Better make it a double

This is a face destined for the Vodka bottle. Seriously.
2 weeks of vacation=one cranky child.

Yay, that I am oozing with news...boo, that today is the first day in over a month that my kid will nap. No nap. No Blog!

Starting with...Kip has a new job! He got it the same week we sold our house, it was a crazy week I tell ya! He is an official Telus employee now! Woot! Woot! Yay Kip!

I applied to Jenny Craig and was offered a position there as a program director. Sounded like a good opportunity and the money was a big lure but they wanted me to work split shifts, every Saturday and holidays. Uh, no thanks. I turned down the job but YAY ME for getting an offer.

We went to Oregon for a week on an impromptu get away. We spent a few days in The Dalles with Kip's mom and then headed to Yakima to see his dad.
(I ate a lot, A LOT, of cherries. Really, really a lot.)
Kip and I managed to grab some alone time and even squeezed in a date day in Portland. Gotta LOVE having all those babysitters around...hello! In Portland we hit all of our old dating spots....it was incredibly romantic and much needed. We held hands, shopped, went for lunch...man, if you ever feel like you are in a funk...go to where you fell in love. It was a huge AWWWWWW for us.
Manly, our vacation was letting Katie show off for the Grandparents. And she did, quite well actually. Oh and eating cherries.
Jim and Linda met us back home for a nice week long visit. Again, access to free babysitting is priceless!

So...full circle to the vodka bottle. Um, ya. Good times on holidays followed by a week of "undoing". Hitting. Yup, she picked that up real quick from one of her cousins. Gave me a nice little lump on my nose...weapon of choice, board-book.

Just about killed her.

Time Out.
Time Out.
Time Out.

And sleeping. Or lack there of.

"mommy? coming?"
"I cry mommy"
*thrash, thrash*
"daddy? nap?"
*thrash*
"I cry"
*thrash* *cry* *thrash*

Things appear to be calming down now. Pray for me, my sanity. I'd hate to blog from the loony bin & somehow I doubt that vodka is even on the menu.

I'm currently in negotiations with my hair. I am thinking of doing something drastic like a nice summer CHOP! I had my hair short like that a few times and I feel like it's time for a change. Will post a picture IF I do it. The growing out bit is where I am hesitating. So brutal.

Okay, later gators!

(60 pounds of cherries. Seriously)

(Devoured the book, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" during our road trip. So good! A must read!)

Cheers! Big Ears!

**wink wink Jilly**

The house SOLD!!!
In ONE day!!!
Yahooooo!!!
Yippeeee!!!
Holy Shit!!!

So instead for typing out the whole story, again. I'm going to cheat and copy/paste a message from one of my Facebook comments. (Isn't Facebook kinda of crack-ish? I like it. I like it alot!)

"I feel like the sell is bitter sweet.
The couple we really wanted to buy the house were 23 and 25, just married, wanted to start a family. They looked at the house twice and drove by 3-4 times...totally reminded me of Kip and I when we were just starting out. Imagine paying close to 300,000 for your *1st* house!!!
The other couple were Real Estate agents from Leduc looking to buy a house for their university bound son. So it ended up being a bidding war and the 2nd couple offered $2,000 OVER asking price, no conditions, $10,000 deposit. Ideal offer!!! The cute couple had a decent offer too...900 below asking but with a home inspection that allowed them to walk away if there was over$1500 in damages.
So the strange thing was that the agents presented the offer. The first guy came in, the other guy waited outside...next guy comes in...we discuss, our agent goes outside to tell them our decision. Weird huh? I guess that is normal when there is multiple offers but still Kip and I were feeling kinda celeb-ish.
IF we'd had the time to think we would have worked with the cute couples offer but, the Real Estate couple knew what they were doing and definitely got our attention. So my regret isn't that we didn't pick the best offer (we did) but that I know that the cute couple would have appreciated all the $ and hard work we put into our place...kept the nursery, loved the gardens etc etc. This university dude is going to have parties, paint over the murals in Katie's bedroom and turn her cute nursery into the university sex lair..booooo!
After the deal closed this hot, red car drives up to the house with a bunch of young boys in it... pointing, woot wooting, high fives. Obviously this is the guy who will be moving in.
OMG...our neighbors are going to KILL us!!!!
So, ya. I feel YAY and BOO at the same time...does that even make an bit of sense?"

