still spraying

My spray paint project isn't ready yet :(

I jumped into the project a little unprepared, so nothing went right and I had to start over tonight. Bummer.

I'm sad because I was excited to finally have a post for Kimba's DIY Day.

I guess there's always next week!

And I get to enjoy the paint fumes for a few more days ;)

For now I'll leave you with a sneak peek.

delicious fabric

i'm hunting...

I'm participating in the Scavenger Hunt over st The DIY Showoff.

It's fun!

You should join in, too :)

paint fumes

I've been spray painting today, so forgive me if this comes out wonky. I blame the fumes.

The delicious fumes. Hee hee!

I've been working on a project for our dining area in my great room. I mentioned that I was not happy with the three dining areas that dominated my great room before, so I've whittle it down to two. Which has caused a great deal of furniture shuffling throughout the house (surprisingly everything seems to be falling into place - almost like I had a plan). And with the shuffling I am also reworking a few pieces.

Anyway. Stay tuned for a tale of intrigue, (white) lies (No honey - I have no idea why there are white over spray stains on our freshly sealed driveway.).

if you need me I'll be painting.

something new!

I've been blogging here.

You'll find pictures of my house, and my projects, a few recipes, some thrift store finds. No stories about JJ, although he is mentioned a few times. It's mostly just a log of what I do around the house (kind of - no one wants to read about laundry and dirty diapers).

debbie downer

I haven't updated in a while, we've been super busy getting ready for Adrienne and Sam's wedding (last weekend, and lovely). I've also been busy because a new year of Service League has begun, and I *might* have over committed myself a little, or a lot.

Here's where life becomes sad.

Last week my sweet guinea pig, Zippy, died.

If you'd rather not read an account of the last few minutes of Zippy's long (7.5 years is really long for a GP) life, then I suggest you stop reading.

J changed Zippy's bedding on Thurs evening around 11 - we were rushing around getting things ready for our trip to Louisville (for the wedding) - he came and let me know that she was laying on her side with her leg sticking out at a funny angle. While this wasn't normal, I figured she was developing arthritis, as she had started to limp a little when she'd run around. I checked to see if she needed some baby Tylenol.

She was really lethargic, but she perked right up when I came to her cage, and she thouroughly enjoyed being pet and adored. I knew she was fading, so I had J take a few pictures of me holding her, and then I tried to feed her some cucumber and hay, but she wouldn't eat.

I held her in a rowel and she was taking really ragged breaths, and they were really spaced out. I was crying, it seemed like she was fighting to hold on for some reason, like she just couldn't let go. I asked if she wanted to see JJ, and my lethargic piggy lifted her head up and looked at me. So I took her into his room and held her up to JJ's crib. She sniffed him and nosed the side of his head, it was so sweet - I knew she was saying goodbye to her buddy. Then we went back out to the living room and sat down. Almost immediately she picked her head up from the towel and managed to lay it on my chest, and then she was gone.

I cried.
She was a good pig.

We buried her in the backyard in the morning before we left for Louisville. I wrapped her in a corner of the towel we used to cover her cage at night, she always chewed on that corner, so I figured it was her favorite. I also tucked in a chunk of cucumber and some hay.

Zippy
sweet little pig
2002 - 2009

thrifty!

Guess what I found!

$3.99

That might seem a bit steep for a bag of random toys, but I was too excited to care!

Let's look closer:

plastic goodness

There were 107 little figures in the bag (!), everything from a cow to what I can only assume is a Sasquatch.

I cannot wait to craft with these, it's going to be so fun!

I'm joining the party over at Homebody!
Stop by for more Thrift Store Thursday finds!

the "great" project

Last weekend we started painting the great room. We are not quite done, but it should be finished soon (we're headed to a wedding this weekend!). After we finish painting I can really get into redesigning and decorating this space.

I love change!

I figured it would be nice to include a few before shots of the room.
So here it is, in all of it's former glory, moving in a (kind of) circle to the right:

formal dining area (complete with guinea pig)

This is how we live in the space - we have an 18 month old who loves to climb on everything, so all non-essential dining chairs have been banished, and the guinea pig landed in the only safe place we could find. I never intended for my pet to become my centerpiece, but that's how it is.

Like the "antler" on the wall up by the ceiling? (it was a hook for hanging surround sound)

Neither did I.

It's gone!

a glimpse into the kitchen (far right)

I bet you want an "arrangement" just like the one in that flower basket - don't you? That was a project that I never really finished, but I have let it sit (just like that) for more than two years.

Now it's gone!

the kitchen (well, a chunk of it)

the kitchen dining area

I took this picture while were prepping for paint, the drapes for the sliding glass door had already been removed - they were the same as the drapes pictured here.

the living room

We have a lot of toys.
And books.
And a big empty area to play in.

more living room

You can see the fireplace iin this picture, there is a large bank of windows to the right of the fireplace. I took this picture from the formal dining area (notice the GP cage in the corner?).

