Things......

Top of the list of things? 


Charlie Sheen.  Holy shit.  I'm completely riveted.  I know it's wrong, but I can't help it.


Other things?

• My dear friend Michelle is about to have her first baby.  It's a girl and I'm DYING to meet her.  Michelle and I met in the 10th grade.  Here we are our senior year of high school:

By the way, that hair?  It's your first clue that we were fun girls to be around.  Dull people didn't do their hair like that in 1987.  'Nuff said.

Michelle used to come over once a week when Noodle was an infant. 
You see, Noodle was very colicky and cried nonstop from the hours of 6 pm and 10 pm every night.  Zuddy needed a break once a week to be with friends, refresh himself and regain his sanity before he had to deal with his 2 crying girls for another 6 days.  This is when Michelle stepped in.  She'd come over and hold my crying kid and guess what?  She was just what we both needed!  Look at Noodle!  Noodle loved her!

Michelle would send Noodle a card for every holiday.  She loves Halloween, so one Halloween she picked up Noodle from school in costume and took her out to dinner to her favorite restaurant, Noodles & Company.



2006



Michelle met a really nice guy and married him on St.Patrick's day 2009:

and now she's due with baby girl Finnegan on Sunday!! 

I was over at her house all last week doing her spring cleaning because she's on bed rest, the poor girl.  Anyway, that's part of my baby gift to her.  Because did you know I'm not working right now?  Well, I'm not.

So instead of just accepting my gift and calling it a day, she went and bought me something I've been wanting for so long but wouldn't buy myself:

wen shampoo  err......cleansing conditioner, deep conditioner and styling creme!!!!  Have you seen the infomercials for it?  I'm totally seduced by those commercials.  I'll let you know if my hair is bouncin' and behavin' after I use it! 

Thank you all for the kind words about Dad and sister, ladies.  I appreciate your good thoughts!  I'll let you know how things are going.  I'm about to go to the hospital right now and give my dad a mani-pedi :)

Oh!!  Here's a funny clip from Jimmy Kimmel live.  Zuddy showed it to me this morning and we were HOWLING with laughter because "Elizabeth Hill Theater" was showing Toddlers and Tiaras over the holiday break.

We've got the Pox...

.....over here on Elizabeth Hill.

Just the Noodle, mind you. But she's got them in her throat, in her ears, on her toungue - yikes.

Guess what else? She's starting Violin lessons at school. She's so excited. Today was her first lesson - and of course she missed it, but one of the the Moms called to tell me that her first assignment is to name her violin. Right now "Jane" and "Sarah" are in the running. I don't mean to leave you all hanging, but I'll let you know when a decision has been made. In the meantime, I'm lobbying for "Tina Fey".

What? I like Tina Fey. She's funny!

Amy, I have that house tour waiting in the wings for you. There are a few choice photos I couldn't copy for some reason, so I'm going to try again tomorrow.

One more thing: I watched a show last night:

And I'm not embarassed to say that I watched it solely for the fabulous eye candy that is Simon Baker.

Oh yes I did.

When it came on? Zuddy gave me the 'eye-roll with a half back twist'. For those of you who don't know what that is? Its when your husband throws his head back and slightly to the side while rolling his eyes in exasperation at your bad TV viewing habits.

And then? He calls you on the fact that you could care less about the content of the show you're about to watch by suggesting you turn down the sound and play some nice John Mayer while you watch the moving picture show.

Gol-ly I love that Zuddy. He always comes up with the best ideas!

Must Be Rough......

Somebody is sick - I think.

On Monday, I knew she was. She had a fever and sore throat.

Today? I'm not so sure.....she's been putting on a good show though, so I think we will take her to Dr. Beth for a throat culture.

Check out that SA-WEET bedhead, people :) And you know what she's doing? Watching that TV I won from Lisa!


I don't have a cable hook-up for it in the kitchen (or anywhere else besides the living room), so we hooked it up to a dvd player I got from my mom and now she can watch DVD's and we don't have to suffer! And we can totally ignore her.
Which is why we had her in the first place.
Well, you know, to ignore her and make her serve us.

Speaking of the Noodle....She and Zuddy went camping for two nights last weekend. And Zuddy happened to take all of 4 pictures. Sheesh. He's as bad as me, dudes! At least he captured her first Jiffy Pop experience:



Okay....I think I've made it clear that I have nothing to say today.

Except this: I'm sure you all saw that Tom Cruise Scientology video, right? Well, did you happen to see the Jerry O'Connell spoof of it?
Hilarious, people. Jerry O'Connell is a hoot.
That's right....you heard me: A HOOT . Check it out.

Nate on Oprah

DUDES.

Did you see Oprah yesterday??

