Mastering the List

This weekend didn't go nearly as smoothly as I had envisioned. According to my plans, we were to have put the final touches on Asher's room; which included adding shelves to the closet, completing his coin tubes, finishing and hanging the bullets, and adding another wall shelf. I expected that would leave us plenty of time to start the beadboard in Amelia's room, trim out her window and put up the crown moulding. Then, on Sunday...we were going to make a TURKEY!!!

Honestly, after seeing everything in writing even I agree the list was a little ambitious. However, we SHOULD have been able to at least make a dent in it. Granted I had to work Friday, and sleep some (read most) of Saturday, but this was all a "honey-do" list anyway. As long as the TV was working (thus keeping the kids occupied) Elijah could have totally knocked out the major stuff while I was slumbering.

The first snag was that Amelia's beadboard needed to "cure" for at least 72 hours and we didn't open the packages until Friday night. The second snag was that Home Depot didn't have any of the pipes that we needed to finish Asher's wall shelf. The third snag was that Amelia was such a total, screamy, wreck all weekend that we were concerned about having her nap in the guest room because she doesn't sleep as well in her pack-n-play and we just couldn't take a chance that she'd be any grumpier than she'd already been. So that meant we couldn't trim or mould or do anything in her room unless she was awake.

Of all the tasks I hoped to complete this weekend, we only managed to accomplish two. Elijah put up two shelves in Asher's closet (that have yet to be painted) and we made a TURKEY!!!

Yes, Sunday dinner was super awesome this weekend. I love turkey. Elijah said it was the "best meal this side of Thanksgiving" and I couldn't have agreed more. We didn't go ALL OUT, but we did have mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, rolls, and for dessert, homemade pumpkin pie. The meal was wonderful and we were all pretty stuffed so we held off a bit on the pumpkin pie.

After an hour or so we all headed downstairs to have dessert. I made the pies myself and still thought they looked and smelled great! I served everyone and we started in. After the first bite we all looked at each other wondering if everyone had tasted the same thing. Yep, there was definitely something missing. While you didn't really notice it unless you took a bite without the whipped cream, I had left out a very important ingredient...SUGAR!  I don't think I'll ever live that down. Then again, I don't think I'll ever have to make a pumpkin pie again either. (My dastardly plan worked.)

The boys laughed at me and I admit it was pretty funny to make a pie without sugar but, Amelia loved it and ate her whole entire piece. So there!

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

What can I possibly say about my absence from bloggyland this time? It's not that I've been too busy parenting, cleaning or cooking to write. It's not that I haven't had anything interesting to say. I always have something interesting to say. I'm sorry to say but the truth is I've been sucked into a vortex of epic Vampiric proportions. And by that I mean, of course, that I've started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is pretty much routine for me. I've actually come to enjoy missing a few seasons, or even an entire run, of a show and catching up later. It really ads to my dorky mom who's totally clueless about pop culture, rep.

I blame this behavior being deprived of years of teenie-bopper television programs. You name it, I missed it: The Wonder Years, Punky Brewster, Beverly Hills 90210, ER, Party of Five. And those are just the highlights. If it weren't for re-runs I would also be completely clueless about such timeless gems as The Golden Girls and Full House! My parents claimed that they didn't believe in the evil influence of the idiot box, but I think they were just too cheap to pay for cable. The fact that we used to use rabbit ears to pick up old re-runs of Gomer Pyle when my father was a single parent only serves to reinforce that belief.

The consequences of this television withholding is that every so often, I find a "new" show to obsessively catch up on. I waste countless hours, that would be far more productively spent taking care of my family or furthering my career, catching up on the shows that should have shaped my teenage years. I'm immature pop culturally which I still say totally explains my ongoing love affair with VH-1's Top 20 Countdown.

Note: After Season Three Buffy created the offshoot Angel meaning that you may have to wait even longer for more of Miss Marina Star's bloggy goodness.

Heart Full of Wine

I meant to post this yesterday and although it's late and dated, I'm not going to let these marvelous photos go to waste.

As planned, we all spent a nice quiet V-day at home together. However, after a botched calzone making attempt on Saturday night I decided to use what we had rather than ordering the usual heart shaped pizza from Papa John's.