I don't have any good before pictures of my kitchen, but there is a large (roughly 5' x 5') granite island in the center of the space, which is an absolute magnet for all of the clutter in my house. It also makes it feel like there are three large tables in the space - which is totally not working (I have a plan!). Some of the pictures I have hanging up were hung there, by me, with a plan in place - others were hung on nails that were left by the previous owners. This bothered me, big time. I'm so excited to fix it!

I think I'm just, generally, excited!

sprucing up the front porch - a decorating dilemma

I have a confession.

I didn't do a thing to my front porch all summer. I bought plants for the planter box and never planted them (I also never watered them. Oops!).

boring and dirty

I needed to remedy the situation for the fall.

I spent $10 on some mums, swapped my wreath, and cleaned everything up.

still boring

The walkway leading up to my porch is adorable - I have a rock wall that is covered in lichen and moss (you can see it along the bottom of the last picture), and there are planting beds on both sides (one is full of pachysandra, and one has a variety of perennials and some pots of annuals). But then you get up to the house and it's awful.

I need help!
Do you have any suggestions for my super-boring, super-tiny front porch?

I'm linking this to the Fall Nesting Party at The Inspired Room, even though I doubt it will inspire anyone. I'm hoping to get some ideas and inspiration from everyone else there. Hopefully you can all help me make my front porch inspiring for fall!

*Edit - I'm also linking this to the Decorating Dilemmas Party at Serenity Now, your ideas so far have been great, and I'd just love to get more!

painting psa

We spent our weekend painting the great room.
It's been great.

Not really, it's sort of been a pain. Especially because we can only paint after the little man has gone to sleep for the night (luckily one of my friends kidnapped him on Sat. so we could paint for the entire afternoon). We have three walls left.

I LOVE the areas that are finished; they were a drab green - nothing obnoxious, just not me. Now they are a sunny yellow (the paint color is actually "Butter," so it's got to be awesome), and they are invigorating and fresh. LOVE.

And the one thing that I am most excited about?
(okay, I'm excited for a lot of things, but this ranks pretty high on the list)



I am painting the air-return vents to match the walls.

They were white.
The same color as the trim.
They were really noticeable.
I noticed them everyday.
Not anymore!

Can we agree on this? Can I make you all converts to the "air return vents are not a focal point in the room club." It would really make my day :) To me, vents should be like visible panty lines - non-existent. And it's so easy! Just take down the vent and slap a few coats of paint on it.
Done.
And now your room has lost its VPL's and you won't find it in the pages of Marie Claire with a black bar over its eyes.

bumpa dip

This is Bumpa, he is the hubs grandfather and was an amazing man.

We miss him.
A lot.

Bumpa left one very important legacy (ok, so there are a ton of awesome things (and people) you could claim as Bumpa's greatest legacy, but trust me, this is good)...

Bumpa Dip

1 brick of cream cheese
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. diced white onion
garlic salt
giant bag of chips

In a mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese and milk until well combined (if you want your dip thinner - add more milk, thicker - add less).
Then start shaking in some garlic salt, shake blend and taste - in our family we add the garlic salt until the garlic overpowers the cream cheese, you might want a little less.
Mix in the onion.
Try not to eat it all by yourself!

You can make this dip with 1/3 less fat cream cheese, but it gets sort of gross with the fat free stuff.
Also tastes fantastic with pretzels and veggies.

Join the Diptacular over at BooMama!

for the love of tupperware

As I walked through the door of our Goodwill I had one item in mind: Tupperware.

My little man is going to "day care" next week (he's really going to Mom's Day Out at a local church, one day a week 9-2 playtime - I'm excited!). And he needs something for me to pack his lunch in. I thought about just using a bunch of little containers, but that's awfully cumbersome for the teachers to deal with. I was ideally hoping to find one container with three or four spots; something perfect for grapes, crackers and cheese (he's 1.5, that's lunch).

I found not one, but two of the same old-school Tupperware relish trays (one even had the old "seal" logo on the lid). Score! And the $1 price tag sealed the deal. Both of the trays seemed brand new, but one was less dusty and had no odor, so that's the one I went with. It has a nifty little handle that screws in to use it as a tray - I can see myself making an olive tray (kalamata - yum!) for future picnics with this, but for right now it's some one's lunch box :)


I found three other items:
a brand new architectural thingy - $5, but it had a 50% off blue tag, so really $2.50
a flowery shadow box - $4
a wool pumpkin - $5

The pumpkin reeked of smoke, plus, I felt that $5 was sort of spendy for used decor (I can get one cheaper new at Hobby Lobby). So I passed.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the architectural thingy, but I'm pretty sure it will involve spray paint. I like the shape, I'm sure I can use it somewhere.

