getting there

Slowly. Slowly, but surely our house is looking like a house that people live in. I would take some pictures to post, but it's seriously cloudy today, and I want the bright sunshine to help make the house look better in photos. Right now, I need all the help I can get. Maybe with enough sunshine you won't notice the dust bunnies.

Speaking of bunnies, here are a few pictures from Easter. S was doing her very best to make sure we didn't get any good photos, so you'll have to take what you can get.

I hope everyone is having a great week, and I promise to be up and running again soon. Oh, and the Wii is wicked awesome. All of you, go out and get one. Now. Seriously.

she wears short shorts

S has been at my dad's house since yesterday morning. This is the outfit I sent her out in. I realize that she looks like the Crayola factory exploded on her, but I thought she was so cute that I couldn't stop giggling. I'm also including a picture of the concrete truck doing its thing the other day. I thought there might be someone at ToddlerTamer's or MoWask's house that might like that.
Happy Friday, peeps.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: my clean floors
Sound: silence. Otis has been barking a lot.
Smell: coffee, Method Wood for Good floor cleaner
Touch: Moon bounce...I'll explain later
Taste: grilled steak nachos

holy boxes, batman.

So, we're here. Correction: Wii're here. (Meaning we've moved in and acquired a Wii thanks to G!!)

Everything is still a bit of a disaster. We're having all sorts of trouble with the showers, but I'm hoping it's all sorted out by this afternoon. Just know that you should never take hot showers for granted. While I don't think I ever have, I assure you I won't now. Our new driveway was poured on Tuesday, and we keep admiring it from the window. We aren't supposed to drive on it until next Tuesday. Our storage shed will be started tomorrow, and that will be great as we can get all the garage/storage boxes out of the guest room and out of Feathernester's garage. Once that's done, it will seem a lot more like home. I'm not good at living in messiness. I get panicky, and M can attest to the fact that I've been in a wad for about a week now. My kitchen is pretty well put together, though, and that helps. I've even been able to make dinner a few times...though nothing fancy or interesting.

We've also got to figure out the TV situation...we had these great, huge built-ins in the Lexington house, which means we have nowhere to put our TV in the living room here. Right now, our end tables are pushed together and covered with a red gingham sheet, proudly holding up the behemoth boob tube. Our dilemma in finding a suitable TV-holding solution is that we didn't get a flat-panel TV and now we can't find anything big enough to hold the sucker...or strong enough to support the weight. Plus, we have to keep the components away from the munchkin, who likes to push any and all buttons. We've thought about having built-ins done again, but I'm going to check out a furniture store tomorrow before we make any decisions. Unfortunately, we don't really have forever to make this decision as everything else in the family room is on hold until we get this figured out. I guess I'm doing alright if that's my biggest problem, eh?

Anyway, the girl is waking up, and I'm about to cart her to Columbia to spend a couple of days at my dad's. This will be the second time she's spent the night away from us since we got here. Poor kid thinks we're abandoning her. I just want everything to get put away and be safe for her and Otis, and I can't do that with both of them under my feet all the livelong day.

I'm out, peeps. Happy Thursday...and GO TIGERS...I've picked them to win it all!!

going home

The movers will be at our house in a matter of hours. Tonight is our last night in this house. Our first house. S's first home. While I'm sad to leave my little house and all of our friends here, I am so excited to move into our new house and be with our family in Tennessee. S is excited about living near her BFF. So is her daddy. It's going to be a Ouiser-Feathernester party every day. God help our livers.

Anyway, we'll be packing up the computer in a bit, so it's so long from Kentucky. We'll be back in the motherland very, very soon.

I'll leave you with a picture of the littlest hippie in the family. She looks so stinkin' cute today that I just want to keep squeezing her. If she just had enough hair for dreads...and we were the type of people who forgo washing hair in favor of growing dreads...she'd be the perfect hippie baby. I tried to get a shot of her with Otis, who is rocking his Grateful Dead collar, so I could show off my hippie dog, too, but I can't get the two of them near each other and even remotely still. Oh, well. Otis looks like an old stoner anyway...even without the collar.

I'm out, peeps. See you on the flip side.

nothing interesting

Don't ask me why I'm looking at skirts online when I should be playing with my daughter. I don't have a legitimate answer, and I'm not even sitting at the computer...I'm leaning ever-so-uncomfortably over the desk chair. Despite the noticeable discomfort, I'm leaning here, pining over this skirt. Pining. I'm trying to decide if trying to make it would be worth it...or if I'd just get irritated. Maybe it's time to learn to put in zippers.

