Good times – Page 11

November 11, 2011December 18, 2011

11~11~11

First of all, Happy Veterans Day. Thank you so very much to all our servicemen and women for all you do, have done, and always continue to do.

But back to that date. Cool, eh? Especially if you’re one of those people who loves the superstition surrounding 11:11 and all that, today must be like Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, how is it that it’s already basically the middle of November?? Who told the Holidays they had permission to sneak up like this? Yes, Holidays with a capital H, because they always barge right in and steamroll over everyone/thing like they own the whole end of the year. Eat this turkey! Wrap these presents! Drink this nog! Geez.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the Holidays. Especially Thanksgiving; it has surpassed Christmas as my favorite. You get to relax (hopefully) and spend time with family (unless you can’t stand your family, then i guess it wouldn’t really be one of your faves), eat a ton of delicious food, and not have to worry about the gift-giving that comes with Christmas. And then later that night and certainly the next day (or 5) comes the best part – leftovers! R has started a tradition in our house, too, that beginning on Thanksgiving we play the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack to kick off the Christmas music season. NOT BEFORE!

Then Christmas is great, because who doesn’t like getting presents (or if you’re like me you actually enjoy giving them more now)? Plus all the decorations are really beautiful, and I do still feel like there’s just something magical about Christmas. Especially if we get a white Christmas (the 1 time of year i actually will tolerate and kind of welcome a snowfall) – I always feel like I could go outside and find some secret reindeer hoof prints somewhere. And Christmas morning? Forget it. I always feel like a kid when my eyes first pop open that day – it’s Christmas!! Now having a kid of our own, it’s even better. It will really be fun once D gets the whole idea, and I hope we can keep the Christmas magic alive for her for years and years to come. And yes, I still put out cookies and milk for Santa. It’s tradition!

And of course then comes New Year’s Eve, the granddaddy of all parties. What better excuse to have a bunch of bubbly and make out with your beloved at the stroke of midnight? (or all night long if you’ve imbibed in a little too much of said bubbly. *ahem*) Streamers and hats and confetti and noise makers and fancy outfits, because everyone needs a little bit of sparkle on New Year’s Eve. It’s fun. And last year we did even make it up past midnight with tiny barely-5-month-old D snuggled soundly in her crib.

This year will be a little different, however. Thanksgiving is golden – we’re spending the day itself at home, just the 3 of us, which will be awesome. Then D and I are heading down to my mom’s house for a couple days to see family, and R’s going up to his fam’s area to see them and attend his 15 year high school reunion that he’s organizing. But then for Christmas, we’re leaving on a jet plane to get our luau on in HAWAII! That’s right, don’t hate. We are so lucky to be getting to spend the entire holiday week on the sunny shores of Maui. Aloha Oe! We fly back overnight on NYE, spend a day with my sisters and brother-in-law in Denver, and get home in 2012. Crazy.

So you see, it’s kind of a non-traditional celebration for us this year. It’ll be awesome, no doubt, but it’s oddly kind of throwing my brain into a planning tizzy. Like should we get a Christmas tree since we won’t even be home over Christmas? And if we do, should I take it down and throw it out before we leave so I don’t have to mess with it when we get home, or would that be too much of a dead giveaway to potential robbers (always thinking, i am)? Are we doing gifts out there with everyone (we’re going with my mom, stepdad, 2 sisters, bro-in-law, and step-bro and -sis), because how are we going to pack presents without spending a mortgage payment on overweight bag fees or taking 24 suitcases? What in the hell are we going to do with a toddler on a what, 8 hour flight? Make that TWO 8 hour flights. Do I need to go shopping for anything before we go or do D and I have sufficient cuteness in our wardrobes for a Christmas week in the sun (R’s good. it’s so not fair how boys can pack for any extended amount of time in approximately 7 minutes)? Because let’s be honest – traveling to beachy places is all about looking good while soaking up rays (yes, wearing SPF. i’m sure i’ve done plenty of sun damage to my skin already for about 18 lifetimes). Oh, and enjoying my wonderful family’s company, of course.