I already have a plan for the flowery shadow box...

I spent a grand total of $8.01 after tax.
I love thrift-store shopping therapy!

I've added this post to Holly's Thrift Store Thursday, check her out and see what everyone else has been thrifting!

new drapes :)

When we moved into our current house (Jan '07), there was one thing I absolutely couldn't stand.

These drapes. Blechhh.


They matched the former wall color exactly (because it was such and awesome color! - kind of a greenish, putty) - and they made me feel like my life force was being sucked out. After we painted the room (Sept '07) we just hung them back up because I didn't know what I wanted.

For the longest time I thought I wanted these drapes from Pottery Barn, but I just couldn't justify the expense, especially because I would need to guess on color and ship them back if they weren't fabulous.

I was stuck, and I still hated the drapes.

Last week I made a pilgrimage to Target (1.5 hour round trip) and thought I found the perfect drapes ($20 per panel and a muted blue faux silk). The color didn't work, so they are waiting to be returned. I was now determined to find new drapes so I went to Lowes, and I found some that work.

They have that cheap sheen, but at $25 per panel I can live with it. Plus they are blackout curtains, and since I am super sensitive to light when I am sleeping, they are my new best friends.

We've had them hung up for two nights, and I have slept like a rock. I feel awesome.

Of course the project turned into 4 trips to Lowes (buy drapes, buy rings, exchange rings, buy one more panel) and I had to move the drapery rod up 3 inches, split one panel in half and sew it to the other two panels. But it was worth it, because I am very happy with the results :)

Here's the cost break down:
3 drapery panels @ $25 = $75
2 sets of rings @ $8 = $16

total cost = $81 ($38 less than one panel from PB)

And here's the bonus! I already sold the old drapes on Craigslist :) They are out of my house forever and I have $12 to add to my fix-the-car fund :)

lemons

Last week life handed me lemons.

I was trying to be a caring and supportive friend and went to a funeral. I even went to the graveside service. And karma sent me a non-functioning transmission as a parting gift.

Yep, in the middle of the funeral procession my car (it's the car my husband usually drives) died. So I parked it next to the corn field (this, of course could not have happened in town), hopped into another car and called the hubs. We had an excellent conversation.

It cost $85 to have the car towed to the mechanic in town.
The repair will be at least $1800.

Awesome!

We had planned, for months, to go up to the Upper Peninsula for Labor Day weekend for a college reunion. Not anymore :(

So now my plan for finding money has been kicked into hyper drive. I think it would feel really good if I have a large chunk of cash ready to pay off this bill once the credit card statement comes in (we get cash back, so we put all large expenses on the card).

I just listed a leftover case of diapers and some curtains that we recently replaced (as in we replaced them yesterday) on Craigslist. I'll let you know how it goes...

canceled

This weekend was not the greatest.

I was driving J's car and it died. The motor didn't die, but the transmission was doing nothing. I had to leave his car in the middle of nowhere (for real, it was next to a cornfield) and hop a ride with a friend. The tow truck was $85, the low estimate for the transmission work is $1800.

We just canceled our hotel reservations in Houghton.

It makes me feel both incredibly grown up and extremely sad. I feel more adult making this decision than when we were married, or when we bought any of our three homes, or when JJ was born. I'm not sure why.

All I know is that those are costs we were not anticipating. We are fortunate enough to have 8 months of living expenses in the bank, just chilling in case it is needed; I just don't feel comfortable using that money unless it is absolutely necessary. And we won't need to use that money if I cancel our (MY) trip.

I was really looking forward to seeing my girls, and to hanging out in my favorite bars (even if I had to bring my baby with me). If you are headed up, have a Quaalude and play Free Bird on the juke box at the Ambo for me. Eat some gnocchi at Armando's and then hang out on the deck at the DT.

I think I'll make Library soup on Sunday, and make my family wear their Husky gear.

finding money

I have a wish list of items I would love to buy for our home. Most of them are expensive (at least for us), and I always feel like we should be saving, saving, saving instead of spending.

So I have a plan - I'm going to "find" $1000, and then I can spend it however I want. Maybe I'll convince my husband that I really do need a gazebo in the backyard, or use it to redecorate a room in the house, maybe I'll redecorate me :)

Right now I have $76 in my found money fund; proceeds from a last minute garage sale I had in June. I'm pretty sure I can find enough stuff to list on Craigslist (woefully underused site for our area, but worth a try) and Ebay to make at least $100, and I'm planning to have a more organized garage sale in September. I'm not sure where I'll find the rest of my goal money... coupon clipping? redesigning rooms for the neighbors?

