Kicky!!

I got my "hairs" cut today. It's a little short in the back (OK it's A LOT short in the back) but to be fair, I just wanted someone to play with my hair because I've had a headache for almost 6 days now, so I just let the stylist have at it.

That was a huge run on sentence, so I should probably just post pictures.

WARNING!

I look horrible in most of them.

I had to take the pictures myself because Olivia "didn't feel like it" and Sydney wasn't happy with me because I didn't look like her mommy anymore and I needed to glue my hair back on.

So there you have it.

Look at the 'do - not the face, OK?

I like it -- so far. It's bouncy and light.

Isn't it kicky?

A pretty place to potty

Our guest bathroom downstairs needed a little refreshing, so that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks. These are old pictures - taken at different times, but you get the idea ...

It has a great soaking tub, nice long vanity and I love the tile and the brick. I was getting bored with the cream colored walls, but I didn't want to make it too dark because the room gets little natural light. Since I keep many of my outdoor plants in this room over the winter (You'll see why in a second) I decided to go for a crisp "organic" look.....

The walls were painted the palest of greens....

I found fabric water repellent shower curtains in a shade just a touch lighter than the walls....

I hung a mirror and some candles over the toilet - there's no direct light over there and it's just a tad dark. I still need to decide what to do with the color of the mirror and sconces - paint the mirror black? Paint both the mirror and candle sconces a creamy beige? Crackle paint? Suggestions welcome....

The mirror helps reflect some of the light back into the potty cubbyhole and the candles give it just enough extra light.....

I hung some white shears in the window and used an old curtain rod I had (that I LOVE and didn't have a use for..... it has amber colored glass balls on the ends - so pretty!)

Then, for privacy since you can see directly into the potty cubby from the deck, I hung a cool bamboo shade that it so pretty and carries through the color of the walls in some of the individual pieces of bamboo - I love it.

I used an old chest and put some towels in it - I needed a place to keep guest towels and I haven't found anything I like yet. We brought in the plants I wanted to keep and put them on the tile platform and changed out the light bulb for a grow light for the winter.

We replaced the lampshade and hung a shelf with some candles on top....

So, there it is. The only things I bought were:

Shower curtains

Mirror and sconces

Bamboo shade

Paint

Everything else in the room was recycled from elsewhere in the house.

It reminds me of a garden with the pale green walls, the plants, the bamboo...it's very inviting.

Get over it, already.

Today was supposed to be the last football games of the season. It was also Homecoming.

It POURED.

The girls didn't get to cheer.

BUT!!!!

Sydney made a card for her Coach...the outside:

The inside:



Yes. You read it right. She'll miss her coach.

But - She'll get over it.

I said to her (in between guffaws of laughter) "You'll get over it? Sydney!"

Her response (as she rolled her eyes at me)?

"Mommy. I'm six. I'll get over it!"

Autumn

Well, it's been cold, rainy, and YUCKY here. So I've been getting in "autumn" mode.....

The front door looked a little bare...

So I made this yesterday...

It's not exactly perfect by any means - but I whipped it up in 10 minutes and it'll have to do for the time being!

A close up - I love the colors.

I had some extra "stuff" so I did this too...

This sits on the marble tables in front of the bay window in my dining room.

Since I am hosting Thanksgiving this year, I need to come up with a

FAH-BU-LOUS

table dressing....

I'll be working on that over the coming weeks.




Happy Autumn!!!

My "first" little girl.....

Taylor Nicole

I remember as clear as day when this little one came into my life. Her mom Megan was - and is - like a sister to me. I was at the hospital for both the labor and the very difficult delivery. That little baby girl was quite possibly the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

She has brought us so much joy over the past 17 years and I am so honored and proud to be her Godmother. Meg and I were reminiscing today about the sweet little sayings she used to have and the cute little things she did. It seems so long ago (we were so young...) and yet it seems like yesterday! Meg was a single mom, and I was...well, I was just single, so the three of us spent a lot of time together. When Brian came into my life, he very easily stepped into the role of Godfather and we loved spending time with Taylor, spoiling her rotten (much to her mother's dismay) and keeping her overnight so her mom could go out and have fun. And when we got married, she was our flower girl.


