They Get So Big, So Fast

I'm late in mentioning it, but Isaac turned 9 on the 28th of last month. This year we skipped the party on favor of a family game of laser tag. We went to Laser Quest last week and it was way more fun than I was expecting. It also cost a bit more than I'd like to pay but it's not a bad price. I didn't get any good pictures of the action because I was busy playing! I tried to get a few pictures before the fight went down but it was black lighted so they didn't turn out well.

Don't you just love the guy in the background?

In other birthday related activities, Isaac spent the day before his birthday at home to have a day with us to celebrate. He was treated to birthday breakfast at IHOP. We still owe him a bit of an Isaac day because we ended up spending a lot of the day car shopping. Yep, we are in the market for another car. To get straight to the fact, we were in the market. We've decided for now that another car goes on the back burner. Didn't want to trade in a car that's paid for to finance a car, just didn't seem like the best idea.

Black Thursday?

The original plan was to head out super early with Carissa to go Black Friday shopping. However, after looking at the sales ad again, I realized that all the things I wanted to buy were 8pm Thursday sales. So I hustled down to Wal-Mart around 7:30. I had to line up for the Wii, which was great because 1. I got there early and knew I'd get one & 2. because it's nice and calm as opposed to the items awaiting pallet unwrapping at 8. With one present down and one to go, I hurried down to where the $39 bikes were. hoping that there weren't all gone. I checked the crock pots on the way and they were wiped out. I was in luck and grabbed up a bike for Isaac. Along the way though, I had to ditch my shopping cart so that I could get through the crowd. That made for quite the difficult walk down to the register {I ended up balancing the bike box and the Wii on my head!}

I even captured a sew seconds of the 10 o'clock frenzy.

                       


I'd love to say that after the 8 o'clock I was done, finito, finished, but no. I waited around for the 10pm deals to get something for Kyle and I. Once 10 hit, it was once again a madhouse{, a madhouse!} as people went a little nutsy-cukoo for those pallets. However, once again I was in a calm line and got to just enjoy the frenzy.

Even though it's a little wild and crazy, I would totally do it again. Next year, here I come! {Hopefully with much more money!}

Thankfulness Fest 2012

In the midst of the occasional feeling that life has got it in for us, I try to realize that we have a good life going on here. So in the spirit of the day I wanted to give a little thanks for the things there are to be, well, thankful for.

photo source: http://dribbble.com/shots/811869-Give-Thanks?hex=996633&list=color&percent=30&variance=50

• The bestest husband ever. As I am fond of telling Kyle, it is just stupid how much I love that man. I am crazy proud of him. He's loving, supportive, caring and just plain good. He's good to me and to Isaac. And how he held down the financial fort when he was the only one working and didn't bug out is beyond me.

• That crazy kid Isaac. How it is possible for children to drive you so insane but still inspire such fierce love is one of Mother Nature's better plans for survival. That kid is one of the best things in our world and we love him dearly. He's sweet {and Sweet Money}.

• My parents. The coolest. Period. But to elaborate slightly, I couldn't have asked for better and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Plus I feel a big twinge of pride when our friends say they like them too.

• The friends who round out our 'social' life. Such good people, from the ones we've known for years to the ones we've only known for a months.

• All the little things that in the difficulties of life we tend to take for granted: our health, our home, jobs that provide for us, plenty to eat, clothes to wear. It is all too easy to forgot that we have plenty in our life to be so grateful for, things that are the basics but that not everyone is blessed to have.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

What Would You Do-oo With a Spare Bedroom?

In the months since Blaze moved out the spare room has been what lots of people'd spare rooms turn into, a junk room. Random things have been getting thrown in there, so it's a bit like a disaster zone. I decided that I wanted to make the room a little like a craft room, so I put my (free! Craigslist) vintage Drexel desk in there. Unfortunately, I still haven't moved out the roll top desk, that has only moved to the closet. The play kitchen has been moved in there along with the silverware cabinet that I use to store my art supplies. All the picture frames I have been hoarding to make a gallery wall with are there. A very large dresser mirror is in there. It is a grab bag, I tell you! Since I want the style to lean towards the look of a nursery, I pulled down all by baby related items from the attic and now that's all piled in there too. It is very crowded in there!

