I have noticed that over the last few weeks when Benjamin wakes up in the mornings he has great hair. Not good hair, but great hair.
Have you ever seen such style with very little effort?
Robert Smith would be proud if Ben were only a little paler.
Strange title I know.
For those of you who do not know, my mom was hit by a car last Thanksgiving. Talking about finding things to be thankful for... We were all thankful that she is still with us.
Long story short.
My mom was leaving HD and was in the cross walk when an older woman (in a handicap spot) pulled out of her parking spot and never slowed down when she hit my mom.
The woman and HD said my mom "walked out in front of the car", but HDs surveillance video showed something completely different.
HD fearing a lawsuit would not release the video, until today (only 8 months later) because they were contacted by a lawyer.
Watching that video made me scared (for my mom) and very angry (at HD and the driver, to this day that woman has still not apologized to my mom).
When that car hit my mom she flew into the air and out about 5 feet. We are all glad the car did not wind up running over her after that.
Now that the tears have cleared up I think I will call my mom and tell her how much I love her.
Moral of the story:
Do not wait until something tragic happens to tell someone you love them.
So we are home for a very, very brief interlude.
We have a contract on the house, again. This one looks like it will stick. We had the inspection yesterday. Things went well. Now we are just waiting for the go ahead from the buyers to start our packing process.
Oh wait... but where are we going? We have no idea.
We have been to Asheville. Twice. No luck on finding a home. Or rental.
We have been to Pensacola. It was hot. Very hot. There is however a family house that we can stay in until we get our bearings together. And figure out... where next.
My vote was Maine. Hunny bunny said, "No. Too cold."
Then I said, "Austin. Chicago, Peoria, Charlotte..."
Hunny bunny said, "Hmmm."
That is the problem with him working from home. We can live anywhere. Too many options.
For now. I guess it is Florida. Why not. At least we have a place to put our things. A very small place to put our things. Well, most of our things. Some things I think will have to go to storage.
But wait. We will not be in Florida for that long before having to come back to Greensboro for our month long little working vacation in Europe.
Wow. Stress. I know Europe should be fun, but what timing.
Well after 13 years dear hunny bunny and I finally got something we have never had... air conditioning.
Many of you may ask, "How do you live in the south and not have air?"
That is an easy question to answer.
When you have never had it, you don't miss it.
Here is our proof.
Okay. So you can not technically tell that it is in our house. You will just have to take my word on it.
Too bad we only get to enjoy it for three weeks before the house sells. Ooops! Did I just put that to blogland. I hope I have not jinxed it.
For those of you who do not know... we have a contract on our house... Again. Somehow I think this one will stick. What is not to love about this house now that ALL the work has been done?
Where will we move to next? Who knows? At this point we are not thinking about it.
More later.
Well dear hunny bunny has been out of town for the last few days and Ben and I have been trapped in the house due to inclement weather.
Yesterday it happened... a brief break in the weather allowed us to drive out to Meeks farm for a very fast blueberry picking frenzy.
We were only there 45 minutes, but we picked 2 lbs of berries. Or I should say, "I picked 2 lbs of berries."
Ben ate what he picked (sorry Mrs. Meeks) and carried the bucket around to show everyone our take for the day.
Well now it is my turn to show it to you.
Mmmmm... yummy blueberries.
So Saturday afternoon was pretty laid back and low key for us. That was until this crazy storm front started blowing through.
It was rough weather, very rough weather. We started getting the flashing boxes across the TV screen for 'thunder storm warning/watch" and then 'tornado watch'.
I tell you, the trains come by this area so often I started losing my mind not knowing if it was really a tornado.
This did not help the cause either.
Yup, that is hail. It was large and it hurt if you tried to run out in it. Do not ask me. Ask dear hunny bunny who was trying to get to the car to move it to the garage.
If you do not hear from me in a few days, call out the calvary because it really was a tornado.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary... How does your garden grow?
Why?
By the square foot of course!
Dear hunny bunny built me two great planters and two wonderful compost bins over the Memorial holiday weekend. They are great, very economical, and earth friendly.
Got the idea of square foot gardening from Mel Bartholomew.
I hope this works. I was really getting excited after reading his book that I purchased from the thrift store for ten cents.
Here are a few photos for your entertainment.
And of course, Ruby has the new job of keeping squirrels out! She is taking this job very seriously.
Now I just have to figure out what I want to use in between the beds and as a buffer into the yard to make that area a little more aesthetically pleasing (bark, paving stones).
Any ideas?
Well another year has past and it has been good to me. I have been told that the older you get the better the years get as well. If that is the case, then bring them on... who am I to argue with that logic?
We kept our celebration very low key. I spent my time at home with my wonderful husband and son.
Benjamin drew me that fantastic card you see. Since Ruby could not sign the card, Ben decided to draw her picture on it for me. ^_^
Talk about love.
I love my husband, I love my son, and I love my dog.
Life just does not get any better than this.
My Tuesday started out a bit on the rough side.
I still have no voice (oh, I did not tell you about that. No worries, it is a dull tale). The weather has turned cold, again. The house is still not clean.
I started with coffee (the breakfast of champions), some cleaning, had a little visit with a neighbor, and more cleaning, then a little sewing, and then more cleaning. When nightfall came the wee man went to bed and dear hunny bunny and I sat down to watch Juno.
What a great movie. Much better than I expected.
My day/night started to look up as twilight was nearing, but the icing on the cake was when Benjamin started crying and I put him in the bed with me. Now many of you may say, "Wha???" Let's just say he was sleepy eyed and giving out love, hugs, and kisses that we may not see the older he gets.