I'm excited for this goal, who doesn't love making money?

pleasantly surprised

I love to shop at TJ Maxx.
There isn't a lot of decent shopping in my immediate area, but our (tiny) local mall does have a TJ's. Which means I can grab a fun new top or shoes when I feel like it. And today, I felt like shopping :)

I found a pair of shoes, and a new top and then I went back to the food aisle. I just usually browse there, sometimes I'll pick up an interesting candy to add to a gift basket, or I'll find a yummy looking box of tea.

Today I hit gold!

Big bottles (8 oz!) of really good vanilla extract for $12.99 and a large bottle of French sea salt for $3.99.
My pantry needed both.
(I actually put the last of my last bottle of sea salt into my salt pig last night)

Happy day!

Have you been pleasantly surprised during a discount shopping trip?

i love cuppie-cakes

Who doesn't love cupcakes?

I love to read Bakerella. Her photography is inspiring, her content delicious and she's just fun!
I clicked over yesterday and found out I had missed a giveaway (sad face), but she had the yummiest-looking banana cupcake pictures.
And I had two overly ripe bananas.

It was kismet.

the most-perfect banana cupcake I have ever tasted
(and the cream cheese frosting is fab, too)

The recipe called for one banana, but I had two so I added them both and just baked the cakes for a few minutes longer.

Don't you love that cupcake liner?
It came from Bake It Pretty, my most favorite bakery supply shop :)

Yum!

i've been busy

Eating my delicious fish!



I doubled the recipe (because our fish was frozen in huge amounts) and had to substitute cooking sherry for the white wine. Normally a substitution like that would have made me physically ill, but you can't buy wine on Sunday in our county and every single bottle of white wine in my house was a dessert wine (I have since restocked the cellar), so it was either cooking sherry or super-sweet wine. I cut the sherry with water so the flavor wouldn't be as strong, and all of the ingredients played nicely together in my pan. Since we have a lifetime supply of bow-tie pasta I decided to serve it as a side - I wish I had served it with rice, I think the sauce was much better suited for a grain than a pasta.

Zucchini and summer squash sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and coarsely cracked pepper was a perfect, simple veggie - and since they are currently in season (and from the local farmers!) they were especially delicious.

We had a ton of leftovers, and I have to admit that I gleefully ate them all week long for lunch and never once shared them with my husband :)

we like...

TO EAT!

We like to eat eat snacks in our tent...


And pizza for dinner...


Chocolate chip cookies are extra yummy...


And sometimes we even like to lick the beaters :)

cream cheese frosting...goodness..yum!

*I promise I feed my baby more than junk food - I just never seem to pick up the camera when he's eating yogurt, grapes or turkey.

project: let's eat fish!

In June our little family vacationed with friends in Destin, FL.
We had a great time :)

The guys chartered a deep sea fishing boat for a day.
They had a great time :)

There are approx. 25 lbs of frozen fish in my freezer.
Yowzer.


The Proud Fisherman and his Spoils

I love fish, but I really don't cook it all that often. Maybe it's because we live in Ohio (read: land of little water), and I don't trust most of the fish I see at our local grocery. Maybe it's because I'm just lazy when it comes to cooking fish (that's probably it). At any rate I need to start cooking up this fish so that I have room in my freezer again (so I can fill it back up with ice cream).

The Exhaustive Fish List*
(what's chilling in the freezer):
Amber Jack
Red Snapper
Wahoo (I have no clue what that is)
Grouper
Black Fin Tuna
Trigger Fish

Tomorrow I am cooking Spicy Red Snapper. I'll let you know how it goes!

*the proud fisherman would like you to know that he also caught a barracuda, but they are apparently inedible

breaking news

A nugget from our local docket:

"A Benton Ridge woman reported Monday that upon returning home from vacation, she found her pet fish missing."

Please keep a look out for any lost fish wandering through your area.

forts are fun

JJ and I have been building forts.


We rock.

a tidy little space

Generally, I am not a morning person.
My 18 month-old son, is.
It can make me crabby.

But a quick cleanup of the dressing area of my walk-in closet has brightened my mornings considerably. I had intended to clean-up the area for months, but never got around to it. Then at the store I noticed a new 3M Command Strip product - a key rack, which would be perfect for hanging up a few of the necklaces I often wear.

Here's my closet before:














Here it is after:














It's made my mornings much brighter!
The little chotkies and boxes are all out of my son's reach (very necessary), and they remind me of some of my favorite people. My mom made the name banner for my bedroom when I was 3, I really love seeing it every morning :) Plus, it's just so much easier for me to find my accessories!

something new

I've been thinking about this, and talking about this for a long time. I decided it was time to just jump in and start writing about all of the little projects I am constantly working on. Maybe by writing about them I'll be able to keep better track of them :)

So here's a toast to my new blog
"May I write in you often,
May you inspire others,
May you always be fun!"

