Birthday and Christmas

Alexis is turning 4 on November 19th, and we're having her party this Saturday, I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

It's been hard having so many birthdays in October and November when Christmas is just around the corner. Especially with Cameron not working due to school, and with the little amount I make at Target....lets just say the dollars are in the red.

But this is a happy post!
Today I stumbled upon the CUTEST bicycle I have ever seen in my life, and my mom is considering getting it for Alexis for Christmas. Cameron and I would, but we already have in motion what we will be getting for her.

Voila, the cutest bike EVER.

Right? It has a seat for her dollies (she asked for a specific one from Santa this year), and a basket for all her little treasures she likes to collect. It even has giant polka dots on the basket and giant buttons on the training wheels! I can't get over the cuteness.

And since Alexis loves pink...it's just perfect.

Had to post!
As I said, birthday pics will come as soon as I've got some.

Colds for all

Everyone in the family is either sick or getting over being sick. :( Two little girls down the street who got sick at the same time as the monkey were diagnosed with pneumonia so we took her to the doctor yesterday and (YAY!) she's actually getting better. Tonight we watched The Cosby Show after dinner (the first time for the monkey) and she loved it. She wanted to watch it again, "one more time mommy!" It was very cute.

Tomorrow starts our weekend, I'm very excited! When husband gets home from work tonight we will probably watch a Roswell episode or two before hitting the hay. Then tomorrow we begin shopping for new flooring tile for the entryway/kitchen/bathroom/laundry room (the new house we bought wasn't well taken care of and the linoleum that is everywhere is terribly chipped, scuffed, and marred). It's a project we've been saving up for and I'm so excited to finally get started on it! It's the last thing to be done in the entryway, the first thing to be done in the bathroom which needs a major overhaul, and the last thing for now in the kitchen although eventually we plan to completely remodel it. It's all about taking it one project at a time. Slowly but surely our poor little 1939 mill-family home is becoming more beautiful and comfortable. The hardwood floors we did (ourselves!) in the living room are particularly wonderful. :) Who would have thought that at 21 I would about to celebrate my 4th anniversary with my wonderful husband, have a lovely 2-year-old girl, and own my own home?

I'm the luckiest woman in the world, bar none.

Quote of the day

"If your idea of a role model is somebody who's gonna preach to your kids that sex before marriage is wrong and cursing is wrong and women should be this and be that, then I'm not a role model. But if you want your girls to feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right, then I want to be that type of role model, yeah."

- Megan Fox


Well, that's my idea of a role model.

Editing posts to match my edited life

So, I found a site that actually changed my life. Which makes me a TOTAL loser, but I don't care. It's called Violent Acres, and you may have heard of it seeing as its been around for 4 years. I however, had not, and that is a horrible injustice seeing as had I discovered it earlier, my backbone would be stronger at this very moment. Not my physical backbone, although I'm sure you knew that. So check it out, but be warned, she is a BITCH. Seriously. She'll probably offend you. But I love her!


I have TONS going on right now, and I love it! We are closing on our first house in less than two weeks!! Needless to say we are freaking excited. We are also getting a puppy (which my mom thinks is the worst idea ever), a female black lab that we are going to name Keara (it means dark, which we think is fitting!) Also, today is mine and husband's 3rd anniversary! We didn't do anything for it today, but next week monkey is staying with her Mimi and we are going to the beach for 3 days. It will be the first time we have both stayed the night away from her, so it's going to be bittersweet.


Hopefully I'll remember to keep posting, if only for family to read! Lol.

Tim Burton's Wonderland

Um, how excited am I for this? Toooo excited. How much do I love Johnny and Helena together? Toooo much. From Sweeney Todd, to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Corpse Bride, and now this. They rule Tim Burton's world, and for that I will be eternally grateful. I have loved Helena Bonham Carter since I first saw her in Merlin when I was just a little girl. My dad loved the movie which is the only reason my mom gave in and let me watch it with him. It was a little twisted, but that's what makes it so great! Just like all the other films listed above. They all have that childlike, twisted frame of mind where the crazy makes sense. And Alice looks to be my knew favorite Tim/Johnny/Helena team film.

EDIT:

I'm pretty sad, I didn't actually enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Not that the visual effects weren't stunning, or that the acting wasn't right on par with what you would expect from the likes of Johnny Depp...I guess the story has just been told and retold so much that it has all become a little dull. Sad. Still! I do enjoy the books everytime I read them. Work of genius.

My own Stars Hollow

Have I mentioned yet my completely impractical infatuation with the Gilmore Girls?
I got my mom addicted too, which was fairly easy considering its a show all about mothers, and my mom now being a single mother can relate to a lot of it.
But the part I love about it is not so much the characters (although I adore them, especially the zany side-characters like Kirk, Patty, and Babette...yes, I said zany), not the characters, but really Stars Hollow itself.

