shopping + some etsy love

short story- boden gave me a $20 gift certificate for filling out a short survey for them. they are offering free shipping too at the moment so i went and shopped their sales. i ended up paying a little extra but i absolutely love this outfit. i wanted the belt too but no such luck.

and i love everything from larimeloom's etsy shop. if only i didn't have my dunlop tire around my mid section. (just saw that someone bought the top from in the first pic. i am sad.)

since repainting my kitchen, i want to decorate it differently getting some art work up instead of what i had before. my wonderful friend christine brought me back a scottish tea towel that i still need to find a frame for. i thought one of these tea towels from keep calm gallery would look awesome on the other wall beside it.

debating on which one to get.

brain dumping tuesday's edition

me, painting the last areas in the kitchen. i'm on top of the fridge

1. i dont like my new kitchen color. i LOVE it!

2. the entryway and hallway to the kids bedrooms is already in the works. its already a whitish color but in dyer need of a fresh coat. using the same color as the kitchen which is the same color used on the kitchen cabinets at our old house. raw linen by laura ashley.

3. while mike might be really lacking in the romance department, he did get the house cleaned up on sunday by 12:30. ( he had ulterior motive- miami was playing at 1pm and he needed a driver though he wont admit it.)

4. having a girl is so way different than having a boy. already at 4.5 years of age, kaylee has said a few times she doesn't like her voice. that she wishes she sounded like someone else. *sigh* what is it with us females that we can not be happy with the way we are? i am guilty of this but i'm not 4.5 years old either.

5. saturday brent and his little girl came over early. i heard kaylee tell neve "you're not the boss of me. this is my house so you're not the boss." neve is 3 and half.

6. sometimes i feel like joan cusack from runaway bride when she says she's weird and sometimes i feel like squid ward from spongebob and they yell at him "no talent! no talent!".

7. definitely feeling a need to go overseas. with all these blogs showing cute dainty lil shops and the food. oh my- the food!!

8. my allergic rhinitis seems to be even worse this year. besides the normal stuffy yet drippy nose, sneezing, continuous headaches.. this year my eyes have been itching, red and puffy and my face is itchy too. UGGG!!!!

9. need to start planning my girls only night. i'm still thinking i should of made it into a ikea road trip instead.

10. cable guy is coming today. since they're suckering us by having someone come out to "activate" our hd ready cable box- which we already have, i'm going to use him to hook up all the tv connections and wireless for my imac. so boo yah rip off cable company!

annual michigan vs notre dame party

saturday ended up being an awesome day for our annual (first at our new house) michigan vs notre dame party. this year the odds were against us not only for our team to win but also mike and i were the only two michigan fans. i claimed christine and tad since i was host and they don't really care much about (american) football or maybe any football.

kaylee and friends enjoying their picnic dinner. (just to be clear, kaylee is not picking her nose in the second pic). two hot mama's keeping an eye on all the kids with beer in hand except for the one holding her kid- she inhaled hers. (just kidding!)

all the true football geeks were in "the big house" (that's what they call michigan stadium) watching the actual game. and mike being loud. chris thinking he's super funny by wearing that appalachian t-shirt. mike knew right away what it meant. me, not until about midnight did i remember that game. and holly holding my tiny beverage while i take pics.

one of my buddies, a future quarterback, giving me a fist and a look that says " i dare you to take these away from me!" my other buddy- ben, enjoying some goldfish crackers till he sees his mom coming. he then starts to inhale them by the handful(s) because he knows she's going to take away the goods. i should of told him to grab 'em and run!

during the breaks everyone would come outside for some fresh air and to play catch. i know mike's thinking he's dan marino whenever he threw the ball. ham and friends getting their grub on.

at the beginning of the game, mike's buddy brent made a bet that the loser had to get a tattoo on their butt of the winning teams logo. with a few minutes left in the game, michigan had the ball and they tried for a touchdown only to fail. i was thinking mike's first tattoo was going to be something irish. with seconds remaining-michigan went for it again doing the same play only this time- TOUCHDOWN!!! mike and i did the belly bump and got all obnoxious and loud- what a great ending to a great game!!!! score ended up being 38-31. and this ended up on brent's butt. we had him put the year on it too. now people have said they can't believe mike made him go through with it but if they knew brent, they would know that he is a man/boy who keeps his promises.

THE END!

(blurred for your own eye protection)

* i ended up making: jalapeno stuffed peppers, hot pizza dip with toasted bagel bites, savory sandwiches w/veggies on the side, cookies, dirt pudding, homemade zucchini bread and mini muffins with homemade cream cheese frosting. i like to post for future reference.

brain dumping my lack of sleep brain friday

merry go round; shipshewana; a few weeks ago

1. for the past few nights i've been hitting the sack around midnight. after a busy day yesterday with errand running, babysitting, a forgotten meeting for ham for his first run in with the law, i didn't get started painting till 9:30pm.

