its friday and today i'm loving...

the girls toes after their pedicure

1. the fresh air and breeze flowing through the house.
2. that school is almost over. {one more day after today}
3. great friends + family coming over tomorrow for a cookout.
4. that i finally got off my butt and got things done around the house.
5. kaylee saying "mom, i love you." at any given moment and place.

6. or when she calls me mama.
6. ham jumping on my bed with a silly grin on his face knowing that he's trying to suck up for some money.

7. for all the vw bugs in town allowing me kick mike's butt in a game of punch bug every day.
8. "famous" artists taking the time to email me back even if my questions are silly.

9. my new pair of gaucho pants. they are so comfy and light.

10. that my hair has finally grown out of the weird stage.

flowers + gut busting

kaylee's nails done on her bff's birth-date

1. i tried taking a nap already this morning but kept waking myself up when i would accidentally breath through my nose. {loud, weird noises}

2. my allergies have been waking up at night lately so by 8:30pm last night, i was ready for bed. of course, that's when i decide to start laundry.

3. been busy outdoors this week planting hydrangeas and flowers. replaced and fixed the sprinkler hose that mike cut. {and he was going to hire someone to fix it!}

4. liking the back patio now that i've got some flowers out there. just need an area rug and to extend part of the patio. {this is when i wish mike was a handy man}

5. kaylee was adorable yesterday at lowes. we saw a kids retro table and chairs and she kept saying how cute it was and how much she just loved it. of course i had to buy them.

6. after that she wasn't so adorable. while trying to find the perfect miniature tree at a different local flower shop, she complained about how hot + sweaty she was.

7. and later that night before taking over a birthday gift for her neighbor friend she dared to complain how she never gets all the stuff her friend was getting.

8. which totally pissed me off so i yelled "didn't i just buy you that table and chairs today?!!!" she said she was sorry.

9. so jealous of marina miller of red heart photography. she takes gorgeous photos and gets to live in hawaii.

10. one day last week while waiting for hamilton to get back from getting gas, i got to talk with two of his buddies. one of them thought mike was 39 years old. that had me busting a gut! {he's 5 years younger than me}

envy

i totally want her hair. the length. the color. via happenstance

i've been tagged!

by the super funny lady chantale from the adventures of skinny mini kiki. not sure how i landed on her blog but since we have daughters the same age its fun too see what kind of poses or funny sayings her daughter is up too. {she's definitely more adventurous than kaylee}

here's the rules to the tagging:

The Tag game goes as follows:
Go to the 8th folder in which you store your photos
Select the 8th photo
Post it to your blog and tell the story behind it.
After following the above instructions, you are ‘supposed’ to tag 8 other bloggers.

since i do not have 8 folders i went back 8 months and picked the 8th photo which landed me in september.

this was our first trip to hot box pizza that my parents had just opened on notre dame campus.

kaylee eating a breadstick which she has renamed doggy biscuits.

i am tagging the few that reads my blog. you know who you are!

monday crazies

sunday playing in the sprinklers. {wearing her new bikini}

1. last night at mnd [monday night dinner] i was told by mom that i have low self esteem because i said i want to lose my chicken fat {the area under the arm pit that hangs over bras + tank tops} and that i would love to start toning up some.

2. and she couldn't believe that i still make hamilton his breakfast every morning. she's afraid hamilton wont be able to do things for himself once he leaves.

3. i told her randy turned out ok. {my oldest brother + golden child of the family} my dad laughed at that one. her argument is that randy knew how to do things at hamilton's age.

4. i argued back saying hamilton does know how to do things. he's just being smart and using me while he can and this is why i stay home- to take care of my kids how ever they need me.

5. i found it weird that my cousin's wife was grocery shopping with her mom. her mom is not elderly nor was it for a few items. clothes/ furniture shopping cool. grocery shopping weird.

6. i'm craving for some nectarines. i like mine a little crunchy.

7. kaylee slept till 10am yesterday. welcome summer vacation! {i didn't mean for her to sleep that late but got distracted paying bills}

8. this morning is just beautiful. not too hot yet, sun shining, birds chirping, a little breeze coming through the windows.

