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Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Aw, gee, cut it out!
I seem to be the victim of a vengeful HP. First, I was scrupulous in putting out my trash bins (I just paid that freakiin' garbage company their exorbitant fee, which other old folks, who live the CITY, get for 1/3 the cost), and they skipped my yard waste can. Really indignant here. I need it empty! I am planning on major yard work this week! Then, my new phone, the one I just love and adore, locked itself up and refuses to unlock. This means a trip to Best Buy to bother those sweet guys in the cellphone area, again. Nuts. And, after enduring many months of very irritating reminders that popped up EVERYWHERE, I finally renewed my RegCure license (they had a sale of RegCure Pro, real deal), and it refuses to load on my computer. Now have to call them and trudge through a plethora of steps so I can correct all those errors on my disk that the now defunct program said I had. Give me a break. And my new camera, a Samsung, like my phone, came with the manual on a disk, and needs Adobe Reader to decode, and that is not working, either. I think the technology fairy has taken a dump here in the little yellow house. So I said hell with it, and painted for a while. Not sure I like him, but he was fun to diddle with for an afternoon. He will wind up in the pile soon, the one I keep for paintings that I need to review before I finish them. My mentor calls that the "second easel". I just call it the pile. Tomorrow will be another day. Maybe I will get my phone back. Maybe the bin will be emptied. I don't know. It's always a surprise.
Monday, 30 July 2012
A hardware success story...
why this monday is a little bit awesome.
Usually, I despise Mondays as much as the rest of the world's population, and today isn't too different. The weekend is over, blah. My parents came for a (too short) visit and they have left, blah. Work is making Hubs abandon me, S, and Dallas for another week, blah.
BUT things are a little brighter over in my neck of the woods on this particular Monday.
This week the office is only stealing the husband for four days...and on Friday S and I get to spend the day at a resort that has a water park and a SPA. On Hubs' company's dime. This mama gets 50 glorious minutes of a full body massage. For free. Boo-ya.
S and I are hittin' up the church crafts group once again after a month-long hiatus. Church grandmas can't wait to get their hands on that baby.
After practically ten months, S's room is finally complete! (Once I got around to making those letters.) And, I somehow managed to get the entire house cleaned today...nothing short of a miracle.
And the number one reason why this Monday rocks? My sissy is writing her VERY FIRST legit guest post over at the Blank Pages blog today!! So proud!! She's talking about her fave summer staple, and it's a good one.
So go check her out! Happy Monday lovers :)
BUT things are a little brighter over in my neck of the woods on this particular Monday.
This week the office is only stealing the husband for four days...and on Friday S and I get to spend the day at a resort that has a water park and a SPA. On Hubs' company's dime. This mama gets 50 glorious minutes of a full body massage. For free. Boo-ya.
S and I are hittin' up the church crafts group once again after a month-long hiatus. Church grandmas can't wait to get their hands on that baby.
After practically ten months, S's room is finally complete! (Once I got around to making those letters.) And, I somehow managed to get the entire house cleaned today...nothing short of a miracle.
And the number one reason why this Monday rocks? My sissy is writing her VERY FIRST legit guest post over at the Blank Pages blog today!! So proud!! She's talking about her fave summer staple, and it's a good one.
So go check her out! Happy Monday lovers :)
Friday, 27 July 2012
friday letters.
Well first of all, I want to say hello to my newest followers! Over the past week my little almost non-existent blog went from ten followers to 19, almost doubling in size. In one week! And for that, I am HUGELY (probably not a word) thankful :). I blog because I love it, I love getting out my thoughts and daily life in writing form. But knowing that there are actually people out there who want to read it, well, that just makes this all really special. So to all my bloggy friends...you rock.
Dear monstrous thunderstorm last night >> Thanks for sparing us what seemed to be an inevitable tornado and a power outage. I seriously was ten seconds away from grabbing S and Dallas and hunkering down in the basement storage room.
Dear farmer's market >> You are decidedly the best farmer's market in New York. And the fact that you occur on Fridays just makes you that much better. And the fact that today I get to peruse you with my fave mommy friend (another adult!!!) is just glorious.
Dear Olympics >> OMG you start tonight!!! I'm just a little bit excited. Prob from all those years when I was sure I was going to be part of the women's gymnastic team. The only thing that would make you better is if I had my sister watching them with me. With our signed copy of the Magnificent Seven.
Dear camera >> I would appreciate if you didn't die the moment I wanted to upload your pictures to my computer.
Dear S >> You are actually trying to stand up all by yourself! And you are starting to become quite successful, you little brave baby you. Your escapades are very exciting for mommy to watch lately. Even though you're very good at testing mommy's ability to say NO.
Dear baby food containing pears and/or mangoes >> Thank you for making it 1000% easier to feed my baby. I can even mix you with the dreaded veggies and claim success.
