Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sending up thanks.

Tonight's bedtime prayer, brought to you by my three-year-old, included the following:

"Day doo, Gah, por my: (Thank you, God, for my):
Papa, Mama, Roro (one of the dogs, Romeo), Mazi, Summer, Tess (Tex, again all of the dogs), Minnie, Ganpah (Grandpa), ReeRee, Rish, (Marie and Rich), Bant, Mehw, Baby Dihdee (Brant, Mel, and Baby Ginny), Baby Tag, Warren (Lauren), BJ, candy, cool (school), and the Bihbuh (Bible). Amen!"

Amen, indeed. If you found yourself lucky enough to be listed in that lengthy prayer, you are a very blessed person (or dog, there are quite a few dogs listed as we have five) indeed. This little guy prayed for each of these things all on his own. I love that.

I love three-year-old prayers.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Oh good gracious.

I saw the movie. (I shouldn't have to even say what movie, but, just in case any of you have been living under a rock, I will -- Twilight.)

Ugh.

So many things went wrong. And I'll have you know that I never compare books with their movie counterparts. The movies are never quite the same anyway, and isn't it really pretty unfair to expect any worthwhile book to be condensed into two hours on the big screen? At least that's my justification for never comparing the two.

Anyway, back to the ugh. Where shall I start? Not-so-fine on the acting, super cheesy (as in, can we say, the Kraft macaroni cheesiest) on any and all romantic scenes, terrible background music (the floaty piano pieces while they were getting to know each other were killing me and reminded me of bad elevator music or something you might hear in a grocery store), and just general ugh. The only character I really thought was exactly like what I had pictured in my mind was Charlie, her dad.

Save your $8.50, folks. And considering I am only partway through book #2, I'll probably take my time finishing up the series.

(Oh, but I must give a shout-out to my beloved Oregon for being the unsung hero of the movie. It's safe to say that this Oregon lover was very happy with all the beautiful scenery and even a couple of screenshots of Multnomah Falls.)

Friday, November 21, 2008

ABC is $@&%?^?#&%#*#&%^@.

That's me cussing on the blog. Pushing Daisies has been officially axed. And to top it all off, it ends on a cliffhanger.

ABC is $@#$(@#%&#@(%?^#@(%@#(%&?@#(%&#@(%&@#(&%@(#&%(#@&%(@#&%(#@&%(@&%!!!!!

Never a dull moment.

My mom, my son, and myself had just arrived in a neighboring city today to visit my new nephew (cute little Mr. No-Name that finally got his name, Ewan) when I got a phone call. One of those phone calls you never want to get.

Your husband has been in an accident.

Thank the good Lord above that he is alright. My whole body was shaking when I first heard the news. Here I was, almost 2 hours away, and unable to do anything, unable to be with him, unable to know all of the details. My husband was gone all week on a business trip and flew home early this morning. He was driving to our home from the airport, pulling off on an exit ramp, when he was struck from behind by a pick-up truck, going about double the speed he was. She hit him at an angle, which probably kept it from being worse. He hit his head on the steering wheel, and they took him to the hospital in an ambulance. But after x-rays and a good once-over, it ended up being a bad case of whiplash.

He's home already. We just arrived back home. And I've never been so grateful in my life to see him all in one healthy piece.

God is good.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

MIA

Missing In Action. That's me, lately. That, and you could add "running around like a chicken with her head cut off" to my title as well. Right now is just one of those periods where I constantly feel like I'm clawing my way to the surface, but I just can't get enough of a grip to hold on up there. (Not emotionally, mind you, but just feeling behind on everything.) Thanksgiving is a WEEK away from tomorrow. What?! How did that happen?! I was planning on having my Christmas shopping done by then, and yet, haha, I haven't even started. And Thanksgiving is at my house this year. My currently very messy and completely unfinished house this year. And Christmas? A mere four weeks after that!!!

But anyway, back to my reasons for being MIA lately. I have been up to my eyeballs in painting. And sanding. And caulking. (Caulk is my new best friend. Forget diamonds. It's all about caulk for me, and how it makes everything look sooooooooooo nice.) And painting some more. After working on my son's room for 4 days now (give or take some hours of trying to keep up with the household chores as well), my mom and I are halfway through our first coat of real paint. It took almost 11 hours just to prime it all. Then another 4 or 5 hours to sand it all. Then caulking was at least another 2 hours. Then starting the first coat of paint took 4 hours so far. We still have to finish the first coat, lightly sand it all again, and then paint the last coat. Then the woodwork will be done, and we can start on painting the ceiling and all the walls.

Are you exhausted yet just from reading my long list from this room? I sure am.

But don't despair. I am very happy with the way it is all shaping up. And I've gotten just a teensy bit of satisfaction from the fact that my mom and I have done almost all of this process by ourselves, and it looks nice. Reeeeeeeeeeeal nice.

