Good Tuesday morning to you all!

First of all, The Little Mermaid was absolutely amazing.  Went with my friend Jonny and we just had a great time. The show was great, the singers were fantastic, and the night was cool.  It was a PERFECT evening.  I couldn't have been happier.  

Fun thing that happened: we heard gunshots about 20 minutes before the show ended and a helicopter flew over with a searchlight.  The zoo/Starlight is located near a pretty crappy area, so I'm not really surprised.  Kinda scary though. 

Other than that, I've just been doing normal stuff.  I've had a lot on my mind, but I'm not sure of how to put into words what I've been thinking, so I'll let it simmer some more.  

I started a new painting this week, and am LOVING it so far.  I woke up this morning and looked at the work in progress and smiled. Usually, I won't feel happy until something is complete, but I just really like this one.  The colors and design of it is really pleasing me.

Delilah is just beyond amazing.  She sings on key and knows words to songs at 19 months.  All the time, people ask me how old she is (when we're out and about and they see her doing that).  They are shocked when they find out how young she is.  Good genes and engaging your kids is a good way to help them grow mentally.  I saw way too many people in Clovis who just pushed their kids off to the side like they were just accessories.  I'm very proud of how much Delilah knows and how much she's able to communicate, verbally and using sign language.  There aren't a lot of times that she and I don't understand what the other is trying to say.  Not a lot of frustration when communication is there!

Picked up my bridesmaid dress for Chelsea's wedding in October.  Love the color sooooo much.  The cut is great too!  I can't wait.  What an exciting wedding this is going to be.

Well, time to go get my butt in the shower and ready for the day.  I've got a lot to do, and that's perfect!

xo

Danielle

Oh, and hello to the people in Clovis and estranged family members still reading this.  Hope you're getting the dirt you need to continue to talk about me.  It's actually really weird that you are still very much..obsessed...with my life and how I live.  Ah well, doesn't effect me.  I'm living a happy and fulfilled life.  

Busy busy busy

Been quite busy lately.  Lots of stuff going on.  Here's a rundown:

*My great-uncle got very sick suddenly and was in the hospital unable to talk.  Mom had this urgency to go see him, so we drove up that night.  We talked to him, and he knew who we were and understood what we were saying.  I told him that I loved him and to get back home so we could come visit again.  Within the week, he passed away.  As sad as I am, I'm so thankful that I got to see him one last time.  I'm glad he met Delilah, and I'm glad I got to tell him I loved him.  They're still trying to find out what caused him to pass. 

*I've been going to trivia night with a group of friends once a week.  I'd love to put where, because it's really a fun place, but I have some actual crazy people that read my blog, and I honestly don't want them to know where I go.  

*I've got 2 friends getting married within a year (October and March).  Ben and I are in both weddings!  Delilah is the flower girl in one of them.  I'm so excited and happy for all of them, and I can't wait to celebrate.  

*Working on getting our passports...it's such a darn process.  It's all coming together though.

*I got baptized and joined the church that I've been attending!  It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad that I did it.  I've really been growing and learning a lot in the church and I feel really at home there.  

*Delilah is saying more and more words every single day.  She can say more words than what's typical for her age, and can sign most of them as well as some that she can't say.  She communicates so well, and I'm just so proud of how smart she is.

*My computer died on me.  I was going to just wait around, use my phone, not worry about it...but Ben had me go out and get myself a new one today.  A brand new one.  A Mac.  He really takes care of me.  Delilah and I are so lucky to have him.  

*I ran a 5K!  I did it!  I am so incredibly proud of myself.  Ran the entire time and had a blast doing it.  It was the color run on the 1st of this month.  What a freaking fantastic time.  I'm looking to do some more!

*I'm getting a Bountiful Baskets started for Harrisonville. If you don't know what it is, you should.  http://www.bountifulbaskets.org

Picture updates:

painted this for a Disney redditgifts exchange

Pre-race. We were ready.

The three team runners!

Victory beers!

Part of my anniversary present.  The other part was a Keurig!

For my sister-in-law's birthday.

Sidewalk chalk paint. Easy to make.

She's such a cuddler!

Started a series of paintings pink+gray for Delilah's future room

Day at the park!

This dog loves her.

These two...they are just so adorable. He loves her so much, and she loves him!

Part of the wall of paintings for D's future room in Germany.

She got into my BRAND NEW lipstick.  When I caught her with it, she smiled and then signed "pretty" to me.  She was right, so I couldn't be mad!

