christmas shopping

you can laugh all you want and yep i said it. i've been christmas shopping today on-line. i got my nieces and nephews the pillow with their names +christmas 08 on them. i also got one for kaylee and ham too. and right now they are taking 15% off. just type sweet in the coupon code box. you can find them here: sweetwater street

i want the bag and a butt load of towels too. but i just got 3 new bags from bath and body works. they're doing a promo- spend $20+ and buy the bag for $5.00. they're pretty large bags and thought they would make for a great add on item for gifts. i would post a picture but too lazy plus it would screw up my blog that i've already started. weird how it does that. {might have to order myself the bag after all unless i can win it on their blog, fingers crossed}

last year instead of buying mike christmas presents i started "happy sports season" day and it usually happens right around the start of football season. i like christmas to be all about the kids. this year i didn't buy any miami dolphins gear since he has,like, tons of it. i went with chicago white sox stuff instead. i also had a few boston celtics items on hand but decided against them after ordering the margaritaville tub and tap party cooler though that's actually mine if we ever divorce. also thought i would wait till we actually move into the new house to get him the celtics fat head. if you've got a sports fanatic in your family + the money and if they have the room check out the website. really cool wall "stickers". i did end up with a few michigan wolverine items for him and the last thing was a 24 pack of kona beer. found a place that will ship to go ol' indiana but when i went back to order, they were out of stock. figures. ah well, not quite football season yet so i still have some time.

lake winona

yesterday kaylee and i went to the village at lake winona down in warsaw. the village at winona is a little shopping/eating area on the lake. it also hosts grace college. there really isn't too many places to shop. most are art galleries which i can not afford but it was still very cool to look at. i did manage to spend a little bit of money at whetstone woodenware. bought the small biscuit cutter and the round breadboard. not really modern but i still like them and i also like supporting our local artists and shops.

we ate some lunch at the boathouse. the food was not bad. nothing spectacular but still good. we walked across the street from the shops since they had a great courtyard for kaylee to roam around. she was pretending to be a butterfly + a mermaid or a butterflymermaid. i got to see some fabulous houses. i loved this first one and would have loved to seen inside. bet it was gorgeous! i love old houses and seeing them being taken care of. i wish i had gotten some pictures of the shops. they were bungalow style and the mailboxes were just neat details.

we walked back along the shops and got some much needed ice cream. {yeah, like i really needed that!} and we walked along the channel some more. i was going to head over to the park area but thought against it. i had a hard time getting kaylee to leave as is. if she had seen the playground, well we would still be there right now. next time we go down we will take mike with us, a picnic lunch and it will be a full day dedicated to the playground and walking around the lake while i take some pictures.

wednesday ramblings

no word on what they thought about the house. i seriously don't think its ever going to sell which could be an alright thing i guess. just trying to see the positive side of things. all the equity we have in the house would make for a nice savings or could take us back to hawaii a few more times.

mike has been gone all week and found out he wont be back till sometime saturday evening. he's being projects manager for a big production up in riga, michigan(?). hopefully everything goes smoothly for him. the nice part about mike being gone is that kaylee is a much better child. she listens more and whines less. she knows who has more patience for that stuff ahem,not me. tonight was rather a boring night. felt i could of used a red bull + vodka but we have no vodka. since the house is clean, kaylee and i will be trying our luck again tomorrow and head down to lake winona for an adventur {lunch, some sight seeing and maybe some shopping too} we both need a change of scenery.

been a busy morning already. got a house showing between 3-4 this afternoon. the lady already sold her house so she needs to find something fast and she definitely wants our school district. fingers crossed that this is going to happen. better get back to work. got the basement to sweep up and just some touch up cleaning on the main level. be back later.

the things we do around here

in order for us to see ham let alone see him with a smile on his face, we let him think he's kicking our butts. this was last thursday. he must of been bored and in a squirrely mood. love kaylee raking his hair and going after him with her dora baseball bat. i got my chance to kick his butt too.

