The Post Where a Title Eludes Me

I feel like we've been so busy, but now that I'm trying to write about it, it doesn't seem so, well, busy. I'm just going to dive right in! On Saturday we met Spencer's MiMi at the airport to pick her up from a two week long business trip.  She missed Spencie so much that we've been staying with them these past few days.  Since we missed her birthday, as she was an out-of-towner, on Sunday we baked the most delicious, mouthwatering, make-you-want-to-weep, carrot cake.  It took almost all day to make and bake and ice that baby, but it was so worth every scrumptious, highly caloric bite!  I took many a picture of the baking and making process, but I don't have my camera doo-hickey that hooks up to my computer, so I can't download the pictures yet.

I finally joined the rest of mainstream America on Sunday night, as I watched New Moon for the first time. Yes, I'm about 5-6 months behind, but at least I can now say I'm like every other teeny bopper in the universe!  (No offense to those of you who aren't teeny boppers and love Twilight, etc.)

On Monday I got to sleep in and when I woke up breakfast was made for me as I watched Regis and Kelly... heavenly.  And then us gals went and got pedicures!  It was Spencer's first "pedi," but she loved every second of it.  (I also loved every second of it because it was my first one in over a year!) Spence just stood in the water for a minute and then got her toes painted, nothing else, so it wasn't a real pedi for her, but she was thrilled just the same. I took a bunch of pictures of that too, but for the aforementioned reason, I can't post them.  I did try and snap a few of Spencer's tootsies in the car, but it was difficult- here's the best with the least blur:

Spence is absolutely in love with her toes and she takes great joy in showing everybody.  After we had our girly afternoon I had to go to my sociology class.  We had a test and after it was over he let us leave early. (And no, this wasn't our final, out final is on the 10th, which I think is kinda stinky- a test and a final all in two weeks.)   So on my way back the PGP's house, it's about a 45 minute drive, there were some crazy storms that I had to drive through.  But because it was such a long drive, and I was traveling behind the storm, I got to see two separate rainbows!  They were miles apart and I tried to my best take pictures of them while I was driving.  They aren't the best, but you get the idea.

I like to think it was a double good omen!  And I'm so glad that I took these pictures, because you couldn't see them from the PGP's house.  So where am I now?  Tuesday.  Which was yesterday and I should be able to easily recall the events.  I didn't do much yesterday except go the store to buy some sticker books for Spencer, hang out and do a little studying, watch It's Complicated (the movie with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin), read a little, and watch GLEE, etc. I love, love, love, that show. It makes me miss high school, as I was a cheerleader and in the show choir, but it also brings back so many wonderful memories. And then I went to sleep at 11pm. Eleven P. M.  That is unheard of in my world.  

And now we are all caught up to today, whew!  Today the PGP's took Spencie to story time at the library while I snoozed and then woke up and watched the tube and did some studying.  When they got back we we went to the Farmer's Market only to find out that on Wednesdays it's from 3-7pm instead of from 8am-12pm like it is on Saturdays. So we will be heading back there later on this afternoon. Spencer is taking a nap right now, Praise The Lord!  She hasn't been napping since we've been here and she's not been all that pleasant to be around after 3pm.  I couldn't take another afternoon of it and I spent the last hour trying to coax her into dreamland.  

Tomorrow we are going home.  Which means this is my last night of having someone else cook dinner for me(us).  Sometimes it's nice to not always have to do everything by myself, ya know?  I need to make sure our homestead is still there and other various chores.  I have my Anatomy final on Saturday and that's going to be...special.  (not in the good way.)  How weird is this- even though our final is this Saturday, we still have two more labs and one more quiz left to do?  That's just C-RAZY!  

Okay, well I think that's all.  I'm going to try and get those pictures up here soon, along with the recipe for the-best-carrot-cake-recipe-that-has-and-will-ever-exist-here-on-earth.  And just as soon as school is over for the semester I will resume a regular posting schedule.  Promise!

Dragons in the Sky

I'm going to regale you with a bullet point post this Sunday evening.  There are just too many topics of discussion to fit in otherwise.  And I love bullet points.


**  I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo this weekend with Spencer's MiMi and her best friend.  It was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time and I totally recommend it to everyone!  The movie is based on a book that is part of a three-part trilogy and I'd read two of the books- the third isn't out yet.  If you have time, the books are amazing and such good reads.  It was also the first time I'd been to the movie theater since July!