She's as gorgeous today as she was the day she was born. Even more so, if that's possible. She's turned into an amazing young lady and I couldn't be more proud....

And the GOOD news is...

It's not pneumonia!

Poor Liv has been down with the flu. She was pretty sick Wednesday through Friday but Saturday seemed to be on the mend (as evidenced by the screams of "You are not DOING it RIGHT Sydney" emanating from the playroom as they played school.

It seemed as if everything was back to normal.

Until Sunday.

She started running a fever again and her cough was ferocious.

So, off to the doctor we went today. The doc promptly ordered a chest x-ray

(Her first X-ray! TOTALLY felt like I was a bad mom for not bringing my camera to document the moment to show to future boyfriends - "And here's Liv when she lost her first tooth. Oh, and here she is getting her very first chest x-ray -isn't she darling?")

They put a STAT read on the film, so by the time we got home the doctor had called to tell us it was neg-a-tivo....

So, just rest, another day off school, and lots of fluids because she was a bit dehydrated.

She needs to go back to school. Soon. For several reasons....

First of all, I have missed TOO MUCH WORK. My boss is a very patient and understanding guy but I think he's probably at his limit at this point.

Our morning greetings have gone from this:

"Well, hel-LOOOOO Deb-or-ah! How are you this fine morning?"

"Well, Good MORNING James! I'm fine and you?"

To this:

"Hey Deb......."(very pregnant pause, waiting for me to speak a word so he can gauge my mood)

"Hey Jim. Well, Liv/Syd is sick and I have to leave early to get her from school/take her to the doctor/go home and relieve whoever is watching her at 12:00/1:00 /NOW"

"You should sell those kids, you know."



So, it's not good. All I can hope is that we are getting ALLLLLLLL of the winter sickie ickies out of the way now.

Secondly, although she's feeling bleh, it's not stopping her - or her sister - from CON-STANT-LY cheering.

At the dinner table, while they are watching tv, in the bathroom....

I mean, it's annoying as hell! I think I say "Can you PUH-LEEEAZE stop cheering for FIVE MINUTES at least!"

To which they respond "No. PREP! One Two! CRADLE! One TWO!"

(Total cheerleader lingo there...)

I love to watch my kids cheer - they're super cute - but, really. Do we need to practice the cheers every second of the ever-loving day?

"Yes. I'm. Proud to be a Lancer. (YES! I! AM!)"

I think every team should have a good "DE-DE-DE-DEFENCE."

And I know that our colors are "RED! RED! BLACK! BLACK! Aaaand a white, white, white, white, white!"

At this point, I'm pretty sure I could be a cheerleader myself. And a damn good one at that.

Except, you know, the uniform might be a little small.

Ho Hum

That's what I thought everytime I looked at the blog.

Bleh....

Boooooring.

So I changed it up a bit.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Ahhhhh....

Nothing says "Welcome Home" to me quite like a beautiful red door.

I have been itching to paint the front door red since we moved in.

I finally did it this weekend.



It totally changes the look of the house and I love it....

Our old house was gray with a red door too (Odd, huh?)



All front doors should be red in my opinion.

I would change the color of my house just so I could have a red door, if that were necessary.

I've been told I am obsessed with red front doors.

It's probably true.

To me, it says "Ah, there you are - I've been waiting for you! Come in! Grab a book, a cup of tea, and get cozy..."



So, that's what I'm gonna do....have a wonderful week!

Ding Ding Ding!!!!!

Round two of the flu has hit the house and this time it's made Olivia miserable (poor Pookie!).

I'm afraid Brian and I won't be so lucky as to avoid this one. We're both a little under the weather.

Looks like another few days spent indoors, watching movies and cuddling on the couches.

There are worse things in life.