This...

Is what a year’s supply of bandages looks like.

Seriously!?!

When I got home from my marathon of errand running today, I found this big box in the dining room. I could not imagine what it was since I didn’t remember ordering anything. Obviously, I forgot that I won the 3M Nexcare bandages at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Here’s what we got: 8 boxes of Tattoo bandages (2 each of Ratatouille, Emotions, Disney Princesses and Winnie the Pooh – that’s 160 bandages); 3 boxes of Brights with Extra Cushion & Stick (total of 60); 9 boxes of Waterproof bandages in a variety of sizes (150 total); 13 boxes of Heavy Duty bandages (258 total); 7 boxes of Comfort Fabric bandages (150 total); and 10 boxes of Active Sport bandages (240 total).

If you lost track trying to add in your head, that’s a grand total of 1,018 bandages. Seriously!?! To utilize all of these bandages in one year, we would have to use 2.789 bandages per day. Unless I put out an email to my community informing my neighbors that they can stop by the House o’ Glamour for a bandage, we’re going to have our supply for longer than a year! I am praying that we won’t have the need to use all of our 1,018 bandages in a year.

Thanks again to Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom for hosting awesome giveaways! And, thanks to the folks at 3M for all of these Nexcare bandages…they’re awesome. And, they just didn't toss the bandages into the box. They included a very nice letter congratulating me on winning the bandages and wishing my family a summer full of skinned knees. No, the letter didn't include that last part, but Mr. Carter, Communications Manager did wish my family a nice summer! Who would have thought that I would be this giddy over bandages!

I’m off to pack for our long weekend mini vacation…since we’re visiting a lake park and a water park, I think that I’ll toss in a box of the waterproof bandages!

Up to My Elbows in Ribbon and Off to Retreat!

My poor glamorous blog has been neglected because my little business venture has taken off! I officially launched Li Tian Designs 12 days ago and have sold 20 tags already! I have been designing and tying ribbon like crazy! I love the whole design process and my customers have been so enthusiastic about their tags when they receive them. Yeah!

I didn’t really know if people would buy my Ribbonlicious Bag Tags, so I started out with a few simple designs and posted what I had on Etsy. Obviously, people do like them and they will buy them…in quantity! Now that I’m getting a better idea of what people are interested in, I plan to have a tag ready to list again on Etsy as soon as the current one sells. Does that make any sense? As long as it makes sense to me and I always have my entire line listed on Etsy all the time, it’s all good!

I have also done three custom designs. I worked with one customer to create a design to match her favorite bag and another customer wanted tags to add to a collection for her daughter and niece (butterflies and bumble bees). That was a really fun process!

This weekend, I’m taking a break from bag tags to attend a Christian women’s retreat with three of my awesome friends. I’m looking forward to relaxing and rejuvenating. I hope that this weekend of praise, worship and sisterhood will leave me refreshed and allow me to return home a better wife, mother, friend and businesswoman!

See y’all next week with updates from the weekend and some new Ribbonlicious Bag Tags!

Glamorous Day #637

Just in case you have been wondering just how glamorous things are over here at the house o’ glamour, let me share…

Emily is sick…again. Now might be a good time to buy stock in Kleenex!

We’re doing breathing treatments every four hours…again.

I slept two hours last night…on the sofa.

In the last 12 hours, I have come into contact with the following bodily fluids: snot, puke, pee and poop (the dog’s – super swell!).

Thankfully, my parents are still here and I got to indulge in some glamorous pampering…I spent two hours all by myself at the Wal-Mart today! I believe that several shoppers may have notified management about the crazy woman giggling and singing as she went up and down every single aisle in the brand new mega Super Wal-Mart (all by herself)…she must be drunk or high on something!

So, while I was at the brand new Super Wal-Mart today going up and down every single aisle, I made a list of the items located in each aisle and the order that I went through the entire store...yup, every single aisle. I’m going to recreate my shopping list, so that it will follow the course that I take through the store…for when I am not by myself and I must accomplish shopping and browsing before one toddler and one preschooler lose interest. I’ll let you know how it works out!

More tomorrow…I’m going to be celebrating my one year blog anniversary!

Hey There! Here I am!

I don’t know what it is…maybe I burned myself out with too much partying the first few days of the Ultimate Blog Party…my foot is still a mess…I’m frustrated because I’m not able to get up and go like I’m used to doing…the TV in the living room is broken…I can only surf so much before my old eyes go buggy on me…and, I just cannot bring myself to post something on my blog! Maybe I’m trying too hard. I don’t know what it is, but I have got to get out of this dry spell!

Watch out! Here comes the famous brain dump!

