New Home!

Tabi Happy has moved. Please stop by the new place & say hi! Can't wait to see you there.

http://www.tabihappy.com

xoxo

Busy Busy Busy.

13 days in and not 1 Tabi Happy post. What's going on, you say?

My teal wall, caught in transition. This is my 'abstract art' photo.

Well...

I moved, you see. It's been a bigger deal than I originally thought it would be. Not so much physically or the work involved (I had a good idea about all that). But the emotional and internal aspects of moving this time are what surprised me the most.

I was looking forward to this clean, blank canvas of a start for us. Well, after about 3 weeks of cleaning and painting, I am ecstatic to say our clean blank canvas is ready.

I won't feel completely "in" this new home of ours until all the loose ends from our old home are tied up and I can put that behind me. I need closure to move on. It seems that's how my brain works. I have lots of empty walls and seedlings of change inside me for myself, for my children, for these walls. Yet, I can't bring myself to start watering and nurturing these seedlings until ties are cut with the old place.

I'm feeling a bit out of sorts. A little bit alien with a touch of brain fog.

A huge contribution to the alien invasion inside my brain is this fracking pollen. Is it just me or is it horrible this year?? Dr. Tabi/self-professed diagnostician tells me that it's a trifecta of the pollen + stress of moving + dust, Dust, DUST! To spare you of the snotty details, let's just say I'm ready to sign the papers to have my sinuses removed already. What do we need those for anyways??

I noticed myself just this past Sunday starting to notice the 'little things of beauty' in this new place:

- The clean, white walls + morning sun pouring in makes for sunlit crazy Zoie Boie morning hair.

- Finally having our art supplies out of cardboard boxes has lit the spark of creativity in my Roxy again, I'm so happy she has an outlet for all of her dramatic feelings.

- Just two nights ago, my husband was inspired to take something (our beloved coffee grinder!) apart and repair it, make it better. Fixing and repairing is his creative outlet.

- My Bear is stuck in Minecraft at the moment. I don't know much about the game, but he builds all sorts of things and I have to think that, while not my medium of choice, video games seem to be his creative outlet. Not only does he play them with such anticipation, but when I force him to turn it off for a bit, he'll come over to the drawing table and map out new things he wants to build in Minecraft.

So, amidst my change in domicile, I'm starting to feel inspired to make changes elsewhere. This blog, my daily schedule, my responsibilities and their ranks in priority. So, keep up with me and come back for changes - good positive, forward moving changes - happening around here.

(I'm loving this spark of enthusiasm I'm feeling right now.)

Just as soon as my sinuses stop being angry with me, that is.

<3, Tabi :D

While I was supposed to be packing.

Shoebox 1 full of high school letters, 1998 concert ticket, shoebox full of cassette tapes, Jodeci (!!) and my beloved pager.

I got figuratively stuck in a shoebox full of letters from high school yesterday when I was supposed to be packing. It was like crack for my soul. I could not bring myself to finish packing up my closet, make dinner or even to get up to pee. I was stuck for well over 2 hours, yikes!

Sifting through this box full of letters, I realized: (1) I had a small group of really awesome friends, (2) we were so dramatic even though our biggest problems were that our parents wouldn't let us talk on the phone forever or we couldn't find a ride to the mall, and (3) breaking up with (certain) boys made us feel like death was less painful.

I made a promise to myself and even made my friend (who most of these letters were from anyways) swear with me that when our daughters are teenagers and they come to us crying their hearts out because a nerdy little boy broke their heart - we are not allowed to laugh at them. We are not allowed to get frustrated at their depression because we know, in the long run, that they maybe won't even remember what was so cool about said nerdy little boy. Reading those letters made me remember how real those feelings were and how insanely HUGE they felt at the time. Also, that nerdy little boy that broke up with them when they were 14 just might bring them pain and shape their future relationships for the rest of their lives! I made myself a promise to always remember that pain so I can try my hardest to make my little girl feel better with retail therapy, sappy movies and ice cream because, really... it's the only thing that helps.
...
I also found a Will I wrote out at the tender age of fifteen. I must've laughed for a solid five minutes at this, so I thought I'd share. Names have been blurred out for privacy, of course.

