Time to Tidy Up!!

So, in less than 3 weeks, I will have a house full of company. Both my parents and my in-laws will be coming to help us celebrate Finnegan's 1st birthday. I can hardly believe that my baby will be a year old! Oh, how time flies! But unfortunately, that is not the reason for my post. As of late, I've been obsessed with my family coming. Both my parents and my mother-in-law have been to our house. But when they were here, I was greatly pregnant or had just had a baby and just recovering from a HUGE infection. So, I sort of think that there was this unwritten rule that the house didn't need to be in the perfect shape, or that if something didn't get clean properly, there was an excuse. Well, now I feel that there is no excuse. Everything should be perfect for when they arrive. Now, I know that I don't run a bed and breakfast, but feel that things should be just as inviting, although they'll be sleeping on the floor.

So, the transformations have begun. I've been working on our spare room. This is where Ken's mom and dad will stay. It is just large enough for the bed that we have that needs to go into it, but not with all the extra furniture that is in there too! So, I've been working to get Ken to get ride of some books, so that we can make room for more things in the garage. He's been able to get rid of some books, but we still have way too many for our book shelves. I've also been busy condensing boxes that are in the garage and getting rid of needless things. Tonight, I was able to get the spare bedroom condensed enough so that we can move the needless furniture out and make more room for our guests. And although we are preparing for these current guests, we are forever preparing for that 4th guest that will enter our family and need his or her own room! :) But hopefully once we reach that point, we'll be ready to get a larger house (or shortly there after) so I won't have to worry too much about the extra stuff!! :)

So, I will work for the next week or so on the house and then I will move onto the other tasks before our guests come... menus, party details etc. I want to have everything done so I don't have to do any running once they arrive.

Picture Post...

Here's a picture post... cause those are always fun... Here is a photo from Christmas. Sort of old, but I just got it from a friend. We had a small Christmas party at our house and she took it then. This was before our trip to MI.

This is a photo of the kids about 2 weeks ago during a playdate with the Mulligans. We had such a fun time!!

This month, Finnegan started wearing shoes every time we go out... because he likes to try to walk when he's not being strolled along. Super Cute!!
This was taken today while shopping at the U-Village. We had such a great time!! Me and my stinker at the Land of Nod. Very fun!! ( I think you can tell too from this picture in comparison to the first one the weight I've lost... I'm down about 20lbs from the first photo).
What Mommy?? I like Toilet Paper!! And I pulled it off myself!
He and Tootsie are friends for life!! He loves her SO much! It is so super cute. He just sits and laughs at her as she plays with toys and he loves to pet her. He is learning to be gentle and she is just the perfect "Guinea pig" for it. She doesn't mind if he's a little rough with her. She's used to it. I love them together!!

And look, I know how to push the buttons on the dishwasher too!!


And these are my stinkers little teeth on top. He is getting #5 on the bottom. Not too fun! But he's a trooper!

Daddy and Finnegan reading some books. Finnegan loves to turn the pages!


This is the last one... Our little dude is walking like a pro (with the truck of course) and He's been taking Bearbear for a ride now and again!

I can name that voice in 3 words...

So, when you grow up in a major city (or near a major city) like Detroit, and you watch a lot of TV, you hear the same news anchor voices over and over again. Especially while I was growing up, when the people didn't move around a lot (like they have in recent years). Tonight, we were following our plan to watch all 80 movies that won the "Best Picture" Award for the Oscars. We're up through the 70's and watching Rocky. There is a scene that Rocky is being interviewed by a news anchor and all I heard was 3 words, and I said "That's Diana Lewis?" They showed her face, and I didn't think it was. I thought I'd been wrong. Then, after the interview she signed off for the piece saying "and this is Diana Lewis..." I couldn't believe it. I was right. I knew that was her voice. She has an unmistakable voice. But seeing her 30 years ago, with a huge afro, I would have never thought it was her!! Crazy!!

Preacher Cookies, Any one?

