Giggles-n-Gulps » Going Nowhere

Randomness 77

Tara — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:17:10 +0000

I really want to redo my blog header up there, but I dread the thought of re-learning how I actually did it. Maybe if I did a header every few months, the steps wouldn’t leave my head so quickly.
I have a secret desire to a fabulous photographer. I LOVE photo blogs and am hopelessly addicted to them. I’m a photo-blog-stalker. Maybe some day I’ll be able to get a fancy-shmancy camera and try it for myself.
S loves to dance and sing for us.
And she’s really loud, too.
Huntley is still my shadow. He never leaves my side and in fact often steps on my feet as he follows me around the house. That’s pretty annoying when you wear flip-flops. Crazy-lovable-huggable dog.
After the kids are in bed, Huntley jumps on the couch and owns it. Completely and totally. Last night, he even stretched himself out with his head on a pillow.
This past weekend, Chris took the kiddos and went up north a bit to visit his parents. I love the quiet weekends of relaxation. Sometimes a mom just needs a few days of quiet.
And the kids got to see snow for the first time!!! I hate that missed it but we’ve got some great videos of them playing in it. So fun.
A G funny story for you: He got some Spiderman stickers from the treasure box at school and they were the kind that if you moved them back and forth, you would see a different picture. I opened the package and moved it back and forth to show him and he loved it. He took the stickers and stuck them all over his short and wore them like that all day. When Chris got him, G ran up to him and said, “Look, Daddy! My stickers! And they move!” With that, he moved his upper-body back and forth to make the stickers change pictures for his daddy the same way I moved the stickers themselves back and forth earlier in the day. But since the stickers were stuck to his chest, his solution was to move his chest, too. I laughed so hard.

Quirky

Tara — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:20:21 +0000

Heather tagged me for this. It looked entertaining, but know that I have a looooooooong list of quirks. It’ll be hard to narrow down.

The Rules:

1. Post these rules on your blog.
2. Tell about your six quirks.
3. Tag six bloggers to do the same. (Yea, I’m not into tagging anyone. If you want to participate, please do! Pop back in and leave me a comment to let me know! I’d love to see your list!)
4. Leave them a comment to let them know you’ve tagged them so they can participate.

My list of quirkiness:

1. I have a nightly routine. If I swerve from that routine in any way at all, then I will not be able to sleep until said routine is completed. OCD, much? I take my medicine, brush my teeth, check on the kids, check all the doors, make sure the garage door is closed, my bed blankets have to be juuuuuust right, I read for a bit, then finally turn out my light. The only time I deviate from this routine is when I have a migraine.

2. I cannot eat blue food. Blueberries or anything resembling that is just off-limits. Blue = bad. I don’t like or am allergic to nearly all fruit. Bananas are the exception. The fruit I actually like, I am allergic to. No fair. I hope that quirkiness goes away in Heaven. I’m so dessert-limited because of this fruit handicap. I would really love to love fruit. Thank goodness chocolate is not a fruit.

3. I freeze when it comes to home-decorating purchases. Even frames. Especially furniture or lamps or art or knick-knacks. I wish I had the money to pay an interior decorator to do it for me. Not sure why the prospect of decorating my own home freaks me out. I don’t know where to start, I guess.

4. Pickles are evil. Truly. I don’t even like to smell them. The crunch when other people eat them even makes me cringe. And no, I did not eat them when I was pregnant.

5. I sometimes avoid fiction books because I love them so much. Makes no sense, I know. But when I start a fiction book, I HAVE to finish it right away. As a result, life around the house tends to shut down until I’m finished. I sometimes prefer non-fiction to fiction because I actually have to read slowly to learn and process it all. Fiction books – I can easily read one or two in a day. An expensive habit to avoid, as well.

6. If something is popular, I tend to avoid it for a very, very long time and at all costs. Doesn’t matter what it is…books, movies, tv shows, clothes, food, etc.. It takes me awhile to warm up to something that is popular and is truly good. I hate falling for fads. Unless it’s Starbucks.

7. As a performer, I actually do not care for performing solo on stage. I much prefer being a part of an ensemble whether it be a praise band at church, or a piano duet, or some other arrangement. I don’t mind standing in front of hundreds of people playing keys, as long as I’m not by myself.

8. If I get nervous, my hands shake. Very uncool if you are a pianist which requires, you know, using your hands.

9. Did you really think I would keep this list to six? Another quirk…

Look forward to reading yours!

