January 29, 2014 - Mid-week blahs

Gah, Wednesday.  Halfway to the weekend.  My weeks are completely redundant.  Work til 5, kids, dinner, bed, rinse, lather and repeat.  And so, I find it difficult to get pictures.

This one happened to be in my phone from work.  I know what you're thinking, and yes, it's THAT exciting.  I thought I ought to share.  I won't explain why I'm taking pictures like this, but I assure you it's very scientific.

Addy started dancing on a chair in the kitchen while I was cooking.... after she changed into a dance outfit.  No, she doesn't have a dance class.

This was the second dinner I made tonight.  The first wasn't enough for everybody so I made this for George.

Addy insisted I take her picture.

My cousin is running in the Boston Marathon!  I am so excited and proud of her! You can read her story (or donate) here.

January 28, 2014 - brrr

I'm over this cold!

January 27, 2014 - On Second Thought

For a second there, I almost took a picture of the massive amounts of laundry that has been vomited all over our house.  It's seriously out of hand.  I did 4 loads tonight and it's completely unnoticeable.  But then, I thought about how much of a waste of energy that would be.

To be honest, I'm fortunate that we have laundry.  I grew up poor and my mom would tell me this story of a friend of hers teasing her for what she was wearing because I was starting to walk and needed shoes, so she bought me shoes instead of something for herself.  That always made me a little sad.  I'm not saying my mom was always self-less, because, well, she wasn't.  But there were a lot of things that we didn't have.

I always wanted "normal" and one of my biggest goals was to have children who would experience a painfully "normal" life.  So, I went to college, and I got a big girl job, so that I could do that.

And so, we have laundry.

We also have a new addition to our bedroom.  I've been "needing" a jewelry box for forever.

January 26, 2014 - Family Sunday Funday at D&B

Sunday mornings have always made me a little bit sad.  It's the beginning of the end of the weekend.  I don't get enough time with my family or mornings with this girl in our jammies.

I had some over-ripe bananas and made some muffins for breakfast.  Today was the perfect morning for baking, it was cold and snowy.

 We decided to make the day a family funday Sunday and went to Dave and Busters (finally!)

 Addy was playing (I use that term loosely) Candy Crush while we waited for some appetizers.

Addy is absolutely impossible to dress.  She likes to pick her own outfits (obviously), and if she feels like she's a little 80s workout diva in the middle of winter, who am I to stop her?  Besides, it's not worth the fight.

I don't even want to try to think about how much money was pumped into the game to win this guy, but her excitement was worth it.

January 25, 2014 - A Project (almost) Complete!

Hooray!  I did it!!  I've been wanting to make these for months and thanks to this super cold weather and my desire to do not much of anything, I finally did it.

We were using an obscene amount of paper towels when I came across "unpaper towels".  So last year, I bought some and we have used them religiously ever since in place of traditional paper towels.  After use, I just wash them in a hot cycle with other dish towels.  I use them on glass, mirrors, counters, you name it.  Mine are still in good shape, but have faded and I just wanted a new print. Today I semi completed my project!  I wanted to make 12 or so, but ran out of thread around number 8.

January 24, 2014 - Grammy's Birthday

Truth be told, I may have teared up a couple of times today.  My mom would have been 56 today and it's her first birthday without her here.  We would have gone out to Sibley Garden's for dinner, and she would have ordered a Manhattan.... or maybe two. ;)  So I was a little bummed today.

But then I came home to this, my extremely thoughtful husband had a sweet card, flowers, and candle waiting for me at the door.  Just the pick me up I needed.  He also made a Manhattan.

For dinner I made mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs with capellini pasta.  Delish.

 We taught Addy how to slurp her spahgetti. ;)

Fortunately, this girl hasn't caught on just yet.  But she's happy anyways.

January 23, 2014 - Sleepy Mommy

It's been a long week and I'm a tired girl. I decided to go to bed at 9. Addy came to tuck me in before her dad tucks her in. She's so sweet.<3

January 22, 2014 - Roar

First and foremost, my phone is ok!!  Thank goodness too because I'd probably revert back to using my old Blackberry or even pink razr before I'd want to get a new phone (I don't buy insurance).

Hubs was bowling tonight, so after dinner, my lovely gals and I got our amazing crayola skills on.  Note our ever present photo bomber.  Don't note the nearly dead plant in the background.  Plants do not do well in our house...

 We switched gears and did a little dancing...



After the girls went to bed, George came home and made tea.  I love Yogi tea-isms.  He came over and handed me this.

He's a one of a kind.  ;)

January 21, 2014 - My Epic Fail

I didn't want to completely lose 21 days into this, so this is me still making an effort, sans photo of the day.  I dropped my phone into the toilet, (public, yay!!....) and after seriously hesitating to reach into the toilet to retrieve it, I dried it, shut it off, bleached it, and then threw it in a bag with some drierite (obviously this occurred at work since most people don't have that laying around).

So, until at least tomorrow morning, I have no phone, as well as no desire to try to figure out where our normal camera is.

January 20, 2014

Pardon me, Miss Fancy Lady.  I don't want to stand between those heels and that fridge.

I'm guessing she was grabbing a cold cup of milk for her father's return home.  She probably had red lipstick on too...  Kids these days.

January 19, 2014

Sunday Funday!  While George was out, I caught a pretty sunset.  The house was a lot like this moment: Perfectly silent and serene.  It was lovely.

 Just before he got back with the girls, I started dinner.  We had steaks and picadillo style sauce and yellow rice.

 After dinner, I finally started on my next sewing project, after setting up my serger, something I've put off for months.

I'm making unpaper (reusable) towels.  For whatever awesome reason, the serger came with one spool of brown, so the insides will be brown.  Look how much I care.