Some might get the suspicion that I'm pregnant, so let me just quash that rumor right now, and continue on with the blog... Today, while visiting the blogs of several of my friends, I (all of the sudden) had a 'hankerin' for preacher cookies, or as we used to call them back in the day, "no-bake cookies". You know the ones that mom used to make on sunday night after church while you and your friends were running around the house and enjoying an "after glow"? Those cookies... all oohy and gooey chocolatey with oats and sometime coconut :) YUMMY. So, in the midst of reading a blog, I searched for a recipe on-line, and then remembered I had a great recipe from a cook-book that I got in VA. Sure enough, it was there and in 10 minutes, I had myself a full (half) batch of preacher (no-bake) cookies. Oh, they taste so good!! Hopefully I won't eat the whole batch... cause I have some other good news!

Friday, while shopping with my sleeping son, Old Navy was having a sale on khakis. I love Khakis, especially in the fall!! Anyway, they had a particular green color that I LOVE. I chose my size from the rack and then got to looking at them. I was curious to know if the size smaller was much smaller or just slightly smaller. I'd been on a roll with the weight loss and didn't really want to buy the old size if I was gonna be in the new size soon. So I took the new size off the rack and realized that they were only about 1 inch shorter (around in the waist) then the old size. So I thought I'd try them on. And SURE ENOUGH... THE NEW SIZE FITS!! Yippee!! And then to top it all off, this morning, while weighing in, I realized that the middle number of my weight has gone down a digit! Even more exciting!! I am at a total of 15lbs now. And for those of you who haven't heard, I WON the Family Biggest Loser Competition between my family members. It was a tight race between my dad and I the whole time. And he actually has lost 40lbs this year. Congrats, Dad!!

Have a great week guys, and make yourself some preacher cookies... they bring back some memories!

Birthday Season

Greetings! We have begun "Birthday Season" here and we are beginning to enjoy and dread it all at the same time. For those of you who don't know, Birthday Season, occurs when you have a child in a program that is based upon their age. For us, it is Gymboree. The class that Finnegan is in now is for children 11-16 months. Many of us started the program together in level 1 and now we are in level 3 together. And because the classes are based on age, all of Finnegan's friends were born within a month of each other. The first of our parties was today. We don't have a party next weekend because of the holiday, but have two the following weekend, one during the second week in Sept and one during the 3rd week in Sept. Oh man!! And too top it all off, Ken's birthday is in there too, and my parents and in-laws are coming to visit as well!

So birthday season has begun. And even though we haven't celebrated Finn's birthday yet, I'm already thinking about next year and perhaps joining together to have one big party for all of the kiddos... to help free up the last of our summer weekends!

The Weight of Waiting by J.Heap

A friend of mine from college, Justin, posted this today on facebook, and I thought it was worth repeating and sharing.

"I am reminded of the weight of waiting; the heaviness of anticipation. And how much harder the waiting is when you can close your eyes and see so clearly the outcome of which you dream and wait for.

It is so often the waiting that is difficult; not the struggle. Struggle & triumph always win the headlines. But to be in true waiting means you are also acknowledging that some part of some thing is out of your control. Beyond your power. Not a waiting by choice - that would simply be delaying. But if you are the one waiting...then really, you are, by very nature, not in control.

I mean.
If you could simply reach out and change the course of history, then waiting it would not be.

So to those of us living life in waiting, no matter that which you are waiting for, may you continue to dream. And to hope - for hope is the very canvas on which reality is created. And all this, with great expectation.

And may you not give up too soon. May you not give in too early. Sometimes five minutes may feel like an eternity, but I assure you, even five years will go faster than you or I can comprehend.

They always say, if it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. I wonder if too many of us settle for something immediate instead of waiting for something incredible.

So. Here's to waiting. Drink deep. Cheers."

Silly Husband, you can't fool me!!!

