Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Dec 30

I’ve been busy.  Can you tell?  Not a single post or comment in like 10 days!!  That’s almost a record I would think.  I’m afraid to say that I don’t think you’ll be hearing much from me in the next month or so.  It’s crunch time at our house (I’ve added new pictures to my photo link on the side of my blog…you can see it all drywalled…how exciting, lol).  I’m ready to start painting on Wednesday.  I’d be ready to go tomorrow, but apparently I’m not allowed to start until after the new year.  So Wednesday it is.  Somehow in the next four weeks we are going to try and get the house painted, install the hardwoods and tile so that our cabinets can go in before February 1 since that’s when Mr. Cabinetman is going on holidays and he refuses to stay home if my house isn’t ready before then…some friend…hmph!  : ) 

We had a lovely Christmas.  Lots of food (far too much), lots of gatherings, and way too many late nights for the girls.  Hopefully they can get back into a routine in the next few days.  Highlights of Christmas

* working on a puzzle…I love puzzles, but only seem to have the patience for them at Christmas.

* my new pink MP3 player.  It’s the Sony NWZ-A816 4GB Walkman.  Apparently it outranks the iPod Nano.  It was rated one of the best MP3 players on CNET.com (and I got it on SALE!!).

* getting 4, count ’em, 4 new design books. 

* gravy…mmmm

* taking the girls to a hotel this weekend (with a kids theme room).  We spent a nice weekend away from mom and dad’s…swimming, relaxing, going to see the ‘Winter Wonderland Light Show’, taking them to see the Santa’s Village at the Children’s Museum, and just having family time.

* seeing the girls’ faces light up at each new gift.  It was so fun to watch them open gifts that for probably the first time in my life, me getting gifts was almost unimportant…I said ALMOST ; )  For someone whose love language is gifts, that saying something.

Well that’s all I have to say this year.  I hope to catch up with all my lovely blogging friends in the new year.  I apologize for being seemingly uninterested in the blog world these days.  My head is full of other things at the moment.  Let’s just say that when I finally do get my high speed internet back and I’m in my new home I’ll have to take a week vacation, just me and my laptop and do some mighty catching up.  Wish me luck on that one.

Happy New Year all!  All God’s richest blessings to you in the next year (and always).  And have a lot of fun.  That’s always very important.   

posted by erin on Dec 20

I was in the mood to put something Christmassy on my blog and in turn hopefully get myself into a Christmassy mood…since it is only 4 days away, so below is a Christmas questionnaire that talks a little bit about how I/we celebrate Christmas in my family : )  I managed to get most of my shopping done yesterday.  Now if I could just find the ticket names that we pulled for my one gathering I could actually buy them some gifts.  At the moment I have no idea who I’m buying for.  Four days to figure that one out.  And Merry Christmas to us, I went out and bought a new tv today.  Flat screen.  42″ of awesomeness.  I’m pumped.  It was all in the master plan when I told Jer “our new living room just doesn’t have room for a big entertainment unit so we NEED a flat screen tv to put on the wall, thus maximizing our space!!”  He believed me.  Hee, hee.

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
It depends what it’s for.  I think for Christmas it HAS to be wrapping paper because there is something about the ritual of ripping open a gift.  Kind of loses it’s climactic element when you just have it in a bag.

Real tree or artificial?
Real…always.  Yes, it’s messy.  Yes, you can only have it up for a short period of time (not November-March).  But the smell is the BEST!!  I loved watching my Dad set it up the day before we would decorate it.  The tree was always frozen and it was always so exciting to watch the branches thaw out and fall into place.  It was a complete mystery as to what kind of tree Dad had managed to get each year.  Sometimes they were virtually perfect…other years there were oddities that made them special in their own unique way.  I think one day I’d like to start the tradition of going to find our own tree and cut it down with the girls.  We never did that and that is something I would have loved to do.

When do you put up the tree?
Usually about the middle of December.  Because we always had a real tree it couldn’t be up too long or it would be dead by the 26th and that’s no fun…

When do you take the tree down?
…because we wanted it to stay up until after New Year’s.  Then it was down before you could say “happy new year” because my mom would be so sick of it.  I always wished it could stay up longer.  Once the tree is gone the living room felt so empty and I was always kind of sad that all the festivities that we’d been preparing for and looking forward to were over.  I HATE when the party’s over.
Do you like eggnog?
Yes.  I didn’t used to, but now I love it.  I’m the only one in my family who does, so my mom always buys a one liter carton of it for me and I savor it.

