Tag . . . You're It!

Since Kelley ushered this little challenge (and to show her that I read her blog often), I (Scott) will respond to her tag:

What were you doing ten years ago?
I had just finished the teacher ed program and was living with Justin, Ed, and Slappy . . . Ed took me to get my tattoo . . . I was to begin my first year of teaching . . . I was single and not dating . . . that's about it.

What were you doing one year ago?
I was on summer break and was about to begin teaching my first course in the MAT early childhood program . . . I discovered poison ivy in the backyard and it took me two months and 3 bouts of steroids to get over it.

Five snacks you enjoy.
1. M&M's
2. Red licorice
3. Pretzels
4. Boiled peanuts
5. Cheese

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics.
1. Most of the songs by The Wiggles
2. Tom Sawyer (Rush)
3. Keep the Car Running (Arcade Fire)
4. Pyramid Song (Radiohead)
5. Upside Down (Jack Johnson)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire.
1. Pay off all debt.
2. Make sure family is financially stable.
3. Purchase home along the lake.
4. Take a vacation once degree is completed.
5. Move my brother and mother to South Carolina.

Five bad habits.
1. Biting my nails.
2. Not being more affectionate.
3. Not making better use of my time.
4. Late night snacker.
5. Not admitting bad habits.

Five things you like doing.
1. Completing an assignment.
2. Sunday mornings with my family.
3. Snuggling with Emily while watching movies.
4. Reading
5. Watching brainless TV.

Five things you would never wear again.
1. Tighty-whities
2. Cavaricci's pants
3. White Levis
4. Knee-high socks while wearing shorts
5. Black heavy metal shirts

To repeat Lefty's idea of concluding his post, I would wear an earring again if I had more hair, I still think slip on checkered Vans are kind of cool, parachute pants around the house might be kind of comfortable, and I hear Underoos are next years lingerie . . .

Scott

Four things I'm happy about right now

1. Now that we're home, I'm back to cooking real meals, and not eating out. I really like to cook, and just tried some great new recipes. Friday night it was curry chicken with couscous, and last night it was chili verde casserole thanks to the RBC women's cook book (specifically Debbie Enns' recipe!) Both were a hit with the husband.

2. The new bedding set that we picked up for Emily at Pottery Barn kids. Lovely lovely! While shopping at the very upscale Charlotte Southpark mall ( Tiffany's & Louis Vuitton were some of the first stores we saw) I was waiting for Scott to come out of the Apple store and Hark! There was the Pottery Barn kids where the very set I wanted for Emily was marked down incredibly low. So low that I bought this set (http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/sw4660/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C1%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cjordan%20bedding&cm%5Fsrc=SCH) with these window treatments (http://www.potterybarnkids.com/srch/index.cfm?words=dragonfly+drape&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=search) with a green canvas drape over it. Lovely lovely. So of course Emily doesn't have a twin size bed yet, so that's what we ran out and did after we got home. She was ready. The new bed will arrive from Ashley furniture 7/16. Pictures to follow.

3. The neighborhood 7/4 party. Thanks goodness somebody organized it, because the past two years we have been able to see most of the fireworks that the neighbors down the street have set off, but we aren't the type of people to go out and blow $200 on fireworks. But we sure don't mind pitching in $10 for a big neighborhood show. This year everybody will now be at the pool across from our house for a cook-out and a firework show. There are really very few limitations on the purchase of fireworks (which you can buy at warehouse stores year-round) so it should be fun and hopefully not too dangerous. I like watching, but don't like my husband to be the one lighting the things off.

4. Marry Poppins. Bought this movie for Emily because she needed a new movie to watch in the car with all the driving. We never got around to it on the trip, but we all sat down to watch it last night. Scott had never seen it all the way through. We did a field show in high school to the music from the movie, and I remembered it well as we watched it. Emily loved the movie and I think it will quickly become one of her favorites, which is good because it's one of mine too!

Anyhow, happy fourth if I don't post before then!

Back to Bloggerland

I am going to try to make the commitment to blog more often. We have been really off schedule lately, due to all things good, but still.

