Here comes the bride

Overheard today:

"Mommy, this is the dress I'm going to marry Truett in."

What do I do with this?

I was perusing my local Craigslist the other day. Perusing probably isn't the right word. Stalking would be better. I have a ritual every time I log on (which is about five million times a day) . I have my search down to a science and it always goes in this order:

1. Bunk beds (yes, I was thinking I could find something cheaper than the pics I posted previously).
2. Rug. I need a rug for my office. My feet hurt on the wood floors all the time (I could be losing the fat on the bottom of my feet though. Can that happen?!).
   
3. Toile. I once saw a toile loveseat on there that I was literally salivating over. But it was white and a light brown. And I have two kids. Yeah, I can dream though.
   
4. Pottery Barn. I like a lot of their stuff. But I refuse to pay full price.
   

So, anyway, to get back on topic. I strayed from from list on Monday and found myself looking at the furniture section. And then I found this (not the dog, but he does match, doesn't he?) :


My heart fluttered and I thought to myself, "I must have this." When I sent the pic to M'Dondo she told me I was crazy. It might be haunted. I think it would have haunted my dreams if I didn't bring it home. It really needed to be adopted.

But, the big question is ... now that I have it, where do I put the darn thing? It's so lonely sitting in the dining room. I wish it would talk to me, but I think it is pouting from having to leave it's home. It is from the 40s and has only had two owners -- a mother and daughter.

Usually I look for furniture when I know what to do with it. This was just a pure emotional purchase. I've wanted one for a long time since my aunts (Brenda and Linda) have my grandmother's secretary at their house. I've always loved it (but theirs is much less ornate than this one).

Good or bad, I seem to have created another design challenge for myself.

Star Struck

Mallory did a gymnastics try-me class back in May. She decided she'd rather do ballet. So 9 weeks later, we were back in gymnastics. At WOGA of all places (just so happens it's down the street from our house). I had forgotten about Nastia Liukin and her dad who owns the place. Until last night. While Mallory was running and jumping her heart out at her class, I gazed upon:

Valeri Liukin

He was teaching a class of young girls. They were practicing tumbling and you could tell he just adored all of them. And vice versa. There was such a joy in the way he was responding to them and encouraging him. Now I know why he has produced so many champions (if that is how he interacts with all his kids). Honestly, I wanted to get up and do a double back, two and a half twist, whipsaw flash back thingy. But I probably would have been in bed today if I tried.

(Pre) school days

As a working mommy, I am forced to send my kids to other people during the day. I always think that I would like to be a stay at home mommy and then I consider my personality type. I often wonder if I could really do it ... and if I did, would I have any hair left. But ... I'm not writing about whether I should be a SAHM or not. No, I'm writing about that rite of passage - the first day of school. In our case ... (pre) school.

Mallory has been at the same "school"/daycare sinec Dec 06. She loved it from the day she set foot in the place. And of course, my mommy heart swelled. "I did good" on finding her a place to wile away the hours. All of that came to a screeching halt yesterday. It was transition day. Since regular school started, daycare rearranged all of the classes and redistributed kiddos to new rooms. All of the kids who will go to kindergarten starting in Aug 09 moved up to the preschool class. My little one has a late birthday and will not go to kindy until Aug 10 (she was born in November). You see where I am going with this. Yes, she was left behind.

The loss of friends who moved up to the next class has caused so much upheaval at our house in the last 24 hours that we even resorted to bribing her to be happy - with McDonalds. The worst came this morning when she told me:

I don't like school.

I think I may have worn away some of my brake pads on the car I stopped so quickly. I just turned around and looked at my sad little girl, knowing there is nothing I can really do to fix this. But of course, I must put some kind of stop-gap measure in place because my kids WILL LOVE school (I'm really not as controlling as this sentence may make me seem). Off to call the daycare director. Cross your fingers for me. And if you've ever been in this situation I'd love some advice. Really, because I want this little girl back (ignore the fuzzy picture, darn iPhone!):


In more positive news, Truett also moved classes. He graduated from the infant class to pre-tods and is in heaven. Little boys are so easy.

Decisions, Decisions

Mallory is growing up. A little each day, as much as I hate to admit it. I'm not sure why, but I got it into my head that since she is getting bigger she needs "big girl beds." Aka bunk beds. Shawn just shakes his head at me when we discuss this because really, she doesn't need them. Her little twin with a trundle works perfectly fine. Maybe this is just me trying to get something I always wanted as a child?! So of course, I am determined to get them. She must have them!

Now comes the true test of my decision making skills ... which set to get. Who knew there were SO MANY bunk beds out there? Not only do you have to choose the bed, but then you have to choose finish, mattress and bedding. Oy vey! I have it narrowed down to these three sets. Which do you like (and don't forget to tell me why)? They come in all different colors too ...

My Haven

Ma Marie

Cottage Chic

The question is ... do I buy a set that can be handed down to Truett or do I get something that is girly and fabulous?!

