And So It Begins...

I was a-palled (pronounced UH-pause-pawled) at the wreath prices at Wal-Mart. They want way too much money for sad little plastic things. But, I've committed that I WILL decorate this year, if it kills me. And, it just so happens that I live in the middle of a forest. So...some trees sacrificed a couple of limbs, and I sacrificed a perfectly okay pair of Fiskers, and my door got a wreath. I kind of like the homey look of it, anyway. And it smells good. Which is a plus considering the cat population at our house. I couldn't find my camera, so this was taken with a cell phone.

Chemical Burn

Color is somewhat better, not great yet. My scalp HURTS! Sigh.

Bad Hair
What is it about staying up late that makes you think you need to dye your hair? How many times in my youth did I make a midnight Wal-Mart run for hair product, with terrible results? Enough that I should know better. So tell me why my hair looked like this at 1:30 a.m. this morning?





My head knows that my hair is overprocessed now, but my heart has me sitting here with brown dye on my hair (again) hoping it will absorb. I know it will not. I hope it does. Guess I'll be going to the wig shop this afternoon. I CANNOT go to the high school looking like this. J. says I look like I'm straight out of The 5th Element when it's dry.

Breaking News

Today, for the first time ever, the Perry family slept till 8 am. Angels sang.

Ring Around the Rosy

Caught the girls playing ring around the rosy with their doll.

When will I ever use this in the real world?

...is a question I'm learning to hate. Every time some kid asks me that, I want to tell him "This is the real world. You're going to use it to pass this class." But I don't. Instead I bottle up my frustration, and let weird, stress-related things happen to my body. This week...I've suddenly got a bald spot in my eyebrow. And not from over-plucking. Just smooth as a baby's butt. Speaking of babies...

...I've used geometry...in the REAL world. I got fed up with the other dress pattern, and decided to make my own. Turns out, all that geometry paid off. Patterns are nothing more than coordinating triangles and rhombuses (or is that rhombi?). I've included pics of pattern pieces (on posterboard...not the best pattern making choice) and the unhemmed dress. Again, waiting for a model to try it on. I like this one much better than the other, but I'm a little biased. It's hard to see the detail, but it is a wrap with a tie on the side.

Homemade Marshmallows

Here is a recipe I found that I would love for someone to make, then box it up, and mail it to me. I'm definitely going to try it, but since I probably won't be handing any out, thought I'd at least share the how-to.


3 packages unflavored gelatin1 cups cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup (or glucose)
1 teaspoon kosher salt1 vanilla bean, seeds removed
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by. In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Add the vanilla seeds. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Line a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with aluminum then spray with pan spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel or sharp knife dusted with the confectioners’ sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Marci gave me her SD card with pumpkin patch pictures on it. Sadly, they look pretty much like mine, but funnier. Or are they funnier because it's 2:30 in the morning?

What I Did Tonight...

Jarrid took the girls to Bryan, so I had a night alone. Marci and I went shopping, and came home around 11. I decided to sew a little...hadn't done that in nearly 3 years. This dress is what happened; not too bad for a rusty old machine. I'm waiting on the girls to get home to hem it. The side with the bow is the back. I'm thinking about red grossgrain on the waist line. What do you think.

I haven't been posting much lately (don't know if you've noticed...). It's because I haven't really had time to take pictures. Well, I finally went last Tuesday to the pumpkin patch at a local church with the girls. Guess we waited too long, cause there were only like, 5 pumpkins left. Anyway, had to clear the memory card so we could go trick-or-treating. So, voila, a new post. Enjoy the lack of orange.

The girls got into some clothes they have outgrown, and of course had to squeeze their heads into them. I want to point out Emma's "Ninja Toes". This is her preferred form of footwear these days. I'm so proud.

Well, we made it through the storm. I'm posting a couple of pictures taken during the actual hurricane. The yard pictures are from when the eye was going over. The others of the girls are when the backside of the storm passed over. They were getting really bored, so I had to bust out their Halloween costumes. Luckily, all we lost was a couple of tree limbs. The neighbors did not fare so well, losing 2 or 3 whole trees. None actually hit houses, though, which cannot be said of the rest of Huntsville. Our power went out so we went to Bryan for 2 nights, then stayed with my sister for 2 nights. The girls were so unbelievably good. They have been really fun, and funny. Thanks for the prayers.

We went to the park today to burn some energy before Ike gets here. Please pray for our safety, and that the power won't be out too long.

I've been tagged by some friends that have blogs also. This means that I'm supposed to tell you 6 unique things about myself. However, since this blog is about the girls, I'm going to make it 6 unique things about them.

1. Addison bruises like a peach. I'm always finding strange bruises on her, and cannot figure out how they got there.

2. Emma is scared of animals. Dogs, cats, horses, dogs, you name it. But strangely, not bugs.

3. Addison is the better speaker, despite (or maybe because of) speech therapy. She had ECI workers come out for over a year to work with her in speech and occupational therapy. Now she out-talks Emma by a long shot.

4. Emma is the better athlete, but scared of her abilities. She can do anything physical after just a few tries. Addi on the other hand cannot, but thinks she can...it's scary at times.

5. Addison has bone straight hair. That's not really surprising. What may be surprising to some is that Emma's hair is actually curly. The longer it gets the curlier it gets. We brush it into shape every night, although at this length there's not a lot of curl to it.

6. They both LOVE chicken. Especially chicken nuggets! They don't normally want to eat at home (they get enough at daycare), but if nuggets are involved they chow down!

I would tag the 7 people who should do this...but I don't know anyone else that actually reads this blog. So if you're reading it, consider yourself tagged (or not).

No pictures this time, just a couple of funny things:

*My sister picked the girls up yesterday, and Addison saw a $5 bill laying in the seat. She picked it up and said "I got a dollar...let's go to the store!"

*I thought the girls would like going through the automated carwash with me today. I was wrong. They began to shake and cry, telling me to "Go! Momma, Go!"

*Addison just wiped her boogers on my arm. I got onto her and told her to go get me some toilet paper. She came back, not with a sheet of paper, but the twelve-roll package, from which she proceeded to hand me a roll, and go replace the package.

*A few days ago at the sitter's house, Addison started screaming hysterically. Rosemary rushed over to her and asked her what was wrong, to which Addison replied "The bugs bite me!!!" Rosemary looked down and there was a couple of love bugs on her. To calm her, she told her they were just kissing her. So now whenever they land on her she screams (almost hysterically) "They're kissing me!"

Quick Ice Skating Clip . . .

Jarrid's grandma (Nanou) and his parents gave the girls ice skating lessons for their birthday. Here are a few pics of the first lesson. I didn't get many because the girls were requiring a lot of attention. For any other parents considering this, my advice to you is to wear tennis shoes. I nearly had my big toe chopped off by miniature ice skate blades. The girls did really well, though. They stood up, learned how to fall, and chased toys on the ice.

more birthday pics.