GRRRRRRR!

While at the store today, a man was being friendly and asked if James was my son, or my grandson. Grrrrr. Just when I was feeling good, losing a little weight, getting my hair done . . . but, he didn't look like the brightest guy around, so I'm going to hang onto that thought. But grrrrrrr.

SO, tonight I am going out to The Melting Pot with my friend Lori. And I have made a point of looking good. And not like a grandmother.

3 Almost Perfect Weekends

Blake volunteered this weekend with Coders4Charity, which paired charities who could not afford to hire someone for their website needs with programmers who got together to develop for them. It was the first annual, and they made it fun for the volunteers, although they worked really hard to get things done over the weekend. Blake was working til 11:00 on Friday night, and the change in schedule for him was what kept his weekend from being perfect. But, he made new friends and professional contacts, and his team won the contest they had!

Since this was held in Kansas City, we all went with him. James stayed with his grandparents, Larry and Debbie, who spoiled him with lots of fun and food. We met them Friday at Blake's grandparents' house, and James almost immediately started asking for blocks. I think he remembered that at Christmas they had blocks out for him to play with. Larry took about 200 pictures over the weekend and I can't believe all they did in one weekend. The only thing keeping James' weekend from being perfect was the long car ride there and back.

James with Grandma and Great-Grandma

Since Blake was busy all weekend, and James was with family, I was a woman of leisure. I hung out at the hotel and watched basketball on Friday. On Saturday, I went to an all-day crop at Archiver's, and on Sunday, I just hung out, waiting for Blake to finish. I drank coffee and read Harry Potter at Starbucks, wandered around a mall that I decided was boring (may not have been boring if I'd been finished with my weight loss and ready to buy clothes, tho, hahaha), then went out to eat. I was hoping for a restaurant with tvs, so I could watch more basketball, but then I saw an interesting building, that appeared to be a restaurant, but all it said on it was 810 Zone. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, as the windows were covered (could be a cool restaurant, could be a bar, could be a cult). Turned out to be the answer to my wishes -- it was a sports bar/restaurant! Basketball on the big screen. And the little screen. And hockey. And baseball, Nascar, Indy racing, NFL draft, etc.

My completed layouts from Saturday -- 12 pages in 12 hours.

Coffee and Harry Potter

Today, James and I appear to be realizing the downfalls of a healthy diet -- you get used to eating that way, so your body can't take junk food. We didn't necessarily eat healthy over the weekend, and both have upset tummies. So, I'm eating crackers and trying to get back to being a good girl! Until Wednesday, when I go out to The Melting Pot with Lori!

At least I have good hair

Because my teeth are a mess. I need another crown, this time on a different tooth, since a childhood filling has caused one of my teeth to crack in 4 directions. But, at least he didn't say I needed a root canal, like the last time I had a filling crack a tooth. I also am getting an adjustment to the other crown, and another small cavity repaired, apparently with a laser and no anesthetic. This will occur in about a month. I'm sure by then another tooth or two will rot. Oddly, the dentist and hygienist keep telling me what a good job I am doing taking care of my teeth. Perhaps what they mean is that they appreciate how well I am financing their summer vacations. (Seriously, though, I am pretty vigilant in my dental hygiene, which makes this more frustrating.)

I loved how my hair turned out, after getting a new cut and some highlights. The photo doesn't even show how much better it looks. I was even able to re-create the look on my own. I know, the picture shows it to just be straight, so what could be so difficult to style, right? Well, I'm not always so good at this, as well as frequently being too lazy to dry my hair, much less blow it out straight. But, I am more motivated right now!

I got some yard work done, weeding and putting down mulch instead of the rock that came with the house. Blake was skeptical, but agrees that it looks good. Much better, at least. I just got one small part done, but maybe over the next few weeks can accomplish what I want.

That's really about all of the excitement here. We're trying to decide on a color to paint the living room, so I've been picking up paint chips. I have found a couple of online programs that show you how your room would look in different colors, but haven't tried them yet. Whatever we choose, I am sure it will be an improvement!

Hey, look at the size of this dust bunny!

I didn't really MEAN that when I said I'd be forced to title a post like that because of gas prices (which are now even higher), but then my computer quit yesterday. The computer is in a fairly awkward spot, so I tend to not dust it regularly. That would be a mistake. Fortunately, Blake fixed it for me! I was at quite a loss without the computer for the day. Then, when I tried to work out -- I couldn't watch a movie on it like I usually do to help pass the time, AND my heart rate monitor was going wacky. It was showing my heart rate at 230, even after I took it off. And then the ipod battery went dead. So, not the best workout. Today was much better. And, I'm finding that the music is much better than a movie for getting my heart going. I know, it shouldn't take a genius to figure that out, but . . .

Maybe the heart rate monitor was wacky because of the earthquake! I know we have the New Madrid fault near here, but I just never expect to be awakened by rattling noises and find out that it was an earthquake. It didn't bother Blake or James, but Nutmeg the timid was upset by it, as I found when I saw the "accident" in the morning. Poor dog. Someone must have rubbed her nose in it when she was a puppy, because whenever she has any kind of problem or bad day, she rubs her nose along the carpet until it bleeds, leaving a sunburst of red stains. She is such a strange dog, and I feel so bad that she must have been fairly traumatized as a pup. Thank goodness for Woolite Oxy Deep!

I have a couple of friends coming over to scrapbook tonight, which should be fun. Blake is taking James to the Hippo Place. I called to ask if their hours had changed and they said no, they were always open. Uh, no. Or, if they WERE open, why were all of the lights out and the machines turned off on Thursday? Oh well, at least they're open now. James has been saying "Hippo Place closed" on a regular basis for the last 2 days.

