Dear Santa

Dear Santa, 

I hope you are doing well this holiday season and that you and Mrs. Clause enjoy this season despite the pressure that comes with your career. I hope you enjoy this season as much as I do. Which is A LOT!

Well Santa, I know that you are very busy and have many demands on you this year and that traveling via sleigh requires much training and all your elves are hard at work. Not to mention the naughty and nice list. Wow, I thought my job had to deal with paperwork!

Anyways. To get to the point Santa, I thought now would be as good a time as any to send you my Christmas wish list! I have tried very hard to be good, [Lord knows I don’t always succeed!]. Nonetheless I have tried. 

So in no particular order, this is my desired list!

“Free Bird Necklace”

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69926293/be-free-bird-necklace-silver-bird-cage?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=bird+necklace&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Sweater Slipper

Remember the FABULOUS pair of sweater slippers you got me last year??

Well, I have loved and worn them so much, I would like another pair. Pretty Please!

I absolutely adore these slippers! I would live in them if I could. (I would love them even more in red and black!)

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=22147615&color=060&color=060&itemdescription=true&navAction=jump&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=SEARCH+RESULTS

Watercolor Sketchbook

Easel 

Wilton Kit for making things with fondant. Things like the food coloring, bags and tips, and more!

I would also enjoy gift cards from: Urban Outfitters, Aerie, American Eagle, Pac Sun, Barnes and Noble, Micheals, Hobby Lobby, Target, Walmart, The Local Movie Theatre, ETC . . .

Also Santa, I am moving out on my own VERY soon. So, I would greatly appreciate some household-ey goods!

I would absolutely LURVE . . . 

A KitchenAid mixer

A Vacuum

Spices

Cleaning Supplies 

all of that good stuff!

(P.S. I would REALLY love the KitchenAid Mixer!)

Thanks so much for listening to the demands of a grown young woman who probably who has no business writing you, when you should be reading the letters of desperate children. 

Yours truly. Always your biggest fan!

Sunshine <3

Little Bro's Surgery

So, here's the story. Unfortunately Lil Bro is scheduled to have surgery this afternoon. He was "hanging out" [that's what he says now because he is cool, and he is in middle school.] with some friends when one got the idea to throw him a stick. Lil Bro caught the stick, but upon catching said stick he was stuck with a LARGE splinter in his finger. We took out as much of the splinter as we could, but we couldn't get it all without making his finger into hamburger meat. 

We saw several physicians and they all told us the same thing, it will eventually rise to the surface. Be patient.

Well we were patient. Except for his finger kept getting larger and purple-er. Then, Little Bro's school nurse caught a glimpse of his finger. She said something to him along the lines of "GET THEE TO AN URGENT CARE NOW!!" So, we did.

The Urgent Care said we needed to take him to the ER [Emergency Room]. So we did. They referred us to a plastic surgeon who specializes in hands. So we went. Lil' Bro is not scheduled for his surgery this afternoon, where they will put him under gen. anesthesia and open his hand and flush the infection/splinter out. 

All of this is because of a SPLINTER??!!

So, when Lil Bro was informed of his upcoming surgery, this is how he took it. . . 

 Lil' Bro is now thrilled to be having his surgery and spending his recovery time reading the book he has been waiting for several months to own.

Library fines. Oh me oh my!

(This is where my books should have gone a month ago. Oops!)

On monday I finally returned the books to the library I have had for quite some time. I knew the fines would be bad, because I have had these books past their due date for almost over a month. 

I walked up to the circulation desk and a very friendly man with a "blackbeard" worthy beard handed me my fine list. It came to $20!! 

I almost cried as I kicked myself for my stupidity and negligence! 

However, I was so proud of myself for paying my fine and finally taking responsibility for my tardiness/negligence that I rewarded myself with ice cream from Brindles. 

It was SOO good! If you are ever in San Antonio, and you ever get the chance, please, please, do yourself and your soul a favor and indulge in it's amazing glory.

I got the "Cardamom" and "Azteca" flavors. D-LISHUS!

I love being responsible. I think I should do it more often!

Busy, busy me.

Long time no blog, eh?
So It has been a little while since I last blogged because a great many things have happened in my schedule since I last posted about tiny tot love.

A) I had the Young Single Adult Conference this past weekend. I was a representative for my stake (in Mormon lingo this means the almost regional area of all of the churches in your area. Lets just say, it's kind of big.).

 Basically, Representative+Stake that is hosting the conference=You basically run the whole show!

Oh my goodness! There was much running around, microphone testing, smiling, shaking hands, making sure everyone kept smiling, decorating . . . believe me the list could go on! Oh it could!

The whole affair was wonderful though, and an entirely rewarding experience. I would do it again. Only if they asked ;) 

B) I have been working much, and babysitting a lot more! Which I have loved, so no complaints. 

