~a day in this life~

WOW~ what a day I have had!!! I woke up way too late....8:30ish. I stayed up late last night working on this blog. This in and of itself can be exhausting when you're trying to change things around. I gave up the "ghost" around 11:30pm Back to the story.....I knew I HAD to get to the store, no matter what else I did to day, it was a must! I usually go w/o a list but there were things I knew I had to have & if I didn't have them written down then the chances of me forgetting them was really high! Made the short list, grabbed my 'green' bags, coupons, keys and was out the door when little man says, "wait Mom, can you check me when I'm done" which is code for "make sure I'm clean after I finish my business in the bathroom". Errr, I'm already behind but like a good Mommy, I did it. Finally, out the door and halfway down the street, I realize I don't have my phone. Now, I really could have done w/o it except for the fact that my mom was taking G-man to swim lessons & more than likely would be needing to ask me something or the bubs would be trying to locate me for some useless information. Turn around I did and retrieved the phone. Back out the door and to the store I go. I picked up what I needed. Thanks to the list, I spent less than what I anticipated. SCORE! Stopped at the house to unload the groceries, made sure that Grant got some lunch. So now my family won't starve.
On to the next task. I HAD to get my nails done. I think having acrylic nails is a double edged sword. I love that I have them for the simple fact that it prevents me from gnawing my fingernails down to the bone. But, it can get expensive and since I don't; really have a standing appointment, I have to show up & either wait or get right in depending on how busy they are. Luckily today, I got in quick. After this, I had to take my play sister Susan to the airport at 3pm so she could get back home to Cali. She called to tell me that she wanted to stop by Hobby Lobby. We spent too much time there. I was getting nervous about getting to the airport b/c with her physical disabilities, it takes a lot of work to get her checked in. I had to get her wheelchair out, re-do her carry on bag, grab the walker, make sure she had her purse & pushed her inside so she didn't die of heat. All the while, I'm dripping sweat like a whore in church! LOL So then I had to go park in short term, missed the entrance the first time, found a place to make a U-turn, took about 15 min. to find a parking spot which I almost had to fight over with another car. Opened the hatch to get her suitcase! OMG that thing almost took my back out. LOL! Struggling to get to her my phone is ringing which I can't get to. Get inside, push her to the kiosk to check in. Wait for the "bag drop" lady to tag her stuff. The big honkin' suitcase was over the weight limit, so I had to throw open the lid, take stuff out, put stuff in, rearrange, and finally got it down to a mere 51 lbs. Next up....security....oh what fun! The one good thing about escorting someone with a disability is that they get to skip line & go through w/o having to wait. Normally, Susan has to be patted down b/c she has a nerve stimulator in her back & it can set off the metal detector. This time she decided to walk through to save time. We were both dying of thirst by the time we got to the gate. She treated me to a frappacinno @ Starbucks. We sat for a bit, chatting about different things. Then, horror struck as I looked down at my nails and saw that the polish was totally messed up. Man! can't a girl get a break. Called the nail salon to let them know that I would be there @ 6pm for a redo on the polish. Left the airport at 5:45pm. I got the nails re-polished (learned that hand lotion can cause nail polish to "melt" b/c of some sort of chemical they put in it) and made plans to meet the guys for dinner. I was totally spent!! I had one more stop to make, a trip to Big Lots for two cricut cartridges that were on sale for a good price. Awww, relief came when I hit my front door and put my pj's on. What a DaY!!!!
Tomorrow, I get to chillax a bit with OBF at the Shores! Later Gators!

sunny CA

I'm here in the sunny state of CA. I came along with a close family friend & also to support a very special friend who is getting married in July. I haven't been away from my family by myself since 2002 when I quit a daycare job & went to visit my mom in Maryland over Memorial Day. That is the last time I went on a trip by myself. Now, I know some may be jealou b/c I don't have a child attached to my hip. YES! it is quite nice. I got to read 5 chapters of a book uninterrupted on the plane ride over here.It was wonderful. I have been doing a lot of reading lately. Mostly trying to read things that will help me listen to God's voice in my life. Currently I am reading "Thats my Son" by Rick Johnson. It is about raising a boy to be a man of character. Its really good@ Anyway, the bridal shower is tomorrow and then Sunday I am hoping to hook up with my cousins at the beach, hopefully in SaMo. Well, pictures will be later. I had hard time trying to decide if I wanted to bring my DSLR but I didn't b/c its quite bulky & I didn't want to fool with it. So I brought along my little handy Sony Cybershot. Okay, enough.....later!
~ard~

~founding members~

Emma & Grant: Founders of the Official "DerduhDer" Club!!!
August 2007 Fort Walton, FL
p.s. The Secretary is starting Kindergarten in the Fall & the Vice President is entering First grade. Where's the President? well, they haven't really decided who should fill that spot yet! LOL : )

I came across this picture when I was searching for another picture.....made me smile....had to share!

