Slippers

I say that she's Malaysian-ized

Kids Say The Darnest Things

Last night, when Izzy just finished her bath and had her towel wrapped around her

Izzy (patting herself on the chest): "Izzy's dress!!"
Momma: "Yes, Izzy's dress"
Izzy (pointing at me): "Momma's dress!"
Momma: "Yes, momma's dress"
Izzy (jabbing her finger on my chest): "Nock kers"
Momma: "..................excuse me??"
Izzy: "Nock kers"
Momma (furiously thinking of who I'm going to strangle at daycare): ".......................did you say knockers??"
Izzy: "Yeah!!"

A few seconds past....

Momma: "Did you mean necklace?"
Izzy: "Yeah! Momma's nock kers!"
Momma: "Say Neck-lace"
Izzy: "Nock kers"

Soon - Like, 6 Days "Soon"

 -

Cousins

Isabel and her cousins - taken over last Christmas, I think.

I love this picture, even though it looks like a "Where's Waldo?" game--- she looks odd in a sea of blondies!! 

They are all around the same age, give or take some years. It's a huge pity that they don't live close enough to grow up together. 

Thanks for sending, MK.

 

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

I'm so far removed that I didn't even realize that it was Chinese New Year.

Anyway, Gong Xi Fatt Chai!!

Isabel will be back soon, so get those ang pows ready!!!

Kaplooey

Read a somewhat depressing (perhaps depressing is too strong a word...relevant perhaps?) book that represented my thoughts more succinctly:

"I'm embarrassed to say this, but divorce embarrasses me. It's like telling everyone you've failed, each time you announce your marital status. I never thought of myself as someone who was proud, you know, of any kind of status. But I guess being married did mean something to me, being a husband. Well, it felt like something of my own. We were married before anyone else in our circle. Married, in graduate school, everything seemed to be going according to plan. And then...."



"Kaplooey?" she supplied.


"Kaplooey."

- Rebecca Flowers, Nice To Come Home To

MORE?????

Seriously?

All I heard on the weather forecast last night was snow, snow, snow and more snow. COME ON!!!! I thought hell was suppose to be hot. Or has it really frozen over?

Rabbit and I are enjoying some hot chocolate - not much of a fan of this stuff, but it sounded good...

However, something tells me that Isabel likes it...

And if we even think of venturing outside...well...lets just say "fashion statement" we are not...perhaps a fashion don't. Especially with that face that she's making

The Witchin' Hour...

Work, work, work...My eyes hurt.

Random bits and bobs to let my mind settle after a whole bunch of copy control data transfer routine mumbo jumbo. Some IT people are just way too technical.


- It's been bitterly cold today. The car registered the outside temp as 0 Fahrenheit.
- I ran for a solid 15 minutes today. Not bad, considering the last time I tried, I had to wave a white flag after 2 1/2 minutes. Props to Zumba and kickboxing! ;)
- My throat hurts and my nose is running
- Yay for homemade cinnamon roll bread and a hot cup of green tea
- I'm lusting after a scarf
- Isabel has been bottle free for about a week now. Props to her!
- I am feeling pretty content.

Back to VBAK, VBKD and VBPA.

Back In The Game

I received a sewing book called "Making Children's Clothes" by Emma Hardy from my sister-in-law for Christmas. (Actually, I received a lot of goodies from my in-laws via mail during Christmas last year. Thanks to all for thinking of me)

I intend to try every single pattern in the book.

First up is a sleeveless top that'll be perfect for hot summer days.
Or hot KL days (less than a month! Woot!!)

The instructions for that particular pattern were not 100% accurate, and sometimes, veer towards being a little confusing. It's definitely not for someone who has absolutely zero knowledge of sewing -- I made some notes for adjustments in case I make another version of the top.

Sizing is pretty true - Isabel is wearing the 2-3T version.

Izzy Is Rocking It...

She's such a ham

Working

We are both hard at work.

It was suppose to be a snow day today, but nothing much came down...feel quite pathetic staying home actually. But ah well...

Resolution

It's a beautiful night out...The temperature is hovering at the perfect chill and the moon is shining. Brightly.

Very brightly.

I was sitting around, wondering what on earth did I do in my past life to be so friggin "lucky" to deserve such a snivelling twit. But when I stepped outside into the crisp night, and took a deep breath of cold air, I realize that there's absolutely NO way that I'm going to let ONE ahole ruin my life for me. I'm built tougher than that. And I sure as hell deserve better. As does my daughter

Life is full of moments. And one will never get it back. I'm not wasting another moment.

It's Potty Time!

When the new year started, I got it in my head that Isabel will be potty-trained before she turns 3. Isabel was right on board, thanks to countless screenings of Elmo's Potty Time.

She was so eager, in fact, that she started pulling her pants down the moment the potty was out of the box

So there she sat, in the middle of the living room...

Potty time is always quite a production...A book is necessary

Or she has to have her croonies with her

We've had two success stories so far, where she pee-peed into the potty (complete flukes though) but it's a start.

