My Day with Riley...and Roy Lichtenstein

There is a lot going on at Riley's school right now, and once I have correct information, I will post about it. I don't want to write anything until I know for sure though. So, there was a need to get Riley away from school today, and I have been wanting to take him to the Austin Museum of Art for the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit. He is known for Pop Art and has done many comic book art images. We met dad for breakfast first at Kerbey Lane for breakfast tacos and pumpkin pancakes, then we headed downtown. Riley enjoyed it quite a bit. They have an audio cell phone tour you can do and Riley listened to several recordings by Lichtenstein explaining his fascination with the dots, and his comparisons to Picasso. It's a small museum, but they had quite an impressive exhibit. There were several abstract pieces, and still life's, and lots of the fun comic book art. Then he made some of his own art in the family play area. They had textiles so you could make your own version of pop art, and a light wall with lots of patterns that you could trace, and a cool hall of mirrors. I will post some of the pics I got in that area, I used Dave's nifty little camera, and I still have to get them off the memory stick. But here's one of mine and Riley's favorite pieces from today, it's called appropriately, "Explosion."

You Know What's Quiet?

So I go to wake Regan up this morning, David had to do some work in the middle of the night, so I was trying to be quiet, and I was whispering to her to wake up to get ready for school, but be quiet cause Dad had to work late last night. I guess she gets her non-morningness from me, she just kind of rolled over, and I told her again, time to get up, but be quiet about it. So she looks at me and says, "You know what would be even more quiet? If you would shut up!" And rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Yes, I have my hands full with that girl.

Bathroom Update with Pictures

I'm not done, but I thought I would post some pictures because I LOVE the way the cabinet turned out. I can't wait now to get going on all the other cabinets in this house, they were just so FUGLY to start with. I didn't have a before picture of the bathroom cabinet, but the kitchen cabinets are exactly the same so here's what it looked like before:And here's what it looks like now with new paint and knobs:
I still need another coat of paint, my holdup on that has been that I think this color might be a smidge too dark. I need to switch out the light fixture (my FIL said he would do that, thank God, I'm in no mood to be electrocuted) and make dinner for my plumber friend and see if he will switch out the faucet for me. There's a light at the end of the tunnel!! But then, the kitchen...

Foot Pictures...Look Away!!

These are nasty, but there's no reason I should be the only one to have to look at this...

Update on Superman

Well, the doctor was surprised, but no heel fracture. Just a very bad sprain. Now, Superman is sporting one of these bad boys...


That's Hot. And no, those are not his legs.

Grandma's Here!!

January08

Grandma came to town last week, her niece is in the Army and was transferred to Ft. Hood so Linda helped her drive down and find a place to live and all that. So we are all having a good time visiting and catching up. This is her first time to meet Pete's girlfriend, Jessi and Ashley and I know Grandma's having a good time getting to know them. We spent the day Saturday at Ikea, and the outlet mall where Grandma bought the girls some matching outfits, they look so cute!! Then we all went to dinner at Pappasita's where uncle Pete was working so we could hassle him and get free dessert!! Then on Sunday everyone came over and we played out front with their new dog Ginger. This weekend has just flown by so fast, we hate to see her leave on Tuesday!

What NOT to do when you're almost 40...

David took Riley to a birthday party yesterday and from what I understand, he ended up on the roof trying to get some Nerf things off. For whatever reason, David decided to jump off the roof instead of using the handy ladder that was there. His reasoning...he used to jump off the roof all the time with no problems. Never mind the fact that he's much older and bigger than the last time he tried that. Riley said Dad was trying to be Superman. I said, well, he may have been Superman when he jumped, but he was Clark Kent when he landed. He has a nice little sprained ankle and it's nasty looking. Good thing he had leftover Vicodin from the root canal. He thinks he doesn't need to go to the doctor, but I think he should, so...who's right???

Dentists. Geesh.

So David was having some major tooth pain all weekend, isn't that usually the case, it starts on the weekend, a long weekend at that. He finally got in to see the dentist today, which, in itself is a whole other mess since we just got new dental insurance through the state, and you have to pick a primary dentist off this list, none of which we had ever gone to, so we basically had to pick a name out of a hat and hope they were good. Well, he has a cracked tooth, which will cost around a thousand bucks to fix, and that's AFTER insurance. Not to mention another tooth that needs a root canal and crown and a mouth guard because he grinds his teeth at night. A whopping 3K just for his mouth. And it's not like you can just say, nope, don't need that. Suffice it to say, my wood floors may be on hold a bit. Bummer.

Bathroom Picture

How come nothing about remodeling can ever be EASY??? It's like one step forward, two steps back every time you turn around! For example...I wanted new fixtures, the toilet paper roll and hand towel holder is old and crappy looking. Sounds easy, right? Well, you would think so. There was a small hole in the wall where one of the toilet paper holder thingies was screwed in, so I needed one that was bigger than what we had to cover that hole, after buying 2 of them, I found one that will work. Only problem is, one of the screws that is holding that thing in place is stripped and I can't get it out. So now I have a dangling silver thingie. Then I made the curtain, and I don't know what I was thinking, but I made it too wide. So I hemmed it along the side again and guess what? STILL too wide. I found a hand towel holder thing I like, but it's not big enough to cover the huge screws that are in the wall to hold the last hand towel holder in place. I can't get one of the knob screws out to put the new knob on. And, to top it all off, I think I need something else over the curtain, like a valance or something, it looks too plain. And I think the color is too dark, and I still need a second coat. Wow, I am SO not looking forward to doing the kitchen, if these are the problems I have in just this tiny bathroom, imagine doing a whole kitchen? I'm scared!!

