I took your advice.
LOVE them.
By the way, I'm dishing on my favorite eyebrow pencil at Chic Critique today. And later this week, I'll tell you how to use it!
Also, if you didn't get the memo, there is an informal Philly area mom blogger meet-up in King of Prussia on June 13th. Leave me a comment or drop me an email if you can join us!
On Saturday morning, I was sitting here IN MY NEW RED OFFICE (sorry, I'm just a bit excited about that) when I heard a crash upstairs. Then the next sound I heard was my husband calling, "Jo! Help!"
As I began to climb the stairs I heard him mutter, "Un-friggin-believable."
"Do I need the camera?" I called. Call it blogger's instincts.
I turned around and grabbed the camera and then headed upstairs. When I entered my 2-year-old's room, this is what I found.
Um. You think it might be time to potty train?
According to my husband, who can fix A-N-Y thing, the changing table is irreparable unless we buy new shelves for it. Instead, we took it as a sign from God, or a swift kick in the pants, rather, and hauled the tired old diaper changing station out to the curb and then told my stubborn little toddler that she was going to start wearing panties. She is very resistant to using the potty, I have NO idea why. We'd tried before with no success, but I had been planning to take a stab at it again soon.
Which is an ironic choice of metaphor because there is nothing that makes me want to take a stab at something quite like potty training. As far as I'm concerned, it is the worst stage of childhood I have yet to encounter. I hear the adolescent years will make me pine for a 2-year-old to potty train, but I have my doubts.
Any-WHO. After hours of hanging out by the bathroom, 152-gazillion stories read in a crouched position by the potty, 68 glasses of juice, two wetting accidents, and no successful potty usage, I gave up and put diapers back on her. At this point I don't care if she goes to college in diapers as long as I don't have to spend another Saturday crouching in the bathroom again.
Speaking of college, yesterday we attended a graduation party for one of my nephews. When did I become Methuselah? I would really like to know. It must have happened overnight. Because just yesterday I was young and perky and wrinkle-free. I just know I was. Now I'm just... tired.
"To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:25-26, 28-31
It's a short list today. But I didn't want to let these go till next week. Especially the first one.
Your questions are answered -- Cancer: Nip it in the bud with early detection!
Prepare to be disturbed -- One More Reason to Lather Up
I love this. I could have written EVERY WORD. -- Never Say Never
This week's Destination Disney topic is hotels and resorts. I have only stayed at two Disney resorts, so I don't have a whole lot to share on this topic. I have visited several others, and I can honestly say, I haven't seen a Disney hotel or resort where I would NOT want to stay. They are all gorgeous and beautifully themed.
You may or may not know that Disney has three levels of resort options. The deluxe resorts are the most expensive and as Disney puts it "the ultimate in luxury, style, and comfort." They start at $250 a night and go up and up and UP from there.
Some of the deluxe resorts include villas with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a full working kitchen. When we went as a family, we stayed in a villa at the Old Key West resort. It was lovely and spacious and perfect for a group our size -- 5 adults and 3 kids.
When I went on the blogger trip last month, I stayed in a regular room at the Beach Club Resort. I liked the Beach Club better than Old Key West, and I hope to stay in one of their villas when we return to Disney next year. Here is a picture of the Beach Club, courtesy of Elizabeth at Table for Five.
I have also been to the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary for meals, and they area both incredibly luxurious. Someday I would love to stay at the Contemporary for its convenience to the Magic Kingdom and its location on the monorail.
The value resorts are the cheapest. They are geared towards families with young kids, and the themes are bright and colorful and fun. I toured the All Star Music resort on my recent blogger trip to Disney. It was much nicer than I had expected, and with rooms starting at $82 per night, quite affordable. Here is a picture I took of the pool area.
Then falling somewhere in the middle are the moderate resorts. I have never seen a moderate resort, so I can't say much about them. I do know that rooms start at $149 a night. Disney describes them as "an enchanting combination of amenities and value."
You can see pictures of all the resorts on disney.go.com.
Staying at a Disney resort means extra amenities such as extended theme park hours, complimentary airport service, complimentary resort transportation, the Disney dining plan, package delivery, and more. Do I sound like a travel brochure yet?
Of course there are plenty of non-Disney accommodations, but I don't have any experience with them. As I've talked with people who have stayed off Disney property, they say they like it because they can get a break from the Disney experience. And of course, the Disney faithfuls say that is exactly whey they like to stay on property, so that they never have to leave the Disney magic. At least, not until they enter the Orlando airport. I can speak from experience that there is no Disney magic in the Orlando airport. See my post about my trip home if you don't know what I'm talking about.
