ipad, you pad, they pad, thon pad

After many months of saving my babysitting money (yes, I know it sounds like I'm 14 when I say that, but babysitting is fun and it gives me something to do when James is tutoring or working) I have finally saved enough for an ipad mini. She doesn't have a name, but she is a she. Obviously everyone knows what an ipad looks like, but here's the pattern I found for the cover:

Very pink, very pretty, no one is surprised. So anyway, that's what I've been doing all last night and some of this morning. The thing that I find so fitting about it is that now I have something to do when the kids I babysit go to sleep. Plus, I found a super cool Alphabet game that I might use when we're low on number in the wombat room. Sometimes on Fridays I'm down to two kids, and it can be pretty boring because those two kids are both bilingual, with English as their #2 language, so when it's just them, they'll usually go off and play in Korean and I get bored. But this way, we could learn letters and the sounds those letters make! I realize this sounds a little crazy, and I will obviously let the kids go play and enjoy themselves, too, but this way we could learn. I love learning. And I wouldn't be bored. I love not being bored.

Here's a picture of Lady I did on Instagram:

Lady perches on the edge of the couch and looks out the window when I leave the blinds open. Occasionally she growls at nothing. She's a creative genius. 

Here's a collage I did on this other app that I forgot the name of, but it's also pretty sweet:

Stuff in our living room. I'm not sure I've ever shown the chalkboard on the blog before. It was a lackluster painting of the ocean in a gaudy fake-gold frame. I added chalkboard paint and now I think it's pretty cool. I change what's on the board based on holidays or other goings-on. Fun stuff.

If anyone has cool apps you think I'd like, or you know how to follow people on Instagram, hook me up. My user name is aliciamcshane because I'm super creative.

Weird stuff I can't stop loving

Hi friends! How are you? Lady and I just got back from babysitting my friend Karri's kids. They loved Lady, she loved them, I liked them, too, which I think they were much less concerned about, but that's cool, I get it. I'm not furry and cute and tiny, nor is my nose wet. Whatever.

Anyway, I got home today and I got on my computer to play some hearts (I've changed the names so I'm playing Wolverine, Willy Wonka, and Wooly Willy. What?!) and to go on Pinterest, and I'm sure this happens to many a youth, but isn't it so distracting how many more things there are in the world to want now that the internet is all over the place? yowza. The song "I can't stop loving you" by Phil Collins plays over and over in your head while you obsess over random objects you didn't know you needed until just then. Sigh. So let's talk about this, because it's on my mind, and I want to.

Ladies and gents, this is a wine bottle carrier that attaches to your bike. Don't drink and drive doesn't apply, I guess. Seriously. When would I have thought about needing this? But now I know about it, and it's so cool! Here is where it's found online. Let's move on.

Ok, so this has quite literally been my dream since 2nd grade. We wrote a report about where we thought we'd be when we were 100, and I said I'd live in a cheeseburger and play checkers with my dog. Let's ignore my obvious psychological problems even as a wee babe and dive right into the merchandising side of things. I found out about The Hamburger Bed when I was a sophomore in college and I was in love. It was everything I'd ever wanted in life. I was obsessed. Ok, so nothing has changed, that is still my life. You can buy them here and I want one so bad. So bad it hurts. Moving on.

 So this is a sleeping bag you can wear. It has arm holes and it starts unzipping at the bottom and it's has a hood. This is amazing. I would no longer have to potato-sack-it-up everytime I wanted to get from point A to point B whilst camping. Here's where you can find it online and buy it for my birthday (April 2). Let's see some more awesome uses for this product:

 Oh hey, I want to keep heating costs down in my frigidly-located apartment. BAM. Sleeping bag that you wear. Done.

Oh hey, I'm just a bro sleeping in a field, which I can do because I'm wearing my sleeping bag. This guy is my hero. I mean, after Jesus, my parents, Alice Paul, Tina Fey, and the guy who invented cup holders. Ok, let's move on.

I have no idea where this is from, but it is just the best. I want it. Someone go build it for me, please. I'll sit in it in my sleeping bag thing. I'll drink my bicycle wine and stare at my hamburger bed while resting my head on a pickle-shaped pillow.. In other words, I'll live the good life. Moving on.

Guys, this is an outdoor, HUGE bed thing that hangs off large beams. Ok, obviously, I included a picture. But here's another one so you can see how many people can really fit on here:

Yeah, it's huge. You can find them here and I feel like maybe I want this, too. See?! This was not a problem when we didn't have the internet! I was blissfully unaware of how much less cool my life was. It was a better, simpler time. Sigh. Ok, one more.

Ok, this is actually from one of my favorite nerd sites for the purchasing of nerdy things. ThinkGeek.com is the best for all things nerdy. And I mean, come on, this is a hub and thumb drive set dressed up like breakfast food. What's not to like? Here is the website where it's found. So cute.

So now maybe I'm just as obsessed with random stuff I want to buy online, but admitting it is the first step, right? Ha. I will not rest until I can rest on my Hamburger Bed! Except right now, because it's time for bed. Good night all. Remember, the rule "nothing good happens after 2 am" starts at midnight for online shopping.

Valentine's Day 2013

Every time I write out the year I think to myself "Ha! The world didn't end!". True story. Anyway, so today is Valentine's Day, a day which I have always loved. Other than last year (when I was engaged to James) I don't think I've ever "had a date" on Valentine's Day (except maybe once in high school), but I've always loved seeing hearts everywhere and wearing lots of pink and red together. It's Valentine's day, people, I CAN DO WHAT I WANT. Yes, tomorrow I'll wear them in seperate outfits, but tonight, tonight I DANCE. Except now I work at a preschool/day care, so I've been mixing them all week. You know, for the children.

