An unexpected after-birthday surprise

I got a after-birthday surprise today ~ a notice in the mail that I had accidentally paid twice for a book order back in February from DoubleDay Book Club. So I was able to order six more books today, for "free"! I'll take 'em!

Happy Opening Day!

It's a holiday in Cincinnati! Opening Day for the Reds! GO REDLEGS!!

Please don't die

I do not have a green thumb. So the fact that this plant here has lived for an entire year under my care is nothing short of a miracle. When I bought it its vines were only about an inch tall. The thing is huge now. I decided to re-pot it this weekend because it was looking a little squished in its pot from the store. I took a picture of it in its original pot just for records sake, so in case it does die, I'll know what it once looked like. I got the cutest purple pot and a cord to hang it from a hook in the ceiling. I forgot to take a picture of it in its new home though, duh!

I had a wonderful birthday!

I had a great great great birthday weekend, thanks to my lovely husband and children! I came home from work Friday with the house all decorated and the girls yelling "Surprise Mommy!" It was so sweet.

We even played pin the tail on the donkey!

I got many awesome presents too! I am so spoiled! I got an Ipod dock for my office and it's super cool because it has an AM/FM tuner so I can listen to Reds day games! I also got a Starbucks gift card, an IKEA gift card, a Lane Bryant gift card, a huge box of Nerds candy (yummy), the new Sophie Kinsella noval (didn't even know it was out!!), some Asti Spumonti, a DQ ice cream cake!!!, a box of my fav treat, Andes Mints, a trip to Belterra Casino Friday night, and a non-kid night on Friday night! (they had a sleepover at their grandparent's.)

It was an awesome weekend!

We cannot stop ourselves from watching

Mike and I watched The Real Housewives of Orange County on Bravo with vigor. We (shamefully) loved it. It was sort of like a train wreck, we couldn't stop watching. When we saw commercials for the new New York version we were all like, aww heck no, that can't be as good! But IT IS. We have watched every episode and it is great! We get enveloped into the culture of these women that never wear jeans (only designer dresses can adorn their plastic surgery-enhanced bods) and are obsessed and stressed about getting their toddlers into the most prestigious prep pre-school. I am currently reading the novel "Momzillas" that is all about parenting in the Upper East Side. If I hadn't watched The Real Housewives of New York show I would have thought the author made it all up, but nope, it's fer real. And I find it all fascinating!

UPS USPS

I like those UPS commercials with the guy drawing on the Whiteboard. But, did they not realize that the music in the background is from the band called the POSTAL SERVICE, who, until the government told them to stop, went by the name The United States Postal Service? Were they trying to be ironic?

I'm not cool enough to figure out how to add a YouTube video right here into my blog. So, I'm putting links here. Here is the UPS ad, with the song in the background, and here is the Postal Service video for their song "Such Great Heights"

Why is it ...

... that Coke tastes different at different restaurants or other places? McDonald's Coke is in a league of it's own. Wendy's is okay. My preferred kind is a Polar Pop Coke from Circle K. It tastes all together different than McDonalds and Wendy's. Hmmm ...

Three down

I got three birthday presents already! Remember my trite unpractical list? (here) Well Mike let me get three of the Etsy items last night, yay! I got the deviled egg crochet pattern, a pile of bezel cups, and that little print to the left. The "Lydia" print was sold out so I got the "Paul Bunyan" print instead. Yay!

Posing

As I was taking pictures of the felt food, Lydia kept asking me to take her picture, and she kept posing in these adorable poses. How cute! I just had to post.

Felt food

I made the girls sets of felt food for Easter. Lydia got a pizza and Arlene got a sandwich, with all the fixings. They've been playing with it constantly, but also arguing about it because Mean Arlene insists on putting Lydia's pizza toppings on her sandwich.

Where did sweet Arlene go?

Ever since Saturday afternoon, our sweet little Arlene has been replaced with a snot-nosed mean bully. Where did the nice Arlene go? This mean Arlene has punched Lydia in the nose, has argued extensively with her mommy and daddy, refuses to do anything requiring any sort of effort, e.i. pick up her toys, put on her socks, brush her teeth.

