1.27.2012

Happenings this month.

• Wedding. My nephew and his sweet wife Sarah got married three weeks ago. So excited and happy for them; they're a great couple. We had the luncheon after the wedding in my backyard, which I must say is very well suited for a big party! Food was great, weather was perfect. We hung around all afternoon and snacked on chips and played games. Fun. Favorite quote of the day was from J - he came up to me while I was sitting at the table and touched my arm... "Mommy I wuuuv you... (pause)... do you want a soda?" Me: "Why Josh, do YOU want a soda?" J - "Yes." It was too funny. Juliana's pictures of the event are super cute, too. I need to download my photos and edit them and see if I got any good ones as well.
• Landscaper. It was time to hire someone, since N no longer has time to do anything outside of work, let alone mess with our yard. The guy's really good - and so you get what you pay for, right? Once the yard is in shape and new trees are planted this spring, we'll be looking for someone less expensive to continue.
• Road Trip. The kids and I headed down to Safford the weekend after the wedding to attend the reception. It was decorated beautifully, lots of white, lots of Christmas trees with white lights and touches of purple everywhere. Nice. Since Sarah's Dad is a DJ, of course there was dancing at the reception. Got the kids out dancing with me and my niece Cherie - they had a great time. M's favorite was the Cupid Shuffle. Nonnie Jarvis was SO CUTE out there dancing! And yes, we did the macarena. And the electric slide. Which is kind of tough in a pencil skirt and high heeled boots! J kept vying for the attention of my camera while he danced.
• Painting. Of course! N is WAY ahead of me, and has finished rolling most of the main area in the house now, so I still have lots of ceilings/baseboards/door frames to cut in paint around to catch up. It finally looks like we've made some progress downstairs! Everything is looking CLEAN now, which is great. Once it comes time to do trim and doors and ceilings, I think I want to hire someone - I'm about out of steam to tackle all of that!
• Stitches. I stabbed my finger making dinner the other night and ended up at Urgent Care to get three stitches. The tetanus shot hurt for a good three days afterward. I guess I'm supposed to be keeping the stitches dry - well, you tell me how the laundry and dishes and cleaning and bathing and feeding of children is all supposed to get done then? Nope. I'm just trying to keep it clean. But dry? Impossible.
• Reading. In full force around here again. A hardly does anything else while she's home. I don't know how much she is actually comprehending when she consumes 300+ page books in a day, but she certainly enjoys it. Need to find some kind of incentive because I want her to WRITE something about each book afterward, to help with her takeaway. She is not interested in a mom-daughter book club, but I am!! Need to think about how I can get her on board with that idea. M has actually started reading a lot more, too. Judy Moody books are just about her speed/size right now. J is learning to read too! He is constantly figuring out the buh-buh-beginning ("B!") sounds of lots of words. Working on ending sounds, rhyming, etc. He has a hard time distinguishing between "b"s and "d"s and "p"s. And "g"s is confusing too, with the different sounds it makes! Giraffe, ring, garage... you know.
• Registration. My baby is all signed up for kindergarten, wow. Debating whether to send him half- or full-day. Wish I could do half for the first semester, and whole day for the second!!
* Shots. As of today J has been poked five times in the last seven days. He's finally all caught up on his vaccines, but the flu shot made him sick, darnit. He's currently taking a nap, enabling this blog posting session.
• Shutters. Aaaaah, I know it's a total indulgence, but shutters have to be one of my top 10 "things I love" in life. Seriously. Now we have two more in the family room downstairs. Which makes my kitchen look even shabbier! Ha. Love the quality of light in there now - just makes me want to lay down and read a book all the time!
• New glasses. Hallelujah, they're on their way. Hopefully I can pick them up Monday, if not today. Let's hope that I can actually read with both eyes open now. Just getting a new Rx, sticking with the same frames, heavens, don't want to go through that selection nightmare anytime soon.
• Gymnastics. We've started up again as of this week - this time including J in tumbling too. I'm going to take each month at a time, and evaluate whether it's worth it. For A? Definitely. The other two? Not so sure.
• Pool. We've started thinking about the "epic pool remodel of 2012". I have some fab ideas of what it could look like - of course, I have no idea if we can afford any ideas at all, let alone any of my fab ones.
• Vinyl. I wouldn't call it a steady stream of business, or even a trickle... maybe a slow drip? I've had a couple of custom orders each week keeping me going. As of this week I've gone international, ha, and shipped my first order to Canada. The shipping cost was more than the sign I shipped though, ridonkulus.
• To-do list: Lots of finishing touches: cutting in paint, a ceiling fan to be installed, outlet covers to be put back on, doorknobs/locks installed, outdoor lights put back up, weather stripping put on door jambs, smoke detectors installed, and finally, the last of Christmas decorations to be put away!
• Calling. This is more on the to-do list than the "happenings" list. I need to focus and have more of a plan/structure with these activity day girls, it's kind of a disorganized mess every time we get together!

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