Okay...that is gist of the story. We move out August 17 and straight into my parents basement suite...eeeeek...and hopefully little blue will be done by end of September. Hopefully.

Humph, I going miss our little house.

Willy Nilly

I am truly a glutton for punishment. Seriously.

We are selling our house.
Not only are we selling but we moving in with my parents and building a new house.

I know. Strap on the straight jacket I'm officially a loony toon.

So, "little blue" is a cute house down from my...wait for it....wait...parents. I know, throw in a padded room for good measure.
It's 60 years old with an umbrella of trees and perfectly located kitty corner from a park.
Trees. It has trees. Lots of trees.
Sigh.
You cannot possibly underestimate the power of green. We have one itty bitty tree out front and 3 itty-er bitty-er trees out back. Now can I just say that a tree that is under 6 foot tall is not the best way to fend off the Alberta sun. Our backyard is a frying pan in the summer. HOT HOT HOT! Got trees? Done deal!

Back to little blue...my brother and dad are starting a home reno/developer business and I am their first client. They bought little blue and showed us the plans, we fell in love and wanted it. They (we) are gutting it, adding a level, wrap around porch, pillars...very Victorian-ish, very adorable, very me. The plan is make this house a keeper. Fingers crossed.

So we have to get our house ready to sell. Paint touch ups, spot clean the carpet (I say spot clean in that we will just aim for the big messes and skip over the barf, pee, dirty dog paws areas. Spot cleaning is easier than area cleaning. Note to buyer: clean carpets.) Another problem, how does one organise a Toys R Us home into looking trendy and hip? Imagine some poor bachelor, looking to buy his first house, stumbling onto this place...full on nursery complete with painted murals and every toy know to man all over the floor. Not so much of a "I could totally drink on the patio at night with the dudes" kinda ambience, right? Better hope for a cute couple with a wife that is ready to explode with child. Ya, ya. Our kind of people.

Anyways, the Real Estate agent will be here tomorrow to list. Good grief, how am I going to keep the house clean for the whole day? Seriously.

In other news...

Spent Sunday in bed with the barfs. No, not the glory of a great night out equals hangover kind of ill but more of the flu variety. Although! For the record, Kip and I did whoop it up Saturday night with a movie and drink date. A strawberry daiquiri bigger than a fishbowl...yummmmmmy....but certainly not hangover worthy. I was too full to get pissed.

So, I'm off to watch a new episode of some lame reality show. I am a reality show junkie. completely addicted.

byyyyye!

ps. The vision.

A taste of April

Clearly I do better when there is nothing to talk about. Give me a crazy month and I am immediately overwhelmed. So. I will give you a gist of my last few weeks but don't expect oodles of details. I am more of a Seinfeld kinda blogger....happy to write about nothing.

Shopping trip. Utter fun. I actually bought stuff for moi, ate/RELAXED in a restaurant without the virtual "Katie time bomb" ticking, sat in the car for hours on end without Dora in the background yelling..."Do YOU see the bridge? Where?", wore a bathing suit *gasp* and had a nice loooong hot tub....Ya, so lets just say it was a perfect "momma needs a break" kind of a trip.

Birthday. Katie is now TWO. TWO! So strange to say that because I've been using months for so long, thus "two" seems kinda plain to me now.
Her party was all about Dora. Dora cake. Dora balloons. Dora wrapping paper. Dora everything. She got a rock'n motorized car from her Grandma and Grandpa, loads of clothes, a few toys and the DVD, Nemo (which we have managed to watch no less than a thousand time already. "mine?"). She is officially The Most Spoiled Kid in Canada.
Kips dad and step mom came up from the States for the big occasion. So sweet of them! It gave Katie a chance to show off for some new faces and if it's one thing that Katie loves...its an audience!


We had a failed attempt at the whole Potty Training thing. I did the hoopla about the Dora panties, lured her with M&M's, got the book about about Dora on the potty...blah blah blah. Nothing. She wouldn't even sit on the damn potty for more than 2 seconds & peed 5 times in 1 hour ON MY CARPET. I left her in her dad's care while I went to the gym knowing full well that she'd be in a diaper when I returned. She was. Obviously she just isn't ready. Obviously we aren't ready either.
*note to self. Call carpet cleaners asap*

The Big Girl Bed transition was a much bigger success. Actually, I am surprised it went over as well as it did. All night I waited for the moment when I'd wake up to have her little face staring at me or hear the pitter patter of her destroying my house. Nope nothing. Score one for the parents!