a different kind of an adventure

at noon friday we had a meeting with the other construction company to get the numbers for them to build our house. we knew they would be more expensive but didn't realize they would be that much more expensive. for them to build, it costs the same except they are not including the lot. in other words, they would be almost 40 grand more expensive. guess we are going with our first choice. it was just nice to be able to confirm who we wanted to go with plus we have heard nothing but great things about team construction. and now we are just waiting to hear back from the gentlemen who has looked at our house twice. he told his realtor that ours is/was his favorite but his wife to be didn't like all the steps to the house. they had 6 more houses to look at this past week. hopefully they didn't find anything as nice and will be calling us with an offer. fingers- crossed. positive karma flowing.

saturday we headed over to watch my nephew play football. that's him in the number 60 jersey. it was a great game, we won 14 to zero. {he's in the 4th-6th grade league and he's a lineman}

after the game, mike and i along with kaylee decided to head down to lake winona in warsaw for an "adventure", as kaylee was calling it and picnic lunch since we have never been down there before plus its closer than new buffalo. we ended up taking a little detour and was heading back to go the other direction when mike noticed there was something wrong with the car. good thing he wasn't going very fast and we were nearby a shopping plaza and gas station. he lost all control of the car. he could turn the steering wheel but we had no brakes. we ended up stopping on the wrong side of the street but at least we stopped. had to call a towing company and my parents. while waiting for both of them, we ate our lunch in the car. a guy stopped and told us that his buddy would be able to fix her up since he had a shop nearby. we declined because he wasn't sure if he would have the parts to fix her since it was a land rover. he told us it was the tire rod that's broke and that it shouldn't be very expensive to fix which made us feel better. we figured at least a grand. the guy said maybe 50 bucks.

thank goodness my parents weren't too far behind the tow truck because it was hot out there. they took us out for ice cream and we got to see some of the shops before heading back home. {not too much to see but it was really beautiful. definitely need to go back so i can get some pictures} kaylee ended up being a good girl and mike didn't go postal so it ended up being as good as you can get, different kind of an "adventure".

hawaii or bust

{lahaina}

since schools started again, i'm going back to my poor sleeping habits again. this morning i woke up around 4:30ish and couldn't fall back to sleep. just knowing that the alarms going to go off keeps me awake plus i was thinking about hawaii and how much i miss it. {seriously, i have a heartache because i miss it so much} and it didn't help reading flirting with forty either since she writes about it and mentions all the places we visited. i still need to go through all of my pictures and post the highlights etc... will do soon. i hope. but for now i can tell you about our cruise. the cruise itself was great- got us to each island and got to sight see. the food was good too. not outstanding but decent enough. the rooms were tiny but we did manage to fit all four of us and our luggage but we were not in there for long. just to sleep + shower. now norwegian cruise line i would not recommend. they sold a boat and i had a hard time getting my in-laws booked onto the new boat, our room was dirty- left hair pins from previous travelers stayed in the room till i threw them out, the person who cleans our room hung those car air freshener's in the bathroom below the sink, can we say ghetto style?? had to wait over an hour and 30 mins one night for dinner- there was 17 or so of us but they said that we didn't need reservations, etc.... every night we were told different things. cant wear shorts if dining in one of their fancier restaurants, come on- this is hawaii!!!...and the buffet style dinner was chaotic!! i almost got hit daily in the head with other peoples plates. everyone was walking everywhere trying to locate the different types of food they had. and the entertainment wasn't very entertaining. this cruise line was for an older crowd that's for sure. i've been on 3 other cruises before this- all carnival and they are what they advertise- the fun ship!!

