new adventures and loss

Today was our last day with our nurse Cindy. She has been a part of our lives for almost two years now. She is headed to a new life in Atchinson KS, new adventures, new journeys. We will not be getting a new nurse as Lydia will not qualify for DDD as of her birthday in May. All of us are so happy for her and yet sovery very sad to see her go. Cindy was a wonderful gift. She had the energy to keep up with Lydia's antics. We will never forget the day Lyd hid her shoes and it took several hours to find them. She truly blessed each day that she shared with Lydia. Best wishes to Cindy. Thanks for being a part of our lives!!!! We will miss you so much.

Retail heaven

I am in love with a store! Yes it is true, there is a retail heaven on earth. The food in their restaurant was inexpensive and delicious. Maliea and I spent hours there and only made it through 1/2 of the 1st floor. If you ever get a change, a $100 spare dollars and a full day go to Warner Rd and I-10 to the IKEA store. The website is not as fun, it definitely is something that you must experience. Everything is priced to fit even my budget. When you can buy 6 tumblers for $1.49 and lamps for $7 and the organza I needed 6 yards of it for only $9, it has my vote. Okay and the $1 cinnamon rolls that are as wonderful and large as Cinnabon at the end of the shopping adventure make any money spent well worth it.

Our living room?

I thought I'd post a picture of what a portion of our living room looks like right now. Plus we have started using tulle scraps to tie up the cabinets to keep Thayne out of them. Lydia has started to chant "no more weddings, no more weddings" Ahhh the season has begun!

Didn't have to share

It is 10:30 pm at night and I just found a 1/2 full hidden Dr. Pepper behind my chair in the living room. It was left over from a best friend visit! I love you Kristi.
Feeling better about the "Emily" wedding. Found some wonderful flowers tonight and Michael experimented with some super yummy food I am very impressed with him. It's going to be a great one. There is a pop up pond in my bathtub. I still haven't figured out how to make the fountain attachment work, I might need a stronger pump. Still working on the walkway idea. I am thinking of faux painting on heavy paper and I am going to use green burlap for the fake grass. Going to make some mini cheesecakes to "try" out tomorrow. You know those need work hehehehe lots of tasting required.

more work

Next challenge! Wedding reception 7 weeks away... changing cultural hall into classical conservatory garden! No arches or lattice allowed. Making mini fish ponds with real goldfish in them. Considering growing grass ourselves :)

Dinner in Vegas

Friday we left, drove to Vegas to eat at fast food places, walk around the strip for 3 hours, parked in the sky, found a pretzel for Lyd to eat in an ally with dancers and a band, and got home at 2:30 am after hitting a very large jackrabbit. Boy that was fun!!! It wasn't my idea and I still love him.

Work

This evening I spent an hour with a charming couple that are hiring me to transform a hideous room at the Smoki Museum into a WOW . It is a little refreshing to have an older than 20ish couple who have an solid ideas about what they want for their reception. The wedding is in October so I have some time to brew and scheme on how to pull this off. My only concern is that it might be too small a space for most of the police dept celebrating with drinks :)
Any one with good ideas on how to hide a large Kachina figure embedded into the fireplace? I love a challenge!

Let it snow

Winter wonderland! Yes snow is everywhere. It has been snowing for two days and the kids have been loving it. We brought in a bowlful for Thayne and Lyd. He just wanted to eat it, which is exactly what the older kids did. They broke out all the flavors from our shaved ice kit and had a ball eating real snow cones. Most of us have been holed up in our bedroom which is the warmest place in the house. I am not learning to like this log cabin one bit! It is too cold. Michael brought in the thermometers and there is a 10 degree difference in the living room and the kitchen. We are totally embarrassed to have people over because they can't take off their coats and its almost warmer outside than in on some days. So its been a great adventure and come Aug we will be looking for a new place to live for sure. Who knows where we are going to end up but I need warmth!

Kick it

Quayde got hit with the high fever, headache etc... a week ago, I was next. Determined that the others would be not so bad we started using the Sambucol I had in the cabinet and forgot about. Lydia is still well! All of the members of our family that started at the first signs are well. Quayde and I are still struggling with congestion and coughs. Check this link to see why this will be an important item in our family medicine closet. Plus side it tasted pretty good!

Mousecapdes again

First it was Michael, a whack-a-mole plastic hammer and the bidet
then Quayde , a sleep-over friend and various toys
now Chaiya and the remote!
AHHHH the many ways to catch and kill a mouse
Don't you wish you lived here to be part of all the fun (scarcasm intended)

QOTD

Cleaning out some of Michael's boxes, we came across a piece of a newspaper....
Maliea - " They didn't write this very well!"
Me - " Maliea, it's German."

Barbie

Today Lydia found the Barbie bin. The Barbie bin that hasn't been touched in a zillion years but was still located within all the stuff we own. So I helped her sort out the junk from the clothes and the total is.....5 Barbie heads, 3 legs, 1 arm and part of a body!
We did find 2 regular sized Barbies intact, 1 odd sized one, 2 Kelly sized and two babies. We had a lovely woman make the older girls modest clothes for the Barbies when they played with them all those years ago. So this will be an adventure for Lydia, but I will not dress them over and over. I swear really, I mean it! It won't happen....oh okay Lydia let me put on that pretty purple one.
( we won't mention that I WAS going to be the perfect mother 17 years ago and would never have one of those sexist toys in my house, Grandma bought the first one~!)

Review - 1/2 *

This evening we chose to dine at an eatery on the square. I had once tasted a dish from there as a to-go item and it was yummy. Unfortunately our adventure there this evening was quite unpleasant, although the company ( my wonderful husband) was supreme. When we arrived it was past the dinner hour but not uncommonly late by any means. As we were seated there were several other couples in the establishment also. Asked what kind of drinks we would like I inquired about my favorite addiction of choice and was told that yes it was served. Michael ordered a root beer. Our waitress reappeared stating that they had not got the order in for Dr. Pepper but suggested several times I should have a coke. I chose lemonade.
The evening proceeded to get worse from there. We inquired about the crab dip appetizer, she said they might be out but would go check. OH! they had just made some for tomorrow so she could heat it up for us. Every single thing I asked to order they were out of. It was a new menu she said and they didn't know fish tacos would be so popular. I didn't want fish tacos, I wanted the Mahi Mahi, no option there! We finally decided just to have the crab dip which was to come with an assortment of lovely crackers and vegetables and our drinks. We would eat that and go else where for the rest of dinner.
The beginning of our meal arrived.
The lovely assortment was Ritz crackers dumped on the side with some celery sticks. By this time a good 1/2 hour had past and we were slightly hungry. Michael thought the garnish tasted good.
As we were consuming our crab dip which was a little on the cold side for just being heated up, the waitress decided to open the front door. Ourselves and the other couple next to us were slowly (ok not so slow) being froze out of the place so they could shut down for the evening we suppose.
Grand total for 2 drinks , 12 Ritz crackers, 8 celery sticks and 1 cup crab dip $14. (oh and 6 pieces of garnish)
ACME FISH CO gets only half of a star! I will never go there again.