When I was in college, my roommate was an avid camp counselor for "abstinence camp". When she returned from a weekend at the camp, she brought me and our other roommates fun souvenirs. The one thing I got was a t-shirt that lists the top ten reason why "i'm worth waiting for." I was thinking the other day that I've had this particular t-shirt for over 7 years... almost 8. Anyway, Ken hates this shirt... It has a little "sperm" on the front, that says "I'm worth waiting for". He despises this shirt, especially now that we're married. So, from time to time, I wear the shirt, just to get his goat! :) He hates the shirt so much that he's threatened to burn it or to get rid of it without me knowing. Well, this time he almost had me. Except for the fact that he forgot that I clean our house, so if he hides it, I'm bound to find it sooner or later.

Two weekends ago when I was preparing to paint our bedroom, I was moving the chair (the orange one in the photos) to the center of the room. It is an older chair and has arm covers and a headrest cover. I took these off the chair and thought the that they would be best placed under the cushion of the chair, to keep them from getting in the way or lost. As I lifted up the cushion of the chair, there lies my t-shirt. Nicely folded under the cushion. Just waiting for me to find it. And I did! :)

When I mentioned it to Ken, he first acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and then burst into laughter and was so proud of himself for the hiding job... that it lasted a couple of weeks :)

He's so funny... But I have my shirt back and will continue to wear it with pride!

Will we survive the week??

Already, this week we've met the challenges of having a toddler (ok, he's not a full blown toddler yet, but he's well on his way).

Monday: Finn loves the fridge and the pantry and loves it when the doors are open to show the goods inside. Lately, I try to open it as little as I can, because I have to focus on getting him out of the way so that I can close the door when I'm done. While making his breakfast on Monday, I opened the fridge to put the applesauce back, and as I swung the door open, he made a mad rush for the door, and they collided. Oh, I felt so bad. He had a little mark down the middle of his forehead, and on the side of his nose. And I was so paranoid, I woke him up from his nap early to make sure he didn't have a concussion. Luckily, the only thing we had was a cranky boy from not having a long enough nap.

Tuesday: We were a bit more careful with the doors on Tuesday but had a new encounter that I'd never really had before... Finn loves goldfish crackers. After lunch today, I gave him about 5 of them to munch on. Granted, he doesn't have molars yet, but he takes them between his 4 front teeth and munches them to pieces while eating them. Today, he didn't do that. He took the first one, bit off the tail and put the large "body" piece in his mouth. All of the sudden he made a face like he was throwing up. I leaned him forward to tap on his back a bit. And then pulled him out of his seat and walked him over to the sink, all while tapping his back encouraging him to cough. I think he dislodged it, and then lodged it again as he cried and then stopped and was trying to throw up again. Finally, he spit out the full goldfish cracker onto the floor. Oh, close call!! Needless to say, he didn't want to eat any more lunch right then, so we ate a larger dinner instead.

Later that night, daddy was to be watching him while I was making dinner. He crawled into the kitchen and was trying to open the cabinets under the sink. He got his little finger stuck under the cabinet while he was pressing the cabinet closed with the other hand. Poor baby!! Oh, how crappy it is when you can't figure out how you got yourself into that spot. Shortly after that, he started choking again on something. Oh, MY!! Since I wasn't watching him, I had no idea what he might have put in his mouth or what he was near to figure it out. He choked a bit and then swallowed what ever it was. And unfortunately, daddy had no idea what it was. I'm sure if it was something indigestible, I'll know in a day or two.

Will we make it to Friday without making a full trip to the ER or emergency clinic?? Oh, Lord, I do hope so!!

Michael Phelps

He's amazing!! I can't even believe the outcome of last nights race... Even thought I knew the outcome before watching the race, I still had butterflies that the US Men's team wouldn't beat the others. (That's the kind of crappy thing of living on the west coast, the outcome of games, reality tv and other sporting events normally are broadcast 3 hours later than the east coast. So last night, I was promptly advised by CNN Breaking News that Michael Phelps had won his 8th gold medal... That was at 9pm PST, but his race didn't run here until 11pm PST.)

