Happy New Year!

Well it's been a while since I have updated the blog. It's been a pretty busy holiday season, and we're still feeling the effects. We have one more Christmas party to attend on Saturday and then Christmas is dunzo for this year. I have to say, I'm looking forward to it. Christmas has always been a stressful time for us as we have multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) parties and houses to attend. I would much rather just stay at our house. I don't mean to sound like the grinch, it's just too much running around. I'd be fine with everyone coming to our house. Bella got a ton of toys for Christmas. She got a lot of big toys: a slide, a kitchen set, a toddler cleaning cart equipped with a vacuum, broom, mop, and dust broom, and a toddler basketball hoop. That's just to name a few. Our issue now is where to put it all.

The last weekend in January, a friend of ours will be moving in for a while. He just got a job, his dream job, at a golf course in Verona and needed a place to crash while he still paid rent at his house in Milwaukee. It's going to be different living with a roommate again, and I hope it works out. I don't have a very good track record with getting along with roommates, even if they are friends. The last roommate I had, I didn't talk to him for a year after we moved out. Eeeek. I know it's 75% me because I am very particular about things and I really don't like germs. I'm not as bad as Howie Mandel, but sometimes I think I get pretty close. That makes it really difficult for me to live with anyone... or anyone to live with me. I can overlook a lot of things with my husband and my daughter because they are everything to me and I see their germs as my germs. (I even have a problem with my parents and sister.) It's a problem, I know, but I don't know how to fix it. But that is not why I mentioned the whole roommate thing. Because we are getting a roomie, we have to finish our basement. We had been talking about it for a long time, but never did anything about it. Jeff moving in was our 'kick-in-the-pants' to get it done. We were originally going to just finish up the two bedrooms in the basement and then put up drywall in the living room area. But my contractor/carpenter father talked us into adding a bathroom so our friend could have a bathroom to himself. We agreed, but that added a HUGE issue to the budget we had already depleted. Thank goodness it's almost tax return season! 

I always think that remodeling is going to be quick and easy. Man am I dumb! We redid our upstairs guest bathroom this summer and it only took a week total and Dan and I were at each other's throats the whole time. We get so stressed out and just take it out on each other. It's bad. Well, the basement is no exception. We started last week on the 27th and I foresee it lasting at least until the end of January. Remember all those big toys Bella got? Well, they are just hanging out in our living room and her bedroom where there is just no room for it all. That stresses me out because I can't clean my house and there is stuff everywhere. It stresses Dan out because the house is a mess and he doesn't get to spend any time with Bella at night when he gets home because he has to go straight downstairs and work. I'm sure it's annoying for my dad because I keep annoying him about when he thinks the project will be done. It's just sucky for everyone involved. But, I'm hoping it will get done soon and we can enjoy being a family again. 

With all that being said, Dan and I need a date night... soon... and real bad. We don't get a chance to do things together except maybe once every 4 months or longer. (I'm not counting our photobooth job as time we spend together.) We need a night to go out to eat and a movie and not talk about the house or things that we fight about. But I feel guilty about not taking Bella. She hasn't been able to see her Daddy for a long time and she needs him more. I'll just keep telling myself that the basement will be done soon and we can get back to normal family life (plus roommate) again.

The last post I wrote that I was hoping for a teacher/craft room for Christmas... I'm getting my wish! I'll post pictures when it's done. (I also wanted a Kindle Fire, which has now changed to me wanting a Nook Tablet, but I don't see that in my immediate future. My birthday is in January, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting construction supplies for that. Boo.)

I'll leave you with my New Year's Resolutions for 2012.

* Drink less pop. I want to cut it back to 1 per week.

* Post a dessert recipe once a week on my new blog. Check it out!

* Keep a diary of sorts for 2012. I'll post a link to what I'm doing here.

I hope everyone enjoys their 2012. I think all in all it's going to be a great year!

Freedom!

Yay! Right after I wrote that last post, I quit Swiss Colony.... like hours after. It was the best decision I've ever made. I had no idea how much that job was bringing me down. I didn't hate the job and I didn't mind the people I worked with, it was just not right for me at this point in my life. I was working too much and my family was paying the price. So, now I'm free to spend more time with the people that matter the most to me. I am very grateful for that.