Favourite gift received as a child?
The Barbie house my Dad had custom built for me by a friend of his who hand crafted them.  I still love it.  It’s a little outdated, but nothing a little
tender loving care by the household interior decorator can’t fix.  I’m going to work on it this spring and give it to Ella for her birthday.  I can’t wait.

Do you have a Nativity Scene?
I don’t, but I’m hoping to buy one in the near future.

Hardest person to buy for?
Jer!  He doesn’t ever go shopping, so he never has any real ideas as to what he would like.  So I never know.  And the things he does want are like $5000+ and that’s just a smidge out of my price range.

Easiest person to buy for?
Ella.  She’s such a girl that I could buy her just about anything pink and we’d be good to go.

Mail or email Christmas cards?
I love email, don’t get me wrong, but Christmas cards MUST be mailed (or handed to you).  Kind of like the Christmas gift in a gift bag…anti-climactic.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
My love language is gifts, so any gift is a good gift.  You’d think that someone who loves gifts would be hard to buy for because they are well versed in the gift giving ritual.  But I’m just happy to get gifts that there’s hardly anything I would turn my nose up at.

Favorite Christmas movie?
I don’t watch Christmas movies.  But if I had to pick one…the Nutcracker (either the ballet or figure skating version).

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Yesterday.  Usually I start in the beginning of December, but this year it just wasn’t the priority.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No.

Favourite thing to eat at Christmas?
Some of my favorites are the things my Grandma always made…sausage rolls, butter horns with almond icing, white “Grandma” cookies, sweet and sour meatballs…these are the things that have made up my Christmases since I was old enough to remember.  And even though the last few years she was unable to actually make any of the food, I still associate these things with her and this year will be bittersweet.

Clear lights or coloured on the tree?
White.  Then you can add color with your decorations.  I’m a little anal when it comes to decorating the tree…need I say more?

Favourite Christmas song?
It’s a tie between What Child is This, Emmanuel and anything sung by Josh  (yes, we’re on a first name basis…I’ll tell him you said hi.  And I’m such a nice person, I let him be on Rachel Ray today.  How generous of me to share him, hey?)

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I’ve always been home.  All my family lives here so we stick close to home.

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Nope.  Don’t really care either.

Angel on the tree top or star?
Angel.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

We always did on Christmas Eve because we had a family gathering on Christmas Day.  I love that tradition because there is something so magical about sitting around the tree when it’s dark and the lights are twinkling and all the candles around the room give off a glow.  It’s so intimate and peaceful.  We have now stolen this evening for our kids.  I can’t wait to start making all the memories with my own family.

Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The fact that recently Christ is being taken out of Christmas.  The fact that some anonymous minority is trying to take our holiday and change it.  Us as Christians don’t infringe on other religions rights to celebrate their traditions, sing their songs and give their greetings, so why is ours being sabotaged?  The fact that it’s being said that it’s offending people.  What about the 80% of North American’s that DO celebrate Christmas?  Any worries about offending us?  Think about that.

Favourite ornament, theme or colour?
Don’t have any one.  Right now my tree is just a bunch of matchy-poo stuff that I bought for cheap so that it wouldn’t look empty and pathetic.  But I intend on starting to collect unique ornaments to put together something that actually suits my taste.

Favourite for Christmas dinner?
The lunch we always had/have at my Grandma and Grandpa’s…turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham, meatballs, did I mention gravy? salad, jello, homemade “Grandma buns” (which is now being passed to my mom as her job), and pie of course.

What do you want for Christmas this year?
Design books, a new mp3 player, and then I’m always up for surprises. I LOVE surprises.  It means someone put thought into what they got me and that shows love.

