They had me at hello

It's been a long, long, long time since I've seen anything in Pottery Barn that I just HAD to have. And I still don't know if I HAVE to have these, but it sure would be nice. One of the main reasons we bought this house was because of the huge, awesome front porch. We're totally front porch people. And now the convergence of nice weather, great new porch furniture (no cats), and kids who love to eat al fresco has us eating, playing, reading and lounging outside every chance we get. So any and/or all of the following would be wonderful additions to our front porch living area:

Super cool dinnerware. Better than paper.

Funky galvanized accessories

I especially love the drinks tub, napkin holder and cupcake stand

Matching outdoor serving pieces. I love the triple bowls. 

The green color is so fun and would look great with our furniture.

I'll probably wait a few weeks to see if Target comes out with much less expensive versions of the dinnerware. But those galvanized accessories? Totally mine.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Change is in the air here at Three's Company. I'm experimenting with blogging over on Facebook. Yeah, I know there are privacy/sharing issues over there, but the short version is I've been spending way too much time on the internet and in the blogosphere in particular. I'm sort of liking the one-stop shopping aspects of Facebook and being able to quickly check what all ten of my friends are doing at once, dash off a quick note and then shut it all down to go play Robo-dinos with the kid. So, yes, I will be writing new posts and they will be on Facebook for now.

No, the blog isn't going anywhere, just in case I decide I love it more and come back to it. Because I'm fickle that way. (Also, because I have to find a way to preserve my earliest blog entries from waaay back at the beginning when I started the blog because we were going overseas for a summer. And I am too lazy busy to read the instructions on how to download a hard copy. Or backup a mirror copy. Or something like that.)

So if you want to read me over on Facebook, leave me a comment so I can friend you or poke you or whatever it is the kids say nowadays.

New advertising campaign?

Before going to see Monsters & Aliens with the kids today, I had to make a brief stop at Honda so they could check the tire pressure on the minivan. (Yeah, yeah I know I should be able to do it myself.) While there, Dagny was looking around checking out all the new cars.

"Mom," she asked on the way out, "what do all the Hs on the cars stand for?"
"Well," I said, "they are the first initial of the brand of the car. Can you figure out what the H stands for?"
"I know," she says all excited, "HOTWHEELS!"

And the movie was SO funny. I am Insectosaur!

Spa day!

Did I say I was going to do some spring cleaning? Hahahahahahahaha. Never got 'round to it. Instead I'm getting ready for Spring Break! I decided I needed some time at the spa to get myself ready. Oops! What to do with the 2 year old? Oh well. Let's have a Spa Day at home! BUT FIRST, since some things need to be left to the professionals (see also: waxing), last night I got a sitter and headed out for a new spring haircut. After well over a year of a short, pixie-style cut, I've decided to grow it out a bit. Since my hair grows as fast as bamboo, I figure by June I'll be sporting a nice little bob. We'll see where to go from there. Anyway, it felt so great to get it all trimmed up and evened out. I also got some fun new Aveda stuff to take on our vacay.

Great. Time to start my morning at the "spa." First, I had to line up some Land Before Time movies on the good ol' DVR. Then I set Anders up with a sippy cup and a giant bowl of goldfish. Great! That takes care of the kid.

Next, I got my pedicure/manicure/self-tanner stuff ready. Please don't tell my husband about the self-tanner. We had an incident in Aruba a few years back with some self-tanner that resulted in what he called "permatanned" feet. He hated it. The worst part was my body was a regular deep tan but for some reason my feet were about 10 shades darker. I looked like milk chocolate from the ankles up and bittersweet from the ankles down. But I believe that was a result of 1) too much self-tanner combined with 2) five days of doing nothing but laying out in the intense Aruba sun. Now I use the stuff in moderation and look for products that promise a soft, sheer, glowing, shimmering, hint of buildable color, instead of a deep, bronzed, Saint Tropez look.

Now, onto the pedicure. Wait a sec. The kids have hidden my PedEgg AGAIN. Oh there it is with the Easter eggs. Nice. 30 minutes later my toes are a sweet, springy hibiscus color. While they dry let's do my hands! My hands are the driest spot on my body - something to do with washing them every 45 seconds, I'm sure. So on with the extra thick cream. And finish with a nice clear polish.