Great weekend! My darling hubby built slide out drawers for two of the lower cabinets in the kitchen. I’m not sure that it actually gives us more space in these two cabinets, but it does make getting to the plastic wear and baking dishes so much easier! Love that man!



But wait, it gets even better! I’ve been bug…er, asking him nicely to build some shelves at the top of the pantry. There is about three feet of dead space up there that I could put to use and I can only stack things so high before it becomes dangerous to open the door. So, he built this! The shelves and the sections above the lowest white shelf that you see is all new. I just gotta brag…how awesome is my man?!



On Saturday night, the M3 posse – my best friends in all the world – had a date night with our husbands! Here my handy hubby and I are ready to leave on our date...



We went to a dinner theater in our little town. Christie was without her darling husband for dinner because he was an actor in the show. We had a great time messing with the actors and rolling our eyes at the actresses! We didn’t really pay attention to the murder mystery and guessed wrong on who done it.

Either my husband is totally oblivious or he's a good actor! BTW, she was the murderer.


After the show, we headed over to Valerie and Gary’s beautiful home for (more) dessert. We decided to play Taboo – boys against the girls. This was the first time that I played this game and it’s a lot harder than it sounds…what a scream! We must have burned off our huge dinner and two desserts laughing as much and as hard as we did. The girls kicked some boy butt!

American Idol…Yes, I am not ashamed to admit that I am addicted to AI and I found that there are many other mom bloggers out there with the same addiction. I don’t know what it is about this phase of the competition, but it seems like some of the contestants don’t take it very seriously or they think that they're better than they really are. What makes them think that they can sing Mariah or Whitney or Stevie? Hello! As good as y’all think that you are to make it this far – and, they are all very talented – you are not in the same league. Except for LaKesha and Melinda…those two girls can sing and they don’t need to win AI to make it big!

I have been able to make it upstairs periodically to do some digital scrapbooking, but I even feel a bit stuck there too. I’ve downloaded a few new kits that I’ve played around with a bit, but I haven’t been able to get on a roll. I did make new inserts for my Princess Purse. They are simple, but I love the cheerful color. Can you tell that I’m ready for spring? I used the Lime Tea kit from Nancie Rowe Janitz.



I am excited about a new crafty project that I want to try. As soon as I can get out to Wal-Mart and Michaels to get a few supplies, I will give it a go. I plan to have a few samples done – or almost done – when the M3 posse gets together on the 30th for a “create til ya drop” get together. These are so very cute…everyone is going to want one!

When You *Think* You Can't Be The Mommy

You know those days when you long for a vacation…or at least a short break…from the day-to-day trials and tribulations of mommyhood? When the children are less than darling. When milk spills and tears follow. When everyone is whiney, including you. When you’re so tired that it is physically painful to make one more PB&J sandwich or pour one more bowl of Cheerios. You all have those days, right? Please tell me that you do!

However, when you find yourself on crutches when you can get up and on the sofa when you can’t, you long to do all the mommy things. I long to make the sandwiches, wipe the bottoms, give the baths and tuck them into bed. I even find myself wanting to clean and go grocery shopping!

My foot is finally healing and I’ve been able to walk a bit without the crutches. Of course, I over did it on Monday because I wanted to be in mommy mode! So, I spent all day yesterday on the sofa with my foot up and had to use the crutches again. Lesson learned: I am not superwoman! On the upside, I have been able to use the time to read and write…things other than blog posts! I have also been able to use this time while my parents are here to spend more time just hanging out with the girls. I need to adjust things in our “normal” schedule so that we have more time to just hang out when I am able to do all the mommy things. Because that’s the very best part about being a mommy!

Here are a few fun things going on in the blogshere that you might want to check out…

The Mom Blogs has started a new weekly feature…Weekly Blog Topic. This weeks topic is Cell Phones and Kids. Do we let them have them? At what age? For what purpose? Can they take them to school? Do they have to pay for them? Lots of interesting perspectives already posted. I’ll be posting my thoughts soon.

The 5 Minutes for Mom Ultimate Blog Party begins on Friday, March 2nd. This will be a lot of fun and there are prizes!

Owlhaven is participating with Larger Families bloggers by sharing a typical day in her life on Friday, March 2nd. I cannot imagine what a typical day might be with eight children because days are far from typical with only two children!

