Tagged....

I was tagged by Meagan...

I met Meagan in 1995 - WOW! That seems SO long ago...We've had a lot of great times! Too many to mention!! I love you Meag!! It's weird being an adult with her now!! LOL!!!

Here are the instructions for "eight things": Mention the person that tagged you. Complete the list of eight things. Tag eight of your wonderful blogger friends. Go tell them you tagged them

Eight things I look forward to:

1. Kamryn's THIRD Birthday Party on her actual birthday tomorrow!!!
2. Hopefully getting pregnant this summer!!
3. Making the baby!! ;)
4. Seeing how Kamryn will react to a baby in the family!
5. Vacation Bible School!!
6. Seeing what God has in store for us...as a family and as a church
7. Seeing my "business" grow!!!
8. Meeting my new nephew - my sister's scheduled c-section is on 07/08/09!! 7,8,9 get it? She is a surgery nurse and could schedule it on whatever day she wanted! I think it's pretty neat!!


Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Laundry
2. Picked up some orders from "Monogram It!"
3. Paid some bills in town
4. Grocery shopping for the week
5. Picked up Kamryn's Birthday stuff for tomorrow!!!
6. Arrived in town so late that I was able to get KFC for supper! YAY - no cooking!!
7. Gave Kamryn a bath (isn't my life SO interesting! HA!!)
8. Argued my case to Kam that I don't NEED to be in her room when she goes to bed - SO irritating!!

Eight things I wish I could do:

1. Have a house of our own.
2. go on 4 vacations a year. (me too Meag!)
3. have more orders for my business!!!
4. have everyone like me! HA! And understand why those people don't like me based on what someone else has told them...not what they have learned from me...yes, I was THAT kid - I wanted everyone to like me to the point of doing stupid things to make them like me....
5. understand why they still care to know what I and my family do...realistically I know that is not going to happen...although I do want to be your friend...believe it or not...
6. let it not bother me...I am praying for peace of mind...
7. lose 20 lbs
8. run & exercise more...

Eight shows I watch:
1. GMA
2. Little People Big World
3. Jon and Kate Plus Eight
4. Table for 12
5. Baby Story
6. Ugly Betty
7. American Idol (when it's on)
8. Dancing with the Stars (when it's on)

I tag: anyone who wants to do it! :)

Happy SEVEN year Anniversary (2 days late...) and our money trap the English Bulldog...

Well, it's been almost a month since I last updated you all - a LOT has happened!!



Janie / Daisy Update:


The day after Daisy got here she was already on her way out...let me explain:

As I told you in my last post she came in the door and made a straight line underneath our bed! Well, Janie in all of her 47 lb glory squeezed herself under there with Daisy! It was a site to see! I don't know how - either Janie scratched herself on the bed frame or because Daisy DID NOT want to play with the big puppy she swatted at Janie. Who knows? All I know is later that afternoon I looked down at her and her eye was red or rather her third eyelid had popped out - gross, I know!


Debbie and Bill picked Daisy up that Wednesday before they left to go to Florida - now Daisy is an official road dog! I felt really bad that we were unable to keep her - she's a real good dog - she's just a dog that doesn't like big puppies! She assuredly had a better time in Florida than she would have had under our bed for the 10 days she was schedule to stay here!!

We spent that night looking up "eyes of E. Bulldog's" and everything we came up with told us that Janie had "Cherry Eye" which involves surgery! Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep!

After Daisy was gone I took Janie to the vet and she told us that Janie sure enough had a scratch on her eye but she did not think it was cherry eye. She gave us some drops to help heal her scratch but would not heal the eye lid hanging out. We had to heal the scratch before we could put steroid drops to help the eyelid. So, we went home with drops...How was that - putting eye drops in a bulldogs eye? Let me just say I invented my own way of doing it after wrangling her to the ground, wrapping my legs around her to try to stop her from squiggling away and missing her eye completely, wasting the expensive eye drops - I decided that it would be best to "sneak attack" her!! I wait until she is fast asleep, pry her eye open and WHAM-O the drops go in as she gives me the "look of disgust"!