So smart for a three year old

Lydia can write her name!

Snowy Easter

We were in Cleveland for Easter and it was snowy! Yuk! We had a good time, but the snow sort of put a "this isn't spring" sort of feeling in the air. The Easter bunny brought the girls two baskets each! They had way too much to eat and got way too much candy. The basket pictured here is all of their loot. We are rationing out their candy now. On Sunday they could not go to bed, they had had so much candy. Their little bodies were tired, but they were wired on chocolate and sweets, so they couldn't fall asleep. They were running around and crying and screaming, and then falling asleep, but then crying and screaming and running around, then falling asleep. They are still a little out of whack.

An addiction

I forced myself NOT to do any internetting yesterday, on my day off, and it was really hard! We have laptops, so it's just too easy and convenient to just plug in a laptop and surf the 'net while the TV is on. I told myself yesterday that I wasn't going to get online at all. It was hard. At one point in the evening my eye started twitching. But I resisted. So I was all excited to get into work this morning just to check my emails and my blogs. Oh dear.

30 things I want when I turn 30

This post got buried when I posted it today. It's here.

National Sweater Day

Happy Birthday Mr. Rogers!

Why I haven't been blogging

It's because I've been busy CRAFTING!

I made this bracelet for myself. The girls did the drawings.

Arlene's people and Lydia's flowers. I love how it turned out!

These pendants are for someone special!

I made bracelets for the girls to wear Easter.

My newest foray into resin pendants are these tiny little pendants. Aren't they cute? I dyed the resin and added glitter. I haven't listed these in my shop yet.
A close up of the yellow pendant.

I also made a few earrings and pins. So little and cute!
Check out this cool travel case I found for my goods!

I also made some custom pendants. And some more pendants too. I have pictures of everything that I made up on my Flickr site. I've also been making sterling silver and bead earrings, and I'm pondering a sale/give-away/sale incentive with them. Stay tuned!

I think I've had too much coffee

It's 12:28 a.m. on Sunday night (technically Monday morning) and I'm still awake and really have no desire to go to bed. I have to be up in less than seven hours though. Yikes.

A small update

A small update on the house selling bizness: we countered with the couple that bid. We countered back with a good price, we went a tad lower than we wanted, and would bring a little money to the table. They wanted us to bring $12K to the closing table. We said we'd bring $4K. We turned in our counter at 6:30 p.m. Friday. They had until 6 p.m. Sunday. We got an email from our realtor at 6:17 p.m. Sunday, saying the couple placed a verbal counter with their realtor. They came up one grand from their original offer. So, instead of us brining $12K to the table for them, we'd bring $11. Great. Thanks. Thanks for being so flexible. Thanks for being willing to counter. You know, counter, as in "we give, you take, you give, we take." Whatev. Our realtor is going to consult with us tomorrow as to what our counter-counter will be. I'm so not into even negotiating with them because they're just trying to nickel and dime us. Our realtor wants to play with them, but we don't. I say we counter back the same as our first, but say that we'll throw in the bar stools for fun. Final offer, take it or leave it. We had a showing today (Sunday) and the weather is getting better, so there will be more interest, I know it! (I hope it!!)

A little more excitement please. Jeeesh.

Did anyone else watch HGTV's Dream Home giveaway show? I caught the end of it just as they were "announcing" and "suprising" the winner. It was AWFUL! I'm guessing it wasn't a total "surprise" to her, I bet they prepped her. BUT, she was AWFUL! She wasn't excited, she looked mad. She wasn't grateful, she was nervously patting and scratching her head! It was hideous to watch! The woman was a complete unemotional blob. I went to HGTV's web site to see if they said anything the winner - they had a video promo "See the winner's reaction after the live reveal!" But then an hour later the promo was gone, and there is no video of her reaction, because it was a NON REACTION. She didn't even say thank you! Jeeeeesh! (Sorry you didn't win Mom, I know you would have had an appropriately excited reaction!)