Cheers!

sugar babies

I cruised the new Dollar Tree in town today.

I have become that cool.

After checking the supply of pregnancy tests (we finally have a dollar store that stocks them! - and NO, I did not buy one) and picking up some dishcloths (my Williams-Sonoma dishcloths love to hang out with their Dollar Tree cousins) I hit the candy aisle. Birds sang as I dodged little old ladies, sunshine filled my heart as I gazed upon row after row of brightly colored boxes, I peed rainbows.

It never fails to amaze me how fabulous the candy selection is at dollar stores. I guess the grocery store has all of the same candy, but I never really spend much time in the candy aisle (potato chip aisle is a different story). I only came home with a box of Sugar Babies (self restraint - go me!), which I am now sharing with J. I would have come home with a bag of Sugar Daddies, because I lovelovelove them - but I couldn't find any :( Oh well, candy and my little family makes for a pretty great Saturday night :)

what i should be doing

What I should be doing rightthisveryminute is packing.

We are heading to Virginia Beach in less than 5 hours. So far I have packed nothing. There is a pitiful pile of J's clothes on the floor in our bedroom, and um, yeah, that's it.

Why do I lack motivation? It's vacation for crying out loud!

I couldn't sleep last night and woke up at 4 AM - maybe that's it.

On the plus side, I have arranged for someone to come and feed Zippy while we're gone.

I think I need more coffee...

story o' the week

JJ would not take a nap this afternoon. So he was a tad cranky, and I was tired. By 4:45 I decided to turn on Handy Manny and retreat to the office for a few minutes.

JJ watched Manny and played with his toys, and was happy :) Mommy played on the computer :)

When Daddy came home he found a happy, NAKED, little man!

JJ managed to wiggle out of his clothing and diaper. (and he peed on the rug, but it could have been worse)

JJ was very pleased with himself, and he was so cute that all we could do was laugh :)

sweet sixteen

JJ is sixteen months old.

I can't believe it.

To celebrate, on Sat night he climbed out of the pack-n-play and onto the (very high) bed in my parents' guest room, made himself a little nest and went to sleep. I had the monitor turned on, and no one heard him do it. He's a ninja.

He has also started sleeping through the night. He has always slept at night, but has woken up once or twice and needed me to rock him or nurse him (still nursing! :) ) back to sleep. On June 18th I woke up and realized I had had a full night of uninterrupted sleep, he's slept through every night since (except if we've been out of town). I love sleeping :)

Last week he also had his first hair cut. We went to the barber shop and he did so well - he just sat in the chair and looked around. I made sure to save his baby hair, and he got a certificate and a ribbon for being so good, but I decided he didn't need a sucker (because I am the fun police).

I love Binky!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

One last milestone, JJ is finally into saying "Daddy." I know it makes J happy, but for the most part, he just runs around babbling nonsensically and singing the "Mama Song." And we think he's perfect :)

they caught me

A seriously soused city woman was cited Sunday for persistent disorderly conduct after crashing a party on Ohio 37 and biting someone.

From the public docket, duh.

Edit: I just reread this, and I want to note that this wasn't me, I just thought it was funny...but I didn't want anyone to think that I really run around drunk and biting, although...

destin!

On Wed morning I turned on the computer and nearly had a heart attack. I'm not exactly sure what was happening inside of the mysterious grey box that connects me to my friends, but it involved foreboding blue screens and scary words like "reconfigure" and "data loss." I couldn't handle it, so I called J at work, and he was zero help so I restarted the computer and prayed that all of my pictures hadn't poofed into a black hole somewhere.

Thankfully, they are all safe and sound (and now backed up on CD's).

So I can share some from our trip to Destin, FL :)

We stayed at a gorgeous house on the beach, the (gated and guarded) community was so nice, palm trees everywhere, a really nice pool and of course the beach was fabulous. If you want to plan a trip let me know, because I would highly recommend the house we were in, and later we found out that Britney Spears has a home in the development - so now I feel really cool (we got a great deal because we booked late, and we shared the house with another family, otherwise we would not have been there). As fab as the house and community were, I have no pictures of them - sorry!

J went deep sea fishing, and I now have 25 lbs of fish in my freezer. He caught amberjack, red snapper, black fin tuna, wahoo, and a barracuda (which is not edible). Now it's my job to figure out how to cook all of this yummy fish! While J was fishing I went shopping at one of the best outlet malls I've ever been to - I scored a great deal on a Micheal Kors purse :), so that made up for J abandoning me for the day.


JJ drives us to FL ;)
playing in the tidepool

JJ and Daddy caught a shark!

swimming with Mama

at the Gulfarium

Alligator Hunters!

father's day

redemption

J is off the hook, he sent me this response.

