Five Years of Wedded Bliss

Here we are - five years married... We sure are cute.

And I think I'm a rockstar!

Happy Anniversary to ME!

Totally LOST (spoilers abound!)

So what the hell folks? I want to hear all of your theories, questions, gripes, praises... Everyone on Facebook is trying to skirt around the meat of the issue so as not to spoil the show for those DVR-ers out there who are slacking.... I want to hear it!

So bring it!

I will say that I am full of questions, and slightly disappointed by the lack of answers... I agree with leaving some things up to the viewers interpretation... how else would they get people all over the world into heated discussions today, right? But answer SOME stuff directly people! I liked that everyone (dead and alive) got to be with who they were supposed to be with in the end... specifically Sawyer and Juliet... cause I'm in love with Sawyer and was so sad for him when he lost Kate... then when I saw the love between him and Juliet, I thought - HA! Kate! Take that! Now you're stuck with wishy-washy Jack! Then she freakin died! Poor Sawyer... Now he has his Juliet back. Aweeee... But seriously, I did like that they at least wrapped everyone up into happy little packages at the end... I was just hoping for something a little more complicated than a 'walk into the light' scene.... "Go into the light, Sawyer-Anne.. Go into the LIGHT!"

So, bring it! What do you all think?

Here is the link from the comments section:
EW: LOST finale recap

Possible Painting Project

So I may have a painting project in my future. I'm just not at a place in life where I feel I can get out all my 'stuff' for painting when I have no reason to paint. Yeah, yeah, I know... painting is for personal pleasure - I get that... and I agree. But with children running around and messing with my stuff, and no where to put whatever painting I produce, I'm just not inclined to start a painting just to store it in the basement with all the others. So then Cayce, my sister, (Everyday Adventures with Allyson & Molly) said she needed a painting for her living room. She found a painting in a catalog that she really likes. Here it is:

this is from http://www.homedecorators.com/

So I will use it as inspiration to paint her something for her living room. Once she buys me the canvas that is. If I had one laying around I would use it - but I don't.
I'm excited about starting a new painting... and one like this will be fun. There's nothing I love more in painting than shading and shadows! Hours and hours of the same colors that magically transform into a three dimensional space.

The Mister

Took some pictures of the Mister the other day. Getting ready for work. I just think he's mighty nice to look at and thought you might want to see too. That's all.




Ain't he purdy? Looks like one a dem fellers on the TeeVee!

It Begins Again

Okay - again... I will try to loose some weight. I have at least 50 pounds to loose. I guess I should do something more than crossing my fingers and wishing on stars. I sure wish I had a magic solution. I'm really too lazy to loose weight. I has taken me about 6 years to gather up all this extra poundage... Well, Wait. No, that's wrong. I'm the same weight as I was five years ago. I have gained and lost about 75 pounds in those five years, but I guess it was the two years prior when I gained the fabulous fifty. I've had two babies in those five years and I still weigh what I did pre-pregnancy. It doesn't look the same, but the numbers are the same. I haven't continued to gain weight I just haven't lost any (other than the small person that I gained during my first pregnancy - and I don't mean my kid!)

So again I will begin a mission of weight loss. What will I do? Nothing major. I'm just not the kind of person who can get into any routine if it's a drastic change from the norm. I have to take babysteps. So I will just pick a few lifestyle changes (maybe 5 or 6) and slowly incorporate them into my daily life.
Here are a few off the top of my head:
1. Ride my stationary bike for at least 15 min a day
2. Eat less (smaller portions)
3. Drink more water
4. Stop eating by a certain time (9pm)
5. Start walking more
6. Some kind of muscle training... they're in there somewhere...

Simple, yes. But am I doing any of them now? No.

First I will work on my bike riding. I love a challenge or a competition and my bike keeps track of mileage, calories, speed, all that jazz. So I'm going to unhook the bike's computer completely to reset the odometer and see how many miles I have to go to loose all this weight. I think I will be more prone to get on the bike if I'm trying to increase the mileage. Once I'm used to this step, in a few weeks, I will add another. Then another. I have started this type of system with my housework habits and it seems to be working for me. Most things just don't seem to work out for me. So I'm hoping since this baby-step plan is working in one aspect of my life it will also begin to work in another.

So, here I go.

