happy birthday vincent
ever since i can remember, i have known that i wanted to be a mom. i had three opportunities before you. two i chose not to follow through with, one decided for me. the minute i saw your face, i knew that you were my soul mate, my first born, my angel, my sidekick.
you are so smart, and you are hilariously funny. you keep me honest, you keep me on my toes, you keep me invested. you remind me every single day that i am at the same time so important, and yet always and naturally unimportant. your nonna was right…motherhood is equally empowering and humbling. i would like to add galvanizing to that.
you are happy, and that is beautiful. you are starting to get very opinionated, and that is beautiful too, even when i am screaming into a pillow in another room from you. you are my son, how could you be anything but rebellious? i love you and i understand you.
you have been here for four years today, although you and i have been together for almost five. i cry as i am writing this because i will most likely not have any more children, and that is fine. i cry only because i am grateful that every second of your existence has been part of mine, and i planned you, wanted you. whether i am able to give you a sibling or not, you were on purpose my love.
i remember the first time i felt you. i remember it totally. i remember finally deciding to find out what you were, after two really vivid dreams about you being a boy. i remember it all.
before we met, we were already together.
turning one.
turning two
turning three
last week.
and i will be back soon to put a picture of you up from today. you are playing dress up, the play room looks like elton john just had a temper tantrum in it, and i can hear you clomping up the hallway in my old high heel boots that you swiped to complete your pirate outfit.
you can have them. i love you little boy.
bake, craft, clean, repeat
i love fridays. i especially love them when i have no plans to be anywhere, and the weather is nice and i can open the windows and have a breeze and bake without feeling like i am going to die of a heatstroke. i love that the grocery store next to josh’s store has $5 prepared meats on fridays, and he brings it home so i don’t have to cook, just make a side and a salad. tonight, it is roasted chicken, which makes me happy. we will have leftover potpourri as sides. life is good.
so i wanted to make english muffins. dunno why, they just sounded good to me. so i surfed around until i found this, and tried the recipe.
yum. lunch.
the one in front was my spoils, with turkey, asiago and a slice of tomato. delish, and not hard. just followed the recipe. raised it in the oven with the light on the first time, and it didn’t seem to rise, but it actually did. then, i made the balls, eight instead of six (and could realy have made 10, they are still pretty big), and then did the trick where you put the oven on till you can just touch the wall of the oven, turn it off, and do the second rise in there. then, the rest just like the cute little boy blogger did.
also, made a cute mobile out of skewers, cotton yarn, and construction paper. I LOVE HAVING A KID!!
so much fun.
that was inspired by this blog that i saw on the craftzine blog that i must read every single day several times. i left the leaves off because well, i just wasn’t feeling them. after making them, though, i was feeling the mobile vibe. didn’t have any disposable chopsticks, so i went with skewers. vincent loves it.
i am almost done cleaning the craft room, during which time my darling boy has wrecked his playroom. i am drinking a diet coke, determined to sit down to dinner in a clean house.
my loaf of bread.
whitey.
and a little moment to shine up my girl…
my hotrod babe.
cause she works hard for the money.
silly dada, bloggers use pictures!
allow me.
the new shelf…makes me SQUEAL with glee!!
simple and gorgeous
the clock is back! and so…even!
time to get to work!
and the drapes of mystery…so dramatic!
not this dark in here...
and the master re-installation of the hardware…thanks dada!!
nice job josh!
i have big plans today and this evening to put more things back on the walls, in between baking and cleaning my craft room, which exploded into a bit of chaos while we were painting. be still, i plan to blog it.
oh and by the way
we are on day three, NO POOP. yes, we are using miralax, and raisins, and juice, and water, and apples, and whatever else he wants to eat. he appears no worse for the wear right now.
hi mama!
that reminds me, the sheets are peed. gotta add changing the sheets to my list. WTF am i sitting here for?
play room part two
so now the hallway looks like this:
better here than in the playroom!
yes, there are a lot.
back here too.
this is the hallway that goes back to the bedrooms, i rearranged these shelves, which already had toys on them, to add more art supplies, etc. and puzzles. things i want to supervise playing with.
so what i have done so far…i moved all these toys out into the hallway. i have taken everything down and spackled except for the paneling wall with the TV hole in it. i am on my way to do that after i get up from this seat.
still to do tonight…
take down tie backs.
take down speakers.
take down curtain rod above tv hole.
spackle.
spackle wall behind couch.
paint picture frame.
tomorrow:
take down curtains and rod from french doors.
spackle.
prime trim.
prime paneling.
cut in walls.
paint walls.
paint trim.
paint paneling.
sunday:
second coats.
take down ceiling fan, spray paint.
put ceiling fan back.
put speakers back.
put new shelves together, put in playroom.
collapse.
play room and kitchen revamp
well, most people that know us know that we kinda live in the kitchen and playroom of our house. i am revamping this area with some new furniture and paint. here are the befores:
peaceful at sundown
this is kind of dark but a very nice shot of my kitchenette corner in the afternoon. a harsher look…
kitchenette corner, before...