Sorry. Should have taken an extra minute to put some more thought into it. Thank you for putting up with my work-mode email and offering to share your baking talents with the world.

Love,
J

I love him :)

erm

I just received this email from J:

Alanna,

I volunteered to bring a dessert on Tuesday for the taco lunch fundraiser.

Thanks,
J

So, this is what I sent back to him:

I think you need to rephrase that:

"My wonderful, perfect and beautiful Wife,
I would love for you to make a dessert for me to take in for our fundraiser on Tues. You are such a fabulous baker - I want to share your talents with the world.
Can you do this for me?
Love,
J"

I'll gladly do it, just remember that you love me and I'm not your employee.

back to reality

We had a wonderful vacation, and I promise a post full of cute beach baby pictures (after I find the USB cables), but now it's back to real life.

The good news? This summer, real life means a daily trip to our pool :) And, the pool we belong to is fabulous and wonderful and smells like pink cupcakes; so it's my favoritest place ever. I will also post pics from our awesome pool, but not right now.

Right now I have a back-to-real-life tale for you.

Every other Wed. I try to deliver groceries to the housebound elderly in our city. It's an ongoing service project for Service League, and the Agency on Aging sets it all up. What we do is pick up the prepacked groceries from the store, deliver them and bring the money back to the store. Simple, right? Is anything simple with a 15 month old??

Today I delivered 4 orders - highly unusual, I usually do 2 or 3. The first three were easy, it takes time, but the recipients are so grateful, many of them would be unable to live unassisted without this service, so the good feeling you get totally makes up for any slight inconvenience.

The last order was for Miss Margaret. I love her. I love her because each week she orders 3 pints of Vodka and a jar of olives. And each week she tells you that the doctor made her give up cigarettes so she decided she would drink. I think, at her age, she has the right idea. I am also grateful to know that she no longer smokes because she has quite a few oxygen tanks lined up in her hallway, and explosions are scary. I think she dyes her hair every week, she must because I've never noticed roots, and she always has her makeup on. Sometimes (usually) I wish I could sit down and have a martini with her; although I would bring the vodka because she gets Five O'clock, and there's no way I could stomach that.

Anyway, she's such a great character, and so sweet that the very short visit with her completely made up for the fact that as I left the building, the fattest chihuahua I have ever seen totally tried to eat me.

I wish I had footage of me carrying JJ, and running away from this fat little bully; which was tethered to a shopping cart next to a Swisher Sweet smoking, fat old lady.

Had I been bitten I would have called the police, hoping for a write up in the public docket :)

vacation

We are leaving for Destin, FL on Friday :)

To get ready we bought JJ a big boy car seat (front facing), I think he enjoys looking out the windows, he loves putting toys in the cup holder. We also bought him a DVD player, and I actually had to purchase a few DVD's for it - because I just have some Handy Manny episodes saved on the DVR for here at home. Man, those DVD's are not cheap.

I am ready for vacation, maybe not ready for the car ride, but ready to get out of here and relax for a week.

See you later!

three for tuesday

Hey Laura - thanks for the post idea :)

1. We went swimming this afternoon! I managed to get JJ covered in SPF 60, rash guard, hat, and totally forgot to put any sun block on me. My shoulders are toast, but my daily facial SPF get my face free from burns, so that's a bonus :)

2. We are having french toast bake, bacon and strawberries for dinner!

3. Tonight is our last music class for this session. I decided not to sign JJ up for the summer session because we'll be gone quite a bit and we'll be busy at the pool. But we are for sure doing it again in the fall. If you have kids up to 5 years old I highly recommend Music Together classes - they are so much fun.

bonus points

J totally surprised me this afternoon, and made me really happy :)

We were supposed to go to a picnic and fishing tournament for his office; most of the guys in his group are newer hires, only a few are married and I doubt there are any other kids besides JJ...so not really a lot of fun for me at the playground by myself. The picnic was cancelled because the river is high and the current is too swift for good fishing (or something like that). J called to tell me that and I was disappointed because his other option for the day was to go golfing with one of his friends, and then to a cook out. Here's the convo we had:

J: The picnic is canceled.
AR: So you're abandoning us for the day? :(
J: I thought we could go to the zoo.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

So tomorrow we are headed to the zoo, and J has earned himself some bonus points :)

docket goodies

From the good old public docket:

"Police responded to a domestic disturbance Sunday in town after a male found his girlfriend's sex toy, thus violating a mutual agreement in which they each were supposed to get rid of their respective sex toys.

A decorative bowling ball was purloined from a yard Friday on Edgewood Drive."