Old Friend

Old Friend
~my travel easel~

I have decided that I should start to paint again. Because I really need another thing to keep up with - Ha! But seriously, I haven't painted anything in years that didn't involve construction paper or tempera paints. And I think it's about time I give it a try.
I went down into the dark corner of the basement and unearthed my old friend. The Travel Easel. I bought this with my own money (it wasn't cheap) back when I worked at an art supply store for just above minimum wage. It was a major purchase. And I love it. It's sturdy, compact, and portable. It even has a drawer for carrying all my paints (which I have yet to find in the basement).
I brought this upstairs to the great interest of my kids. They wanted to inspect it, open it, mess with it, break it. So we opened it up and I gave them a tour of the extend-able legs, the opening latches, the remains of what was left in the drawer - they loved it. Then I banned them from touching it and put it away in my bedroom. I know I will not be able to paint with them awake until they are used to this new object being around but maybe I can get some time with my old friend after dark. And if I do I will try and photo document my painting attempts.

The Face of Genius

I think that Logan might just, may be, possibly is... a damn genius!

He's the cutest thing in the world, most of the time. And overall he has a very good nature about him, mostly smiley and giggly. Lately he's started showing signs that his giant head may be of more use than just throwing off his balance. He's always been a good communicator. I've known what he was trying to say for a long time. As expected, he's been picking up new words every day. He puts two words together, rarely but sometimes three... usually it's just tacking a name to the end of a command or request: Nigh-Nigh Mama... Bye Bye Papa... Sauwwy Noah (sorry Nola)... etc.

And recently I've noticed his knack for retention. I tell him something one time and he remembers... like letters and numbers. He was sitting on my lap the other day and making noise, I wasn't really paying attention to him. Then I realized what he was saying: letters.
"Oh. Oh. Gee. Dee. Oh. Oh." My shirt said GOOD JOB on it.
He was reading the letters from my friggin shirt! And subsequently I've tested his ability and he has continued to impress. "El. Oh. Gee. Aye. En." LOGAN! Frankly, it's freaking me out.

I'm not sure he's supposed to be knowing this stuff yet. Maybe he is... I honestly can't remember when Nola started reading letters, or counting... (I know! I KNOW! You're not supposed to compare children to each other... blah blah whatever!) So now, little smarty pants has started counting. Counting! He can't speaking in sentences, yet he's counting. In the backyard the other day he was counting. Of his own accord he was running along the posts in the chain link fence and as he ran by them he would count (not always correctly, but neither does my 3 1/2 year old). "Two. Two. Free. Four. Five." ...running running running, all by himself along the fence... "Ayyy. Nigh. TEN!" Holy Crap. Holy Shit. He just counted to ten. COUNTED TO TEN! Freaking me OUT!

My Little Genius. He'll be the smartest player Da BEARS have ever seen!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to Me
Happy Mother's Day to Me
Happy Mother's Day Dear Janae
Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Had a good day today. Really. Didn't start out too well though...

Usually Kirk works on every holiday know to man, but he was off this one. I woke up with the kids. He tried but couldn't resist the snooze feature on his cell phone alarm clock. And ironically ended up waking the kids up earlier than they would normally have risen due to his alarm. The thought counts here, according to him. Not to me. I knew he wasn't going to wake up with them and was planning to get up anyway - wish he wouldn't have set his alarm at all. So my Mother's Day started around 6:15. Whoopie!

So around 9 he gets up (because I asked him to). He got me a card, a bottle of wine, a bag of beef jerky and a balloon on a stick. The balloon part has become somewhat of a tradition with us for some reason, probably because they are readily available at Walgreens (as are cards and wine and beef jerky). But this year I assumed he would get two - they really aren't for me even though they say Happy Mother's Day on them. But no, just one. Can you guess what instantly happened? One balloon, two kids. The Battle of Mother's Day began. Within five minutes of crying, screaming and hearing 'mine' a thousand times the balloon was now a two part balloon. No one was happy.

So once the Balloon War was over and we were all calm (oh, I chose not to open my card upon receiving it because I was mad and didn't want to come off completely ungrateful) we tried to figure out what to do with our day.
I asked Nola what she thought we should do and she said, "Go somewhere."
Where? I asked her what she thought I would like to do, where I would like to go?
She said, "Well, Mama, you like to clean the house."
What else?
"You like to make us all food."
Ha ha ha... What else?
"You like to plant stuff."
Well, you got one out of three! Where should we go?
"Home Depot! They have plantin stuff there!"
Sounds good to me. (I needed tomato cages)
"Can we go after that to somewhere and look at lots of toys?"
Maybe...

So we went to Home Depot, then to Target. I also needed new underwear. Then out to eat at El Maguey - Yum Yum Yummiest! (still have leftover tamales for later!) Then home. And then it started to get really good! Kirk watched the kids and I got to do yard work. All by myself! With no little helper, and no littler helper! I actually got all my plants planted! Now he's giving them a bath and I'm blogging about my day (with a glass of wine). So all in all it was a very good Mother's Day.