"Dear Whom It May Concern,

This is the last Will and Testament of Tabi Kohansby being of sound mind and body I do decree that when I die I should be buried in my black sundress with flowers, with a flower necklace and my funky black sandals. My hair should be done like I do it. It will be an open casket funeral & I want sunflowers & daisies. MM will invite all my friends. I want everyone to be sad & cry a lot. She can have all my clothes & she must wear the dresses a lot. SH can have my TV and whatever else she wants. TW can have all my CD's. MM can also have my CD player since she doesn't have one. TW can have my phone and my jewelry. 
Last but not least I want my parents & family to know I love them. Tiffany, Trisha, Crystal, TJ and Grandmom, too.

(Here comes the embarrassing part)
I want to declare here & now that the only 2 guys I ever loved were ---- & ----. But I love all my friends especially ....... And all other I may have forgot. Remember, I love you all.

LATER!

LOV,

Tabi K.

Aug. 22, 1995

p.s .... gets my turtles and my hermit crab. .... gets my Simba. MM can have my roller blades. And to ..... my funky hat collection! ... gets my pager. "

I mean it's so important to have this stuff in writing! I wouldn't want my loved ones fighting over my CD's and roller blades, you know.

<3, Tabi :D

Wish Bracelet.

Her bead that fell out... kept safe inside a ziplock. :)

You know those wish bracelets? Yea those. The ones made of hemp and seven tiny beads that you put on, make a wish and don't take off. When the bead(s) falls off, your wish is 'released'.

Well, Roxy got one for her birthday and I'm pretty sure that her and Riley believe it's magical. She made her wish, put it on and didn't dare tell a soul what her wish was for fear it wouldn't come true.

Fast forward to this afternoon when she came home from school with a bead that fell from her bracelet kept safely in a ziplock bag.

As soon as we walked in the door, Roxy ran to her room and busted in the bathroom (where I was peeing!) and pulled her wallet out. She dumped all the money in her wallet out onto the counter and started counting. She lost count at least 5 times before I stepped in to help her. We counted carefully all her dollars and quarters and dimes and pennies. $39.19 was the grand total.

She looked at me and said, "But did you count all the pennies?"

I did. Still, we had $39.19. I thought it was a great amount to have. $39.19 is big bucks for a seven year old, if you ask me!

A look of total disappointment came over her face. Her bottom lip pouted and she choked back the tears. She told me her wish was for $1000. She was going to use the $1000 to buy lots of stuff for our new house, some toys for her and Riley and give me some so I could save it for when we were running low on money.

This is the part where I started to choke back the tears.

I was so sad for her. I told her that just because the $1000 wasn't in her wallet, she probably had $1000 in other ways. She felt a little better and ran off to tuck her money away safely.

Ten minutes later she decided the wish bracelet didn't work properly because one day it fell off and we had to re-tie it back on. Obviously, that must have caused a break in the magical contract that you agree to when you take on a wish bracelet.

So we are going to try again.

*Wish us luck!*

<3, Tabi :D

Fighting off a bad case of the Gru

These grumpy little colorless rainbows literally made me cry.

In my house we are currently experiencing a bit of a weird phenomenon of the physical kind. I've noticed this same bug go through our house twice so far this year. Both times, it started with Roxy and spread. It's obviously very contagious.

Through my normal health research methods (WebMD and Wikipedia), I haven't found any other documented cases of this, hence I am classifying it myself.

 

This illness I hereby dub: the Gru

Gru ( \ˈgrü\ ), is an infectious and contagious illness that appears to have effects in humans of all ages. It's suspected to be started by a mild tiny yucky germ (aka 'virus'), but then exaggerated by the most dramatic person of the group thus giving the tiny yucky germ more strength and impact on the body and surrounding victims. The name was derived from a similar illness (the Flu) and Gru (from Despicable Me).

Gru usually appears suddenly and makes itself known in the form of a tantrum, an irrational heated conversation or just tears. Gru will generally go away on it's own, but can turn into a more common cold if left untreated.

Signs and Symptoms: The first sign of the Gru is a grumpy mood. As stated above, this symptom commonly leads right into a tantrum, an argument and/or crying. Sleepiness/laziness is the second sign that you have a case of the Gru. Headache, not wanting to go to school, a forced cough and a scratchy throat are other common symptoms. Gru is often accompanied by mild loss of appetite, unless the food in question is candy, cupcakes or any other sugary substance. This may or may not be related to the sleepiness symptom.

Common symptom of Gru: Sleepiness/laziness

In my observation, runny nose and fever were not implications of this illness.

