need a laugh?

here's a brief synopsis of the last hour at our house.

dan called. stuck in the OR, won't be home til very late tonight. so it's just me and the girls. we eat dinner. girls have leftover pizza. abby eats 1/2 her slice and leaves the table, forgetting to clear her plate. i am doing dishes, and realize too late that Monster (our mini poodle) has jumped up to claim her leftovers. i start hollering at him and chasing him around the living room and kitchen as the slice hangs halfway out of his small mouth. i enlist the girls' help, and the three of us chase him around, laughing and hooting, until i finally catch him. he managed to eat part of it, but in the process got sauce and cheese all over his face and in the hair around his mouth, face, and ears. omg. huge mess for such a little dog.

so i tell the girls their bath will have to wait until i can bathe monster (can't have marinara dog running around new house and on new furniture). as i am bathing him, i hear the girls fighting and jumping on their beds, etc. abby comes in, clad in only her shirt (there is absolutely nothing cuter than a little naked tushie), to report that izzy has gotten a boo boo and (to add insult to injury) peed all over her bed. GOD DAMN IT.

so i finish up with the dog, dry his hair and then start a load of sheets. izzy's bed was made at the time she pissed on it, so her quilt, blanket, sheet, and mattress pad were all wet. Fu*$ing FAN-TA-BU-LOUS. especially since all their bedding had been freshly washed when we moved in this weekend. i realize they've been through a lot these last few days, but i just wish she would've peed anywhere else, even on the new carpet. then i get the girls in the rub for their bath and the usual drama ensues (crying, monsoon-like splashing, soap in eyes, you know the drill). wears me out.

i am rushing to get at least some of her bedding through the wash by bedtime. fortunately i have a few extra blankets, but i haven't gotten around to washing the new extra set of twin sheets i got for them (just in case of a situation like this one).

in the midst of all this, dan calls to ask me to set the DVR for Gossip Girl and 24. i'm all like, "what the f*&@, do you have any idea what kind of night i'm having while you're taking out some old woman's dead bowel?"

mission accomplished

we are safely in at the new house! whew. still unpacking, getting settled, etc., but here without any major mishaps.

unfortunately i won't be posting pics for a while because our camera is full and in order to dump all the other photos, we would need to unpack/find the cable to plug into the USB port. yeah. not so easy. like finding a needle in a haystack. it makes me sad because i would love to take and post some new stuff...oh well. soon!

the only piece of the puzzle missing is the yard. it's a big muddy mess. some trees and shrubs are in, but no sod until it warms up. landscaping won't be finished for a few more weeks, i think. we've hit a few snags with internet and newspaper delivery, but otherwise things went well. movers were amazing and we came in under estimate! woohoo! (although this is likely a testament to our hard work the 2 nights prior to the actual move---and let's just say we are very sore, very tired, and very OCD)

more later. stay tuned!

a quick note

Just a quick update...

I went to Memphis over the weekend for Christy's baby shower and had a great time. It was such a relaxing weekend and couldn't have come at a more perfect time---right before our move when I was/am super stressed! Christy's parents welcomed me into their lovely home and treated me like family, which was so sweet. I woke up on Saturday morning and found a Valentine's Day card with my name on it, along with a box of Ghirardelli chocolates! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Jones! I got to hang out and have lots of girl time with Christy and Whitley; and Christy's sister-in-law, Ashley, threw a beautiful shower, complete with yummy snacks and punch. Did I mention Ashley is a new mom herself? I don't know how she did it all---her darling daughter Tanner is only 3 months old, and as cute as a button. I wanted to hold her soooo badly, but she screamed anytime anyone besides her mama and daddy held her. Oh well. Maybe next time?

And now, the countdown is on. We're moving into the new house on Friday (as in THIS Friday, the 20th). Not sure when our internet gets cut off or when I'll have to surrender my computer, but regardless you may not hear much from me for the next week or two. Wish us luck!

around the house on a Wednesday....

getting emptier...














the boxes are really getting to me. they're everywhere.


















and emptier....


















but of course i can't pack any toys yet. and i HAVE to know---how many phones does one person need, anyway?!

finishing touches...

swing set and play house are now in the new backyard (and unfortunately in mud until the weather is warm enough for sod)











our closet (there's an island in the middle w/ more storage)



















my tub is finally in!!!!! woohoo!













one of the vanities in the master bath. mirrors in!


















upstairs guest room. carpet is in. hooray!



















my laundry room













girls' bathroom (it's a jack n' jill, connects to the guest room (affectionally referred to as "GiGi's room" by the girls)











wallpaper in middle of girl's bathroom---but on either side where the vanities are, the wallpaper is green w/ white polka dots---that paper hasn't been installed yet, though...
















carpet on stairs going in...

















powder bath wallpaper is in



















we looooove this vessel sink!

drowning in boxes

you haven't heard much from me lately because frankly, life here is insane.

boxes everywhere. empty places abound.

the girls' swing set and play house were disassembled over the weekend and reassembled over at the new house. that caused a bit of a scene, especially since we had beautiful weather when it occurred and could have been playing on said swing set.