Anywho, it was an amazing race. I was pleased to see that he wasn't cocky about winning but that he was humbled. And that his teammates honored him, even though they'd done it together.

It was very exciting!!

Congrats to Michael Phelps!

I was listening yesterday to his "cridentials". Here is what I learned... If you didn't all ready know. Information recaped from: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showsports.aspx?id=SPOEN20080061934&ch=8/17/2008%209:04:00%20PM

• Michael is 6'4" tall with a wing span of 6'7"
  
• His lower body, interestingly, is shorter than that of an average man of his height.
• Phelps has an upper body of a 6'8" person but his lower body seems to be of someone who is only 5"10", which also make the perfect plane in water.
• He has double jointed ankels, that allow him to whip his feet as if those are flippers and break loose (although his feet ar 3 sizes smaller than those of Ian Thorpe, his great rival, that said he couldn't reach 8 medals, and watched from the stands in Beijing).
• His unique constitution also produces less lactic acid than others which means Phelps takes less time to recover.
• He consumes 12,000 calorie every day and trains 96 km every week.
• Bob Costas mentioned that he's received over 10,000 friend requests on Facebook in the last week... including Will Smith, Miley Cyrus and other top celebrities (they all want to be Mike's friend!)
  

Isn't that fascinating?? Wow, he was really "made" for this greatness!

$40 under budget photos

Here are some photos from the redecoration that I've done in our Master Bedroom. First we'll start off with a photo of Finnegan, because he's a sweetie. Here he is enjoying one of his first corn-cobs. Look at that bite! Taken like a true summer-loving-corn-cob-enjoyer... Yummy!


Here are some "before photos. These were taken when we moved in 2 year ago. Nice, white boring walls!!


Notice the beautiful orange chair that is about 30 years old, that is still with us!!


Now, the after photos... This is a bouquet that I made for the room. I really like it but think I might move it into the bathroom for some contrast (the bathroom is a sea-foam green with purple and pearl white accents)



The vanity.
This is the mirror that I chose. It was huge. But $20 cheaper than I thought it was gonna be, and then I had a 20% off coupon! AWESOME!!
In this photo you can see that the ceiling is one shade lighter than the walls. And actually, the wall color is darker in person. Anywho, the curtians were something that I just stumbled upon. And fell in love with. I'm not much of a "gold" person, but I really liked them and they really set off the room!
A few of my tea cups are hung in the room... I didn't want to have to buy a lot of decorations. I knew I had some things that would work and look nice and elegant. And these definitely helped out!
Here's our orange chair. He dresses up well, doesn't he?

Oreo even approves of the bedroom!

Girl vs. Fireworks

There are two stories out there about being duped. Yes, we Olympic watchers (on our favorite NBC station) were duped... not once, but twice. The story that is dominating air-time on our NBC stations is the story about a chinese girl that was replaced by another and allowed to lip-sync during the opening ceremonies, because the girl who could sing, wasn't "cute" enough. "It is an issue of national pride." as the story quote. Here are photos of the two girls.

• Actual singer Yang Peiyi
• Lin Miaoke

In the same token, there has been another "switch-aroo" that's happened with the coverage of the opening ceremonies that has not been widely talked about... because the news crew that created the switch, is the one who is reporting the games. Don't get me wrong, my station of choice has always been NBC. But it's things like this that just get to me... Essentially the gist of the story is that during the Opening ceremonies, it was too dangerous for them and the cameramen to get as close as they would have liked, so they digitally enhanced the film before broadcasting it. The story quotes "The faked fireworks were actually set-off at the stadium, but because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded, computer-generated shot."

Although I understand the reasoning a bit more with the fireworks rather than with the girls, it's still deception...

What are your thoughts?