So you see, my organization-loving mind is starting to spin a little. I am truly excited for this trip, because although I’ve been to Hawaii 5 times now, I’ve only been to Maui once, and that was our honeymoon. And it’s one of the few places I’ve ever been where I really would have been totally fine never coming home. It’s simply amazing. But my Holiday calendar is now a little gnarly. Throw in a trip to central IL the weekend after Thanksgiving to see my dad and his side of the family, and my free weekends between now and the end of the year are quickly running out. Maybe I’ll just look at this picture continually until then to wash some of the worries away and remember to just have fun and enjoy the Holiday season, no matter where we are…

October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

So yesterday was the assigned day for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Does anyone else have this? Designated times and days for trick-or-treating? Personally, I think it’s dumb. I mean I know they do it for safety and stuff like that, but really? It kind of takes the fun out of the holiday. When we were younger you always went trick-or-treating on Halloween night, no matter what day of the week it was, after dinner, with your parent who waited on the sidewalk while you went up to every door you could manage before your feet got too tired or your pumpkin got too full of candy or that parent who was so patiently tagging along decided it was time to go home. Now for us it’s always the Sunday before Halloween, or if Halloween happens to be on a Sunday then I guess we luck out.

And what really stinks about having trick-or-treating this way is that you always get inundated with people who bring in carloads of kids from all different areas of the city to simply clean up on getting all the candy they can, every day they can. That’s not fair. You don’t live here, I’ve never seen you before, and you’re neither wearing a costume nor bothering to say “trick-or-treat”! That’s the part that really annoys me.

But anyway… Yesterday was D’s first time trick-or-treating, and it was so much fun! Last year she was still just a wee lass and sat on Daddy’s knee to help pass out candy as a little moo-cow. This year, however, she was big enough to walk around to a handful of our neighbors’ houses with Daddy and get her own candy in her little orange pumpkin. She was Little Red Riding Hood, and Daddy was her Big Bad Wolf. Love!!

Friday morning - I was a ladybug for trick-or-treating at daycare!

P1090551 — 1 of 3 ladybugs that morning (but still the cutest!)

Happy Halloween!!

October 27, 2011October 27, 2011

I’m crazy pumpkin head – give me some candy!

Unlike my husband, who holds this as his favorite holiday, I’ve never really been a big Halloween fan. Maybe it’s because I’m extremely uncreative (if that’s a word) and can never think up nor really feel like putting together a good costume, whereas he is the master. I mean, I always liked Halloween parties in school and stuff, and admire people who go all out on the decorations. You know, dry ice for scary smoke; bowls of jello, spaghetti, and grapes to represent various guts and body parts; robotic mummies and witches all over the place to bend over or jump out and scare you at just the right moment; spooky music. It’s just never been my thing to try and set up all that paraphernalia.

I’m more the simple pumpkins and mums on the front porch type. And although I’m the biggest wimp on the planet, I will admit that even I do like a really good, seriously frightening horror movie this time of the year. As long as there’s someone sitting next to me into whose lap I can jump, or a giant blanket under which to hide myself at the really terrifying parts, that is.

Carving pumpkins has never been the highlight of my year either, as I hate grabbing through all the innards and usually just go with a traditional smiling jack-o-lantern face. This year, however, I decided to spice things up a bit with the carving. We had a couple carving kits leftover from years past that I busted out last night, and we now have some pretty sweet-looking pumpkins on our front steps. And no, I didn’t suddenly get all artistically talented or anything; they were stencils. R did do D’s free-hand, though. See, I told you he’s the creative one in this family.

A little pumpkin? For me? Thanks! (pay no attention to the overflowing recycling bin in the background. *ahem*)

Clothes get in the way of pumpkin carving

Bonus pic - D's new play corner in the living room

p12 — Mommy's (pattern was really called pumpkin head)

Didn’t they turn out great? It only took a couple hours to get them all finished because I had to give D a bath in the middle and then her incoming molar caused a scene at bedtime, but I’d say it was worth it. I did enjoy seeing D playing with her pumpkin this year, so that got me a little more in the Halloween spirit. And instead of real candles, this year we’re using little flickering pumpkin lights so we don’t have to worry about them constantly blowing out. Geniuses at work, I tell ya.

Happy Halloween!