dan's been out of town at a conference for the last few days and i've been packing and trying to remain calm. needless to say, i am very much looking forward to christy's baby shower this coming weekend and being able to escape for 48 hours.

i continue to eat everything in sight and my girls just had breakfast for dinner, and are currently polishing off some Little Debbie Valentine's heart cakes. i'm such a bad mom. oh, and then they wanted marshmellows, so i relented. we're trying to use up whatever randoms are in the pantry between now and the move....which is Friday, 2/20 in case you missed the bulletin. oy!

meanwhile, dad is safely out of surgery and will be discharged tomorrow. kevin returns from his exotic vacation on saturday, and i guess that is about all the news i know!

call me a stickler if you will, but....

I think it's insane that a popular clothing chain like American Eagle could let something like this be printed on a t-shirt. This has to be the most elementary of grammar lessons, one we all learned in probably 2nd grade---the difference between "you're" and "your." If you don't know it, SHAME ON YOU. It's that simple----an apostrophe takes the place of a letter that is missing:

you're = you are, i.e. "You're the best friend I ever had," or "You're a dork."
your = denotes possession, i.e. "your shirt is dirty," or "your dog is cute."

Look at this item and tell me what you see. And they're selling it for $19.50. Who let this one sneak by? It didn't even sneak---this is glaring. I'd crawl under a rock if I'd been the one responsible for this. I'm also quite certain it doesn't come down to any one person, but society as a whole. People in this country don't even know the proper rules of their native language. It saddens and scares me.

Go to:
http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jsp?catId=cat90042&productId=1305_3175

Hit the "View Larger" button once the item pops up. Tell me what you think.

Dump Cake

I'd never heard of Dump Cake, but we spied the recipe on Ruby Chickadee's blog and decided it sounded super yummy! So here are my two little master chefs hard at work:

tempus fugit

time flies.

starting tomorrow, finishing touches will be put on the house: paint will be touched up, appliances will be put in, and plumbing installed, among a few other things.

meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're still packing and i am stressed. and i sincerely hope i don't have to drive way back out to BFE to get more boxes. but they are used & free, so i should be happy since i'm being green while moving and not having to pay for any supplies.

a policeman pulled me over on Friday. it was NOT a good day. the girls were being terrors and we had to just get out of the house....so we left to run a few errands. i apparently made an illegal right on red. as i saw the flashing lights come up behind me, my heart sank. i pulled into the Target parking lot (where we were heading for some of said errands), parked, rolled down my window and waited. gruff older man came up and barked, "license and registration, please," and i quickly complied, and burst into tears as soon as he turned around to take my paperwork back to his car. then the girls started going wacky on me, but it was my own fault for crying in front of them. i just couldn't get myself together because a ticket would be icing on the cake of my life lately.

this day, however, God must have been smiling upon me, because after several minutes the cop returned and handed me a written warning instead of a big fat ticket. he started lecturing me about watching out for the signs declaring where it's illegal to turn right on red. i stopped listening and began thanking him and apologizing profusely, and internally scolding myself for the way i've been acting/behaving recently (even though it's out of my control, truly). but basically, crisis averted. i bought the girls some new markers and coloring books at Target to make up for my moody mess. i must've still looked pretty rough, though, because another mom let me go ahead of her at the checkout. i thanked her over and over (girls were bordering on meltdown mode as lunch time was approaching), paid for our things, and got out of there. i drove the speed limit home, carefully looking at all the signage along the way.

this morning i took them to our temple for a program called Mazel Tots. Today's theme was Shabbat and they made their own tzedakah boxes. We also had some challah, graham crackers, juice, played with the other kids, and then left. Photos will be posted later, although my camera battery died in the middle of the program (Murphy's Law). The girls had a good time, and it makes me feel good to expose them to Judaism when I can (outside our own home, I mean). It will be nice when we can attempt to bring them to services again sometime...when they are more capable of listening/behaving, and respecting the service. When will that be?

Finally, I started taking my own Judaism class last week, and am super excited. It meets every Tuesday evening for 2 hours, and will go over the next 3 months. The rabbi promised if we stick with it, we'll be reading Hebrew by the end of the class. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but that would be so, so cool! I've already completed my first homework (including some lessons from my Hebrew workbook), and I'm responsible for (I signed up for) bringing snacks to next week's class. Any suggestions? Was thinking homemade cookies and shortbread. Easy, non-messy, and non-perishable. It doesn't have to be kosher, and it doesn't have to be healthy. But perhaps I should still bring some fruit as well.

P.S. My doctor increased my dosage of Synthroid, as my last labs were still off. He gently reminded me it will be awhile until I begin to notice improvements in the way I feel...and promised that once they get my levels right, it will be far easier to manage me. I am hopeful this is the truth and that I don't end up being an exception to every rule. And since I rarely seem to be able to go to Jazzercise more than 3x/week, I am praying this is enough to keep the major poundage from coming on. We'll see. Ugh.