Little Known Facts...

Did you know that any dress in robin's egg blue is a Cinderella dress?
True.


Saturday night I learned that Trader Joe's pesto chicken is the only thing I've ever not liked from TJ's.
{And did you know that one serving contains 35% of the RDA of sodium? Yikes.}


These notes of Gary's are actually written in English.
But I have no idea what they say.
{Physics is *not* my bag, baby.}


Message boards purchased in the $1 section at Target will entertain children for hours.


There's a little randomness to round out your weekend.
{Have any randomness to share with me?}

See you in February.

Back to Life.

I had my doubts earlier in the week, but it's beginning to look like I'm actually going to survive this cold. Whew!

Today was the first day in quite awhile that I dug some things out of my desk to work on something fun.
I didn't get far, but tomorrow is my day.
I can feel it.


And speaking of fun...

I'm going to need to get fancy next month.
Like...black tie fancy.

I think I have a dress nailed down, but what do you think?
Opinions?


I wonder if I'm asking for trouble with those heels.
I'm afraid I'll be walking out barefoot at the end of the night.

Why can't these be black tie?

Much more my speed.

Kleenex and our 3rd President.

After a trip to Urgent Care Saturday night {and some antibiotics for an ear infection}, Avery is feeling much better.

And now I am operating in a Tylenol Cold-induced haze.


This cold has rendered me almost useless.
I'm pretty much attached to the couch, my stretchy pants, and my box of Kleenex.
And decaf coffee.
I had to help Riley do research on Thomas Jefferson this afternoon.
{Did you know he developed the decimal system of coinage we use today? And had two daughters named Lucy Elizabeth? I didn't.}

Sorry for the non-post.
I hope to be back to (my version of) normal soon.

A Break from the Rain.

I'm kind of surprised that California hasn't floated right out into the Pacific this week.
We have had some crazy rain!
Our backyard looks a little like a swamp.

It was so nice to see a sunset this evening and get a little break in the clouds.


The rain will be back, though.
Soon.

But I'm not complaining.
I'm watching the Hope for Haiti telethon and am feeling overwhelmed at the amount of suffering.
My heart hurts for the people of Haiti.
Especially the children.

****

Psalm 10:17
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.
Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.

Sick. (And tired.)

Colin got the germ train rolling last week.
He coughed and hacked for several days.
And he shared it with Avery on Sunday.


Here it is Wednesday and she's still sick.
My house smells like menthol thanks to these.
She's sucking on lollipops and popsicles like crazy to keep the cough at bay.
And she can only sleep sitting up (thank you, congested nose) so last night Gary & I took turns holding her in the rocking chair so she can sleep.

{She slept, we didn't.}

But...on the bright side...
kitchen progress is being made!

I'm hopeful that by this time next week I may actually have a (semi) finished kitchen!

But in the mean time I plan on feeding my kids either cereal or PB&J for dinner tonight.
And it's not even a healthy cereal. I gave in and bought generic Fruit Loops yesterday.

{Does anyone know what serving Fruity O's for dinner does to your chances at winning Mother of the Year? Just wondering.}

Demo.

There's kind of a lot going on in our kitchen right now.


I know it will all be worth the work in the end but right now it's a whole lot of
M-E-S-S.


Today was demo day.
Hammers and crow bar to tile and plywood.
{It wasn't quite as fun or quick as they make it out to be on Extreme Home Makeover.}


My kitchen is going to be a war zone for the next few days.
{Or...dare I say...weeks? Gulp.}

I think he rather enjoyed the demo process.
Must be a guy thing.

To comfort myself and deal with the mess I've had to resort to these:


I will go to my grave declaring that chocolate chip cookie bars somehow taste better than cookies. Maybe it's because spreading the cookie dough into a jelly roll pan is just so much easier than making individual cookies?

Hmmm. I must go eat another bar to investigate further.

Vitamin D.

Back in December I had a routine blood test done as part of my physical.
It showed that my Vitamin D level was not quite what it should be.

The prescription?
Vitamins...
and SUN.

Last week was foggy and dreary here every. single. minute. of the day for 10 days straight.
I almost lost my mind.
It was suffocating!

But today the sun was out in full force.
It was just shy of 60 degrees.
So we enjoyed it.


And soaked in the Vitamin D!


Ahhh.
Just what the doctor ordered.
I think the sun will be here again tomorrow...but then it's back to rainy and dreary.

I'm not a good winter person.
I need sun and blue skies and open windows.
{To all of you who live in snow for months and months: my hat is off to you. I don't know how you do it!}

Can't spring just get here already?