** Spencer and I spent Saturday night with the PGP's and I had such a nice talk with her the above mentioned best friend who was also spending the night.  And then I got to sleep in the morning!  I love sleeping in.

**  I had more than a few tears slide down my cheeks when Phil Mickelson won the Master's.  When he embraced his wife, who is fighting breast cancer, and gave her a long tearful hug, I just couldn't contain the water works. It was such a beautiful moment and it reminded me of how much I love love.

** Spencer is currently obsessed with Dragons!  I don't know how or why she fell in love with them, but she has.  She keeps asking me for one and wanting to watch movies that have them in it. She's even changed the words of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Instead of "like a diamond in the sky" she now sings "like a dragon in the sky."  It really is the cutest thing I've ever heard!

**  This is my 499th post!  Which means that my next one will be my 500th.  I don't know how to commemorate the occasion- any ideas?  

Sundry

Yesterday was not the best day.  I had to take my anatomy test at nine in the morning and it was insane!  We just had a huge test three weeks ago, four chapters/175 questions, and I incorrectly assumed this one would be shorter and not as brain numbing since it was only on two chapters.  So it was not to my delight when I saw that there were 222 questions with a two hour time limit!  About five minutes before my time was up, I still had over 30 questions unanswered and I about had a meltdown.

Thankfully, my teacher took some pity on me and told me not to worry and that I could have as much time as I needed.  I guess I looked at her strangely, because she then informed me that of the 10 people who had already taken the test, the average grades were between a 40 and 50! (We take the tests by ourselves at a scheduled time within a couple of days window)  I was definitely glad to have the extra time, but it freaked me out that everyone had done so poorly.  When I was finally finished with it, my brain actually hurt.

Then I had to pick up Spencer from my mom's house and my mom was not happy that I'd been gone so long- since I had told her it would be about two hours.  I was like, are you kidding me?  It's not like I was out shopping or hanging out with friends and lost track of time- I was taking a test.  A TEST!  She didn't seem to understand the difference; I told her two hours and by the time I got back to her house it had been almost three and half hours.  So this did not put me in a good mood. Not. At. All.  And then, after my brain was telling me it needed a nap, I couldn't, as I had another test last night in my sociology class!  That one went swimmingly, but still.  Today has been much better, although I'm still kind of wiped out. 

So now that I've had my little rant/pitty party, I will move on to other things- like Easter!  This Easter was much better than last year, by about a gazillion.  Spencer didn't have any meltdowns and she was pretty happy almost the entire day.  Well, she was a little upset and confused about why the Easter Bunny didn't leave any baby bunnies for her, but she got over it, ha!  She kept telling everyone on Saturday that "A wabbit is coming!"  On Sunday morning she was very happy with her all of the treats in her basket, but she kept asking me "where's the wabbit?"  When I showed her the stuffed animal rabbit, she shook her had and looked at me like I was not the most intelligent being.  She then very adamantly told me "No, mommy, where's the weal wabbit?"  I didn't want her to have a temper tantrum before church, so I did what any good parent does and I waved the chocolate bunny in front of her and all was right again.

Then we went to church and they had an egg hunt for all the little kids.  She started off doing really well, running around and grabbing eggs left and right.  Then she saw another kid was eating a piece of candy and she it was like she had an epiphany: there were treats in the eggs!  So she plopped her bottom on the ground and began chowing down.  I let her open a few, but then I stealthily took it away and turned her in the direction of the slide, where a few of the kids were playing. You know Spencer and her love for slides, and she zoomed over to it.  I was pretty proud myself- two potential crises averted! 

After the service was over we went home so Spencer could take a nap before Easter dinner.  Oddly enough, she kept sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and didn't want to get up.  After two and half hours I gently woke her and she said, "I don't want to get up, I seepy."  That's the first, and I'm sure the last, time those words will ever come out of her mouth!  I finally managed to coax her up with assurances that "The Wabbit" had left some more surprises for her at my aunt's house.  This was a-okay with her and we made it over to my aunt's and Spence got to do another(!) egg hunt.  When dinner was over she kept trying to find more eggs, so I re-hid a few more so she could re-find them.  I was worried she was going to go into sugar shock, but as soon as we got in the car she fell right asleep.  Which was good for me, since I had a lot of studying to do.