Got back from the whirlwind Florida trip with the in-laws. We really had a great time. Paul and Mary got into Charlotte on Monday of last week (6/18) and stayed in a hotel until we picked them up the next morning. We went to our house, and gave them a tour of our city highlights, including the university. Then the next day it was off to Charleston. Seriously that is one of my favorite cities ever! We have made it a habit to bring guests to Charleston when they visit and to attend a late night walking ghost tour of the city. A great way to see the city buildings and such.

Then it was off to Orlando. We went to every park with breaks in between to visit friends and family. We spent Saturday with the Widlund's which was great to see where they live, their church, and life in Florida. Also it showed Scott and I that the drive really isn't that long from our house. We also got to meet Scott's great-uncle Arthur. Or if you are from Lynn, Mass like him you say "Authoer" or whatever a Bostonian accent would sound like. I could listen to him talk all day!

The "kingdom" is rather large. We left most mornings to a park around nine, and didn't get home most evenings until after nine or ten. Em was a champ, and took her two hour naps easily in her stroller and awoke for more action. We spent a certain somebody's 27th birthday in Epcot in "Italy" where we had a nice dinner, bottle of wine, and Italians playing the accordion and singing.

All and all, a terrific trip. We drove up to Charlotte to drop off Scott's parents, stayed in a hotel (it was late) and then left for shopping (more on that later). We finally got home on Thursday afternoon. Now the laundry is finally finished and life is slowing down. :)

Home Inspection Nightmares

I came across this website on home inspection nightmares from This Old House as I was reading Lifehacker.com. I knew Adam would be interested in this but thought others might get a kick out of some of these pictures.

Scott

Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches

These are possibly the best things ever! Has anybody else tried them? I seriously believe that if there are any hopes to me following the weight watchers points system, it will be because I am able to reward myself at the end of the day with one of these. (And hopefully not devour two of them in a row like I did last night... that was not so good!)

Anyhow, I took a rep/cardio class this morning with a friend at the gym, and have also been to the gym both Saturday and Monday. I am feeling sore, but the good sore. I need to decide next if I am going to get in a great day of cardio by means of the treadmill, or swimming laps. I love swimming, and that would be the obvious choice if it weren't for my iPod and the marvelous new songs i have on the "workout" playlist. Can you say Fergilicious? Do you think they will ever make a waterproof iPod? That would be fabulous!

Saturday meanderings

Please somebody come to my house and make my child take a nap! Seriously... Ughh. I think in the next ten I will give up and let her out of her bed. She obviously feels she doesn't need a nap today.

On another note, i wish I would've taken a picture of my last Friday. The first night with all my family here and at dinner Emily decided to poke me right in the eye, bursting all blood vessels to the right of my pupil thingy. It was gross. It hurt. and I was furious. It is almost gone, and though it did heal quickly, I couldn't believe a two year old burst my eyeball like that. Who was giving Emily self defense classes when I didn't know it?

Fam left yesterday. Sorry they're gone, going to miss them, but incredibly joyful to have my own family of three in the house to ourselves. I love my three. We hang rather well with each other.

Family on Friday

My mom, dad, sis, and grandma fly in Friday. I am thrilled! However, I wish that I would have thought this through a little more before I had them fly in the day I was done with work. A couple of days to clean and prepare without work would have been beneficial, but oh well. They are staying until the next Friday (can't stay that weekend because of Denise's wedding) and then we have another week until Paul and Mary come. We are going to Disney World with them. They will be with us for a couple of weeks. Then, a couple weeks later, Jenny flies in! I'm so excited about everybody coming. Scott has been painting the upstairs hall, stairwell, and living room. It looks great! One day when we get new flooring this house will look really fabulous. Until then, I just hope our guests don't mind the gnarly builder-grade beige carpet!

How long again?

Not too much excitement, but here are my random thoughts:

1. School is out next Thursday. We have school on Memorial day (blah). Check out www.wltx.com and click on the "some kids in school link or whatever it's called and they show my school to talk about the district not being out for Memorial Day.

2. The day after school's out, my mom, dad, sis, and grandma come. Can't wait. Got some serious house cleaning to do and all that, but I can't wait to go to Charleston and hang out with them.

3. Emily is saying some crazy things. The amount of talk that comes from her is simply astonishing. Wherever did she learn to talk so much?