And, for the final bit of exciting news -- we may be entering the 1980's and getting cable soon! They're running a bundling special, which would give us cable, in addition to the internet and Blake's work phone, cheaper that what we pay right now. Of course, by the time we add in DVR, etc., it may not be cheaper, but would be fun to have. I want to watch a few episodes of What Not to Wear before I finish losing weight and go clothes shopping! (Is that even still on?)

What Happened to the Hippo Place?!?!?!??!

James went to the dentist today. He's a pretty easy-going kid, but every 6 months, going to the dentist is traumatic. And, at this point, they don't even do much to him, but having strangers poking around in your mouth really is a bit of a shock. So, I helped get him through it by promising we'd go to the Hippo Place afterward. Drove about 20 miles to get there, with him repeating "Go to Hippo Place" from the back seat. And it was CLOSED! Not sure why. They tend to be not very busy during the day. So, maybe they're scaling back their hours. Or, it's a family business, so maybe they're on vacation. There's no mention on the web site. I hope this is temporary. James handled it well, though, so I got him a cookie. (I know, dentist + cookie = bad mom)

I stopped procrastinating and made 2 appointments for myself next week. The icky one is the dentist. I have problems with the crown I had replaced last fall, as well as some pain near an old filling. If it turns out that any of my problems are the fault of this dentist, I'm having him fix them (he's actually good about this, as Blake has found on several occasions) and then we're switching dentists. They are nice, the office is beautiful and has chairs with back massagers, but we always leave there feeling as if the work done wasn't very good.

The other appointment is more fun. I haven't had a haircut since last July, before we went to Italy. So, my hair looks rather frizzy. But, I've finally found a picture of a hairstyle I want. By Monday evening, I should look like a strawberry blond Reese Witherspoon. Or, at least that's what I can tell myself until the results are in!

Rainbows, Random Thoughts, and a few layouts

There has been so much rain lately, but as Dolly Parton said (and has been quoted by Ricky Gervais in The Office) "If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain". I'm not sure James ever really saw the rainbow, but he did keep talking about it for a couple of days.

I think I forgot to mention that Snapfish has great customer service. And I want to give them credit for it. They send me special offers frequently, most of which I don't use. But, the latest was for a free 8x10 for each 50 4x6 prints ordered. So, I tried to order them, and the coupon code wouldn't work. When I called customer service, they said it wouldn't honor the coupon with prepaid prints (which are only 8cents). But, since I didn't know this, they gave me the prints, anyway. Very nice.

James and I had fun at Stretch and Grow with playgroup yesterday. He is finally getting good at sitting with me in the circle when he's supposed to. He used to always run and stand in the middle of the circle clapping his hands while all of the other children sat nicely with their mothers in the circle. I'm so proud.

Today, we all went to a home show. It was ok, but since we don't have any big renovations on the horizon, it wasn't worth all of the looking for parking and battling the crowds. But we did go to Buffalo Wild Wings, and then Starbucks afterward, so all is good! I don't care for the new Pike Place coffee that Starbucks has. Pretty bland. But, they at least still offer their bold coffees.

On the way home, we filled the car with gas. The CAR. Not truck, not SUV, not van. Car. And it was over $50. We will not be driving anywhere for a while. So, be on the lookout for exciting blog posts, such as "What I had for a snack" and "Hey, look at the size of this dust bunny!"

Here are some rather crooked pictures of scrapbook pages from CKC. The first one really doesn't have a big white spot -- I just covered up the very cute picture of James showing off his muscles in his new big boy underpants. I like when family and friends view the blog, but not so much when perverts do. I'm sure you understand.

This one started with some very busy blue and white paper as a background, that really didn't seem to go with the rest of it. So, I changed it to a lighter, brighter, plain cardstock so that the pictures would stand out. Now, I have to pieces of very busy blue and white paper to use on something else.

These two are my favorites from the classes. Both variations on the same sketch. The one above is from a beautiful day last fall when we took the dogs to the dog park, then went out to a winery in Augusta. The last one is of Blake and James having fun playing in the snow.

Well, stay tuned for the next exciting post, "Nutmeg sleeps on her pillow". Which will surely demonstrate my continuing difficulty in getting paragraphs to separate in Blogger . . . grrr.

Too busy to blog

But things have been good! After giving James some time to show interest in the potty on his own -- I know, I know, everyone has been so excited for another potty training update, but this is my world -- he didn't show any. But, when I tried to put him back in diapers, he wanted no part of that, so he agreed to the potty and things are generally going well. And that is all the details I will give. Other than it is a lot of work and time consuming. Who knew?

I can't remember most of what happened since I last blogged, so here are some highlights that I do remember.

On Friday, I went to CKC (scrapbook convention) across the river in Illinois. It was so much fun! I will definitely plan to take more classes next time AND save more money for the vendor area. I don't love ALL the things we made in the classes, but they are good enough, and there are so many extra products that I can use as I wish. And there were quite a few that I really did like, including one with a dinosaur theme.

Yesterday, we went shopping, making plans for how we'd eventually like to furnish the house, and also checked out Costco, since we may switch from Sam's. It seemed pretty similar in what they had, as well as prices, although maybe a little higher, but with more quality items. And, since it was Saturday, there were food samples. We'd never seen this many samples in one day. We didn't have to feed James lunch after going there! I think I probably will switch in a month or two, mostly because it is closer and has better parking, which will probably take about 20 minutes off of my trip. And, thanks to Sarah for all the great info on comparing the two!

Today, I went to the trail at the park for about 45 minutes. Now, I am exhausted. Which is why I am finally updating the blog -- I'm too tired to do anything else. It was a great workout and a beautiful day. And now I prepare to rest!