Dear weekend >> Holy cow...we are STAYING HOME this weekend! And we have nothing planned! That only happens about once a summer. Don't get me wrong, I love being busy and having something fun to do at the end of each week (especially when that includes the beach or friends), but it's nice to take a breather. Relax, regroup, carry on the summer craziness.
Dear monstrous thunderstorm last night >> Thanks for sparing us what seemed to be an inevitable tornado and a power outage. I seriously was ten seconds away from grabbing S and Dallas and hunkering down in the basement storage room.
Dear farmer's market >> You are decidedly the best farmer's market in New York. And the fact that you occur on Fridays just makes you that much better. And the fact that today I get to peruse you with my fave mommy friend (another adult!!!) is just glorious.
Dear Olympics >> OMG you start tonight!!! I'm just a little bit excited. Prob from all those years when I was sure I was going to be part of the women's gymnastic team. The only thing that would make you better is if I had my sister watching them with me. With our signed copy of the Magnificent Seven.
Dear camera >> I would appreciate if you didn't die the moment I wanted to upload your pictures to my computer.
Dear S >> You are actually trying to stand up all by yourself! And you are starting to become quite successful, you little brave baby you. Your escapades are very exciting for mommy to watch lately. Even though you're very good at testing mommy's ability to say NO.
Dear baby food containing pears and/or mangoes >> Thank you for making it 1000% easier to feed my baby. I can even mix you with the dreaded veggies and claim success.
Dear weekend >> Holy cow...we are STAYING HOME this weekend! And we have nothing planned! That only happens about once a summer. Don't get me wrong, I love being busy and having something fun to do at the end of each week (especially when that includes the beach or friends), but it's nice to take a breather. Relax, regroup, carry on the summer craziness.
Thursday, 26 July 2012
27 in 27.
So I was all ready to do my usual Awkward & Awesome Thursday...until I read Erin's latest amazing post (seriously, all of her posts are amazing. plus they usually make me want to pee from laughing).
Take your age. Then think of that many things that you want to do in the next 365 days of your life. Write them down. Now me, I'm getting up there in age, so it's taken me quite some time to think of 27 ideas that I might like to accomplish over a year. Not to mention it already takes me at least an hour to write a normal post. Slow. I'm old and slow. Then (since I'm a compulsive self-editor) I went back over that list and made sure I'm imagining things that are actually attainable. So after scratching out half of them, and five hours later, I've come up with these.
1. Get down to the beach house in the off season and go for walks on the beach.
2. Spend a weekend at my parents' cabin when the leaves are changing color. Or when the snow is falling.
3. Get pregnant with baby #2. Say what? No, I'm not crazy. Just love being a mama. Of course, I've learned that babies cannot be planned, so we are not trying for that. We'll let God decide when it's time for S to have a baby sibling.
4. Have my parents and sister at our house for Christmas morning so we can all watch S open up her gifts for the first time. (She wasn't quite "into it" last year.)
5. Learn how to make my Grandma's famous potato filling.
6. Run a 5K. Get back into running shape first.
7. Muster up enough courage to start selling some of the headbands I make for S.
8. Make that road trip with Hubs to see our friends we left behind in D.C. Power half hour anyone?
9. See the Grand Canyon. This actually might go down since Hubs and I (and S in her airplane debut) are traveling to Phoenix in October for a wedding.
10. Take S to NYC for her very first trip to Central Park.
11. While I'm thinking of the city...see White Christmas on Broadway this holiday season.
12. Read 15 books. Yes, 15. I'm not-so-secretly in an obsession with reading.
13. Get all the closets in our house organized. Especially that one containing my clothing. Stop procrastinating and donate all those things (ahem...suits) I don't wear anymore.
14. Learn how to successfully thrift shop. Our budget tells me this is a must.
15. Try out that zumba class that I've been dying to go to with my friend. Oh, just need to give up my Saturday mornings and bribe Hubs into watching S for an hour. Harder than it seems.
16. Take S to Christmas Candylane at HersheyPark.
17. Black Friday shopping with my sister! Can. Not. Wait.
18. Volunteer at a local animal shelter.
19. Saw this one on another blog and love the idea: Go a week with only eating food that is pure and fresh. No processed or preserved foods!
20. Purchase an ad space on one of the hugely successful blogs I adore.
21. Be committed to reading my Bible devotions each morning. Better yet, read them with Hubs and S.
22. Take the plunge and get that external hard drive so I can back up my thousands of pictures. Take the time to get hard copies developed of some and make photo albums. Those shots of S are priceless.
23. Join the bandwagon (that I used to say I'd never join) and get an iPhone. Sadly, the lack of apps available for my beloved BlackBerry just isn't cutting it these days.
24. Get better at creating good, simple blog posts that don't take me all of S's nap time to write. A la Sydney's style.
25. Lose five pounds. I don't really need to. And I actually like my body these days. But it would be nice to see some toned muscles again. Preferable before next baby, that is.