$40 under

So, I took the plunge and decided on a paint color and started painting our bedroom. As most of you know, I am very indecisive and I've literally been thinking about doing this for MONTHS. But had so many things to consider... the bathroom color that was already done, the color of the furniture and the vaulted ceiling. Then I found out Ken didn't want something dark. Oh, so many decisions. My computer loving husband just wanted to keep our white walls, but I would not have it. I need color in my life. Color invokes emotion... but I suppose for a computer engineer, emotion is hard to come by :) Anywho, back to the story... I decided to paint a color called "Vintage Grape". Actually, it is a bit darker than Ken would have preferred, but I showed him a picture of it, and he said he liked it. I asked him again later to make sure and he said yes. But now that it's up, he says it a bit too dark. It took the weekend to paint the ceiling and the walls.

But how do I feel about it? I feel that the room isn't even in my house. It doesn't even feel like the same room. Its very romantic and warm and comfortable. The furniture is even in the same spots. And to make it even better, I am $40 under budget, now that I'm all purchase. I even purchased my splurge item - bed side lamps. As soon as I put the last piece of artwork up, I'll take and post photos.

Wheel of Fortune Opening Comments...

Have you ever watched the Wheel of Fortune? I have, and I particularly like it. Ok, call me an old foggie, but I like it. Have you ever listened to what people say when they talk about their family after they've gotten introduced? "I'm married to my wonderful husband, Bob, for 30 great years. And we have two darling girls, and six very smart grandchildren." I told Ken the other night that if I'm ever on one of those show's, I was gonna say that I'd been married to my lazy husband for 20 rotten years and we have 2 irresponsible kids and 6 rotten grandkids... Just to see the reaction out of Pat Sajak!

Calling all Olympic Opinons!!

Oh, so here's the question... What do you think about the new Speedo suits that our USA Swimming teams (men and women) are wearing this year? News is that these new suits made by Speedo have been designed to reduce drag and float a bit. A "non-scientific" test was done by a local show, called Evening Magazine about the make of the suits and they found that they did make the swimmers swim faster. And you'll also notice that many of our swimmers are not just breaking but demolishing world and olympic records. Could it be because of the suits?

Also, I heard something that the breaking of the records also has something to do with the pool depth and the "spillage" of the pool that causes less terbulance, along with a different "rope" material between the swimmers.

And then, there's the can of worms called, Sports Enhancement Drugs...

What are your thoughts?

New Blog Photo

As you can see, I have posted a new blog photo of my precious son, Finnegan. This photo was taken on Saturday for a wedding in town. Our friends Gordon and Helen were getting married on Saturday and we'd been invited to the wedding. We thought that the wedding was going to be a traditional Chinese wedding and super fancy. And we didn't have an "appropriate" outfit for Finnegan. Our friends let us borrow the little tie for Finnegan to wear and we pared it with a nice blue shirt and khaki pants (we were gonna put him in black pants, but we didn't have black socks). He looked, oh, so handsome! He looked just as handsome as his daddy did!! Hopefully I'll have photos of all of us to post, soon.

The countdown to Bejing

Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am for the Olympics to start. And although I don't really like Finnegan watching a ton of TV, the TV will NOT be turned off for the next 2 weeks as there are 7 stations that will be playing the games 24/7. Oh, it will be glorious!! I especially excited about Michael Phelps - Swimming and the Girls Volleyball team. Gymnastics will be fun too. I am also looking forward to watching the women's weight lifting as we have a gal from our small town who is favored to win. Oh, so much excitement!!

What is your favorite event?

Snuggle Bug!

Finnegan is our little snuggle bug. When he is tired, he will find something to "snuggle" with. He puts the object to his face and rubs it on his face. (I am convinced that this is what happened in the womb as he was breech with his face nessled in the placenta - but that's a different story.) He does this in the living room with "bear bear" while he's playing and then when he gets up to his bed, he does it with "moosey" while he's getting comfortable in his bed. It is the most precious thing to see my sweet little boy, snuggling in for rest. Well, tonight he was playing on the floor before bed and I was sitting on the couch. Tootsie was laying at my feet, resting as it has been a warm day here in WA. All of the sudden, I saw Finnegan crawl over to Tootsie and put his face into her neck and snuggle her. It was the most precious thing I've seen. Granted, Finn does a lot of cute things. But this really took the cake. I didn't have my camera ready, and I knew there was no way to have him do it again. Oh, but it was so precious!! Tootsie didn't mind it at all, either. She just layed there and let him love on her. She was patient and kind. It was so sweet.

