May Highlights

CHiPs -- The Toddler Years

Being fed by a pretty girl

(Lee says "that's my boy!")

50s Friday

Sunday night supper with a few friends.  Nothing fancy.  Thrown together on a whim, in between darning the husband's socks and giving the kid's their piano lesson.

Master of the House

A photo of a happy boy?  Yes, but boy oh boy, this boy wasn't happy 10 minutes earlier.  When he woke up from his nap he was in a Mood (warrants a capital M).  Foul, grumpy, gloomy, angry, all of it.  I handed him a piece of a chocolate chip granola bar and he threw it on the floor.  Unacceptable -- house rules state chocolate is to be treated with respect at all times and must never, ever end up on the floor or in the trash (Lee learned this rule on day #2 of our honeymoon when he threw away a half-eaten candy bar).  I give Nate a 2nd piece of granola bar and it ends up on the floor again.  I hand him a couple chocolate chips and they end up you-know-where.  We go back and forth -- the Toddler Tango -- for what feels like an eternity.  Finally, in his highchair, he reluctantly put a piece in his mouth.  He pretends it's the most foulest thing he's ever eaten and scowls at me while he whines...reminds me of a tiny Simon Cowell or Donald Trump.  But then -- oh the power of chocolate -- the tears subside and he smiles.  "More" he says pointing at the wrapper.  I don't move quickly enough and the tears begin again. 

Sigh.

Lost

We went to Superfan Eric's "farewell to Lost" party on Sunday night.  He and Ella made an awesome meal and we all watched the 2 1/2-hour episode via beach chairs outside...Superfan is also a techie so the show was projected onto the garage door.  Very cool to watch it under the stars and have it be such a large picture.  What wasn't cool was that it felt like it was 20 degrees outside.  We are still living in Southern California, right? 

Airplane cookies made by yours truly 

honoring Oceanic flight 815

Everyone was in costume.

Pam came as the Smoke Monster!

Dharma Merlot -- tasty!

A little light reading.

(L to R) Frank Lapidus, Jacob, Aaron, Man in Black

Richard on the garage door.

50s Friday

I think these end tables are so sweet.  

Notice the small television.  

Bigger isn't always better, in my opinion.

Cuter than the Travelocity Guy

My little gnome...

Yes, that is a plastic flower pot on his head.

Note to self:  that sweatshirt is too small.  Eeek.

50s Friday

At the bottom it says that this home perm kit is $2.  

What cost 2 bucks these days? 

Bedhead

When bed-head happens to good people:

They Think I've Forgotten About Them

Hello lovely vintage hankies.  It's been a pleasure collecting you over the years.  Please forgive me for stuffing you in a drawer.  I'm not quite sure what to do with you.  Our relationship is a little undefined right now.  Hang in there -- you'll have a purpose soon (besides the obvious nose-related one).

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the women of the world -- 

you raise children

you take care of aging parents

you feed and comfort your pets

you love your husbands

you watch over your neighbors

50s Friday

Can I direct you to the picture of the jellied potato salad at the bottom?  

Do I hear a collective "ewwww?"

I'll Take 3 Dozen Sprinkled, Please

Another crazy "holiday" on my work calendar.  

This one is DEFINITELY a winner:

 

Looks like I'll be stopping by The Donut Prince on May 11th...

Setting Up House

My mom found this old invoice from when my grandparents moved into our house in the 40s (click on the picture to view it larger).  By today's standards, it's a pretty sparse list for furnishing a seven-room house.  All they needed were the basics -- this is rule we all should be living by today.  PS -- I would have loved to see what their $12 "Boudoir Chair" looked like -- sounds fancy!   

39 to 40

In general, I'm not a big birthday person.  I get embarrassed by any fuss made about my birthday.  Here's proof:

 That's me at age 3, upset shy about people singing Happy Birthday to me.  Sucks that I was that uptight even back then.  Anyway...

I'd rather be the party thrower than the party recipient.  I'd rather be the gift giver than the gift recipient.  I'd rather be the cake baker than the cake eater -- no, scratch that, I LOVE birthday cake.  Anyway, this year I'll be turning 39.  Yes, the big 4-0 is on the other side of the fence.  It's hard to believe.   You'd think this would be the perfect year to bury my head in the sand when June XX comes around but -- surprise , surprise -- I have a different take on my 2010 birthday.  I decided a few weeks ago that I should really mark this year.  The 30s were a great decade and I want to send them off with a bang lovely Bon Voyage wave.   I want to do things -- things that would help me grow as person, things that would be educational, things that would be just plain fun.   A "39 things to do in my 39th year" list is apparently quite popular among bloggers and while I find the idea intriguing and I have a love/hate relationship with lists, it sounds a little daunting (and too over-exposed, in my humble opinion).  So I jotted down some notes in a "birthday" journal and I'm starting to get excited.  Because I'm a pretty private person (ironic words for a blog), I won't really be publishing my birthday bucket list but I wanted to give you a little insight as to what I'm thinking.  And then, perhaps, you'll be inspired to create your own bucket list -- and it doesn't have to be for a birthday.  I think it's just nice to learn new things and celebrate our lives, don't you?

Item #1
I've always wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.  The kind with yeast.  And, yes, they  have to be fabulously gooey.  I've been saving a cinnamon roll recipe from one of my favorite books (Peace Like a River by Leif Enger) and this year I'm going to get around to making them.  My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.

Item #2
This one will make my family roll their eyes laugh -- yes, I'm finally going to finish the Christmas cross-stitch project I started about 12 years ago.  It's a large counted cross-stitch that has seen me through many things -- death, marriage, sickness, a baby.  Blood, sweat and tears.  But I'm getting closer by the day because I try and commit to 1-2 hours of work on it a week.  This will definitely be completed, stretched, and framed before I turn 40 (honestly, I'm hoping to finish it by this Christmas but no promises).  I jokingly told Lee that my kids will probably sell it for 5 bucks at an estate sale after I'm gone but I won't know about it so that's okay.

Item #3
I want to complete a family tree for Nathan.  This is the organizer in me -- I want to use ancestry.com or some software to gather all of the family names and dates in one place.  As a kid, I watched my mom and grandma work on a family tree and I found it very intriguing.  I like history so why not learn about my/Nate's history.

So those are 3 things I plan to do.  There will hopefully be others.  Now it's your turn to share....