October 24, 2011

I was selfish, and it was glorious

After last week’s less-than-stellar performance on the record books, I decided I needed a treat. You know, some “me” time, some time to not have to think about anything, some time to relax, some time to not have to clean up a mess or sweep up a pile of crap. In other words, out of the house by myself.

So what did I do? I booked a Great Lakes hot stone massage at the Kohler Waters Spa. Go big, or go home, my friends. R’s mom had given me a gift card to the spa for Christmas last year, and I hadn’t made time for yet. So I thought what better way to do a me day than at the spa? And not just any spa – KOHLER! For those of you who haven’t been there, it is magnificent. You wouldn’t think a tiny town in east central Wisconsin would have a beautiful spa facility, but oh, it does. Kohler boasts a whole host of top-rate hotels, restaurants, golf courses, and of course, this spa. Check them all out here if you’d like to do a little pining.

Yes, it’s an hour away, and yes, it’s ridiculously expensive, but that’s why I ask for gift cards to the place whenever someone needs gift ideas. Duh. It is the ultimate. I arrived an hour before my appointment so I could take full advantage of the place. I was paying a $40 usage fee after all, so you’re damn right I was gonna get my money’s worth! We’re talking a rooftop whirlpool lounge with a fireplace – check. A deep, cold plunge pool followed by a soak in another hot whirlpool – check. My incredible hot stone massage – check. And obviously Kohler rain showers to freshen up afterward – check. That is my kind of heaven.

I got to read my 4 week backlog of People magazines without interruption; I got to listen to my choice on the radio on the way up and back with the speakers as loud as I wanted (a little Adele and hip-hop, both of which are rarely on with r in the car); and I got to feel a whole lotta pent-up stress wash away. It was perfect, and just what I needed. Of course I had to clean up the messes that awaited me as soon as I got home, but it was fun while it lasted.

Then yesterday I had a mini-continuation of my self-centered glory when I took an almost hour and a half nap, smack dab in the middle of the day! What?? I never get to do that. We went out for brunch, and D was ready to conk out when we got home. So instead of cleaning up or reading or messing around on the computer while she was asleep as I usually do, I dozed out in the sun for about 20 minutes then headed into bed to sleep for another hour. Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!

So yeah, I was a little selfish with my time this weekend, but it was absolutely worth it. It was so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend doing the same. (my own little adaptation of an awesome line from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. love that movie!)

October 16, 2011February 10, 2012

Week in My Life – Day 7: Sunday

We made it! The final day in my Week in My Life with Mel from Adventuroo, and I survived. I’ll admit, it’s been hard work and some late nights, remembering to capture all the everyday moments I wanted to share with you all, figuring out what I wanted to say about everything so you got a true glimpse into our lives, and getting each picture edited and uploaded here for your viewing pleasure.

But you know what? It’s been great! I’m so glad I undertook this endeavor because I think looking back on this record of these 7 days years from now to see how we all looked, how little D was, and what our daily routine was will be pretty special. So here’s how my last day went down…

I know yesterday I said I was going to document our sports moments this weekend, but today’s Brewers vs. Cardinals game got moved to a 7:05pm start time, since the Texas vs. Detroit series ended yesterday. That meant ours was now the only game being played today, so they pushed it back to be a night game for tv.

Total boo on that, since night games are harder for D, what with the staying up late and being at the ball park way past her bedtime. Plus it totally screwed up our tailgating plans, because R was making jambalaya for it today and now we didn’t feel like lugging all the stuff for it out there.

Night games we usually park outside the park lots and walk in, which isn’t conducive for tailgating. Plus doing my post after another night game would mean staying up way late for me again, and I just got caught back up on my sleep from last week. So anyway… A change of post plans.

Instead of Brewers game pictures, I thought I’d share a little of our outside time this afternoon since it turned out to be a really nice Fall day.

D took a nap from 11:00 this morning until almost 12:30, then had some lunch and we headed outside to play with Daddy while he listened to the Packers on the radio and cooked the jambalaya in the driveway since it wasn’t going to Miller Park with us.

These were all taken around 2:00pm and prove that D was a little less enthused to be “jumping” in the pile of leaves than we expected. They were also taken with a real camera, not my iPhone this time. My treat, you’re welcome.