2. almost done. 2 spots behind the extra tall cabinets. will have to stand on that step that says not to stand on it while mike holds the ladder still.

3. seeing the ugly blinds off the patio windows really makes a huge difference. with the valance on it, it looks super bulky. convinced mike to go with curtains. will have to have matching ones for the family room since they are side by side.

4. lots to do today: cleaning the house, grocery shopping, take kaylee to school+ pick her up, got a craft project to do, baking and some cooking. doesn't sound like a lot but its all time consuming.

5. hope the wolverines KILL notre dame like they did 2 years ago. {score was 38-0}

6. knew it was picture day yesterday for ham but forget to send in the money and request form. this is the 2nd year of no school pics of ham. last year, we returned them because the photographer told him to tilt to the side. he looked like he was constipated. {i was suppose to take the pic but never got to it}

7. going to make a smoothie. missed out yesterday and was craving for one at midnight.

8. sent an apology letter to that person whose feelings i hurt. now she's making it into a bigger deal than need be. i was gracious enough to reply back and that's all she's getting from me. i admitted for being immature so its either you forgive me or you don't.

9. i would love to see inside suann's [simplesong] house. bet its amazing! she has just the most impeccable taste.

10. i admit ham gets his indecisiveness from me. as of last night he wanted an older bmw. this morning it got changed to an old honda prelude. last week it was something else, last month it was a different car, last year it was a different version of one of the cars he had picked from this morning, last week, month, year. see how this is going??

i want!

the last time mike went on a vacation without me, i got a cat. he leaves in 2 weeks for the weekend for miami with his dad. i want this dog. this was taken by sharon montrose. she's an awesome photographer and she has a cool etsy shop. i want the bunnies, prairie dogs, the porcupine and the basset hound. her husband just opened chalkchalk on etsy too. love the penny farthing print.

brain dumping stinky wednesday

1. stupid blogger. wont let me upload any pics.

2. for a delicious smoothie recipe go to my other blog bites.

3. yesterday kaylee and i skipped play group. i have so much to get done before our football party on saturday and i was on a roll till about noon. had to take a nap and later watched oprah.

4. besides cleaning, decorating and cooking for saturday, i decided i wanted the kitchen and hallway painted. got the tape and some areas primed last night. why? why do i do this to myself???

5. primer and paint not so good for allergies.

6. parents private pizza party got canceled for tonight. something about inspections, permits and water are all delaying the grand opening.

7. i want some cake. chocolate cake or a texas sheet cake from a certain bakery. the certain bakery that i avoid so i don't eat texas sheet cake.

8. i missed design star on sunday. went to the website and saw that lonni got kicked off which i think was a huge mistake. what were the judges thinking? her room was SO much better than antonio's (he's cocky) so now its between him and cutie pie dan.

9. kaylee's excited for school today. they had canceled classes last friday due to a funeral and they didnt want all those strangers around the kids.

10. kaylee just sat on my lap, gave me a hug, and i love you. then said she farted. for someone being so little her farts sure do STINK!

brain dumping my lack of parenting skills tuesday

i want this cute little bag! via the small object { they also have very cute but very expensive wedding toppers}

1. i'm eating a veggie pizza at the moment for breakfast. not just any pizza but pizza from my parents pizza shop. {this is what we had for dinner last night} and for my first try of hot box pizza, its mighty tasty.

2. they will be having a private party wednesday and hopefully will be officially opened on thursday.

3. i was informed by my mother last night that i need to either read her parenting books or i need parenting books to read. this came about because she doesn't agree with us in selling the caddy. i think what we do for our kids is our own business. she's raised hers and i didn't agree with the way she did so i'm going a different route which is what i wanted to say....

4. i did manage to get out alive after cleaning kaylee's toy room. wish i had a before picture.

5. next will be my crafting room. heaven help me again!

6. i finally watched mama mia. it brought back all the reasons why i love ABBA! {when i worked at sam's club eons ago, one of the managers sang dancing queen for me while we were closing up shop}

7. while i don't mind suggestions, i really don't like people telling me how i should be using my camera especially if they haven't seen any of my images. my settings work for me and i'm still learning. i never claimed to be a professional just a professional wanna be. there's a difference.

8. not sure as to what the menu will be for our michigan (yeah!) vs notre dame (boo!) party on saturday. i have something planned but they're new recipes so i'm debating on taking the risk.

9. i had mike read justin(shitmydadsays)on twitter yesterday. he had tears in his eyes because he was laughing so hard.

10. kaylee's new saying- that somethings killing her, like a tag on her shirt or a bug bite on her ankle. its so cute!