A week later Kam and I load her up to take Janie for a re-check and yep, the scratch is still there although this time it is smaller!! The vet decided to draw blood from the "bull headed" bulldog, to make a serum that will help her eye heal better, this was an experience to say the least! There were three people other than the vet holding the fatty down - have I mentioned that EBG's have STRONG leg muscles? THEY DO!!! She did not like it and there were several times during the experience when she looked up at me with VERY sad eyes as if to say, "why are you letting these mean people do this to me, you HORRIBLE woman?!" She ended up getting enough - Thank the Lord!!

A week later we brought her back and the scratch was better!!! It had gone down in size but was still there. Still no steroid drops, although the eye lid doesn't look as bad!


One more week later (I think - this has been a long experience!) we dropped her off to be boarded so that we could go to Branson to celebrate our SEVEN year anniversary!!! When I picked her up this Monday the vet said that there was still a scratch!! UGH!!!


Anniversary Trip Update:

A week or two before we left we had planned on Kamryn staying with Bill and Debbie but Jerry decided to give Kamryn a choice...and to our surprise she picked Branson! I know right, she skipped out on MeMe to go with us, her parents! WOW!

Thursday at work Jerry did something to his back and the whole time we were up there he hurt - I was constantly putting Aspercream on him. He did manage to keep up with Kamryn and I while we shopped (good for us huh?!). Friday evening we toured the Titanic museum, which Kamryn thought was an actual boat and by the end of the tour was asking to "get off here". Saturday we shopped at the different outlet malls and went down to The Landing to let Kamryn look at the "fishies". After that we of course, went to Cold Stone Creamery - LOVE that place!!! After supper Saturday night we played "Golf Game" where the theme was "Dinosaurs" - Kamryn LOVED the place and actually beat Jerry and I - at least the first half of the rounds - half way through she was too bored by it! LOL!! I was really proud of her though, she did really good!!

The only part of the trip, other than Jerry's back hurting him, that was a problem was that the pollen up there is just now blooming so our allergies acted up on ALL of us!! Now Kamryn and I are sneezing, coughing and blowing our noses - have I mentioned how much I hate pollen?!

Before we left on our trip I was able to complete some shirts for my nieces...I love how they turned out. Although I found out yesterday that Audrey's neck and arms were a little tight but thankfully my sister can sew too and I think she'll be able to fix it otherwise I guess she is going to have to mail it back to me and I can fix it...not a big deal!!

Audrey's shirt

Anna Grace's shirt -- I LOVE this one!!!

Well, that's all for now!! I'll let you know how Janie's eye is doing next week when we go back to the vet.

I want to end by saying, I am SO blessed to have such a loving husband and I am so happy that he has put up with me for SEVEN years!! It doesn't seem like we've been married that long, I guess that's a good thing, right?!
I LOVE you Jerry and here is to another seven times seven years!!!!!!! CLINK!!!!!!!

Catch up....

So...it's been awhile!

Here are a few things that have been going on in the Holland household:

On March 21st, Clint and Ashley were married!! As I told you in a past blog the wedding was brown and cream and I knew that I would never find a brown and cream dress that was affordable for us so I decided to make one! It turned out pretty cute ~ to be honest with you all, I wish it was a little longer...I don't know what I was thinking when I cut it out!! Anyway, I still think it's cute!!!

Here is little Miss Kamryn in the dress. When we left the house I guess she didn't realize there was going to be SO many cars out there!! That explains the expression on her face! HA!

The lovely couple!!!

I really don't know why the girl can't smile normal for me ~ especially when I'm looking so cute! HA!!! Of course, I wish my hair was a little bigger - not boofy enough!! LOL!!

Our lovely little "brown" family!!!
(again, a goofy smile from Kamryn - she's going to REALLY regret this when she is older - could this be a brief picture of how she's going to act when she is a teenager? Do we have a little actor/comedienne on our hand's?)

