As Good as It Gets

It's ironic that now that I've got my home on the market, it looks great and I wish I could stay. It's clutter free (except in the closets), clean, tidy. So I gave as much as I could to my townhouse, but I'm throwing in the trowel...I mean towel. It's not sold yet, but wanted to share the photos. This is as good as it gets...for this home anyway.

More Jinkies!

We may have to cancel Peanut's party at Chuck E Cheese. Swine Flu added to several school districts in Texas completely shutting down. Getting a bit scary and (1) I wouldn't want any of the kids to catch something there and (2) have a feeling most parents will want to stay away as it is. Looking into moving the party to Mimi and Paw Paw's house and just doing a dress-up party.

Poor Peanut! She's been talking about a C.E.C. party for a year!

Jinkies! Zoiks! @#!*

My creative Peanut decided that we couldn't have the normal Chuck E Cheese party for her birthday this year...we all have to wear costumes. She's been really into Scooby Doo so I got her a Daphne costume. I found a used Velma costume for me on eBay...Well, it said "one size fits most adults"...I'm a size 6 and the skirt did not fit...the person who sent it to me washed it first. Zoiks! Now I need to find a red skirt b/c there is no way I'm going out in public in that skirt! I don't normally even do skirts. Jinkies! I'm going to look like a total dork.

It is also apparent that you need a button nose to make the glasses work. I am so not a Velma!

We got her stuffed dog, Barkley (she fondly refers to him as a "stuffed dog that's alive"), a Scooby mask to wear.

Normally I'm up for being silly and wearing ridiculous costumes...so not in the mood right now.

THE LITTLE HOUSE THAT ALMOST COULD

I am putting my house on the market this month. Have mixed feelings about this but there's just no way I can stay. I haven't blogged in a while, but thought I'd start back up with this little ditty that I wrote this morning:

Here lies a home that had dreams
It’s owner tried with all her means
Brick by brick and pier by pier
She had those fixed and gave a cheer

A makeover for the house was in store
New flooring and paint, but the house wanted more

She made it a home where magic took place
A princess play closet for some unused space
There’s a sweet dinosaur bedroom filled with stuffed friends
And a special play area where the laughter never ends
The new stairs are majestic
The style was eclectic

The house seemed happy, it was all coming together
Until the roof was hit by some really bad weather
An insurance adjustor arrived when the owner made a claim
A new roof, yes, that would leave the house feeling the same

She didn’t stop there,
She showed the house more care
And gave it new gutters and downspouts
Now when the rain comes, no worries, no doubts

She didn’t want to leave this lovely little house
But she was told “I’m moving north” by her ex spouse
With kindergarten looming and a child to share
She’d have to move, it was time to prepare

The house did not take this news very well
It did not want its owner to sell
It made its disdain very clear
And that’s when more problems started to appear

Spores started growing under the sink
They grew and grew and started to stink
She said “in with the new cabinet and out with the mold!”
It’s going to be fine after that was what she was told

But the house wasn’t done, a sewer leak was detected
And that left the owner feeling quite dejected

So on the market the house goes
Even with all its aches and woes

The chimney still leans and the windows are a pane!
It’s labeled a “fixer upper” with so much to gain.

This might be the little house that could
Please take a look if you would


How’s that for disclosure! My realtor will probably think I'm nuts, which I am.

"We don't have to go to the mall then"

First off...I have many posts to make from Thanksgiving and my 40th Birthday...coming soon...promise.

So this morning I was driving Peanut to school. She keeps using potty words for everything and she uses them in the strangest way...If you tell her something she'll say, "Okay, stink!" or call you "stinky biscuits", "poopie pants", etc...Well, she was doing that the whole way to school. We are going to see Santa at the mall tonight, so I told her, "You know, Santa is gonna know that you are saying these words when mommy asks you to stop"...and something about how he wouldn't be happy...She asked me how he would know and, of course, I said "he just knows"...

She thinks for a minute and says, "We don't have to go to the mall then".

We are going...can't wait to hear what she says to Santa!

Cuddles and Kids Eat Free Night

Happiness!

She was squeezing me so tight I thought my cheeks would break!