9. my two azaleas that i planted kinda took a dive after that frost we had while down in indy. plan on replacing them with two huge rhododendrons and moving the itty bitty azaleas to the side yard.

10. and getting a miniature tree of some sort for the front yard to replace a sad looking bush and i think that's it for this year. i really don't know what i want to plant besides some peonies. how i miss my peonies!

life is good on sunday

1. taken today with my hipstamatic app on my iphone. cool isn't it? {thanks michelle!}

2. while cleaning house yesterday i got kinda dizzy and had to lay down the rest of the day. both mike and kaylee had friends over to entertain.

3. which allowed me to read and finish my book for bookclub. if you haven't read it, i highly recommend it!

4. my allergies are the worst they have ever been. and its causing some emotional distress.

5. i realized long ago but it came back to me again today because its her birthday. what i said about my frienemy is really how i feel about myself and i'm jealous of her friendship with others. {this sounds like it came from post secret}

6. i watched a few episodes of glee on the computer last sunday and am in love. can't wait for the lady gaga episode.

7. my pesky cat seems to be doing a little better. still need to take him to the vet to make sure he's a-ok.

8. 6 more days then summer vacation. kinda a relief that kaylee's already done. my days are more free now.

9. while mike was doing miscellaneous yard work i got him with water balloons and squirt gun. {it was hot enough outside that nobody minded getting wet}

10. i got ham with one water balloon. didn't want to make pretty boy mad by getting his new shoes all wet. {we finally bought a pair and i swear it took him two weeks to finally decide to keep them!}

catching up saturday + i'm a weiner!

1. i've been informed by the hamilton that this car is not what he wanted because its a manual, its not white with black interiors blah blah blah.

2. anyone want an ungrateful 17 year old? he does no chores nor does he pay for gas or work. {i know. he's spoiled and its all my fault}

3. i hurt my left arm twice this week by running into things {i'm a klutz}. inside + outside the elbow area. little bruising, swelling and minimal moving.

4. wednesday, kaylee + i went to a bounce house for her school. photos later.

5. thursday we went out to lunch + she got her nails and toes done with her bff + mom to celebrate bff's birthday. photos later too.

6. after this i don't think doing our nails at home will cut it for her anymore. {nah, she's not as spoiled as ham,yet}

7. i finally got my book for book club. {finally had it at target so now i don't have to drive 20-30 minutes to our nearest "big" city to get it}

8. my poor pesky cat is sick. he's moving very slowly today. as much as i pick on him and ask others to take him, i hope he gets better soon.

9. mike + kaylee took off for our nearest zoo. i'm not a zoo fan so i stayed home to "clean" house.

10. i'm also a big weiner! i won a $100 gift card to kayce hughs/pears + bears. i posted about the giveaway on my "photo shoot" with kaylee.

love this!

super cute milk cartons + cookie recipe "report cards" thats free for downloading! check out the sweetest occasion to get your downloads. {might have to use this for a birthday party idea}

catching up weekend style

1. last thursday kaylee "gradutated". {katie's mom did a little computer lipo on me- thanks michelle! just wish she would of agumented my boobs while at it}

2. graduation is bitter sweet. kaylee and katie will no longer go to the same school. kaylee's going public, katie is going private.

3. friday we went to the parents restuarant for dinner and came home to chill for the rest of the evening.

4. saturday we went garage sale shopping for a bit looking for a fridge to hold mike's beer, golf cart and bookcase for kaylee's bedroom. {decided to keep it as her bedroom. for the time being}

5. later we had our neighbor friends come over for pudgie pies {pizza pockets + blueberry pies} made over the fire pit.

6. sunday, mike worked on the lawn while i did laundry and rode my bike. ate pizza at my parents other restuarant.

7. i've kinda decided to go to my 20th reunion in august.

8. funny thing. my sister did end up calling me a few hours after i posted about her not calling me. {she doesn't know about my blog. i think.} it was a quick conversation. think she only called for me and/or kaylee to come over to distract her youngest so she could get her garage sale ready.

