valentine's day fun with w

I know I'm late posting these but better late than never, right? We actually had a very low-key V-day this year. No cards, no flowers, although I did manage to give out a little chocolate. We did make homemade cards to send to a few friends and family members. So what did we do? We made Valentine's Day cupcakes which were a big hit with W. ;D

Before we get started, must taste the frosting to make sure it's good.

Okay, it was good. Let's get started decorating the cupcakes.

Getting ready to dig in.

Hmmm, pretty good.

Eating the finished product

Finished product

V-day card #1

V-day card #2, especially for the boys

Back of the cards

i have a new obsession

If you know me, you know I have a decent creative streak and that I love making things. Yes, indeedy, I love doing crafts. I painted pictures for W's nursery and got brave and painted a sweet mural for G's nursery. I made the cornice boxes and the window treatments in my dining room and I've been making hand sewn cutesie onesies and shirts for a while now. But the one thing I have never known how to do is machine sew and there are sooo many cute outfits I'd love to make only if I knew how to sew.

The funny thing is that I have an awesome sewing machine, but it is so awesome it almost intimidated me. It stayed in its case for almost a year and half taunting me whenever I'd pass by it. "I'mmm here, sewing moron." "Hey, you, ever gonna use me?"

Well, this week, I handed that sewing machine a big glass of Shut Up juice. I learned how to sew! Okay, just boys pants. But, I did it. My good friend came over and taught me some of the basics to my sewing machine and taught me how to make these really cute pants/shorts/capris for the boys. By the way, my cousin's husband has forbidden me to put my boys in "capris". He suggested that I call them "knickers" since that's what boys wear, but "knickers" remind me of Oliver Twist (lol!) so I guess I'll keep working on finding some other term that is more acceptable.

But the best thing of all is that I felt something I hadn't really felt in a while...excitement! Yes, I get excited for things with the kids, but personally, I just hadn't had much drive to do anything beyond my family and kids. That kind of died with me when my mother passed; however, here it is, this excitement. And for the 1st time in a while, I tasted the sweet taste of personal satisfaction, of looking at something I created and saying "I love it!"

So what's next? I registered for a Beginner's sewing class and the Intermediate sewing class and I can't wait! I'm hoping to funnel this enjoyment into a little etsy store so I can make a little money, but I'm Type A on some things and won't do it until I feel I have the basics covered. Below are some of the thing I've been knocking out this week while the boys nap or when they've gone to bed.

Octopus set - shirt and capris (clam diggers? board shorts?) for W

Octopus shirt close-up

Shorts and pants for W. The shirt is in process. I'm thinking a sail boat for Spring.

Dinosaur shirt and pants set for baby G

Close-up of Dino shirt

My little model

Truck shirt and clam diggers for baby G

Ok, I also made a new flat sheet for W's toddler bed. He's a Cars fanatic but we only had a fitted sheet to go on his bed, and since we are Type A *cough, anal, cough* people, it kinda drove S and I both batty so I had to make him a top sheet.

i'll probably get in trouble for posting this, but sometimes you just gotta let it out

My dad has a girlfriend, although he introduces her as his "friend", but according to my sister, she's his girlfriend. The holding hands kind of girlfriend. (I'm not willing to mentally go any farther than that right now.) My dad is with her every day he's not in dialysis (3 days a week). Oh, here's the real kicker. She has the same name as my mom. *thud* So, yes, that really weirds me out. She doesn't look like my mama, but it is...odd? disturbing?

I know he is lonely and needs, rather deserves, companionship. I don't begrudge him that but it's kind of hard to take. Part of me wants to cry out "My mother be gone only 7 months. Why can't you wait at least a year before you start seeing someone else?" Part of me wants to avoid it. And another part of me is just plain angry about the entire situation as in "Why did my mother have to die?". I wasn't mentally prepared for this reality.

Our relationship isn't exactly close, and where the death of S's mother seems to draw his relationship with his dad closer, I don't know if that's exactly the same case here. And, that really stings. I'd love to be able to talk to him about my mother and what I'm going through and what he's going through, but he closes up when I mention her. Maybe, it's too hard for him, but maybe, it's what I need. So what do you do? I guess, we're at a cross-roads.

snow day

It's not often we get snow in Alabama so we have to take advantage of it when we can. I think W had a great time in the snow though earlier in the day when I mentioned that we were going to play in the snow, he replied "No way. I no like snow." However, once we were bundled up and out there, he changed his tune. Baby G enjoyed it as well. He'd just look and look taking it all in. He tolerated being bundled up as well although he soon got tired of the mittens and tried to take them off by biting them and pulling with his teeth. He is too smart for his own good. ;D Hopefully, it will last a while tomorrow so W can "dig" a.k.a. "walk" in the snow some more and we can make a snowman since we didn't get around to it today.

out of the blue

It's funny when it hits. The sadness. The tears. The overwhelming grief for my mother. This afternoon it found me. It came in the form of Valentine's Day cards for my sons. The handwriting was oh-so-familiar. How could it be? But it wasn't. It was cards from my aunt, who I dearly love and is the closest thing to a grandmother my boys have. But there it was. The pain and the realization that she is forever gone from here and I couldn't stop crying. I miss her so much. I miss her voice, her smile, her laughter. I miss her hands. She was nurse and she *knew* how to comfort with those hands. So many nights, when I was in physical pain from knots in my shoulders, she'd sit there and rub them out. She was the first to grab hand and give it a pat or a squeeze. I just really miss my mother. I know it seems odd that Valentine's Day, weekend, is when the grief finds me. But it is a day to remember those you love and who loved you. No one ever loved me like my mother did.