In a nutshell, there are lovely accommodations for most budgets available at Disney World. What's your favorite?
Darla says: What denomination (religion) did you grow up in and are you still carrying on that tradition (religion) now?
Do you want the short answer or the long one? Okay, since when do I give a short answer?
I grew up attending a large conservative Southern Baptist church, and my parents were devout Christians. I claimed faith in Christ when I was six years old. I remember the moment distinctly. Over the years I learned more about the Bible, and my faith grew. I often talked to Jesus like he was right there beside me (except not out loud -- well, not usually) and that hasn't changed. I think that's how it should be. After all, to a believer, he is our friend and father (well, God is the father, but you get my point.)
Sidenote: My mom tells the story of when we were visiting my grandparents and one night my grandmother tucked me in and prayed with me before bed. She came downstairs and told my mother it was the funniest thing, how I just talked to God like I'd talk to her or anyone else. It tickled her, for some reason.
So anyway. During my time away at college, I was introduced to different beliefs and interpretations of the Bible, and I attended churches of several different denominations throughout my years there.
Eventually I met my husband, who was a seminary student and a staunch Presbyterian. (Is there any other kind of Presbyterian? Oh how I amuse myself.) I immediately bombarded him with all the theological questions that I had been mulling around in my head for the past several years. Poor guy, all he wanted to do was get a break from studies and bag a babe, and he had to put up with a bunch of theological questions from his girlfriend.
And it wasn't just a bunch of questions. When I'm trying to figure out what I believe about something, I am horrible about playing devil's advocate. It's amazing he didn't break up with me on the spot.
We eventually got married, as you know, and we are members of a PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) congregation.
There you go, probably WAY more than you ever wanted to know.
Lawanda says: Tell me about your dream kitchen. I am getting a new one and I would like to have some perspective ;) Seriously, what do you like about your kitchen? ;)
Okay, do you want me to tell you about my dream kitchen or about MY kitchen? Because although I'm content with my kitchen, it is not anywhere NEAR dream kitchen standards. My dream kitchen would have twice the cupboards and counter space that MY kitchen has. My dream kitchen would have granite counters. It would have two sinks. It would have double wall ovens. It would have matching appliances. It would have more space for people to sit and hang out. And it would have a pretty tile backsplash (not the fake painted "tile" backsplash I have now).
MY kitchen is nice, though. I like the 42-inch high cabinets with crown molding at the top. They really make a pretty impression. I love having an island, although ideally it would be larger and would have space for bar stools. Wait, this isn't the dream kitchen paragraph, is it? Sorry, I got carried away.
RubiaLala says: My standard question when bloggers do this: Take a picture of your favorite pair of shoes and tell us why it is your favorite pair.
At the moment, I guess these are my favorites. I took a few pictures of my feet in them, but the red paint splatters clashed with the coral of the shoe, and we can't have that, now can we? Besides, it just looked tacky. So you'll have to use your imagination. They are even cuter with feet in them.
Carolyn says: When you visit someone's blog page, do you always leave a comment? Why or why not? (sorry that's two).
Good heavens, NO. I couldn't possibly leave comments every time I visit. I wouldn't have time to grocery shop and be a parent. I read a TON of blogs. I try to leave comments every once in a while, so people know I'm around, but I do not comment every time. Or even every other time. Or even, well, you get the idea.
I know it is hypocritical to shamelessly beg for YOU to leave comments, and then to be stingy with leaving MY comments, but it's either read and not comment every time, or seriously reduce the number of blogs in my feed reader so I can be a more active commenter.
So there you have it.
That's the last of the questions. Thanks for the bloggy fodder, y'all!
My Chic Critique partner Megan is very reliable and ALWAYS has her posts submitted on time. So you might wonder WHY there is nothing posted on Chic Critique today. I'm SURE you are ALL wondering that, right? Ahem.
The fact of the matter is, I was too busy painting and blogging about it to get over to Chic Critique and publish her post. Because I am a loser.
But. Her post is up now, and it's one you should NOT miss. Not only does she share with us another fabulous product, she also calls your attention to an important women's health issue and directs you to Simply A Musing Blog where Karen is taking questions to ask a team of doctors from Texas Oncololgy. Karen will post the doctors' answers next week.
So even if you don't give a flying flip about another skincare product, there is valuable health-related information to be had on Chic Critique today.
After your very helpful comments about the office/playroom/dining room situation, I decided to make the office an office. I realized that I'd be able to keep some toys in there, as well as the kids table so my girls can do crafts beside me while I'm working. And I really DO want to dine in my dining room, so the current situation is not practical for the long term. As for the furnishings, although I'd love to have a pretty desk in there, but we do have an old office table my husband acquired from work that will do for now.
