Happy Sweet 16 Malissia

16 years ago I gave birth to my youngest daughter, Malissia.  After the most horrible pregnancy ever (for me, anyway), I had the worst ever labor (again, for me)!  I almost had a miscarriage at 11 weeks and had to go on bed rest for a couple of weeks.  God performed a miracle on the way to the hospital.  I had already had one miscarriage a year before and didn't think I had the strength to make it through another.  I asked God to give me strength to survive if I miscarried or to save the child.  I promised that I would raise him/her to live for Him if he spared the child's life.  He answered my prayers, but He did not give me an easy time.  I had indigestion for the rest of my pregnancy!  Not a big deal for some - but I've never had morning sickness or anything - so this was quite inconvenient for me!  Poor me!  Malissia would twist around in positions where I could not move - couldn't sit, couldn't stand - NOTHING!  She was horrible.  I knew I was in for it!  Then to top it all off - 13 HOURS of INTENSE labor pains!  It was awful.  Did I mention that she was 9 DAYS LATE?  AWFUL!

And then she was born!  She was beautiful!  7 lbs, 14 oz, a head full of blonde hair (enough for a tiny pony tail on the top of her head!), blue eyes that eventually turned green.  We named her after my great grandmother, Malissia Maxwell, and angel herself!  For all the trouble she was during pregnancy, she more than made up for it.  From the night she was born she slept from 7pm until 7am.  She always woke up and cooed and played until someone came in to check up on her.  She never cried unless she was sick.  AND - when she was sick - she had to have DADDY!  It was AWESOME, I tell you!  She loved her big sister and brother.  She loved EVERYBODY!  She was always good, smiling and well behaved.

I never had problems with her at church.  She would sit on the pew like a good little girl while her brother and sister tried to drive me insane!

She has come a long way - and she is far from perfect, but she is still my good little girl.  And so, her party is tonight and we are all excited about it.  I hope to have pics for you guys Monday or Tuesday.

I am proud of you, Malissia!  I love you bunches!  I hope you have the most wonderful birthday ever today!



K.  Bye, now!

Eve of Sweet 16

OMW!  It's almost here!  The event of the year!  Well, for us anyway!  :)  I have been planning Malissia's Sweet 16 Birthday Party for more than a year and it's finally here.  Everything is under way and we are going to the church to begin decorating tonight!  WOO-HOO!  I can't contain my enthusiasm!  YIPEE! 

Cake is ordered, food is doled out, candy is taken care of, decorations and supplies are purchased and waiting to be put together, games are set.  I have to attach the skirt to the top on Kirstyn's Fiona costume, insert the zipper and hem the skirt and sleeves.  That'll get done tonight.  I'll hand sew the trim on tomorrow after lunch.  TA-DA!  Finis!

I can't think of anything else!  It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!  I can't wait.  I hope you get to come.  I want EVERYONE to have fun!

K.  Can't blog - I'm too excited.  Bye, now!

Things are starting to fall into place

Last night I paid for the birthday cake, brought the baker the rock candy crystals that will adorn the cake, and cut out Fiona's dress.  Now I need to ask 3 ladies to be judges, decorate Malissia's wooden letter M, find 20 picture frames, print out the questions for the game that will go in the frames, decorate and make the food.  Oh, and finish the Fiona dress!  Whew - not much, huh?  Hahaha.  It sounds worse than it is. 

I was really getting worried that I wouldn't get much done last night, I had a migraine coming on.  But 2 Excedrin Migraine's and I was all better!

I don't have any more to post today.  You guys have a great Tuesday, K?  Bye, now!

Cinderella Dress

I finished the dress!  I have pictures to post!  Woo-Hoo!  Tell me what you think!  Also, I have submitted these photos to the BurdaStyle.com BERNINA Halloween 2011 contest.  If you go to the website and click on projects, scroll through all the photos until you come to the Cinderella Ball Gown under StephanieB.  The front photo doesn't look like much (I didn't know how they would show up on the website) and the photos are all sideways (I did good just to get them on the site!), but they are there!  If you become a member (free), you can cast a vote between 10/25 and 10/30.  VOTE FOR ME!  Thank you for your support!  :)

The craft sale was a success from everything I could see.  We have such talented people.  Beautiful crafts galore!  And the food was delicious.  The baked goods were such a hit we had a hard time keeping the tables stocked.  Yesterday we had an afternoon service at church with a fish fry and auction afterwards.  We auction off the left over craft items to the church family.  I missed the whole day!  :(  Malissia woke up about 7:00am with diarrhea and vomiting!  Not a good Sunday at all!  She got better through the day, but is still weak and tired, but she made it to school.  Keep her in your prayers - she needs some strength.  She is playing the GAME ON diet with me this time!  If you see her, encourage her!  I know she can do this.

I've started the fourth round of GAME ON!  This round is gonna be better, I just know it.  Last round was not so good for me.  I haven't figured out why, but it doesn't matter any more.  I'm gonna shed those pounds and collect those points.  There's only one new member this time (Malissia), so there's some stiff competition out there.  We have 8 players this time.  It's gonna be a tough round, but we can do it. 