Mechanism: This illness is very VERY contagious. Take caution. It's not known at this time if the tiny yucky germs are spread via airborne or contact, etc. I've seen gru spread in a matter of minutes, but sometimes it does take up to 24 hours for symptoms to appear.

Prevention: Unknown. Although following a strict bedtime routine does lower your chances of the gru by at least 70%.

Treatment: TLC, patience, rest, fluids and Tylenol/Advil as needed for headache pain. Ice cream doesn't hurt either.

Prognosis: You're gonna make it, I promise.

<3, Tabi :D

I'm Serious, you guys.

I've got an official little Portfolio on the web now!

Head on over to tabidee.jux.com and check it out! I'll be adding things from time to time too... as I create more awesome stuff, more awesome content will be added!

Soo... that's what my Friday night was all about. And it was goood.

<3, Tabi :D

Peace. Love. Happiness.

Peace.

Source: 4goodnessake.tumblr.com via Lavinia on Pinterest

Did you know that people sometimes aspire to actually promote peace in the world?  Shai over at Vagabond Studio is one of those people! She is truly an inspiring individual. <3
If you'd like to read about her latest endeavor in her peace studies and how you can help, click here!
Love.

I love you.
Happiness.

I love this sentiment. :)
Quote yoinked from the Happify Tumblr.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, LOVES.

<3, Tabi :D

Inspiration + Goals

quote taken from: Roxy Spring Catalog.

I've noticed that I get inspiration from catalogs. The IKEA catalog, the Roxy catalog... I guess I'm a sucker. 

Call me what you want, but when I saw this, it was like they took my goals in life out of my head, put them to words and typeset them in pink italics atop vintage filtered clouds.

I love this and kudos to Roxy Marketing Team. I <3 you guys! 

<3, Tabi :D

A Valentine's Craft.

A quick little craft I wanted to share with you guys...

Roxy had a homework assignment to create a Valentine's mailbox for the big day on Thursday. So, being the crafty overachievers we are, we set out on making a Valentine's Mailbox/Backpack from a Cheerios box following this tutorial I saw on Pinterest.

That's right peeps, this amazingness all started with a Cheerios box.

I am smitten with how it came out and we had so much fun making it together!

Linking up to The Pinspiration Project through My three bittles. :)

LOVE,      

 Tabi :D

Happy Saturday, Chickens!

Thursday, we took the family to the Florida State Fair and I kind of was totally enamored with the chickens. There are so many kinds of chickens! Did you have any clue that chickens come in so many shapes and sizes and colors?

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: we call this one the poodle chicken (totally fancy),  a speckled hen that laid herself an egg (Roxy really needed a picture of that egg), the prettiest patterned chicken I've ever seen, Riley and a chick, Roxy holding the same chick (the chick fell in love with Roxy and she named her Lizzy), the kids said this is the Daddy version of a chicken... since it's got a beard and all, we all laughed at this chicken's big ole' butt (oh, yea), another fluffy chicken I wouldn't have known was a chicken if I didn't read it's label, and the 'supermodel' chicken - so tall and slender (she posed, too!).

This concludes my post about chickens!

<3, Tabi :D

Perspective.

One of the things I think about often is the many different perspectives that can be had...

Yesterday, we had a cupcake picnic at Lilly's spot. It was her birthday.
(for anyone who may not know, Lilly was Roxy's BFF who was killed by a drunk driver July 2011)

My perspective on this: While I can't ever think about Lilly without feeling sadness that she was taken from this earth too soon, I am so happy to have known her. I am thankful that my children know her story. It was an angel's birthday and we had to celebrate it!

Even though Lilly was Roxy's friend, she has taught me so much about life and death, about relishing the time we have here, about spirituality, about grief and about friendship.

On earth, she was only 5 years old when she left us, and while she didn't get to celebrate turning 7 yesterday... we celebrated the birth of Lilly and everything she was (she really was a perfect little girl). We celebrated at her grave with pink cupcakes and balloons and sang Happy Birthday.

I also can't ever think about Lilly without my heart breaking for her Mom and Dad and the rest of her loving family...

Perspective #2
Our house is officially (I think?) foreclosed. We are awaiting our kick out date.