C) I have a wonderful little brother who keeps me busy. 'Nuff said.

The theme of this years 2011 YSA conference was "come what may, and love it". We had a lot of fun doing service projects like assisting with the Jr. Special Olympics [This event was unfortunately full, so I missed out. :( ], Kids Rock [also full], and helping with the food bank in a project called "Feed the Hungry". 

I personally think this was one of the best parts of the entire conference. I woke up ridiculously early and drove out to my church where we all met up and divided into groups to go to our service sights. Breakfast was generously served, but because I was a YSA rep I already knew what was on the menu that morning. This may be terrible, but instead of eating their breakfast, I drove to Starbucks beforehand and bought myself a Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate and some delicious home-style oatmeal with fruit, nuts and brown sugar. I had to chuckle to myself while I enjoyed my feast and everyone else munched on packaged "Big Texas Cinnamon Rolls", tiny muffins, and "Capri Suns". He he. I know, bad Sunshine!

Anyways, we were not exactly the most lively bunch. Everyone muttered in some shape or form "I am SOO tired!" But when we stepped onto our sights and were given our jobs, we no longer cared about being tired. Suddenly, we were all full of energy and all we cared about was making sure the people we were serving felt at ease, and were taken care of.

It was really amazing, I would wake up every morning that early if it meant I could experience that ever day.

I really go to see the "come what may&love it" theme come to life. It was amazing!

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, Christmas! 

You may ask "why is this day your favorite holiday?"

 It's because of the gift giving. I love to pick out presents for my friends and family! I go bankrupt almost every year trying to pick out the PERFECT gift for the ones I love.

 I also love making goodies, but this thought has no place in this particular rambling.

Basically, if I could afford it I would spend over a thousand dollars buying gifts just for people I loved who were friends just because I found something "just for them!"

Anyways, the other night I spent FOUR HOURS shopping for this year. OOH I cannot wait to tell you what I picked out for everyone. Unfortunately because of the fact the people I am giving gifts to might read this blog, I cannot spill this juicy info. So you will just have to wait till Christmas morning with bated breath to find out what i got for my loved ones. 

All I can say is, IT'S GONNA BE GOOD!

I cannot wait!!

Matters of the Heart

I love, love, love my job! Where else could someone get a front row seat to a love triangle between children under the age of five? So, here’s the story, there is a little boy named Chris who is three years old. He is cool, he tells me he’s cool every day! His shirt is cool, his lego shoes are SUPER cool, his hair is cool. This kid is just what cool is all about. Somewhere along the path in his journey of cool, Chris was told by someone that because he is cool he has to find himself a girlfriend. He just does, it’s not negotiable.

Today Chris walked into my workplace, he looked around the room and his sweet little three year old eyes fell upon four year old Juliet. I have to tell you, Juliet is a little boy’s dream! She has rich, dark brown hair, beautiful chocolate eyes with bright flecks of green that light up when she smiles. She is quiet and sweet, a beautiful little girl inside and out! So when Chris came up to me and told me “Teacher, Juliet is beautiful!” I couldn’t disagree with him. 

Chris and Juliet spent a good part of the morning together, playing ball, climbing in the jungle gym and coloring. There were some cute moments, like when a little boy hit Juliet with a ball and Chris came running to me very upset, demanding retribution and defending his new found love!

Enter Liam. Ladies on the playground watch out! This little four year old is a bad boy with blue eyes and a smoldering pout. He saw Juliet. He knew she had to be his girlfriend. 

As soon as Liam and Chris stood next to each other near the shoe cubbies, they knew they didn’t like each other. A fight soon broke out, it went something like this: “I love girls!’ ‘NO I love girls!’ ‘NO I LOVE GIRLS’ ‘NO I DO!”. After that, the fight was on. The fight for Juliet’s heart.

Soon after this little spat, Juliet was on to both the boys and their intentions. She was starting to get sick of all the attention Chris was giving her. To get away from all the madness, she began to climb the jungle gym tower. From down below Chris called out to her, “Juliet! You have to be my girlfriend!” This is when Juliet climbed away as quickly as possible!

After this little incident Chris came to me stressed and very frustrated, “Teacher, she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend!” This is when Chris and I had a little discussion about girls. I explained to him that if he EVER wants to have a shot at getting any girl to be his girlfriend, he has to be nice. He has to ask ever so sweetly, and tell her how pretty she is. It doesn’t matter if you are the coolest guy ever. If your not nice, no girl will like you.

Chris took my advice to his three year old heart and began to climb the jungle gym tower in pursuit of Juliet. While Chris was climbing, Liam beat Chris to the punch. He asked Juliet to be his girlfriend, a little more nicely than Chris had the first time, she said yes. This is where Chris burst into Oscar worthy tears and collapsed from his despair on the jungle gym steps. I proceeded to pick him up off the steps of the jungle gym tower and told him he can try again.