***a new motivation***

I guess I have been officially talkied into doing this. I really didn't expect to do a 1/2 marathon until next year BUT I guess there's no time like the present to get 'er done!
The only hitch is that I HAVE to get my left knee & quads strong enough to do this. Oh, and drop about 30 more lbs. This event is Sept. 25th. My OBF is going to train with me. When I finish this, WOW! what a great thing to be proud of, ya know? I'll keep uou posted on my progress!

***room renovation*** (part one)

My first step in this whole process was figuring out the colors I wanted to paint. I think I bought 4 different samples from Lowes. Good thing they have those, b/c it was hard to decide. My color choices came down to Autumn Fog & Moon Shade, in case you're interested. The next arduous task was getting ALL of the C-R-A-P OUT!! I had to take a couple of days to get it all out. I took down this solid cherry wood day bed all by myself and it was a doozy!! Grant was hiding in the corner trying to entertain me while I was struggling to take this sucker apart. I did it though & hauled it down the deck steps where its new home is the shed. I also have to mention here that this room used to be a computer room with a TItans theme, hence the old Eddie George poster. And....well....the Super Mario bros. poster came from G's "old man".

And in this corner used to stand a crummy, cheap, piece of crap computer desk. I remember distinctly when we bought the desk at Big Lots....like a million years ago. I took a hammer to it & demolished it within about 5 minutes. I didn't take pics of it b/c I wanted to spare you the ugliness of it.

The carpet needed some serious vacuuming......

FINALLY!!! got myself in gear with the paint supplies....this part is the most fun but the hardes part too..............I was sooooo sore the next day...........and to top it off, I had to go to my last personal training session later in the day.I got two coats up before leaving to be tortured....hehe

Just keep stirring, Just keep stirring, Just keep stirring................................

OK, so I was minding my own painting business when suddenly I got to this part of the wall & could not for the life of me figure out what the heck this circle was from. Then Bill reminded me that B.G. (before Grant), he tried to paint a Titans flame on the wall. It seems the sun had changed the color of whatever he painted on there to make it disappear. I love it when paint does its job....bye bye ugly circle..........

The first coat minus the trim areas.............this Autumn Fog color looks totally different in the light compared to darkness.........I was hoping it wasn't going to look too purplish.....

Awww, the stripes.............thanks to my bestie, she came over and helped, well, she did all the figuring out when it came to how wide and how far apart I wanted the stripes. She's got a good eye for stuff like this. The bottom stripe is actually a tad bigger than the top one but you can't really tell. She also helped witht he stripe painting too. Thanks HAM>>>U R the bestest!

YAY!!! the stripes were a bit difficult to paint just b/c you have to stay in between the tape. I boo-booed a lot but nothing a little water couldn't take care of. When the stripes were done, I pulled off the tape and had some more boo-boos to paint back over. Oh well, do it and move on. I am very happy with the stripes. I think that when Grant gets older, the color is versatile enough that we can do something a bit more grown up. He liked the paint color too which make me happy : )

I am still working on the decor so STAY TUNED for the next phase.....it includes a new bed, repurposed shelving, a cool poster, and some cute chairs........among other things!

~luvyameanit~

***bathroom closet decrapification***

Amidst my efforts in getting Grant's room together, I decided that the bathroom closet needed some serious decrapification. I am sooooooo ashamed of how lazy we all are when it comes to shoving stuff in this teeny tiny bathroom closet. Keep in mind also that this house has one full bath that three of us share so there's a lot of 'crap' in here. I am gonna do my best to keep it as tidy & neat as I possibly can.

Here is the middle part of the closet.

ATROCIOUS

The worst part of the mess is the bottom of the closet!

major uggghhh!!!
Aaaawwww....now this is much better.....
more organized.....less messy.....less clutter

The bottom part of the closet looks a "whole bunch more betta'"

What are you "decrapifying" at your house?

2 dollah

Here's a sweet little glass pitcher I got a yard sale for $2 buckaroos!!! picked up some clean white daisies @ WallyWorld and voila! a cute little spring pick me up!