brain dumping monday

1. i finally got mike to give in and say we can sell the caddy. the having no car payments for a while really was the deal maker. {the money for car payments will go toward the pool payments, hopefully this spring}

2. having a teenage son who can drive has made for an exciting year. he got another run-in with the law last night. an off duty officer was taking a walk around his neighborhood and saw a sheriff's hat in ham's car and reported it.

3. talk about irresponsibility on the sheriff's department. they said stuff, even guns, get stolen from their cars all the time. and the on duty officer admitted that hats' fly out or can be left behind {which was the situation in our case. we got the story later from one of ham's friends}

4. we didn't return it to our local sheriff's department because we didn't know it was a real sheriff's hat. thought it was a gag hat or halloween custom. the on duty officer remembered ham from his previous run-in and said ham's not making very good choices. not good for ham. so i had to tell ham to keep a low profile for awhile. they will stop him for anything and everything especially if they see him as a "trouble maker".

5. need to start making wiser choices on grocery shopping. been slacking on what i'm buying and how much i'm spending.

6. birthday dinner party was a lot of fun saturday evening. food was delicious and kaylee was well behaved for her "sitter". over stayed once again when we went to pick her up.

7. decided to throw a girls only party the day mike leaves for miami. show him! ha! we don't need stink'n miami.

8. not doing very well on working out lately. guess bribing myself the j.crew pants isn't enough motivation.

9. speaking of no motivation- i had it saturday to make my own tomato sauce to freeze but was super busy and didn't have the time, sunday was just another ho hum i don't feel like doing anything day for me.

10. going to copy cat from another blog and start calling these posts "brain dumps" because that's basically what it is. though its not a full copy because i added the day of the week to mine.

bribery

i seriously love these pants from j.crew! i love them so much that i'm bribing myself into shape in order to buy them. {i love the shoes too}

on my mind friday

via bliss

1. going to be heading over to shipshe today to meet up with some other moms + kids from play group. going to do the merry go round and eat a pretzel thing. also hope to find some amy butler fabric for the valance + bench. and i hope to stay away from the chocolate covered gummy bears.

2. sad that my favorite things swap partner did not get her goodies yet. stupid priority mail. so now i am on the search for more of my favorites. which shouldn't be too hard.

3. speaking of favorites. i LOVE godiva chocolate covered strawberries. got myself 2 little bags of them yesterday and they were gone by the end of the day. the hour to be exact.

4. i also took back the brown comforter and exchanged it for this one. got it for 30 bucks. while i'm not into the plaid, i got it because of the price and for when i do get a duvet cover from ikea, i have a comforter to put in it.

5. while going on a walk around the pond, i hopped on mike's back. kaylee thought it was the funniest thing. when i got down she asked if that was fun. i told her no and she asked its because i don't like heights right? funny girl. {it was because my hu-mung-go boobies were getting squished}

6. tuesday went and got mike his happy sports season present- a tv over the bar area. i thought of this a few years back, instead of christmas presents he gets his stuff now since its pretty much sports related. waiting till christmas, he cant use or wear anything plus i want christmas to be all about the kids.

7. ham really wants a different car. not that he's being greedy, he just wants an older, smaller car. something he can buy stuff for it. his car now, he has a hard time finding rims to fit without spending tons of money etc.. etc.. being his mom, i want to do what makes him happy. it works out for us too being that insurance would be cheaper, we would have no car payments. now to convince mike....

8. going to try and make my own spaghetti sauce tonight. a mom from play group gave me tons of tomatoes and two huge zucchini's. need to get baking too.

9. tomorrow night we are finally going out to dinner for my brother's 40th birthday and parents 41st anniversary. no kids allowed!

10. i love my friends! while i might not be the most outgoing, talkative, mature person, its nice having some understanding support.

i need to grow up

this is the view from my front porch taken early one morning. i picked it because its calm + peaceful and its to remind me that life's to short to be catty or so high school. this morning i hurt someones feelings unintentionally. its a joke between mike and i but i got caught. while the person and i are not close friends, the thought of "is this how i want my daughter to be? or is this how i want to be remembered by my husband, person whose feelings i hurt or by my friend who i had to share my plight with?" came to mind as i was putting on my make-up moments ago. it isn't. so i vow to never do it again. i need to grow up and be an adult.

foodie blog love

i've been wanting to add some vegetarian meals to our diet. so i was really glad to have stumbled on fresh 365. its been in my favorites folder for awhile but while looking for a nice dish to serve guests over the weekend, i finally got a chance to read through and look at the recipes. not only do they look delicious but they all sound delicious too!