This is a dress I made out of a pillowcase that was on sale @ Wal-Mart and the sleeves were made from a cut-off of a denim skirt that was too long for me...I LOVE how it came out!!! (and OF COURSE the pink jelly shoes she showed EVERYONE!!!)

She just can't seem to look at the camera or smile right...

I found a lady on MySpace that makes (or at least I think she makes them...) well, at least sales these ADORABLE beenies with flower/bow attachments. This is the outfit she wore to church last Sunday and I just HAD to take a picture of it she looked so stankin' cute!!!

We have some friends at church that their little girl, Kelsey had her birthday party Sunday. We didn't get to go, I hadn't seen my Momma in a month and I couldn't stay away anymore!!! HA! But I did make this cute little shirt for her...I LOVE how it turned out - I hope it fits her and that she LOVES it as much as I do!!!

I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!!!

I know how to get Kamryn to make a normal smile! Monday we went to Wal-Mart and she wore this really cute outfit (with the white beenie of course!) and so I decided to take a picture of her. She wasn't smiling "normal" (shock of all shockers!) so as if a light came down from heaven above I thought to myself, "she has a cute laughing smile, I'll get her to tell me a joke!" (she is in the "joke telling" phase especially knock-knock jokes - she can come up with some doosies!!) She laughs at the end of it and this is what I got out of her!!

I love these kind of pictures....

Alright, now to today...Jerry's parents are driving to Florida tomorrow to spend some time with Nathan and Julie (I SO wish we could go with them...not the right time right now though...). Kamryn and I went to pick up Daisy (our "old" dog...I miss her - she's a good dog!) to stay with us until they get back after Easter.

When we got here I left Daisy in the car so that I could go in the house and get Janie - I didn't know how she would react to Daisy in "her domain" and I'm glad I did because she did a little "tinkling" when she saw Daisy...not sure what that was all about. Daisy, of course, went straight to our bedroom and has been under the bed ever since....

Now, we are waiting on Jerry to get home. I am going to make "Shepherd's Pie" tonight...doesn't that sound great?

A dress for Katie Rae

I have gone back and forth on this but I finally decided I would go ahead and post it...Jerry, Kamryn and Janie have fallen asleep on the couch watching the Science Channel (that-a girl!) so I have the time! Janie is actually asleep beside me on the love seat - Kam fell asleep on top of Jerry - it's quite funny!! EVERYONE is snoring!! HA!!

So, back in December I had a customer who wanted to do a "trade of service" instead of paying with money. She makes really cute bows so of course I agreed!! To see her work click here. She makes hair bands but they really don't work with Kamryn now that she has hair. She had a really cute black and white one and I automatically thought of our friends and one of our deacons Gregory & Jordan's unborn baby girl, Katie Rae. I included this one in the "trade". I thought I could make a really cute dress to go with it and I could give it to her in lieu of flowers when she has baby girl!! Well, Jordan is going in tomorrow to have a scheduled c-section and I had to get to it!!! Yesterday I finished it and thought I would share the pictures with you...hopefully Jordan is NOT reading this yet!!

It turned out REALLY cute...I LOVE the long sleeves! It's 100% cotton so she'll be able to wear in the Spring and then in the fall she'll be able to wear it as a shirt with a cute pair of jeans!!! I LOVE the black and white print - I'm thinking about going back to Hobby Lobby and getting some more fabric for myself a skirt!! CUTE!!

SOOooooo, without further adieu here it is:

(The camera was a little lopsided - not the dress...)

Yes, I know, it's a little creepy having a doll modeling for me but I don't have a newborn model (yet...ahem Katie Rae....)

I hope you like it - I sure do!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Just a quick little post...

I have just enough time for a quick little post...busy bee!!

First off, be praying for my Mom. She had knee surgery back in January and thought everything was fine - she had even stopped taking the blood thinner the doc had prescribed (the normal 6 weeks). Her back has been bothering her and had an appointment with a back doctor yesterday. Over the weekend the leg she had her knee surgery on was so swollen and hard that she said you could have bounced a quarter off it!! She told the doctor about it and of course he was concerned!