From the Sofa o' Recovery

Hellooooooo! I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, but I have been confined to the sofa o’ recovery for the past two weeks and two days. The surgery to correct the oh-so-painful bunion on my left foot went off without a hitch…except that the surgery scheduling woman from the hospital called me at 7:30 AM, soon after I had my allowed cup of black coffee and dry toast, to tell me that they may be able to move my surgery from the originally scheduled 4 PM to 1 PM. I was excited and anxiously anticipated a call before 11 AM. No such call came, so I was hungry, but not too grumpy by the time I checked in at 3 PM. When I joked with my doctor that I was cranky because I didn’t have anything to eat all day, he laughed and told me that he had a good lunch. A good thing because I certainly didn’t want him to get light headed while holding a sharp instrument above my foot or good heavens while he was cutting bone!

The first week on the sofa was pure torture. I didn’t even think about getting online. GASP! I was in so much pain that I was in a foggy haze most of the day and night for the first seven days. Thankfully, I had asked my darling doctor to prescribe heavy duty pain meds before the surgery. I really needed them that whole week. It’s funny – odd funny, not ha ha funny – how differently ones body reacts to the same time of surgery. However, I’m happy to report that I feel A LOT better now! He took off the huge bandage on Friday and covered the incision with two Band-Aids, which left me feeling exposed and vulnerable. I’m glad to be free of the huge bandage, but my foot feels so tender right now that I almost miss the protection of the big bandage. He didn’t take the stitches out as he had planned because there was about a quarter of an inch section of the incision that was still partially open. It had healed underneath, but my skin on top had not closed yet. He also told me that I could start to walk on the heal of the boot with the help of my crutches. When I got home, I tried putting my weight on my heal…OUCH! This morning I had some pain while I tried to put a bit of weight on it while I was brushing my teeth. I confirmed with myself that our bodies feel pain for a reason…my body was saying, “Hello! Not ready to do that right now!” So, I continue with my upper body workouts getting around the house…mostly just to the bathroom and to the kitchen table…on the crutches.

I’ve also been sharing the sofa o’ recovery with Emily. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like every time the grandparents come to visit she gets sick. She started with a clear runny nose on Thursday and by Monday, I was on the phone with the pediatrician’s office at 8 AM (however, no one answered the phone until 8:45 AM…but that’s a whole other topic) to get an appointment. They could see her at 11:30 that morning. By that time, she was coughing non-stop…and, that is not an exaggeration. Three hours later…again, not an exaggeration, Chuck, my Mom and Emily are back home with prescriptions at the pharmacy and handwritten instructions from our pediatrician. Love her…not so fond of her lame office staff! Emily is doing much better now, but we’re still doing breathing treatments twice a day.

Mia is doing well and Grammy and Pop Pop are doing their thing to keep things moving around here while I am recovering. I’m looking forward to lunch at my house this Friday with a fraction of the M3 Crew…our sweet and zany friend, Christie is still with her family in California while her father recovers in the hospital. We continue to lift her and her family up in prayer and our faith in the power of prayer is helping her father in his remarkable recovery! And, Jamie…hello? We haven’t heard from you! What’s up?!

That’s about all that is happening in my little corner of the sofa! Now that I’m feeling better, I will post more and hopefully get upstairs to do a little scrapping soon.

Glamour Mommy signing off…for now!

Just What Have I Been Doing?!

You would think that with the unusually bad weather and frigid temperatures that we’re having here in the south that I would be updating my blog(s) more often. Believe me when I say it’s not for a lack of topics and thoughts whirling around in my head. Unfortunately, my brain has not connected with my hands to write. However, I have been using my hands to create digital scrapbook pages…for my daughters’ and others.

I've posted a slideshow on my other blog (yes, a shameless ploy to get you to visit my other blog because I know that you don't have anything better to do with your day...) with a sampling of pages from the scrapbooks that I’ve created for Emily and Mia of our journeys to China. I’m so excited to have these books done and in their hands! It makes having conversations with them about adoption and China easier and a lot of fun.

By the way, I am also preparing to have surgery again. So, once again, I will be on the sofa o’ recovery and making frequent visits to Dr. Makes Me Sweat (and not in a good way). I’m looking forward to getting this over with, getting through the painful recovery process and enjoying pain free feet for the first time in a looooong time by this summer! Leading up to the surgery, I’m trying to get more things in order to help my parents take care of me and the girls that I didn’t think of back in September when I had the first surgery. And, since the girls turned 4 and 2 recently, we have a flurry of doctor’s appointments that need to get done before the surgery. Well child visits for both girls – done! Dentist appointment for Mia tomorrow…Mia to the lab on Wednesday to be tested for allergies…dentist appointment for Emily on Thursday…pre-op appointment for Mommy on Friday…ophthalmologist appointment for Mia on Monday…mammogram for Mommy on Wednesday…and surgery on Friday. Ah yes, the glamour and the fun never end!

My Very Own Santa...Delivered Early!