One thing you might not know about me -- when I get my mind set to something, I want it done yesterday. Fortunately I married a man who is impatient as I am. Most people don't accomplish in a weekend what we accomplished last night.
Here's how it went down. When my husband got home last night, he immediately went out to mow the lawn. As I was walking by to retrieve our children from the neighbor's, he looked up and said, "I could start painting tonight if you want."
I didn't need to be asked twice. I was hoping we could work on it on Saturday, but if he wanted to do it right away, all the better! He finished mowing as I contemplated paint colors.
We managed to unearth a gallon of red paint that we had bought for our bedroom when we moved in. We way overestimated the amount of paint we'd need for that room and had a whole gallon left over. And since free beats $40 for new paint that we might not even like, we decided that the office would be red.
This is the before picture. Yes, it was a disaster. And this is how it usually is was. You can see why it was an eyesore in the front entrance of our home. This is was the view from the doorway.
And the view from the inside of the door, looking towards the left. That window you barely see looks out onto our front yard, where the kids often play.
Aw heck, here's another. Because it will help you appreciate the after pictures all the more.
We enlisted the kids to help us move everything out of the playroom, and we relocated the doll toys to C's room and the kitchen to the basement. While I organized toys and rearranged C's room and put the kids to bed, my husband started paint prep.
When I got back downstairs, he was cutting in around the ceiling. How come they're cutest when doing home improvement projects? You ever notice that?
I grabbed a clean paint brush and tackled the baseboards. (This room had never been painted. It still had the flat builder's white on all walls and woodwork.)
Around about 9pm, while we were busily painting away, my husband casually asked, "When is that Pampered Chef party you're having?"
"Tomorrow night," I sheepishly admitted. (That's tonight, y'all.) I had intentionally NOT reminded him of this deadline. I feared he wouldn't tackle this project last night if he knew we HAD to have the room put back together right away.
Him: "Uh, and WHY are we doing this tonight?"
Me: "I was sorta hoping we'd be done by then."
After thirteen years of being married to me, he knew there was no turning back so we kept plugging along.
By 11pm, we were rolling. (By we I really mean he.)
That only took about 20 minutes, and by 11:30 we were cleaning up. I vacuumed and replaced the switch covers while he put paint stuff away and put the blinds back up. We moved the bookshelf back in and anchored it to the wall. We put the kids' table in the corner.
I figured we would go to bed and finish the rest on Saturday, but the next thing I knew, he was hauling the 2-ton office table up from the basement. I was secretly thrilled that the room was going to be all put together before we retired for the night. But then we had an unexpected roadblock. The table wouldn't fit through the basement doorway, and we had to remove all the legs before we could bring it up. So at 11:45 we started unscrewing table legs.
Eventually we heaved it into the new office and as he put the legs back on, I arranged the toys and books on the bookshelf. Soon after midnight, it looked like this. Clearly we need some decoration for the walls and, you know, the computer. My husband has to wire our Internet connection into there tonight, so for now I'm still working from the dining room.
And here's the rest of the room as seen from my vantage point from behind the acquired desk.
Anyone want to place bets on how long the bookshelves will stay tidy? Actually, now that I'll be looking at it all day long, I think I'll be more inclined to keep them neat and organized.
So that's the tale of our spontaneous room makeover on the cheap. Yes, I know, we're nuts. It helps that we both work fast and don't have incredibly high standards. The paint needs to be touched up, and we may or may not get around to that by the end of the year. Or the end of the decade. The girls' rooms still have unpainted woodwork, and they were painted over two years ago, so that should give you some indication of how we roll.
I also hope to get a nicer desk and a curtain and some wall decor, but that can wait until we have the funds.
All that to say, I think I have a new office! Woot!
I'm joining in the Sincerely 'Fro Me to You Carnival hosted by We Are THAT Family. This is a repost. This picture was taken the summer of 1997 at my grandfather's summer home where we vacation every year.
Look at us! We were just babies! Although this begs the question, why do men get better looking with age and women just, well, age?
I think I should grow my hair out again, what do you think? But those bangs. They shall be banished forever and ever, amen.
Since I don't have a scanner, I just snapped a shot of this photo in my scrapbook. As you can see, I went a little overboard with the cropping back then. Nowadays I'm lucky if I slap the pictures in the album and label them with the date.
Originally posted July 2007.
I guilted Soliloquy into tagging me via email for this meme. And then my Disney blogging buddy Amy officially tagged me so now I'm legit.