I watched it right after my dear friend, Kirst, and I got back from Homegoods. We had just had this conversation about why we Americans feel the need to have everything we want, be materialistic, live beyond our means and decorate our houses to the hilt.

A-hem.

Anyway....did you see what he did to those houses???? My favorite was the kitchen - that couple was adorable! I want to be friends with them......did you hear when the lady said she wanted to marry Nate? She told him he could learn to love her, or something like that! Hilarious!

If you didn't see it, click here.

And here's a photo of the kichen:

Aaaaaahhhhhhh.............beeeeeaaaauuutious, huh?

Now.

I'm going to work today. So I can have this:

>

And this:



And maaaayyyyybe even THIS:

Clearly I'm not the one with the materialism issues, am I?

The Bowl of Coffee......

Yup. Looking at this picture, you really can't tell how large this cup is, but trust me, it fits more into the "bowl" category than the "cup" category.

My coffee consumption has drastically increased lately. I'm up to 2 bowls of coffee every blessed day, people.
I'm cutting down, starting..........never! Ha!!

No. Really, I'm going to start cutting back today.
Just a bowl and a half for me today...yessiree! Baby steps, right?
Right.

SIGH.

So many things to discuss......where to begin?

Okay.....how about the fact that I've been thinking about getting a job. But I'm sooooo stuck. There are huge benefits to me staying home with the Noodle.
"But wait!", you say, " The Noodle's not home on most days!"
See? Do you see where this is going?
Yeah.
I don't think my services are needed here anymore.

AND. Here's the thing: I can't finish the kitchen, get a new dishwasher or anything else until I bring in some ka-ching. So I'm scouting things out.....which brings me to my next photo.




This photo is featured on the AOL article entitled, "Jobs That Are Built To Last".

First of all: If I encountered this dude at the doctor's office, I'd run away.
Giggling.
Then, I'd make some ever-so-expected-in-poor-taste-naughty joke like, "He sure looks like he's built to last!"

He's just too hot.

Not even a remotely realistic depiction of a medical professional. Hey...I'm not saying medical professionals are ugly or anything. My doctor is a handsome guy. Just not smokin' hot.

But look at the way he's looking at us! Do you think he's interested in us? Ha haaaaaa!

So....back to reality.

I'm looking for a job that pays well and regularly, has virtually no responsibility, won't miss me when I have to stay home with my sick kid, and lets me off for summers and school holidays.

Hmmmm.

Is this the conundrum I keep reading about in all of those women's magazines?



More thoughts:

• I'm taking a tiling class next weekend. I can't wait. I'd like to start thinking about the backsplash


• I'm loving the new TV season!!! How about Pam and Jim on The Office??? And the Unit? Such a great show. Too bad they speak in covert language so much......I always have to have my Zuddy right there to translate for me. How about that. (Jonas always says that on the show.)


• I've been on a cooking binge with the cooler weather. I've made 2 soups: Carrot Ginger and White Bean with Kale. The White Bean and Kale soup I just shot from the hip and made it. Sooooooo good!!!! Even Zuddy loved it. We had nothing to eat in the house, but I had the kale lying around from my CSA box, a little bacon, carrots, onion, canned beans and some chicken stock from the freezer. Oh. And really good Parmesan. That's it!


• It's almost my Mommy's birthday! She'll be 67 years old! I can't believe it.


• Fran is STILL in the hospital!! Remember when I talked about my sister, Myrna's, Mom? It's been almost 2 weeks, I think! Last I heard, they were going to install a pacemaker. I think she's been a real puzzle for the doctors. (***since starting this post, I've heard that Fran has some internal bleeding and a gazillion ulcers in her stomach. They can't install the pacemaker until they stop the internal bleeding. If you're a pray-er, please say one for our Fran!)


• There is a big weekend of antiquing in my friend MJ's town of Buffalo, Minnesota!! I think it's this weekend!


• I need to update my blog list. Here's a great blog I've found through another one of my favorites: The Emory Restoration. The dude who writes this is a total riot. I found this blog through another favorite blog (one that every one knows about) , House In Progress.

• Franklin and I went to Ikea today. He LOVED it. He was actually all babbly and smiley!!!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am. He was an absolute blast.

So that's it today. I'm about to go over to my neighbor's house and help her with the priming of her kitchen cabinets!

Have a great day :)

Somebody's Got A Case Of The Mondays......

Not me.......but I'm sure somebody out there does!

I had such a nice weekend! I told you about the whole Saturday thing. Yesterday was my Mother's Day. I did whatever I wanted - which was going to be a day in the garden, but it was c-c-c-c-cold out yesterday. Like 42 degrees, cold! So I went to the Farmer's Market and bought some salad greens, french bread, onions and asparagus and then went to the grocery store and got some cheese and made a yummy dinner of French onion soup and green salad with a champagne-mustard vinaigrette.