So there it is.  I feel much more Christmassy, thank you for indulging me…if you made it to the end.  I know, it was long.  Now I must take myself to bed so that I’m all refreshed for getting up to make 2 trifles for Jer’s work party tomorrow.  I don’t get invited to his work party, but I get asked to make the desserts.  What’s up with that?  Not that I’m bitter…not at all.  I’m just a SAHM who would love the chance to get dressed up and go to a party and socialize, but nnnnooooo.  Aw, well.  I’m a party all by myself.  Maybe I’ll just walk around in my bridesmaid dress tomorrow and dance to my current favorite song…

“Don’t got a motor boat, but I can float your boat”

Now THAT is something to look forward to : )

posted by erin on Dec 19

I’m in a good mood. Things are just kind of slowing down into a nice kind of feeling around here. It’s been crazy. The year has been crazy. Between finding out about my dad’s drinking problem, my dad having cancer and surgery, moving out of my house and away from my neighbors (sniff), being back at my parents, and losing my Grandma, I’m kind of ready for 2008. I’m thinking it’s going to be a frickin’ awesome year. I just feel it. I think I’m going to focus on 1) my family and spending more time doing things that really count with them; 2) my friends…lots of entertaining; 3) myself…exercising regularly (this has been the best year for that so far, hoping to be better in ’08), working on my hobbies, getting better in the design field.

So what’s making me smile today? I started my Christmas shopping today and will be hopefully completing it this evening on a shopping date with my hubby. I got a beautiful package in the mail from my Christmas swapping buddy (pictures to follow at a later date). I sent out 2 packages to friends…even though they will only get to them after Christmas (not much I could do about it during the last few weeks). I bought the girls adorable little outfits for Christmas…this will be the first year my mom hasn’t sewn them something to wear, but I didn’t expect her to, what with everything going on. I got a VERY unexpected phone call yesterday from someone I haven’t really talked to in a year and a half. She just decided to call me out of the blue. I’ve been waiting. I knew she needed space, so I didn’t chase, I didn’t pursue and seemingly now it was the right time. I’m still in a little bit of shock, but it was a good surprise. Our house is STILL on schedule. This feeling of surprise shows me how bad my faith has been lately. I’ve been praying for our house to stay on schedule, yet still expecting it to take longer. God is showing his graciousness to me in the fact that it’s going smoothly and on time. It’s not a huge deal if it’s not on schedule because we don’t have to be anywhere by any deadline, but He knows how important it is for me to have my own home and He’s blessing us hugely!

On that note, my brother started shingling the house yesterday and the drywall is done. The taper started today so it will be ready for paint right after Christmas. How neat is that? Last night Jer and I went over to the house and spent a couple hours foaming around the mouth windows. I’m feeling quite helpful…insulating, foaming…turns out I’m quite a handy broad. : )

Well, off to my shopping. Wish me luck.

Oh and one more thing that makes me happy…Michael Buble…ONE MONTH : )  : )  : )

posted by erin on Dec 17

I got this forwarded to me in my email and I laughed…hard!! It was exactly what I needed to read this morning. I woke up with my resolve firmly in place to stop eating so many sweeties in the next couple weeks, but after reading this…ah, who cares.

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare. You can’t find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later than you think. It’s Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat step #3.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people’s food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across some thing really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:”Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”Have a great holiday season!

So there you have it. Words of wisdom!

Here’s a picture of Janice and I from the wedding which went really well. The ceremony was beautiful, held at the flower conservatory at one of the big parks around here. The reception was small and intimate at our local reception hall. We had Chinese food and cheesecake. Lovely! Janice was nice and relaxed and the whole day just went really smoothly.

On Saturday we had our annual Christmas party with 18 of our closest friends and we had a blast. Minus the fact that we had to leave right after supper to go to my Grandma’s viewing half an hour away and then come back after it was over. We ended up staying at the party until 2 a.m.

Yesterday was my Grandma’s funeral. It was nice. We had the service and then a lunch. After the lunch we made our way to the cemetery in our town and did the burial. We left the kids at Jer’s parents for the day as I didn’t think it was necessary for them to be at the funeral. They are too small to understand and it was easier on us to not have to deal with them all day. We stayed at Jer’s parents for supper and then got a message from our friends inviting us to come for coffee. As tired as I was, it was nice to relax with friends at the end of a day like that and just laugh and visit. It was what I needed.

On a side note about my Grandma’s funeral, a tragic thing happened right before.  A couple from our town who was on the way to my Grandma’s funeral were in a car accident and the woman (who was in the passenger side) died when their vehicle wrapped around a tree on one of the boulevards.  He’s in critical condition.  What a terrible thing to happen.  What a waste.  Now someone else has to bury their wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend.  My Grandma died a peaceful death and we were all at peace with that.  This death was so senseless and untimely.  My heart goes out to that family and all their loved ones.

