Just My Rambling

When I saw this no-sew tutu that a friend made, I just knew that Lil’ C would love it. Since she wanted to be a butterfly fairy for this Halloween, it would be just perfect. This was a really easy project. I also referred to this tutorial for help. It probably took me about an hour to cut & tie the whole thing together and Lil’ C absolutely love it. She loved that she got to pick her own colors for her tutu. She also picked some rhinestones & flowers for embellishment. Her best friend saw this and had already placed an order for one in her favorite colors.

In an effort to reduce spending in our household, I have been doing a lot of research on many things like better mortgage rates, affordable health insurance, affordable kids enrichment classes and more. I have to say there are definitely a lot of options out there. I think a lot of companies are also reducing their costs in order to attract new customers or even just keeping their current customers. I just have to spend a little more time to check out those options in detail to see if they are a fit for my families. Hopefully I will be able to see some savings from these new options.

Initially when I first got invites to join Facebook, I ignored them. I felt that I was not ready to join in yet another social network. But I finally caved one day and joined because that was the only way I could view some of the photos of a friend. I have to admit that it has been really fun. I have actually found friends that I have not seen for more than 25 years!! It has been great catching up with them and finding out what they have been up to. Some of them are teachers, stay-at-home moms, and even a San Jose motorcycle accident attorney. So I have to say that Facebook has been great for keeping in touch but I have to make sure that I don’t spend too much time in it. Moderation is the key, right?

Another easy-peasy craft today. A ladybug puppet! Lil’ C was not very interested in coloring today. So we ended up with an almost white ladybug today. Otherwise it should be colored red. Actual instructions can be found here

We are having a long weekend this week because there was no school on Thursday and Friday. The teachers were all at a teacher conference. Besides these 2 days, there will be more non-school days in the upcoming months. I was a little surprised at the number of non-school days but I am also glad because I don’t have to wake up early and rush to school. I am also taking advantage of those non-school days to have play dates with C’s friends. In fact we had one this morning. It was fun hanging out with other moms while our kids play together. It was a pretty relaxing time for us moms because the kids were playing so well together. We just sat around, drank coffee and ate lots of delicious food. Hmm, hopefully I won’t be looking for diet pills if we have more of these play dates. Maybe we should incorporate exercise into these gathering.

As I wrote earlier, we redecorated Lil’ C’s room. It’s not totally done yet because I am still shopping around for some decorative accents. In the meantime, we are also converting the loft area to a little study area. I wonder if I should get some classroom furniture so that it resembles a little classroom. I am sure that she will concentrate a lot more just as she does in her school classroom. I guess I will have to shop around to check for the best prices before deciding.

Usually every November and December, we are crazily busy. I don’t understand why but somehow Lil’ C‘s closest friends all have year-end birthdays, so there is usually a birthday party almost every weekend during the last 2 months of the year. Add in Thanksgiving and Christmas and I feel like I am living in a party town. Don’t get me wrong, I love all these parties but after a few, I am exhausted. Usually by the beginning of December, I will be wishing that I am having a vacation at the Outer Banks vacation homes or somewhere relaxing like that. I think this year we might just learn to say no, skip some of the parties and take a vacation instead.

Over the weekend, we did an extreme makeover of Lil’ C’s room. She will be turning 5 soon, so it was a good time to get rid of all her baby and toddler stuff. We finally replaced her little kid bed with a twin bed which is now sitting on the floor because we have not gotten a bed frame yet. She wants a princess bunk bed. I wonder if I can convince her otherwise! The walls in her room are still a little bare. Next week I will probably frame some of her artwork and hang them on the wall. I might just add a couple of candle sconces on the wall too, just for decorative purpose.

Materials needed:

• 1 piece of brown construction paper for tree trunk
• 1 piece of green construction paper for the tree
• green & red crepe paper for apples
• glue

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Time to complete craft: 15 minutes or more. 

For younger kids, you can precut the trees for them. For older kids, they can draw and cut out the tree themselves. This will be a great exercise for their fine motor skills using the scissors. Just remember to use kid-friendly scissors. Have fun!!

Ok, I totally missed Random Tuesday Thoughts! I guess Tuesday just whizzed by silently and before I know it, it’s already Thursday! So here are some Thursday thoughts instead!!

It has been so….. cold this week. This morning I woke up to 40F. Brrr… time to dig out all the comforters and winter jackets from the closet. I think by next week, we will probably have to turn on the fireplace for the first time this season. There were also some crazy wind the last few days. A lot of places lost power. So glad that we didn’t. I think it’s time to check on my emergency kit and make sure that the battery in my fireplace still has power. Yes, it is an electric fireplace and it does have batteries just in case we lost power.

After much thought, I have decided not to close down this blog. Even though I don’t update it as frequently, it is still nice to have a place to pen down some thoughts. But I have also decided to add a crafty twist to this blog. Now that my little girl is no longer a baby or as she insists “a big girl”, I have decided to shut down her baby blog and move some of her craft post over to this blog instead. I will also be adding some new crafts as we progress. As I go through her baby blog, I realized that we really did spend a lot of time on making art and crafts when she was little. Lately I have not been doing much of that. Hopefully now that I will be updating this blog, it will motivate me to do more.

That’s all for today. Have a great day, everyone!