Another One....

Yet ANOTHER snowstorm

So I gathered my supplies....

And had chocolate fondue. Yum

Gotta gain back the calories I lost from shoveling somehow! 

Well...

2011 is finally here.

Actually, it's already a good 2 weeks under way. Thank God for that.

2010 has been.....challenging. A true soul- searcher. A real reevaluation of expectations. A real stomp-my-feet and saying "NO! That is NOT right, and I won't stand for it". A reconfirmation of the importance of independence, self-value, self-confidence and a good old dose of "chin up"-ness (best advice I got, actually)

Regardless, however bad it was....guess what? I'm still standing.

I'm still smiling.

I'm still laughing.

And most importantly, I still believe in love. Love for my baby. Love for my family. Love for friends. There IS a future out there. And I will keep working towards it.

And I thank each and every person who has comforted me, prayed for me, thought of me, and kept me going in their own way. Even though it may not have been the method I would have preferred, one comes to realize that expectations cannot be held against someone else. Only towards one's own self. And the offspring, I suppose, since you gave LIFE to that particular being, surely SOME expectations should be allowed? Although that would go against my previous observation...so it cancels itself out again. A moot point...sorry...I digress...(I tend to try and talk philosophically to myself sometimes. The arguements can get quite humorous)

2011 is a year of moving forward. Officially.

Two

Well...with all the hustle and bustle of Isabel getting sick on her birthday, it never really did hit that my baby is TWO! How did it happen?

I love how she's progressed into a little person of her own, with her own thoughts and her own words. She's absorbing everything like a sponge.

And I love how she's just a silly little ham sometimes

I love that she's slowly mastering words to express herself

I love the way she stops and thinks about how she wants to phrase something so that I'll understand.

I love the way she'll make me repeat what she says to ensure that I really got what she was trying to say.

I love how she loves shoes.

I love how she's getting into role-playing and using her imagination. The imagination is one of the most important quality a person can have - with it, one can dream of bigger and better things, one can escape the wearies and the troubles of an existing life, one can have hope.

I love how she'll try and mimic me and try to do the things I do

I love how she'll say "Momma, hand!" whenever we are out and about

I love the way she says "Momma, hold" when she's in bed, getting ready to fall asleep

I love the way she makes me feel like I'm a good person. A worthy person. And how it makes me all the more determined to be strong, to carry on, to be a good mother who'll be worthy of her love.

I love you, my darling girl. Momma loves Izzy.

This Is What Miserable Looks Like

Made even more miserable by the fact that I had to go shovel it.

Remind me to move to a place where I'll be able to handle the maintenance of the place single-handedly.

Or at least, where I won't look like a bundled up bag-lady when I go out and tackle it.

The things I do to amuse myself when I am alone. Thank God for Netflix Instant Play. And online shopping. Although I'm not so sure my bank account is too thankful for the latter. Ah well...New Year's isn't here yet.

Back to my Marilyn Monroe marathon.

Sad

I've taken to singing "My Favourite Things" at the top of my lungs when I start feeling really sorry for myself. My dog thinks I'm crazy.

But that's ok. I brought in reinforcements.

Along with some Christmassy movies - with Christmas in Connecticut thrown in for good measure - Amanda - I took your rec.

And if all things fail, there's always ice-cream, chased down by buckets full of Diet Coke Lime.

I'm off to wallow now.

Post Note: I LOVED "Christmas in Connecticut". Since I already live in the state and have the baby, I just need to find a farm and a sailor to marry!

Bah. Humbug

Well...my daughter is off for her long trip out to Michigan with her dad. Please keep your fingers crossed, or say a prayer that she'll return home, safe and sound to me.

With that, I'm now allowed to to mope freely.

Although we got a LOVELY package last night, with lovely, LOVELY stuff inside that gives a good dose of cheer



Isabel concurs as the first thing she said was "KITCHEN! Open Momma!"



Then "Rabbit Hat!" and promptly put it on her head

And then "Izzy Color?" And grabbed her crayons and went to town with the card
For some reason, she only likes to color on the writing.



Then she grabbed her mouse and a cup and a spoon and sat on the rocker to feed her mouse



And finished the rest of the imaginery mum-mum herself.



See? I told you I had a fab brother. And he has fab taste. Because I honestly LOVE everything! And that's not particularly common with me (although it would be so if they just really knew me. At least I have one person who does!)

So thank you, m'dear!

Back to moping - if things get lonely, I'll just start dancing to my theme song for the season:

Puppy Tales

This poor little guy has been neglected for well over a year.

But he's finally done and he got some well-deserved loving from Isabel.

And stickers too, for being such a good dog.

The problem with putting off projects, is that over the course of time, I couldn't remember which tutorial I was using. And I lost some of the fabric. So there was some "winging" involved. Which is probably why he looks like he's about to take off with his ears.

I'm not a fan of hand-sewing, if you must know.

But anyway, he's done and the little guy has been shipped off to his new home.