it sucks to be the fly.

Last night in the bathroom, I noticed the world's tiniest spider spinning a tiny web. I remember thinking, "I pay US Pest (eco-friendly, people) to rid my home of pests." And I almost squished the little guy, but I didn't. It was so small that I doubted it would make it long anyway, falling prey to my curious dog or something.

Fast forward to this morning. I looked over at the corner, and a huge fly was caught in the web. I pulled the whole thing down and flushed the poor dead fly. But I stood there in awe of nature. A little morbid. A lot fascinating.

Beyond my dealings with household pests, I had a great birthday weekend. I got a new Foundling necklace (mine's pink, I could only find a pic of the blue version), a fancy camera strap that I had been drooling over, and a night out with the hubby. He surprised me with Natalie Merchant tickets, and we grabbed dinner at SATCo. It was great. Then there was birthday lunch for me and Drew on Sunday...chicken and dressing and cheesecake. And I made dinner yesterday for his birthday: Ina's Company Pot Roast with mashed potatoes and peas and Kaitlin brought a yummy cake with strawberries. So things aren't half bad around here...aside from the fact that no one has bought our house, and I am really becoming offended. Really.

no more fever.

So S has been sick. Fever. Cough. That sort of thing. There has been a lot of apple juice consumed and a lot of television watched as I try to get her to rest. She was pretty much better yesterday, and her fever has been gone since mid-day yesterday, so I sent her to school today. Thank goodness.

It's been pretty low key around here as I've tried not to share our germs with anyone, and two days with my girl on the couch or on the guest bed left me plenty of time to read, so I devoured The Historian, which I enjoyed.

House update: cabinets are installed and are amazing and I am already in love with the pullout garbage can...and I am so giddy that I don't even mind run-on sentences. Painting will be done Friday. Then light fixtures can be installed. Counter top will take a week. Then carpet and cork. Then done. Hallelujah. It feels so good to almost have everyone out of my new old house. Then it will be all ours.

Now I must shower because Couch-to-5k makes me stinky, and I am afraid to stink up the preschool when I pick S up.

something i stumbled upon.

So, I just ran across this post.

I'm not sure, but maybe Small Notebook and I are related because I couldn't agree more.

I was particularly interested in the DustBuster argument. We totally had one when I was growing up, but it never got used. It was kind of a novelty. Anyway, I remember a couple of years ago when those Kone DustBuster things were introduced, and there were displays of them all over the place at Christmas and the commercials were on all the time, and I thought it was the single dumbest thing ever. One: who really needs a DustBuster? They have to stay charged, so they're a total energy suck. A sweeper and dust pan do great jobs on small messes, and if you really need vacuum-powered suction, you are likely to have a vacuum. Right? Two: if you are a person who cannot possibly live without a DustBuster in your life, do you really want to make it a part of your home decor? Really?

But enough about DustBusters. The whole idea of sticking to the classics is a pretty solid one. At least I think it's pretty solid. Take, for instance, my kitchen. Y'all know I love the kitchen, and I love a kitchen gadget. But there are some things I'll just never buy. Like a mandolin. I know they're supposed to be great, but even the ones that fold super small take up a lot of space. And I'd probably cut my fingers off. I'll just stick to my knives and cutting boards. And of course, I'd never get a wok. I've given away my waffle iron because it's a hassle. I think I scour my kitchen a couple of times a year to donate the stuff I never use. Like the garlic press. Cleaning a garlic press is a pain. Back to the knives and cutting board.

I kind of feel like there should be stickers all over the place with the slogan, "Keep it simple, Stupid." You know what I'm saying??

trying to chill.

Our lives have been nutty lately, and it's all of our own making. Well, mostly. M can't help when things get crazy at work.

The past several months have been a blur. There has been so, so much going on. It feels like the Ouisers aren't enjoying life together much lately because we're being pulled in a million different directions. I don't really think it's fair to S to put her in this craziness. I do not think that our schedules have adversely affected our daughter. I really don't. But I want our family to be calmer than this. And it has to start with some tough decisions. Or at least with saying no.

So I will say no. I've already started actually. There will not be any political campaigning by Ouiser this fall. None. And Mike McWherter is going to need help. Roy Herron probably will, too, but the help can't come from me. It's the first step to reclaiming my balance.

It can be hard when there is so much that I want to do. So much I want to help with. I want to start a community garden. I want to start gardens at our local elementary schools. I want to raise lots of money for the arts. I. Want. To. Do. More. Than. I. Can. Right. Now.

It is very frustrating.

delayed.

So my painter had surgery for prostate cancer. Who knows what's going on there. Needless to say, nothing is getting painted at my house. The new word on the street is "end of next week." Also, our cabinets got pushed back to next Tuesday or Wednesday...and apparently, the granite countertop happens a week after that. And the cork floor isn't going down until after the countertop in case the granite gets dropped...and ruins our beautiful, expensive cork floors. So we're just sitting around. Waiting. It feels like nothing is getting done, and I suppose that's okay because (in case you're keeping tabs) this house is still gleefully on the market.

Beyond the house, I went for a Girls Night Out on Tuesday night, and it was very fun. We painted and drank wine.

S made a sock puppet today. There was a LOT of Tacky Glue used to make the Pink-Flamingo-that-is-covered-with-buttons. Lots of glue. Lots of buttons.