So that’s that! I hope you’ve all enjoyed sharing a week of my life with me. I know I’ve discovered some great blogs and bloggers through this process, and hopefully some feel the same about me. Like I said, this has been kind of a marathon blogging experience for me, so now I need to rest my feet. I’m gonna take a little break, but I’ll be back in a few days, nice and refreshed. Stay tuned!

Week in My Life. The End.

October 12, 2011October 12, 2011

Week in My Life – Day 3: Wednesday

This Week in My Life with Adventuroo is rolling right along, so let’s see how Wednesday played out, shall we? In case you need a recap, you can check out Monday and Tuesday here and here.

Just as a reminder, I’m focusing on documenting the “after work” hours of my days here, since those are what’s most important to me. However, I thought I’d give you a sneak peek as to what my desk looks like during all those hours I’m hiding from you, so I compiled this little gem today. I sit in front of 4 monitors all day, so I tried to capture that. This pic doesn’t really do my setup justice, but here is what each of my monitors looks like, in their real-life order from left to right.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way…

As we creep closer and closer to the end of our prolonged nice weather here, we decided to take advantage today and go out into the woods on the Ice Age Trail after work. Each year we like to hike up to a big lookout tower near Sheboygan called Parnell Tower, which is roughly an hour from our house. So I left work earlier than usual today to go pick up D and head north before the rush hour traffic ensued.

We left home just before 4:30 and started our hour-long hike just before 5:30. I carried D in the backpack carrier on the way up, R carried her on the way down, and she squealed with delight as she touched many trees along the way. There was even a puppy at the tower with his owners when we got up there. She was thrilled!

You’ll have to forgive the blurriness of the actions shots, because they’re, well, action shots. And taken on a phone camera. Ahem.

By the time we got back to the car, dark was settling in and we were starving, so we decided to hit up KFC on the way home. I can’t remember the last time I ate this since I’m not really a fan of fried chicken, but R got it in his head on the way there and I was so hungry I would’ve agreed to eat just about anything by then. I gave D her dish of Cheerios and a bottle of milk when we got in the car, and she was lulled to sleep by the highway rhythm within half an hour. We tuned into the start of the Brewers game, and what a dismal one it was, with Gallardo giving up 4 runs in the first inning. Eesh. Too bad it never got much better for the Crew tonight.

This next picture is beyond terrible, as it was taken on my iPhone like all the others and zoomed in as far as possible to aim at something in our orbit, but I couldn’t not take a shot of the amazingly gorgeous harvest moon we saw on the drive home. It was huge, orange, and simply beautiful, shining brightly down on the hills and fields of the countryside. It was very Halloween-y as it peered out between leafless tree branches, and it was even surrounded by a light haze of clouds. I half expected to see the silhouette of a witch on her broomstick flying past it.

The coolest part of all, though, was the shooting star I saw on the way home. I couldn’t believe it! I haven’t seen one in ages, and it wasn’t even totally dark outside. In fact, no other stars were out yet, but this was definitely a shooting one. So I made a wish, wished again on the first real star I saw in the night sky, and hoped they both come true.

We pulled into the driveway at 7:40, and I was hoping I could just get D inside, changed, and quickly back to sleep with the aid of another bottle of milk. I was planning on giving her some green beans and mashed potatoes from KFC, but she’d been asleep so long at that point and it was past her bedtime anyway, I just preferred she go to bed as quickly as possible. Too bad my nice smooth bedtime transition didn’t turn out to be so nice and smooth. D became inconsolable as I was changing her and only took a few drinks of her bottle. She screamed harder when I tried to put her down, so I just cradled her in my arms in the glider next to her crib and patted her back while rocking. This seemed to work, and she snuggled in so hard while slowly calming down. After a few minutes she clamored up onto my shoulder in a big bear hug and fell asleep. Poor little girl. I was afraid she’d wake up at some point in the night since she had so little to eat for dinner, and I was right. Not 5 minutes after I left her room she awoke crying. R went in there and got her back to sleep with some more rocking and a little bit of milk, and fortunately we didn’t hear a squeak after that.

Now here it is, 9:20, and I need to get in the shower before uploading all the photos for this post. I’m a total greaseball after getting all sweaty carrying my 25 lb. baby rucksack on the first half of our hike. These Week in My Life posts are keeping me up past my bedtime, but I think it will certainly be worth it in the end. Stay tuned for Thursday’s antics. You know the best part about Thursday, don’t you? It’s 1 day closer to Friday, wahoo!