Tuesdays are our eat out night. We usually go to either Denny's or Souper Salad. Kids eat free at both of those places...and I don't have to cook! Denny's has the best Kids menu of any restaurant we've been to. Every kind of "kid" food you can imagine, including grapes or goldfish crackers! We had an especially fun time at Denny's last night. Peanut was all hugs and cuddles...so much so that I almost couldn't eat! She was a complete ham for the waitress who took our picture. I've got one beautiful, sweet, snuggly daughter!

Sparkley Barkley

Tuesday night Peanut decided that Barkley was going to be a girl, so she attached all of her hair clips (I now realize she has too many of those...pretty much like everything else) to his ears. She was having a grand old time doing this. Suspicious that she chose to do this right before bed time...hmmmm.

We snapped some photos of the now girlie Barks and then spared him from the painful hairclips (yes, I realize that he's a stuffy) by removing them before bed.

He's a very patient pup.

I think you can see where his nose is starting to wear away right in the middle. She keeps biting him there. He's gonna look even funnier when I have to put a patch on his nose.

On another note, I am trying to get back to my original plan for this blog which is to show the real me and not just to show all things "Peanut",... but I've been in a bit of a funk for a variety of reasons...so I'm turning to humor a bit...my way of hiding sadness. Some days I wish hugging Barkley would give me the same kind of comfort it gives my sweet, sweet Peanut.

Sarah and Hills...and Magical Wanda the Witch

Sarah and Obama's number one supporter!

I can see Russia from my house!

Hmmm...where have I seen these glasses before?

"Lunch"

Here are the photos from Halloween day. It has to be said that Tricia and I are 2 of about 4 democrats in our office of 21 people...well, those willing to admit it, anyway.

SP for VP? NOT! But I Like Her Hair

I went as Sarah Palin for Halloween this year. Normally we have a costume contest at the office and I was pretty darn proud of myself for choosing my costume this year and shopping early for the clothes, props, etc. All in all I spent about $30 and that includes the glasses, makeup and red jacket. My friend Nadine (who just turned 40...25 days before me!) lives in Alaska and sent me a stuffed moose I'll just refer to as "Lunch"...

Monday morning before Halloween...the office decided not to do a contest! Oh the horror...was still going to dress up...We had big plans for the costume this year and we thought the office could use a little humor (some long time employees were laid off a couple of weeks ago and office atmosphere is a bit stressful)

The "We" is Tricia and I. I had convinced her to dress as Hillary Clinton and we made a spoof of the SNL skit with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. It came out pretty well considering we used my digital camera to record it and we did it in two takes. We posted it on YouTube and used a made up email address on yahoo in order to email the link to co-workers. There have been 132 views on YouTube as of today! Co-workers and friends sent it to friends who sent it to friends! This is funny to me, b/c I thought it was pretty bad...you could tell that we were reading from cue cards and we couldn't figure out how to get the cue cards high enough to read without the camera angle being off. BUT, we had sooo much fun making it!

Turn up the volume before you click on the link...the sound was really low off of my digital camera. Enjoy and have a good laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bICwdiKFD6Y

Witch Way Did She Go?

I changed out of my Sarah Palin costume and into another

witch's costume. Wait! Did I say that outloud? Sorry!

Peanut decided to be a witch for Halloween! We found the sweetest costume at The Children's Place. I was pretty nervous when we bought it because it was a good month and a half until Halloween...and she had been saying that she wanted to be Ariel...thank goodness she changed her mind! I like Ariel, but I've heard the costume is a tough one to wear. We've been reading this wonderful book that I got at the $1 store 3 Halloween's ago. It's called Trouble Brewing. It has about 6 different characters and I've always read it to her using the same voices. This year she not only remembered every voice I used (scary thing is so did I!), she memorized the story. From phone calls to family, to private readings for her Daddy, Mimi, Paw Paw and Nana, to telling the story to her classmates, friends...she's made her rounds. She actually read it to some of my co-workers including my boss on Halloween. Each time I'm just amazed and proud. Truth be told, I love showing her off this way.

The night before Halloween our neighbor, Joy, came over and painted her nails in rainbow colors, and the next morning she came over and helped with the makeup.

Peanut calls herself "Magical Wanda the Witch" because Wanda is the name of one of the characters in Trouble Brewing.