Now I'm working on making I-am-so-sad-that-you're-moving-away-bread for my friend K while also thinking about making dinner. I am looking forward to dinner. I've been hitting the gym pretty hard the past couple of weeks, and I'm hungry.

That is all. I must mince some garlic.

so in love.

Okay. This whole remodel thing has kicked our butts. It's been dirty and expensive and full of little problems. But. Oh, but. I am so excited. It's almost done. 2-3 weeks, and we'll be finished. The painting should be complete by the end of this week. The marble shower was installed last Friday. The tile floor will be laid in the bathroom very soon. The cabinets will be installed this week (I think). We're so close, and having the walls painted is really making it seem like we are going to get to live there someday. Really.

In the meantime, we're still trying to unload this place, so if you know anyone looking for a wicked awesome house just off Main Street in Dickson, send them our way.

Until then, we'll continue keeping the furniture dusted, the beds made, the counters wiped down, and the floors swept and vacuumed. Seriously, I kept a pretty tidy house before, but I'm getting pretty sick of having the house always "on."

Okay, I'm going to read for a bit.

Toodles.

it will begin with the letter 'A'

S started preschool this morning. Like, actual preschool. Not Mother's Day Out. Preschool. With learning.

We went to Open House last night and met her teachers, and they told us that today they would start learning the letter 'A.' That is so exciting...though she already knows 'A,' so I was hoping they'd start with 'F.' She adamantly refuses to acknowledge that letter. Whatever. I'm excited for her. She was very sweet this morning, and she's way too independent already. She asked me, "Do you have to walk me to my classroom, Mommy?" Um, yes. I do.

So, my little girl is off at school with her lunch of peanut-butter-and-jelly-cut-in-rectangles-not-triangles, pretzels, grapes, and gummies. I am sitting here looking through all the pictures I took of her this morning and wondering how it's possible that this child of mine is already in preschool. It's pretty amazing...this whole being a mommy thing.

She started the photo session with a little disco. Unfortunately, the camera lens was foggy.
Every preschooler needs a funny face.
Her "packpack," which she claimed was very heavy once her lunch was packed.
I am a little afraid that she's going to be like Chandler Bing...no picture smile at all.

hello again.

The Ouiser peeps spent last weekend in Memphis, and it was hot. I think that living in Memphis for almost seven years desensitized me to the heat, but it was horrific. Don't get me wrong, it's hot here, too. In fact, it's the hottest summer ever. For serious. It's been miserably hot (mid-to-high 90s ) for awhile now, and when it rains (if it rains) it doesn't cool anything off, it just makes it more humid. Anyway, Memphis was a whole new league. There was heat radiating off of everything. All that concrete and asphalt made the city feel like an oven. When you opened the car door the heat hit you, not in the face, but from underneath you, like the ground was trying to cook you. Anyway, you might want to steer clear of the River City for the next few weeks. I will say that the barbecue nachos almost made the heat seem like a fair deal. Almost.

So that was random.

I'm really blogging because my sisters tagged me. Here you have it:

4 things you'd find in my bag:
I don't really have a bag, but S got her first backpack yesterday, so I'll tell you what's in that:
A scarf
A magnifying glass
Drumsticks
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
also: four wooden eggs (1 fried, 3 in the shell), a wooden pizza, a map of the Memphis Zoo, and a wooden knife and fork.

4 things you'd find in my purse:
Wallet
Face sunscreen stick
Mobile phone
A fan from Carole's wedding (I don't know why it's still there)

4 favorite things in my room (on the nightstand):
A stack of magazine articles (National Geographic) that I've been meaning to read
The Complete Works of Jane Austen
A picture of M from Austria
A picture of my grandparents from my cousin Daniyelle's wedding

4 things I'm currently into:
MI-5 (watching one episode a day while S rests)
Vanilla Caramel creamer
clementines
watching S make up and sing songs

4 things you don't know about me:
If you've been reading this blog since it began, you probably already know everything, but I'll try:
My earring holes no longer exist as I've been unable to tolerate earrings since I was pregnant with S.
I hate feet.
M and I have been watching LOTR: FOTR, and more than ever before, the bad guys are really, really freaking me out.
I don't like to call mobile phones cell phones because I think saying mobile phone sounds British and therefore it is cooler.

There you go, PB and LF. I tag Scarlet Lily, Yum, die Frau, and High Heels.

Until next time, peeps...

checking in.

I'm really only blogging to appease my husband and my Aunt M/Uncle E who totally laid a guilt trip on me Saturday night about my lack of blogging. Alas, I have nothing interesting to say. Nothing. Things are moving along at the new house, while the current Ouiser abode sits on the market. Seriously, somebody buy my adorable house.

So, what to report?? I seem to have caught some slight illness. Wicked sore throat. Achy. You know the drill. It seems to be getting better, though, and that's welcome. While I was resting today (during S's rest time) I watched The Importance of Being Earnest, and I loved it. You can't really go wrong with Colin Firth in a comedy. I love him so. Tonight, I think Mr. Ouiser is helping Mr. Feathernester schlep some furniture, so I'm trying to decide what I'll watch then. My current illness makes reading less than awesome, and Jane Austen is not easy to read anyway...thus Fanny Price must wait.

Really that's about it. Sad, I know. Until next time...and you never know when that will be...