 Anyway, I got my Valentine's Day present early. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday (thus the mark on my forehead) AND it was James' BIRTHDAY!!! We celebrated a day early with steak and presents. On his actual birthday, we feasted fasted had fish sticks. yum.

 This is a crafty-craft that I did. wooden blocks and wooden letters, blue paint and dark stain. It looks better in person, trust me. Supes cute.

 Do you notice anything different about our dog? Besides her little bows? Of course not! You cannot smell her all the way from the internet! But if you could, it would no longer activate your gag reflex. She is a bathed and beautiful dog once again. (I mean, she was always cute, but she was SO STINKY).

 Alright, I was trying to make fancy cookies for James for Valentine's Day, but of course they didn't turn out like they do on pinterest, so I tried to make them at least look like roses or something. I did the whole thing with 3 different sizes of cookie cutters and you frost and stack, but it didn't look like a mini wedding cake at all.

 This was my sad attempt at trying to stack 2 of each size together to make it look more cake-like. Nope. Just a big pile of cookie mess. Oh well.

 So here's my Valentines this year. A giant pink, heart-shaped floor pillow, James, Lady, and the giant pink bear. So many people mock the stuffed animal-giving-ness of V-Day, but I just think that's sad. Do you not like soft, squishy things? Do you not like incredibly cute things? That is sad. I personally find lots of joy in such things, plus, Having giant stuffed animals around when you have very small kids is awesome. Kids love them.

Ok, well, other then the sad cookies (that still taste good, btw), we had a pretty good day. I packed a picnic lunch of some of James' fave foods and we went to a park and sat on a flannel blanket and hung out for a little while until he had to go back to studying. And tonight we're going out to dinner. In fact, I should get ready to go soon. Ha. Ok, bye friends! I hope you tell everyone you love how much they mean to you today!

Update: We had to wait a couple minutes before we got a table when we were out to eat, and there was this hilarious woman working as one of the servers. She's dancing around, telling funny stories, keeping her fellow workers in a good mood despite how busy and hectic things are. So when she calls our name, James tells her how much we enjoyed her entertainment. She laughs and then walks us through the restaurant saying loudly ( i mean, it was a loud place, so this was fine) "Excuse me! Honored guests coming through! Honored guests! Excuse us please!" so she was the best.

Super Bowl XLVII

Wow, so that was a crazy Super Bowl. Since the Ravens and the 49ers are my 3rd and 4th teams, I was super excited for the game. I made shirts for James and myself, the theme being the sibling rivalry between head coaches John and Jim Harbaugh:

 Mine has all the glitter and some pink, whereas James' is more manly.

 Here's the back of James' shirt. Mine is similar, but the larger words are written in glitter and the football is pink.

 It only says this on my sleeve, because I cheered for the Ravens, whereas James didn't really care either way.

 This was 1/2 off because there's a puncture in the frosting. It's a cupcake cake, and since the Super Bowl is in New Orleans this year, we figured it was perfect!

Here's most of the people I watched the Super Bowl with. Some are hiding out of sight/ in the kitchen/ just out of frame. Ling (blue plaid shirt) and I were the only ones cheering for the Ravens, so she and I are the true winners at this party.

Confessions of a Day Care Provider

Hi friends. As most or maybe just some of you know, I work at a day care/ preschool. Since I'm there so much of my week, I thought I'd share a little bit about the day care. Now, for the safety of the kids I work with, I'm not going to show any photos of the actual kids or state the name of the school, or even the real room names, but you'll still get a good idea of how each day goes. OK, so here's the first important thing we need to discuss:

 This baby looks exactly like Tom Hanks. It's a doll, obviously, but doesn't it look just exactly like him?! I even call him "baby Tom Hanks" when referring to him in the "wombat" room (which is the room he lives in and I sometimes work in). Oh, so also, the "wombat" room is for kids who are potty trained and who are going to turn 3 within the year. They're not in preschool, but almost. The room before that (the "koala" room for all intents and purposes) is where I work the other part of the time I'm there. It's for babies who can walk and feed themselves-kids who aren't quite potty trained yet. Much bigger age range, and no baby dolls that look like Tom Hanks, so it's a whole other ball game.

 Here's the clever wooden puzzle shelf. There's little slots for each puzzle to go. It's awesome. It's right next to the coloring station, which essentially is a stack of printed out coloring pages and a plastic bin full of crayons, but that's really all you need.

So here's our big wall of animals. We've got this Noah's Ark thing going on in the middle, and then all these pictures of wild animals surrounding it. It's fun to ask the kids what each animal is. The more exotic the animal, the more variables there are in their answers.

Well, I guess this was called "confessions" so I should confess some stuff. Alright, here we go. Cleaning poop off of cloth diapers is icky. I wish everyone who used them used bio-liners. That wasn't a confession so much as an opinion, but I feel good about it.

Okay, what else...I like being with the younger kids more sometimes because there's more to do. The "wombat" room has this hour in the day where they just play, and it's really boring. Even if I try to read a book or something, they're not into it, they're just playing. I mean, and that's great, it's so important to learn how to play with other kids and be creative, but man, I just wanted to read a story because I have nothing to do. With younger kids there's always a diaper to change or a kid to comfort because they just fell down or something. It's action-heavy. I like that.

Hmmmm, Okay, I guess I don't have a lot of confessions because I honestly enjoy my job. Getting some kids to fall asleep at nap time is difficult...Some kids repeat things I bet mom and dad wish they didn't...Yeah, all of this is normal and definitely not new information. Sorry.