My Tuesday night ended on a good note.
Well here we are in Cottondale, Florida... the farm where PaPa grew up.
What do you think... does dear hunny bunny still look like a cute little country kid?
Ben sizing up the cow or vice versa. Ben had such a good time with the cows, but I have to admit... when the sun went down and the coyotes came out, I was a bit scared. Okay... I was alot scared.
Ben and his great grandpa "Pa Meinhardt".
Ben and his trademark "smile" for the camera. We have no idea where he got this from, but he uses it all of the time.
Good-bye cows... hometown, here we come!
Well the little family finally took a little vacation (minus Ruby, it was just too much driving for her, plus the condo didn't allow pets).
Our first stop... St Simon's Island, Georgia to visit NaNa Stephanie and Grandpa Don.
Let's just say this is no beach like we've ever seen before... the sand is hard packed and crammed with lots of clams. All you need is a bucket and a shovel and a few hours of steaming time and viola! You have dinner. Too bad none of us are clam fans.
Ben's shirt says it all.
Ben and PaPa are checking out the beach and a small tidal pool they found near by.
Ben and PaPa taking a stroll in the warm water.
How fun. Ben really had a good time at the beach.
After a long day at the beach, Ben still was able to ham it up for the camera.
Next stop the farm in Cottondale, Florida.
Well I am a little late posting these, but here are some photos of the dinosaur costume I made for Benjamin so he could attend a birthday party at the Science Center.
Work in progress...
Ouch! Watch out for all of those needles... believe it or not, they were really required to keep the costume together while stitching.
Poor dear. Is papa teasing the baby over his new look? (Mean 'ole papa)
After 15 minutes in the costume and a handful of chocolate covered popcorn you would almost think Ben was enjoying himself.
Thanks to the Solers' for the invite! We had a fabulous time!
I know it is not really a holiday, but any chance we can spend as a family and outdoors... I'll take it!
Here is a nice patch of clover in the backyard. When I was younger I use to find 4 leaf clovers all the time, but now I no longer have the time or patience for it. Oh well...
Thank goodness the weather decided to be agreeable. Dear hunny bunny did some yard work and Benjamin rode around to supervise.
Have I mentioned how much I love that little boy?
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
Well today was a big day for Benjamin. He got a new dinosaur costume (that dear mommy made for him... photos to come) and papa made him his own "big boy" bed.
Since Christmas, Ben has been crying every night when we put him down in his crib. We finally decided, "Why not put him in our bed and see what happens?" Well, lets just say there was no looking back. Ben took all of his naps in mommy and papa's bed and the only way to get him to go to sleep without the tears... you guessed it... he slept in our bed. However, when he sleeps with us, he is an early riser... a VERY early riser and he's not a very good "bed buddy" either. He likes to kick and push and move around as if he is riding a bicycle.
Let's just say, "This was not going to work."
ENTER: the lumber from Lowe's Home Improvement
Ben is helping papa with the new bed.
I think he likes his new bed.
1 hour and 30 minutes later...
Lumber... $30
Half an afternoon of build time... Free (thanks papa)
Seeing your little boy face down on the floor... PRICELESS
It turned out to be a wonderful day. I woke up to the most beautiful sight.
When the wee man got up, we got him dressed to play in the snow. He and Ruby had a blast and played for hours. It was cute seeing them chase each other around and around and around.
And check out this cute wee booty in the snow bib!
The snow we had today was my kind of snow. We woke up to its beauty, played until it was time to have some homemade hot cocoa, and it was all melted in time for the wee man's afternoon nap. Oh yeah, and it did not interfere with hunny bunny taking me to a nice Thai dinner and a romp through Home Depot.
It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
Today was a good day.
The family took a nice long walk around downtown (very, very windy day for a walk), we had lunch at Fincastles (mediocre burgers, but wow did I have two of the best looking guys in the joint sitting at my table), and we topped it all off with a very fun visit to the Greensboro Children's Museum (I got to do the hokie pokie... yee haw).
Here are a few photos for everyone to enjoy.
xo
Well I know I have been gone a while, but I am never far away.
We are getting ready to have our upstairs bathroom gutted to the studs and remodeled. This will be our last big project and our home will practically be new. Last year we remodeled the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, this year will be the upstairs bathroom and maybe a central air conditioner (I hope)!
As the demolition and construction come along I will be sure and blog about it.
Other new stuff news:
My wee man had his second birthday this past Saturday. I know, I know... I am a bad mommy as I have no photos of the party to share, but hey... I was behind the scenes making sure everything was running smoothly.
Well, I do have one I can share. The little man got some sweet cash for his birthday from one of the g-ma's down in Florida. So mom, this one's for you.
Also, found a great artist (new to me), and purchased one of her adorable prints.
You can find her at The Black Apple or buy some of her great work at The Black Apple etsy shop!
My other new find was this great pottery piece. Found it at the Goodwill for .99 cents... what a score. It is completely original as it has a little signature in the clay on the bottom. It is probably worthless, but soo cool.
Right now I am using it for a pencil holder, but that may change... hmmm...
Take care and keep checking back.
As some of you may know, we got a new puppy this month (after lots of pleading with PaPa).
Her name is Ruby. Her mama is a Boston terrier and her papa, a traveling salesman. She has been loads of fun for me and my wee man.
This week I made her a new place mat for her bowls and she seems to be enjoying them.
Now if I could just find more stylish bowls...