Okay, okay. My kid beckons. Will save other events for future conversation.


Byeeeeeeee!

gotta git

My bags are packed and I am so outta here!
I am off to Great Falls for my annual shopping palooza!
Sans toddler.
Sans husband.
Just me, alone, shopping, 2 nights, 3 days.
H-e-a-v-e-n!

~sigh~

feng shui a la mommy

This is me today...shopping. Everything cute and springy and I was not inspired at all.

Here is the problem, I'm YEARS out of style. I haven't bought much for myself in the last (gasp) 3 years! I am beyond desperate for clothes!!

Anyways, it goes like like this...

Stage 1: 9 months of pregnancy. Big bellah tops and front panel pants.

Stage 2: 1-2 months post baby. Clearly still looking 6 months pregnant thus not ideal shopping time. Drag out maternity clothes. Loathe maternity clothes.

Stage 3: 2-4 months post baby. Live in sweatpants and pj's (tired and fat, who wants to leave the house?)

Stage 4: 1-2 years of losing mummy tummy and discovery channel boobs (don't want to buy fat clothes because skinny is *so* just around the corner. right? *insert sigh*)

Stage 5: starting trying to get pregnant again.

Stage 6: repeat above once you are with child

Even IF you get to your pre-pregnancy size, don't be fooled into thinking you'll just dive into those old Gap jeans again. Oh no. Things are pushed out, shoved down, droopy and saggy.

So anyways, I came home with a cranky toddler and a pair of earrings. argh.

On a brighter note, I did get my new couch today! Why new, you ask? Well, let's just say that my "old", comfy couch was in a desperate state. I don't think it was up for the toddler-doggy-husband challenge and clearly it didn't fair well after our, ummm, 5 moves. Ya.

It has been demoted to a basement couch.

The new couch, while entirely fabulous, has left the living room looking quite sparse.
I moved 'Toys R Us' downstairs and since the end tables and coffee table did nothing for my new look, they had to go too. In doing so, I now have a couch and a TV stand.
My theory in keeping THIS couch looking great is to eliminate the problem...toddler, doggy, husband. No toys, no doggy on the couch, no cable!
Ya, nothing like a sparse, uninviting living room to keep the gang away.

(note: 14 steps is a long way to go for snacks though. Is a beer fridge really THAT tacky?)

Snippets

I'm not in the mood to post today so I'll just go with a few random thoughts.


Yummy alert! Cooked this kick-ass recipe last night.

Garlic Chicken

2 teaspoons of crushed garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 of dry bread crumbs
1/4 of grated Parmesan cheese
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 425F
Warm the garlic and oil to blend the flavors. In separate dish, combine the bread crumbs and parm cheese. Dip the chicken into the oil/garlic mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture. Place in shallow dish.
bake for 30-35 mins.

So yummm. So easy!

Bounce "spring orchard" is the smelliest dryer sheet I've ever come across. I actually feel the need to sniff myself randomly throughout the day.

Diet A&W is my drink of choice. No"diety" taste.

Currently reading "The Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult. I picked it up at Costco and after reading 10 pages I was ready to put it down; too many mentions of comic books. Don't let it fool you though! I plugged on and now I'm halfway through it! Very good.

On the topic of books...I read another amazing book a few months back, "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. It's the kind of book that you never forget. I won't even tell you anything about it because I want you to be blindsided by its bizarreness. Anyways, the movie is on our dish so I plan on watching it tonight. AFTER...American Idol

My favorite pair of jeans is on the verge of getting a big ole hole in the crotch. Time to go shopping. Vintage is one thing but airy crotch is another.

Tax time. 'nuff said. S-T-R-E-S-S!!!!!!!!!!!

Vaseline slathered feet, covered in socks, makes for super soft footsies.

Okay...that was wierd, I know. Sometimes my brain isn't formatted for a blog. I like to talk randomly and just go with what is on my mind!

~me