6:30 am is hard

today is ham's first day back to school. hard to believe he's a sophomore in high school already. even harder to believe he's almost a licensed driver. they say time flies when your kids are little. it seems time flew twice as fast once ham hit 6th grade to now- where did those years in-between go?

and i picked up this book at target yesterday and stayed up till after midnight to finish it. i have read all of her books except her harliquin ones. this one by far was the best probably because i so relate to it.

it made me think about my life and whats in it thats making me happy besides the obvious {kids, husband, my few friends} still thinking........

and i ran 3 miles yesterday with my sister -in- law, terri. about died but i didn't stop once to walk. need to keep doing this and start some p90x yoga now that we are getting up at 6:30am!!

adventures + birthdays

saturday before kaylee left for mike's folks house we took her over to our local park and had an " adventure" and went for a little hike. {didn't want mike to have to carry kaylee on the way back} it was nice getting outside for some fresh air and to take advantage of the warm weather. i think we might be doing this again over the weekends. here's kaylee running fast and racing mike.

once again i had to bribe kaylee with some ice cream in order to leave.

and sunday while i was preparing a birthday dinner for my good friend, kim, i decided to get in the festive mood by drinking a little glass of frozen margaritas. lets just say i was glad that most of the food was already prepared before i started drinking that.....i felt just a little woozy afterwards. just a little. here's some pics of kim opening her presents. and one of her pretending to blow out the candle on her ice cream cake that her husband got for her.

menu: sausage jalapenos, shrimp salsa, queso dip, chicken, shrimp + steak fajitas + buckeye brownies.

yummy!!

friday

friday we headed up to new buffalo and did a little shopping before getting a bite to eat. we ate here like i said we would. it was yummy. and i finally wore my poncho that i had ordered from lucky.com that the pioneer woman has too. {we both saw it the same weekend, she just happened to have bought it then}

we headed over to the lake after lunch and went to the water. kaylee was die hard on wanting to get her suit on because it was "hot" and she definitely wanted to go swimming. then she realized how cold the water actually was. here she is looking at a butterfly. she loves butterflies. and the beach. i had to bribe her with ice cream in order to leave.

while mike and kaylee sat eating ice cream, i went and checked out whatever shops were left. during this time, i feel my cell phone in my purse vibrating. it was mike trying to find me. i also saw that i missed two other calls from our realtor. the guy that came and saw our house a week ago wanted to come back between 5:30- 6:30 which meant we didn't have a lot of time to get the house in order since it was already 2:45. we hustled out of new buffalo and got home with an hour and half left for cleaning. thank-goodness it wasn't extremely messy but it still wasn't in showing order or at least not in my showing order. mike mowed and got the lawn taken care while i busted butt inside. it got done in time. and now its 2:35 monday afternoon and no word. they had 2 favorite houses that they wanted to see and ours was the last one on the list. i'm still not giving up hope. they have a lot to consider and good things come to those who wait, right?

fingers crossed

the guy that came to look at the house last friday and said this is his favorite house so far came back today with his wife and guest {we drove by the house as they were going in}

they will love the house and we will have an offer soon which we will accept. thats what i am hoping for and it will be very soon, like this weekend.

will post about today and have pictures to share later. good night.

i've been a little sleepy lately from watching "the badass swimmer" swim his way to the records book and gold. michael phelps is one smooth operator and it's a little sexy watching him swim as he glides in the water. {other male swimmers not bad to look at either - just fyi. can you say 6 pack?} to fill in the days time, kaylee and i headed over to our local mall for a slice of pizza and bread sticks, a subway sandwich for ham and some looking. the looking turned into buying. i managed to squeeze 3 tops in while kaylee waited to go pee pee. did manage to walk out of hobby lobby emptied handed though it was tough. they have canvas's and paints on sale. i want to start painting! i also want to learn how to knit or crochet. and i still want to make this apron.



waiting for grand revival to start selling the pattern. {found on grand revival's blog}

and ever since we've gotten home, i've been on-line shopping. didn't i say we're trying to save some money???? i found this to be on sale. instead of $350.00 i got it for $99.00. it holds bottles/cans and ice on top and in the middle you can add another liquid type beverage{margaritas} to be poured out of the tap, see it? we do have get togethers and superbowl parties and hopefully a pool next summer. i also got this on clearance. its a salt or spice holder. i think its pretty cool and since i use the big kosher salt now it will come in handy to leave on the counter top.



