weekend recap

friday kaylee and mike went bowling with one of mike's co-workers, wife and kid.  they came back to see the new house afterwards and stayed for awhile.  kaylee and abby got along great and had fun feeding the fish in the pond, playing in the backyard and riding the jammin' jeep together.  once they left we headed over to the big mall with ham since he only had half a day of school.  my baby needed some new jeans and mama desperately wanted her new computer.  after trying on like 15 pairs of jeans, we ended up buying 2.  and ham, being a typical male, was already sick of shopping.  we headed over to granite city for some dinner.  hard it is to believe but this was my and mike's first meal for the day and boy were we starving.  the food is good but a bit pricey.  kaylee's kids meal, a bowl of pasta, ended up being $5.49 and you know she only ate like 3 bites.  we ended up buying a growler too after considering the refill prices will eventually pay off.  [a growler is a nice jug full of beer.  mike said he got about 4-5 pint glasses out of it] so we headed home only to remember that mama didn't get her computer.  mike was ready to head back but i didn't want his $25.00 beer to spoil.

saturday i took ham to take his drivers test.  he passed.  then we headed over to the bmv for the written test and new licenses for me.  did you know it cost 10 bucks for  a new one and all i wanted to do was update my address?  and did you know that both eyebrows have to be shown and no teeth in order for them to take your picture?  so now i really look like a convict.  ham ended up passing the written test- was there any doubt?  he missed 4.  8 is allowed.  some other kid missed 12.  i hope he studies.  so ham is now a legal licensed driver. my baby is allowed to drive.  under the circumstances, i am calm and ok with it.  ham is a responsible person {i hope i'm not in denial} and i'm glad we ended up getting him a nicer car.  no donuts in the parking lots, no flying over railroad tracks etc...  afterwards, mike and i, along with kaylee went to best buy and got me a computer.  a 24" mac.  and i am in love. i just wish i knew how to do all the things on it like with the pc. {i don't know how to change an image from a website to jpeg to post on my blog}  but it will only be a matter of time.   the rest of the evening was spent with brent and his daughter coming over for a little bit.

to end out the busy weekend, sunday we did absolutely nothing.  kaylee ended up getting her grub on.  she ate so much throughout the day that nothing was left for monday.

kaylee- she's a funny one

last night i was watching tv and laying down on the couch. kaylee asks if she can lay down with me and i said sure. she said ok- for 10 bucks. i said what? and she says i'm serious. i will for 10 bucks. she did drop the price to $1.00 then went back up to $39.99. don't know where she got that from. she's doing much better today. i got her some meds from the health food store yesterday and she did not have her coughing fit this morning and i didn't hear her wheezing while she was asleep either. yeah for the health food store! i got myself a netti-pot. one of those genie looking thingy to clean out the boogers and snot from my nose. its suppose to help with allergies etc.. i used it yesterday with no results. i will continue to do so until i am either all clear or sick of doing it. i will post the results later.

*moment of silence please* seriously. the house is still and silent. mike and kaylee went bowling and i have the whole house to myself. [i used the "i need to get the border off of ham's wall" as my excuse] just need some texas sheet cake to make this moment that much more glorious.

as of right now, the mac is winning the computer dilemma. i asked one of my photography/scrapbooking hero aka tina cockburn how she's liking her mac- she just got it back in december and she was nice enough to email me that she's loving it! so tomorrow is the big purchase day. i'm sure we will be coming home with not just a computer but another flat screen tv. [only reason mike is in a hurry for a computer] i wont complain though, it will be nice to be able to post some photos again.

ok, i just heard a texas sheet cake calling my name, gotta run......

looking for a cool camera bag? see jessica claire's shootsac shop. she's giving away a free cover [lively] till the end of the month.