9. i texted my s-i-l, the one who had neck surgery, that i made them a lasagna and that i froze it. she texted me back saying that i can bring it when it was unfrozen. i thought that was a weird request. {i froze it just in case they wanted to eat it later in the week}

10. watched the season finale for desperate housewives and brother + sisters last night. desperate ended with a nice twist. and it will be interesting to see what happens on b + s next season.

mini photo shoot + someone else's giveaway

yesterday the sun decided it was time to come out and shine. since kaylee was having her end of school/graduation program thought it would be perfect for me to do a little mini photo shoot with her. bonus that we were going to be downtown waiting on ham to get his haircut. these are still straight out of camera shots since i can't decide on elements or pcs5. by the time i decide they will have ps 10 out.

i love how she puts on her headband. i had it on the "right" way but she changed it. its so cute. and her dress is from kayce hughes/pears and bears. what perfect timing, this morning saw on their blog that if you go to their facebook page and click on their like button, you get a chance to win a $100 gift card. her ruby red shoes are from target. i got them for 3 bucks and i made her headband. i actually made something!

and these are just some of my favorite spots. like i said, i was practicing. so glad kaylee loves to "model" for me.


it was still super windy but love how it made her hair naturally messy. and i love her rosy her cheeks get.

at the end it got to be pretty hot outside so we found a shady spot while waiting for ham to finish with his haircut. here she is playing skee-ball on my iphone.

thursdays ramdoness

1. remember when i said i wanted an underground trampoline? well this is what it would look like. wish my house looked like that. via a cup of jo

2. this morning i was thinking i needed a new smoothie recipe then i came across this. love it when that happens. and i'm going to try this thanks to dandee.

3. i've been told by some classmates via facebook that i've always been happy go lucky. never knew what that meant but now i kinda have a clue i think.

4. remember the last time ham was bad? back in march? well we had to deal with it yesterday {court} and we got lucky. {is that what they mean by happy go lucky?}

5. having a hard time making up my mind on turning kaylee's room into my craft room and current craft room into guest room. is it giving kaylee the wrong idea that she can sleep with us FOREVER or is it just wrong not to have a bedroom for her even though she doesn't use it? {she does have a toy room that she uses-sometimes}

6. ok. i know she will not sleep with us FOREVER but at this moment, i feel she won't move out till ham leaves for college. she will be 6 1/2 almost 7 by then.

7. i'm hungry for some hash brown type potatoes.

8. tonight is kaylee's spring/graduation program. {she still has a week left of school}

9. i wish i had a large, close family. my sister, my real and only sister hasn't called me back and its been since april 17th since i last talked to her.

10. and after reading the post on #9, i clicked and found out how to get bows to stick on babies heads. interesting. very interesting. {read the comments too}

i'm too old!

1. on our way home from preschool monday, this little stinker said and i quote " i know your not going to have a baby anymore because you're old. only young people have babies."

2. gee- thanks kid. [kaylee would be excited for a baby, ham would be just totally disgusted]

3. no, i am not pregnant. just talking babies.

4. love these custom hand and footprint stamps seen via little. lovely wonder if a hospital print would work.

5. i've been sneezing and my nose has been crazy stuffed up these past few weeks. so bad that its been giving me headaches as well. {so frustrating}

6. i'm sad that the cowboys didn't win the amazing race {they came in second} and if i ever see/meet jordan, i'm kicking him in the shins.

7. and on dancing with the stars, i still don't like nicole but love.love her dancing partner derek. he's just an amazing choreographer/dancer. wow. must watch this.

8. and if i had extra money i would splurge and buy bobbi brown make-up brushes. my makeover artist used one to put on foundation and it was softer than a babies butt. i even got a "free" one with my "free" blush. they make my mary kay brushes feel like porcupine needles.

9. one of my sister in law's goes in for neck surgery tomorrow. so i'm making them a lasagna.

10. while the weathers been gray and cold lately, its still a good life.

in love with fryd +design

even though its not in english, must check out the on-line magazine. such pretty photos and ideas. {loving the blog too}

afraid.

1. kaylee and my mom mowing the lawn on sunday.

2. my dad goes back to the headache clinic today. his headaches came back. they don't why he gets them or what causes them. good news, the last set of shots he got was suppose to last only 5 hours, they lasted a week. its a good start.