i bought the yellow one about a month ago but found it to be too bright for my kitchen. i decided to keep it instead of going through the hassle of returning. maybe i can find someone with a yellow kitchen who would like it.

new buffalo

this saturday we were going to head over to this place to celebrate kim's 43rd birthday. we did this last year and had a great time and i was definitely looking forward to it. its in new buffalo, a small town by the lake, which is about an hour away. the food is good but its the atmosphere that i love. takes me back to my younger groovy california days.

unfortunately the plans have been canceled. after reading the speckled egg this morning i was reminded even though i live in a boring town doesn't mean i cant visit the places i love. so this friday, mike has the day off and i or we will be heading up to new buffalo to check out the shops, eat at stray dogs and for me to take lots of pictures. when it was just ham and i, we would go almost every weekend and stay the nights on my parents boat. we would go miniature golfing {which has been turned into an apartment complex} and get a pizza to eat on the boat because the lines at redimaks was way too long, read books and color till it got dark. the next day we would hit the lake and walk around town and get a bite to eat and ice cream at nancy's. we would head over to light house mall in the nearby town or catch a movie. come back and spend the night again on the boat. we would also drive around looking and wishing for cheap housing and for me to find a job so we could just live up there. there wasn't too much at the time but its grown since then. i wouldn't mind living there now.

hindsight

while i'm doing a good job wasting today away by reading and trying to find other blogs to read, i've found many who are fascinated with the olympics which is fantastic. i 'm in awe of this badass swimmer. i feel the 'high' that i use to get when i watch him swim. too bad my swimming stuff is in storage. i have a picture similar to this. i wish i had taken swimming seriously back in my days. not that i would of been made it to the olympics but it would of been interesting to see how far i could have gone.

decisions decisions

sunday we headed over to middlebury since they were having open houses. i figured why not since we have still have some time and to make sure we definitely want this house and for them to build.
plus they were all in the same neighborhood. we still like the house and all but liked this one even better.

the layouts are pretty much the same but the second one was smaller square footage wise but felt so much bigger. we would change the garage to go in the angle, change the master bedroom to the opposite side which will add some square footage. it will be pretty much the same as the first house but without the office room, i think. we meet with the construction guys tomorrow with the floor plan changes. i'm afraid they will be too expensive but at least we're narrowing down what we want and don't need.

porch

i had posted about redoing the front porch. here's a before of the porch.

here's the paint job number #1

and wednesday night while kaylee was gone, this is the type of stuff i can accomplish without any distractions.

and i love it much better. it blends in with the house and doesn't demand attention or stick out like a sore thumb. friday we had someone come over and look at the house. this is what the realtor told our realtor. its his favorite house that he has seen so far. he took pictures for his wife. after hearing that, i was almost in tears. i couldn't have been happier. it gave me some hope that this could finally happen. hopefully they will come back for a second look real soon. {if you click on the picture it will enlarge it. and of course booah had to be in the picture}

quality time

wednesday afternoon, as i sat reading a book {the frog prince by jane porter} in the sun, by the window, i stopped and listened. silence. ahhh much needed silence. much appreciated silence. ham was at drivers ed and kaylee had just left with nana aka mike's ma to spend the night in laporte. after picking up ham from drivers ed we headed to mishawaka to do some clothes shopping. went into hollister and ham found these shorts, a pair of blue jeans and a couple of t-shirts while i got this blouse even though i shouldn't have and some lotion and body spray.
.
and if i would have known that this sweater was at abercrombie, i would have gotten it too. i might have to make a trip back to the mall for it. {i love cardigan sweaters!}

went into pac sun and find nothing and that was the end of our shopping spree. {yep, ham only likes 2 stores}we did hit cinnabon for some cinnamon rolls for breakfast since there is nothing here to eat and we did grab dinner at chik f let or whatever its called. we need a chik f let around these parts of the woods. its yummy. even though i knew this before, ham really is a chronic complainer. he complains about everything and i did want to push him out of the car once or twice on the way there . but i also knew that he was kidding around. it was great being able to spend a little one on one time with him. he's really funny and smart and handsome. not sure if i've posted this before but with his hair the way it is now- he looks like his dad and the other night when he came downstairs to talk to me about something, he sounded just like him too. fortunately for me we haven't seen or heard from him in 9 years. unfortunately for ham.