The best part? The whole town was just in a major uproar because they almost had to lay off 13 police officers. I think the city could save a lot of money if people wouldn't call 911 every time a house is TP'd, or a Nigerian Prince solicits them via email (recurring items from the docket).

hypothetically speaking

If someone,

perhaps this guy:


were to, potentially, disassemble the baby gate before 8:30 AM;

then,

hypothetically,

is 8:31 AM an appropriate time for a drink?

PS - that picture is from Mom's Group, at the Church. I don't have couches, or carpet, quite that ugly. :)

yep, i still live here

This morning, I was going to post a link to this story, but then I got busy. I'm not sure what I was doing because I really accomplished nothing today (but JJ and I went for a walk), but I digress.

So, just a minute ago, I check my email before heading to bed, and I see that Yahoo has picked up the story. I KNEW it was gold!

Read it, laugh at it and then remember - I LIVE in this town.

Lord, please bring me a Target.

teeth

Yesterday JJ rammed me in the tooth with his head (yes, he managed to land perfectly on just my left front tooth). It has been in pain ever since. I am convinced that he cracked it up in my gum and that my tooth is going to fall out. He, of course, was completely unfazed and laughed his crazy little head off.

I am seriously worried that my tooth is going to turn grey and I will be banned from all social engagements.

sunday morning

We should be at Church. But JJ is napping, and one of our cardinal rules is to not wake the sleeping baby.

Instead there is laundry running (totally 'forgot' to do any laundry last week) and I am about to de-clutter my closet (big fun!). I've decided to have a garage sale next weekend, we have too much stuff and I would like cash in return. Thank you. Actually, the Oprah has been sending me Peter Walsh's updates and the one that came this week said "Have a Garage Sale," so I said "OKAY!"

I also really want to have a home furnishings swap like Oprah did last week - except, I only plan on inviting my well-off friends so that I have fabulous things to pick from for my house - hehe! In my mind I will come out of it with great designer throw pillows and accessories and they will go home with stuff from TJ Maxx.
This plan is sounding better by the minute :)

Beyond that I have been thinking of starting a second blog - just to throw all of my home keeping/entertaining/cooking stuff on. What do you think? What are the chances I can actually maintain two blogs?

how to celebrate earth day

Eat a green crayon.

personal hell

I just got back from the Verizon Store.

It took me 45 minutes to pay my bill and have my phone fixed.

Oh, wait. It only took 10 minutes to pay my bill and have my phone fixed (JJ had reset the phone to Voicesignals - and I couldn't get them to turn off). The other 35 were spent watching five or six employees wander aimlessly throughout the store - while JJ threw a monster screaming tantrum because I wouldn't let him play with all of the (germ covered) display phones.

So, that was pretty much awesome.

oh, oprah

Biggest surprise of my day: I am actually enjoying Oprah's interview with Star Jones.

Whoa.

But I have a theory. We all know that Oprah has a very public struggle with her weight (I'm with you there Oprah, just not quite as public). In the beginning of the year she had her big "I love Bob Greene" show, and since then all's been sort of quiet on the Bob front. Lately though, we have seen a heck of a lot of shows about the morbidly obese. Much skyping-in of the 400+ club. And Ruby. And Discovery Health documentaries. And now Starr and her admissions of gastric bypass.

I think Oprah is warming us up for her own medical intervention.

sometimes...

it's a wooden spoon/calculator kind of day. :)

yep, i live here

From today's docket:
"A drunken person was cited for disorderly conduct after refusing to leaving outside 221 Crystal Ave. While police were investigating the Crystal Avenue incident, a woman, who later registered a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.149, was arrested for driving while intoxicated in the parking lot after backing her Chevy into the back of a parked police cruiser."

it figures

JJ's objects du jour are my hairbrush and a cord from the printer.

Which isn't that terrible, except my hair looks like this.

I predict severe unhappiness in the future.

so flipping busy

Yep, I've been MIA for a few days. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I have a list of things I want to blog about, but finding enough time to write semi-coherent sentences is becoming increasingly difficult.

In the past two weeks I have planned and held two parties - JJ's First Birthday (Pirates!) and my Dad's surprise 60th Birthday Party (AKA - 'Stache Bash). They were fun, and I think everyone really enjoyed the parties (at least I hope so). Add in that I have conveniently over committed myself for Service League and you have one slightly-stressed AR. But I can handle it, I'm tough (kind of).

I'm not sure if I've mentioned good old Service League (FSL) on here before? I joined in Sept - this is my 'provisional' year. FSL is pretty much Junior League, but without the national organization, and I am having a lot of fun. Right now I'm in charge of a volunteer recognition luncheon for our local CASA/GAL program, and I'm on the committees for a new fundraiser party (Cinco de Mayo - yummmy margaritas!) and our bi-annual Holiday Homes Tour (another fundraiser). So yeah, I'm kind of busy.