Randomness 76

Tara — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:01:57 +0000

Well, hello there! Long time no speak…type…see…whatever.
I combined busy-ness with a bloggity break and now…I’m baaaaaaaaaaack!
Did you miss me? :)
I missed you.
Where do I begin?
S is now in a dance class. She loves it. She wears her leotard all the time – even to bed.
We’re in the midst of deciding on G’s future Kindergarten plans.
He turned the FIVE a couple of weeks ago.
“When I was four, I couldn’t swing. I’m five now and I can swing.”
On G’s birthday, S and I took some cookies in to his class. We got to spend a couple of hours with the class as well.
I’m in awe of preschool teachers.
S, my social butterfly, jumped right in like she was a member of the class.
Circle time? Oh yes. She was there. In the middle of the circle.
Line up? Yup, there, too.
Now she wants her own backpack and lunchbox and to go to school.
I’m looking into 3-year-old preschool now for her next year, too.
Chris bought me a late Christmas present, it was on back order. I now am a proud owner of the Barnes & Noble nook.
We chose that over Amazon’s Kindle because you can add memory cards to it, it has a touch-screen interface on the bottom.
I’m in love with my nook.
Having all those books at my fingertips – way fun.
Chris’s goal was to start saving bookshelf space in the house.
S and I are having a battle of wills this morning.
We both think we’re winning.
I AM the adult here. Shush now.

Randomness 75

Tara — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:54:51 +0000

Wowzers, it’s been awhile since I have blogged!! So sorry about that…December was just a whirlwind of activity and I could hardly keep up.
Today is my mom’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you! We’ll call and harass you shortly.
Christmas was great…nice and quiet. We missed seeing family, but we had just seen everyone over Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter.
S got her first major haircut yesterday – such a little girl. She looks cute as a button.
I gave up on growing her bangs out. I’d rather see her pretty face.
I’m looking forward to 2010 as a year to get more organized.
I have fallen in love with this site: ListPlanIt.com.
It’s a beautiful thing. Over 400 lists to help you organize your home, family, meals, business, anything and everything.
You pay a nominal fee to have year-long access.
Worth every penny, I’m telling you.
I combine that with my favorite house-cleaning to-do list at MotivatedMoms.com – only $8 for a daily to-do list. LOVE it! I’ve used it for three or four years now.
I love lists. Can you tell?
The piano-teaching business is picking-up and I’m enjoying it. Adults, teens, junior high, little ones – even a 5-year old. I’m having a ball!
Chris and I are looking forward to a major trip overseas this spring – sort of an anniversary trip. We’re really, really excited for it.
It’s a cruise. Foooooooooooooood….
Kids are screaming for attention…must run.
2010…ready or not…here we come!

Randomness 74

Tara — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:29:56 +0000

This time of year is crazy for us! Birthdays, Thanksgiving, more birthdays, Christmas, more birthdays. Hard to keep up!
That includes not keeping up with the blog, too, of course.
My parents and aunt and brother and his family came down for S’s birthday.
THREE!! Our little girl is THREE!!
Then came Thanksgiving. Whew.
The next day we (my family plus my parents and aunt) joined Mike and his family in Orlando at DisneyWorld.
Magic Kingdom, more specifically.
Of ALL the days we have outside activities, it was cold in Florida on that day.
By cold, I mean mid 50s.
It’s ok to laugh.
S’s entire goal was to see the princess’ castle and ride a carousel.
Check and check.
She loved it!
G got to ride so many more rides now that he is older and he had a blast!
Being there with family made it that much more fun. Can’t wait to do it again – when the temp is, you know, low 70s.
Yes, that would be perfect.
Nana and ‘Pa and Judy were like kids again, riding everything G did.
If Cinderella’s Castle is this amazingly gorgeous, can you just imagine how incredible Heaven is going to be? If human hands can create this, God’s handiwork is going to knock our socks off.

