Monthly Archives: February 2010

I should start my own handyman business!

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If you have ever seen any of my home repairs, you are laughing at the idea that I will start a handyman business. I’m capable of very minor repairs, but installing baby gates resulted in major damage to two walls and the newell post of our stairs. You could say I know just enough to be dangerous.

Unfortunately, the yahoo who built the additions on our house only knew a little bit more than me, it seems. My dad and I built shelves in Melody’s bedroom, but the recess is SO out of square we practically have trapezoid shaped shelves. I had a new bifold door installed on our linen closet with a similar reaction from the installer – it’s very out of square. While that is normal everything seems a bit more out of square in our house than any other house I’ve lived in.  How hard is it to use a plumb bob and a level in construction? Everything seems to be a little more wonky that it ought to be. As another example, all the outlets were installed upside down and in different colors – black, beige and white. It was just lazy construction work I think.

Our upstairs bathroom was decked out in hideous simply gorgeous pink tile and oak accents, including the toilet. Very 80s. We have long thought that we would like to change out the wooden toilet seat, but it recently became a requirement as the toilet seat broke. Keep your snarky comments to yourself, people. Now I’m all for recreating the past, but splinters in my patoot just isn’t something I want to experience! My friend suggested these toilet seats that have a child seat that folds down onto the regular seat, so I went and got one. It eliminates the padded seat thingy for Melody. I’ve changed out the toilet seat on other toilets. I’m a capable woman. Piece of cake, right?

Please refer to paragraph two here. Oh, and just for those of you who don’t know, a toilet seat is attached to your toilet with a couple plastic or nylon nuts that screw up against the underside of the base of the bowl. Not too difficult.

These little buggers were screwed on so tightly the plastic had actually conformed to the shape of the bowl underside AND was sealed ad infenitum in perpetuity world without end with a dab of silicon caulk. I was afraid, very afraid, that I would have to run for the downstairs every morning if I could not get that seat off there. I even called my dad because of course the screws themselves were rusted to the fixture. What a mess.

Well, it took me two days of dogged determination, motivated by a desire not to sit down on the seatless bowl in the middle of the night, but I got that yucky old wooden toilet seat removed. I actually had to take a safety cutter, cut away the sides of the plastic nut, all while turned upside down with my head wedged between the bowl and the wall, and then using sheer will and brute force pull the screw/nut combo up through the hole.

My new toilet seat is lovely.

My baby is three!

Posted in Melody, Pictures by

It sounds so cliche, but I simply cannot believe that in a blink of an eye, Melody has turned three years old. Seems like just a while ago, she was this tiny little baby who was completely dependent on us for everything. Now she is very INdependent and probably wishes we’d leave her alone at times. Well, maybe not leave her alone, but tonight she did tell me “Mommy, I want you to be nice to me when I poop my pants.” Guess, I’ve been a bit stern about this whole “using the potty” concept.

To celebrate this milestone (seems as though TWO was a huge milestone and ONE was a huge milestone, do they every diminish in their importance??), last week I took Melody and some of her daycare buddies and Rhonda to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was really such a fun and relaxing day! How could I relax at the zoo with four under 4, you ask? It was so easy! Two were in strollers and Mark and Melody walked everywhere. Their enthusiasm for the emu, llamas, bald eagle, golden lion capuchin, and of course the blue tongued skink, all just carried me through on a wave of enjoyment. The little ones were so good, too. Little Kiana is only 19 months and her cute little “look at that!” at everything was so funny, I just had to laugh. The Santa Ana Zoo is perfect for this crowd because it’s over quickly but they feel like they have seen every kind of animal there is.

Saturday of course was Melody’s birthday and we had a party for her here at the house. We had a bounce house again, but surprisingly, Melody was not interested in it until Delaney got here and went into it. From that point until cake, we couldn’t really get her out of it. Caelen came over and bounced, and the three were fast friends. Once Danika and Geneva, Mark and Kadie joined in, the bounce house was full of laughing, tumbling, happy kids. Kudos go out to Diane B who created a sort of game of “throwing” the kids from the side of the bounce house into the middle. It’s hard to explain, but let me tell you, every one of them wanted Diane to grab their butts and throw them. Delaney is particularly aerodynamic and flew the farthest! My friend Melissa and her mom made the gorgeous Tinkerbell cake and it was delicious too. Amazing work, ladies!

Valentine’s Day we just puttered around the house as we were all three exhausted. Of course, that was after Melody and I spent about three hours over at Fort Knott’s for their Civil War encampment. In the past we tried to participate in this event, but since it will always fall on the weekend of Melody’s birthday and Valentine’s Day, I figured it was time to hang up my hoop skirts over President’s Day Weekend and instead be with my family. Didn’t stop me from visiting incognito, but we were able to leave, heh. I did find a beautiful toddler dress that someone had made and altered very poorly. I can only imagine they didn’t know what the heck they were doing since the armscye was only big enough for a doll’s arm to get through. Fortunately I happen to know what I’m doing and I can alter it much better and Melody will have a new dress with a corded petticoat that is simply adorable. It coincidentally perfectly matches the shawl Gramma Alice knitted for Melody’s birthday present.

Today Melody and I were home together and we did a few “fun” chores. We took the front off her crib and turned it into a big girl bed, gulp! She was very excited about it and fascinated with the Tinkerbell sheet set we put on the bed. Very clever, the top sheet has elastic on one end – like a bottom sheet – to keep it tucked in. Dad and I are a teeny tiny bit nervous about her getting out of bed in the middle of the night, but it’s got to happen eventually. Her third birthday is as good a time as any. She also happened to wear big girl panties all day today and didn’t have one accident.