It's mainly a mistreatment

The Nester issued a challenge: show off your best mistreatments. I don't profess to be a professional mistreater like she is, but I do try to follow in her footsteps. So far I've only attempted window mistreatments, but I do have grand plans for something bigger, better and beyond my imagination. If only I could figure out what it is!

Anyway ... here's a walk down memory lane with my mistreatments.

My first attempt at a mistreatment - the master bath window. I took a two by four and stapled on material. My dear husband pounded some nails into the wall for me so the wood could sit on them. You'll see that it wasn't my best effort. It looked good at first, then I took it down to paint and for some reason, never found the time to re:treat it once I put it back up. That was a few months ago.


Here's the next project - faux blinds in the playroom. Please oh please ignore the cedar. Really, little fingers and cedar INDOORS in the middle of suburbia don't mix. I could see if we lived in a log cabin somewhere. But no ... neighbors to the left, neighbors to the right, neighbors to the north, neighbors to the south. Anyway ... I digress. I simply used staples and glue on the valance over the blinds then hung them back up. I used safety pins to pull them up on the sides. Viola! $38 later I have something to be proud of on the four playroom windows.


And last but certainly not least is the mistreatment for my laundry room. It cost me $3 and an assortment of stick pins and push pins. Yep, pinned it straight to the wall. The pom pom is also pinned on. No glue, no thread, no nothing.


Hope you've enjoyed my Mistreatment 2008 tour. Stop on by soon to see what else I'm up to!

Date night with the `Dondos

Something weird must be going on around here because I have got to do so many adult things lately (yeah, remember going to Jersey Boys ... great memories). Anyway, our friends the Arredondo's pretty must twisted our arms into having a double date night. Well, I shouldn't say "they" did it. It was really Melody, our party planner extraordinaire. After a quick phone conversation that went something like this, we decided on bowling.

Mel: What do you want to do?
Me: I don't care.
Mel: Go out to eat?
Me: I don't care.
Mel: Bowling?
Me: Yeah, that sounds great.
Mel: What time should we go?
Me: I don't care.

I could hear her rolling her eyes on the phone. And I don't blame her. Maybe I was channeling the title "she's just not that in to you" because that is the way I felt about date night. Don't get me wrong; I was looking forward to date night but was not ALL over the planning like Miss Party Pants was (you know I love ya girl). Good thing she was because no telling what date night would have been had I planned it. We'd be hanging out at the local street corner watching the lights turn green, then yellow, then red (imagine that). Or, we would have been watching paint dry on my wall or something. You get my point. So, I ponied up and got a babysitter.

Anyway ... last Friday night we hoofed it to the nicest bowling alley I've ever been to in my life. Umm ... I should have known it was going to be nice because of it's location. It was so shi-shi that there was a WAITER to answer to our every whim. Need another margarita? Why yes, Alex, I do. Want someting to eat? Why yes, Alex, we do.

I really thought I was a better bowler than I was ... but apparently I am not. Maybe I was distracted by all the shi-shi? I thought the four margaritas were going to help improve my score, but you can see by the progression of the games that they did nothing to improve my game.

Game 1
(not quite finished, but being the *juvenilles* we are, had to take a picture of Adam's score)

Game 2

Game 3

So after bowling the male members of our Fierce-some Foursome decided a little pool was in order. They played a game before Mel joined in. I was sitting on the side quitely giggling to myself. I'm not sure I would have found the whole scene so funny if I hadn't had four margaritas.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. I can't wait till the next meeting of the Fierce-some Foursome.

Olympics-induced coma

I've been negligent of my blog this last week. And I have a good excuse. I am in an Olympics-induced coma. Man am I addicted this year. To the point where I stay up every night until midnight or later watching what is going to happen. I am not getting anything done at home or at work because I am just so exhausted (not only by staying up so late, but don't you find it's hard to watch someone expend so much energy?!).

Yeah ... I watch the events you would consider typical Olympic fare:



But who knew I would spend countless, mindless hours watching:

I was a little upset the other day when I couldn't watch the equestrian competition (well, we did have to have clean clothes to wear). Luckily, the disappointment didn't last too long. I did finish in time to watch the rowing competition. BTW ... I found out a few things this year about the Olympics. Did you know that PING PONG is an Olympic sport? Who knew? All this time I could have been in training with the Olympic team!

Well, the good news for me is that we have date night tonight. So, that's one step towards breaking my addiction. Even better, there's only a week of late nights left and then I can resume my normal schedule. Until then, don't ask me what's going on in the real world. I can only talk Olympics.

Mr Telephone Man

Mr Telephone Man ... there's something wrong with my line ... when I dial my baby's number ... I get a click every time.

I've been singing that New Edition song all day because of an upgrade in phone equipment here at work. Who knew it would take so little to make me happy?! Well, it's quite a simple story as to why actually ... at my old job, we had just moved into a new building with all new state-of-the-art equipment. Then, I decided to come here. All the equipment worked, but everything was (well, is) really old so in a way I was moving back down the ladder. But not anymore, baby! Take a look at my before and after.