Outside on her play set

Facetime with Daddy!

Completely unintentional-my footprint and she happened to step right next to it.

Trash bag couture.

Got baptized and joined my church!

Delilah and Mom were there to see me baptized!

Another beautiful day in my life.  I'm so blessed.

My beautiful, wonderful, smart, awesome daughter.

What flavor would you like your malt? Braaaaaaaaiiiiiiiins...t

Today was a decent day.

Slept in.
Had coffee.
Got 2 belts from Hot Topic (thanks, buy one get one half off on all accessories!)
Grocery shopped.
Had our car looked at (Please buy it, someone!)
Took dogs on a walk.
Finished a zombie painting.

Had dinner.
Surfed the internet.

Now I'm just chilling at home (Ben is at a concert) and about to start a movie because my pets are looking at me like I NEVER pet or cuddle them...they're staring at me from across the room.

My next endeavor is to finish taking pictures of Ben's Nintendo games (I do not trust movers) so that we have a physical record of what we have.  I'm going to do that with EVERYTHING in the house.  I'm not going to let ANYONE screw us over on anything that belongs to us.  We've worked hard for everything we have.

Subbing at Cameo tomorrow!  I'm super excited to see all my former students and all my friends!

Here are the pics of my vampire earrings, I put them in this weekend (It's hard to get a good picture, btw)

You can kinda see the teeth in this one.

Well, I've got work to do, so until next time!

Another day in my life...

Ben and I decided to rent 5 movies last night to watch over this Labor Day weekend.  We got movies that we know we should have seen before, but we just never got around to.  They are:
Insomnia (just finished)
Man on the Moon
Stripes
Caddy Shack
and
Animal House

Robin Williams plays such a good villain in the stuff he's done.  He should completely make the switch from comedy to dark stuff.  Jim Carrey is the same way for me.  I much prefer him in his serious roles rather than his comedic roles.  Exceptions to that are: Dumb and Dumber (obviously a classic) and most recently, Yes Man.

Saw Machete last night.  It was brilliant.  Despite the obvious undertones of political immigration opinions, the movie was well written with just the right amount of gore and action.  It wasn't too cheesy like The Expendables (which was super lame), and the violence didn't look like it was CGI from 1995.  The actors were well chosen (yes, even Lindsay Lohan who played a drugged out whore...what a stretch).  Cheech played a BA priest, Don Johnson a vigilante hell bent on shooting the immigrants as they crossed the border, Dinero a Senator and secretly a vigilante who was working with the very people he despised.  Segal played a Mexican (it was a stretch), and he looks so weird, but not as bad as Stallone (who my husband so aptly put, "looks like he's melting).  Great movie, can't wait for the trilogy.

Not sure what we're doing this weekend, but I do know that I want it to be relaxing.  I've got way too much on my mind with Japan, my medical clearance, working at the schools here in town, getting a record of all of our belongings (because the movers are packing it and I don't trust ANYONE and all of my belongings are important).  I'm also worrying about my aunt.  She's living with my mom and dad now with my youngest cousin.
Mike is at their house (trying to turn people against my aunt and doing home repairs that needed to be done 10 years ago. Perhaps he's getting it ready for his whore, maybe he's doing it now that she's gone just to be mean, who knows.)  He also told her he'll be in Florida for the weekend for "work".  Really?  A concrete convention on Labor Day weekend?  In a town that just happens to be right on the coast?  I've got the number to the place that it's supposedly happening at, and I'm going to call it on Tuesday to see if it was true.  I highly doubt it.  He's such a liar, and it makes me so sad that this is happening to her.  My aunt is one of the most wonderful and kind people that I know and it just sucks that something this bad is happening to her.

Some lady in Japan may have me do letters for her new daughter's room, so I did a sample letter for her in the design she wants:

And on that happy note, I'm going to go watch another movie with Ben.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Yeah, I went to Walmart again today)

2 days in a row, I've gone to Walmart.  Yesterday, I went to get groceries and what not, picked up some doggie aspirin for Otis and his poor hurt tail (which is doing MUCH better, thank you for asking!) and some Brewer's Yeast vitamins for their skin and coat.
Today, I went because I had some awesome coupons for some hair stuff and soap that I had been wanting.  Can't beat a good coupon.  While I was there, I found my favorite hairspray on sale for $11.97!

 Huzzah.

That was the good.