Yes, my baby is growing up and turning into a little girl! Check out new albums in the photo gallery for more pictures.

Not a SkyWatch submission, but…

Posted in Misc, Pictures by

…I wanted to share it none the less. I don’t think my pictures are good enough yet for SkyWatch Friday, which is a global link-up every Friday featuring the skies of the world. If you like pretty skylines, check them out here.

Thursday last week, a storm was rolling in to bring us some more rain. As I drove home, the first clouds were making their way across Orange County, and the sun was obscured, yet still shining brightly. I took a couple photos with my phone – we were in the “stop” phase of stop-and-go traffic, don’t worry – and here is the best shot.

Week in review

Posted in Baking, Melody, Misc by

Last week was eventful and the upcoming week is shaping up to be busy as well. It’s the way life speeds by that gets me every time!

In the last week, we celebrated Auntie’s birthday, she and I went to a Victorian tea (as the Victorians), we found out our dog is fat, John and Melody finished watching all the back episodes of Kimba, we finalized the details for Melody’s birthday party, I cooked a delicious Cheddar Chicken Soup, Nano had 3 teeth pulled, Melody is increasingly stubborn about potty training, John worked about a million hours, we cleaned the spare room enough that it will soon be a guest room, and I baked for our latest soldier through Baking Gals.  Whew!

 

My company has announced a “get fit” program and a bunch of us at work have been walking during our lunch breaks. It’s great and I really felt it the days we didn’t walk due to rain. It’s also fortuitous for Nano because he needs to lose 2 pounds. He’s only 11 pounds but he should be 9. My little doggy is fat, lol. However, it’s more serious than that. He has heart disease and something called a collapsing trachea, which causes him to cough a lot. The doctor thinks that the extra fat around his neck is pressing on his trachea and causing breathing troubles. Nothing to joke about, the dog gets less food and more walks. On top of that, poor guy had to have three molars pulled. Ouchie!

Melody’s birthday is coming up next weekend, and pretty much every day, she asks “is it my birthday today!?” with such a look of excitement and eager joy that I almost want to tell her that it is her birthday, lol. I really can’t wait until Saturday to be able to tell her “yes, Melody, today is your birthday!” We are planning a bouce house (weather forecast is sunny), friends, food, and a Tinkerbell cake. Thursday I will be taking her and some of her daycare buddies to the Santa Ana Zoo, along with Rhonda our babysitter. I’m really looking forward to it!

This morning, she was tired and did not want to get out of bed. She lay there watching as I was gathering clothes for her. She then told me “Mommy, I have a headache. When someone has a headache they have to rest and stay in bed.” I am so not looking forward to her trying to get out of going to school! I can only conclude she got this idea of staying in bed from me, since a couple weekends ago I had a terrible migraine and stayed in bed half the day..

During some of our cleaning of our spare room, I was forced to deal with my old records. You remember those things…vinyl, big pictures on the jackets, lyrics on the inside sleeve? Yeah, so back in the late 80s and early 90s, I collected Depeche Mode records. Specifically I was addicted to British and West German imports. I’d play them once (maybe) to record the music onto a tape and then never play them again. The West German ones were all colored vinyl, beautiful royal blue, neon orange, lemon yellow. I carefully stored them in plastic sleeves to protect the jackets, and never stored them in a garage or attic. Well, this paid off – figuratively and hopefully literally! I was about to send them to Goodwill when I decided to Google “who buys Depeche Mode records” and found a dealer in England. They have made me an offer for some of these records, and that should help out a bit toward my trip to Tennessee in April.

Yowza, how could I have forgotten to mention that I booked our trip to Knoxville?? Melody and I will be visiting the Hall family at the end of April! It will be Melody’s first trip on an airplane; in fact, her first trip anywhere. John of course offered to pay to have Tara come here, but I really want to go there, ha ha. I will even get the chance to see a real Civil War battlefield, AND go to Dollywood! Melody tells me “Mommy, we are going to Hollywood with Cassidy!”

This past weekend we baked for our latest soldier, CPT Steven Wisniewski. CPT Wisniewski is an Army pilot flying Apache helicopters in northern Iraq. He’s young, having graduated from high school in 2001, where he participated in football, wrestling and track. He also loved the arts, participating in the school choir and drama group, National Honor Society, Latin and Spanish clubs. To balance that, he earned his Eagle Scout in Troop 101 in Ohio. CPT Wisniewski went on to Ohio State University where he earned his degree in Engineering with an emphasis on Industrial Design & Systems Engineering. Wow. For this very worthy soldier, we made Cinnabon cookies, merengues, and heart shaped oreos. I hope to get in one more batch of white chocolate chip cranberry cookies and ship this all before the weekend. It won’t reach him by Valentine’s Day, but I hope he will know we are thinking of him and wishing him and his buddies a safe and happy Valentine’s Day.

CPL Wisniewski reminds me a little bit of my cousin George. He has the same zest for life, a few of the same interests – choir, flying, sports – and was also from Ohio. Every part of my being asks that George watch out over this young soldier and keep him safe.

We have been doing a lot of cleaning, getting rid of, donating. One group that has gotten all of our gently used baby gear is a support group for the families of deployed Marines out of Camp Pendleton. I recently received a sweet thank you note from a young lady who took a bus from Corona to Irvine in order to collect my old Pack N Play and high chair. The families of our deployed military suffer so much, it makes my heart break. Having seen some of my friends go through the struggles of being wives of deployed military, I am happy to give up the things we don’t need to someone who needs them so much. The support group is like a Goodwill, but the family pays nothing. If you find it in your heart to make a donation to any organization that helps out like this, please consider it. It makes a big difference!