35 rolls and who are you, anyway?

M wanted me to let you all know that he found 35 rolls of pennies under the bed. That's 1,750 more pennies, plus another glass we found. So, while not likely at 20,000, we're closer. M felt it important that you all know that as he fears he'll be judged by his inability to cash in 20,000 pennies. Something like that. Also, you may be asking yourself why there was a container of 35 rolls of pennies under our bed. I asked the same question. M says he could start chucking them at any would-be burglars. Assuming he remembered they were there, which he didn't because I assure you he'd rather not go back to the little teller girl at the bank with more coins. She already thinks he's lost it. Moving on...

S and Otis are chasing each other right now. I'm a little distracted. It's pretty funny. Where's the camcorder when you need it?

So, who are you? Are you really yourself? If you're some mysterious Ouiser-reader that I've never met and I suddenly met you, would I meet the "real" you? Honestly? M and I had this conversation the other day. I had commented that I wish I could really just be myself all the time. Unapologetically, unabashedly myself. All the time. But, I can't. Or maybe I just won't. Instead, there's "first impression Ouiser" and "real, honest-to-goodness, you've probably already decided that you like me or you don't Ouiser." Does that make sense? I'm always afraid of stepping on someone's toes or offending them. I'm worried that people won't like me because I make some off the cuff comment about George Bush or the war in Iraq or the fact that the country is in the toilet because of the two aforementioned problems. So, I tend to keep most of my beliefs and opinions to myself until I've gotten to know someone. Really it's worked out quite well for me. Morton Mama is one of my best friends, and she's such a goofy republican that we'd likely never have been friends if we'd both gone all-out when we first met. Also, all of my friends at my old office (except dear A) are right-wingers. (Some day you'll realize that you are all misguided. Ha.) I like to give people time to get to know me and love me, then I start hitting them with the fact that I'm a tree-hugging hippie. (Though I do not define hippies as being people who stink of patchouli, smoke copious amounts of weed, or skip bathing. Yuck on all accounts.) Instead, I let them all make fun of me for being a tree hugger, and I slowly infiltrate. For example, K pointed out her recycling bin in the pantry last week, and the non-liberal A told me that she bought reusable grocery bags. Baby steps.

Of course, sometimes you know that people think just like you from the beginning, and you can start ripping on the president as soon as you meet. That's always fun. Even then, though, you run the risk of taking it one step (or one glass of wine) too far and alienating your would-be new BFFs. So, I go through life pretty much constantly holding back because when I don't I end up with one of my crazy hippie shoes squarely lodged in my mouth. The thing is, I'm not really afraid for people to not like me. It happens. I'm not losing any sleep over it. My fear is that people who would like me, don't give it a shot because of some remark I made, and then I've lost what could've been a friend. Again, am I making any sense here?? I realize that the opposite is true. I know that I've judged people on comments they've made and sworn I could never be around them. I know I've done it. But, I found out pretty quickly what a hotbed of republican love my old office was, and I didn't run screaming from anyone.

Anyway, I'm rambling. There is no great question or revelation from this stream of thought. None. I know that I won't change. I'll still keep my "nice to meet you" face on when I encounter new people. And I'll still use my chipper phone voice even when I'm mad or sad. I'll still do all of those things because it's what you do, right? It's part of living in society. The great trade-off for not being a hermit?? You decide.

I'm out. Super Why is coming on, and I've got a baby to rock out with.

17,047

"What on earth?" you ask.

17,047 pennies. That's what I'm talking about. As I refused to pay someone to move the eight thousand pounds of pennies in our garage, the ones that M had been collecting since he was a zygote, we decided that we had to take them to the bank before we move. So, we (mostly M) spent the past couple of weeks sorting through buckets of pennies, removing the wheat pennies and the super old pennies and the foreign pennies (or whatever they're called in the foreign countries from whence they came). M loaded them up on Wednesday and took them to the bank. He was promptly laughed at for having such an egregious amount of pennies, but he filled out a deposit slip, handed over the fifteen bags and walked away from 31 years of pennies.