now, going clockwise from that corner, here is the wall with the doors, which are going to be painted with chalkboard paint…
i found that awesome 70’s looking ABC print at the thrift store for about 3 bucks. i am going to paint the frame green this evening.
fishtank corner
this is really not a good use of space at all. there are not enough plugs in here, so that will be part of the putting it all back together. moving the plugs isn’t possible, but running some fresh and hidden extension cords is.
long shot
this is standing right in front of the fish tank. it looks so chaotic when i see it in this picture. this is how it feels too. this is the “tv hole” that i will be covering with bird fabric that will match the curtains on the french doors.
left hand corner, close up
middle close up
right hand corner, close up
more. toys.
going around to the long wall where the couch sits, more toys.
destination
here is the hallway that is out the playroom door. we never use the front door. i mean literally, we get the mail, and pizza delivery at the front door. that is is. so, this is wasted space as far as i am concerned, so i am going to use it for toys.
today is the day
we have, as a family, thrown all of the pull ups and diaper-type accessories (changing pad, etc) in the TRASH. vincent helped. he is now watching the lion king because it is after lunch, he has to poo and he is in denial.
wish me luck. seriously.
oh, the red circle store, and play room revamp…
big outing to target today, which vincent calls the red circle store. there were some planned purchases, some scores, and a couple of impulse buys in the dollar bins. not too bad.
mostly i want to show you this awesome playmobil set that vincent came apart over, just wanted it with all of his heart, so i got it for him. i probably won’t buy him anything specifically for his birthday since he will probably get presents from other people at his little party. so. this is how i justify it. that, and this…
hours of silent fun
i mean, this is really cool, admit it!
ahoy, there...
i ended up giving up on my dream of this in my playroom, because the expense was making it very difficult to attain. by the time i added the baskets that make the shelf so cool as storage, it was over $300, which is too much to handle right now. so today, i decided that since these, as well as a set of three-two-one cubes in an asymmetrical stack and these were on sale today, it was a sign to go ahead and get this project accomplished for 1/3 the cost.
and my mama told me she wants to pick up the tab as a present to vinny. that mama. i love her more than i love my teeth. she also had me get the nine-cube set for her in espresso, with pale blue drawer boxes. chic.
so, i still have on my play room revamp list four of these for the wall with the TV in it, and maybe even still getting one of these for just under the TV hole. plus, sewing up the curtains to cover said TV hole.
but all this is after we paint. i plan to prep a bit today, some sunday, and to finish prep completely by friday night. my mom will be coming over saturday i hope, so we can paint.
i may get the doors done with their coats of chalkboard paint before that.
so, on to my scores…
gorgeous bamboo storage boxes for 4.48 and 3.34 respectively…
i am in love with these.
and they are lined…
this is a beautiful thing.
i am not exactly sure where i will use these, but i know that i love them, and wish i would have snatched up the other two. oh well.
it is all good when you get a camera/phone photo of your boy loving some pizza at the end of the trip…
yum.
alright, i have to make a salad.
when did you get so big?
vincent has recently taken to going to the fridge and opening it, gazing in to the light, and choosing what he wants to eat. this is a glimpse, i am sure, into the beat-down that is feeding a teenage boy.
today he chose a slice of cheese, and about three slices of turkey baloney. this is the time when i guess the fridge really needs to be stocked with things he likes, and maybe, maybe, MAYBE, things i want him to like.
this was a keeper, simple ingredients, although messy to make…really good. lunch today, dinner for the boys tonight. i need to bake when i get home for my mom…she has probably lost 10 pounds this week. i am thinking earl gray tea muffins (wow, i am all about just bento today!) and maybe some chocolate chip cookie bars. i hope we get to cruise up there to see them tomorrow…
going to work.
back from the mall, good news
there is no cancer in what they took out of my dad. pre-cancerous, but with nothing in the lymph nodes.
big, big *phew*.
retail therapy damage was not too bad:
three pairs of earrings for mama, *hey, the third pair was “free”*
some pirate underpants from gymboree for vincent…hey, i resisted the “3 for $12”, since they didn’t have any other designs that he really liked.
a sand filled stuffed iridescent snake for vincent which he almost lost on our way out from earthbound trading company, where i stopped for some of my favorite frankincense cones.
new slippers for vincent, which was actually planned. very depressed that he picked out the lightning mcqueen ones, i hate that movie. i mean, it is about racing, how gross and redneck is that? ugh. thanks dada, for insisting on “cars” as a movie that he got all into.
so, i am microwaving some frozen pre-made meat thing, microwaving some broccoli and cheese sauce from a bag to go with it, and re-heating the rest of some rice for dinner. not my finest june cleaver moment. i wanted to make some pan-fried lemon chicken, but the chicken is still frozen. i will make it later, for lunches and to take to my mom when i see her.
just re-read this and noticed that i don’tlike the movie “cars” for its white trash speedway theme, and i am microwaving everything i am feeding my family for dinner. ohhh, snap!
we're a happy family 