3. kaylee and i will be running errands today. fun errands.

4. hate that my craft room is downstairs. its so cold. hate that its still not organized.

5. finished reading sh*t my dad says. HILARIOUS! and should be our first read for book club.{hahaha} thanks michelle for the awesome birthday present and i'm glad justin's dad turns you on...err that i turned you on to justin's dad.

6. hate getting back from weekends away or vacations because my cooking does not taste as good.

7. pulled a kaylee this morning and took pictures of photos on my computer. hate it when i'm at a store and have an idea i wanted to copy but can't remember all the details. now i will have them with me.

8. pulled a mike over the weekend and left kaylee's goodies behind somewhere. went back to get them and they were gone. at least they were all on clearance.

9. tried to get a group of friends + family to do this next year. the winning couple from our "group" would win bragging rights and a trophy to show off till the next competition. no real interest from anyone :(

10. i think they're just afraid of mike and i. very afraid.

wickedly cool

found over at modish. her backyard turned into a super rad painting by leah giberson.

it would be so awesome to have her do our front and backyard.

this and other paintings can be found over at her etsy shop.

indy weekend

1. wednesday mothers guilt started kicking in. two days of my kiddos lives i would be missing.

2. friday after dropping kaylee off at preschool we headed down to indy.

3. we checked into our hotel {the omni} then went to get mike's race packet.

4. walked around some. saw my brother and his family + friends. then headed to pf changs for dinner.

5. saturday it was freaking cold. good thing i wasn't the one running or else i would of ran back to the hotel and back into bed. while waiting in the cold for mike to finish, i thought about how dumb we are. they do marathons in hawaii too.

6. mike ran great and got his 2nd best time. in a few weeks, he runs another race and hopes to reach his best time of 1:38. {he ran that 2 years ago}

7. after lunch, mike went on his way to watch sports and drink beer while i went shopping and did my make-over.

8. makeover was awesome. we did colors i would normally not choose/wear and it stayed on my face. {besides the lipstick but that's a given} that's me a few hours after my makeover and after a few rounds of shooting hoops, skee-ball and air hockey.

9. i ended up buying body lotion to match my perfume that i've been wearing. {for some reason our shops do not carry the body lotion} and a cute pair of shoes in black. i was going to get them in white too but they didn't carry my size. ate a late dinner. i had a tuscan pizza but couldn't taste it so i gave the rest to a homeless guy.

10. sunday we walked around town while waiting for pf changs to open. on the way home i beat mike in a game of punch bug. 11-1. {find vw bugs, yell punch bug then hit the person next to you}

after picking up kaylee, came home and found a mothers day card from the kids. what a great ending to a great weekend.

mmm...milkshake

i would not complain if someone wanted to make me one of these. via erin.ever.after

Slow Roasted Strawberry Milkshake with Crushed Malt Balls

Makes: 2-3 servings

Ingredients:

For the Strawberries:

1 pound strawberries, tops removed and halved

¼ cup sugar

1 fresh vanilla bean, seeds removed

Pinch salt

For the Shake:

1 pint, super premium ice cream (16% fat, low air)

¾ cup whole milk

¾ of the roast strawberries; save some for garnish

Garnish:

2-3 roast strawberry halves

1 tablespoon of crushed malt balls

Preparation:

1. Turn on oven to 250 degrees, Fahrenheit

2. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean

3. Break up the clump of vanilla seeds with finger tips.

4. Toss the berries with sugar, salt and vanilla bean.

5. Slow cook in oven for 2 hours, uncovered, pull and let cool

6. Crush 6 malt balls with a mallet or heavy pan

7. Place ice cream in blender with milk, strawberries and some reserved syrup. Blend until just mixed. Thin it out with milk if too thick.

8. Pour into glasses and garnish with reserved strawberries, syrup and crushed malt balls

lots of blog hopping + sharing

pesky cat- taken last night.

1. glad to hear my embarrassing moment made you laugh. i did leave out the part that i saw hot guy later in the store and as much as i wanted to stare, had to look away because i was blushing so badly. i got sweaty.

2. if i could ever get rid of my michelin tire, i would so buy this blouse and this blouse-click on middle image and this blouse.