Yes, people...I made mini heart shaped pizzas. They may not look like much, but they were full of love and deliciousness and everyone thought they were totally awesome.

We also replaced the beer with this fancy $9-ish bottle of wine. Because we're classy.

I swear I wasn't drunk when I took that picture, but I AM too lazy to make it look better.

Tree Hugger

My husband likes hobbies. He doesn't have just one or two, he'll start any new hobby so long as it's interesting (and costly). He's been through countless different interests during our years together, and while some (like photography) have stuck, other's (RC cars) haven't been able to hold his interest longer than the first $500. He has however always been interested in gardening. He loves to plan and build gardens, plant outside and in pots, and basically try against all odds to keep me from killing living things. I suppose it consistently presents a new, ever evolving challenge to him.

This weekend he decided to plant trees. Considering that last Tuesday he was trying to convince me that we needed to invest 7k in a new "project car," I was thrilled to be headed to a nursery instead of some shady car lot. After dragging Asher on Saturday to various local nurseries and chatting with people in the know, he decided to plant a Chocolate Persimmon and a Pomegranate tree.

I didn't get any pictures of the boys digging and planting because, once Amelia went down for a nap on Sunday, I headed to my room to catch up on Season Three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Don't judge me!) I do have some "after" shots of Elijah posing next to our new, not too pricey, sticks in the ground.

Angel In the Snow

Today was a snow day!!!

I don't especially enjoy the cold weather, in fact I pretty much hate the idea of being cold. However, Asher has been so disappointed with the idea that our new home won't give him the same opportunities to play in the snow Oklahoma offered, that I was thrilled to learn we had the possibility of a snow day. I even woke Asher up around 2:30 last night to show him that we had finally gotten some snow.

So...against all my normal instincts this is what we did this morning. (You may notice how bizarre Amelia looks, I had to dig through all of Asher's old clothes and put together a hodgepodge outfit because we don't have snow gear for her)

Asher enjoyed throwing snowballs at the house AND Chester.

Amelia insisted on swinging...but quickly decided against it.

Asher begged to jump on the snow covered trampoline. I begrudgingly agreed, but had to drag Amelia in kicking and screaming because she also wanted to jump.

Valentine's Day

I don't remember what we did on Valentine's Day before we had kids, although, given my love for pajamas, I'm fairly certain that it did not involve candlelit dinners in white table-clothed restaurants. We have always been the "staying in" type of couple so I can't imagine us doing anything more exotic than what we regularly do these days. Thank goodness there was at least one thing that didn't completely turn upside down when the first baby was born!

Here's an all too short list of how we spend this love-filled holiday:

1. I don't do anything crazy creative with Asher's school Valentines, but I do love helping him put together his store bought candy and card creations. It just reminds me of my happiest elementary school times.
2. We always stay in...mostly we lay around and watch The Simpsons.
   
3. Lastly, in my short list of Valentine's Day lame-o, family celebrations: Our V-Day always include a few heart shaped pizzas courtesy of Papa John's.

This post written in response to:

Unbroken

Nothing like finishing a book about a plane crash while 40,000 ft. in the air. Nice timing with this one, eh?

Alright so I admit it; I didn't read the author's first book, Seabiscuit, so I have no frame of reference in regards to her previous work. However, if it's anything like this book it must be amazing. Aside from this being a story about a runner (a total love of mine) and World War II (another total love of mine), my favorite thing about this story is that it was exhaustively researched. The author tied up as many loops as humanly possible given the distance she had to go to get the whole story. This book will not disappoint.

You can get to the NPR Interview here.

The Week of Living Dangerously

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I realize that I should probably write a nice little recap of last week's trip but...I. Just. Can't. It really was too much.

Let me just say that the procedure (when we finally got her in to do it) went well. All my (Southwest) flights arrived safely, on time - and I didn't have to pay to check my bags! The kids survived the week without mommy and my friends absolutely deserve awards for pitching in. Elijah ensured that I came home to a clean house and even brought the kids to the airport to meet me.

All in all, in spite of all the drama, I'm really glad I made the trip there (and back). I enjoyed seeing the members of the family who were able to make it out and we did, amidst all the chaos, have some fun times.