*************
Also, for those of you who asked: I made my 34 Things list on picnik. If you're not familiar with picnik, it's a fantastic photo editing site. It's a much cheaper, easier, and less-intimidating version of Photoshop. Definitely worth checking out...and worth the premium membership!

My Space.

Not the social networking site kind of space.
The no-kids-allowed, sewing/crafting kind of space.

I finally have one.

Back in July I got this desk from Freecycle.

{If you aren't familiar with Freecycle, that's a blog post in and of itself. People give away some ca-razy things on Freecycle. Last week someone was offering "calcium supplements for chickens". And they were spoken for almost immediately. Huh? Chickens need calcium supplements? Who knew.}

Anyway, the desk sat in the garage for almost six months until I finally got around to painting it.

Now it's the home for just about all of my stuff.

I bought this cute little chair from an antique store and am going to recover it in a fun polka dot fabric.

Then I'm going to sit on that cute polka dot fabric, turn on Pandora, and create till my heart's content.

Actually I'll probably create until someone needs lunch, someone hits someone else, or someone can't put the dress back on her princess Polly Pocket and I need to help.

{I should be on that cute polka dot fabric for about 2.7 minutes.}

::34 Things::

I have 365 days of being 34.

Surely I can fit in these 34 things in those 365 days?


I just noticed...making bread and a cheesecake might work against the "lose 10 lbs." to-do.

{5k training begins tomorrow!}

Thirty Four.

I woke up this morning to two little boys singing me "Happy Birthday".
They made me a card.
And promised not to fight with one another all day.
{Some promises are tough to keep.}

I had a three hour breakfast with friends.
A total treat.

My little girl wished me happy birthday many, many times.
And sang to me at least four times.

And of course the cake.
I baked.
They decorated.

I didn't think it was possible to use more sprinkles than last year's cake...
but somehow they did.


We had a great dinner out
(no cooking allowed on your birthday - my favorite part!)
and came home for cake.

Got the kids to bed...and then Dexter and blogging.
A good day.

I don't feel old.
I still feel like I'm 24.
But when I was 24 I thought 34 was old.
34 isn't old, right?

{{Right?}}

Making Progress.

I know I've mentioned these projects that we have going on over here.
{I'll try not to bore you to tears.}
We are making *some* progress. Hooray!

First there was the bathroom tile.

My multi-talented husband finished it right after Christmas.
SO MUCH BETTER than the disgusting scratched, stained linoleum.
{And I was thrilled when he got the toilet put back in place, because the boys were having to use our bathroom and I was not enjoying that at all.}

And now...the kitchen.
My multi-talented dad is sanding the cabinets/priming the cabinets/painting the cabinets/rebuilding the drawers/adding molding (moulding?)/demo-ing the tile.
BIG job.

So right now my kitchen is a dusty mess and has no cabinet doors.
{It's a horrible thing to have to look at everything in your cabinets and take stock of your crap every minute you're in the kitchen.}


I'm too embarrassed to show you any more of the inside of my cabinets.
But it is going to be fantastic when he finishes.
My dad rocks.

There are a few more little things that I've been working on.
Would you believe...I actually have a little sewing/craft nook now?
I'm so excited. I'll show you soon.
And...get this...instead of being covered in my sewing stuff, our dining room table is now actually being eaten on.

Imagine!

Projects.

Lots and lots of projects going on here at Casa de Laundry.
I'll spare you the gory details (for now, at least).

And turns out while I was distracted by my own projects today, Riley was working on his own.


{I knew it was too quiet in there.}

Tomorrow the kids go back to school.
So hopefully I'll be back with a little more substantial post.
And maybe a picture of one of the 296 projects going on over here.

I Love a Good Project.

My very full external hard drive will testify that I take a lot of pictures every day.
And I leave them all stored there in my computer.
For shame.

I've seen Project 365 around the webby for awhile now.
I love the idea of taking (at least) one photo every day.

But Julie reminded me yesterday of the Project.
So I'm jumping on board the 365 wagon.
Take at least one photo a day:
it doesn't have to be the best quality...
with perfect lighting...
and of children without any trace of oatmeal on their perfect faces.

Just real, everyday life.

Then, in 365 days, I'll print the pictures and have a collection of pieces of our year.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.

So here goes:
01.02.2010 - Day 1
Playing outside...watching Daddy do yard work...enjoying the cool sunshine...checking nail polish.

1/365.
Check.

Looking Back...and Forward.

Wishing you a
Happy New Year!