He sent her to the hospital to stay over night and quickly gave her a shot of coumadin (spelling?)...she has TWO blood clots in her leg...that is SO scary to me!! Be praying for me too...

It looks as if she will be in the hospital for the rest of the week...which is the best place for her!!

NOW...for some good news! I have completed another dress!!! I took a picture of it on my iPhone so the lighting isn't that great but isn't it just the cutest!!!!

It's for my friend Jordan's (not yet born) baby girl, Katie Rae!! (Come to the light Katie Rae)!! It's a full moon tonight so I'm hoping she goes in to labor!!

We have a wedding here at the church on the 21st for her cousin (our friend's too) Clint & Ashley - YAY!!! Ashley has picked brown and cream for her colors...SO pretty!!! It's going to be the cutest wedding ever! She has called it "Sophisticated Hillbilly"! Cracks me up!

At the reception they are using mason jars with jute around it for flower vases - CUTE!!!!

Soooo, back to the dress....because the wedding is brown and cream and you would never be able to find a brown AND cream dress for a newborn (let alone afford it if you DID find it!!) I volunteered to make one for baby girl! And....here it is!!!

I just hope she is born before the 21st!!! Her due date was finally set to the 19th - it has been back and forth - so who knows!

On another note, we finally got some rain today I hope it washes all the pollen away - I still seem to be sneezing...that's the only thing I don't like about Spring!! I just love all the green and all the flowers!!!

I hope you all have a great day!!!!

A year ago...and Spring cleaning

Yesterday as I was starting on my "Spring Cleaning" I had plans to get on here and share with you how sad we were all this past weekend but I couldn't find a stopping point. Do you know what I mean? This past weekend a year ago we were in Florida!!

Jerry and I kept saying this weekend, "You know where we were this time last year?". It was so terribly sad thinking back to the wonderful time we had in Florida! It was a MUCH needed vacation and I am SO glad we had a chance to go!! Especially finding out later in the year that Nathan (Jerry's brother) and Julie are going to be moving closer to Arkansas!! YAY!!! They had lived in Florida for 3 years before we had the chance to go visit them!!!

We had decided to drive (I believe it was a 16 hour drive - not including stops...) to Florida. We were going to leave EARLY on Friday morning. But God had other plans - the weather forecast was for SNOW all Thursday night!!! My Mom-in-law was going with us and had already come over to stay the night so when Jerry called us to say we were going THAT NIGHT Debbie and I were running around the house trying to get the rest of our stuff packed up! (I'm a last minute packer of sorts...you never know what will change with your plans...I guess that's a good reason to get it done earlier too)

Anyway, we managed to get everything together and finally decided (for sure-Jerry was back and forth on the issue) to leave that night and see how far we could get out of Arkansas. We managed to get all the way to Ruston, LA. We rented a room and stayed there for the night! Kamryn got her first experience with a shower by herself (don't ask me what I was thinking...) She SCREAMED so loud I decided to jump in there with her so she would have some kind of security because the child HAD to have a cleaning!! I have never heard of a hotel room NOT having a bath - just a shower - we didn't know that we were suppose to ask for a bath!!

The snow ended up being a blessing in disguise because we were able to drive ALL the way to Nathan and Julie's house in Melbourne, FL that Friday!!!

Our lovely neighbors that watch our house for us when we are gone took some really great pictures of the snow but I looked ALL over the house for that CD and could NOT find it!! UGH!!! I had a great idea to show you a before/after (or a "what was happening at our house when we were in sunny Florida"!!!) kind of deal but alas, that is not possible!!!

This lovely little notebook kept the irritation of being in a car seat for 16 hours to a minimum!! (LIFESAVER!!!!!) I just love the sunglasses!!! And I just HATE that paci in her mouth!!! (We ended up getting rid of that later in the summer!!!! (Thankfully!! I had visions of her going to Kindergarten with it!!!)

That Sunday we went to the beach - Kamryn's first time and it was COLD!!!! She and I got slammed by a wave which made our trip much too short!!!

