Monday, July 7, 2008

Silly boy

I'm trying to get out of the habit of holding and carrying Tater so much. He's too big, and I have to let him grow up sooner or later. :)
So this morning he's desperately attempting to get me to carry him to the pantry to find a snack, but I resisted. I told him he could walk and I'd go with him. He looked up pleadingly into my eyes and sighed, "But you love me!"
Manipulative little devil. It didn't work of course, but still...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

I wouldn't have survived the 1800s

I know this because as I sit here in my 83 degree house wearing as little as possible, I am thinking of those poor pioneer women who crossed the plains in the heat of the summer wearing ridiculously long dresses with *ugh* tight bodices. I am so spoiled by air conditioning.

Except right now, I mean. Ours broke yesterday.

And considering the fact that it in now 3 pm on the Thursday before a holiday weekend, the prospects for being cool this weekend are getting slimmer by the second.


UPDATE: we are now the proud owners of a brand-new outside unit for the cooling and conditioning of air. They came to put it in at 6 pm on the 3rd. We were without air for less than 36 hours. Hallelujah! And with our home warranty, we paid very little towards the cost of the air conditioner. Now if I can just figure out how to "break" the inside unit too... :)

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

And the blessings just keep rolling in...

Oh my gosh...
Did I not just post this very morning that I found some sweaters on sale at Old Navy? And do you remember my post not too long ago about wanting to go shopping at Old Navy? Well, my sweet Daddy remembered... and sent me an "unbirthday" card with a gift card to - you guessed it - Old Navy. In the mailbox this afternoon. How cool is that? Included with the shopping spree are Tater-sitting services and ice cream, as stated in Dad's own voice on one of those recordable cards followed by the song, "You'll be in my heart." Tears. Thank you Daddy!

Of course, that's not all. I mentioned we paid off one credit card - well, we managed to get the remainder of the credit card debt transferred to that card at 2.9%. What a lot of interest money that will save!

And... this morning my step-dad called to see if I could fill in while his office manager is on vacation for a week. More money earned there! Thank you Kerry!

God is so good. And I am so blessed to have people who love me and take care of me - even spoil me!

I heart bargains!

The story of my bedroom:

In our old house, we had old, mismatched, and garage sale furniture, like most newly married couples do. We never got new stuff, but decided that we would do that when we moved into our new house out here. So I sold it all in a garage sale before we moved and we kept all our clothes in big Rubbermaid tubs until we got a new matching bedroom suite. Well, almost 3 years later, we're still living out of those Rubbermaids, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it!

Well, a new suite is not exactly in the budget now, but as a lover of paint and a devoted Trading Spaces fan, I figure I can make a matching set out of anything, right?

We were at an auction on Saturday, and we got 2 seventies-style octagon end tables that aren't all that pretty, but are real wood and in good shape for... get this... $12.50 total. I'm going to take the doors off and repaint them to use as night stands. So, yay! Bargain number one!

So yesterday while Tater was at MDO, I set off in search of Bargain number two - dressers. I went to Tennis Auction, Christians in Action, and another kinda scary resale shop on Chadbourne. They were all very proud of their ancient furniture, so the search will continue. I'll hit the garage sales this weekend - and maybe by the end of the summer, my bedroom actually will be decorated for the first time in this house!

Oh, but I'm not done yet - I went to Cato to see what kind of clothes they had on sale... because I do have a little money coming from the 2 days I worked summer school, so I wanted to scope it out. I walked out the door with THESE:


Cute, huh? And my grand total? $10.80. The brown ones were $2.99. Yeah, I may break my neck in them, but hey -they were super cheap! I found Bargain number two after all!!!

So if you need shoes, go to Cato! They had lots more in lots of styles. Oh, and I also walked the mall to do a little more window shopping, and Old Navy has lots of clearance stuff too - if you can bring yourself to buy sweaters, they have some cute ones for $4.99. Hopefully they'll still be around when I get that summer school check... :)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Owen update from Sara

I just talked to Sara after Owen's dr appts this morning, and EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE!!! She'll update her blog more fully when they stop for the night (they're on their way to Ohio), but she wanted to let everybody that had been praying for them know the good news. They ran 2 different tests, both of which Owen passed with flying colors - his kidneys are working just the way they are supposed to work. He's perfectly healthy! She said they'll go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up test, but the specialist was not worried at all.
PRAISE GOD!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Swimming Fun

Happy Animals Play Center from Walmart: 20 dollars



Tarps for under and over Happy Animals Play Center: 9 dollars



Swim Diapers: 6 dollars



Something besides TV that will hold this toddler's interest for at least 30 minutes at a time: PRICELESS

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Taterisms

Translation dictionary:

Polly = potty

Nunik = music

My = I (i.e. No Mom, MY do it!)

Tubba Thomas = his "real name" (or as he once told Nana when asked what his real name is, "Tubba Thomas Time-out")

Bunny bonnet = rabbit

Manatanoes = mashed potatoes

and the dog is still Geeko rather than Nico, and Randy is and will always be Daddoo.


Some hilariousness from his mouth recently:

Saturday we made chocolate chip cookies. He was so excited - we pulled the chair up to the counter so he could reach, and he clapped his little hands together and exclaimed, "Let's DO this!"

Yesterday we were coloring with markers and found a dried out one. I told him he could throw it away, and he agreed, "Yeah, this one broken pretty much."

His favorite exclamation: "Holy cow!" Sounds way funnier from his mouth. Sometimes he follows up with "Oh my gosh!"

He got in trouble the other day. As I was fussing at him, he put his hands on his little hips and said. "Excuse me?"

Sometimes after eating, he'll say, "Ok! Now my tummy feel better!"

He teases us with the "high five" then pulling away before you high-five him to go "down low." Must always be repeated at least 3 times.

When you explain something to him, sometimes he'll respond, "OOOoohhh! I see!" Like he totally gets it now!

He lists things in this silly little sing-song voice that is hard to describe in type, but his voice goes up at the end of each item on his list, like, "I eatin' supper, and turkey, and manatanoes, and bean beans (green beans)..." or after the PBR, he talked for days about, " I go rolleo (anything horse or bull related at the coliseum or Spur is rodeo to him), and I see bulls, and see horsies, and see Shiney (Cheyenne Duncan, the love of his life), and see Daddoo..."

The child talks more than any boy I've ever met (of course, I spend most of my days with teenage boys, so they're not a fair comparison). He definitely doesn't have his daddy's quiet demeanor. Randy jokes that he got all my best traits - curly hair, allergies, big mouth...

Oh, I could go on and on. This boy cracks me up daily. He's been living up to the "terrible twos" stereotype quite a bit lately, but he manages to melt away any frustration with one goofy comment or sweet face. And I still just think he's the coolest thing ever. I am so incredibly blessed to be this child's mama.