4. Went out for sushi at this great new restaurant last night called Saki Tumi for a friend's birthday... just the girls. Stayed out entirely too late for drinks and dancing. Didn't have too much problem getting up this morning though... haven't had that much fun in a long time.

5. How awesome is it that I didn't have to worry about Scott and Em? Seriously, he's the best husband ever. Did I mention that he takes care of Em for the month of May? The zoo, park, ect. and he manages to have the house picked up. He's fabulous.

6. Have a church softball game tonight. If I miss a pop fly like I did last week, I think I may cry. :)

7. How long until school's out?

The neighborhood grump

So we have this middle school kid in our neighborhood with one of those pocket bike things. This one seems particularly loud, as it can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood... no exaggeration. The kid drives this thing around and around our neighborhood going in and out of culdesacs and ignoring stop signs almost getting hit by a car at least twice that I have seen. But beyond all of that it is just flat out annoying! He seriously needs a hobby because he rides around for hours at a time. Once a couple months ago he was already at it when we got home from church at 11:45 and he didn't stop until we went back to church later that evening. He must have a gas can stored in his garage because it never stops.

Well, last night Emily was trying to go to sleep at her normal 8 pm bed time. I know the sun is just beginning to go down at this time, but it is still bed time. She was stirring and waking up each time the loud thing went by. I walked out and waited in the middle of the street until he came by, and motioned for him to stop. I asked if he could please not ride after eight in the evening, as little ones like mine find it hard to fall asleep. (Never mind the problem of nap time but since that is in the middle of the afternoon I find that to be my problem and not his.)

He kind of grunted this caveman like grunt and then off he went home. I didn't feel to bad about it at the time, and I was quite please with myself for not going off on him like I have done so many times in my head when he goes by. But this afternoon when I got home Scott pointed out that he was riding his skateboard around and not the pocket bike. I have to say I felt just a little bit guilty... but I soon got over it.

Is anybody else totally annoyed by these things? I grew up in the country with lots of four wheelers and such, but people rode them around the fields where it didn't bother anybody and we couldn't hear the noise over and over and over and over and over again. Would anybody else have done the same thing I did, or am I just a grouch?

This is for Adam

Isn't she a beauty?

My Friday Night

Church is having a dads and kids camp out night tonight on the green in front of the building. Scott brought Emily with the idea that they would try it, and just come home if she didn't get to bed, and go back in the morning to take down the tent. The women had a pizza get together at a house, and I just got home. I called Scott, and Emily is asleep in the tent, and all looks like it is going well.

I have never spent a night a night by myself since we moved into this house, and I think it is truly only the second time I have been in the house by myself since we moved in. (the first time was last mother's day... I kid you not.) Not to mention this is the first time that I have ever spent the night away from Emily.

And I'm not complaining. I like having a night all by myself. There is laundry to do, a dishwasher that needs to be unloaded, but I think I will go start reading the stack of magazines that I haven't even looked at from the past four months.
:) It's a one of a kind Friday night.

Harvest Brown

I had a project planned to start and complete over spring break. I go back to work Monday, and there's no way it will be done then.

I know I have mentioned before what a crappy paint job the previous owners did. The bedrooms aren't so bad, but the worst is the common areas like the upstairs hall, the stairwell, the living room, and the little inlet between the downstairs bath and closet. This was all the same color. Now their color choice I don't mind, it's just that the job was so bad, that you can see all sorts of brush strokes, places where they missed, and then on the white trim where they didn't tape and got the wall paint all goobered on the frames and base boards. It drives me nuts. Not to mention the job around the fire place mantel. Atrocious.

At first I thought that I would do the same color that they did which was more of a carmel latte', but then a friend talked me into doing something different... going to all the trouble, might as well have a new color. I agreed. So I went with "Harvest Brown," which is more a Frappacino brown base. This is very similar to what Scott and I (really what Adam) painted in our bedroom on Floradora. I love love LOVE the color now that we have gotten started, but it is taken for freaking ever! So far we have finished the upstairs hall and laundry area and put the first coat of white trim. I hope to finish the second coat today during Em's nap time. Seriously though, the entire project is going to take us forever. And also Scott had declared me the messiest painter ever. I get paint all over the plastic covering, the paint brush, myself... I changed out of my paint clothes and Scott was amazed that somehow I'd even gotten paint on my stomach under my shirt....? Who knows.