{1. mini carrot loaves w/pineapple cream cheese; 2 .chickpea curry wrap; 3. flatbread w/gorgonzola, carmelized onions +arugula}

on my pouting mind tuesday

1. look what i got in the mail yesterday! my sweet and very generous friend gave us a housewarming gift card eons ago {ok, back in march} and i finally found something miller worthy to use it on. being in the new house, i now want white plates so i got these and these to start the collecting with. {12 each}

2. friday, i also got my jane porter goodies that i won from her blog. sent from hawaii: hawaiian chocolates, starbucks gift card, a hawaiian calendar and a book mark. {i also won a barnes and noble gift card but her assistant was out so that will be coming later}

3. i wish i could receive mail like this everyday.

4. meet kaylee's preschool teachers yesterday and they both seemed very nice. kaylee cant wait for school start- she's doing the countdown.

5. went and saw the time travelers wife saturday. i thought it was a very good movie- well done considering there's a lot of details in the book.

6. went and did some birthday celebrating after the movie on saturday even though it wasn't MY birthday, i drank like it was.

7. parents are getting super close to opening their pizza joint. just in time for football season to start. smart people.

did i tell you its near notre dame? yep- smart people. {i am not a notre dame fan. i am a pizza fan though}

8. mama duck is down to 4 ducklings. i hope they are just going out on their own.

9. remember i received some amy butler fabric from my favorite things swap from kara? with help from christine, decided on a print that i'm going to make a valance and reupholster the bench with. will post when finished.

10. mike is going to miami in september to watch the dolphins play monday night football with his dad. i'm bummed! and i'm pouting.

on my mind saturday

1. this was taken the other day when we had some nice sunny weather. a little cool but kaylee + ben didn't care.

2. my husband hasn't even been home for 24 hours from being out of town for the week and he's already gotten on my nerves- twice.

3. still cleaning the master bedroom and laundry room. i wanted to finish cleaning yesterday but i started to fade...waking up at 6am took its toll.

4. can't wait for my girls afternoon out. movie {travelers wife} and dinner.

5. last night in between the rain, i went to feed mama duck + her ducklings. thought something was wrong because mama duck was quacking up a storm. as i was throwing bread to them, i saw that there were only 5 ducklings left. poor mama duck!

6. kaylee and i made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies yesterday. i think she just likes the chocolate chip part, imagine that.

7. ham took my car out mudding yesterday. thank god it didn't break down and it got stuck only once. its nice and muddy now.

8. on monday, kaylee and i get to meet her teachers and tour her pre-school. she's excited!

9. thursday spent the day out shopping. went to bed bath and beyond, old navy and tj maxx. found kaylee a few cute tops from tj maxx, like she needed more clothes but i couldn't pass up $5.00 ralph lauren t-shirts.

10. decided to keep my brown comforter and go for accessories to give my bedroom some color.

i love doing goodie swaps!

my box of goodies sent from kara for the my favorite things swap. excuse the very poor, the very bad lighting.

now the fun part- opening the box wide open to dig in. kaylee gets just as excited as i do. see that colorful stripped material there in the box? you wont see it again- that was a belt made for kaylee and she's wearing it. she loved it and was super happy there was something for her. {thanks kara!}

a box of pasta and kara's famous sausage pasta salad recipe + a very cool belt made for me. {is it just me or does it seem like there are tons of talent+ craftiness coming from utah?!} going to pair it up with a white blouse and my "shpants" (short pants via mike)

all purpose towels- which i LOVE! a big tablet of scrap booking paper + rub-ons and some amy butler fabric. i'm thinking of re-doing the bench i got a few weeks back in one of these fabrics. add a touch of girly to the house.

and some utah gourmet popcorn-yum!

i ended up eating the whole bag. and will now have to start running to lose the 3rd love handle i got from it. this was so much fun and i love doing swaps. its like christmas or your birthday in august!

ok, i cant show you what i sent to kara, i'm waiting for her to get her goodies which should be any time now. i was a loser and didn't get it sent out in time! in my defense, i was still trying to come up with something crafty to add to the box of goodies.

on my blog loving mind thursday

via follow studio + cute designs @jars of cute

1. i really want that side table and that kleenex/toilet paper holder. in the kids bathroom, ham insists in keeping a roll of toilet paper on the counter if there's no kleenexes. i would rather have them hidden. this would be a cute way.