dilemma

i got a call yesterday. it was an unknown number. but i answered it anyway. i should of known...nah, it wasn't one of those phone calls, it was about the laptop which ended up badly. the lady said that it will cost us about 1000 bucks to fix. it needs a new lcd, hard drive and something else. once i heard $1000.00 my mind started to wonder...like why is my butt so big and did i floss my teeth today. its really disappointing though considering the laptop was only 2 years old. we only got the one year extended warranty of course.

so the question i ask is: pc or mac? i like the pc just because its familiar territory but we seem to run into problems with them. then there's the mac. i kinda had to use one when i worked for a graphic artist. it does amazing things and from reading a lot of photography blogs, that's the one they all seem to go with. but i've also read that if you've got a problem with a mac then you have to send it out, poor customer service etc... so hmm... that's my dilemma for the moment.

went and dropped 100+bucks at the health food store. got us some multi vitamins, kaylee some cough medicine and me some nose cleaner outer thingy. i'm sick of taking all of my otc allergy meds. even after one day of not taking something, my nose is all stuffed and runny and i sneeze like a katillion times {too bad sneezing isn't some form of exercise. i would have abs of steel right now} hope all this stuff works.

whats been going on

not having a computer and having kaylee sleep from 8am till about 11:00, i got a lot done yesterday. 3 bathrooms scrubbed till they shined, windows cleaned, dinner made and my hutch is almost completed! {i'm not feeling so good myself} today its the floors and laundry. i tried to log onto hamilton's computer but failed at guessing his password- the little booger! made sure he had it ready for me to use today considering i have some bills due.

poor kaylee! she woke up this morning and started a coughing fit. thought for sure she was going to hack up a lung, instead it was just snot and mucus. which i will take over puke any day. she says her stomach and head doesn't hurt which is a good thing. she's a sleep right now. i feel so bad because i want to confine her but she's so antsy to go outside and play. found some medicine that hasn't expired yet so hopefully she will back to normal soon.

i felt really bad for hamilton last night too. he was in a sad or depressed mood. he even said he wasn't sure what was wrong. it breaks my heart to see him this way. i just want him to be happy! i want him to be able to say " i had a great and happy childhood" when the time comes for him to look back through his life. sometimes i feel like i have failed and wish kids came with instructions. [don't think i don't know that its good for them to go through all emotions because i do know its good for them but it still breaks my heart to see them unhappy]

thanks for the comments about my new do- still getting use to it. and i must post about my "hot babe" moment yesterday. so i went to meijer to pick up light bulbs and a few other things. of course everything is in the back of the store and of course i had to blow my nose. went back to the front and payed for my items and once back in the car, i see my reflection in the mirror and thought, what the heck is that. with closer inspection i see a piece of tissue stuck to my nostril. like barely inside so anyone who saw me, saw the kleenex hanging. talk about feeling like a "hot babe" for the rest of the evening.

weekend recap list form

1. kaylee and i are both suffering from colds. it sucks!

2. the laptop died. it will be at least a week before we hear if its worth fixing or not. i hope its worth fixing just because i was informed that new computer = new tv for the bar area. like 4 tv's isn't enough?!

3. i did know the laptop was about to die so i backed up my photo files just in time.

4. why are men so immature?

5. the weather has been awesome and i finally got to meet some new neighbors. and they have girls! and elle is close to kaylee's age too- yeah!

6. ran, mostly walked 1.5 miles saturday morning. sunday, my legs were killing me. note to self: don't wear heels the first day of getting any type of exercise.

7. i'm behind on the house projects. still need to: finish curtains, mom's christmas present, did start on taking down ham's border, paint kitchen and paint craft room. we would like to have a party the saturday before easter and i would love to have this all done by then!

8. got to go and do some shopping- alone. this is when sports on tv comes in handy. finally used my pier 1 gift card from last years birthday and bought some bar stools for the kitchen. looks great and need to go back and buy 1 or 2 more.

9. why are men so immature? {did i say that already?}

10. ham is ready to get his license this weekend. driving test on saturday.

fridays 10

1. yesterday was the longest day of my life.