Here are some before pictures (before being after the carpenter left):













And here is what it looks like right now:



It's hard to tell, but the white on the woodwork is actually an off-white shade. The walls are going to be painted in a medium shade of greyish-taupe. Nice and neutral, folks. Enough work has gone into this little man's room that I have no plans whatsoever to go back in every few years and change the wall color. The train shelf is so cute. The carpenter added a little platform on each wall coming out from the shelf where I can put a building on -- we are buying a water tower, a church, a barn and silo, and a ranch house, one to go on each wall. We also still have to put up the curtain rods inside each bunk, which means I also need to make curtains. And I think I will be making a new Roman shade and panel for the window, although I have yet to figure that one out. My goal is to have all of the woodwork done by this weekend, except for some changes my husband needs to make that then must be primed and painted to get caught up with everything else. I hope by Sunday at the latest that I will be starting in on the ceiling and the walls.

So, what do you think?

Monday, November 17, 2008

The best way to start a Monday...

...is with a good laugh. I mean, a gooooooooooooooooood laugh, and at someone else's expense, of course.

Go over to AnyMommy's blog and read for yourself. And thank your lucky stars you are done with potty training. Or haven't yet started. Or at least don't have it as bad as she does...;)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Q: How do you catch a squirrel?

A: Climb up a tree and act like a nut.
(Props go out to my cousin's second oldest boy for this classic joke, the only joke I can ever successfully remember.)


Only in my little world, which often seems like a mishmash of living with Raymond (from "Everybody Loves Raymond") and Tim (from "Home Improvement"), would the following scenario not only happen, but actually be accepted as a genuine, bonafide reason for one's spouse being well over an hour late arriving home:

(our phone call from five minutes ago)
Me: Where are you?

Him: Well, you'll never believe this, but...(if I had a dollar for every time I've heard that phrase come out of his mouth, I'd be a filthy rich woman.)

Me: But what?

Him: Well, on my way home I stopped at the park to get rid of the peanuts in the back of the car (first "strange for everyone else, completely normal for my husband" part of the explanation). I went to feed them to the squirrels (again, a very normal occurrance). And when I got back to the car, I realized I'd misplaced my car keys when sitting in the park.

*Insert long awkward silence here, during which I was trying to collect my thoughts, resist all of the screaming voices in my head, and keep from reaching through the phone to strangle him.

Him (continuing, as if he'd never even noticed the long, awkward silence): I went back to look for the keys and realized I'd sat in three different places while feeding the squirrels. And with all of the leaves on the ground...

Me (thinking, and not thankfully saying any of the following out loud): ...the five trillion leaves on the ground over who knows how many acres of the park where the car keys could have possibly dropped ALL THE WHILE you were actually supposed to have already come home to get the list of items needed from the paint store so we could actually start sanding the new built-in's in the boy's room that were supposed to be sanded THREE DAYS AGO...

Me (actually what came out of my mouth): Great. See you in ten minutes. Click.

I must give credit to the good Lord above who has granted me over six years of marriage with this husband of mine, six years filled with many a similar scenario, which over time stretched my patience into the significant amount you see that was exercised today. Thank you, Lord. Oh, and while we're at it, thank you, Lord, also for the rest of my family, including my dear brother and sister-in-law, who welcomed their third son into the world yesterday morning and HAVE YET TO NAME THE POOR LITTLE THING. ;) No, really, I know, naming babies is a hard thing, especially when it's your third boy. You don't want to brand the poor things. Hopefully soon...

Yes, Lord, thank you for all the nuts in my life.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

So much to say...

...and so little time to say it.

Just popping my head in to say I'm still alive (in case any of you were wondering). I've just been swamped by life. In the last two weeks so much has been happening:

*the carpenter finished my son's room -- I have been waiting over a year for this, so you can only imagined how elated I am. This happy news, of course, brings about the overwhelming news that I have a huge amount of painting to embark on -- the ceiling, the crown moulding, the baseboards, the bed, the drawers, the ladder, the bookshelves, the shelf all the way around the room, and the walls. That's all. Oh, and I need to have it done pronto since we are hosting a few Christmas hooplas at our house in about a month. No pressure.

*we enjoyed a fun and bittersweet roadtrip to see my husband's youngest sister and her husband. He is deploying soon for yet another year (he has served this country abroad many times already), and we wanted to get in some family time before he left, especially for my three-year-old, who absolutely adores his uncle.

*one of my beloved cousin's had her first baby yesterday, a gorgeous little girl

*my brother and sister-in-law welcomed their third son into the world today, about an hour ago, actually (we are still waiting patiently to find out his little name)

Needless to say, I have a whole lot I need to be posting about, wouldn't you agree? I will try my absolute best to get typing and uploading (pictures) just as soon as I get a spare moment, which, should be, oh, right about in November of 2009. Does that date work for you? Haha. Just kidding.

Back in a smidge...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Yes, please.

I'm sure I could find a cute little someone to wear this if I won it. Or save it for any potential cute little someone's in the future. (No, that's not a hint for any pregnancy/adoption news on my part.)

Tropical Tree Frog Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!