fortune telling

at 1:15pm today someone will walk into this house and buy it. for a great price for them and at a decent price for us. amen.

if i wasn't so freakin lazy, i would find a before picture of our front porch. instead i will explain that it was white with "red bricks" painted on it and it looked nice when i first moved in and it still looked nice till a few years ago when we had to have our retaining wall fixed, i mean rebuilt. we had the guy also fix some of the front porch and he did an awful job- cosmetically. i mean, the concrete wasn't smoothed down so it would stick out like a sore thumb and since he didn't know how to make it look like "red bricks" the patchwork stuck out like a sore thumb too. going on the advice of my female parental and husband, i went and painted it grey. i thought light grey would look better than dark grey so this is what i did sunday evening.

i like that its all one color but i don't like the color. i should of gone with my gut instinct. i can see the outcome in my head and this is exactly what i thought the grey would look like though not as blue. it demands too much attention and i want it to blend with the house. i think black would look cool but i'm going to go with white. why not just keep it since we want to move? because i still live here and have to look at it everyday.

my kitchen swap partner got her goodies the other day and left me the best comment. she loved my goodies and would of given me 10 hearts out of 5 if she could. she said this was her best swap ever! i aim to please. this is what i sent out to her. she loves red + gingham. the apron is a plain kitchen aid apron- very heavy. i took out the strings and added red gingham ribbon. got her some baking tools that she requested, since shes a baker and cooker i figured she probably already had a lot of cooking utensils, and i made her recipe cards that was stamped with "from the kitchen of TINA", and i covered a photo album with red gingham fabric and stickered recipes on there. i just hope they stay on. i also added some spices that i didn't think a lot of people used on a daily basis, still bummed about the savory salts that i posted about before.

and this is what i sent out for the first name swap. she has the prettiest name and nickname. i hope she likes what i sent her. i had a lot of ideas but had to take in consideration the weight issue since i was shipping it over seas to france. ooo lala theres a small tote bag with her name on it, i wish now that i had stitched her name instead of doing an iron on, a scrapbook with embellishments so she can document her vacation. she loves the sea + ocean so i picked this out because of the colors and if she never had scrapbooked this is so simple that she will be able too. i also made her a bracelet with her name on it.


again, i think i will take a short break from swapping. they get to be expensive plus i have one for september. she lives in singapore and this will give me some time to find the goodies with no other pressures.

monday night dinner

i think i might have mentioned this before but almost every week my parentals host monday night dinner for me and my 2 brothers and sister + all our families. that's eight adults and nine grandchildren though ham misses a lot. he usually retreats to the computer so he feels if he's on the computer there, he might as well be at home. dinners are random: cheeseburgers, chicken, homemade pizza etc... whatever my female parental feels like making that day. after dinner we all went outside since most of the kids wanted to go swimming. they had a balloon fight first. that's jake getting soaked by one in the first picture. kaylee had to borrow a swimsuit from one of her cousins because i didn't plan on staying long so i didn't bring hers. {mike's out of town this week} the blonde girls in the other pictures are my oldest brothers girls. and the one boy is my other brother's boy. his other son had football practice. and the last row of pictures is granny being pushed in by the grandkids. they definitely got a kick out of it. most of the time, monday night dinners are not this much fun. its usually dull and sometimes boring. it will all depend on someones mood. last night everyone must of been in a great mood. i got a chance to make fun of my dad a little and we took a jog down memory lane.