Let me tell you about my day thus far…

I mopped the kitchen floor as well as the foyer, hallway, powder room, hallway to the garage and the laundry room this morning while the girls ate breakfast. I had to use an actual mop and bucket because my Hoover Flip-It broke (probably from overuse) earlier this month. So, I had to mop with the bucket of floor cleaner and water and then, rinse it with a bucket of water and vinegar with a second mop. As sweat poured down my back, I reminded myself of the calories that I was burning.

The girls finished breakfast and I repeated the same process in the breakfast nook. This required two passes because the floor under their seats was horrendous!

Then, I jumped in the shower while they watched PBS. I drug them away from the TV to get dressed so we could be on our way.

We only had a few things to pick up, so we went to Kroger. Why or why did I go there? I walked out of there with a $113 bill and my cart was half full! I spend less than that for an entire weeks worth of groceries for my family at the Wal-Mart. But, I (thought that I) didn’t have time to schlep to the Wal-Mart and deal with the last minute crowds. Although it probably would have taken less time because I spent more time standing in line waiting for one of the two cashiers that they had working at Kroger than it would have taken to drive to Wal-Mart.

After lunch, the girls went upstairs to play for 20 minutes before naptime while I cleaned up the kitchen. Just as I’m walking through the kitchen with two Aleve in my hand because I have finally given in and admitted that this raging headache was not going to go away on its own, I hear a huge crash. But it was not your normal crash of toys being dumped out of a bucket or a tower of blocks falling to the floor. It was the sound of Mia’s face hitting the wall…I could actually hear her glasses hit the wall. Oh no, not a good sound at all! The “crash” was followed by a blood curdling scream and then that deep breath in with no sound following. I sprinted up the stairs to see a screaming Mia standing at the gate with her mouth hanging open and blood pouring onto the front of her shirt. Oh, this is not good at all. And, Emily was standing behind her looking absolutely petrified, patting her on the back saying, “I’m sorry Mia. I’m sorry Mia.” After lots of cold water and a white wash cloth that is now a shade of pink, I determined that her top teeth put a nice little gash in her upper lip. It didn’t come all the way through, but it quickly turned into a nice purple grape. When everyone finally calmed down and my heart started beating in a normal rhythm, I got both of them into bed for a nap.

I head back downstairs to find my Aleve sitting on the kitchen table. Oh yea, really need that now. I sit down to finish my tea and take a little breather when the dog starts her protective “daddy is out of town, I must protect the mommy and the babies” bark. The UPS girl is at the door. Just great! Just as I get everyone calmed down, the dog starts barking.

So, I sign for my packages and open the big one addressed to The [insert my last name here] Family. This is what I see…















I dig around and pull out these…















I’m starting to feel quite a bit better because they contain these…















COOKIES! Cookies baked (from scratch) by Grammy (aka my Mom)! I swear that I can hear angels singing! Chocolate chip cookies…my favorite! And, Ginger Snaps…Chuck’s favorite!

And, to make the delivery even better…my monthly shipment of wine from Viansa!















Oh yes! Things are starting to look brighter at the house o' glamour!

Thanksgiving 2006 Recap

Our little family of four enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving at home. Although Mia was with us last Thanksgiving, she slept through the festivities, so this was really our first year sitting around the table together as a family of four. What I am most thankful for...
















Chuck and his mountain o’ taters! We had the conversation…you know the one…
















Chuck: How many potatoes should I peel?
Me: I guess all four. [I don’t buy potatoes frequently. I’m not ashamed to admit that our “regular meal” mashed potatoes come out of a box.]
Chuck: That’s going to make a lot of mashed potatoes. I think I’ll just peel two of them.
Me: Will that be enough?
Chuck: That will be plenty for today and if we want some later this week, we’ll make the other two.
Me: Okay.

Chuck starts peeling.

Chuck: Maybe I’ll peel this third one.
Me: Whatever.

More peeling.

Chuck: I might as well peel this last one too.

We had/have a lot of potatoes! When will we learn?!

We also had a 15 lb. turkey. He’s weighs a lot less now. But, before we carved into Mr. Tom Turkey, I had to do this photo for Robyn…
















In the morning, Emily and I had a conversation about Thanksgiving Day and what it meant to be thankful. At dinner we asked her what she was thankful for and she replied, “Fish and bread!” Daddy talked about being thankful for Emily, Mia and Mommy and for our dog Hattie. Then, he asked her if she was thankful for anything else. “No, just fish and bread!”