This is possibly the most boring post ever, if you've made it this far let me know and I'll send you some love (or old MK samples - I have a sh*t ton of them).

one year

JJ turned one today!

And it occurred to me that I have never posted his birth story, so here it is.

Dear Gerald,

If I had known that today was the day of your birth, I would have eaten a good breakfast. As it was, I ate two large helpings of chocolate mouse instead of a bowl of fiber one and a nice piece of fruit.

I was supposed to have lunch with my friend Holly, at our favorite Mexican restaurant no less, at 12:30 and right after that I was planning on voting in the primaries. Instead I went to the Dr.'s office for a procedure that was supposed to make you come out faster. It worked, because after the (painful) procedure the midwife looked at my chart and said that my blood pressure was too high and left to find the Dr. She came back right away and told me that I had bought myself an induction, and I burst into tears.

I was upset because I wanted you to come on your own, I was afraid you were staying inside because you needed a few more days to cook. I wanted you to be ready to be born and not hurried in any way. I called your Dad and told him to go home and get the bag that I had packed, and reminded him that since tomorrow was your due date and all, that he probably should have packed himself a bag ahead of time (like I had asked him) because now he would have to rush and would probably forget something (like his toothbrush).

The Dr.'s office is across the street from the hospital, so I drove across the street and sat in the car and made some phone calls. I called my mom, Auntie Adrienne, Auntie Rachel and Auntie Mel and told them all what was happening. Your Grammy was pretty excited and got herself and Grandpa in the car right away so they could be at the hospital when you were born. Everyone else was excited to meet you too! By the time I got up to the maternity ward the nurses had called the Dr.'s office to see what was taking me so long!

They put me into a room and did some paperwork and and started an IV, I asked the nurse if I could please have some lunch and she almost laughed at me. Later a nice nurse got me some graham crackers and ginger ale - at that point I was really regretting my non-nutritious breakfast. Then your dad came and the Dr. broke my water and right away you decided it was a good day to be born :)

I didn't plan on having an epidural, but without any food in my stomach I was really nauseated every time I had a contraction - so while we watched American idol, the anesthesiologist gave me an epidural and I felt much better. In fact, I even took a nap while your dad got some dinner. Grammy and Grandpa came to the room and sat with us for awhile and then Grandma and Grandpa L. arrived - it took everyone a little longer than usual to make it to town because an ice storm was going on outside.

At about 11:30 PM I told the nurses that I thought it was time for you to be born, so your grandparents all went to the waiting room and the Dr. came in and I got to work. At 12:40 AM you were born and the Dr. announced "It's a boy!" You were born on your due date. You were named after your father, grandfather and great grandfather (someday I will tell you wife to find a new name, the insurance company still insists on mixing up you and your father).

You were the sweetest little thing I had ever seen, your eyes were wide open and you kept looking right at me, and opening and closing your mouth like a little bird and making the cutest coo's and grunts. I wanted to hold you forever and ever, and I guess that was what you wanted too, because every time I tried to lay you in the bassinet you cried. It wasn't a teeny newborn cry - you had lungs! In fact the nurses had hard time giving you your hearing test because you were crying so hard.

We couldn't wait to take you home, we figured it wouldn't be too hard to have a baby in the house - boy were we wrong. You cried and cried and cried whenever I laid you in your bassinet, you preferred to sleep in the bed between me and your dad. Once you finally decided to nurse we all got some sleep and life hasn't been the same since.

We love you more than we knew was possible. We want nothing more than to teach you how much you are loved and how to love others. Our hopes and dreams have suddenly become all about you, and neither of us would change that. Ever.

I love you, little man, forever and ever,

Mama

woohoo! week 4

I lost two whole pounds! I am seriously excited!

It seemed like I would wobble around where I was forever, but now there is definite weight loss, and it feels so good :) Plus I am pleased to announce that I have reached my wedding weight, and in only one pound I will be the skinniest I have been since Thanksgiving 2006 - when we listed our house in Indy, and I instantly gained 20 pounds just by thinking about the stress of moving.

I was awesome with drinking a ton of water, and pretty good with my veggies/fruit this week (I ate at least three servings everyday, not ideal, but a step in the right direction). I only got one real workout in, so I'll just need to improve on that this week.

I think the fact that last Wed was Ash Wed really helped me get into "diet" mode. I mean - a fast for myself? No way. A fast for Jesus? I am all over that. (note that when we Catholics fast we just eat small meals and no meat, no way could I go a whole day without food)

So for next week I'm going to stick with pretty much the same plan as last week:
* Focus on getting enough water.
* Eat 5 servings of fruit/veggies each day.
* Workout at least three times.
And I'll add:
* Watch the carbs! Make sure I have solid protein at every meal.

Want to join in the fun? Head over to Tena's blog and jump on the bandwagon - we are going to be hot for swimsuit season!