26. Finally get the last boxes left over from moving out of the garage and install some shelves.
27. Grow my blog to 200 followers. Might be a stretch seeing as I only have 14 to date. But I like to dream big. (Or at least tell myself that I do.) Wanna help me do this?!
Take your age. Then think of that many things that you want to do in the next 365 days of your life. Write them down. Now me, I'm getting up there in age, so it's taken me quite some time to think of 27 ideas that I might like to accomplish over a year. Not to mention it already takes me at least an hour to write a normal post. Slow. I'm old and slow. Then (since I'm a compulsive self-editor) I went back over that list and made sure I'm imagining things that are actually attainable. So after scratching out half of them, and five hours later, I've come up with these.
1. Get down to the beach house in the off season and go for walks on the beach.
2. Spend a weekend at my parents' cabin when the leaves are changing color. Or when the snow is falling.
3. Get pregnant with baby #2. Say what? No, I'm not crazy. Just love being a mama. Of course, I've learned that babies cannot be planned, so we are not trying for that. We'll let God decide when it's time for S to have a baby sibling.
4. Have my parents and sister at our house for Christmas morning so we can all watch S open up her gifts for the first time. (She wasn't quite "into it" last year.)
5. Learn how to make my Grandma's famous potato filling.
6. Run a 5K. Get back into running shape first.
7. Muster up enough courage to start selling some of the headbands I make for S.
8. Make that road trip with Hubs to see our friends we left behind in D.C. Power half hour anyone?
9. See the Grand Canyon. This actually might go down since Hubs and I (and S in her airplane debut) are traveling to Phoenix in October for a wedding.
10. Take S to NYC for her very first trip to Central Park.
11. While I'm thinking of the city...see White Christmas on Broadway this holiday season.
12. Read 15 books. Yes, 15. I'm not-so-secretly in an obsession with reading.
13. Get all the closets in our house organized. Especially that one containing my clothing. Stop procrastinating and donate all those things (ahem...suits) I don't wear anymore.
14. Learn how to successfully thrift shop. Our budget tells me this is a must.
15. Try out that zumba class that I've been dying to go to with my friend. Oh, just need to give up my Saturday mornings and bribe Hubs into watching S for an hour. Harder than it seems.
16. Take S to Christmas Candylane at HersheyPark.
17. Black Friday shopping with my sister! Can. Not. Wait.
18. Volunteer at a local animal shelter.
19. Saw this one on another blog and love the idea: Go a week with only eating food that is pure and fresh. No processed or preserved foods!
20. Purchase an ad space on one of the hugely successful blogs I adore.
21. Be committed to reading my Bible devotions each morning. Better yet, read them with Hubs and S.
22. Take the plunge and get that external hard drive so I can back up my thousands of pictures. Take the time to get hard copies developed of some and make photo albums. Those shots of S are priceless.
23. Join the bandwagon (that I used to say I'd never join) and get an iPhone. Sadly, the lack of apps available for my beloved BlackBerry just isn't cutting it these days.
24. Get better at creating good, simple blog posts that don't take me all of S's nap time to write. A la Sydney's style.
25. Lose five pounds. I don't really need to. And I actually like my body these days. But it would be nice to see some toned muscles again. Preferable before next baby, that is.
26. Finally get the last boxes left over from moving out of the garage and install some shelves.
27. Grow my blog to 200 followers. Might be a stretch seeing as I only have 14 to date. But I like to dream big. (Or at least tell myself that I do.) Wanna help me do this?!
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
bethany beach 2012. part 2.
For me, there is absolutely nothing that compares to a week at the beach in July with Dad's side of the family...more or less so because it is a tradition 25 years in the running. I have this thing about holding on dearly to the familiar mainstays of my childhood. There's not many left these days, as we cousins all have grown up and out of the smaller traditions. A la hayrides and Easter egg hunts...although my aunts still give them a time and date each year. If you see a bunch of 20-somethings running to find plastic eggs with another bunch of middle-aged people watching them with smokes and beer...don't judge.
That's how we do it. And that just might be why I love that family so much. They can argue (and I mean really have it out) and gossip to the nines, yet they fiercely keep traditions going strong. Everyone knows a love-hate relationship is really all love.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
bethany beach 2012. part 1.
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Now that she's been to the beach three times in her nine months, baby girl is officially a sand crab and a fish, perfectly happy to play in both sand and water for hours on end. Sneak in a nap on Grandma's chest and she's good to go. A girl after her own mother's heart.
I'm missing waking up to coffee brewing and days with all the people I love under one roof (except for Dally Boy...who, by the way, is currently missing his pet sitter more than he missed us last week). Not to mention three sets of hands more than willing to play with S so this mama could get in at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted sun time. Glorious. Mom, Dad, Sis, could you please come live in the foreclosed house across the street so me and S could see you every day? K, thanks :)