2. i want hardwood floors. like real badly. i miss them. i wish my house had more character too. while it has a great layout, open space feeling + really tall ceilings, its pretty cookie cutter for my taste.

3. yesterday i cleaned the house like spotless and it feels +looks just awesome! only if it would stay this way. {still need to do the guest half bath, laundry room + master bedroom}

4. got me some baby love yesterday. while his mom was making dinner, little cam let me hold him. yeah!

5. if i could afford it, i would ask for some design advice from young house love, fresh nest or the lettered cottage. i would love a more polished look throughout the house. i think my taste is pretty modge podgy.

6. i want my kitchen/dining room to look like this and i want this some where in my house. {via bliss}

7. i found a comforter for my bed but now i ask myself "do i keep it because the price is right and i like it or return it and wait for something that i love? like this one or this one? or for an ikea trip?

8. waking up at 6am for the last 2 days hasn't been as bad as i thought. ask me next week, i might have a different answer.

9. mike's been out of town for the last few days. its so cute to hear kaylee talk to him on the phone. "hi daadeee"

10. i really need to update my side bar. obviously i have many more blogs that inspire me daily.

cedar point: day 3 {thursday}

the plan was to spend some time by the pool then leave early afternoon for home. mike said it was up to me if we stay or if we go. i had depeche mode waiting for me on friday and a day in chicago on saturday. i decided to stay an extra day. the weather was too perfect and with the fake palm trees, it felt like florida plus i was spending time with the whole family for once. {we did have ham cornered}

afterwards, we got ready and ate dinner at ruby tuesdays. not my favorite place and our waitress was one of those who thought she was soo busy that she forgot half of our stuff. after that we went miniature golfing.

kaylee will be one of those chicks whose all girly but very athletic. if we told her to hit the ball hard she would do the "billy madison" hockey stick grip and whack the ball. mike and ham had to watch out for those swings if you know what i mean.

ham making a face because he just made fun of me for biffing yet he did the exact same thing.

kaylee poking ham in the butt with her club.

which caught us all by surprise, especially ham. even though the pictures are crappy, i'm glad i got them.

kaylee ended up with a hole in one {she missed the ball on her first swing but made it in on the second one} and so did mike. he ended up winning, again. i came in second and ham came in third.

then mike and ham went go cart racing. ham said this was more his style and that he was going to school mike. which he did.

that's mike right behind ham. he tried to pass ham at one time but failed.

mike knowing that he got schooled.

it was really a fun night and i'm glad we stayed. with ham being a driving teenager, it was nice being able to spend some time with him. {he's expensive thats for sure. we went back to our hotel and i spent probably 10 bucks on vending machine snacks}

want to win a cool cruiser?

you must head over to the lovely list to win one of those cool bikes over on my sidebar.

on my sick little mind (not sick as in perverted)

picture taken at cedar point. nothing to do with post. i just like it.

1. i either have a cold or really really bad allergies. its so bad i cant even taste food! and we all know i LOVE food!

2. i didn't get much done yesterday. like that's anything new. mike had kaylee's car seat so we were stuck at home.

3. today is my oldest brother's 40th birthday and my parents forty first anniversary. that sounds funny- 41st.

4. i meant to share this blog for awhile. yummy recipes and photos to look at. its called sunday suppers. i want to make this sometime this week.

5. i love jane porter books and finally got her newest one. found out i also won some goodies from her blog. yeah me!

6. i recieved my favorite things goodies from kara yesterday. THANKS KARA-YOU ROCK!! i will post those soon. sending my favorites to her today.

7. i walked 2 miles last night.

8. my parents are going up to michigan again today so my dad can receive botox. {they were just there last monday} he's doing this as treatment for his headaches, which nobody has been able to figure out why he has them. i think it helps but i would rather have someone figure out the cause.

9. the weather has been crazy again. muggy, rainy, sunny, rainy and today its looking pretty sunny out. i want more rain.

10. funny thing- mike was walking to his truck sunday night. it was parked at the end of the driveway. on his way back up to the house, he felt this splatter and started to look around thinking it was ham and his friends till he started to smell the nastiness. a flock of ducks or geese must of flown overhead and they all dropped some on him at once. it was on top of his head, shirt, arms and shorts. he had just showered too!! now we can call him dodo head and mean it.

on my very sleepy mind

1. hope to not be "sleep deprived grumpy" today to this little nugget who is always wanting to play, laugh, eat and argue.

