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July 31, 2006
Geisha Girl Red
Kevin finished my purse today and I have to say it is stunning.
This is looking down inside:
I can’t wait to carry it, but at the same time, I’m afraid of ruining it in some way. I’ll just have to be careful cause that baby is going out!
Posted by tami at 8:27 PM Comments (6)
July 27, 2006
Dust
A little fairy must have waved her “creative dust” all over our house because today that’s what we were - creative.
Last summer, Kevin said he would paint the gnome I keep in my backyard. He was faded and in desperate need of an updated look. Do you think that ever happened? No.
So, this summer I boldly announced that I would paint the gnome. I even went as far as letting Kevin prime him with white primer. Sadly, he has sat on our picnic table for the past two weeks. I don’t know what happened; I must have spaced out or something because it is now the end of July and the party’s almost over. I realized today that I haven’t or I should say, didn’t even plant a flower; not one measly flower.
After these disturbing thoughts, I went outside and decided I would begin painting that gnome TODAY. I’ll tell you right now, I am no artist, but if he looks half way decent when I’m finished, I’ll show you a picture. Anything will be an improvement.
I think Kevin is feeling the end of summer squeeze also. He decided to work on the purse he’s making for me:
Ashley creatively made ships, cars, and other amazing things with her Lego’s. Andrew was at work. Church got into mischief and Guido had a nice nap. It has been a quiet day.
Posted by tami at 4:43 PM Comments (4)
July 23, 2006
The Black Market
Yesterday we went to the mall and visited Hot Topic. While browsing the merchandise on the wall, a teenager with braces on her teeth turned to me and said,
My mom won’t come in here.
Really, why not? It’s not so bad in here.
Well, actually, I won’t let her because every time she does, she makes fun of the people in here.
I would never do that.
I meant it too. I may say, hey look at that guy with the huge hole in his ear, but I wouldn’t make fun. There’s a difference.
Anyway, check out the awesome Alice in Wonderland light switch cover I found:
I love it!
After we left the mall, we did some shopping around the Maxwell Street/High Street area. I bought two bottles of perfumed oil:
One is Egyptian Goddess and the other White Musk.
I smell SO good!
Posted by tami at 4:51 PM Comments (1)
July 22, 2006
Sugar Fix
Yesterday we stopped by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. I have eaten plenty of these doughnuts in my time, but had never visited an actual store.
It was clean and bright, but the coolest thing was getting to watch them make the glazed doughnuts:
Kids of all ages stood at the windows and starred while a curtain of white sugar sprayed each hot, delicious doughnut. (It makes me hungry thinking about it.)
My favorite Krispy Kreme’s are the:
*Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled
And the
* Glazed Raspberry Filled
I ate one of each (yes, I know I shouldn’t have) and had icy cold milk to drink.
It was pure perfection.
Posted by tami at 10:05 AM Comments (3)
July 20, 2006
Girl Night
Ashley had a friend spend the night on Tuesday, so my living room became the headquarters for Polly Pocket
They had a great time. They swam, played with babies, played school, and made popcorn at two in the morning. They were thinking of food while Kevin and I had been asleep for hours!
I think the reason they get along so well together is that her friend is two years older than Ashley is. Because Ashley is so mature, she needs older friends. Ashley will be in 5th grade this year and her friend will be in 7th. You would think this would make a huge difference in interests and so on, but it hasn’t so far.
Posted by tami at 3:14 PM Comments (2)
July 19, 2006
Six Feet Under
A week ago when we went to the video store to rent The World According to Garp we discovered they also rent TV shows. They had The Cosby Show, Lost, 24, Dead Like Me, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and many more that I cannot remember.
I was very pleased to discover they were renting Six Feet Under. We don’t subscribe to HBO any longer, so we’ve missed this entire series. Each time I’ve price the first season DVD in stores, it’s $80, so it’s wonderful I can rent it for much less.
So far, we have watched the first seven episodes and I’m hooked. It’s an intriguing show with a brilliant cast. Because there are so many seasons, it will take us a while to get caught up, but after we do, I would also like to rent The Sopranos and maybe even Carnivale. These are two more HBO shows we haven’t seen.