My perspective on this: We received that ginormous stack of foreclosure papers the week before my Zoie was born. There I was standing on the steps of my house about to give birth at any moment being served. My husband had earlier that year had a major cutback at his job. And I was about to stop working completely, once this baby of mine was born. I would be starting my new job as full time, stay at home Mom... and we all know that this is a MAJOR pay cut for anyone who worked for any money at all previously.

That, obviously was over 2 years ago... almost 2 and a half years ago. SO many things have changed since then.

I am grateful for the more than 2 years we've had in this house since that day. We, as a family, have grown so much since then. We are closer, we are more aware of the important things in life. We are more grateful, we are more sympathetic, we have more hope.

Moving, to me will signal a new chapter in our book and, while I am happy to have so many memories in this little house, the black mold creeping in my bathroom and the termites slowly eating away at the walls are blazingly bold symbols that it is due time to leave this house and escape the financial prison that was eating away at us and suffocating us from growing to our potential.

My family moved into this house as just Christopher and I (and part time Cam), naive and excited to begin growing our family. I was 6 months pregnant at the time with Roxy and needed a nest. Back then, half of me was screaming "I NEED A HOUSE FOR THIS BABY!" - this was the half of me that won. The other half of me was terrified of signing all those papers and committing to 30 years of paying the bank back an amount that was so large I couldn't even comprehend it. The loan officer and realtor assured us that, in 2 years we could refinance and our payments would be well within our means.

Well, that possibly was the worst advice we had ever received. We bought this house at the peak of the housing bubble. Since 2005, when it was purchased, our home value has dropped about $80,000. Which is a HUGE amount considering we paid a little over half that for the house.

Despite all that madness. I am thankful we did it. I am thankful for the lessons we learned, for the safety this house has provided us, for the memories.

We will leave this house a family of 5 + Cam, a lot wiser and ready to start the beginning of our new adventure.

<3, Tabi :D

Do these make me look...

 

... Sexy? Intelligent? Chic? But mostly... don't I look sexy?

I have really good eyesight. I don't need glasses. But, not so secretly, sometimes I wish I did - for the fashion!

Think: Lisa Loeb, Zooey Deschanel, Tina Fey
Totally hot chicks made even hotter by the glasses they wear. 

The other day, I realized that my husband, who does wear (eyeglasses) accidentally left his at home on the bathroom counter. I sent via text the above picture to him to let him know... his response?

... well, let's just say he found the image to be, erm, attractive. See? Point proven.

In this family, two of us actually have an eyeglasses prescription, that would be (1) my husband and (2) my stepson, Cameron.

Don't they look adorable in their glasses?

Yet, we all like to pose in Daddy's glasses. :)

And sometimes, glasses are the BEST props for funny/cute/awesome pictures.

( Okay, so maybe that was a gratuitous excuse to post cute pictures of us. )

So, to have some more spectacled fun, the other night I navigated my bored self over to GlassesUSA.com and virtually tried on some frames. These were my favorite.

This is what I think of GlassesUSA and their Virtual Mirror:

1.) It's kind of/a lot of fun.

2.) I totally look like Lisa Loeb in these frames.

3.) I don't really understand how they can sell such cheap glasses, but they do.

4.) I have something to look forward to when I grow old(er) and actually (maybe) need glasses.

You can virtually try on some glasses for fun, too!

<3, Tabi :D

p.s. BONUS SAVINGS ALERT! 

STOREWIDE OFFER - Take 15% off + get free shipping on your entire order
(orders over $50). Code: FS15

Take 10% off any order of prescription glasses. Code: Blog10

Staring Contest.

Staring Contest!! vine.co/v/bJFLbunJv1Q
— Tabi Deneweth (@tabi_d) January 30, 2013

Perhaps I jumped on this bandwagon quicker than I normally do. Perhaps it's a fad, perhaps I peeked at Vinepeek and couldn't bring myself to physically turn it off (Christopher did that for me).

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. ~ it's a Cake song, right?

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, Google: The Vine. OR... just trust my word that it's Twitter's new baby... a 6 second video sharing app.

Also, it's just kind of a lot of fun!

You probably aren't aware of this, but Roxy's Olympic size talent is Staring Contests. I don't think she's lost one, yet.

<3, Tabi :D

... and now I have a Seven Year Old.

I will not get sappy and talk about how much better my life is since this girl came into my life 7 years ago. Nor will I bore you with just how much she has taught me about life, love, spirituality, empathy and the magic in the universe.