Now I think I have to focus on Christmas seeing as it’s 1 week away. I’ll start and hopefully finish my shopping this week. Are the rest of you all ready for Christmas?

posted by erin on Dec 13

In the midst of the chaos of my Grandma’s death I have forgotten to post some things that I’ve been meaning to.  It’s rather a long one, so I hope you can make it through.

~First off some pics of our family time making the gingerbread house and decorating the Christmas tree on Sunday (click on the small ones to make them bigger)…

The tree is very pretty and the girls had fun.  Aidan didn’t really do much hanging of ornaments as she would get too frustrated with trying to get the hook to stay on the branch.  So she contented herself with sitting in front of the tree playing with the ornaments.

~ Saturday we had a great evening out with Chris and Tara.  We went for Chinese food and a movie.  It was so great to go out and just relax and laugh.  The food was awesome and the movie, “The Bourne Ultimatum” was really, really good.  I was quite impressed.  I have to say that I was a little confused in the first 2 movies and so had kind of written off seeing the third.  I’m very glad we did see it.

~ In between the supper and the movie we had an hour to kill so we went to Walmart so I could look for boots.  The reason I was looking for boots was because I was told I would be helping with insulating so I should get some “proper footwear.”  I suppose fashion boots with 3 inch heels are not “proper.”  Whatever!  So I was on the quest to find footwear befitting a cold night in an unheated house.  I was rather disappointed with the selection of boots and the sizes available in what was there.  The only pair I found were these and I didn’t think Jer would appreciate the cuteness of them for the single reason that they were meant to be functional to wear for insulating.  So I put them back on the shelf, asked the nice sales person to show me some work type boots and proceeded to find a nice pair of insulated hikers that I thought would fit the job.  At this point dumb and dumber Jer and Chris showed up and Jer took one look at the hikers in my hand and wrinkled his nose.  “You’re NOT getting those are you?  What about these?” and he picks up the white pair that I had first liked and discarded.  The man gets me.  He appreciates my style.  That’s how I ended up with those.  You know it would not be suitable to be wearing ugly boots in case someone showed up at the house whilst I was busy working.  Must put the best foot (hee, hee) forward at all times.

~ Monday and Tuesday Jer and I (and Chris on Monday) worked until 1:00 a.m. insulating our house.  We thought we had all week to finish up that job so we were not really in any hurry.  On Monday we got lots done.  We finished all the exterior walls and Chris and I started on the bathroom using sound-proofing insulation (so anyone who is at our house and is in serious need of privacy…it’s all good…I know, I made sure).  On Tuesday Jer got a phone call from the guy doing the poly and drywall asking if he could start Wednesday morning which was a week earlier than he was going to.  Well that got the party started like nothing because you NEVER turn down a trade who wants to come in early and put you back on schedule, uh, uh.  Jer informed me that we would be working until we were done.  So I showed up at 9 pm and away we went.  I finished up all the rest of the insulating myself while Jer worked on other things that had to get done before the next morning.  It was a long night, but we got it all done.

~ Today I managed to order all my flooring and backsplash tile, ordered the girls bedding from Bed, Bath and Beyond (see below) and the drywall is being hung as we speak.  Weather cooperating we have roofers lined up for Monday.  In a weird and wonderful twist of serendipity we are back on schedule and I should be painting after Christmas.  Time to get those paint colors in order.  I have all the main colors picked and now I just have to wait for the bedding to arrive so I can finalize the girls rooms.

Ella’s bedding (she’s very excited)…

And Aidan’s bedding which I absolutely ADORE!!!!  I’m so glad she’s only 2 and doesn’t have opinions really (I tried to get Ella on board with this one, but she was set in her mind that she wanted the one above).  I slyly showed Aidan this one and the one I had originally picked from Sears and she pointed (two times) to this one and said that it was hers.  Well twist my rubber arm : )

~ This Saturday is our annual Christmas party with our friends which will have to be interrupted to go to my Grandma’s viewing.  Then on Sunday is the funeral.  My brothers and 4 other male cousins are the pall-bearers and my cousin Sharon and I are honorary pall-bearers so we have to walk behind them.  Then hopefully once the weekend is over I can start to concentrate on Christmas.  Haven’t started shopping and it will be a week away by that point.  Definitely time to get busy.