So now because I have a little free time, I've been finding projects to do. My dear friend Stefanie got me hooked on Pinterest. (If you haven't checked it out... do it... seriously... right now.) I have found sooooo many DIY projects on there that I want to start. Only problem... no money. Hey, I guess that's what happens when you quit a job. But, what's more important: family or money? No brainer. Anywho, I've taught myself how to crochet and I've made a few hats and stuffed animals and scarfs. They're pretty cute. I'm trying to get the motivation to finish up a scarf for my sister-in-law, a fox stuffed animal, and a koala hat. Hopefully today I can get those puppies done. Next on my list to crochet are two slouchy hats for my mother-in-law, a sweater, a hat for a friend's baby, a Winnie the Pooh hat, and a blanket for my daughter. We'll see how far I get before my fingers fall off. :)

We're hoping to remodel our basement within the next year, so I'm getting super excited about getting my teacher/craft room all set up and ready to use. I can't wait! I *might* be getting it as a Christmas present... fingers crossed! I was on Pinterest (surprise surprise) and I found this blog that showed this woman's sewing room. I think my jaw hit the floor and drool flooded out of my mouth. You can see what her craft room looks like here. If only my house were HUGE and could accommodate a room that size. I am perfectly happy having a teeny tiny room as my craft room. <Enter huge grin>... SOOOOO EXCITED!

*If you want to join Pinterest, let me know your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Back to the Holiday Bustle

Well after a looooooooong busy summer, it is now fall and with fall comes the holiday season. Last year, I started working a temporary seasonal job at The Swiss Colony to help pay for Christmas presents. Against my better judgment (why is there no 'e' after the g in judgment?!), I decided to go back for year number two. Let me first preface this rant with why my summer was so busy.

Early this summer I started working for a photographer that owns photobooths. Dan and I are able to work together attending the photobooths at weddings and other occasions. I like this job, and my boss is awesome, but summer is wedding season, so the weekends were pretty much jam packed with photobooth jobs. And when we had a weekend off, we filled it quickly with family events and other things. During the summer, it wasn't so bad because I wasn't working during the week. Now, since school has started, I can't breathe.

I am a substitute teacher for 6 different schools (and love it), I work at Swiss Colony at night, we do photobooths on Saturdays, and then Dan and I clean a hair salon for a friend on the weekends (usually Sundays) as well. The weeks start running together when there isn't any time off. Many days, I work from 7:30am -10pm and that means that I'm away from my house from 6:30am to 10:45pm and that's just the days that I only have to work until 10. Soon, I'll be getting home after midnight. That is stressful enough, but that also means I don't get to see Bella or Dan. I think the only time I see Dan is when we're working together, and then we're usually fighting because the week has been so hard on us both. I need a part time stay at home job where I can work a couple hours a night and get paid like $150 a week. If you know of one, let me know.

I'm super stressed right now because of everything going on. I don't really like my SC job at all, and have thought about just quitting multiple times, but 1. I would feel bad leaving them hanging like this and 2. I need that extra cash. It's just such a pain. I have to work every night during the week (and soon, I'll have to start working weekends), if I want to take a night off for something, I get penalized for it (I got penalized last year for going to a meeting for Bella's baptism... awesome), and I have to work on Halloween (Bella's second) and the day after Thanksgiving. I know a lot of you may not know, but my holidays are so incredibly busy it's ridiculous. We will have probably about 7 Thanksgivings to go to. In a what, 3 or 4 day period? That's going to be just about impossible this year. Dan and Bella will have to go without me, which is unfair for both sides. I keep telling myself that SC is only until the middle of December, I can do it. But then I look at a calendar and realize that is 11 weeks away. That's 77 days. That seems like eternity. I don't know if I can do it. 