30 things I want when I turn 30

A couple years ago my friend A. wrote a list out of the 29 things she wanted for her birthday, when she was turning, you guessed it, 29. (at least I think it was when she turned 29, I could be wrong about the age ... anyway ...) I thought that was a cute idea, so I thought, hey, I'm turning 30 this year, let's see if I can come up with 30 things that I'd like for my birthday. Shamefully, yes, I could. Granted, these are all things that I want but of course I don't expect to get them! So indulge me just for a minute and check out my list! I know it's self indulgent and unpractical but that's what makes it fun. And yes, I included links to some of the things because just maybe, perhaps, my husband is reading this post and needs some ideas for what to get me! teehee

30.) A gift card to Mike's Car Wash. If I spend another $17 on a single Mike's car wash, my Mike said he'd kill me. I can't help it, there is nothing that beats a Mike's car wash with the tire shine add-on.

29.) A four spritzer pack of Asti Spumonti. I love that stuff.

28.) A stuffed bunny.

27.) Lydia Print. I love this artist. By the way, she's the single-most successful seller on Etsy.

26.) A pair of black trouser socks.

25.) An IKEA gift card.

24.) An overnight stay at one of the casinos nearby with some spending money to use in the slot machines. I wouldn't feel so guilty about going to the casino if it was someone else's money I was completely wasting.

23.) An Iphone

22.) Smiling glass tumbler. I can't get over how adoreable this is.

21.) A massage.

20.) Tickets to see Hayden when he's in Cleveland in April.

19.) A manicure.

18.) A working vintage typewriter.

17.) A dinner at Olive Garden.

16.) An Ipod dock for my office.

15.) Bottlecap pin cushion. I wouldn't even use this as a pin cushion, it's too cute!

14.) A supply of these tiny bezels. I'm obsessed with making glittery colored earrings out of these.

13.) A Starbucks gift card.

12.) A trip to Ohio Valley Antiques.

11.) A package of Andes Mints.

10.) A pink bowling ball.

9.) A set of jacks and a bouncy ball.

8.) A smaller wooden star to match the huge star we have in our foyer. The artist who made it has gone incognito and he's hard to find.

7.) This deviled egg crochet pattern. How hilarious! I could make these eggs and set them out year round just for the fun of it.

6.) A recycling bin for my house.

5.) Pancakes with whip cream and candy sprinkles on top.

4.) A pair of old skool green Vans like I had in high school.

3.) Black short sleeve sweater. I have this in yellow and love it so much I want it in another color.

2.) A DQ ice cream cake

1.) FOR OUR HOUSE TO SELL!

B-O-W-L-I-N-G

Okay maybe this is a testament as to how pathetic my social life is, but let me tell you, we went bowling tonight and it was like the BEST time I've had in ages! I had been wanting to go bowling for the past three months and was finally able to go tonight, yay! Mike made plans with the Jeremys (my brother and Johnston) to go out with them tonight to get "pasted" (Johnston's new term) on Guiness in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. I had no desire to get "pasted" on anything tonight, so I told them I'd "let" Mike go out with them if they took me bowling first. They happily agreed, and the grandparents watched the kids and it was sooo much fun! I don't know why I got it into my head that I wanted to go bowling, I haven't been bowling since high school. I did pretty good too. I got third place the first game and second place the second game! I scored 88 the first game and 120 the second. Johnston won both games, what a punk. I so want to join a league now, haha!

Jeremy is celebrating another strike!

(bad cell phone picture)

Mr. Sunshine

The girls love to draw and write letters on their MagnaDoodle - I asked Arlene if she could draw a sun, and wa-la, this is what she drew! Magnificent!