But I will brag a little about what a beautiful, loving and kind little girl she has grown into over the past 7 years.

For her birthday, she wanted to do something a little different than the usual home or park party we usually throw with a bouncy house. Bouncy houses are hard to top, so I was a little nervous.

She asked about a gymnastics party at the YMCA and I was ecstatic to learn it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Honestly, we ended up getting much more than I thought out of it and maybe they spoiled us just a teeny bit.

A gymnastics party at the Y consists of an hour-ish in the gymnastics room. The kids get to run around an obstacle course and free reign at the foam pit. Not to brag, or anything, but I did overhear a few kids talking about this party being the best they'd ever been to.

After the kids are good and ready for replenishment, we got an hour-ish in the multipurpose room, which is decorated with pink and purple balloons, party plates and napkins, and time to enjoy some pizza, chips, popcorn, refreshments and CUPCAKES!

All of this, by the way, facilitated by two of the nicest party helpers ever. They not only helped lead activity in the gymnastics room, but also handed out pizza, drinks, party favors and cupcakes. See? Spoiled!

We sang Happy Birthday and I got the first ever group birthday party photo ever in the history of Deneweth birthday parties.

Then, of course there were presents... and, hey! Did you know Riley was there, too?

I present to you: Riley and Fifi, photo-bomber extraordinaires.

So, yea! I have a 7 year old now... It seems like just yesterday I ... okay okay (I won't get sappy).

<3, Tabi :D

In 6 years, I'm sure he'd kill me for posting this...

... but I've got to anyways.

I bought the Bear his first little boxer briefs today. And, boy did my heart go aflutter when he modeled them for me after shower tonight.

I was reminiscent of my second love, Mark(y Mark) Wahlberg.

Am I right??

Do I have a future Calvin Klein underwear model right here under my roof?

Sorry, Mark(y Mark) Wahlberg... we have history, but this little Bear is some kind of cute and has stolen my heart.

<3, Tabi :D

Gasparilla Children's Parade 2013 aka Family Time

On Saturday, we took the kids to the Gasparilla Children's Parade.

What in the what is Gasparilla, you say? Well, it's a pirate festival. I am proud to call Tampa my home, our yearly festival... is a PIRATE FESTIVAL!!! It doesn't get much cooler than that, you guys.

During the main Gasparilla event, there is an actual invasion, with a true to life pirate ship and the Mayor of Tampa handing over the keys to the city to the Pirate Captain. It's hard NOT to get excited over these things...

But this 'main' parade is generally and historically full of drunken debauchery and public nakedness (as it should be when pirates invade), so we go to the family friendly Children's Parade held the week before the invasion. There are still pirates and beads and loud music and coins, but without the public intoxication and debauchery.

To me, it means sitting on the grass on Bayshore Blvd. holding our ground in the hour or two leading up to the parade. In the waiting time, we've got the seabreeze, the awesome January Florida sun beaming down on us, $6 funnel cakes and each other. Then the parade starts, the kids wave and jump and scream for the 20 tons of beads we will carry back with us home. It means kids on parents' shoulders so they can get a glimpse of the pirates. And it means parents trying hard to duck and block the projectiles (beads) coming right at us and our toddlers. Before we know it, the 2 hours of parade is over, we are headed home exhausted and that means pizza for dinner. Mmmmm.

It's memories, it's adventure, it's fun and it's FREE! Arrrrr!

This is NOT a sponsored post (but it should be).

What is your town's yearly festival?

<3, Tabi :D

Baked Vegan(ish) 'Chik'n' Alfredo Pasta

Here's what I attempted the other night...

Check out How to Cook Baked Vegan "Chicken" Alfredo Penne Pasta by Nicole Rizzuto on Snapguide.


My Review...

This was actually the best vegan Alfredo I've had to date. It was fairly easy, included the right amount of veggies, not a horrid big vegan mess (as I had anticipated) and was kid approved. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the finished product, since I was too hungry to think about photography and just wanted it in my belly, but here's a teaser... this beautiful photo of fresh broccoli and cauliflower florets sauteeing with my Quorn Chik'n (I know, Quorn is not vegan - it contains eggs - but we are cool with eggs... hence the reason we are veganish).

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it's the first time I've ever seen a recipe posted in this type of format, The Snapguide. While I loved the end product, I admit it was rather annoying not to be able to see the steps listed out like a regular recipe. I kind of wished there was an option to view it as a list or at least easily skip ahead and back. Anyways, for my ease and yours, I'm posting this recipe in traditional format for future meals.

