Rain brings good things

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat." -Ralph Waldo Emerson..... We probably missed our ten minutes, but this is what we found last night on our pear tree (thanks to the rain on Tuesday night) I gave Micah the prettiest pear and he gobbled it up. Mine was a bit too ripe, and very dry.... oh well, we've still got 5 on the tree.... maybe the next one will be better :)

These are a few of my favorite things

It is always a pleasure to get to spend time with friends since the majority of the time it's just me and Micah Man. Yesterday was an extra exciting day because I got to spend part of the day with Sarah! It was wonderful to visit Sarah and see her new home. She and Kyle purchased a home in Buford... and now live in Gwinnett county they really are not that far from me! According to Mapquest, she's 35 minutes away (that doesn't include the always fun mall traffic) Anyway, after just a few minutes of visiting Sarah's new house, we learned it was not very child friendly. Micah Man is best described as inquisitive and he was into this, and into that. Sarah didn't mind at all, I just tried my best to keep him from breaking things. After visiting the Kennedy home, Sarah treated Micah and myself to lunch. We went to Mexican (a favorite.) Therefore it was a fun filled day of favorites... Sarah and Mexican food, does it get any better?

Love thy neighbor

I haven't updated in several days because Nut has been keeping me so busy! We ran errands together on Monday and Tuesday. I think that we accomplished a good bit, but one of the things on both of our lists was a plastic kiddie pool. No, you haven't missed out on anything. Laura is not pregnant, and doesn't already have a child. She needs a pool for her dog. Well we found some pools at the Athens Wal-Mart. The size that we liked was too big to fit in the back of my Explorer, unless we folded them! Could you believe that's what the guy at Wal-Mart said. Anyway I loved spending time with Nut and so did Micah! I promise you that every store we went into, we left with EVERYONE knowing Laura's name. Over the past 2 days I have probably heard "Aunt La La" over a thousand times.
This weekend was filled with fun and excitement as well. To begin the story I will tell you that although our house has gotten a bit small for us since the addition of Micah, our lot is perfect. We sit on just over an acre and a half and back up to woods. We have trees in our yard! How many people can say that now days? Well we have (had) a HUGE Oak tree in our side yard. It was beautiful our first year here, but since then has died. The tree, as you will see later was split into 3 sections. I was so afraid that a storm would come and knock part of this tree onto my neighbor's house (it was closer to their house than mine) Every time the wind would blow, limbs would fill not only my yard, but their's too. Anyway, at one point in time we had some estimates for a couple of pine trees in our back yard. We were told $700 for them! This tree was way worse than that and was going to need an insured expert to keep the tree from hitting the neighbor's house. I know I have already told you how much we love our "Fruit and Bread" neighbor Cassio, well we also love our neighbor Randy. He was the very first person to move into the neighborhood. He knows everyone in here, and will do anything to help a friend out. In this case, we were his friends. He knows a guy who is a tree cutter (lumberjack) and asked his friend to come and take a look at our tree. The guy knew it would be a tough job, and said that on a perfect weather day it would be $700, on a not so perfect day it would be $1000.... just to land the tree!! That doesn't include cleaning it up! Long story short, we worked out a deal with Steve, (tree cutter) and Randy. Randy has been laid off since last October and needs work, Steve was very kind to help us and Randy out! The way this deal works was Steve cut down the tree for (get this) FREE while we pay Randy for cutting it into smaller pieces and cleaning it up.
Now, we could have done this ourselves. Stacy has a chainsaw, and we don't really mind the work, but Randy got us this AWESOME deal, so the least we could do was give him all of the wood and pay him some money to help with his bills! Look at this tree!