Old phone. If you're familiar with these types of phones and you stare at this long enough, you'll see that the only way to mute yourself is if you are on speaker phone. This made it quite fun to be on extended conference calls (until I got an office with a door anyway).

New phone. Yes, I have made quite a step up in the phone world. Isn't it pretty?

By now you are thinking, "what a wacko." Maybe so ... but I have a new phone and you don't! It think it's time for me to go home now.

Newsflash!

Truett is walking. 'nuff said.

Spidering

This evening after dinner, Mallie decided to hop into my lap. I of course cannot keep my hands off her because she's just so darn cute and started tickling her. What transpired next was ... well, I just have to put it down to remember it.

Mallory: giggle, giggle, giggle
Mommy: I'm going to get you silly girl!
Mallory: quit spidering me, mommy!
Mommy: spidering you?
Mallory: yes (wiggling her fingers on her side)
Mommy: (the light bulb finally comes on) oh ... okay. i'm going to spider you!

So, apparently "tickling" has become "spidering." Well, it does kind of make sense when you watch what your wiggling fingers during said session. Watch out ... I'm going to spider you!

Isn't it pretty?

Joy, joy, joy! I've always been envious of those blogs who have pretty backgrounds. I'll be honest ... I just don't have the time or talent (mainly talent) to do something like that. I've tried online scrapping in the past. I got ONE page layout made before I quit. So anyway ... I've always been a little jealous of those who do have talent and can make their blog look so, so pretty.

Imagine how excited I was when I found The Cutest Blog on the Block. Now I can finally join the ranks of those with pretty designs (it's just another version of the "haves" and the "have nots" you know). And the best part -- it's FREE. Yep, not one red cent is required to use one of these babies. You do have to live with that little advertisement up in the upper left corner. But I figure it's worth it.

Things that go bump in the night

It's 12:07a on my clock. Everyone is tucked away snuggly in their bed. Well, not their bed since Mallory has made her nest in Mommy and Daddy's bed. But, you get the idea. Truett is snoring away ... Mallie is spread eagle ... Shawn is curled up into a ball trying to keep from falling off the edge of the bed. And here I am ... wide awake. I've found myself somewhat afflicted by insomnia the last few weeks. It's even worse tonight because I feel like I'm in the beginning of some psychological thriller. Why? Just silliness actually.

I was laying in bed ... minding my own business ... watching Flipping Out (have you seen this? there are people out there who are crazier than we are!). The next thing I know ... I hear three ting, ting, tings. I felt intense panic in the pit of my stomach. Because we've all seen the slasher movies, right? We know what is coming next. Yep ... I'm not saying I'm rational at this time of the night.

Where was the sound coming from? Sounded like it was outside. I sat up, the hairs on my neck raised. I sat there, listening intently ... just daring whomever was outside my window to make another noise. Then I heard something sound like it came from the attic. This is a usual sound in my house (gotta love those squirrels; reminder to add to the to-do list: exterminate), but coupled with the tinging ... well, had me scared to death.

Oh no, I was not content to just HEAR the so-called intruder. What did I do next? WHAT YOU ALWAYS YELL AT THE MOVIE HEROINE FOR: I went outside, in the dark, with no flashlight or weapon to protect myself from only God knows what. Smart, huh? Good thing there was nothing out there. Although on my way back into the house I did get the freak out feeling again and RAN! I am such a chicken.

So, here I am. Hoping that no one was out there stealing my air conditioning unit and that I wish I had super-night-vision eyesight so I could have seen if anything or anyone was out there (that's an interesting side note ... what would my superpower name be?). Because seriously, how would I cope in 500 degree weather without air conditioning?

Ta-da, Shawn waved his magic wand

Do you hear the magic song singing, "oh sweet joy, the doors are finally hung?" Yes, my friends. Magic has been performed ... and it was only a two month trick. I left Saturday morning to spend time in hell (well, it was really Canton ... but the temperature outside was 106 so I was confused) and I came home to this:

Isn't it a beautiful sight when compared to before? I think we can all agree that the answer is obvious. Shawn worked hard all day long to complete this trick. That's one more step to finally getting this house whipped into shape. Next big project is the playroom. I would post a picture, but it would probably scare you too much.

In kidlet news ... Truett is getting so close to walking. He can do it ... but he's afraid to let go. Honestly, I'm amazed that kids walk at all since it can hurt so much to learn how to do it. Guess that's another plus of diapers. Padding is a good thing in this case.

Mallory spent the week at her Mimi and Papa's house last week. I don't think there is any question that she had a good time. You'd have a good time too if someone gave in to your every whim and craving. However, this week dawns a new world in our household. I have implemented the Chore Chart. Yes ... she has to make her bed, brush her teeth, pick up her toys. At the end of the week she'll get a toy as long as ALL her chores have been completed and she's had a good disposition. The good news is that Mommy and Daddy decide about the disposition thing. She'll catch on soon enough ... but for now we have our evil laugh when she goes to sleep.