This is Lorelai's house in the show, which is also rougly the same type of house I've dreamed of having since I was about 5. I've always loved a good wrap-around porch.
The town of Stars Hollow itself was just so quaint and whimsical...so well set up (obviously because it is in fact a set), I just want to find a place just like it and live there myself.

Some may argue that the only reason the town was so ideal was because of the controling, self-appointed town mayor/grocery-store-owner/chairman of the stars hollow historical society/etc. Taylor Doose,
(his character does drive me insane), and I have to admit that without him, this fictional town would be quite devoid of whimsy. He plans and produces all the totally awesome town events that everyone takes part in, and he keeps the town historical, which is annoying...but definitely as he puts it "part of the charm".

What I'm trying to say is, I want my own stars hollow, conneticut. I'll find it someday I suppose. I just wish it was now.

I would write more, but I got distracted mid-post by a cafe-press shop selling gilmore girls merchandise, and now the monkey's awake. Adios!

Wednesday night lineup...wow!

I can't tell you how much I love wednesdays now!
So, the monkey goes to sleep at 8 every night, and husband doesn't get home until around midnight on average. That leaves several hours for me to get things done, and/or watch tv.
Unfortunately there isn't much for good television usually.
Well, abc has just made me a happy, happy woman on wednesday nights.

Tonight was three premieres for 3 new shows. I saw previews for them all and they didn't look particularly amazing, but I was intrigued. Oh-my-god.
At 9:00 I now watch Modern Family, followed by Cougar Town at 9:30, and my favorite, Eastwick at 10:00.

For the first hour I laughed so hard I almost cried. Modern family was hilarious, seriously. Realistic humor always gets me. God, I love every single character in that show, so comedically yet realistically flawed. I love a good character flaw. The only character sans flaw would be Lily, the Vietnamese baby who is, btw, adorable.

Then Cougar Town (which I only watched because I was waiting for Eastwick and there was nothing else on at 9:30) really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to actually like it, but there I was sitting on the couch with my mother of all people, laughing hysterically as this recently-divorced single mother with a child-of-an-ex-husband got into one adult sized pickle after another. (seriously, kids should be no where in the room for this one, although what should we expect from Courtney Cox after Dirt).

Then there was Eastwick. Wow. It was even better than I was hoping it would be, and I'm really hoping it draws a big audience so we can keep it on the air. The whole show has this magical feeling to it. Its the colors, the music, and the actors themselves. It's nothing like charmed aside from there being 3 women with mystical powers. Not near as dark, and the story line is just completely different. The whole show made me feel so, happy and excited, and empowered.

So here's my list of TV shows I like, just so you have something to compare to:

-Supernatural
-Smallville
-Friends
-That 70's Show
-House
-CSI
-Gossip Girl
-Charmed
-Gilmore Girls
-Scrubs
-Bones
-Will and Grace
-NCIS
-HGTV's Design Star
-Color Splash
-Food Network Challenge: Cakes
-Ace of Cakes
-Cake Boss
-Iron Chef

And yes, I am aware that some of these shows aren't of the highest caliber, but everyone needs a guilty-pleasure show. Surely you wouldn't begrudge me that?
Anyway, what I'm saying is: next wednesday stay in, grab some chips/popcorn/chocolate/what-have-you, switch the channel to abc, and park your tush on the couch from 9:00-11:00. Just check them out.

Painting Pains...

So here's the finished product from the rough drafts I posted before. It needs something. I don't know what. Husband pointed out it has no shadow, and suggested apple leaves. Any ideas?
The stupid thing is driving me nuts.

Today's a super-short post, because well...there's just not much to write about. I have some big news that I'll post later with lots of fun photo-shopped pics. Yippee.

All things Yummy...

So, I've started painting again. I'm doing some rough drafts for a piece I've been wanting to do for our wall. Tell me what you think:

The top one I did first. The shapes and details are pretty horrible because I did the whole thing from sketch to end product in about 30 minutes. The second one I took a little more time on. About an hour to an hour and a half.
Anyway, my issue is, my husband actually prefers something about the first one, but he doesn't know what it is, other than the fact that he thinks the bottom pear is too skinny and it's stem is too long.
I personally prefer the second. Bah.
I'm supposed to do the final one on my rather large canvas this weekend, because of the schedule I set for myself. (is that practicality sneaking in?)
Anyway, feedback would be most appreciated.

This is my pixelated cupcake. I know I know, it looks more like a muffin. The top is supposed to be frosting, but white doesn't show up well on white for some reason (hmm...wonder why?) and I hate putting random colored backgrounds that cause issues on paint. So I guess it can just be a muffin-cake. I'm playing around with a base I made and came up with a couple that I think are cute.
But what are they for you ask? Well, I'm thinking about re-creating them in felt. What do you think? Maybe not even felt. Maybe I'll actually make them like 3D plush stuffies for Monkey.
Any ideas?

And to conclude our yummy blog for today, we made lemon bars, double chocolate fudge bars, and actual cupcakes (not virtual ones...do not be confused!) all of which I will not eat! LOL