Cats, Claws, and Cars

We have a cat, Snowflake is her name and she is 23+ years old. I'm not sure of her exact age because we've owned her for 23 years, but she wasn't brand new when we got her... so I don't know her real age. Anyway, I thought she was old, but I didn't think that it was VERY rare for a cat to live so long. Yesterday at the vet they made me believe differently. They acted like they'd never seen a 23 year old cat. I am not used to vets. Daddy always took her, until she moved in with us when Stacy and I got married. I have never had to take her to the vet and was a bit nervous. She began limping on Wednesday (not rare for her) but when I looked at her foot, the poor cat's claw was ingrown (it curled and grew back into her foot) It was very sad. So, we took her to the nearest vet (in Winder), because she doesn't like to be in the car and we would all have gone insane listening to her cry in 316 traffic on the way to her vet in Lawrenceville! Well the doctor cut the claw out, and trimmed 2 others that were growing the same way.... $70 later (more than a doctors visit for me) she is doing much better!
After going to the vet and showering off all of the white Snowflake hair we had some more fun. Toys R Us in Buford is moving down the road and is having a HUGE sale right now EVERYTHING in the store, other than video games is on sale 30-40% off! Micah's birthday is in less than a month, so we thought we'd try to find something. Stacy and I don't buy Micah toys. We've probably purchased 5 in his almost 2 years. It's like toys just appear. I thought I'd look at the clothes because I had heard of several people finding deals on clothes. We were able to get him several (6 t shirts) mostly for next summer, and a couple of play outfits. We also got 3 Fisher Price Little people sets, and a Power Wheels Little People Tot Rod for his birthday. Our total that we paid was less than the original price of the Tot Rod. We paid under $140 for all of that stuff (with the help of 2 coupons) The next markdown is on Sunday night. I might be making another trip next week :)

The Biggest Looser

I am sure that if I was on The Biggest Looser... I would win! Stacy says I'm not fat enough. Well, I think that I am. Anyway, long story made short. I am bigger this year than I was last year. And I am not losing anything. I am in a size that makes me sad. There are days that I am just sleepy all day long. Many people tell me that having a toddler will do that to you, but I want my energy and my favorite shorts back! As I mentioned earlier, Stacy and I worked at a festival on the 4th of July, we made almost enough money for a gym membership. And as soon as Stacy got paid last weekend.... we joined the gym! I have SO missed it. I worked out at Fitness International for 5 years (up until I had Micah) He did NOT like the nursery when he was a baby, (meaning the workers had to come and get me because he wouldn't stop crying) so I didn't push it, I just threw away the money, and sat on my bottom.... and got bigger and bigger. Well now we have joined Anytime Fitness. Stacy works out best in the Early morning (3-4:00am) and being that's it's 24 hour, he can go Anytime! I get to go when he is home to play with Micah. I had a blast on my first day (Monday) I didn't over work it, but I felt so good when I left. I was able to complete a total upper body work out and 55 minutes of cardio on Tuesday, and yesterday was legs and 30 minutes of cardio. I will lose weight. I will lose weight. I will lose weight! I am the biggest looser!!

Cow Appreciation Day

I love chicken, I LOVE Chick-fil-A, and I love Kelly Ford! She was the very first person to let me in on Cow Appreciation Day. Micah and I enjoyed a mostly free lunch (you had to be fully dressed in cow attire to have a free combo) and we had hats. Thanks to The Rosburys for letting us borrow hats! We were in the majority (we were dressed up), but we were by far not dressed up as much as some. There were grown men wearing brown 30 gallon trash bags with white paper spots on them! It was totally hilarious! It's a good thing Stacy worked today, because I never would have been able to talk him into dressing up! Anyway we had a blast!

Blog Happy?

I'm not sure whether I'm blog happy, picture happy, or just happy, but here goes my second, and last blog of the day. Micah's nap didn't go so well today. I laid him down, wrote about it, and checked my e-mail (all the while hearing him cry.) He has never been one to "cry it out" or maybe I just never figured out the right technique. In short he cried for 30 minutes until Mama came to his rescue. He kept saying "eat eat." So I fed him. After lunch we played for a while and he became very whinny, so I tried yet again to lay him down. He only cried for MAYBE 1o minutes and then there was silence. I began working on his Birthday invitations, and he slept. I don't have one of those fancy moniters where I can see him sleep/talk/play in his room, and his door was closed. So I thought, maybe if I go outside I can peek into his window.... and I tried.... until my neighbor came out of his house and yelled across the street "Window peeker!" I had to run to him to tell him to HUSH... I have a sleeping baby! I chatted with my neighbor, checked on my plants, and went back inside to find Micah.... in the kitchen... in the dishwasher.... filling cups full of water from the fridge and pooring them onto the floor. I didn't have a puddle, I had a POND in my kitchen floor! But at least he took a nap! We enjoyed playing and reading all afternoon, until we heard thunder (or as Micah would say sawa... we're not sure where this comes from) Anyway, Micah LOVES the rain and was very excited when it began to rain at our house. So I let him play.... Look at this!

Big Boy?