The deposit just went through last night, and the final count is 17,047. Plus the glass of pennies that we still have in the living room, full of all those pennies that were just too good to let go of. If we added in the glass of pennies and the foreign pennies, I still don't think we would've made it to the 20,000 mark, and I think M was really hoping for that. Alas, it's $170.47 going into S's Colgate fund. So, that'll buy her one textbook. One down, a boatload to go...and tuition...and room and board...and a bunch of North Face crap. We're going to have to have more than pennies. Can we exchange the $170.47 for euros now??

Have a great Saturday, peeps. M's off to shovel the driveway (um, it's March and there are four inches of snow outside with more to come, what the bejesus?), and I'm going to make the banana cupcakes recommended by MoWask last week. I've got to use up all those frozen bananas I've been hoarding.

it's raining, it's pouring

I. Am. Super. Excited.

I just ordered a rain barrel. While I want two, we thought it best to order one and make sure it goes well before we get a second one. Besides, one might do the trick. I found barrels that were really affordable...with free shipping...here. I can't tell you how excited I am. I'm guessing you know, though, since I've been whining about it for months. Anyway, I'm happy.

We've also picked out a rug for the living room at the new house, but I won't order it until Monday. I've been filling up my aunt's house with shipments of window treatments, and I think she may shoot me if I have an 8x11 rug sent to her house. As the rug could arrive in as little as 5 days, I want to wait and make sure that it can be safely shipped directly to our house. M and I both love the rug, but it puts a super huge kink in my decorating plans. I had planned to build the whole room around my beloved throw pillows and the upholstery on two chairs of M's mom's that I love. Overall, it would be a sort of green and cranberry color scheme (mostly green). Unfortunately, our couch is a little greener than we realized, and it looks horrible against the greens I've tried it against for the window treatments. Plus, we couldn't agree on a rug that would work with that plan. So, new plan. We'll get the rug, then we'll do ivory drapes, and I'll get new pillows. I'll just move the super great throw pillows from the living room into the bonus room upstairs. Problem solved. Now I just have to find the pillows...and figure out the window treatments, so that I can get something that will coordinate for the dining room. So many completely superfluous issues, so little time. Here's the rug that we've picked...which is "eco-friendly"...whatever that means to this company.I'm off, peeps. S and I have a lunch date later, and I need to get things ready to go. Have a great weekend.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: "bungalow blue" in our new bedroom
Sound: S laughing at her echo in the bathroom
Touch: S handshakes
Taste: chocolate chips by the handful
Smell: Origins Smoothing Souffle

i'd rather be beaten

I love being a mom. Love it. Even when I'm annoyed and ready to pull my hair out, I love it. Let's start this post by saying that.

I just saw a picture of someone who was hugely pregnant. And, as I looked at it, I just thought, "I'd rather be beaten than be pregnant again." Everyone says that soon enough, I'll forget how much I disliked being preggers, (I am in awe of those people who enjoy pregnancy...God bless you.) and my love for cuddly babies will make me jump on the "let's have another kiddo" bandwagon. I can say unequivocally that I am nowhere near that point. Nowhere. Not the same ballpark. Not the same continent. Not the same galaxy.

I'm catching a lot of flack from most of my family because I really think I want just the one baby. I know, I know. I felt the collective gasp as you all read that statement. How often do you hear about anyone only wanting one kid? I'm supposed to have 2.5, right? Just like everyone else. I just don't think it's for me. I really don't. Someone once said to me, "Do you feel like the three of you are the Ps? Or do you feel like there is something missing?" I don't feel like we're missing anything (except those darn rain barrels). I feel like this is my family, and I am super happy with my little family. Don't fix it if it ain't broke, right?

I think if we were to decide that the P family needed to expand, I'd like to adopt. For me, I would rather take a child that needs a lot of love and a good home and give him those things than to have another baby, leaving some child somewhere without those things. There's a part of me that feels guilty that I didn't go that route already. It's a very small part because I am in love with every part of my daughter. Even her stinky toes. But, still, I feel like a hypocrite. And all of this is just speculation because I don't want the P family to expand at all. Not even a goldfish. Anyway, for now, I plan to do my part for the planet through population control. It's something.
This is a ridiculous post. And likely TMI. I'm out. I've got boxes to pack.

just a shade under a terabyte

M is a supergeek. Super. Geek. And I love him for it. We're looking for an internal hard drive to store music on, and M asked if I thought we needed the 750 GB deal he found on NewEgg.

"It's just a shade under a terabyte, " he beamed.

Wow. That's a lot of nerdiness for 8am. A lot.

Happy Saturday, peeps. I'm off to less nerd-a-licious pursuits.