Many of you that know me in person may not have noticed, but I’m vertically challenged. I’m only about 5 feet tall, 5 feet 1 inch on good days, 5 feet 1 and a half inches on even better days. In turn, I struggle to find pants/jeans that fit me properly. I used to pay a tailor to hem all my pants/jeans. However, I learned how to hem slacks on my own sewing machine, and I was never satisfied with the way my hemmed jeans looked. So I would search stores endlessly for jeans that actually fit me lengthwise. One of my friends mentioned that she found a tailor that knows how to hem jeans using the original hem. This concept baffled me as I stared at the manufactured seams that clothing designers have mastered. Then I found this: http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38. My mother-in-law happened to be visiting when I discovered this method of hemming jeans. We were both skeptical, but I decided to risk it on an older pair of jeans. All I can say is that I was very satisfied, and I have since done it to all my jeans. The process literally takes 20 minutes to complete. Now I realize this information may not be helpful to most of my friends and family because: a) you are tall enough to find jeans that fit without hemming or even have the opposite problem as me, b) you don’t own a sewing machine or know how to sew, c) you will continue to complain about the problems I had without ever doing anything about it, or d) you are a man and these kinds of things don’t bother you. If you are one of those people that this information actually benefits, then you are welcome:)

With the upcoming holidays, I’m finding myself busy with photo shoots. I have one scheduled every weekend until the middle of December. I’ve even had to turn a family away because the only dates they could a shoot were already booked for me. We tried and tried to find a solution, but nothing worked for everyone. The thing that makes this business hard so far though is that most people want to do shoots on a weekend which means time away from Mike and the girls. I can’t complain though because I’m making some extra money and really enjoy doing this. Speaking of photography, remember that jewelry that I used to make? I decided to take it on again but will be using different materials for the photo pendant. Be on the lookout for pictures soon.

On Friday night we had the pleasure of a short visit with Grandpa Indiana. He was in town that day for business and made sure he could see us, too. We went to Red, Hot, and Blue for dinner. G’pa also came bearing gifts for the girls including 2 sets of princess gear. The girls were quite ecstatic about this and are still wearing it all over the place. Annie was very sweet with her G’pa and lavished him all night with lots of attention, questions, and stories. She even wanted to sit on his lap the whole time while at our house. The girls were sad when they realized that his visit would end that night. Annie was especially disappointed when G’pa told her that he would be unable to attend her princess party the next day. {There’s a party everday in Annie’s life.} We really enjoyed G’pa’s visit and can’t wait to see him again soon.

We’ve discovered within the last few months that Mimi is a night owl. (I’m sure she doesn’t get it from me.) Many nights I’ll hear talking/giggling in the girls room late into the night to find that Mimi is the only one awake. Several evenings ago I heard screaming coming from their room. I went to see what was going on. Annie was still bundled up in her covers, looking sleepy, and yelling at Mimi. Mimi was jumping on Annie’s bed having a grand ol’ time. To top it off, Mimi is usually the first one awake in the mornings. I guess we’ll just add this to the running list of Mimi’s oddities.

Apparently, I’m not up on the latest technology with this website. Don’t I know it? Yes, I use tables as my site’s format. I know CSS, but I’m too lazy to change this whole website. I also feel like if I’m going to go through all that trouble, then I want to also change the whole look of the site. However, I’m so picky and get overwhelmed with ideas, color schemes, navigation options, etc. Then I’m back to square one of just leaving it as is.

I am happy to report though that you can now subscribe to this site through a reader such as Google Reader. I recommend Google Reader because it’s the only reader I’ve used and know how to use. You’ll notice a little icon on the left of the screen with the word “subscribe” next to it. Click this to get the link to use for your reader. From now on you don’t need to keep checking back here for updates. Instead your reader will let you know when my website has been updated. There you have it…my website is getting closer to keeping up with the latest technology.