2. we just returned from the farmers market. i love amish made furniture. i wish our budget did too.

3. in our budget is carmel corn and carmel apples. yum!

4. been feeling really tired lately. it has nothing to do with me consuming large quantities of sugar cookies, brownies, donuts or cheesecake. no nothing at all. it does have something to do with my middle being really squishy and my heiney getting large and in charge.

5. finally broke down and bought a water dispenser.

6. this morning i woke up and put face cleaner in my hair and i ended up taking the long way home from the farmers market. yep, one of those days.

7. the cat is really pushing our buttons. he peed once again on mike's leather command center and possibly on the floor in random spots. thank god its all been downstairs lately.

8. i got a chance to go out by myself last night. stayed out till about 10pm. whooo. went to pier 1, marshalls and target.

9. i'm procrastinating doing hamilton's room.

10. not sure if i'm liking the short hair. i like the feel of it but not sure about how it looks. judge for yourself:

mike's old

few pics from mike's 32nd birthday cookout on sunday. cory, one of the guys that works for him. cory's wife and kids came later. one of mike's best friend, gary. and his wife, kim who has become one of my best friends. {can you guess how old they are?} we've only started to hang out with kim and gary about 4 years ago but our boys have known each other and have been friends since they were 3 years old. when you see them together, we call them rob and big. {mtv show, rob's a short, white skateboarder and big is his big, black bodyguard.} tad and christine, who i hope to become one our best friends. i wish i had gotten a closer photo of them. christine is due anytime now. she's the cutest pregnant lady i know. their cutie pie son, ben. he's got the cutest, chubbiest, most loveable cheeks! and you know you've got great friends if they're willing to do a little bit of work. they helped get the swing set put together. kim was helping me by telling them that the tower was leaning so they had to move it again a smidget. cory showing off his ba dunka dunk.
cory's two boys, blane is the one on mike's back and colin was feeding him goldfish pretzels. {kaylee has a little crush on blane but dont tell her i told you that} and this is just a little taste of what went on. too bad i didnt get a photo of all them because there was a lot of beer consumption going on.

kaylee's playdate

we invited katie from playgroup to play for a few hours. they started out by totally messing up the toy room which does not bother me anymore because its downstairs, hidden away, in mike's mantuary. hee hee hee. then they came upstairs to play outside. that's katie telling kaylee that its ok to come on down even though kaylee was scared to death because of a bug. they had great fun chasing each other and swinging. super cute to hear them laughing. then i took them around the pond to see some ducks and the river. its so funny to see how different the girls were. kaylee's calm and looks to see where she's going while katie runs around, not caring where she's at and throwing anything and everything into the water. i finally had to tell katie to stay on the path, just my luck that she falls into the pond! her mom would of loved that! {hi michelle!}

after checking out the river, we headed back home for some lunch. i made a frozen cheese pizza, pretzels, orange slices and a sugar cookie. of course, the cookies were eaten first then the pizza. nothing else got touched. {kaylee checking her emails} after lunch they played in kaylee's room playing dress up and being princesses until katie's mom came to pick her up. we will definitely need to do this again. for one day, i didn't have to hear "mom, i'm boring. what can i do?"

friday i went to get my hair done with intentions of keeping it long and adding some layers instead i got some balls and walked in with this as my inspiration. i like it. then i don't like it. obviously i don't look like the person in the picture but yet it feels awesome and freeing. after the hair appointment we literally spent the rest of the day buying a second family car that hamilton will be driving to and from school. yep, we got a 2004 caddy cts and its sweet. i lost time today and didn't get a chance to do my photos but i will- someday. after purchasing the car, mike and kaylee drove it home while i went to the grocery store. once i got home, kaylee asked me if i drove home the crap rover. yep, even a 4 year old knows that her big brother is driving a better car. i wont be driving it much, its too low for me. i like to see over my car. but like i said its a sweet ride.