The (hopeful) plan is to put a sleeper sofa and storage ottoman in there. Then, across from that, a TV mounted to the wall. (Yes, I know that this doesn't sound at all like a craft room or a nursery, but we want the room usable beyond my drawing at the desk.) The hope is to have a space for guests again with the ottoman a place to stash blankets and pillows for the bed. In the daytime the couch and TV set up would mean that I could coax Kyle into being in the room with me {should I want him there, :)} As for art ideas.... well I have a few and by 'few', I mean a bucketful. Too many ideas, actually. On the subject of wall colors, I have almost completely decided on pale turquoise  for the room (pale mint is it's main competition) with a pale yellow closet. I've even got fabric ideas for DIY curtains. I'm telling you, I have got a bunch floating around in my noggin. Now the trick is to bring any of it to fruition.

The Nose Knows

I got to take today off work! Kyle had his nose surgery today. To cut to the chase, it went fine and everything's okay. The Hubs had a severely deviated septum, which he's probably had this side of forever. Kyle hasn't breathed well for years and today he was finally able to take a giant step to fixing that problem. I was tasked with chauffeur and watching him for 24 hours. Tomorrow he's heading back to the doctor to have a couple of stints left from the surgery removed. Kyle needs about a week of rest and recovery time, but he's doing well.

Getting ready for the operating room.

We showed up at the surgery center at 6 o'clock this morning {So, no sleeping in for me!}. We weren't quite in and out but between waiting, surgery, and recovery time, we managed to get out by 10:30.

In recovery and sleeeeepppy.....

Poor thing's nose is very sore and he's not allowed to sneeze, but I know he's fingers crossed hopeful that soon he'll be able to take a deep breath through two nostrils.

Of course, know I wonder if his voice will sound different once those nasal passages are clear...

Election Day & Night

photo source: abcnews.go.com

The day has came and went and we all know the victor in the presidential election is Barack Obama. And if you know us, you know that we are over the moon about it.

Here in Virginia Beach, we waited an hour in line to vote and most of that time was spent outside in the cold...with an 8 year old. Isaac was thankfully very well behaved, really the little bit of 'problems' we had were to be expected. Do you know a child that can be perfectly behaved and quiet while waiting for an hour with no tv or video games or even a book? So really, I cannot complain.

As we did last election night, we headed over to my parents' house to watch the results. Mom was steady on her wine and getting upset whenever a state was called for Romney. After some slow results coming in and the time creeping on us, Kyle made the call that we should just head on home, since it didn't look like a winner was going to announced soon. Of course, Barack won while we were driving home, Mom called to let us know. Going home didn't get us in bed any faster as we were like lots of other people and all up in the interwebs, virtually shouting our happiness about the results. We are so crazy excited about Obama's victory especially since it was looking so close. I was seriously worried that he was going to lose and I am so thankful that did not happen.

Trick-or-Treating: Kid Style

First off, I do not have a single, solitary photo of Isaac. My camera was at home and it was too dark to use my craptastic camera phone and I forget to ask Blaze or Kyle to use theirs when we actually got inside where there was a light source. Super sorry about the lack of photos, I resorted to stealing one of Mariska in  her purple witch costume from Blaze's Facebook page.

Isaac did a repeat of his Costume from 3 years ago and went as a rockstar. He wanted to do it again since now he has Paper Jamz guitars and they actually play songs compared to using one from Guitar Hero. Funny thing though he that he completely forgot about playing the music for anyone. Kids, go figure. As for Mariska, that hat lasted all of 3.5 seconds before she was over trying to keep it on and handed it off to anyone that would carry it. After about 10 houses Isaac started to complain about being tired but after the threat of calling it quits he wasn't quite so exhausted. He also tried to pass off carrying the guitar around the same time but after being told about the LARGE candy tax involved in taking off part of costume, he snatched that sucker back fast.