Favorite person (outside family)? I plead the fifth. No matter what I say, I could potentially hurt someone's feelings. Suffice it to say I have several AMAZING friends. Friends who love me in spite of myself. Friends who encourage me when I don't believe in myself. Friends that slap me upside the head when I need a good head-slapping. They know who they are.
Favorite food? Pizza. Greek pizza from Ted's in Conshohocken. Oh how I miss that pizza. (Ten points for anyone who can pronounce Conshohocken correctly. :-) ) And the irony is, look what I'm eating right now. It's the first time I've had it in MONTHS.
Quirks about you? I twirl my hair. And I crack my knuckles. And I'm really particular about my stainless appliances being streak and fingerprint free. Is that enough?
How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? (Ask them) TBA
Any regrets in life? Sure. Several. One is using the Babywise method with my son. At the time, I thought I wasn't being rigid about it, but in retrospect, it was a huge source of stress on me and our family. We were much happier just going with the flow with our girls.
Favorite Charity/Cause? Compassion ministries. I think of our little Samaul over in Uganda and am amazed by what our $32 a month is providing for him. I hope to sponsor more children through Compassion in the future.
Favorite Blog recently? I'm going to go with Design Mom. I wasn't a reader of this blog before I met the lovely Gabrielle at the Disney mixer. Now I'm hooked because there is always inspiration and beauty to be found there.
Something you can’t get enough of? Comments! Seriously, comments are the gas in my bloggy tank! :=) Speaking of gas, I saw regular unleaded going for $3.95 this morning. GACK!
Worst job you’ve ever had? File clerk. Shoot me dead. I hate to be bored.
What job would you pay NOT to have? Housekeeper. I can't stand cleaning house.
If you could be a fly on the wall, where? I'm drawing a blank. The only thing I can think of is the Survivor set. I'd love to know what it's REALLY like, but you couldn't pay me enough to sign up for the show.
Favorite Bible verse right now? Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Guilty Pleasure? Pedicures. And I'm desperately in need of one at the moment. Also, rocking my baby to sleep. So precious. Also? A glass of chilled Pinot Grigio -- my summer wine of choice. Oh, and sitting on the front porch in the warmth of the sun, reading a good book or dozing, while the kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk.
Got any confessions? Hm. Let's see. I don't change the sheets on our beds often enough. I know, EW. I lose my temper with my 5-year-old A LOT. I console myself by letting her sleep in our bed at night. I let my kids stay home from school sometimes just because.
If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? A shopping spree, I suppose. New clothes and shoes.
Favorite thing about your house? The space.
Least favorite thing about your house? No deck. I mean, there is a deck, but it is TINY, and it has no stairs, so we can't access the back yard, which is, as I'm sure you can imagine, extremely inconvenient.
One thing you are bad at? Sports. I am so uncoordinated it's not even funny.
One thing you’re good at? Mercy. Another one I hijacked from Soliloquy. But it's true. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume the best most of the time. Even when I find myself not thinking the best of someone's intentions, I desperately WANT to.
If you could change something about your circumstances, what? Gosh. Nothing. Honestly. Which makes me wonder why I can be so moody and temperamental when I am so content with my life.
Who would you like to meet someday? George Clooney. Yum.
What makes you feel sexy? Being tan, again, copying Soliloquy.
Who is your real life hero? My mom.
What is the hardest part of your job? Motherhood/Housewifery - Not getting discouraged when it seems that so much of what I do seems futile. Designing/Blogging - Trying to come up with original ideas.
When are you most relaxed? After my five o'clock four o'clock glass of wine.
What stresses you out? "Chaos, noise and lots of kids. Combine them and I’m a Betty Ford candidate." That was Soliloquy. I laughed out loud at that, and I'm going to take it and claim it as my own. And I will add to that, clutter. I detest clutter.
What can you not live without? As cliche as it may sound, my faith. It is my strength and my sanity.
Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? I didn't read the article, but I'd have to admit that there is an element of narcissism that goes along with blogging.
Why do you blog? "I’ve got a freakish brain that runs and runs and runs – and jumps all over the place with random thoughts, triggers and associations." Omigosh. You mean I'm NOT the only one? You have NO idea how much better that makes me feel.
Okay - rules:
1. Answer the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you
3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category.
• New/newer bloggers -- Kim and Sarah
• Bloggy friends -- Christie and Sarah
• Bloggers you’d like to get to know better --
• Bloggers you don’t think will respond, but you hope will --
Or break all the rules and tag whoever you want. Or tag yourself. WHATEVER. It’s a brand new meme, so the more people who participate, the better. I just couldn’t tell everyone to tag 23 people.
I'm breaking the rules and leaving it at that. Do I like to live on the edge or WHAT?