What we did today

The girls and I had a full day: We went rode in a school bus and went to get our hair cut and dyed. Lydia got yellow hair. Arlene got pink hair. I got green hair. Then we rode in a school bus to school. Then we went to work. Then we rode the school bus back home and we played catch. Then we ate lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches of course. Then we built a Lincoln Logs house for Arlene's bunny named Puffy Bun. Then we flew around the house like Tinkerbell. Then we flew around the house like Jasmin on a magic carpet. Then we built a boat and sailed to Florida. Then we played hide-and-seek, but it wasn't really hide-and-seek because whenver it was Lydia's turn to hide she would tell us right where she was. Then we watched 101 Dalmations and got scared when that mean lady wanted to steal the puppies. We don't like her one bit. Then we got tired so we took a nap. When we woke up Daddy was on his way home, so we made brownies and cut them up into little heart shapes. Then we had saurkraut for dinner. Mommy and Lydia love saurkraut, Arlene and Daddy do not. After dinner a monster came over and stole Puffy Bun and Hannah Montana and ate them both! We attacked the monster and he gave them back. Then we played Candy Land and Arlene cheated horribly and almost won, but Lydia surpassed her by one turn and won! Yay! What a day!

$12 grand?! Yeah right

So we got our first offer on our house last night! But it's really nothing to get excited about. The couple that offered is the same couple that gave us an offer LAST year. It is all really weird. Let me give you the back story: we had one total offer last year, it was from this couple. They offered us $25K less than our listing price and never came up much from that. They were making comments about how our house wasn't worth more than that, and how they could go down the street to get a similar house at that price. Fine, then do that! We went back and forth and back and forth and finally we said no. That's the only offer we got last year and we took our house off the market in the fall.

Right before we listed our house this year, we got a note card from a realtor in the mail. He said he had an interested couple that wanted to see our house again, were we going to relist? Well, yes we were. When we relisted they came over and walked through the house.

That was a month ago. We get a call early yesterday morning that someone made an offer. We had no idea who it was from because it had been a good three weeks before anyone had been through. Our realtor came over and showed us the offer. It was low but not extremely low. When I saw the names of the people a lightbulb went off - what the heck, it is the same couple! So obviously they didn't find a cheaper "similar" house next year. And obviously they're still interested in our house. The offer they made would have us bringing $12K to the closing table, to pay for their sellers commission and to pay 3 percent of their closing costs. Oh and our own closing costs. YEAH RIGHT! If we had a lot of equity built into this house, fine, we could pay that, but we DON'T.

We have since been going back and forth with our realtor about what to counter offer. I'm not even hopeful that the couple will accept anything that we counter offer, since they didn't accept a thing last year! They are obviously out trying to find a deal still. Or, maybe they seriously are interested in our house! WHO KNOWS! The whole thing is stressful! About a dozen times last night as Mike and I were discussing things and figuring out finances and what we really could afford we said "LET'S JUST FORGET THE WHOLE THING!" But we know that we want to move and that we want our new house. We just can't break our banks to get out of here! IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!

Our realtor is telling us this market is better than last year. But we're still running the risk of this being the ONLY offer that we get. So what do we do?!

I do have a question ... is it typical for sellers to pay for the buyer's agent's commission?

Ahhhhhh

I have the day off today and I am soooooo happy about it. I was able to take today off because of all of the extra time I put in to prepare for our dinner at work. I slept in a little and the girls watched cartoons then we ate breakfast together. Now we're checking email and blogging (Lydia is pretending to do computer work right beside me) and then we're going to think about what to do next. I'm ready to do some crafting! I'm definetely making some pendants today.

I am Bert

I took a "Which Sesame Street Character are You?" quiz. I don't necessarily agree, but whatev, it was fun.

"You are Bert ... Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you lovable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you. You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil. How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others."

I think the "maybe just a little evil" part is hilarious! tee hee

Which character are you? Find out here.

I. Am. Feeling. Old.

I turn 30 in 18 days. Today as I was doing my hair I noticed that I have a LOT of gray hairs on the sides of my head! Right at my temples they are sprouting up like spring flowers after a rainy day. What the heck! Stop it!

IKEA is open! IKEA is open!

I want to go! I want to go!

But, I'm waiting. The store opened at 9 a.m. today and there were mass traffic jams. I think I need to give it a couple weeks or months to die down. But I am dying to go! I want to buy EVERYTHING in the store. Whenever I see any promotional material I'm all, I want that, oooh, and that! and I NEED that! and I can't live without that! and wouldn't that look great in our living room! and that's so cheap! I want it alllllllllllll!!!!!