Posted by tami at 10:11 AM Comments (1)
July 16, 2006
No Surprises
Just so you know …
I have always loved Outback Steakhouse, but I was disappointed last night in finding they have raised all their prices by about a dollar per plate. The Outback special, for example, used to be $12.99. It is now $13.99. This doesn’t seem like a big deal until you attach that dollar to each plate at the end of the meal. If five people go – that’s $5. Even their drinks are more. I love their Bloomin’ Onion and house salad, but I think I will have to go elsewhere for a while.
Posted by tami at 8:14 PM Comments (0)
July 15, 2006
Happy 2nd Birthday Guido!
There Must be Something More
There must be something more to us than you and me
It must be tangled up somehow with destiny
I used to think the sum of one and one was two
But we add up to more, me and you
When we are close together it's so plain to see
Together we are better than we used to be
I don't know how to say the things I'm thinking of
But the something more I'm feeling must be love
I used to think the sum of one and one was two
But we add up to more me and you
I don't know how to say the things I'm thinking of
But the something more I'm feeling must be love
Song from: Charlotte's Web
Lyrics by: Richard Sherman, Robert Sherman
Posted by tami at 5:33 PM Comments (3)
July 14, 2006
Forget Your Troubles ...
After finishing Angela's Ashes I could hardly wait to get to The Book Cellar today to see if I could find the sequel. I really didn’t think they would have it. Boy, was I surprised when there it sat on the shelf waiting for me to pick it up: 'Tis: A Memoir! I snatched it up and felt like doing a jig right there in the isle! I was as happy as could be and still am! I can’t help it, when I find an author I really like, it gives me great pleasure to have one of their books in my hands. I wouldn’t even let Kevin put it in the basket for a while; I just wanted to hold onto it.
I was also thrilled to find two John Irving books:
and
I am a happy girl :)
Posted by tami at 8:25 PM Comments (2)
July 13, 2006
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
This book is a memoir, a journal, of the author, Frank McCourt’s life - his life growing up in complete poverty. His family lived their lives eating bread and drinking tea. The babies were lucky to have sugar water in their bottles. Special occasions were celebrated, to his mother’s dismay, with a pig’s head instead of turkey.
The power of a single egg was huge for me throughout the book. I told you the McCourt family lived on bread and tea, so when there was an egg, it was a big deal. At one point in the story, the family had a single egg. The mother told her three children she was boiling the egg for their father because he would be needing the nourishment. After handing him the boiled egg, the father takes it and slices into five pieces – one slice for each of them. The mom scolds him but he says, “What would a man be doing with a whole egg to himself?”
I will remember that quote for a while.
Anytime Frank asks someone for bread, they tell him, “Next thing you’ll be wantin’ an egg.”
That’s another great quote.
The power of a single egg is appalling and startling in this context.
The things I read in this book are foreign to my life and the way that I grew up, so naturally I was entranced. The family is Irish Catholic. I loved the way they talked and I loved hearing about the Saints, the Seven Sacraments, the Act of Contrition, First Communion, the Sacred Heart, Confession, and so on.
If you’ve wondered why I haven’t posted in the past two days, it’s because I’ve been reading this book. My hope now is that there is a part two, a continuing account to this saga because Frank McCourt can write!
** UPDATE**
I am thrilled beyond belief! There is a sequel: Tis: A Memoir.
He has also written: Teacher Man : A Memoir.
I can’t wait to get my hands on these :)
Posted by tami at 8:07 PM Comments (2)
July 10, 2006
Slurp!
When Guido was a baby, trimming his nails was no problem. A little snip, snip, snip and we were done.
As he got older, the sound of the snip when it clipped his toenail would startle him and he would jerk. Mind you, he still let us do the clipping, he was just startled.
These days when his nails need clipping, he fights like mad. I am always afraid he will jerk at the wrong moment and something terrible will happen – there might even be blood – and I could not handle that. The knowledge that we inflicted any pain upon him would kill me. It would haunt me every night when I tried to sleep.
A few nights ago, it was, again, time to cut his nails. Kevin got the clippers and a nail file and scooped Guido up into his arms. Guido was placid until he realized what we wanted to do and then he started his squirming. It wasn’t only a little squirming either. This was more like a, I’m getting out of here and you’re not stopping me type of squirming.
During the squirming fit, my eye wandered off to a candy dish full of hard candies. This is when a brilliant idea came to me. A little voice inside my head said, let him lick a peppermint disk while Kevin clips his nails. So, that’s what I did. I told Kevin to stop everything while I unwrapped the candy.