I, of course, have so much to be thankful for…my loving and patient husband, my beautiful, smart and funny daughters, our health and the health of our extended family, my friends who fill me up with love and laughter when I need it, the breaking down of my creative block, and my parents who dropped everything in their lives for two months to take care of me and my family. And, from the less serious side of things…my bunion free right foot, my ugly but so very comfortable crocs, Estroven, our auto-brew coffee maker, the warranty on Mia's glasses, Bach's Rescue Remedy, and my fearless snake hunter husband.

A few random photos from the day...






























We worked up an appetite before dinner by clearing our attic of all things Christmas. We are ready to deck the halls! Fa la la la la la laaaaaa!

Happenings at House o' Glamour

I bet that y’all have been worried about me since the snake invasion. Thanks to everyone who posted words of comfort and understanding. So glad that none of you harassed me for being thankful that my husband chopped of that gigantic menacing snake’s head! I am happy to report that there have been no further snake sightings around the house of glamour. I also have to confess that I cracked up when I looked at the photos again. Y’all go take another look too…the snapping, hissing snake head has NO TEETH! I am cracking up over that!

My creative endeavors have taken me away from my Glamorous Life blog (don’t go out to my other blog either because that one is also in dire need of a new post). I have been busy creating Emily’s adoption story video and squeezing in a bit of time to do a few digital scrap pages too. As a result, writing for my blogs has taken the back seat…as we call the third row bench seat in the van – the way back seat. In the hope of redeeming myself, I have created a slide show with a few of my scrapbook pages for your viewing pleasure. This is a fraction of what I have done and I will add new ones periodically.

And, just like that naptime is over and I must step away from the computer to get on with my glamorous life!

Snakes at House o' Glamour!

Okay, it was one snake. And, it was about six inches long. But, it was a SNAKE! And, where there is one snake, there must be more snakes. He must have friends and family somewhere close by. Hopefully, in a field on the other side of town, but eventually those snakes may come looking for their brother. Their brother, who now lies buried in the lot across the street. And, we must send a message that the house o’ glamour is not a snake friendly house!

This is how the reptile invaded the house of glamour! Chuck was doing yard work on Sunday afternoon while the girls napped. I almost bit his head off (a strange, sick reference of things to come) when he banged on the front door causing the dog to bark. I fling open the door, ready to reprimand…He says, “Run to the shed and get the spade shovel! We’ve got a snake out here!” Oh crap!

I deliver the shovel then run back inside to grab the camera. This is exciting stuff! Good blogging material!

Disclaimer…The following photos are not suitable for viewing with children and are not for the squeamish!

By the time I got back outside, Chuck has done this to the snake.















He says, “I guess that I didn’t really need to kill it.”

I shriek like a girl, “YES, you needed to kill it! It’s a snake! It will probably get bigger! And, he probably has friends who may see this and decide to move away from my house!”

Then, the head of the snake started to do this!





















Alrighty then! I suppose that he deserved to be a little ticked off, but it confirmed that it was necessary to do away with this snake. I apologize to all nature lovers out there, but it was a SNAKE!

Ah, the glamour!

My Glamorous Friday

I went to Dr. No Longer Makes Me Sweat this morning for a quick check of my foot. It has been 9 weeks since I had the surgery and 3 weeks since I started wearing “the sneakers.” And, because I know that you have been coming back daily to see if I’ve posted more about my foot, here is the update…

My foot looks great and I have very little swelling (hardly any at all today). I can go back to Mommy and Me swim lessons with Mia as long as I wear water shoes and I don’t jump. And, I can wear other shoes as long as I wear the toe
spacer and the shoes that I choose aren’t high heeled or pointy toed…guess I’ll have to wait to buy those Jimmy Choo’s! My next visit with my awesome doctor is on December 8th, when we will schedule the surgery for my left foot. Betcha can’t wait for those posts!

So…I left the girls at home while I went to the doctor’s office this morning. Chuck was working from home, so I popped in the ultimate babysitter into the DVD player and went to my appointment. I return an hour later to find Mia poking her finger through the empty space in her glasses where a lens should have been! Now, these aren’t the glasses that she mutilated on Sunday. Today she was wearing her other glasses. I search the playroom for a few minutes before I find the lens under a book. Once again, my head almost popped off! The lens, which had been completely scratch free when I left the house, has little scratches all over it. I ask Mia, “Did you have this in your mouth?” And, she replies, “Yes, bite mouth,” with a sheepish grin. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!

To my real life friends who I am seeing tomorrow night…please don’t be alarmed if I just sit in the corner rocking back and forth clutching my bottle of wine!











She may make my head pop off, but dang isn't she cute!

Happy Monday Morning

My first post on my new blog – Talking About Adoption – is published.

I posted a link to Chinese Starfish last night, but wanted to make sure that you didn’t miss it. This is the most touching, inspiring and humbling blog that I have ever seen.