That Monday our little family went to DisneyWorld which was just an hour drive from Nathan and Julie's house. This is Kamryn and I on the ferry boat to go to Magic Kingdom. A rare shot of me looking fairly good but of course Kam's not looking at the Kamryn and that darn paci is in her mouth!!!

CINDERELLA'S CASTLE!!!!!!!!!

This picture is SO sad to look at...I wish we were there now!!!



Our lovely little family with Mickey Mouse!!! I LOVE that Kamryn is holding his hand!!!


I wish Kamryn was looking at the camera in this one...we used this for her birthday invitations.

She is smiling here but she was really afraid of Pluto. That night we believe she had a nightmare about the darn dog!! She woke up crying (rare thing for her) but she was able to go back to sleep!

We spent most of the time in line because we didn't understand the whole "fast pass" thing...the next day when Jerry and I went back by ourselves it really helped!! I would strongly suggest you take part in this wonderful thing if you ever get the chance to go to DisneyWorld - it's included in your ticket into the park!". But don't worry Kamryn had a great time in line people watching...she is so like me it's scary!!!

Sad but true, good things usually do come to an end.

On the trolley back to our car...she looks so tired and sad to leave!!!

In the car back to Melbourne :(

Eating a little snack - yes, Jerry was a sucker and bought her a balloon - which came all the way back with us (in the car) to Arkansas!! LOVELY!!!!

She also, got a Pooh Bear...she's not at all spoiled on this trip!!! ;)

We had to call MaMaw (my Mom) to tell her where we had been!!

The second day Jerry and I went back - Epcot and Hollywood studios this time while MeMe and Kamryn stayed back with Julie and the girls - she didn't miss out on the fun!!!

Me about to go on the "tower of terror" - lovely picture!

Jerry acting silly too...

I LOVE this ride!!!!

Emma and Kamryn playing that evening - I can't believe how much a kid can grow in a year!!

The girls playing with MeMe in the front yard!!

Epcot Center

The pictures are out of order but I don't feel like messing with them anymore...

Jerry and I went to a "drive-in Sci-Fi" restaurant - I can't remember the name of it...but it was really fun! Our waiter was insane but nice enough to take a picture of us!!!

Mexico in Epcot...

I weigh ten pounds lighter now!! YIPPEE (I just had to throw that in there! HA!!)

Modeling Mickey ears!

The Mickey Ears we bought Kamryn - look at the camera Kamryn!!!

Well, it was fun reminiscing with you, although I'm just a little more sad that I am not in Florida!!! There are loads more pictures that I could have shared but I don't have the time to load them...just believe me - it was a GREAT time!! We will make it back sometime but right now, we'll just look at the pictures and reminisce!!

Yesterday I was able to get the living room, hall and my sewing room carpets shampooed/steam cleaned!! YAY! They look great although I'm sure they could use some more cleaning!!!! I think I had 5 or 6 buckets of black sludge every time I emptied it! (Gross I know!!) But I guess that's what happens after a long winter and you haven't steamed cleaned the floor all that time!!!

Kamryn was in a HORRIBLE mood yesterday and finally agreed to a nap after I agreed to lie down with her (I think I slept for 30 minutes yay!) but I found out why I stopped letting her take naps - she didn't go to sleep until 10:30 and that was after Jerry told me to put her in our bed!!! I truly hate doing that! I was once told, "Don't start something you don't want to make a habit out of it..." Good advice!

Well, I guess I need to get something done so we can go outside and play. It's still nice out and we are suppose to be getting a cold front here tonight - better get out while I can! But I'm sure we'll come in pretty quickly - this pollen is kicking our butt's!!!! Even the dog has an allergy to the pollen! (That's always great, an English Bulldog with allergies!)

I hope you have a great day!!! If I get a chance I want to get back on here and show you the last dress I made...it is SO cute!!!

Cancersucks easter basket giveaway!!!

Cancersucks is having her first give-away, and I know you all will fall in love with it! It's this beautiful Lilly easter basket. Visit her blog for your chance to win this gorgeous prize.


I'm unable to get a picture of the basket...but trust me, it's cute!!!