And then there's the problem with the stairwell. We have a two-story tall ceiling that goes from the bottom of the stairs all the way to the top. The guy at Lowe's said to get an extension latter and then put a cinder block under the one side that is on the lower stair to make them level, and then have at it at the top to do the line at the ceiling. That just seems crazy scary to me.
Any other ideas?

Happy Easter!

I hope your Easter is a little warmer than ours. Our low was in the low twenties last night... not normal at at all for this time of year. But a few flannel sheets over the vegetables and berry vines, and all is well.

This is Emily in the car after church. Everybody had their Easter dresses on, but with added long sleeve shirts, jackets, and leggings. Emily's dress wasn't nearly as cute as it would have been if the weather would have been above 80 like last weekend. To compare, I heard the weather man say that our low last night was twenty degrees lower for Easter than the low last December for Christmas.

It was just the three of us this year, which was okay. I asked Scott what he wanted for Easter dinner (thinking he would say something like a ham, turkey, or possibly even grilled steak) but all he said was the chipped beef cheese ball that Mary makes with Ritz crackers. Hmmm. Okay. Easy enough. I made that, but added a glazed ham and a few other things. Entirely too much food, but we have great leftovers.

This morning at church for the second Easter in a row, we watched a short clip from a sermon. The tag line through the entire thing is "But it's only Friday... Sunday's a'comin'. " Anybody else ever seen this? It apparently is famous, and part of a sermon. It took me a month last spring to get it out of my head (it's catchy) and now I've got it stuck in there again after this morning. I want to try to find the entire sermon. I bet it's good.

Happy Easter!

Weekend update

It was beautiful this weekend, and the pollen seems to have let up... some. Here are some of the highlights:

- Went to Kids Day on Friday evening. Ate fair-like food, watched Happy Feet on the lawn once the sun went down. Very fun. Emily got to play with her friends Sara and Noah, and I think she enjoyed dancing around before the movie started even more than the movie.

- Had a great time with friends last night at our our house. Scott grilled chicken and shrimp, and I made roasted red potatoes, green beans, and a salad. To add to that (Scott and my highlight of the evening) was some "Monterey Sourdough Bread." We were skeptical, but seriously, it was the real thing. It tasted soooooooo good! We also had stellar chocolate cake with coffee. WOnderful time with friends.

- Church Easter egg hunt was this afternoon. We almost didn't make it because EMily had a napping mishap today and only slept for twenty minutes, but luckily for her and her sweet tooth, we made it. She was so excited about all that candy.

And: Here is my question, speaking of napping mishaps... is it awful to scream at a kid who rides his little miniature scooter-like thing around the neighborhood? It runs on this loud motor that drives us crazy, and wakes Em up during nap time. I can understand the fun he has, but seriously, he was on it going around the neighborhood when we returned from church at noon, and was still on it at three when we left for the egg hunt. Twenty minutes was all she napped. Is it wrong to ask if he could give it a rest? I thought surely he MUST run out of gas sometime, but he must store a refill in his garage because he seriously didn't stop the entire three hours. Where's Bessie's potato gun when you need it?

Spring

Here are a few reasons why I know spring is here:

First off, it was 88 on Sunday. Quite warm and humid. Not too bad though. I love that in SC we have an actual spring and fall. That is probably my favorite thing about living here. I love to have all the windows and screen doors open so that breezes come in.

Then there is the pink blossom tree beside our house. It butts up to our bedroom window on the second floor, and I love the blossoms. They aren't those almond tree-like blossoms that make you sneeze though, so that is good. It's a beautiful tree, and they grow wild in the woods around our house as well.

And of course the yellow pollen. I have never in my life seen pollen that is actually a visible coating on vehicles. I washed the car Saturday, and the water that went down the driveway was literally yellow, and it stained the driveway yellow, just like yellow side walk chalk.

Finally... the deer. I went to the gym this morning (which in itself is a reason why I know it is spring... bathing suit time is getting close and I hit the gym) and I passed a "herd" of deer. Yes, I have learned they herd. I counted eight of them, though there were probably more. They came across the street right in front of me just around the corner from our house. It was great.