Baked Vegan(ish) Chik'n Alfredo Pasta
based on a recipe by Nicole Rizzuto

Serves 6-8
(I doubled Nicole's recipe to fit my family, it served 6 of us & had enough leftovers for 2 lunches... depending on how hungry you are for lunch)


Ingredients:

• 1 lb your favorite pasta. Penne was recommended, I used bow ties
• 4 Cups Soy milk
• 1/2 cup  non-dairy cream cheese (Tofutti)
• 6 Tablespoons Earth Balance Spread 
• Coconut/soy Creamer (optional)
• 1-2 Tablespoons Corn Starch (optional)
• Salt & pepper  (or seasoned Salt)
• Garlic Powder
• 3 Tablespoons Olive oil
• 2 Cups Fresh Broccoli Florets
• 1 Cup Cauliflower Florets
• Mushrooms (optional), Spinach (optional) << I didn't use these, but I suppose you'd sautee them along with the broccoli/cauliflower?
• 10 Soy chicken nuggets (or I used a bag of Quorn Chik'n Tenders) 
• 1-2 Cups Daiya mozzarella cheeze (or handfuls, I didn't measure)

 

Instructions: 

1. Fill a large pot with water and a pinch or two of salt. Put it on your burner to boil for your pasta.
2. Preheat your oven to 375.
3. Grab your favorite large saute/frying pan and drop in some olive oil, enough to cover your surface. Start your burner on medium heat.
4. Get a medium sized saucepan and add in your milk, cream cheese, Earth Balance/margarine,  salt/pepper/Garlic Powder to taste, and add in your Soy or Coconut creamer to make as creamy as you want it. Put your pan on a low heat and stir occasionally.
5. When your pasta water is boiling, throw in the noodles and set your timer!
6. Prepare your veggies, chop them up as small or big as you desire. Throw them in your saute/frying pan and sprinkle on a little salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste. Saute until veggies are light brown.
7. Keep an eye on that sauce! Stir intermittently.
8. When veggies are sauteed to your liking, add in your chopped up soy nuggets or Quorn Tenders. I drizzled a bit more olive oil on top and garlic powder. Stir until chik'n is thawed and heating up. 
9. Don't forget about your sauce! Stir it up and break up those cream cheese chunks. At this point, the sauce didn't seem 'creamy' or thick enough to me, so I made a little concoction of 1-2 tablespoons of corn starch mixed well with 1-2 tablespoons of soy milk and drizzled it into my sauce. That should work to make your sauce creamy as you want.
10. The pasta should be done around now, drain in a colander.
11. Mix everything together! A handful of Daiya Cheeze, your pasta, veggies + chik'n, and sauce. You can mix it in your drained noodle pot, your big frying pan or the sauce pan, whichever is big enough or you feel is easy enough. 
12. Spray a big casserole dish (8 x 12 ish?) with light cooking spray.
13. Spoon your mixture into the casserole dish. Sprinkle more Daiya on top to your liking.
14. Bake for 20 ish minutes. The original recipe said 15-20 minutes, I cooked mine for 25 minutes... probably because I doubled the recipe.
15. When the pasta looks a bit browned on top/edges, it's done. Remove from the oven.
16. Enjoy and serve with some Crescent Rolls (vegan!).

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!!

<3, Tabi :D

Thursday Confessions.

1. I am the world's BIGGEST procrastinator (I'm supposed to be working on an invitation right now.)
2. Even though I stopped breastfeeding 9 months ago, I'm still lactating a little.
3. I had to check Facebook to see if I showered yesterday or not. I seriously could NOT remember.
4. I think my friend Sam has magical powers. She babysat our Leia Mouse for a week and now her super smell has disappeared.
5. My kids went to bed 2 hours past bedtime tonight!!
6. We gave up on our pool (since we are moving and won't be swimming in it again) and it is greener than the greenest part of Yoda's swamp on Dagobah right now. 
7. Am going to hit publish right now without proofreading.
8. ... for real.
9. ...... so I can work on that invitation now.

<3, Tabi :D

small moments... That Night in the Hospital

I think it's the impatience in me that causes this... sometimes I have so much to say, so I kind of list out a bunch of awesome/meaningful things that happened, accompany a photo and move on.