Any requests? Anyone?

I'm going to go on a huge pendant-making binge and I've got a stock pile of bezels, so I'm taking requests if anyone wants any pendants. I promise to make it if you promise to buy it. I've got bezels (which are the sterling silver cups that I put the resin in) in four different sizes - the tiny ones (12mm - just under half inch), the smallish ones (20mm - which are about 3/4 inch), and medium ones (25mm - just under one inch). I also have a ton of the white-tin plated oval ones. You can see examples of the oval, medium and tiny circle bezels in my Etsy shop. I'm going to make a few pendants for myself too (haven't had a chance to make anything for myself in a while!) The possibilities of what can be turned into a pendant are endless - basically any photo, any piece of paper or special image, or anything that I can scan and then shrink down. I just got some new teeny tiny bezels that I'm going to use to make earrings, fun!

I'm excited too, but ...

... I'm not insane. There are people camping out at IKEA right now before the store opens on Wednesday. Click here to see a video about it. The funniest (craziest?) part is the guy that talks about "consumerism as religion" and then I belive he likens his campout at Ikea to a "pilgrimage." Oh, ooooookaaaaaay buddy.

Spring cannot come fast enough

Tonight we're watching a preseason Reds game and it has me yearning for spring! They are playing in Florida and almost everyone in the crowd has t-shirts and shorts on. Just listening to George Grande and Chris Welch makes me think that it's nice out ... green grass, green trees, shorts and sandals. But then I remember that we're just getting over the Blizzard of '08 and the 15 inches of snow we got is slowly melting into pools of dirty mucky grossness.

Snow!

Great, more snow!

Our forecast for Friday: Snow. Yippee. Can't wait. So excited.

An update on Miss Toe Walker

Well, we had an appointment Monday with Lydia's physical therapist. I fully expected for her to be outfitted for braces since that's what we were told would happen. But, the physical therapist said that she had been thinking about Lydia and decided that she'd rather us try one more thing before we put her in the braces. She wants us to buy shoes that squeak. She feels that if Lydia has that auditory reminder, then she'll start to walk correctly. The shoes only squeak if you walk heel to toe. So, we're going to buy the shoes, they're quite cute, and see what happens!

***If you've landed on my blog from searching the 'net for info on tip toe walking or serial casting or AFO braces, hello. This particular post here is one in a number I wrote about my daughter's tip toe walking. I encourage you to start with this post instead. It encapsulates our journey more succinctly.***

I Heart Patrick

The other night I had the TV on while I was working on my laptop and I watched Dirty Dancing. I absolutely LOVED that movie when I was a 11 and watching it on VHS over and over! I still love it! I had such a crush on Patrick Swayze! Still do! He's so darn cool. The best part of the movie is when he gets all macho and kicks a post out of the ground then bashes his window in to get into his car. I'm going to ask Mike to do that the next time I "accidentally" lock my keys in my car! Then we can go dance the mambo. Anyway, on a somber note, I was soooo saddened to hear that Patrick has pancreatic cancer. We can't lose such a heart throb! It's hard to believe he's 56. He was 35 when he made Dirty Dancing. He's aged well, I must say!

I'm baaaaaaaack!

I'm back to blogging! I don't think I've ever taken this long of a hiatus and I apologize! Work has been absolutely insane, and then I've been having to bring my work home too. So needless to say I've been working like 14+ hour days and getting little sleep. One of my co-workers today commented on how tired I looked. Gee, thanks. But alas, the most stressful part of my week is over now! The dinner (which is what I've been preparing for) is this coming Sunday. I have all of my major components together, so now I just need to catch up on blogging and emails!

No time for blogging Mister Jones

Please pardon my absence for the next few days! I'm swamped at work and at home I'm busy with some pendant projects and with the kids and the house and the husband. No time to blog - how sad! Check back with me Wednesday or Thursday-ish. XOXO