Fall Fashion

Not until recently (within the past 4 years or so) have I become interested in fashion. In high school and college, I never really cared if I was wearing something that was in style or not. I just wore what I had. And since I've become interested in "fashion" I haven't really gone all out. I still am a cheap-skate and won't pay more than $20 on something. Paying $50 for jeans (or more) or $200 on a sweater is just stupid. Especially when you can go to Target and get something similar for a fraction of that. The last few days, I've been out shopping for various things and have become excited about the fall fashion coming out. Not necessarily because I love it, but because I love going shopping in the fall. It was the one time we went out and would get at least one thing new (for school). And since I enjoy the fall over any other season, it makes it even more exciting.

Today while I was out, I enjoyed looking at the shoes and tops particularly. Even though I don't work in an office, I also enjoy this time of year because there are very stylish "work" clothes for women, like suits and business casual outfits. Oh, I wish I needed "work" clothes again :) I found a pair of high heels today that I really liked. I'm not a heel person, especially now that I'm a mommy of a toddler. Perhaps if I have any "allowance" money at the end of the month, I go back and purchase them for date night :) Who knows, I might find a reason to wear them. :)

It happens...

On Saturday our friends invited us down to Olympia to explore the Farmers Market and boardwalk area. It was such a beautiful day. It started off chilly - Ken and I both wore jackets - but by the end of the day, it was sunny and beautiful down by the water. Once we got down by the water and saw how nice it way, I pulled out the sunscreen and began to slather Finnegan in it, his arms and face particularly. Normally, I don't use the cream on his face, but the stick, so I don't get it in his eyes. This time that is all I had so we had to make due. I did my best not to get it in his eyes and succeeded as his eyes didn't water all day long. Once we got home (after his nap and our lunch) I said to Ken, "Does he look sunburned to you?" Sure enough, our little baby got a bit of a sunburn right across his nose and under his eyes... I guess mommy was so concerned about not getting it in his eyes that she neglected to do it at all. Luckily we weren't out all day long and he wore the shade on his stroller too. And it wasn't too burned, as the next day he had a "sun-kissed" look! Here's a photo of him after we got home.


So, I have again mowed the lawn for my husband. This week I started with the front yard, thinking that if it got too hot, I'd finish the next day. I did get very hot, as it is in the 80's here this week, but got the full front yard cut and it looks very nice. I started on the back yard and had a few problems. The first problem was that we have half of our lawn that tends to be the "fertilizing" area of the back yard, courtesy of our two pups, Oreo and Tootsie. The other half of the lawn tends to be the "tinkling" area of the dogs. If you are familiar with either of the two items, you know that one fertilizes and the other kills because of the ammonia content. Therefore we have one half of the yard that grows very well, is super green and very plush - this is also the area right next to the pond, so all the algae water gets deposited there. The other half of the lawn is brown and is patchy at best. Therefore, the contrast in the two creates a problem when mowing... One side there's not much to mow, and the other needs to be mowed a couple of times in one session. So, in order to remedy this problem I do tend to mow the longer side a couple of times. Problem letter B that I'm having is in regard to mower maintence. I am not a mechanic and never will be. But it seems that every time I pull the mower out, it needs some sort of "adjustment". Last time, it was out of oil. This time it was out of gas. I'm sure next time I'll need to sharpen the blade!! :) Anywho, I got the whole thing cut for my hubby and got a bit of exercise yet again this week. :)

On the weight loss front - speaking of exercise. I've held strong at 12 lbs and can't seem to lose much more. I have about 35 more to reach my goal. I have plenty of time to do it in and I'm trying to focus on 1 lb a week... That's how I got this far. But now I think my body's plateaued, so I'm just trying to get over that hump (no pun intended)!

Have a great week everyone!!