Randomness 73

Tara — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:42:37 +0000

Still recovering from the flu, but we are doing great!
S and I haven’t left the house since Friday night.
I made Pioneer Woman’s Carrot and Squash Curry Soup tonight.
Success!
The funny part was that I had just been talking about a similar recipe with my Aunt Macie the day before…then Pioneer Woman was gracious enough to read our minds and post her recipe for it.
So nice of her to do that. *cheesy grin*
I rounded out the meal with homemade ranch dressing on salad and homemade croutons.
The kids love helping make the croutons – tearing the bread apart, tossing them in the olive oil…
…then eating them all once they are done.
I finally made a successful batch of mayonnaise! Yea! I love the taste of it, too. I used this recipe.
I am keeping G home from school this week just in case. I would hate to spread it to his classmates and their families.
Oh, yes, he misses it. Who am I kidding?? *I* miss it! LOL
So we are working on the letter J at home this week. It’s amazing how much free preschool stuff there is online for the letter J!
We’re going to do a lesson about the fall season this week, too. Tomorrow: Leaves.
G is asking about FIVE times a day when he’s going to turn FIVE. He’s so excited.
S keeps asking for her birthday cake.
It’s going to be a busy holiday/birthday season this year…
…and for many years to come.
Sweet blessings.

Randomness 72

Tara — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:43:23 +0000

Chris really, really, really loved his Love Letter.
*grin*
Currently, there is a black snake on my deck. I think it’s an Eastern Ribbon Snake after looking it up.
Harmless.
But, well, yeah…
I like to watch So You Think You Can Dance with my friend Mindy and last night’s episode was great. This dance just got both of us. Amazing. Even more amazing is knowing where the guy, Legacy, has come from and how far he has come to dance this style. Wow. It’s called “Fear.” We watched it a couple of times before moving on. You can watch it here at YouTube and their segment starts about two minutes in.
SYTYCD is such a breath of fresh air from American Idol – the judges are nice, contestants are nice – everyone’s behavior is always professional and positive and encouraging.
Did I mention the amazing talent? Oh my word.
I can only dream of dancing like that.
We are looking forward to seeing family at the holidays. We are both missing our families right now. *sniff*
S has learned how to burp on demand.
She’s very proud of this skill.
I’m excited, so very excited, to have my appliances back in place and running.
Home, sweet, home.

Progress

Tara — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:55:27 +0000

They are working today…should be done today. Yea!!!

Here are some before/after pics as the work stands now…

Looking from breakfast area into living room, pink stuff is crack sealant.

Breakfast area

Tile finished (not yet mopped) in the living room - Chris and I did the baseboards. Woohoo!

Almost there…

Randomness 71

Tara — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:42:55 +0000

Our tile floors are being installed…but it is a sloooooooooooooooooow process.
We’ve been hampered by worker and installer illness.
Yup, we threw in the towel and hired some folks to do it for us.
Good thing, because it turns out our floors are pretty bad – as in about as un-level as you can get. I’m glad we have professionals with experience now.
But all this illness tests my patience…and my laundry…
Just ready for it to be over. We’re almost there.
Pictures, pictures…I know! They’re coming!
G’s school is putting on a “circus” today – I can’t wait!! He has been SO stinkin’ cute practicing his “strong man” routine. I have the video camera and point-n-shoot camera ready to go.
The tonight a Trike-a-Thon at church – adorable! The preschoolers all bring their bikes and ride around the drop-off circle at church all to raise money for missions at church.
Would you like to sponsor my children – pledge an amount for the number of laps they do? Or just donate? Leave a comment or send me a message!
The Hunt-ster has just about had it with the flooring install. He’s so done. Poor dog has been in our room for the most part for over a week, depending on the current state of the floor.
The backyard is his best friend. Ours, too, actually. We’re spending a lot of time on the deck.
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

Randomness 70

Tara — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:03:25 +0000

I’m the little engine that could…
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…
Right now, we are stumped on the “leveling” part of the preparation for tiling over a concrete floor.
I know…it doesn’t sound terribly hard until you start to do it and you have one portion where if you leveled it, the tile would end up way higher than the wood floor in the foyer that it would come up against.
Yea, big problem. Small problem. High problem. You get it.
And which depths do you not worry about? When you have a perfectionist husband, these are questions you must ask! Is 1/32nd of an inch ignorable or do you level that, too?
These are things we are asking and researching (read “googling”) this week.
G is enjoying sharing his “war wound” with his class and his teachers. His teacher told me later that after he shared his story, another kid said they had bumped their head, and pretty soon everyone in the class had bumped heads.
Hahahaha! I love four-year-olds.
Even as I drove away today, I looked in the rear view mirror and he was showing the aide his boo-boo.
The kid knows how to milk it, that is for sure!
I have NO idea where he gets it from. *sheepish grin*
Have a great week!