And that was Easter!  Holidays are getting to be much more fun now that Spencer can understand what's going on and that if she's a good girl she'll get some treats/presents.  It's also probably my most effective means of behavior control, haha. Is that really wrong?

Me and My Shadow

Us.

This weekend has been blah.  And now it's pouring down rain- which it's supposed to do for the next three days.  Double blah.  It is so not fun to be stuck inside with a very active two year old.  I have no idea what we'll do, hopefully I'll get some divine inspiration in my dreams tonight.  Or maybe you have some ideas?

Bullet Point Monday

I have a lot going on today, so I have to bring back the bullet points.  For some reason it's a lot easier (and quicker) to write out my thoughts this way rather than in real sentence/paragraph form- even though my bullet points are always complete sentences and usually become a mini paragraph unto themselves.  Go figure.  So here it goes!

• I have a test tonight in Sociology.  I'm not too concerned, but I missed class last week because I was sick and I never like to take a test when I've missed the preceding class.  But since our notes are on Blackboard I have no excuse for not taking the test or doing well on it.
• Yesterday my aunt took Spencer and I to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch since my parents were out of town with my brother.  Because we had on red (for Valentine's Day) we each got a $5 off coupon for the next time we eat there!
• I made Spencer brownies from scratch in the shape of hearts for the yesterday.  They turned out quite delicious, but now all she can talk about is wanting to eat chocolate cake.  Ex. Me:  Holiday of Love Spencer, what would you like for breakfast?  Her:  Chocolate cake. This afternoon- Me:  I'm making macaroni and cheese for lunch.  Her:  No.  I want chocolate cake!  Me:  After you eat your lunch.  Her:  No No No No No!!  Chocolate cake then cheese!  Pweese! 
• I can't get enough of the Olympics and especially Apolo Ohno!  I cry every during ever single montage.  I could not control the water works when Alex Bilodeau won Canada's first ever gold medal at a home Olympics.  And it got worse when he said he did it for his brother, who has cerebral palsy and can hardly walk.  He talked about what an inspiration his big brother was to him and how he never complains about his lot in life  Then it turned into a full on, I need a tissue type of crying, when they panned onto the crowd and you see his brother standing at the finish line crying cheering like crazy, just as Alex runs up to him and they hug.  Seriously, if you didn't watch it last night, you can read about it here. But grab a tissue because it's a tear jerker!
• I got the best comment from my bloggy friend Sarah the other night and it made my day.  It was regarding my new Olympic Crush, Apolo (We're on a first name basis).  She wrote "I hope he reads your blog and takes you out for dinner :)"  Awww!   
• And now for your enjoyment and amusement- a picture of me, circa 1990, at my ice skating recital- where I had a teeny tiny solo moment, which seemed HUGE to my 8 year old self.  (Don't laugh too much!)

Winter Wonderland Weekend

We had a huge snow storm here this weekend with over a foot of snow!  It started early Saturday morning and didn't stop until early Sunday morning.  We were snowed in with my bestie and her family, which was great for Spencer- she had such a great time playing with the other kiddos.  It was great for us because we got to have a lot of girl time! Yesterday we played in the snow and made 3/4 of a snowman.  The girls got tired of being out in the cold so we had to go in.  We thought about finishing him late last night but we were all too tired.  Richmond is still currently under a blanket of white, with all of local schools still closed through tomorrow.  And if you can even imagine this- it's supposed to snow again this weekend!  This kinda weather is just CRAZY, but it makes for some great pictures.  Here are a few more of Spencer over the weekend.

 

 

Wednesday? Really?

How did it get to be Wednesday already?  We've been super busy, but still... Wednesday?

Well, this weekend my parents were out of town, so we stayed over there dog sitting for the four puppies.  Although they aren't really puppies.  One two and half year old plus plus four dogs (one of which is our Vivi- the 95lb Great Dane) equals one really tired Mommy.  But it was fun; I love being with all my dogs and so does Spencer.  She really loves little Gus, he's not too fond of her, but he did like to sleep by her feet at night- so she went to sleep in 7th Heaven!

