very good adaptation of the novel, but I felt that some of the technical and directorial choices were poor. Michael disagrees with me on some of them, but personally, I think the reason the director isn't coming back to the second film is mostly due to her ridiculous use of face close-ups. There's only so much detail of one's face that you can handle in a two hour stretch and this movie exceeded my limit. I guess I also don't relate to teens anymore as some of the acting was eye-rolling for me. But despite what I think on the technical stuff, I enjoyed it overall and it was a great date!

The birthday countdown has reached T minus 40 days (or roughly 6 weeks) until Billa is One! I made her birthday invites and they are super cute. You'll just have to wait to see them, ha ha ha! I am so excited about planning her party. It's silly I know, but I LOVE planning themed parties and putting everything together. Now if only I could make a living doing it!


Billa doesn't bother to crawl much anymore and she started figuring out how to stomp this weekend. Mommy and Me tap dance classes, here we come! She's also doing this thing where she moves her jaw in time to music, like she's singing. Her vocabulary is expanding and I like to make sentences out of what she's saying. Sometimes I hear stuff like "I go!" or "Ohboyohboyohboyohboy" and other times I hear "I said dojo, Daddy!" Last night she said something that sounded like "Now I get what I want" when I finally let her have some more food. (She has a really bad tendency towards chipmunk cheeks... she stuffs everything you give her into her mouth and then proceeds to try and swallow it all. Needless to say, the choking and gagging noises freak us out horribly!) I don't know how much she really understands of what we say to her, but she understands 'no' for sure. She loves to pull the DVD's or books off the shelves and when we tell her 'no' she runs away from us screaming with laughter and then runs back to cause more havoc, a look of malicious glee on her face. Little stinker!

Well, that's our week wrapped up! Stay tuned for more!
Love,
K & Co.