2. planned on running lots of errands today but my schedule is never set in stone.

3. loving the much needed rain this morning. suppose to rain all week. planned on going to the outlets tomorrow skipping play group. guess we will see how rainy it is.

4. woke up at 4:35am today with a stuffy/runny nose and slight sore throat from my allergies. of course waited till the husband left for work to get out of bed. didn't want him thinking i was in the mood for morning nookie ;O)

5. had an awesome mommy's day yesterday. did some very little shopping- i couldn't find anything and finally saw 500 days of summer. really cute movie!

6. disappointed with baby gap, old navy and gymboree. prices were still expensive for being on sale or they just didn't have the style of clothes i'm looking for kaylee to wear.

7. its either the clothes are getting smaller or i'm getting really big. a large top was too tight in the chest area. and for those who know me, i am not a chesty girl.

8. it did get me motivated to walk a really fast paced mile last night. i had to stop at the end to feed mama duck and her 6 ducklings.

9. good intentions on cleaning the house today. the fridge needs a good cleaning. kaylee's bedroom and toy room too.

10. only one more day to sleep in. school starts wednesday for ham.

on my mind saturday

1. there's a new sheriff in town and his name is ham. he texted me the other day that he got a new sheriff's hat. when he came strutting in, he was indeed wearing the hat, shades and to top it off, he was twirling his keys.

2. we finally finished our garage sale and made over 900 bucks. though we ended up losing 1 weed wacker. mike must of left it outside last night and now its nowhere to be seen. mike said i should be on the price is right. the stuff he thought wouldn't sell, i got sold. except for the motorcycle.

3. ikea is really calling my name now. tee hee.

4. i didn't get to see 500 days of summer last night. decided to spend dinner with my family and went to old navy to find some (pre)school clothes for kaylee. found her 2 outfits.

5. kaylee has been extremely bratty this week. what gives??

6. tomorrow i am sleeping for as long as my mind and body will allow.

7. my house is way messy. never got around to cleaning it all week except laundry.

8. getting old sucks! if your still young, start appreciating yourselves now! and don't let yourselves go thinking you will always be thin, non wrinkled, gray haired or any of your limbs will not ache for no reason at all.

9. my poor tan is fading back to indiana white.

10. why is it that men can speak their minds about dropping a big one and feeling 10 pounds lighter and people find it funny yet if a female does it- its gross? just wondering.

blog/etsy love

i don't understand why comforters have to be so expensive.

love this one ( $275 for a king size) and the shower curtain ($125.00) once i find where i found them at i will give credit.

and i also love joanna rutter's jewerly line.

so simple and a little delicate and lots of fun.

and i really love these glasses from cb2

found via fancy frills

so tomorrow morning i will be busy with our garage sale. lets hope for some fat cash to come our way.

front porch

last night i finally put the little table together for my front porch. here's the almost finished porched. just needing cushions for the chairs and a few more small plants on the table.

this is the whole view.

i forget how important it is to take a step back and to analyze the whole view. i'm liking how its turning out. the only thing missing now is maybe a plant stand or a small tree in the right hand corner and to take down the basket off the door. i want to keep it cozy, simple and inviting.

holla!

this movie is finally coming to a town near me this FRIDAY! holla! you will no longer have to hear me whine about it.

on my little mind wednesday

1. this is my take of the ferris wheel.

2. i know i said i should embrace myself as is but after seeing some pics of me at cedar point, it was just the motivation needed to start walking and to watch what i eat. i still eat the same but its all about portions and exercising.

3. i'm reverting back to my high school days and tearing out any magazine pics that inspire me to be me. i'm taping them inside my closet. mikes probably wondering wth? is she doing.

4. i miss listening to music. my music. ham and i use to dance all over the house while listening to the beastie boys.

5. finished reading the time travelers wife the other day. awesome book! hope the movies just as good.

6. yikes! i have over 3500 pics in my iphoto to sort through and get printed.

7. i cant believe my oldest brother is turning 40 in 6 days. he's going to chicago today to buy himself a sports car. {viper, xlr, bmw, porsche}

8. this week on facebook, it made me realize what a small world we live in and i still believe in 6 degrees of separation.

9. its funny how my comments sections goes. i get some and for a few posts then it all stops. then starts again.

10. i don't know how other mom's do it- take their kids out all day and still manage to have a clean house and dinner on the table by 5:30. today is yucky clean the house day.