Bathroom Remodel Rant

Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. I wanted to change just about everything in the guest bathroom, so I didn't do anything until I had all the stuff I wanted, new light fixture, new faucet, new knobs, new curtain, paint, switch plates, toilet paper holder, towel holder, etc. Maybe I should have just done a bit at a time. Anyway, I finally got it all, then started painting the bathroom this morning, and I just want to say thank you Home Depot Paint Worker. Mr. One-Quart-Should-Be-Plenty-for-a-Guest-Bath Man. I had about a two foot section left and I was smushing that paint roller down, trying to squeeze every last drop of paint out of the roller, using the tiny amount of paint left on the brush I used for the cutting in, so now it's kind of splotchy and I have to get ANOTHER quart. Oh well, it's on there good enough for me to put the cabinet doors back on and put the switch plates and light fixture and the other things up. I got some fabric from Ikea and made my own curtain (don't laugh) I can't sew to save my life, don't tell my grandma and aunts who worked in a sewing factory, that gene just did not come my way. But, I'm proud of my little makeshift $6.99 Ikea curtain. So, pictures will be posted soon, you know me, it just has to be perfect.

And cross your fingers that I don't electrocute myself when it comes time to switch out the light, I have no idea how to do that, and David is busy with another of our home upgrade projects, he put a big double gate in our fence on the side so we can park our new trailer in the back yard.

Fogo de Chao

You HAVE to eat here. It is SO good. David and I took the kids to the one in Houston ages ago, way back when they were young enough to eat for free. But we had our big family birthday celebration with David and his family (minus the rugrats) and it's a great place to go. They have a big salad bar with very odd, eccentric items, like hearts of palm, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, a variety of cheeses, smoked salmon, prosciutto, tabbouleh, and many other things. Then they bring out to the table, plates of garlic mashed potatoes, fried polenta, fried bananas, and these baskets of the best bread ever, warm little rolls stuffed with some kind of delicious cheese. Then the guys dressed like Brazilian Gauchos (?) walk around and offer you all kinds of meat. You have a coaster type thing, green on one side which means bring on the meat, red on the other side that means you've had enough meat to feed a small country. They have filet mignon, filet wrapped in bacon, chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, Italian sausage, bottom sirloin, top sirloin, rib eye, garlic rib eye, lamb chops, Parmesan pork tenderloin, beef and pork ribs, just about any kind of meat you could imagine. It's a great place for a family dinner, and perfect if you're on the Atkins diet!!

Bathroom Remodel - Step 1

Unfortunately it's not the master bathroom, BUT it is something on my resolution list, and something I've been wanting to get done for a long time now. In the powder bath, I took the cabinet doors off, sanded them down with my new Black and Decker Mouse, and applied the first coat of Black Ink paint. Kilz One Coat my a$$. But, it's looking good! It will probably take two coats, maybe three. Then I have to paint the walls, put in the new light fixture that we have, the new faucet that we have, and I am still on the hunt for the right curtain. I know in my head what I want, it's just finding it somewhere. Okay, that seems like so much more when I have it written down, but hey, first step is done, that's what counts! Baby steps.

Another Tooth Gone!

Regan has had this loose tooth for a while now, and it finally came out, she has the cutest little smile now. She was so excited to get her dollar bill from the tooth fairy, as soon as it fell out, she went and put the tooth under her pillow right away. It's a little harder for her to eat these days, but that hasn't slowed her down any!

New Year's Day

We had a pretty laid back day. We spent New Year's Eve at the Davidson's, and had a great time talking and laughing. On New Year's Day, Alex brought over some black eyed peas, and the kids played outside all day, mostly on the Pogo Stick and the Rip Stick. Pete, Jessi and Ashley came over to exchange presents and have a go on the Pogo. It wasn't too cold outside, so the kids had fun, getting some of their energy out.

New Year Goals

This year, I am setting some goals, not resolutions, and thanks to my friend J, I am listing them here:

Goal #1: To be healthier, exercise more, eat more organic, less processed foods, and take better care of myself, so I can take better care of my family. I decided instead of saying, "I need to lose __ pounds" and instead concentrate of being healthier, the weight will come off.

Goal #2: To work on the house. We've lived here 2 years now and there is a LONG list of things we have wanted to do to the house and never started. I want to paint my kitchen cabinets, paint the kitchen, basically paint the entire house, but also update all the 80's looking cabinets in all the bathrooms, and all the funky shiny brass light fixtures. This place could be awesome if we just did a little bit of updating, and did I mention, I'm getting WOOD FLOORS in February!! If I say it often enough, David will not go into shock when the time comes.

Goal #3: To be more responsible financially. I have to say, I think we do pretty well in this area, we have less than 2K in debt, my truck is almost paid for, and we don't have a ton of credit cards. But, I do feel like we spend more than we should on frivolous things like eating out and buying things for the kids. But I want to get completely out of debt and if we can't pay cash, we don't buy it. I want to save more, and learn to be happy and content with what we have.

Goal #4: To volunteer more. David will see this and groan. He thinks I do plenty at the kids school right now, but I mean more at church, and I have wanted to get back into CASA for a while now, since the kids are in school I have the time to do that. For the past two years at church it's been very nice just going and not being involved, but I think it's time to step up there and start doing something. My entire life raised in church, I've done just about every position there is to do in a church, so I shouldn't have a hard time finding something to do now!

And generally, I think we should all be thankful for what we do have. God has blessed each and every one of us with something, and sometimes it's easy to sit back and complain that we don't have as much as some people, or we don't have what we really want, but overall, we have our health, we have a roof over our head, and David is employed, our kids are healthy and happy, I feel so blessed!!

I hope everyone has a great and prosperous new years, and don't forget to set some goals for yourself, and look back on them next year and see how we've all grown!