Turns out though, it was restocking the shelves day there and the dumbass employees that they hire were EVERYWHERE.

That was the bad.

Well, while restocking during one of the busiest times of the day to shop, one idiot (manager!) came and got right in front of me while I was bent over looking at a shelf and put her butt directly in my face.  She then proceeded to stand exactly where I was looking for about 3 minutes while talking to another employee...completely ignoring me the entire time.

That was the ugly.

Came home, watched True Blood while I made stir fry (Ben didn't like it, I could tell), and now I'm about ready to sketch out an owl drawing for a painting I'm going to put up for sale.

Newest painting, hoping to sell for $20

Finished Wine Painting

Requested by Colsie:

And now, a look through the timeline of my gauges:

 Size 14

(Size 10 and 8 pictures missing)

Size 6

Size 4

Size 2

And finally where I stop at size 0

New sketch

My friend Colsie wants a colorful wine painting done for her kitchen.  Here's the sketch I did tonight, done with oil crayons.

Day 3 of COD in my living room...

...and I'm officially bored of it.

I'd much rather sit back and watch a movie with Ben instead of listening to gunshots and stuff blowing up.  He's enjoying himself though, so I won't say anything...yet.

According to the USPS, my gauges COULD be here as early as Thursday!  Thank you, Hot Topic, for your super fast processing!

I want this dress...like the only designer thing I've ever seen and thought, "Holy shit, I NEED that."

Too bad it's $25000.

Any crafty people out there want to try and make this for me?  I'd totally pay for it!

Subbing again tomorrow and Friday.  I'm actually enjoying it.  The day is broken up into 2 classes, and usually there's about 6 kids (although there could be as many as 10).  It's a class of developmentally delayed 3 year olds.  Lots of linguistic problems, and I suspect MR in one of the kiddos.  Fun though.  We color, play, run around outside, and I even taught a couple how to pedal on a trike on Tuesday!  

I'm not sure what's going on this weekend, other than going to Amarillo (again) and picking up my laptop.  If Best Buy didn't fix it this time, I'm going to have a conniption fit.

I finally finished all the pet paperwork for Japan today, so I'll be making a trip on base tomorrow to get that all faxed over.  All that's left after that is to make sure they can get booked on whatever flight we get offered and get their 10 day health certificate.  It's a lot of stress and a lot of headache making sure my babies were going to be coming with us, but it's completely worth it!

I'm off to bed, super tired today.  Probably because I:

1. Cleaned the kitchen

2. Dusted

3. Swept

4. Vacuumed

5. Mopped

6. Took pets to vet

7. Took dogs on 2 walks (one was a 2 mile one)

8. Made dinner (okokok, it was just biscuits and gravy, but I still did it!)

9. Did pet paperwork

10. Painted a picture (that I already sold!)

Sold for $20 to a girl out here in New Mexico for her daughter's room

I think that's all. 

Day off tomorrow

Well, I guess I shouldn't call it my day off.  Sure, I'm not going into the school, but I'm going to clean the house and take the dogs to get their shots.  Then I will mail or fax off the import paperwork to Japan.

After all that, I'm going to try to get some painting done.  Maybe grab some letters at Hobby Lobby while I'm out, depending on how the day is going.  I'm doing a painting for Colsie and one for Carly, and then "Craft Room" for Rachel.  $20 for Carly's, $45 for Rachel's, and I'm not sure how much for Colsie's yet.

I can't remember if I posted my new gauge size, so I will now!

OMG!  super cute hearts!

Yeah, I totally dig them.  I'm not going up in size anymore (unless I become an even bigger rebel than I already am, haha), and I'll just buy different gauges to fit that size.  It's like buying different earrings, mine are just a little bit bigger.  

I had some guy come and look at the car yesterday, so hopefully, that'll work out.  Had someone email me about it today too, so I sent off some pictures.  Gotta love Craigslist.

Some gauges I want:

$22 from Hot Topic

$18 from Hot Topic

$18 from Hot Topic

Let's play the "what are you..." right now game:

What are you listening to right now?  The Mountain Goats (and cod thanks to my hubby)

What are you doing? Besides editing this blog post, I'm talking to my friend Chris on Gchat and looking at articles on Cracked.

What are you wearing? Ben's AF sweatshirt and track pants.

What are you going to do after this? Probably watch some tv and go to bed.

What are you seeing? My debit card in front of me, wallet, Pepsi Max, and the computer.

Oh, and PS, I just bought those tiger and vampire gauges.