Soon after this, Juliet was sick of all of the romantic attention from her young little suitors. She broke it off with Liam and tried to find a quiet place to be alone, away from all of the excitement that love struck little boys bring into the life of a four year old girl.

Both Liam and Chris sat in the corner near the cubbies, their heads hung. They tried to piece themselves back together the best they could after their hearts had been ripped in two by a darling dark haired beauty. 

Soon Liam’s mother picked him up. Once Liam was gone, Chris decided to give love one last shot. Chris found Juliet in the computer room, he came up to her and in his cute little three year old voice said, “Juliet I really want you to be my girlfriend. I really like you. Your really pretty! Please will you be my girlfriend?”

I didn’t hear the end of the conversation, but Chris promptly came up to me after. He seemed in pretty good shape, at peace with the way things had turned out. He said, “Teacher, she says she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend. She says she wants to be friends.” I am proud of the wisdom young Juliet showed at this decision, she showed wisdom beyond her four years! I am also relieved Chris didn’t walk away from the experience completely shattered.

I personally found the whole thing really CUTE! I loved dispensing my guru love advice to my super cool three year old friend Chris!

Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

(The Epic Baketress, Myself, and Little Bro at the Trunk or Treat! 

Baketress was jellyfish, I was a hippie, bro was a burn victim!)

The Trunk or Treat was loads of fun and I had a fantastic Halloween!
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays! When I say this most would assume I love Halloween because of the parties, cute goodies I can potentially make, adorable tricker-treaters, festive decorations or the oh so delicious candy!
All of these things I love, but they are not the reason I love Halloween. The reason I love halloween is because I have an odd gift. I can make people look like they are dead and have died a most horrible death!
Now I ask the jury to please not hand out judgement cards.
You see, when I was nine I discovered that with the help of my mommy's eyeshadow pallet I could make someone look like a WWI soldier who had died in the trenches! After that, it was love!
Once a year I have a wonderful excuse to use my dark gift! My little brother loves this, and every year has utilized my "skillz"! He loves the fact that I can make him look like the scariest young man on the block! He has been everything that we can think of that would give me any excuse to cover him in fake blood, I am talking a dead mercenary, gangster "snitch", and more! This year, it was decided he would be a burn victim.

Here's how I did it!

I messed his hair up with LOTS of hair gel! Then I sprayed it with temporary black hair dye, just enough to give it that singed look!

Then I used a simple/cheap Halloween makeup kit, the kind you can get at WALMART or PARY CITY. I began with a base of a bit of red and brown makeup to make him look like his skin was irritated and swollen where he was "cut", then I added some fake blood. The kind in the little tubes are best, that way you can generously apply blood drips and pools. I continued to apply a bases of red, brown, purple and yellow. Then I took thick black makeup and with a textured sponge I generously applied "burns". Textured sponges are really handy for things like "burns" and "skin disease" because it makes the "skin" have texture!

I continued to apply his "burns" were I saw fit, then little bro and I chose a white T-shirt and marked our desired "burn spots". We went outside and I began to burn his shirt [if you do this, keep a bucket of water by you! DO NOT just set the whole shirt ablaze! This will result in your local Fire Dept. paying you a visit and giving you REALLY dirty looks.]. I have found it's best to just singe and burn little edges and pieces of the shirt.

Then I made the burns on the shirt a little bit bigger, then poured water on the shirt. I spread the dirt from the ground and the ashes on the shirt around, creating a nasty, dirty look!

I then opened up several bags of black tea, filled a big bowl up with water and put the shirt in to let it soak for 20-30 min while I finished up the rest of little bro's makeup.

After the shirt was done soaking I put it in the dryer to dry. When the shirt was dry I took it out and rubbed it over my failed artists charcoal project, really giving it that "sooty" look! 

Before little bro could put on his costume, I finished applying his makeup and burns, saving the fake blood for last.

When little bro put on his shirt, I generously applied fake blood, making sure that the blood would drip at the same angle that it would have if he had been "cut" or was "oozing". I made sure to put some under the shirt so it would seep through the fabric.

I then wrapped his head with a gauze wrap and applied "seeping" blood every couple of wraps. After the gauze was secured I used the textured sponge to apply dark brown and black makeup to the gauze to make it look dirty. The finishing touch was a little more "seeping blood" and used the textured sponge to apply yellow around the largest wound to make it look like it was "oozing" and "festering".

After finally applying red and brown to his arms and hands, finishing up a couple ticky-tacky touches, the victim was ready to Trick or Treat!

This was the final result!

I hope one and all had a fantastic Halloween!