If you made it to the end of this, thank you for your time.  Thank you to all of you who sent me and my family well-wishes in your comments.  It was much appreciated!!

posted by erin on Dec 11

My Grandma just passed away about an hour ago. She went into the hospital on Saturday because she was not feeling well. I’m not even sure what to write. I’m sad. For my Grandpa who is alone now. For my mom who has lost her mother. For myself because this is my first grandparent to die. At the same time I’m happy for my Grandma. She was so unhappy and she was ready to go. Her life was a very hard one. She lost her first child to crib death (or SIDS). A number of years later she lost another child who was hit by a truck while crossing the road to go to the school bus when she was 7 years old. She was told by her doctor to try and get pregnant right away after the second child’s death because it would help her to heal emotionally. Seventeen years later that child was killed in a motorcycle accident. That’s when my grandmother stopped existing.

I guess you could say I never actually knew the real woman. I only knew the woman medicated heavily. But this woman I loved. Dearly. She was kind, compassionate, funny, loving, generous and so many other things. She made some of the best food in the world. She sewed better than anyone I know. She always had the prettiest flowers and the best vegetable garden. Her home was always a place of love and warmth. My favorite memories are at her house. Sleeping over, helping her in her garden, baking buns with her, sitting in her sewing room in the sunshine playing with my toys while the constant whir of the sewing machine hummed in the background. The time she would take to do special little things for me that meant so much. She would sew tiny, little clothes for my Barbies that were far prettier than anything you could buy in a store. A couple weeks ago she crocheted tiny blankets for my girls for their dolls even though half the time she didn’t remember who they were. The long standing family joke was that everyone wanted Grandma to have their name when we pulled names for gifts at Christmas because she always gave the most thoughtful gifts. This will be a memorable Christmas for whoever it is that grandma had.

The hardest thing for me is the fact that she recently stopped remembering who we were. The day I went to her house and I gave her a hug and said I love you and she looked at me kind of confused and said “I’m sorry, I don’t know you.” That’s really when my Grandma died. But I still loved her till the end. We still treated her like we always did. I’m sad that my kids will probably never remember her. And likely they never knew the real her to begin with. Ella will probably have faint memories all her life. Aidan will not.

My heart is aching right now as I try and remember the last time I hugged her and said goodbye when we were there to visit last week. When I kissed her leathery cheek and I said we’ll see you soon not knowing that it was the very last time I’d see her alive. But that woman must be rejoicing right now as she holds her 3 long lost babies in her arms again. She finally has peace, I’m sure.

I love you, Grandma.

posted by erin on Dec 9

We’ve been having some pretty amazing sunrises and sunsets around here in the last few weeks.

We all complain about how much we hate winter in our part of the country. How insane we are to live in such a climate. As much as I HATE winter driving and the hazards that go along with it, I have lots of fond memories of winter in the country on my parents farmyard.

Today we spent the afternoon as a family, just the four of us, decorating a gingerbread house, dancing in the living room, and just having a lazy day. It made me remember all the reasons I loved winter growing up here. My parents yard is 10 acres and that provides a lot of room for a child’s imagination and wanderings. So I’m letting my nostalgia get the better of me today as we sit inside out of the cold…

Winter is very cold where I live, and the clearer and sunnier it is the colder it is, but it has such a stark beauty. Everything sparkles and glistens. The way the shadows dance across the untouched snow, the branches bowing under the weight of the new snowfall, the glittering expanse of a white blanket that bring out the child in you and for some reason you just really want to run across it and make the first footprints or build a 6 foot snowman…it’s so beautiful and it seduces you outside to be a part of the loveliness. It only takes a few seconds to realize that the sun is fickle and that there is no warmth there. The biting wind takes away all the sun’s glory and sends you scurrying back into the cozy warmth of the house.

I used to go out on clear nights when I was a kid, bundled up against the chill and trek across the front yard to the very center. When I was past the reach of the light spilling from the house and fully ensconced in the darkness that can only come from living in the middle of nowhere, I would dig out an Erin-sized bowl in the snow and settle myself into it. I would lie there with my head resting in the snow pillow I had made and watch the Northern lights and the glittering stars. I would watch my breath as it puffed out above my scarf and than gently landed in little ice crystals that stuck to the fuzz on the edge of my scarf. I would think and talk to God. I would dream and sing. I would stay out there in the moonlight until I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes.

Then there were the days my brothers and I would wander off to the back of the yard in between the old graineries and sheds along the tree line where the snow had piled up 7 and 8 feet high. We would create a whole maze of tunnels and rooms and spend hours playing in them. Sometimes my dad would come with us and and help us build an igloo with a little smoke-hole in the top. Then he would build a little fire and we would all sit in there bravely drinking our hot chocolate while the smoke stung our eyes not wanting to admit that it was a truly uncomfortable situation.