Tah dah! Only about 90 minutes of work, not counting having to retrieve emery boards and cuticle sticks from various locations and talking Anders out of applying top coat everywhere, and I look like I've spent a day at a salon. Just in time for Littlefoot and Cera to make it home for dinner.

Happy Spring!

Ten dumb things about me

It's not interesting. It's not provocative. But it's all I got.

1) I don't use fabric softeners.
2) I don't like windy weather.
3) I can't wear wrap tops.
4) My family won't eat casseroles.
5) I love Slatkin's home fragrance collection at Bath & Body Works.
6) I desperately need a pedicure. But I only have time for a haircut.
7) I'm really, really nearsighted. I've needed glasses as long as I can remember.
8) I want to go to Macchu Pichu, Angor Wat, Marrakech and Tahiti.
9) I don't drink alcohol much anymore. Except for Heineken. And margaritas. And good bourbon. And Manhattans. And Campari.
10) I love guacamole, chips & salsa.

Family matters

This weekend was GLORIOUS. My dad's doctors told him last week that his blood cell counts were very, very good -- he's on a new med that really boosted his white cells. He's doing so well that he got the all-clear for visitors and so the kids and I jetted down for a one-day visit on Sunday! It's been four very long months since I've seen my parents and the rest of our Naples-based family and that's a very long time indeed (for us).

It was amazing to see them. My dad looked great - a little thinner but that was about the only difference. The kids played with their cousins and I got to talk and talk and talk to my mom & sister. My dad is about halfway through with the chemo and we are all looking forward to the day when we can put this behind us.

I couldn't have wished for a better day.

Busted

What do parents want? Naturally, to have their kids grow up happy & healthy. Maybe more sleep. And, of course, peace and quiet to enjoy a yummy snack on the sly without the six year old badgering you for a bite and the two year old hanging on your leg like you're the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

So it was with great glee that I happily, privately licked the last of the banana cake batter off the beaters. Since it's pouring this morning, Anders was enjoying an encore showing of Jurassic Park and was so engrossed that he didn't even budge when he heard the mixer go off, which is usually his cue to come running into the kitchen demanding a lick of whatever it is I've made. Cake in the oven, I walked over to see how he was doing. "Mommy, what's that on your shirt? Is that CAKE?! I want some!," he yelled indignantly. Sure enough there was, all over my black shirt, huge drips of cake batter.

Busted.

The Freddy Krueger of the butterfly world

Look at what we found on the front porch today! At first we thought it was a spider eating a butterfly. Then maybe some kind of mutated wasp. Is it butterflyish? Mothish? Waspish? I'm going to have to google this.

It has a wasp-like abdomen/body and thick, black spidery legs (think tarantula):



It has very large, ugly, mottled grey-blue wings:



The pictures don't give a good sense of it's size, but I'd say it's about the size of a 65 watt lightbulb. It is the creepiest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen creepy. Is it a hybrid? A mutant? An important link in the evolutionary chain? Even the lizards are staying away.

Dinomite

Anders has fallen in LOVE with dinosaurs. He still loves his robots, but lately it's been T Rex this and Diplodocus that and "Mommy, you be a raptor and I'll run!" I remember playing tea party and princess and kittys and stingray & flamingos with Dagny when she was a pre-schooler so it's actually kinda fun to see the things that Anders likes to play. And to pad my Super Mom resume, last week we found a Dino-Robot tee shirt at Target. He will dig it out of the laundry to wear it every single day.

And what prompted this infatuation? It sure wasn't Land Before Time or any good dino book. Nope. His first dino movie was Jurassic Park. Which he was not scared by AT ALL. In fact, neither kid was. They laughed like hyenas when the T Rex ate the lawyer on the potty. And I heard them talking about it the other night and just giggling and giggling as Anders pretended to be a T Rex and Dagny pretended to be on the potty. (Out of respect for Mr. J, no one pretends to be a lawyer.)

We have it on TiVo right now, but it looks like we'll be adding it to the DVD collection soon.