saturday was spent cleaning and hanging out with mike's parents. then out to dinner to celebrate mike's 32nd and his mom's 50th birthday. ate at yummy hani yori's and came home nursing an awful lactose intolerant episode. i had a pina colada with my dinner and didn't have any lactaid pills with me. to kinda give you a feel of what i went through- think of being the sweatiest you have ever been with the worst cramping you've ever had with the worst case of the flu minus throwing up with your worst case of food poisoning. i wanted someone to kill me. and it lasted pretty much the whole night. mike ended up going out with his buddy later that night to continue his birthday celebration. {mike and his brother after dinner}

i spent sunday cooking and baking for mike's birthday dinner since i didnt get him anything. (his acutal birth day) we had a few friends come over and grilled out cheeseburgers. i also made stuffed mushrooms, jalapeno stuffed peppers, snicker apple salad, homemade mac-n-cheese, turtle cheesecake and lots of beer. everything was delicious and the company way awesome! i love moments like these and hope it continues all summer.

will have more photos soon.

more later

via: you are my fave

i will have more to post in the morning after i download pictures from the weekend. let me say it was a great weekend and the weather made it just that much better. hope everyone had a great weekend too. {this isn't kaylee but isn't she adorable? a post isn't a post without a cute photo}

i finally made myself a hair appointment. i seriously can not remember the last time i got a haircut besides it was last fallish. i tend to wait so long that i seriously want to do a drastic change. should i go short, medium or long? here are a few images that i found via google:

i wish i had the balls to do this short hairstyle. i've decided to keep it long. i want to see how long i can get it but am needing some style to it.

yesterday was a fantastic day. i got the house super duper cleaned and it felt fantastic besides it smelling super good. now i just have the other side to do. today kaylee and i played hookie from house cleaning and went to UP mall. of course i found a cute skirt outfit for her. just waiting for the weather to get warmer...and i also got her a few tops for next winter. this is how i justify her having so many clothes. they didn't have much of a variety for me. think i need to head up to michigan city to hit the outlets.

teary eyed

while this is not one of those great photos, i still love it. and i totally hate it. this is the future. this is kaylee in 12 years. yes, my eyes are misty....

*sigh* times like these i wish.....

the mammoth men are at it again. read about their road trip here.

we do have a life...

last thursday a few of us mom's from playgroup got out of the house without husbands + kiddos. we met at the vine, one of our local downtown establishments and had a great time. at least i did. nothing beats conversation about potties, movies and giving birth while eating great, yummy food. i had ordered a drink which ended up being yucky and to make it worse, it cost about 7 bucks but the big chocolate peanut butter cupcake made up for it. here are a few pics from the evening.

{me- being the photo whore i am} i definitely need a new wide angle lens. mine is broken and had to take some of these with my nikon 550. i would really like to sell this point and shoot. not that its not a good "purse" camera but its not up to MY standards plus i've had my eye on another one much to mike's excitement. speaking of mike, this is how i found him and kaylee once i got home.

decorating daisy pink cupcake style

when it comes time to remodel the master bathroom, i want it to look like this: and i love the wall color here and i love plants. my house would be full of them but scared to see what our pesky cat would do. and this is kinda cool. all images via: daisy pink cupcake.

still working on the house little by little. started to paint the hutch i got on friday. went with white but will add some kind of flair to it, maybe. and i'm hoping to finish kaylee's room and the kids bathroom to show this week.

so ok

how scary is this? {teenage son driving}

sundays 10

1. i loved the rain this morning. not so much the rest of the day.

2. still trying to come up with a photography name. don't know where my "creativityness" went.

3. took a bath today in my tub and it was fantastic. it has jets. jets!

4. really loving the house and everyday i feel blessed. i know i say this every single day.

5. mike's best friend and family came over on saturday. grilled some cheeseburgers and made bayou boston beans, shrimp + avocado salsa and dirt pudding. it was all yummy!

6. friday, i found a hutch for the dining room. it was half off! just need to paint it.