My dad used to build us an ice rink in the back yard every year where I could practice figure skating and my brothers could play hockey. One year he even converted an old barn into our own private arena complete with penalty boxes, bleachers and a heated area for putting on our skates. It was heavenly to be able to skate for hours without having to brace yourself against the wind.

These are the kind of memories I want to give to my children. We will always have reasons to hate living in the cold, but if we can remember some of the good times, it makes the long 5 months of winter that much more bearable. Not to mention we enjoy the other 7 months of the year so much more.

And one more thing that makes winter enjoyable…

Fun new boots!

posted by erin on Dec 7

Here’s my dress that I’m wearing for Janice’s wedding next Friday.  Not the best pictures, but it gives you a glimpse of what it looks like and the color.  I’ll post pictures of us from the wedding (where I won’t be hiding my face and my hair that needs to be washed…kind of takes away from the lovely dress).

sorry for the spotty mirror…and here’s the back.

posted by erin on Dec 5

(click to make it larger) Go here for more Wordless Wednesdays.

posted by erin on Dec 3

I’m here.  I’m alive.  Just busy and I needed a break from the internet.  Dial-up just sucks the life and time right out of me.  So what’s new around my neck of the woods? 

**I’m going to be a bridesmaid next Friday for my friend Janice.  I know I haven’t said anything previously about this, not because I didn’t want to talk about it…I didn’t actually have anything to talk about until a week ago.  That’s when she told me she was getting married on December 14 and would I like to go dress shopping this week?  Huh?  Okay, they’ve been engaged for a few months now and she had officially asked me to stand up for her at that time, but they didn’t have any solid plans until last week and then it was “okay we’re getting married now!”  Talk about last minute. 

So off we went on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. with the intention of buying a wedding dress for her and a bridesmaid dress for me.  She had this idea in her mind that she was just going to get a real simple dress for herself, nothing fancy, don’t need to make a big deal about all this.  Come on, Girl, it’s your WEDDING!!!  Anyway, a few hours of trying on beautiful dresses changed her notions just a little.  The dress is definitely more “weddingy” than she intended to go for (I personally think it’s fabulous on her…Alfred Sung…what’s not wonderful about Alfred Sung?) and she looks so classy and gorgeous in it. 

I found about 18 dresses that I could have bought straight off the rack.  All gorgeous.  All different.  Loved them ALL!  How do you choose?  See the thing is, I’m the one and only bridesmaid and she wanted me to pick my own dress.  Color, style, everything.  Well, if you know me, I’m a little bit of a princess and at first I was worried that I would not be able to find something simple enough for the style she was going for.  I really, really badly wanted to wear a pretty, elegant gown, it being a wedding and close to Christmas and I’ll probably never, ever get the chance to be a bridesmaid again seeing as all my friends are married after this.  In the end our dresses compliment each other perfectly and I CAN’T WAIT to wear mine.  She’s picking mine up tomorrow, so I’ll get my mom to take a picture of me in it for you all to ooohh and aaaahh over  : )  Let’s just say it’s the prettiest dress I’ve ever worn and if I could redo my wedding dress I’d probably wear a similar style.  Happy sigh!

**Our house is continuing on in the forward state.  Jer has started putting the paper on the exterior in preparation for stucco (which won’t happen till spring).  Today plumbing and electrical rough-in started.  Yesterday Jer informs me that the plumber will be starting today and we need faucets for the tub.  So I quickly went to Home Depot and picked out some Pfabulous Pfaucets : )  Hopefully we can start insulating next week…and when I say “we” that means me too.  Apparently I’ve been recruited to help with that.  Should be interesting!  Still waiting on the roofers who were supposed to start on Friday, but it’s been so cold this last week that they haven’t been working much.  Hopefully they’ll get some warmer days so they can work.

**I found Aidan today in the bathroom with the door closed, naked.  When asked why her diaper was no longer on her bottom she replied that she was going to the bathroom.  “On what?” I asked.  She pointed to the toilet.  “Right there!”  I asked her repeatedly if she actually went pee on the potty and she said yes every time.  I still don’t believe her, seeing as she has been most adament that she is not going to pee on the potty.  I guess I have no choice but to at least give her the chance to prove me wrong.

And that’s all for now.