A Quiz

Mia thought she would see if she could

A) get an early Christmas present
B) make Mommy’s head pop off
C) make Mommy say words that she never says in front of her children
D) make Daddy very afraid of Mommy
E) accomplish all of the above

when she did this…
















Yes, you are seeing what you think you are seeing. That one arm is completely bent up in the air and the lenses are out! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

"Stop! You're making me sweat!"

No, that is not what I said to Chuck during a night of passion! It’s what I said to my doctor today when he grabbed hold of my big toe and started moving it up and down vigorously. Hello! Ouch! That hurts! Then, he proceeds to tell me that yes it’s going to be sore because he had to dig quite far down into my foot to remove the cyst and then he had to dissect (yes, dissect…like I’m a frog in the lab) in another area to relieve the tendon that was holding my big toe. Then, he started enthusiastically moving it up and down again in between pushing down on the area where he removed the cyst. That’s when I said, “Stop! You’re making me sweat!” I thought that he was going to fall over. His nurse was practically peeing in her pants. Then, he tells me that he wants me to move my toe in the same manner every day. Okay! Okay! Just so you stop moving it right now! Then, I made the mistake of telling him that I was uncomfortable when I stood up with the boot on because my heel would pull up and the weight of the boot pressed down on the top of my foot. I was secretly hoping that he would say that he would give me a smaller surgical shoe so I could dispose of this big, hot, heavy, smelly boot. No such luck! Instead he would show me how to avoid that problem. Apparently, the way to avoid that problem is to tighten the straps so tight that I would lose all feeling in my foot, but my toes would feel like they were going to pop off!

He’s going to take the stitches out next Wednesday. I can hardly wait for that session of torture! I’m sure that there will be more toe wiggling and pushing too. Maybe I’ll take a happy pill in the morning before I visit Dr. Makes Me Sweat (and not in a good way)!

It’s Wednesday and time for Works-for-Me Wednesday over at Shannon’s place, Rocks in My Dryer. What works for me is…Demerol!

Welcome to Our Home!

Welcome to our home! BooMama had this great idea to host of Tour of Homes. If you didn't get here from there, then head on over after you're done visiting with me and pay a visit!





Hi y’all! Come on in! We moved into this house in November 2003, just three weeks before we boarded a plane for China to adopt our oldest daughter. Over the past two and a half-ish years, we have been working on painting and decorating in between figuring out how to be a mom, going back to China for our second daughter, and figuring out how to be a mom to two active little girlies. We still have a ways to go and by the time we get it “just so,” we’ll probably move again!

This is our entry way…you can either head on upstairs, make an immediate right into the “formal” dining room, turn right down the hallway to the powder room and Chuck’s office or head straight down to the living room or stop in the kitchen, which comes up on your right. Don’t you just love that beautiful white gate at the bottom of the stairs…not that I want Mia to grow up too quickly, but I can’t wait to get rid of that thing along with the wooden contraption that Chuck had to built to secure it there!
















We spend a lot of time here in our kitchen. I do most of my emailing from my laptop at my desk near the pantry and the girls spend time coloring at the table. Of course, this is where the four of us eat every night. We only ever use the dining room when we have company.
















When we’re not in the kitchen, the girls and I are upstairs here in the game room. I do most of my blogging and blog surfing on my computer over there in the corner. This is the most un-decorated room in our house. We have yet to agree on what to do with it, so here it sits (with that little cutie on the sofa spicing up the place) with its bare walls, windows and old furniture.
















I’ve decided to also show you my daughters’ rooms. This is Emily’s big girl room. She had a nursery in the front of the house (I decorated it in those three weeks before we left for China), but when we thought about it, it made more sense to have the girls share the bathroom between the two bedrooms at the back of the house. Soon after Emily turned two, we got her a big girl bed and we decorated her big girl room together. She loves her very pink room! The bed is usually on a diagonal in the corner, but we had company last weekend and had to make room for the pullout sofa that is on the other wall in her room.
















This is Mia’s nursery. I love how her room turned out. The girls and I find this room very cozy and spend time in here reading every day. There is a big cozy denim rocking chair just out of the picture on the right that we all snuggle in to read. I hope that this will be their playroom some day when the girls are old enough to share a room. But, then again, we may move again before then.
















Let’s head back on down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. No, no, of course I didn’t bake it…I don’t bake, but I did drive on down to Corner Bakery to pick up one of those yummy cinnamon coffee cakes!

Glad y’all could stop by!

My New Minivan

I’m a Minivan Driving Mom!

