Gawsh!

I'm totally disappointed to announce that my Macbook hard drive called it quits Tuesday evening. I'm writing this post on my husband's Lonovo ThinkPad laptop. I hate it. But that's not the point of this post. I just wanted to share my sadness with my one reader out there. Yes, you. My one reader.

Anywho, it'll be late Friday evening at the very earliest that I'll be able to pick up my laptop. The whole "dropping it off at the repair place" story is going to be quite a post. I'll write that one when I have a few minutes of time to really give it the attention it deserves! I'm hopeful the pick-up process will be much less painful.

I'll keep ya posted.

((sigh))

Sew Cool!

I'm quite excited to share with you all that I am picking up a knack for sewing! My church is making quilts to send to children in Swaziland, and I've been able to work on two of them this week! It's such a great cause, and I figure it's about time I learn to be more domestic and rip out my mom's sewing machine!

Here are some pics of my handiwork. Keep in mind - I didn't get to choose the fabric. The church provided me with the fabric squares and I just had to sew them together. In other words, they aren't the cutest things (I would've picked something quite different than these), but ultimately they will serve their purpose once they make it to Swaziland.

V-Day Bling!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We had a very special day, consisting of a big 'ol breakfast I made from scratch:


lots of gift-opening for LO:


a dessert that ended up taking all stinkin' day to create (even though I had a GREAT helper!):


some lasagna for dinner (forgot a pic -- sorry!)

and of course I can't forget the beautiful flowers hubs gave me, and now the latest trinket of his affection...

Isn't it gorgeous? It's a Heart-Tag Bracelet in Sterling Silver from my favorite jewelry shop, Blue Nile. It has LO's initials engraved on it and I absolutely LOVE IT! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!!!

We had a most wonderful day and I'm so very blessed to have hubs and LO in my life!!!

Seriously?

Okay, once upon a time, I sewed a pillowcase (is sewed a word?). Anyway, it was awesome. I got all excited about the idea of sewing and subscribed to email newsletters from Simplicity (they make sewing patterns). Anywho, I got an email from them today and I had to laugh. See for yourself:

(Click on the image to see a close-up of these shirts in all of their glory.)

Father/Son Casual Shirts. What better way to say, "I love you" to the man in your life than by forcing him to wear the most hideous shirt known to man? And then to top it off by scarring your young son by throwing one on him, too?!

I'm sorry, but this is just cruel and unusual punishment.

Romance Isn't Dead!

Okay, so yesterday I had taken LO on a walk around the neighborhood -- it was such a gorgeous 70 degrees out! It was about 4:30 PM and, of course, I hadn't even showered for the day so I was total grunge. Not surprisingly, by the time we returned to the house, hubs was already home from work. We sat outside with LO for a spell, then I came inside to make a work-related phone call in peace and quiet.

Fast-forward about 20 minutes later. I was about to start making some jambalaya for dinner, when hubs said, "Stop!" I looked at him rather inquisitively, said I was planning to start dinner before jumping in the shower. He said to go ahead and take a shower and I said okay!

I heard him closing a door over in the "west wing" of our humble home, so I proceeded to head toward the bathroom for a much-needed shower.

Next thing I know, there's a knock at our front door.

"Hubs? Can you get that?," I hollered across the house. No response.

"Hubs?"

Slightly irritated that my mission to take a shower was stalled, I yelled again, "HUBS?! Can you get that??"

Since I still received no response, I went to the door (side note: I was in fact still fully dressed at this point), checked through the 'peep hole' and what--or better yet--whom did I see??

IT WAS HUBS!!!

He was standing at our front door, a dozen roses in hand, patiently waiting for me to answer the door and ask me out for dinner!

Can you believe it!?

I sure couldn't.

It was the sweetest thing! Check out the beautiful flowers he gave me:


If you look closely, you can see a beautiful little heart with "We Luv U" written in crayon attached to the vase. Hubs and LO decorated it themselves!


These flowers are just gorgeous!!!


So, hubs had arranged my wonderful mom to come over to keep LO while we went out for a nice, romantic dinner. Guess where we went!? Outback Steakhouse! One of my favorite places that we hardly ever go to.

Can you say, "Bloomin Onion'?" That's what I'm talkin' about!!


And don't get me started on the bread, the delicious salad and the fabulous veggies & baked potato I had for dinner! DE-LISH!!!

Needless to say, I'm SO incredibly smitten with my amazing husband! Romance is alive!!!

Gimme a sec...

...I've got something so sweet to blog about but I must wait until I motivate myself to take a few pictures first. You know, for supporting documentation and all. Will try to post very soon!

Coloriffic

People. I bought this the other day:

That's right! Ten assorted colors of kids' paint. According to Crayola, "Washable Kid’s Paint is ideal for arts and crafts, posters, and school projects. The paints are easy to apply with brushes, sponges, stamps, stencils, and other tools, and they can be used on almost any surface." Sounds like fun, right?

Actually... I'm not sure. I haven't even opened the box yet. I was thinking LO and I could do a fun little art project, but I just can't get myself over the idea of how big of a mess it will make! I'm debating waiting until the Spring when we can take her table outside for an art project--or at least take HER outside to hose her off once we're finished.

I also totally just noticed -- these are little bottles of paint. Like, regular paint. NOT finger paint, like I thought I was buying. It says on the box that the paints are designed to easily wash from skin and most children's clothing... At this point, I think it's a lot to ask of an 18-month-old to use brushes, sponges, stamps, stencils, etc. Let's face it: she'll use her fingers.

Maybe my closer scrutiny of the packaging warrants a trip back to Target to buy some FINGER paint.

((sigh))

Sick n' Tired

My precious little one was sick yesterday. Keep in mind, she's 18 months old, right? Well, this was the FIRST TIME in her life that she's had a fever. The FIRST TIME in her life that she's been sick enough to require two doses of Tylenol in the same day. Luckily, we can still say our 18-month record of never making a sick visit to the pediatrician's office is still in tact. Sweet.

So since my baby girl was a bit clingy and whiny (more so than usual), I decided to forgo our TV viewing schedule (i.e. one 30-minute Elmo DVD per day), and got out my old VHS tape of The Little Mermaid. I laid down on the couch, had LO snuggle up next to me, grabbed a blanket and her precious Teddy, and pressed Play.

About 20 minutes into the movie, I glanced down and LO and--sure enough!--her little eyes were closed and she was out cold! My baby girl took a good 45 minute nap right there next to me on the couch while watching our Disney movie. This had to be one of the most precious "Mommy Moments" I've experienced during this adventure known as motherhood. I grabbed the cellphone to snap a picture of this unforgettable moment. If you know LO, you know that she's never been much of a "cuddle-er" and usually is movin' and shakin' during the daytime, so such a moment as this was far too wonderful to keep to myself!