Oooo! I also found a farmer to buy my meat from. As a matter of fact, I ran into my neighbor Ann, who was buying her meat from the farmer's market, too! I think I might organize a little neighborhood walk to the market (it's only 2 miles away) and then have Zuddy come pick us up and drive us home. Wouldn't that be fun?

The noodle is sick again today!! If I were a working Mom, I would've lost my job by now. Between the noodle and me, we've been sick wayyyy too much.

Ooo! Did everyone watch The Office on thursday? Ooooo! It was so good! What's up with Jan, though? Was she always that nutty? Dwight cracks me up!

Are you slumped over asleep reading this yet? I'll quit now. I really don't have much to write about today. Hope you have a great day :)

The Unit

Oh, come ON! Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about the television show, people!!! Does anybody out there watch this show? The season 2 finale was a week or two ago, so Zuddy and I got season 1 from Netflix (we just started watching it this year). We stayed up until 1am watching the first disc (I'm a go to bed at 9pm girl, normally.). It's SUCH a great show! It's the one show (besides Antiques Roadshow) we will sit together and watch.

Plus, it has Scott Foley in it.

'Nuff Said. Check it out!

Okay, so the other morning I got up and something weird caught my eye as I passed the Noodle's bedroom (she slept with me that night because Zuddy was on his little trip):

I know, I know. Two dollies asleep. Nothing weird, but something just kind of creeped me out for some reason (I didn't have my glasses on yet):

Aaaarrrrrrrghhhhhh! Doesn't that look kind of creepy? Now that it's 4 days later, it's not as jarring, but believe me, it was disturbing then.

We had the greatest night last night - Zuddy's cousin needed us to watch her 2 boys (ages 4 and 3) while they attended their older daughter's dance recital. They were so darn adorable!!! They rode Noodle's bike and scooter up and down the block all night and everybody stopped by to meet them!

Ina , a senior in HS, was all dressed up and going to prom, so we got to see how beautiful she looked.

Ann, who is a student counselor at the UofM, was walking her shelty, Marty. Helen and John (she's a Mennonite Minister and Hospital Chaplin, he's a Paramedic) stopped by after a 12 mile bike ride.

Then a group of 4 people on bikes, scooters and Rollerblades popped by. I had never met any of them before, but they were so friendly and one of the guys was riding on a really cool recumbent bike, so I asked him about it. Well, Zuddy saw who I was talking to and shook his hand and called him and his wife by name! Turns out, it's this guy who owns a new store in the neighborhood. Zuddy actually told me about the store (it's a consignment store) and how nice the owners were. He brings Noodle there all the time because they always have a fun trinket on sale for the little ones. Boy, are they ever nice. The other two people they were with were a guy and his son from the neighborhood. They just happened to to stop at the store and they all decided to go for a ride together!!! How cool is that??

I think the Noodle and I are going to go to their store today. I was driving by yesterday and saw a really nice Specialized bike just her size!

Anyway, I digress.....the little boys played so hard last night that they needed a bath. Oh my gosh - you should've seen the dirt left in the tub after they got out! It was so cute - we're not used to that with a prissy little girl in our house! Those boys are so much fun!

Isn't that a great evening? Oh! And I went out for Indian food at lunchtime with my friends from work. I love Indian food. Deeeeelish.

I hope you all have a great Saturday! Whatchya doin' today?

Arg!! I lost my entry!

So you're all going to get the "cliff's notes" version of the lost post:

• I was going to go with the black and white tiles, but there's an agreement with everyone that the tan would be better. THANK YOU! I needed that. I'm going with your suggestions!

• I'm scrapping the whole chandelier idea and I'm going with this fixture from Rejuvenation. It's $110 - way cheaper than any of the others. (Jen, all of the others are from Ballard Designs.)

• I got all of my stuff from Ballard Designs yesterday! I'm replacing this ugly fixture in my living room:

With this one:

• The Noodle and I have agreed on a wallpaper for the kitchen. It's a surprise! And I hope you are pleasantly surprised :)
• I'm waiting for my new favorite HBO series dvd to arrive from Netflix. It's called "Big Love" and I'm on the first season. It's about this man who owns 2 Home Depot-like home improvement stores and his polygamist personal life....he has 3 wives. It's not for the kiddies. And if you decide you need to see it, please forgive me if you are offended. But, you know, it's an HBO series, so there's a good chance its offensive to someone, right?

I really really really appreciate everybody's inputs on the floors and lighting!

Hey Jen! You can find Mrs. Meyer's products on Mrs. Meyers website or a lot of times at nicer grocery stores and gift shops. I'm seriously thinking about ordering online because I get really peaved when I get to the store and they're out of the Verbena scent. Chaps my hide, girl.