Yes, it’s true. Yes, I admit that I, more than once, have said that I would never drive a minivan. Yes, I have laughed along with my dear husband as we joked about the dangers of driving with moms in minivans on the road…

But, the lure of a third row of seats that will make it easier to get around town when the grandparents come to visit, the sliding doors that glide open and closed with the click of a button, the middle seat in the second row that pops out to provide easy access to the third row, the hooks that hold grocery bags on the back of the third row of seats, and enough room for the third row, the double stroller and a bunch of groceries was just way too much to pass up! So, we traded in my year old Honda Pilot for a brand spanking new Honda Odyssey and I love it! Who would have thought that I could be so excited about a minivan, but I will humbly and honestly admit that I am!

Edited to Note: When I mention our fear of minivan driving moms, I was not talking about any of my friends who drive minivans. I was referring to those minivan driving moms who drive their minivan with the little tykes in the back while they (mom) talk on their cell phone, put on makeup and read the newspaper.

This and That...Woody, Pantry, Flowers, Pool

Since my last post triggered many tears, I thought that I would post an update on the miscellaneous things that have been going on in my glamorous world.

The other day when Emily got up from her nap she said to me, “Mommy, my woody had a good nap too.” Now what thoughts just ran through your mind? I can’t even tell you what I was thinking as I tried to process that statement from my three year old daughter. Eventually, my brain started functioning again and I started to ask questions. After several questions, I asked her to show me woody. She walked over to the space between her bed and the wall (her bed is on an angle in a corner of her room), she spread her hands out near the wall and said, “Woody is right here.” Okay, so now Woody is capitalized because he’s her friend. That night when she went to bed, she selected a pair of pajamas for herself and a pair for Woody. While I got Mia ready for bed, she tried to put the pajamas on Woody. Apparently, he wouldn’t cooperate, so I told her to leave the pajamas on the chair so Woody could put them on if he wanted to. So, I guess that Emily now has an imaginary friend named Woody who doesn’t wear pajamas!

On Tuesday morning Chuck asked me if I wanted to go to The Container Store. Well, duh! For those of you who may have never visited The Container Store…what in the world is wrong with you?! It is a mecca for organization – for those who are organized and for those who wish to be organized. I just love the place! So, when Chuck said that he wanted to go, I knew that I could (easily) talk him into buying things that he never knew that we needed and couldn’t live without! Well…$101 later and an afternoon of organizing, my pantry looks like this!



















Notice the second shelf from the top in the photo below...the wire spice racks pull down! How cool is that?!


I didn’t spend the whole $101 on the pantry. I only bought the two pull down racks on Tuesday. I also purchased thingies to hold all the plastic lids that used to be shoved in a drawer (my primary purpose of wanting to go to TCS) as well as a few other things that we just couldn’t live without. I can’t believe that I’ve just posted a photo of my pantry…I really need to get a life!

Yesterday afternoon the doorbell rang, which isn’t unusual. But, what was unusual was Chuck opening the door partway and then saying, “It’s for you.” I went to the door and there was a delivery man holding a beautiful floral arrangement with balloons attached…
The card reads: “For all the things you do for us and for all the kisses and hugs that make us smile, we want to say thank you for being an incredible Mommy! Chuck, Emily, Mia and Hattie” I was gushing and boohooing all over the place. I have such a generous and caring husband. How did I get so lucky? And, to think that it all started with a Palm Pilot (that’s a story for another day…).

On Friday afternoon while Chuck finished up his shelving project in the living room, the girls and I tested out our new pool. Emily was about to explode if we didn’t have our first splash-fest soon! So, I slathered the SPF 45 sunscreen on the two of them, stuffed poor pudgy Mia into a bathing suit that is a tad too small, dug out the pool toys and we were off to the backyard. This was Mia’s first time in a pool, so I was anxious to see her reaction since she wasn’t very fond of the sprinkler park at playgroup on Tuesday. She fussed a bit when I first put her in the pool, but that was probably because I didn’t get in right away. She was a little cautious initially, but in no time at all, she was having a ball! When she finally sat down, she got a big surprise when she tried to pick up a toy off the bottom of the pool and her face went in the water! She came up sputtering, but finally laughed. We spent about an hour splashing around in our little backyard oasis until Emily’s lips started to turn blue. We need to get more meat on that girl! On the other hand, Mia and I were fine with the warmth generated by our thighs. I took this photo before we went outside. I didn’t get any photos of the girls in the pool since I was in the pool with them. It’s still very early in pool season, so we have plenty of time for more photos!
Finally, I received this cartoon in the mail from my Mom. Emily loves stickers and my mom gives stickers to Emily every chance she gets. We probably have a surplus of stickers that would cover every child in our town. My constant battle is to keep them off the "no sticker zones" in my house, which would include everything expect for Emily's shirt or skin! I guess that I can indulge Grammy...she waited quite a long time to spoil her grandchildren!