I love you, Mama, and I miss you terribly.

Ravioli faces

Lunch was a big hit today.

Well, what goes around comes around.

Since mid-January we've been one sick family. It started with W having an ear infection and G having a respiratory virus. Then, G's virus turned into Bronchiolitis and an ear infection. Thankfully, W's ear infection was gone by then. But 3 weeks of being up all night with little man has a way of taking it's toll on a mama. Sure enough, I started getting sick last week. It started with a nagging cough, but within a week's time it had moved into my chest, resulting in a nasty cough and lots of wheezing. I was practically attached to the Albuterol. They say viruses normally run 5-7 days on their own and if it doesn't clear up by then, then you need to see the doctor.

Well, I had given it a full week and by Wednesday night, I looked at my sweet hubby and told him I thought I was dying and it was time to go the doctor. Thursday morning, I called the doctor's office and they fit me in. I rushed to get the boys to my awesome aunt since I know a doctor's office is just a great bastion of germs. Two chest x-rays and a finger prick later, I was told I had a nice case of asthmatic bronchitis. SWEET. If you've never had bronchitis, it takes FOREVER to get rid off. And, if you're a mom, especially a SAHM, they are no sick days. Thankfully, Dr. Feel Good juiced me up with a couple of shots, a heavy duty cough syrup and Biaxin.

After which, I went home, tossed the boys into their respective rooms and crashed. Today, I feel a bit better and the cough is easing but I sure do wish my mama was here to take care of me.

my baby is 10 months

That means that I am in party planning mode for his 1st birthday. I can't believe he is almost 1. Seriously, how did that happen? He is one of the happiest babies I have ever seen, but he is going to be the death of me, for sure. He is my get-into-everything baby. He's curious, maybe a bit too curious for his own good though. Ha! I have to constantly hide all cords or he'll be chewing on them. I have to lock the pantry or he will pull everything out for me. He will get into something in a blink of eye. Aye di mi!! And unlike his big brother who slept through the night from 6.5 weeks on, little buddy likes to keep mama up at night. And that one really hurts. Mama has become a champion coffee drinker as a result. Despite it all, I have been so completely blessed to be able to stay home with him. To see all of his firsts, makes my mama's heart feel overjoyed. I love you, baby boy.

Did I mention? I'm back on the bandwagon.

Foundation work

S and I live in a 1970's split level home on top of a mountain (albeit a small mountain). The house originally had a 2 car garage, but the owners decided to convert 1/2 of the garage into a finished bonus room, which quite honestly was a nice selling feature. However, the crawl space is attached to the room through a closet and as we soon discovered subject to flooding during heavy rains. In the 4 years we've here, it had only flooded once (that we knew of), but then came the heavy rains of November and December 2009. No kidding, we had somewhere around 3 weeks of non-stop HEAVY rain and you know, where this is going...the room was majorly flooded. Not above your ankles flooded, but the carpet was soaked and the sheet rock in the closet had started to mold and mildew. YUCK. On top of it all, the crawl space became an attractive living space for rodents since they could crawl in through the outside vents. SO GROSS. Anyway, we knew this project was bigger than what we could individually handle so we called in the experts. We took estimates from 3 foundation repair companies and finally felt good about our options.

The company that we chose offered us a solution to flooding problem as well as the rodent problem. Yippee! Last Friday, they came in and installed a french drain into the crawl space which attaches to a sump pump. The sump pump collects the water and then whisks it away through a pipe that empties out on our driveway. The second part of the solution involved placing covers over the vents so rodents could not make their way in and then installing a thick insulated sheeting throughout the crawl space to seal off any mildew or mold and make it dormant. The final part of the equation included adding a de-humidifier in the space as well to help protect the foundation over the long haul.

Digging out the crawl space to put in the french drain.

The finished room with the sheeting and de-humidifier.

Our wonderful sump pump.

Now what? The true construction can begins, well, after we clean out the room. Has anyone seen A&E Hoarders? Unfortunately, that is what the room looks like at the moment. See for yourselves...

We've consulted with our friend who is a contractor and hopefully work will begin as soon as the room is empty. So what are we going to do? Rip out the drop tile ceiling and put in a true sheet rock ceiling. Additionally, we will have exposed ductwork to give it a cool modern look. The ductwork will be painted and may need to be reworked a little so it won't be disjointed. We think we will have an 8 ft ceiling in that room once it's done so it will really help open the space. At the same time, we are also going to tear out the sheet rock that is on the wall facing the outside and add more insulation; then, of course, we'll replace it all. And this of course means repainting the room. My mind is already swirling with all the color possibilities! Ok, moving forward, as the final piece to the re-work, we are going to have a coating put on the concrete to give it a modern finish.

The ultimate goal is to turn it into a nice media room. We've already priced out bookcases and furniture from IKEA. This is what I want for the sectional sofa which is also a sleeper sofa which will be nice for guests. The wall facing it will have 2 bookcases systems for our 100s of books.

I can't wait to have it all done and see the finished result!