When we woke up Halloween morning she told me that her beloved Barkley dog should go as a ghost. I made him a quick costume out of an old pillowcase. Hard to tell that it's him in the picture because his costume got a bit twisted...but she was thrilled that he was dressed up as something spooky! Took her to my office for a bit early Friday morning and then off to school. Her school decorated the playground so the kids could go trick or treating there. It was actually very well done. Hope they do the same next year.

Friday night we went to Cecilie's house so she could Trick or Treat with her friend. Robert met us there and it was a nice way to share her for Halloween (on neutral ground). I hope this tradition continues!

We had a wonderful night. More on my costume in the next post.

Today's Post

Saw this on my friend Mimi's Live Journal and had to copy it. Mimi, you are just too funny and always the clever one! Thanks for the laugh.

Color Me Happy

Last week my mom and I took a trip to the Kimball Art Museum. They were having an Impressionists exhibition with works of art on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. The line was huge to get in. I was very excited about this exhibit because my favorite painting by Van Gogh was there. It's called The Bedroom (2nd version). This has been my favorite since I saw it in a book in college. Art History was one of the hardest courses I took, but I took so much away from it. It is a dream of mine to some day have a home with an extra room in it so I can re-create this painting with real live furniture, painted wood floors, etc and then hang a print of this painting in the room...

Back to the museum...the minute we walked into the exhibit I told my mom all I wanted to see was this painting...as luck would have it, it was all the way toward the end of the exhibit, so we were the first ones there to see it that day...I actually got to stand there, uninterrupted, for at least 5 minutes. Painting took my breath away and I was so estatic I almost started crying. Went back to the picture at least 3 times after looking at the others. I really enjoyed the other paintings, too. Unbelievable to see the real mccoys. Next to each painting they had information about the history of each piece. For The Bedroom, they talked more about his first painting of this room and a letter he wrote to Gauguin about the painting. Here is what he wrote:

"It's just simply my bedroom" he wrote his frined (Gauguin) "only here color is to do everything, and by giving its simplification a grander style to things, is to be suggestive of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination...The shadows and the cast shadows are suppressed; it is painted in...flat tints like Japanese prints".

Thinking this explains why I'm so drawn to this painting. I've always loved very simple furniture with lots of wall color.

It was a wonderful afternoon. When picked up Peanut from school after that and the rest is for another blog...

A Day at the Patch

Caught on the wire?!
Peanut in the sky

My Peanut!

Kissing Nana

Showing some "tude"

double the "tude"

Pumpkin head to pumpkin head

Nana was in town this weekend and we took her to the Pumpkin Patch for some fun. Along the way we picked up one of Peanut's friends. This is the 3rd year the girls have gone to the patch together. We also met up with other friends. It was a really nice day. The sun was really bright so the photos were harder to edit...but I think I captured some fun moments.

If I Only had a Scarecrow...

Peanut and I decorated the front yard last night. We will get more pumpkins when Nana comes in this weekend. Think we have enough scarecrows! No, I did not dress her yesterday (still a little too warm out for turtlenecks). She slept over Mimi and Paw Paw's Sunday night and this must be all they had to put her in...mosquitoes are still out, so I just let her stay in those clothes so she wouldn't get any more bites... hmmm... wonder if the scarecrows can scare away the mosquitoes?

Butterfly photo was posted

Here's the exact link to the butterfly post on Journey North's website. Same as the photo in my earlier post here, but neat to see one of my photos on a website (besides my blog!)

http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/jn-query-byday?1223322897

It was a Monarch Butterfly migrating to Mexico!

I looked up butterflies and discovered that October is a big month for the Monarch butterflies to migrate south. People have been seeing hundreds of them at a time. Found a fun website and was able to post my sighting. http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/jn-query-byday I think you need to click on Monarch/Other sightings to see my post which is dated 10-04-08 (the date I saw the butterfly).

Visitor

Saturday night I went outside to water the flowers and other dying foliage by my front door. It was about 9pm. Never expected to see this beauty hanging around! She was very large and the colors on her were spectacular. What a treat. Ironically I posted to the blog about this time last year with the story of the "moth-erflies" and my Grandma Ann. I mentioned how they always showed up around a significant time. Grandma Ann's birthday would have been this October 9th. I like to think the buttterfly knew I was thinking about her...and as corny as it sounds, when I see a butterfly it is nice to just pretend it is a visit from Grandma Ann...and my heart fills up.