My Roxy is in the first grade, and in their educational first grade journey as little writers, their teacher is trying to teach them to write about small moments, instead of listing out every single thing that happened in their beings. Writing about small moments means focusing on the details and really painting a picture of a memory with their words.

Here is my attempt at a small moment.

It was a week ago yesterday that Christopher had surgery to get his gallbladder removed. Two days prior to that, he fell ill. Early Saturday morning it started. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, yet it took me until midnight that night to convince him he needed medical attention.

The night before his surgery, he had been in the hospital all day. I visited him briefly earlier in the day with the 4 kids, but we had a full day as Sunday was also the day my parents arrived in town from Maryland. He asked me to come visit him to say good night after the kids were in bed.

So I did. I finally got the kids down. This was not an easy task. It was the first school night in over two weeks, Daddy was in the hospital and Mimi, Poppy and Lala were in our house. You can imagine their little brains were a bit tweaked.

Driving to the hospital for the 3rd time in less than 24 hours, I was exhausted. You know that kind of sleepy state where you are almost hallucinating things? That was me. Somehow, I made it to the hospital, parked properly and didn't even get lost in the hallways to his room.

As soon as I saw him, there in that hospital bed, I kicked my shoes off and climbed right in. It was the first time in forever I felt at ease. I could tell he wasn't in so much pain anymore, he was on a morphine drip. I've never had the stuff, but I hear it works pretty good. I cuddled up, we turned on my laptop and watched an episode of The Walking Dead.

He was so warm, the hospital bed was insanely comfortable at that moment. If there were other people in the room, I'm sure I totally ignored them. It felt like it was only Christopher and me there in that hospital. Christopher, me and the zombies.

We didn't talk about the IV, we didn't speak about the doctor, I did give him the Panda-Bug Roxy commissioned I make for him. I knew everything was going to be okay, it is an odd feeling for me to be in a situation where anxiety is warranted and not have anxiety.

When the show was over, he politely kicked me out so he could get some rest. I kissed him twice. I packed up the laptop and put my shoes back on. Then I kissed him again before leaving. His lips were warm and not even dry or crackly (as I had expected).

Then somehow, all of a sudden I was home again. I don't even remember the walk to the car or the drive home. I walked in, my Mom presented me with a Christmas gift she didn't know how to wrap - a cake plate with a dome. And Zoie yelled at me until she finally passed out at 11:30.

<3, Tabi :D

photo an hour // Our Saturday

I'm not sure if it was holiday stress or what, but it seems as of late November up until now, my days have gone pretty much like this: I wake up, rush to get kids ready, breakfast made, blur - blur - blur, figure out dinner, cook, clean up then fight kids to get to bed, so I can veg on the couch for a bit to catch up on some things or just decompress.

Things aren't going to slow down around here anytime soon, so I've got to figure something out. Something... so I don't go insane.

One idea I had is to force myself to take a Photo An Hour once per week on a different day every week. The point? To prove to myself that there actually is something going on in my days in between breakfast and bedtime. I will have actual photograph evidence of this. Hopefully, it will clear up the blur for me a bit.

This set of photos is from last Saturday (1/12). Saturdays are generally days filled with lazy, large breakfasts, no laundry, no school, no work. Sometimes I feel pressured to have something fun and amazing planned for the children, but this day I was particularly exhausted and just wanted to savor the 'day off'.

So what if I didn't take a photo every hour on the hour... hey! I'm a rule breaker. Plus, you get the idea. :)

We had a lazy-ish morning, and filled our bellies with pancakes. The kids played and I caught up on a couple of things on my laptop.

Then, we all were ready to get out of the house. Getting out of the house for me is a necessary thing for my mental health sometimes. We hit up a local show featuring the Buckshot Cloggers at a library. A little known fact about me: I was a clogger in my Maryland life. I danced from the time I could walk up until I was 17 years old. So, I enjoyed this immensely.

After the library/dance show, we hit up the park so Christopher could play with his toy he got for Christmas from Mimi and Poppy. He sure does love that helicopter! The boys played with the flying contraption while the girls and I did some swinging.

After heading home from the park, cooking dinner, bathing the children and putting them to bed - I talked Chris into helping me freshen up my hair a bit. So, I had to watch football in the bathroom with him. I was okay with it, though. By the time 11:00 pm (ish) came around, my hair color was all wrapped up in plastic, a shower cap and bandanna (I didn't want to risk waking up to pink dyed sheets!) and I was ready to crash.