Ok, I have to get something off my chest. Mimi is a strange child. There, I said it. Am I a bad mother for thinking it or publishing it? I used to get quite frustrated with the girls for being so physical with each other. However, if you watch closely, it’s Mimi who is always tackling, hugging, pulling the hair of, laying on, or just generally touching her big sister. When Mimi was dressed up as a cat she took it to the extreme and was crawling on all fours, meowing, and even licking people. Today she was a dog. I get mad at the girls for constantly saying potty words. If you listen closely though, then you’ll hear that it’s actually Mimi who’s saying the bad words (most of the time). Mimi is the one who’s constantly contorting her body while making some barbaric sound. Mimi is the one who likes to toot and has made it into an art form. She is the one who chooses her crib instead of the big girl bed during naptime. Mimi eats and enjoys most raw vegetables including green/red bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots, and more. She gets jealous of her sister for having to take medicine everyday (Claritin) and demands that she get some, too. She even has to have a “turn” at the inhaler after Annie has a go (I just pretend to push the nebulizer and make a “chh” sound). Mimi is partial to wearing her pantyhose hat at bedtime and has gotten into the habit of asking for it each night (even though she pulls it off and wakes up with dreadlocks). She is still obsessed with rescuing “animals” around the house. All tigers, lions, leopards, or any large cat species is a jaguar (it has to do with Diego’s pet, “baby Jaguar”) to Mimi, and don’t try to convince her otherwise or suffer her wrath. When Mimi wears a jacket/cardigan it has to be buttoned up, or life as we know it is over. There are other things I could go on about, but I don’t have that kind of time. I love her dearly, but man oh man is it ever difficult and equally hilarious to deal with all her eccentricities.

Is it over yet? Whew, what a day! The day started fresh with both girls running around and demanding to wear their costumes. I wasn’t about to let them ruin those custom-made costumes during breakfast. {Yes, the girls’ costumes were handmade by me. Now this doesn’t mean I designed and sewed up some fancy attire. Instead I scoured Michael’s for cheap and easy ways to put together a lady bug and cat costume. I must say, Michael’s came through except I did have to go to the Halloween Store for the cat ears and tail (and bowtie?!?).} I made them wait until it was almost time to take Annie to school. Annie’s school had a day planned with lots of events including a parade, magician, and parties. I was assigned to bring cookies sans chocolate or nuts. Sugar cookies were the only thing I could think of without those ingredients that I could “make” (make meaning I bought the pre-mixed Pillsbury dough). Fortunately, Mike and I had a frozen batch of butter cream frosting from a previous event, I decorated the cookies with orange, green, and black frosting of random designs. Mimi and I stayed for most of the events at school, but a headache insisted that we skip the magician and head home for lunch.

We were invited to the Chesler’s for trick-or-treating and dinner. I made a spooky, cemetary cake to bring along. The Parks were there as well with baby dressed in a cow costume. Brady decided he would dress up as a kangaroo this year. Mike brought along his stash o’ ‘staches to share with the other boys. The occasion called for Mike to also wear his jumpsuit. Well, there was no excuse this time to not let him wear it. After dark we headed out for trick-or-treating. Matt, Trang, and Brady started out with us, but Brady went into scream-mode after two houses. Annie was very focused on visiting as many houses as possible. As soon as she received her candy from the current house, she would immediately exclaim, “Hurry, let’s go to the next house!” She said this sometimes while the owner of the current house was still standing there. We had to keep reminding her what to say each time someone opened the door instead of just immediately grabbing for the goods. Mimi caught on pretty quickly and was soon shouting “to the next house” along with Annie. Those pesky kids! Everyone started to get chilly and tired and hungry (we hadn’t eaten dinner yet), so we headed back to the Chesler’s. It was after 7 p.m., and we were all famished and happy to devour hamburgers, hot dogs and fries. Even the girls finished their meals in record time. We went home soon after and got the girls to bed around 9:30 p.m. I was a complete zombie after all was said and done.