3. definitely will give my review on the bobbi brown makeover session.

4. i ended up buying this planter (got an amazing deal on it!) the other day and can't wait to plant these seen on little brown pen. {i usually plant potato vines after seeing them in the planters up in chicago years ago}

5. before hamilton's dentist appointment yesterday i got to hear him whine and complain for about half an hour on why we have to go, he brushes his teeth just fine, its a waste of time *blah, blah, whine, complain*

6. he ended up with two cavities. booyah! and that is why we go to the dentist.

7. food sensitivity elimination has been shot this week. i don't feel like cooking nor going to the grocery store but for maybe one reason (see #1)

8. so last night we had tacos + leftovers from sunday, tonight its bdubs and tomorrow night hot box pizza. {eating for free is awesome}

9. this is mike and i though in most cases i have to yell for him {he's usually in his man cave} and then we miss the shot.

10. it stories, blogs and videos like this, this and this that bring me back to reality and to count my blessings.

i need help

kaylee helping with the fire on sunday

1. we just finished playing salon. she rubbed lotion on my "crusted" feet [her words} and afterwards i painted her finger and toenails.

2. she's a messy girl. toothpaste all over the sink, clothes left where ever she chooses to change her clothes, crumbs all over the floor...

3. this morning i was feeling a little guilty leaving her this weekend with my parents. then she got all bossy, whiny and pouty.

4. 3 more days then grub time at pf changs!

5. also made a make-over appointment for saturday with bobbi brown after seeing this post. i need help with eyeliner. ok. i just need help.

6. finally got my curtains in the family room + kitchen hemmed up. they were driving me NUTS!

7. found out our snobby neighbors to the right of us are old friends of my mom. twice we had to take over their dog and they didn't seem too pleased to have us in their yard. {mom was surprised to hear this but both mike + i said the same thing}

8. if i could redo our house i would definitely add a mud room like this black + white one.

9. what is said on this blog, stays on this blog. i only say that because i did something embarrassing- to- me last friday. see #10

10. at the grocery store i saw a good looking guy. while looking at good looking guy i was thinking "wow. he's hot!" only i don't think i said it only in my head. i started seeing people looking over my way. no eye contact was made. i just quickly left the area.

i love weekends!

saturday we spent the day over at my-laws for a cookout. kaylee would do the bubbles and quincy would try to eat them. quincy also likes to think he's a 9lb lap dog and would try to sit on your lap even though only half of him of would fit. kaylee had a great day riding her bike, taking the dogs to the dog park and flying a kite.
sunday while waiting for our buddies, the miller's, to come over for dinner. kaylee and i rode our bikes around the neighborhood. here we're laughing because i would ring my bell 3 times then she would honk her horn 3 times. the house with the dandelions is for sale or it might have gone into foreclosure by now. the guy that lived there decided to quit his job a year ago instead of taking a pay cut. its been empty for about 4-6 months now. and while kaylee and i were riding our bikes, another neighbor was moving her stuff out. the gossip is that her house is going into foreclosure too. {hate to see what this does to our homeowners association dues. we already pay double because we own two lots} more gossip is that her ex-husband was naughty and so was the other husband whose house is still for sale.

once the miller's arrived we went and enjoyed some shrimp, avocado salsa with tortilla chips by the fire pit while waiting for dinner to bake.

kaylee and my cute little buddy, ben, getting ready to chase our pesky cat who was coming out of the woods.

and my other buddy, sweet little cammy.

it had been over a month since we last saw the miller's due to them having out of country guests come and visit {her parents + brother from scotland} i couldn't believe how mobile little cammy got in that short/long amount of time! we dined on santa fe salad, a mexican bake, chicken enchiladas and that delicious chocolate cake from sam's club. christine brought over some to-die-for triple chocolate brownies. she is evil. so are the brownies. the rest of the cake and brownies will go into the freezer to be enjoyed on a later date. i'm starting my food sensitively elimination again today.

and to end another great weekend, my dad came home friday. he called yesterday saying that he has been headache free since wednesday. long story short, he got 6 shots injected into his skull for the hundredth time. hopefully this time they found the right combination to keep him headache free for awhile.