October 11, 2011October 11, 2011

Week in My Life – Day 1: Monday

I’m excited to be joining a pretty rad-sounding week-long series over at Adventuroo – Week in My Life. My mission? Document a week of my life pictorially, with as many or as few supporting words as I’d like. Sounds pretty cool, eh? And since this blog is all about “Life as I know it…”, well that seems just fitting, wouldn’t you say?

Now I’m definitely not a pro at this like Melissa is, so I’m going to try to capture just a portion of each day of the week this week, as opposed to all day every day. My time at home after work each day is what I really want to remember here, so that’s where I’ll focus my Week in My Life efforts this time around. Plus I’m not so sure my workplace would appreciate me running around snapping pictures of me and everyone else at their desks for all those hours anyway.

Here we go…

Tonight we were fortunate enough to have tickets to Game 2 of the NLCS at Miller Park, so I left work at 4:00 to go pick up D and head home to get her fed, changed, and have some supper before heading to the stadium. We were so excited to see if the Brewers could pull off another win against the Cardinals to take a 2-0 series lead!

I forgot to take a shot of the clock when I left my desk, so the car radio will have to suffice. And please excuse the less-than-professional quality of my pictures tonight – they were all taken on my iPhone.

D actually came willingly and excitedly to me today at daycare, which was great. Touchdown!

We got home just after 4:30, and I fed her right away while R ran to the store to get fixins for our subs for dinner. While D was eating I also unloaded the dishwasher from the previous night’s load. Multi-tasking. Key.

She loved drinking her water out of a different cup with dinner, then happily watched Daddy make sandwiches.

That happiness soon turned to squirminess, however, and it was time to get D out of the chair and cleaned up. We finally got everyone fed and ready to go, and headed to the ball park around 5:45.

The Good Year blimp hovered over the stadium all game tonight, which was pretty cool to see.

Once inside we took up post in our usual standing room only spot behind section 118 and cheered on the good guys. Go Brewers! Or touchdown! as D likes to call it.

This vantage point was great and all, provided a nice view of the field and had plenty of room for us and the stroller, but since this was our 2nd game in as many nights we were ready to actually sit in our seats and give the legs a rest. So up to the nosebleed section we climbed. Fortunately Guest Services was outstanding and let us “check” our stroller into their room so we didn’t have to mess with trying to cram it into the jam-packed row of seats in our section. Bonus points, Brewers.

While sitting up there, also, I was reminded of our wedding while watching the Jumbo-tron. R’s cousin plays for the Brewers and did that year, too, and the day after our wedding they surprised us with a huge congratulatory sign for us and our wedding party up on the big screen during the game. Too bad I was climbing the stairs when they showed it and missed it completely. Ah well, it’s the thought that counts, and that was an incredible gesture.

After an inning or 2 the close quarters and vertigo-inducing grade of the rows made us a little antsy, so we decided to give up resting our feet and headed back down a few levels. We had to make a pit-stop on the way to change D into her 2nd pair of jammies, since she peed through her original outfit while sitting on R’s lap up there. Oops. Our good friends A & S were also at the game, so we hung out behind their section for a bit to chat and commiserate over how poorly our team was doing. Ugh. Della loved S’s Brewers beads, though.

Finally after 7 and 1/2 innings we decided to head home. The Brewers were down 9-2 at that point, and went on to lose 12-3 unfortunately, so we didn’t miss anything by skipping out ahead of the crowd. We were all so tired and D really needed to get to bed. She fell asleep in the car on the way home so this was my last shot for the day.

She did do another gagging coughing spell on the way home in her sleep and got a little puke on herself, but it turned out to be mainly on the car seat straps and not her, so fortunately we didn’t have to change her into yet another set of pjs once inside a little before 10:30. Gheesh.

Now here I am, up waaay past my bedtime, putting together my 1st day of Week in My Life for you. I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned – 6 more to go!

**sorry, i don’t know why my pics are all screwed up and jammed to the left. they look centered when i’m editing the post, promise. i’ll try to make sure they look better for tomorrow.