The $11.88 Pool Revised

Wow! It has been quite some time since I've posted. We were hit last Friday with some sort of evil brain eating, snot producing bug that attacked the whole family, so we were down for the count for a few days. Mia did not catch this bug, so we're all going to start eating what she eats! We are all feeling a lot better now and ready for summer fun! Which brings me to the subject of my post...

Tonight after our weekly trip to Luigi's for pizza (the best New York style pizza in the area), I told Chuck that I wanted to go by Target to see what kind of backyard kiddy pools they had because the one I was considering from Wal-Mart ($11.88) was sold out when I went shopping today. Now, we don't really need a pool for our backyard because we have a very lovely community pool that we take full advantage of several times a week during the summer. However, the backyard pool is fun for a quick run outside to splash around for a bit rather than schlepping all the kid's pool paraphernalia the two blocks to the pool. The one at Wal-Mart was your basic molded plastic model. Not the smallest one and not the fancy one with a slide, which I deemed as too dangerous for the girls, but the medium sized one that would comfortably fit both girls with room to splash around. Well...after considering the options, which ranged in price from $9.99 to $99.99 we came home with this!

I'm not quite sure that we even need to take it outside and fill it with water because the girls (and Daddy) had a ball with it in the middle of our livingroom tonight!











My three crazy "kids"!










So, now this what I didn't realize was so gigantic pool is leaning up against the wall in the hallway outside my dining room! I still can't believe that Chuck agreed to buy this!

Portraits of the Girls

I thought that I would sit down at my computer this afternoon to post new portraits of my beautiful girls. M has not had a portrait done yet and we’ve been home with her for almost 5 months. The last portrait that we have of E is at age two and she is now 3. My plan was to get a portrait of M to use on adoption announcements. Yup, home for five months and no announcements have gone out yet. Then, I wanted to get a spring portrait of the girls together and if I still had the energy a 3 year old portrait of E. Unfortunately, I have no photos to post. Nope! Not one! Why? My dear darling usually happy go lucky 15 month old, M decided that she was going to start screaming and crying as soon as we entered the studio. I gave it my best effort to get her to calm down as I tried to stem the flow of tears, snot and drool. The photographer was so nice and I think that he pulled out every trick that he knew to get her to stop crying. We even tried to pose a photo of the three of us together. No such luck! She just clung to me, shook her head and kept on saying, “Mama.” I don’t know if she thought that we were at a doctor’s office because she screamed like this at the Pediatric Ophthalmologist two weeks ago and at the Pediatrician last week, but there was no consoling her until we walked out the door. Then, she was back to her happy little self. I was not in such a good mood and I was sweating like it was August in Texas. So, my next hope is that bluebonnets will soon bloom in North Texas and we can get at least one good photo. I’m sure I’ll shoot at least a hundred trying for that one good one! Sigh…

My Glamorous Afternoon

Every once in awhile a small dose of glamour enters my real life. This afternoon I indulged in an hour and a half massage – yes, an hour and a half! My shoulders and neck have been aching since our return from China, and the middle of my back just felt tight and no amount of stretching relieved it. I’ve always felt that as soon as I was really enjoying a good massage, it was over. Since I had a gift certificate, I decided to treat myself to a full 90 minutes (it was actually 80 at the spa I visited). It was pure bliss! And, after the massage, I spent about 10 minutes in the sauna. Glorious! My hair frizzed out to rival Rosanna Rosanna Danna’s frizzy mane, but it was so worth it! Thankfully, I didn’t run into anyone I know when I stopped at the grocery store on my way home. Yes, my real life was waiting just beyond the soothing sea green walls, luxurious robe and that wonderful spa smell…you know the smell that I’m talking about: the one that you can never recreate at home regardless of how much you spend on at-home spa products. That light, clean smell that isn’t fruity or flowery – it’s just, well, clean. I’m heading off to the sanctuary of my master bathroom to soak in the tub now – it is somewhat of a sanctuary when the girls are in bed and I don’t have an audience. I won’t be able to recreate that smell, but a soak in Epsom salts (not so glamorous) will hopefully extend the benefits of my HOUR AND A HALF of relaxation today!

I guess that I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I didn’t share the name of the spa where I spent my glorious afternoon, would I? I went to Solaré Spa and Café in the Kroger Shopping Center at Legacy and Lebanon. The spa itself is small compared to others in the area, but they didn’t skimp on the atmosphere or service.

Night, night…my bath is ready!