Archive for January, 2009
Hey…I won!
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Hey, everybody! Well, right now I’m in the middle of school being canceled, a morning of no electricity at the restaurant and a honkin’ messy house. But guess what? I got some good news on Monday night when I found out that I won a t-shirt design contest over at ashirtforeverything.com!!! You can see the post announcing that I won here, but I’ve also included a picture of my entry:
Hello, exercise.
Posted by: | CommentsWell, I did something last week. I ordered a Wii Fit Balance Board, and it showed up at my house on Thursday. The reason for this? Well, there are a few. One is that I REALLY start to need exercising. I have about 20 extra pounds on me that I want to go away. I haven’t done any REAL physical activity since I was tending bar, almost six years ago. I’ll walk around the neighborhood when it’s warm, but zilch in the winter. So, I thought that the Wii Fit would be a fun way to start doing something physical. And I had heard great things about it. I didn’t want to part with the cash, but I did. I also thought that using the balance board would be a bit easier for the kids.
So, I hop up on that puppy Thursday night. I enter all of my info, it weighs me and gives me my Wii Fit age. Which wasn’t pretty. It was 51. In my defense (or maybe proving how dense I can be), I DID have the board backwards when I first started. Today when I did it my age was 41…so that’s definitely better. I really like that I can do simple exercises in the yoga and strength training (well, not simple as in EASY, but simple as in not complicated) and then can play some ‘games.’ I also like that the more you play, the more games get unlocked. Keeps it interesting. I especially have been enjoying the step class and the hula hoop game. I am definitely not graceful, but that’s something I’ve always known.
The kids enjoy it also. Becca has even been really good at the skiing! Speaking of Becca, she lost a second tooth today, so I got to play tooth fairy again. She asked if I thought whether or not the tooth fairy would let her keep her tooth. I told her maybe she should draw a picture for the tooth fairy to butter her up. She has become very grown up in the past couple of weeks. Last week we had this conversation:
“Mom, do I look sexy?”
“What? No! No, you do not look sexy. You should not look sexy. Don’t say that word anymore.”
“Why?”
“It’s a grown up word. Just don’t say it.”
She has finally started wearing jeans. Normally, I wouldn’t really care whether or not she wears jeans. But we have bags and bags of hand-me-down jeans that are in great condition. And she does look darn cute in them. So Becca? She is definitely making the transition from little kid to just kid.
Chloe, on the other hand, is just amazing me with her imagination. She simply cracks me up. A few days ago, she told me that she knew what she was going to ask Santa for next Christmas. She said a lion. I informed her that lions eat people, and unless she wanted to be lunch, a lion would not be a very good idea. So then she switched to zebra. She told me that we could keep it outside. Yup, a zebra.
I’m trying to talk her into a hamster.
Crazy Life
Posted by: | CommentsSorry I haven’t posted in a while. I have a plan. I’ll post something original tonight. But for now, here’s a little nugget. I was tagged on Facebook with ’25 Things About Me.’ So, here’s what I wrote:
1. I think college is overrated, but I’ll never tell my kids that
2. I watch ‘Dazed and Confused’ whenever I come across it on tv
3. I make the best damned sweet tea
4. Bananas make me sick (literally)
5. I still have dreams that I work at West Coast Video (I worked there until I was 23)
6. I have a goal of making my living completely online
7. I believe in the Law of Attraction
8. I think I have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder
9. Even after being a bartender and owning a restaurant, I don’t really like dealing with real, live people.
10. I actually used to like Milli Vanilli (before the lip sync thing was revealed)
11. I secretly want to be a Rock Star
12. Watching people put a napkin or paper towel in their mouth totally gives me the heebie-jeebies. Like nails down a chalk board.
13. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift
14. My father made me do donuts the first time it snowed after I got my license. MADE me.
15. My oldest daughter was 4 lbs and 6 weeks early
16. Once I found out the oldest daughter was perfectly healthy, I was SOOOOO glad I wasn’t pregnant anymore.
17. I gave my oldest daughter my middle name (Gwen)
18. My younger daughter’s middle name is for my parents (Rayann = RAY + Carol ANN)
19. I truly believe I met my Father In Law in one very vivid dream right before my Mother In Law passed away.
20. I worry about my parents – But still think my Dad is the smartest guy I know
21. I want to lose 20 pounds
22. I hate to paint walls, but like to paint furniture
23. The word ‘Warshing” (Pittsburgh-ese for washing) goes right through me.
24. I think that I can sing ‘Mercedes Benz’ very well. This has never been confirmed.
25. I don’t like to go into the ocean.
My Craptacular Maronda Home
Posted by: | CommentsIf you read my previous post, you saw that I had some frozen pipes in this sub-zero Pittsburgh weather. Which leads me to discuss my house.
We bought our house from Maronda Builders a little over five years ago. We bought it for a number of reasons. We had just had a baby, and our current home’s location wasn’t exactly perfect for raising children. The plan that we looked at was in the general location of where we ‘always wanted to live.’ We bought our first house at a decent price, and knew we’d be able to make some money from it. So, we signed the papers. Now, the builder was definitely NOT the reason that we decided to purchase our home. We knew of problems with Maronda, but we liked the floorplan, it had a fantastic yard, and we could afford it.
We checked on the house’s progress every weekend. Luckily, there was a person who just got a promotion – and he was in charge of the activities in our plan. Our home was the first that was ‘his.’ So he did pay attention to a bit of detail. Honestly, we haven’t had any MAJOR problems. They DID forget to install one of our central cold air returns. When you would come up the basement stairs, it was just a huge wind tunnel. Now, for the pipes: Our pipe going to the kitchen sink did freeze one other time. I guess the problem is that this particular pipe must go through the garage a bit, and on the outer wall. Last time, my Brother In Law came over with a little torpedo heater, ran it in the garage, and all was good. This time, the sun helped. Plus, I ran the washer and dryer (I now have lots of clean clothes) and they eventually started running.
No wall or ceiling in my home is exactly straight. My neighbors have had worse problems. Very leaky roofs (because they didn’t seal around the flashing correctly). Extremely squeaky floors. I have one neighbor who, after their yard was graded, ended up with a complete swamp. The light switch in my upstairs bathroom is backwards (the first switch should be the light – but it’s the fan), my master bathroom sink had a leak from day one.
Even though there are all of these problems, I love my house. I love the size, the layout. I love the location. I love our yard. I wish I had more money to spend on it. I’d love hard wood floors, granite countertops and nothing bought at Ikea or Target. But I DO love it. And I truly love my neighborhood. There are about 74 homes in our neighborhood – it consists of four streets. Some of our best friends live here. And they were our best friends BEFORE we moved in. I’m so glad they followed! In fact, when we signed the papers to purchase our home, my husband called our very good friends and left a message on their machine. It was the classic song from Mr. Rogers, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” We moved to the neighborhood in November, and they joined us in February. Our other friends lived in a townhouse for a few years, but were always looking to buy. They looked at private builders, land, and other communities. But I am SO happy that they ended up here in our neighborhood. They just had twins (this week!), and it will be great to watch them grow up.
So, I’m all about the silver lining when it comes to my house. And when I really think about it, I now live in one of those houses that I wanted when I was little. I remember passing homes in plans and thinking ‘I wonder what it would be like to live there.’ Well, now I know. It rocks.
I <3 you, Pittsburgh
Posted by: | CommentsWell, here I am in Pittsburgh, dealing with less-than-zero degrees. It hasn’t been this cold in fifteen years. Yuck. I absolutely love, love, love Pittsburgh. There’s something here that’s cozy and familiar. The people here are (generally) awesome. There are great hearts, fantastic senses of humor and a sense of commitment. When I visit my folks in Florida, it just feels….so…..bare. I think it’s the lack of hills. The hills give me comfort, a sense of coziness. It’s like being in a bed with lots of pillows and a fluffy comforter. Florida is flat. Just flat.
