bee and rose

Dear Katniss Everdeen Diagonal Braid; Wow!  You've just made my life easier!  Thank you for inspiring my daughter to actually let me brush her hair without a major freak out attack.  My Cat~niss has been wearing French braids, Dutch braids and Fishbone braids for days now all thanks to you.  Cat no longer runs and hides at the sight of a comb and brush.  She actually welcomes them with open arms.  Hopefully, my dear Katniss Braid , you can convince your friend,  Irish Dance Curly Wig to do the same.  Maybe you can bring Curly Wig for a play-date soon?  That would be awesome! Dear St. Patrick's Day Parade Mini Hat; We did it!  We fooled EVERYONE at the parade! HAHA!  No one ever guessed that you were a glittery black soda can cozy and some sequin scrap!  And, by the luck of the Irish, you stayed firmly on Miss Cat's head throughout the entire parade with winds in excess of 100 mph!  (ok...so maybe a few gusts...

Saddle up, folks!  I'm back and ready to ride!  I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted.  Time has flown by out here in the wild west. So much has happened...where to begin??? I could just say that outlaws came to my casa and wrangled me out of my voice.  There is truth in that even if it sounds like a tall tale.  In reality, I had become a proud member of the "IF YOU CAN"T SAY ANYTHING NICE, DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL" Club.  As some of you may know, my husband's previous employer had taken away his health insurance without warning (yes, it's illegal) and then did not pay him over a period of months.  I was so angry  at the damage that this did not only to my husband, but to the financial stability of our family.  Without going into the dreadful details, I'll just say it's been a challenge.  Fortunately, a new job arrived and we are slowly picking up the pieces.  However, my anger at the "outlaws" (aka previ...

See that Lego game up there?  It's not as innocent as it seems, my friends.  The tv commercial for this game is clearly harmful to grown women with teenage sons.  It has reduced me to tears on more than one occasion. How on earth can this seemingly child friendly game cause so much heartache and distress?  Allow me to weave my tale of woe for you.... A few days ago, I saw this commercial and immediately said to Irish Dancer Girl, "Your brother (aka Teen Caveboy) would love this game...He's such a Lego freak!"  She looked at me like I had just told her aliens had invaded the neighborhood.  "Uh, Mom...he doesn't play with toys anymore, remember?"  She was edging toward me slowly.  "He stopped playing with toys back when I was a little girl."  (she's 8 years old...)  The truth in her words smacked me in the heart like the Karate Kid hitting me with a five finger death punch.  Tears welled up in my eyes.  I was a blubbering fool...

Look at that awesome toe point on Irish dancer girl!  We are finally finished with what we lovingly refer to in Irish dance as "March Madness"! Whew!  As you might imagine, Irish dancers are pretty popular come March.  We've just completed our two week tour of performances all over Tucson.  We wrapped up the season yesterday with a viewing of the movie "Lord of the Dance 3D".  Here's a little peek at what we've been doing! Cat with Brandon Mull, author of the fabulous "Fablehaven" series of books! We met him after her performance at the Festival of Books! What a nice guy! (and if you haven't read this series, do it!  It's fantastic!) Parade Prep on the firetruck for the St. Patrick's Day Festival and Parade... Taking a bow at Pima College's St. Patrick's Day celebration... And here's a little video of Irish dancer girl in action!  The stage floor was super slippery, but she still managed to knock out so...

See that big pink sign up there?  That's my daily mantra.  Well, it was until life around here went seriously in the dumper over the last several months...Where should I begin?  With the loss of health insurance for my terminally ill husband?  Hmm...oh! How about the very long delay of multiple paychecks for said terminally ill husband which still haven't been paid in full (umm, yeah, my children would like for their father to live for a bit longer so being able to purchase his medications would be lovely..just sayin')...or how about the time our tires (all flippin' four of them) went bad on the car...yep, good times.  Oh! Oh! Even better!  The gas leak that kept us without heat for the two coldest weeks in the winter!  Then came the pneumonia, the sinus infections that would not leave and so much more fun.  Yeah baby, those were the days!  But even in the darkest of days, I would still awake to those encouraging words " Keep Calm and Carry...

After a bit of a hiatus created by a series of very unfortunate events, Bee is back and ready to blog!  What better way to conquer the frustrations of life than to have a party! Miss Catherine turned 8 last week and we celebrated over the weekend with a Monster High themed bash at Pump It Up! P ump It Up is an inflatable play arena...we had the whole arena filled with jumping castles, obstacle courses, and giant slides reserved just for our party guests!  It was a blast! Coming down the ginormous slide! (I made personalized student ID party favors for each of the guests!) After an hour of crazy bouncing fun, we headed into to the "Creepeteria" for pizza and cupcakes!    My new favorite cupcake topper...the candy crown cupcake pick These little tasty beauties were made by yours truly! Monster High student "Lagoona Blue", daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon,    came by to visit our birthday girl and her guests! We set up a birthd...