I bought some last February, and we have used them every single day (as you can see).  I love them, and I'm just making my own now.  If I can make curtains, I can do this, blindfolded.  Except I haven't used a serger since high school and it's kind of scary so I might keep them open on second thought.

While I was upstairs in my studio working on that, I'm just kidding, we don't call it a studio, but maybe I should!  It's a balcony.  Studio sounds better.  Ha.  Anyhow, while I was doing that, the most wonderful man in the world was attacking this monster.  Oh my goodness kids socks are awful aren't they??  I want to just swoop them into a garbage bag in one quick move and just buy new ones.  sigh.

January 18, 2014

I had to go into work this morning for a little while and got back just as George was pulling out of the street with my sweet little girls.  All week they have been over the moon excited for a sleepover at their Aunt Ruth's.  This also meant date night for George and I, say whaaaat?  I can't remember the last time we went out.  It was a long time ago.  So we had big plans.  We'd go see a movie and head to Dave and Buster's for dinner / drinks / games.

We saw Wolf of Wallstreet.  I don't even know what to say.  More "f" words than I've ever heard in my life, and it was a movie with no real conclusion, despite the fact that it went on for 3 hours.  3 hours I'll never get back with lots of scenes that just dragged on past their purpose.  It was exhausting.  I walked away in disbelief anybody liked it.

Next stop, Dave and Busters, and boy was I pumped.  Until there was nowhere to park and literally a line to get it.  As much as I like standing out in the blistering cold of a Michigan January, I'm past that point in my life.

So we went to T.G.I.Fridays and experienced unusually bad service and left without ordering food after our apps.  The manager ended up comping the entire thing.

We returned home and George treated me to an exciting night of Wii spectating and his unique mix on Pandora.  It's ok, SNL is on soon enough.  I think tomorrow maybe I'll sew, I don't know, I don't know if I'll have enough time.

January 17, 2014 - Challenge: Ignored

Yeah, I said it.  Today's challenge was "knobby" and so I quit, just like that.  Moving on.

George went bowling tonight, so I got to hang out with my two favorite gals.
Beebs helped me cook.

 We had chicken linguine with tomato cream sauce

I love date nights with these girls.

January 16, 2014 - Challenge: Reserved

Ok, this challenge was about the worst ever.  The "inspiration" was an actual "reserved" sign on a swing.  Really?  I thought for sure I was going to miss my first day.  So I had to think this one through.  I have big plans once the weather breaks and there's actually still some sunlight when I get home.  Otherwise the days seem over once I get home.

So, mini gripe it is.  Tonight is Thursday, which means Grey's Anatomy.  My Thursdays have consistently been "reserved" for this very thing.  Here's a fun fact.  Adelyn was born on a Thursday, between 4 and 5pm.  How do I know?  I remember that evening, watching George cuddle with our fussy newborn while I experienced the worst pain I'd ever known (not birth, I found out 6 weeks later I had a 10cm hematoma, but that's neither here nor there) while watching Grey's.  It's kind of funny to think how much life has changed since it's been on TV.

Imagine my bitterness when I saw "The Taste" was on.  Why do people watch shows about other people eating food???  I love food, but watching and not eating?  I don't think so.

January 15, 2014 - Challenge: In The Air

The smell of these delicious chocolate mug cakes were in the air after dinner tonight.

January 14, 2014 - Challenge: Yummy

I was completely distracted right up until dinner time and forgot to take a picture of our delicious dinner my wonderful hubs made: spicy tomato penne with chorizo.  Darn it.  But something else yummy, this bowl of awesomeness.

January 13, 2014 - Challenge: An Encouraging Word

Ok, every time I thought about this throughout the day, I sang "Where seldom is heard, an encouraging word...".  Who gets that song stuck in their head?  This girl!

But back to a real encouraging word.

January 12, 2014 - Challenge: Footprints

Well, we weren't at the beach, and the snow is melting, not falling, so this one was a little tough.  I got to visit my friend Julie tonight, who has an almost 3 month old sweet pudgy baby.  Her cheeks are just so incredible!  Seeing her tiny feet was such a lovely flashback.  They do grow so fast, and those tiny baby feet become big girl feet before you know it.  I interrupted sister movie time and caught something rare: them sitting still. ;)

January 11, 2014 - Challenge: In Good Hands

I had a great date day with my big 4 1/2 year old.  We went to get her hair cut, went to a few stores, and stopped for lunch.  It's so fun to sit across from her and actually talk, yet so surreal to think how quickly time has passed.  I got to hold her little hand extra amounts today.

January 10, 2014 - Challenge: A Doorway

Behind this door is my desk (in the background), where I spend 1/2 of the time that I'm awake Monday through Friday.

January 9, 2014 - Challenge: Where I Stand

After work, we loaded up the girls and headed to the YMCA.  After much talk, we decided to join, yesterday.  So, tonight was the second night of fun on the treadmill for me.  Yay resolutions for a healthier year.... or should I say torture?

January 8, 2014 - Challenge: Blue

This morning, I knew my challenge and thought, yeah, a cool sky picture.  I took a picture of my drive, but it wasn't all that blue.  I figured I'd get one later instead...  Until that didn't happen and here it is, down to the wire.  We had a very busy evening.  This wasn't my intended picture, but it was a picture nonetheless.

January 7, 2014 - Challenge: Natural Treasure

I don't have a career that gives out snow days so I felt like a kid this morning when I received an email from work telling us not to come in today because of the snow emergency.  I love driving in snow, but ice is a whole other ballgame which is what we are experiencing here with these unreal below zero temperatures.

I took a very short and very cold walk down our street with Nyla for today's challenge.  What a beautiful winter day.