Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Thanksgiving Blur

Has it really almost been a week since Thanksgiving? Sheesh. I think my finger is stuck on the FastForward button in life.

Thanksgiving was great. We went to my parent's house on Thursday morning and ate and then had a very relaxing afternoon. Mom and I decided to brave the crowds at Garden Ridge and I managed to find a whole bunch of stuff I probably didn't need, but bought it all anyway. Mom managed to find significantly less. It has all been put to good use. We stayed over Thursday night and made our way home that afternoon. Lovie and Son braved the cold and went to the high school football playoff game that evening. Stinkerbell and I stayed home and started on the Christmas decorations. We managed to completely avoid Black Friday. Well, sort of. Keep reading.

Saturday, Lovie and I decide to go to some antique stores to look at some corner hutches and armoirs. Son is spending the day with his mother and SuperNeighbor offered to watch Stinkerbell. It's just the two of us...feels weird, but we love it.

We hit 5 different antique stores. Really. FIVE. We picked up a shopper's guide at the first stop and it mapped out the other local stores. We bought little stuff here and there and saw lots of beautiful (expensive) furniture, and a lot of junk too. We hit paydirt at the last one. We found a great corner hutch and a HUGE armoir for less than the other places wanted for a single piece. Now that both pieces are home, we realize that furniture looks much smaller when it's in a huge warehouse than in your home with low ceilings. We still love them, but stand in awe of all of the wonderful "junk" they will hold.

Monday was SuperNeighbor's birthday. We met up with her family and some other friends at a Ft. Worth restaurant. The guest of honor was coming later so we got all set up while we waiting. There were flowers and a bunch of balloons on our table. (Thank goodness for their tall ceilings.) We watched through the windows until we saw her walking toward the front door. We quickly decide that we'll stand up and start singing to her as soon as she walks in. She comes in (cue the singing) and turns to her left (away from us) to look for us. She finally turns the other direction......uhh....not her. Stop singing. Sit down. Entire restaurant is laughing, along with us. Poor lady didn't even realize she was being serinaded. SuperNeighbor arrived about 10 minutes later. Undaunted by our earlier mistake, we sang for her (again.) It was a great evening. She loved the story about how she was replaced, temporarily.

I've joined a charity/social organization in my little local town. One of the annual events is the adoption of local families and buying the kids some gifts. I hoped from store to store last night and got it done. It was a little stressful because you know very little about the kids. It's hard to know their interests. Hopefully, the stuff I got for them will make their Christmas a little brighter.

While I was out "doing good" I went in JoAnn's craft mega store and found a little quilt kit. It comes with instructions and all the fabric, pre-cut. I've always wanted to learn how to quilt and this one seems pretty harmless. All of the pieces are square, no funny angles or curves. It is designed for sewing on a machine. Huh. So here is me. Buying a quilt kit. No sewing machine. Not a needle or spool of thread in the house. Good plan. (Um, Mom? Can I borrow your sewing machine?)

In the world of blur....I need to give a shout out to my to bro-in-law. Happy Belated Birthday!!



Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Happy Half and Four States


Today is Stinkerbell's Half Birthday. She's officially a Half.

She's so alert and is really thinking about talking and crawling. Today she got up on all fours and was looking around. As soon as she lifted up one hand, she fell over. It's progress!! :-)



I had to go on a short work-trip to the Washington DC area this week. I flew out on Sunday morning and went to my friend Bridget's house. She works in Philadelphia and lives in Delaware. I flew to Philly and drove through a bit of Pennslyvania and Maryland on my way to Delaware. It was so beautiful along the way. The leaves on the trees are just amazing. I tried to take some pictures along the way.
Bridget's House in Delaware:Bridget's lawn had a few leaves scattered on the lawn. I think they thought I was a little nutty for taking a picture of their lawn, but I couldn't resist.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Just a little dust

The BeeBee is sick. She's all stuffed up and is running a fever. She is still eating and sleeping good and is still in a good mood. The rest of the family is exhausted and cranky.
Yesterday, Lovie tells me that he thought she had a dirty diaper. He could smell it. He opened up the diaper and it was clean. "I guess I just smelled the fart dust." ???Who says this stuff??

This weekend was a birthday party for my sister and niece. They came in from Florida for the weekend. Here's a picture of the birthday girls:

Here's a "Four Generation" picture too

Thursday, November 8, 2007

This fall weather is making me think about Christmas shopping. What is wrong with me...it's like some organized, non-procrastinating person has taken over my body. Ack! It's only November 8. (Happy Birthday to Emma, by the way.)

I have been doing some online browsing for gifts for the BeeBee. Given this whole China/lead paint crisis, I have decided that she is getting a ball of yarn and a rock for Christmas. Okay, maybe not a rock...how about a set of measuring spoons? Basically, we're totally avoiding anything made in China. This year, it won't be a big deal because she doesn't really "get" Christmas yet. Next year will be a little more difficult.

Brock, in a most shocking turn of events, wants a new basketball and football for Christmas. This time, I actually support them as gift ideas. I usually give a huge eye roll because it seems that the LAST thing we need in the house is more balls. However, this year in basketball his age division uses the "official" sized basketball (not the junior) and his football was stripped of it's leather by our most favorite dog, Parker.

Monday, November 5, 2007

New Toys, New Games


So today I was wandering around thinking that I'd have nothing to blog about. Parker and I went for a walk today and it gave me some thinking time.

This evening, JJ and Brock were playing catch in the front yard with the football. For a little while, it was just a game called "throw" because neither was doing very well at the catching part. Brock then decided to punt the ball, right in to the tree. The tree was much better at catch. They need a new game.


We got a new toy at our house. A new TV. A very big new TV. So far, the channel still seems to be stuck on ESPN, CNN and Fox News. Before too long, it will be PBS Kids. Clifford the Big Red Dog will be ginormous. Eventually, we're going to put the tv over the fireplace, but there is some minor construction that needs to occur first. For now, it is on the corner of the fireplace hearth. It's kinda hard to miss. ;-)
Havanna was in a funny mood tonight. She was very giggly. She was sitting on JJ's lap, holding her toes and kicking her leg out. Brock thought it was pretty funny and mimicked the pose. Hehehe...he's going to hate this blog when he's older. :-)
This is Havanna and her slobber-proof photo album. You can tell by her face that she takes her chewing very seriously.
Well, there you have it. For those of you that are still awake, I guess I did find something to blog about.
Tomorrow I'll try to do something more interesting. The dishwasher has a funny smell, maybe it will catch the house on fire. Now THAT would be interesting.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Weeds

I may have gotten slightly distracted today. Those of you that know me understand how rare it is for that to happen. I am normally extremely focused and rarely off task. Ahem.

I was organizing my photos today and putting some pictures in this nifty little infant-friendly photo album. It only hold 5 pictures but, most importantly, it is slobber-proof. While I was digging through all of the pictures, I was amazed at how much Brock has grown. He's only been in my life for 3 years and I am amazed at how much he has changed.

Observe...
October 2005











October 2006







October 2007







Doesn't he look so grown up??!

Marci

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Sofa King

For those of you that heard about JJ's halloween costumer, this video will make you laugh. Actually, even if you didn't hear about his costume you'll probably think this is pretty funny.