Recap of what I got:
a very sweet and funny card (which I read later when I was in a good mood)
a bottle of wine
a balloon on a stick
a bag of beef jerky
tomato cages
new underwear
and (last but not least)
free time!

Herb Garden 2010

Okay - Lucy - this is for you.

Last year I had my herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint,basil, chives, patchouli) all in my veggie garden plot. This year I decided to remove them from the plot and place them elsewhere.

Some come back, some do not. My rosemary, basil and patchouli did not come back. They weren't supposed to. My thyme, mint, oregano and chives did. I moved the chives into a pot and will put it somewhere. I moved the oregano and thyme into the ground by the arbor, where the mint already was. They are doing great. I bought some boxwood basil (like regular basil in taste and use but shaped like a boxwood bush) and planted those with some flowers in the bed by the pave stone patio. I have seed for more chives and purple basil, which I haven't started yet. But it's never too late! I may start them this year or save the seeds for next year and just buy a few more plants at Hartke Nursery which is down the street from me or at our local Farmer's Market, which starts this weekend!

Lucy: Herbs are sold almost all Summer long and will last all Summer long and into the Fall. And all year round if indoors. Choose a few good, big pots and get some plants that are already established. With pots you will need to make sure the moisture levels are correct (they sell really cute little terracotta worms that will tell you when to water)... and if you don't bring them indoors in winter terracotta pots will freeze and crack. And you can plant your one herb in the center of a larger pot and surround it on the bottom with ground covers like elven thyme (my favorite non-useful herb, it looks like moss) or creeping jenny (my favorite ground cover and it comes back every year). I suggest you pick a theme color and buy pots of all sizes in that color and just plant away... I like red. Either way - if you ever want to try and get together to do this, let me know. I will try to free myself from the kids to go garden shopping with you!

I will also take some herby pictures once I have something worthwhile to shoot.... Good Luck Lucy!

Veggie Garden 2010

So I am finally making progress on my garden this year. The actual plot has been turned over and compost added. I even started planting.

So far I have planted a long row of okra (21 plants, alternating regular green and organic burgundy okra), one of each type of squash I started (one ball, 8ight ball, fairy squash and yellow crook neck), as well as two rows of pepper plants (a wide variety from baby bells to Pablanos). I also started some beans around the arbor (purple pole, green pole, black eyed and lima). I have about 7 tomato varieties ready to go but I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger before transplanting into the ground.

Among all the identified plants I have, there are many that got lost in the tagging system. They were either moved around or switched from one container to another or given to me unidentified. So I will also set up an additional area along my fence for the Mystery Garden. There will be Mystery Tomatoes, Mystery Peppers, Mystery Squash, and other misc things that don't fit into the plot. These will be unmarked, unorganized and unworried about. And will probably be my biggest veggie producers!

So that is my progress. I will take some pix when things are all in the dirt.

Over the River & Through the Woods

To Grandmother's House We GO!

Went to my mom's on Saturday with The Buster & The Beans. They had so much fun. My mom's new house is over the river (the Missouri River) and through the woods (the remaining suburban woods of St. Charles) from my house. When we got there we had to go check out the pond, or as Buster calls it, the Wa-Wa.



We were hunting froggies!



Then they picked dandelions for me while Mom and Ron worked in the yard.



The biggest thrill was the hill. It took Logan a while to get the hang of it but eventually they were both going UP the hill....



Then DOWN the hill...



Even falling was a blast!



It had rained, so I was on a mission to get some good droplet photos...
Raindrops on Hosta:



And did you know that Peony buds won't open unless ants eat off the sticky layer on them? I did not know that until I was informed by my mom, who probably was told by Ron... Interesting info. Here are some little ants at work on a peony (see the one underneath?):



And then I found the best raindrop photo-op! I went to just take a picture of the one Iris remaining intact after the storm and found it was holding a raindrop right in the center. Isn't that perfect?






Then Nola Bean decided to climb a tree. She didn't get very far, but her feet did come off the ground. And to her, that's climbing a tree. Even though it looks more like she's just hugging it.



And one last shot of the kids by the tree at the top of the hill. Logan kept knocking on it saying, "Nah-Nah. Nah-Nah." Probably about 50 times... I guess he thought someone might come out, who knows. They look so small by the big ole tree.



Fun day. Kids were asleep by the time I was out of the driveway. Good times!