My parentals and brother didn't get back until Monday evening and then yesterday we went over to Spencer's PGP's house for the day/night.  I had to take an Anatomy quiz, (I'm now taking Anatomy 2) so they occupied her while I locked myself in their upstairs office studying, etc.  And this morning I took my quiz (I aced it) and then had to go to the school bookstore for a new lab manual.  For some unknown reason they switched lab manuals, but not textbooks, and I had to go buy a new one.  Are you ready for this?  The new manual was $120!  It wasn't even a hard back book.  CRAZY!

So after many nights away, we're now back home and Spencer is napping.  She doesn't nap well away from home, or sleep well for that matter, so she was in serious need of a nice long snooze.  For the first couple of days she was okay, but for the last two she's woken up around 6am, hasn't taken a nap, and wouldn't fall asleep until almost 10pm.  Needless to say, or write, we're both pretty exhausted. 

Spencer's PGP (her PGrandaPa) gave me the funniest nugget of wisdom today and I just had to share it with ya'll.  A little back story, he is a republican and Carol (Spencer's MiMi) is NOT.  Okay, so this morning I came downstairs for breakfast and he was watching Fox News.  I gave him a half smile along with a raised eyebrow and slight eye roll and he laughed.  Then he said "Katie, when you get married you need to marry a democrat- that way you can both watch the same TV." Hahaha!  Whenever it's time to watch the news, one of them goes upstairs to watch their channel while the other stays downstairs to watch their preferred channel. But typically, I don't like my news with any kind of partisan slant, so hopefully I'll find someone like that. Anyway, I just thought that was so funny, so I had to blog it. 

Flakey White Stuff Falling From the Sky

They say it's going to snow here in Richmond tonight.

 

The last time it snowed (3 weeks ago), Spencer and I were house bound for three days!  THREE DAYS!

 

Those were not the best 72 hours of our lives.

And while it was really pretty...

And made my Christmas lights look all dreamy and Winter Wonder Landy ...

    

We had almost a foot of snow and our neighborhood roads weren't cleared for four days.  These three pictures taken on days one, two, and three of of our confinement.  And since this is Virginia, and it rarely snows like this, I was not the owner of an ice scraper for my car.  See all that snow?  I cleared it with a CD cover!  It toom me a long white and I thought my fingers were going to fall off.  I did go out and buy after that experience, so at least I'm prepared for that!  If Mother Nature is listening to me, I would like it snow tonight and melt tomorrow- please don't stick around for more than 24 hours.

Scenes from a Jersey Wedding

Weekend Update

October has always been my favorite month, it's my birthday month! As I get older though, getting another year older doesn't sound as wonderful as it used to sound. The big day is Thursday and I'll be 28.


28.


It sends shivers down my spine to say that. I have class that day and my brother has a volleyball game, so I don't think there will be any celebrating until the weekend. But I have my marathon class on Saturday, so who knows when I'll get to blow out my 28 candles.


This weekend we celebrated my brother's birthday, he turned 18 last week. He never grows tired of reminding me that I'm OLD. No matter how old he gets, I'll always be SO much older. We went to my aunt's house for dinner and spent today with her. We stayed at my parent's house this weekend, I was just still really tired and I wanted a break from being the grown up for awhile. It's nice to have a day off sometimes. Now we're back home and it's a little lonely after being around the constant buzz of a full house.

Tomorrow I need to do some laundry and house week. After a week of being sick, not much got done around here. I also need to start working on making my 28 Things to in My 28th Year list. A few things that I didn't get done last year will carry over, but does anyone have some good ideas about why I should add to my list? I'm amenable to any suggestions, except jumping out of an airplane! Sorry this was like the most boring post ever!

P.S. What were Balloon Boy's parents thinking? I'm so annoyed that I wasted all those hours watching CNN hoping he was safe. I mean, I'm definitely glad he's okay, but I'm angry that it was all a hoax planned by his father. Ugh! What is wrong with some people?

Too Cute For Words

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Rewind

The rundown:

• Friday was filled with birthday present shopping, taking care of my parents house while they were in LA and cleaning.
• Saturday was Lila's 1st birthday party. This would normally not cause me any stress at all, but my ex-boyfriend (Sara's brother) and his new wife were going to be there. I hadn't seen him since before he got married and since before his wife said we were no longer allowed to communicate with each other. Everything turned out fine and it was very undramatic, but I had been worrying about it for so long that the process just zapped me of all my energy when we left the party. It was like the biggest weight being lifted off my shoulders and now I could breathe again.
• Sunday, Spencer's PGP's came over and planted some trees. Then my aunt took us to the cemetery to visit my Grandpa and Papa for Father's Day and then we went out to eat. (My parents were in Los Angeles for a volleyball tournament with my brother.) Thank goodness my aunt was there, because Spencer was in rare form. She started pitching a fit the second I put her in the booster seat and it got worse when the waiter informed us that they were OUT OF CRAYONS!