7. brother and sisters is on in like 5 minutes and it looks like its going to be GOOD!

8. still don't know what to do by the front entry and what to put in the kitchen. bookshelves? glass coffee table? big candles? a small table and chairs. UGG!!

9. when did it become so hard to lose weight? back in my younger days it was kinda easy. guess all the swimming and running helped.

10. signed kaylee up to start pre-school in the fall.

finally

we finally had some spring like weather yesterday so kaylee and i took advantage of it and walked around our property. this would be the first time for me to see it without any snow. now i knew it was large (almost 2 acres) but to actually walk it and to be able to walk to the pond from the front door, it made my muffin top do the wiggly jiggly. feeling totally blessed. and oh man did it feel good to get my camera back out. here's just a few of kaylee. have tons more but they will have to come later.

for some reason, kaylee seems just so much older and maturer than from last week. her conversations and her vocabulary is killing me. i've been letting her pick out her own clothes too. so far nothing too extreme except maybe not enough layers for this crappy indiana weather.

and ham must think we have puff daddy's money. cant wait to get him his car so i can stop hearing about it and he can start getting a clue on fast money goes. *sigh* teenagers. as aggravating and as annoying as he can be- i still love him. he's my lil' baby.

and i'm starting to see the light at the end of the moving tunnel. starting to get this house to feel like home even though the dining room still smells like cat ass. {i'm the only one that can smell it. i have super sensitive smellers} so today, i'm depriving kaylee of her gym time so i can clean house then a friend and i will be heading over to an antique shop. i'm hoping to find a bookcase and a buffet. here's another photo of kaylee looking very mischievous. {don't worry, she didnt do anything to the cat}

$1.50

you can get a years subscription for $1.50. this ends march 15th so go and order now. via: coveiter, again

tartelette

i would love to be able to make creations like these:

and the photos are gorgous!
images via: tartelette

weekend fun

so friday kaylee and i headed over to shipshewana for some material for kaylee's curtains and my mom's *ahem* christmas present when i heard someone calling my name. it was stacy from the order of disarray. it was really cool to finally meet someone in person that i met on-line from blogging. she's just as beautiful in person as she is on her blog. hi stacy!

saturday i got the husband to go to ikea again. it had nothing to do with him getting his big tv, riding lawn mower and white sox wall paper. nope, no guilt trip from me, no never. this time around we headed to bolingbrook which is on the outskirts of chicago. it made the trip much better because it was much faster- 2 hours and no traffic! i got my white coffee table and a few other things. since i am a copy catter, i had to copy nate and jac from the image is found and got a few of these for my hallway too. next ikea trip- no husband or kid.

sunday was spent cleaning up some and napping. (the monster +vodka i had saturday night kept me awake) then over to a friends house for dinner. christine made yummy fajitas with homemade tomato "salsa" and guacamole. we had a great time but i think i embarrassed mike a little by making him bring his own beer. i didn't want him to be a rude guest and drink all of tad's beer. i brought dessert- striped delight and will post the recipe on my other blog called bites. hi christine!

this week has been busy and its only tuesday. trying to come up with a baby gift for a mom from our playgroup. i made a few baby blankets and would like to find something else to go along with it but coming up short. i am loving this from coveiter makes me want to throw a baby shower. i love parties! then this morning mike emails me wanting to know if i would make dinner for one of his co-worker that's coming from out of town. so i spent the day cleaning, grocery shopping and making chicken+ dumplings, salad and cheesecake cupcakes. it turned out pretty good considering i haven't cooked an actual dinner in like a month. hopefully this will bring me back to "normal".

she always seems to make us smile

this is from the night we actually got to move in. after about 6 large u-haul truck loads, mike and i went to drop off the u-haul. came home and found ham and kaylee in his room. he was unpacking and she fell asleep on his floor while wearing his sweatshirt. it was the sweetest sight. just what we needed after a very long and tiring day.