Now the bad thing about spring... the rabbits are in my garden eating my broccoli plants. Any suggestions about that one?

Reason 1001 why Scott is cool

If I have never mentioned the issue of ugly wallpaper in excessive amounts all over our house... ask and I will tell. But I think I have mentioned it to almost everybody.

So, in December one night while Scott was putting Emily to sleep, I was using the downstairs half bath. I hate the wallpaper in there, and was thinking I should just go ahead and pull it off. So when Scott walked downstairs and turned the corner, there I stood. Halfway out the door. Hands full of sheets of wallpaper. Grinning that "I'm so in trouble" grin. He merely says, "What did you do" with a stunned look.

It came off so easily. I am going to take care of it. Don't worry, I know you don't have time to mess with it. It's the smallest room in the house, how hard can it be?

Very, Very, Very, hard.

The paper was stuck with adhesive directly to the drywall with no sealant to protect the wall. So after I spent hours and hours of sanding to get the adhesive off, I painted and it went through the particle board, and bubbled. I was frustrated and very upset.

And this is where Scott is wonderful. He took over in there, and for the past few weeks has been sanding, and re-sealing, adding joint compound, sanding more, priming, and finally painting. The walls look like brand new. Beautiful. He puts in a new light fixture, toilet paper roll holder, towel holder, and all he has left to do is prime the base boards and paint them white. He tapes (very meticulously, Adam knows this about him) and primes all afternoon. I leave right after dinner for craft night at church and when I get home I expect that he probably would have gone ahead and painted the baseboards after Emily went to bed.

Oh no.

I walk in the house and he just points to the bathroom. I walk in and there is finger marks and brush marks in white, all over the beautiful green walls. He had taken off the door to get the door frame (meticulous, remember?) and Emily had gone in while he was doing the dinner dishes, which I left for him, and and painted the wall white.

Did he get mad? No. He was just worried that the scrubbing on Em's hands to get the paint off was going to hurt. He seriously had the patience of a saint. I wish I was cool like that.

Happy Birthday to Emily!

Last Wednesday (3/7) was Emily's birthday. She is already two! We had some of her friends over today for a birthday party. They topped their own pizzas, hit the pinata, and of course had cake and ice cream all decorated with Dora the Explorer of course!

She is just getting so big so fast! This was a favorite shot, actually taken this morning before church. I love that her tongue is out. I am chasing her when I took this. Too cute!

Happy Birthday to Emily!

Dailey Elementary Class Action Lawsuit?

Has anyone heard about a class action lawsuit against my old school site Dailey Elementary? My dad said I received a letter about some lawsuit and Dailey but thought it may have hit the news. If anyone of you may have heard anything can you post some information?

Scott

My Celebrity Look-alikes

In the spirit of playing along with Justin, I to, have added my profile to MyHeritage. Of course, all my suspicions have now been erased - Fabio eat your heart out! There's a new poster boy for the love novel on the horizon . . .

http://www.myheritage.com

Anybody else ever had strep throat?

Emily came home from church last Sunday saying she was tired and was ready for night night. We knew something was up, and sure enough she had a 103 fever.

I stayed home with her Monday, went to the doc, and yes she was positive for strep. She has never had that before, and neither had I. But just one more day home with some good antibiotics, and she was ready to go back to childcare on Wednesday, and I got to go back to work.

And then Wednesday night, in the stretch of one hour, I went from feeling fine, to feeling like I was dying. Of course Wednesday is the one evening class Scott takes this semester. Poor Emily. I got "sick" in the kitchen (TMI--sorry) and it was the first time I think I have ever witnessed Emily actually show fear of anything. She freaked.

Well, Thursday I got some antibiotics, was out Friday too, and still on Sunday I feel like I am nowhere near recovery. The poor kids in my classroom must think I have abandoned them. And it's not like I am going to be working at 100% when I see them tomorrow.

Anybody had strep before, or have any advice? I am on erythromycin (allergic to penicillin) and I think I should call the doc tomorrow to tell her nothing is getting better. And if you have your tonsils taken out, are you immune to strep? Thank goodness Scott seems to be skirting by this one. But his tonsils are out.

I can honestly say that with the exception of being on bed rest when I was pregnant with Emily, this is the most miserable I have ever been with a sickness. Blah!