None of these things on there own would have been a problem, but everything combined just wore me out. Tomorrow we're going to see Sara and Lila for our weekly get together, which is good, because I'm in some serious need of adult girl time!

Weekend Update

Today we had another birthday party to go to. What is it about this time of year, um, well I guess I should say what is it about nine months ago? It seems like there are birthday parties every weekend for the next 2 months (including my darling Spencer).

At this party they had little pools and waters slides set up all in the backyard, so Spencer had a blast. As childrens parties go, it was really great. Actually, I've been really lucky thus far, in the kid party department- I don't have any horror stories. And it's always fun to watch Spencer interact with children her own age, plus the added benefit of her being exhausted afterward.

She's been sound asleep since 8pm, which is a nothing short of a miracle! We have another busy week ahead of us, with a surprise in the making. Well, it's a surprise for Spencer and for you, my bloggy friends, but one that's been in the making for quite some time now. I can't wait to tell all ya'll about it! (How country/southern/Paula Deen did that sound, haha?) Don't worry, you'll know by the end of the weekend, I just can't resist a little suspense.

I hope everyone had a really nice weekend.

Mine That Bird Spencer

This may sound crazy, but I'm always glad when the weekend is over. It's not that our lives are all that much different on Saturdays and Sundays, but for some reason I feel compelled to accomplish 50 different things in two days.

Our weekend was not at all eventful, practically boring. On Saturday morning I hoed and weeded out one flower bed, Spencer tried to help me, which resulted in a huge mess! She was actually pretty good at pulling weeds, but she liked to put the dirt/mud all over her.

For some reason, every weekend in the South is filled with thunderstorms, and this one was no exception. It would downpour for 25 minutes and then the sun would come shining back, repeating over and over again. I was really looking forward to the Kentucky Derby, even rain can't keep the those ladies from wearing the most ostentatious hats ever made!

And this year's Derby was great, I love a good underdog story! Spencer had been really good all day, but wouldn't you know, she picked those two minutes to put a quarter in her mouth and show me. There it was, as she bit down on it with her four front teeth, smiling away. I tried not to make a big deal about it because I was afraid she was going to run and accidentally swallow it. I finally got it out of her mouth by offering her a tube of lipstick I had taken away from her. Of course as soon as the quarter came out, I took back the lipstick (I know, mean mommy) and she was NOT pleased.

Yesterday I ran a few errands and did some things around the house, fairly standard and boring. I think tomorrow we're going to go to the nursery to buy some flowers for my flower bed. I've never planted any flowers in the ground before, so this will be a first for me. I'm a little nervous about their survival though, as I've successfully killed every plant I ever owned- including a cactus!

Any suggestions about what I should plant?

For the Birds

Stop taking pictures of me, seriously!

You are so annoying, Mom!

The bowl winds up on the floor.

Can't you just tell how annoyed she is with me? When I first saw the first picture, I had to do a double take because I thought she was flipping me the bird! Speaking of birds (nice segue way, huh?) I bought these adorable little ones at Joanne's for only $2 each! They were having a 40% of sale and I just had to have them.

Spencer's MiMi's birthday was yesterday and we are celebrating this weekend. I painted this silhouette of Spencer for her. Remember, I am NO artist any way shape or form, but I think it turned out pretty good!

On the throwing up status, she has already puked once this morning. After 20 minutes of her screaming her head off following said puke, I had to go to her. I just wiped her face and calmed her down and she fell asleep. I didn't talk to her or anything, but I guess I already broke the rules. I really don't think the doctor thought she would cry for that long though, 20 minutes of hysterical sobbing- a mother can only take so much!

Spencer's play ground (a swing and slide) is being put up this weekend and I am SO excited for that. Does anyone have any cool weekend plans? I've heard that it's going to be beautiful almost everywhere across the country for the next few days! I hope everyone has a great weekend!