My house is a mess and I have absolutely no motivation to do anything about it. When I get home at night, it's not like I can just fall aleep right away. It takes time for me to unwind. I fell asleep last night around 1 and Bella was up at 6 this morning. I have no energy and I'm grumpy all the time. Not good for the family. You're probably thinking, well why don't you just take a nap when Bella does? Well, I have to get in the shower (because I can't trust her alone and awake), and I have to *try to straighten things up as best I can, and get laundry done, and everything else before I have to leave for work at night. Boo. I don't mean to be having a pity party right now, and I know a lot of people have it a lot worse than I do, but I just needed to get it out there, and I just want one person to tell me it's ok, and that I should just quit and it will all be ok.

I do still have things that make me happy:

*Crocheting... I just recently taught myself how to crochet, and I'm LOVING it

* Baking... I will be starting a blog January 1, 2012 that has a different dessert recipe every day for 365 days. I love the blog crockpot365.blogspot.com and her wonderful idea to use her crockpot every day for a year. I can't cook to save my life. My friend Jeremy can vouch for me when I say I should not be allowed near the stove with ideas in my head of deep frying ravioli. It's just bad. I, however, CAN bake. Pretty well some times. I love to try new yummy recipes that involve sweet ooey gooey stuff, so that's my blog. Be ready 2012!

* Friends... I have awesome friends. You guys are great. I love my "mom friends" and my high school and college friends. One of our friends *may be moving into Chateau Purcell for a little while if all things work according to plan. That is exciting and scary at the same time. More on that later if it happens.

* Family... I seriously couldn't do all these jobs if I didn't have such a supporting family that helps me take care of Bella (at no charge) ALL THE TIME. I love that if Bella is not with Dan or I that she is with grandparents, great grandparents, or aunts that love her. We are blessed to have a large loving family.

And of course Bella and Dan. I love having such a supportive husband that can handle me when I lose my mind and freak out about stupid little things that don't matter. He's always there for me, and he's got my back, even when I'm not aware. Bella keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh. She is going through a tough stage right now, but she's growing up and finding herself. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Long Time No Talk

It's been a while since I've written, and I guess I'll just update everyone to what's going on in our world...

Summer school has started and I am loving it. It's a lot of prep work but I really enjoy teaching my classes this year. I'm teaching both a one hour Dr. Seuss class and a one hour Eric Carle class twice a day. So from 8-9 am it's Dr. Seuss, 9-10am Eric Carle, 10-11 back to Dr. Seuss, and 11-12am finishing off with Eric Carle. I'm teaching these classes in two sessions and the first session ends next Thursday. It's a lot of fun and it's a nice way for me to still keep me fresh with teaching.

Bella: Whoa man is this little girl growing and learning and getting into EVERYTHING. Her new favorite thing is going over door thresholds and crawling up and down stairs. I don't love the whole stair thing because she doesn't really have all the balance (or coordination) she needs to keep herself from falling down the stairs... so it's pretty scary for us. She's got 4 teeth and a few more up top are just teasing us. She eats anything and everything we eat, but she doesn't eat meat... her choice, not ours. We gave her some peanut butter a couple weeks ago and (whew) no allergic reaction so we're pretty stoked about that. She walks along anything that she can grab a hold of. She'll use our gliding ottoman as a walker and walk around the room with it. She can't walk by herself yet, but it's going to happen soon. She also can't stand up by herself for more than 5 seconds, but again, that's coming soon too. We are going to be taking the bottle away soon and I think she'll do pretty good without it. She can sign "more", "please", "milk", and will blow kisses. We're working on "thank you". She can say please and more, mommy, daddy, kitty, Zoey, Kya, puppy, hi, thank you, and just today she said "Hi Tim". That was completely unexpected, but pretty cool.

We just remodeled our upstairs bathroom and I must say I love it. It took a lot of blood sweat and tears, but it's done and looks nice, so we're very happy with that. Other than that, nothing else is too different here, we're just super busy. Summertime is always a very busy time for us. I can dig it. :)

Couponing

So recently I watched an episode of Extreme Couponing on TLC. I became HOOKED. I feel like I am a highly organized person and I love saving money, so I thought I could give it a shot. It's been about two weeks since I watched that episode and I am now obsessed. I figure if I can get 50% savings or more on my grocery and every day needs then I'm going to try.