That's my Saturday, folks. 

<3, Tabi :D

5 Things.

Today is Sunday & not Friday but I'm still doing a 5 Things post.

It's been 10 days since my last post. Things got crazy. Here are 5 things that happened while I was absent minded.

1. My husband got sick. He thought it was heartburn... that lasts 24 + hours. WebMD and I diagnosed him with a Gallstone Attack. I finally convinced him to go to the ER. Guess who was right? Yep. I'm pretty much on par with Dr. House in my diagnostician skills. So, he got a 2 night stay at the hospital and came home a man in a lot less pain and one unnecessary organ short.

2. My Mom, Dad and Lala came to visit us. They were driving down from Maryland when the whole gallbladder thing went down. The kids started school back up on Monday and it was the first time I had to deal with school drop-offs/pick-ups/lunch making/homework/bedtimes all on my own without a partner, so BOY WAS I HAPPY to have my parents + Lala in town at this exact moment. Plus, I haven't seen them since August and I missed them a lot.

3. We ate out A LOT. My Dad also at this very exact time of craziness was fighting a contracted case of salmonella and/or food poisoning. They are meat eaters and we are not. He had a sensitive stomach and my gallbladder-less husband was trying to get his appetite back. So, food was a bit of an issue. Eating out made things a little easier. One of those dinners, we ate out at a Japanese Steak House, more specifically, the fancy new one at the mall.

It was on this night, that I had an epiphany.

I came up with a brand new diet idea. I call it: The Chopstick Diet.

This diet is for anyone who is struggling with portion control, and it's simple... Eat all meals with chopsticks. No cheater chopsticks, the real deal.

You will learn to savor, to eat slow, and you will stop eating when you are full.
This is my contribution to our rising obesity problem. You're welcome, America.

4. I made some things. The pirate penguin was a DIY Etsy knockoff I made for my little sister (who loves pirates and penguins). You can buy the real deal here, or buy a pattern and attempt to make one yourself (like I did) here. The little raggedy monkey was me learning the hard way you shouldn't make felt plushies with fabric other than felt (he's still kind of cute, though). I got this awesome book called 'The Cuter Book' (Aranzi Aronzo) and can't wait to make every single cute little thing in it!

5. I rocked my first attempt at this hair style. Seriously, not only do I have mad WebMD/diagnostician skills, but I can whip up a halo braid like it's nobody's business. This was hella easy and so cute! I'm definitely putting it in our rotation of every day hairstyles.

So, here we are... kind of/sort of back to normal. Chris went back to work today, my parents + Lala have been gone since Friday and I have my partner mostly back to help with the normal every day of school days. Phew! I realized just how lost I am without him.

Okay, new week. Bring it on!

<3, Tabi :D

Thursday Confessions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

and welcome to my first post of 2013

I have a few confessions to make today:

1. I am horrible with resolutions, I'm better with goals. I did make a lucid decision to activate the activist in me. I've always wanted to fight for the things I believe in. While I don't have a solid plan on this yet, I do "resolve" to do this in some way shape or form. I started (sort of) by sharing this video>> Detox Fashion
2. I kind of gave up going to the gym for almost the entire month of December. I need working out in my life. Not because I'm getting fluffy, but mostly for my mental health. "Siri, let's squeeze the gym back into my schedule."
3. Today is January 3rd, and today I plan on working on my Christmas gifts to my Mom, Dad, Sunshine and Lala. It's not as bad as it sounds. We will celebrate 'Christmas' when I see them next week.
4. In my plan to get up and cook an awesome breakfast before our dentist appointments, I was crazy grumpy. Sorry, guys...
5. I've been promising my husband a fresh batch of homemade donuts for like a week now. Today's the day. (maybe) (hopefully)
6. I made a kick ass dress out of a t-shirt + tank top. I didn't have much confidence going into the project, but I love how it came out. Are DIY easy peasy dress tutorials okay to post from a girl who's teaching herself the art of sewing? 
7. I've been pretty hard on myself these past few weeks. I'm so mean to me. 
8. I think our mouse has a B.O. problem. Do mice hit puberty??
9. I wear my R2D2 shirt way more than I should. ( I just love it so much!! )

<< outtie. >>

<3, Tabi :D