After a few Mariska meltdowns and one instance where Blaze turned back to help her not get left behind but  Mariska saw that as Mommy coming to take some candy away (M's bucket would get heavy and so some candy would be offloaded, which is what sparked one Mariska meltdown) and turned away from her mom, which was hilarious to see, we headed back to base camp (that'd be Blaze's place) since it was 8 o'clock and the end of free candy time. Sheesh, that was a long sentence! 

All that running around did eventually tire Isaac out, as he didn't survive the ride home. That I really wish a had a picture of...imagine Isaac, head back, leaning on the car window with his mouth wide open. Gorgeous, right?

Hope you all had a happy Halloween and a really good treat haul. Remember parents, the cost of taking your kids out begging for candy is that you claim half their stash. Candy tax, people, candy tax.

Tricks & Treats for Grown-Ups

How do you celebrate Halloween? Making pumpkins with the kids, trick or treating? How about when the kiddos aren't around? Well for us this weekend meant Halloween party: Adults Only. Some of us dressed up, some didn't but we all had fun. As most grown up shindigs, it was definitely a you-had-to-be-there experience and I'm not even going to try to post all the varied things that were talked about or the funny things that were said. So I'll leave you with a inside joke. Jenny's got bitches.

Dry ice centerpiece that kept getting stuck to the coffee table. Kyle kept refilling the glass to make more ice smoke.

 One very, very convincing zombie.

My last minute attempt at a Nicki Minaj costume. Complete with fake butt.

Found the 2 easy components to make Kyle into a lumberjack. Sadly no axe, but we make do.

Jenny, keeper of the bitches.

The Maker's Faire

The Norfolk Scope was host to a Mini Maker's Faire this Saturday. What is a Maker's Faire? Well, according to their site, it's a "family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement." Pretty much it was a lot of engineer-y and a few artist booths. There were rockets, LEGO robotics, planes, and lots of homemade things like furniture. Think of it as a homemade fair, lots of jewelry, artwork, comics and more to be seen.

This was a machine that would produce a spark if you kept turning the handle. It took awhile before it generated enough electricity for the spark.

Possible Gift Alert! It's an all paper roller coaster for marbles. As you can guess you make it yourself out of a kit. Design your own roller coaster, cut and tape your paper together and roll your marbles on down.

Hobby airplanes, very different from model airplanes. These even had cameras attached so you can have an eye in the sky. I didn't even think to see how much a kit would cost because it's safe to assume it's not cheap.

One of Isaac's favorite things at the faire had to be this Chaos Machine. It was like a mega large K'Nex track with lots of moving parts that the participants were allowed to change and move around. Marbles rolled through the machine, sometimes they fell out but it was really interesting seeing all the paths that they take.

These were small robotics made out of Legos. The table was set up like game where you had to maneuver the robots around the table to knock down little displays of lego pieces.

One of my favorite things (besides the art table that I didn't get a picture of with the artist who was doing free portraits that I also didn't get) was a display of solar power. Think if that window as a large magnifying glass focusing the sun's energy into one spot. As soon as the demonstrator placed a piece of cardboard in there it ignited. Very cool. isaac even got a turn holding a soda can in the ray of light and watching it burn. Supervised, of course.

All in all it was really fun and I'm really happy that Carissa let me horn in on her fun. :)

Down In The Mouth

After months of avoiding it, I finally went to the dentist for my hole-y tooth. Yep, after a chunk of my tooth fell out I did not immediately schedule a dentist appointment. I know, I am a reckless woman. The dentist told me that there was a strong possibility that I'd need a root canal or even lose the tooth. Luckily for me there wasn't any nerve damage and they were in fact still unexposed. Yay! So a filling was on the bill for me. Got a shot, so no pain, but the awkward feeling of people literally staring in my mouth.

Sorry for the phone pic, but I had left the camera at home. But aren't you kinda glad because I definitely would have ended up taking one with my mouth full of dental implements.