Here are a few of the places I've looked for information and for coupons...

• Coupons.com
• Coupon Dad
• Red Plum
• Moms Need to Know
• Groupon

If you want to give this a try and see if you can save yourself some money, please do! If you have any questions or want more information, let me know, and I'll do what I can to help. Happy Couponing!

Birthday Parties!

We had Bella's two family birthday parties the past couple of weeks. I'm not going to write too much about them, other than they were super fun! Here are a few pics from her two special days. :)

Rainbow cupcakes from B-Day Party 1

 

          

 

 

Rainbow cupcakes from B-Day Party 2

Daddy playing with her cell phone from Uncle Joshy

Enjoying her Winnie the Pooh gift bag and her Angry Birds piggy

Chewing on her toy from Aunt Britty

Checking herself out in the mirror

She sure loved those cupcakes!

Cake smash!

She's such a big girl!

Bike helmet from Grandma Silly

Isn't she a sweetie?!

Bumpa got her this plaque. It's hanging right above the door to her room. :)

Happy 1st Birthday!

It was one year ago today, in the early morning hours, that little baby Bella came into this world. I was trying to remember what I was doing a year from last night, but I couldn't remember. Well I shouldn't say that, I know I was in labor, but I don't remember what stage I was in at that particular time. Maybe that's for the best. Isabella Anne was born at 2:20 am two days after her due date. She was beautiful. From the first second she came into this world she had her daddy wrapped around her little tiny finger.
This past year has been quite the eye opener for me. Being a mom is a lot of work! I give kudos to all those moms out there that are super moms and can juggle everything in their lives but still have all the time in the world to spend with their kids. I definitely have a new appreciation for my own mother. On Mother's Day, I think I am going to list some moms I know that have inspired me to become a better mother.
So, what has Bella learned in her year of life? Well she rolled over, sat up by herself, took a bottle, then solids, and then table foods and a sippy cup, she hasn't crawled yet, but she scoots like a maniac, she gets into everything, and she has a small vocabulary. She points at everything and asks "what's that?" It sounds more like "sssswwwaazzzzaaa" but her voice goes up at the end so you know she's asking a question ;) She also says dada, mama, and hi and she fake laughs at all our jokes to makes us feel like we're funny. She loves to read books and do puzzles. She just read Dan and I an excerpt from a magazine yesterday. What a genius. :)

Today, Bella and I met Daddy at Culvers for lunch. We ordered Bella her own meal for the first time (grilled cheese) and she got her own birthday frozen custard. Then she got to go back to work with Daddy for a little bit so he could show off his big birthday girl. Daddy took the rest of the day off to spend with us. Although it is a dreary day, it's been a happy day at the Purcell house. Right now, Bella is fighting off sleep because she wants to enjoy more birthday time. Tonight, the three of us are having a pizza party with homemade pizza and a Disney movie. It's a good day.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting these past couple of days. It's been really hard for me to come to terms with the fact that my little girl is growing up, and although she's not running off to college tomorrow, I know that I have to cherish the time that she's little because it's going to go by too fast. Bella was only a couple weeks old when I broke down in tears because she was growing up too fast. (That also could have had a little something to do with postpartum but the reality of it all hit me like a ton of bricks.)

We had one birthday party for her a couple days ago and will be having the other one next Sunday. I asked everyone (Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunts, Uncles, Godparents, etc) to write her a letter telling her how much she means to them and I am collecting all those letters and saving them until her 18th birthday. On her 18th birthday, I'm going to give her those letters and let her go somewhere and read them alone. I am so excited for her to read the letters. Bella will be the only person to read them so it's between her and the person who wrote the letter. She has made such a difference in the lives around her and I want her to know how we feel. You don't always tell the people you care about most how much you love them, and this is something she can keep forever. I must admit, however, that neither Dan nor I have written our letters yet. It's so hard to put everything I feel into words.  I'll get it done.

Well I'm off to spend the night with my family. Happy March 22! My favorite day of the year! :)