I not sure if I'm ready, but more so, I'm not sure if he is ready.... but this morning I converted Micah's crib into a toddler bed (at his request.) We were cleaning out his closet, which we do frequently and he found his rails for his toddler bed and kept asking "what is that? what is that?" Over and over I heard this, then I explained to him exactly what is was (a rail that makes a baby bed into a big boy bed) he went to his bed and grunted uh uh uh, like he wanted to get into bed. I put him in thinking he was ready for a nap, but he grunted and pointed towards the closet and said "baby." Well, I did it. I converted his bed for him. It is now 10:30 and I have laid him down for a nap. He is crying, not sleeping. We'll see if we can do it! My little man will be 2 in a month and 1 day! He really is a big boy isn't he? PLEASE pray for me (and Micah too) as he tries out this new bed.

Oh my goodness!!!

I can not stop scratching!! I went outside for about 10 minutes. I checked my watermelons, threw some limbs into the woods, and pulled some vines. 10 minutes tops and have have at least 20 mosquito bites! I can't stand mosquitos!! I seriously can't remember ever being bitten like I am now! I think it all has to do with carrying a baby boy in my belly, because I promise BM (before Micah) I never remember mosquitos loving me so much! I always used to give Stacy a hard time about mosquitos loving him, and I told him they didn't like me because I was so sweet, or that he needed to wear women's lotion.... well either the lotion no longer works, or I am no longer sweet, because they love me now. And now I know why Stacy is so miserable outside during the summer!! I am ready for FALL!!!

Have you ever......

Have you ever just walked up to a stranger and given them money? I'm not talking about a Girl Scout, or a Shriner, or someone else taking money on the street... I'm talking about someone just standing near you in line. Well, maybe I'm the only one not doing this.... but last night Stacy, Micah, and I went to Wendy's for dinner. (Micah has been trying to catch up on sleep from the past several days and took a nap until 6:30, which meant I didn't cook supper) We ended up getting to Wendy's at 7 or a little after, and there was a line. Who eats supper this late? Not us! We typically eat between 5 and 6. Anyway, while we were waiting in line, there was an older gentleman in front of us who turned around and handed Micah a dollar. This is the first time that this has happened. I mean strangers used to want to hold him when he was little, but no one has just handed him money. The gentleman told Micah to have his parents take him to the store to buy him some candy, he also said "don't let your mom go shopping with it." Well, we put the money (which Micah was most excited about) in his pocket and ordered our food, and you'd think that was enough, but that wasn't all. We sat down to enjoy our food and Micah found a friend behind him that he wanted to talk to. She was talking to some one about fireworks and Micah told her "Boom boom Mam-ma" that meant that he saw fireworks at Mam-ma's house. I relayed the message to the girl and went about eating. Micah kept looking at the girl throughout the entire dinner. ( No I didn't let him stare, I kept making him turn around and eat his food) Well, when she had finished and left, I asked Micah why he watched her so much... I asked him if he liked her, he said "no" I asked him if he thought she was pretty, he said "no" then I asked him if she was a hot chick, to which he repeated "ot chick" What in the world..... No more late nights at Wendy's for us!

4th on the 5th

This year our family celebrated the 4th of July on the 5th of July. Party Jumps worked two festivals on the 4th, so celebrating was out of the question. While Daddy was with our new Carnival Midway at Gwinnett glows, Daphne, Cary, Stacy and I were at the Horse Park with the Spaceball, Speed Pitch, and 2 moonwalks. We did celebrate on the 5th. We had a pool party with lots of yummy food. I am always looking for new things to make and this is what I made this year....
I made an American Flag bean dip and a Patriotic Jell-O Pie. Both turned out good and everyone enjoyed them.

Finished (Finally)

So, it took me 4 working days, but I finally finished painting our bedroom. I know what you're thinking...... 4 days to paint one room! Well I only painted while Micah was napping which gives me about 2 hours (on a good day) to tape, prepare the paint, actually paint, and clean up everything. Another thing that extended the work time was that Stacy hung crown as well as some other trim about 3 inches below the crown (he plans on painting all of the trim and in between with a high gloss white, but has yet to do it) Anyway, the trim under the crown has a very thin bottom and very hard to tape... plus i ran out of tape several times. Even though everything in the room isn't complete, I thought I'd share some pics. Silly me didn't take any before... just after. The total cost of our room makeover cost us a total of $20. Trim= free Tape= free Paint=free (other than the high gloss white, we'll have to pay maybe $15) Paintbrushes and rollers=$5.00 Hip hip hooray!! That is one of the perks of having a husband who works in construction. Next on my list.... Finish the master bath and tile the kitchen.