I'm going to start on the Fiona dress for Kirstyn tonight.  I've got the pattern cut out and ready to go.  I've read through the instructions and it seems to be pretty easy.  Here's hoping it is because I have too much to do on Thursday to still be sewing!  Wish me luck.

Updates

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've been soooo busy.  The Cinderella dress is almost complete.  All that's left is to hand sew some trim work on the top and finish the petticoat.  Then I'll be taking pictures so I can submit it to the Burda Style contest and hopefully will be able to post them on this site. 

I'm finally finished sewing for all the weddings!  Yipee!  Craft sale is this Friday!  I ran out of time to sew, so I'm kinda sad about that.  I've decided to bake.  I know I want to make several pies and a few cakes.  Maybe some loaf cakes would be good.  Soooo, tonight my oven and I have a date.  We're gonna be out together all night!  ;)

I finished the Hunger Games books.  They are delightful.  I totally recommend them to kids and adults alike!  Go out and get 'em today!  Or download them on your Kindle!  Whatever rocks your boat.

In other very important news - MY TEAM WON THE GAME ON DIET!!!!!   WOO-HOO!!!!!  However, I must admit, it was no thanks to me!  Thank goodness for Rhonda and Tori.  We barely won - by 3 points!  I was ecstatic.  I had been so disappointed that I wasn't going to play the game again (at least not on a team where I could drag anyone down).  This has boosted me up and I'm already signed up to play the next round. 

Malissia's Sweet 16 Birthday party is next Friday, the 28th.  We're soooo excited!  The cake is ordered.  The candy and all the supplies have arrived.  I've got the helium tank taken care of.  I've started getting people to help with the food.  All that's left is to DECORATE - how fun is that?  Oh, and I have to make Kirstyn a Fiona dress.  I hope Colby gets to come - he's supposed to be Shrek.  Ryan is going to get to come - I'm so excited.  Hopefully he'll get to stay the whole weekend.  He'll probably come as Chick Bowdrie, the famous Louis L'Amour Cowboy.  I'm not dressing up because I don't have time to make me a costume.  Instead, I'll just sit back and watch them all have fun and take loads of pictures.

Hope to see you guys there!

Bye, now.

Yummy!

What you need to know is that me and the gals I work with are foodies!  FOOD FREAKS!  We are all about lunch.  Oh, we try to be good.  Bring a boxed lunch, sandwich supplies, left overs...but on Friday's - that's all out of the window.  And the one thing you don't mess with is our Friday lunches - which sometimes take place on Monday, or Wednesday, or whatever!  Trust me - if you mess with our lunch, we WILL talk about you behind your back.  And it WON'T be nice!  Grrr....

Aaaanyway - yesterday we went to this FABULOUS Thai restaurant in Beaumont.  Chaba.  'Nuff said.  You MUST go there.  3 of us split 2 dinners and it was plenty of food.  Delicious doesn't even begin to describe the wonderfulness that we devoured.  The delectable flavors, oh my!  OH MY!  Oh my!  Sigh...I'm afraid I'm already addicted.  Go there.  Try it out!  You will NOT be disappointed.  I promise.  Unless your wierd or something.

We frequent Cafe Del Rio, too - so much so that we call it "The Use" - short for usual.  The fajitas and fajita salad are exactly right.  Tender and delicious.  Drool now!  K.  Now clean yourself up.  Here's a napkin...go ahead, use it!  The chips are usually fresh and crisp, the salsa is yummilicious, and the grilled jalapenos are TO DIE for - no lie.  I don't lie.  Really! 

Oh, there are other places we like to go - Jason's Deli, Chili's, Olive Garden, but these places are really only for some variety. The foods good, atmosphere is fun, but we could live with 'em or without 'em.  Well, maybe not Jason's.  You get the picture.

Food.  Comfort food.  Soul food.  Fun food.  Ahhhh, that's it.  It's the fun.  And we do have fun at lunch.  You don't even want to know.  Because if you know, and if you know us, we're probably having fun about YOU!  Hahaha!  I know, I'm being facetious.  Look it up.

K.  I've babbled enough now.  Must be the hives.  Don't ask.  Bye, now!

That's what friends are for

You read a good book and you get blamed for all the frenzy!  So NOT fair!  Amber - this one's for you!  All I did was borrow some books from Jennifer and read them.  They are called "The Hunger Games".  They are written toward teenagers, but the books are SOOOO good!  There is a bit of voilence, but no details.  A bit of romance, but very understated.  I liked them so much (I am still reading the last book, Mockingjay) that I told Amber about them.  She is SUCH a book HOG she read them in 2 days!  All of them!  And now she is addicted to them.  And supposedly it's all my fault.  Humph. 

Actually, I'm teasing.  We have such a great comeraderie here at work.  It's so much fun sharing - thoughts, books, ideas, you name it.  I have the BEST co-worker/friends ever!!!

We go out for lunch regularly.  We send emails REGULARLY.  We share...angst, sadness, frustration, giggles, laughter, memories, and day to day dribble.  How many of you out there can say the same about you and your co-workers?  Probably not many.

I am very thankful for my job, but MOSTLY for these friends of mine who keep me on my toes.  LOVE YOU GUYS!

K.  Bye, now.