I held Guido in one hand and the candy in another while Kevin snip, snip, snipped. It worked like a charm. He was so busy licking that candy he practically didn’t even notice the clipping.
Posted by tami at 7:22 PM Comments (2)
July 9, 2006
Bustier
Ashley has a new pink lamp for her room:
Posted by tami at 5:47 PM Comments (3)
July 8, 2006
Something Happy
Ever since we signed up for a PetSmart card, they have sent Guido a card for his birthday and a certificate for a free toy of our choice up to $6. It makes me happy that someone takes notice of his special day.
His second birthday is fast approaching, so we went ahead and used the certificate. Since we found that Guido enjoys playing with the soft toys much more than the hard ones, Kevin chose this adorable, plush frog:
Needless to say, he loved it …
… even when I tried to tease him with it.
This is how he behaves when he knows we are leaving though:
Forget being grateful for the toy. Forget playing or being happy. Forget everything. All he knows when we are leaving is to be depressed.
It is sad.
People say dogs cannot understand what we say, but they are wrong - dead wrong.
The boy knows what we say and he gets depressed. It makes me feel like a horrible mother to leave him home alone. At least we let him have the run of most of the house when we are gone and we do leave the T.V. on Nickelodeon or something clean for he and Church to watch and discuss.
* We used to leave the T.V. on Animal Planet until I came home one day and saw an operation on a dog in progress. I’m sure that made him feel good!
What was the point of this post – oh yea, Guido got a new toy, a cute toy, and that is a good thing – a thing to be HAPPY about! End of story!
Posted by tami at 6:15 PM Comments (1)
July 7, 2006
Two New Places
Kevin and I tried out Rumors Restaurant. I had no idea what kind of food would be served, but Kevin thought it would be akin to Applebee's. Right when we walked through the front door, we realized it was a seafood restaurant. We were both surprised, but glad to try out something new.
I had planned to write a review of sorts, but I don’t want to complain too much, so suffice it to say, we won’t be going back. It was a very mediocre experience.
After dinner, we tried Graeter's ice cream for the first time. Kevin ordered a waffle cone with banana ice cream, while I had the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream served in a waffle cone dipped in chocolate:
Yes, it was divine and I will be returning!
Posted by tami at 10:42 PM Comments (1)
July 6, 2006
The World According to Garp
Throughout this book, I was laughing out loud. However, there were times when I would cringe or try to hide my eyes. I would know what was going to happen, but closing my eyes kept it from happening for just a few moments longer.
When I knew something major was going to happen, closing the book didn’t help either because I would be right back and opening it five minutes later. I couldn’t stay away for long.
This will be one of those books I read over and over again. If you read it, I bet you will too.
Posted by tami at 10:00 AM Comments (2)
July 4, 2006
Happy 4th!
This was the scene Sunday morning at church:
Today we had family over for a day of swimming. We had ribs for dinner and later, Kevin made strawberry ice cream. He’s the best.
Posted by tami at 10:12 PM Comments (1)
July 3, 2006
The 1st of July
Even though Saturday was not the 4th, it was a good day for us to do things and have company.
The first thing we did was visit the Farmer’s Market on Vine. I had never seen so many vendors! They sold green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers, bell peppers, potatoes, onions, breads, flowers and much, much more.
Here were some flowers from one vendor:
There was even a children’s orchestra that played while we shopped!
We bought Ashley a balloon giraffe from this man:
She picked out a beautiful pink rose before we left. This has become our custom with her.
We did go to The Book Cellar. They’re having a sale, so I couldn’t resist. I did buy one book for myself:
A Widow for One Year by John Irving.
We went through a cool store called Second Sofa. They had a wide range of gently used furniture and décor. It took us a while to walk through because the store is so big, but I enjoyed it.
Once we got back home, the entire family, including Guido, went swimming. It was at least 90 degrees, so there wasn’t any alternative really.
Kevin and I prepared for a cook out:
We had cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and chips.
After that, Kevin made homemade banana ice cream
and my Uncle Ray played his guitar and sang some Johnny Cash:
Kevin said playing this Corn Hole Game was the highlight of his day:
Now we need to get us one!
Posted by tami at 11:16 AM Comments (4)