Addition update...

So...today is the 29th, Tuesday, June 29th. On Saturday we are having some people over for a cookout to celebrate 4th of July and Wythe's birthday. That is 4 days from now. As some of you know, there are lots of things involved with having a party, cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc., etc.

Today my dear husband decided that the next step in the addition project is removing the wall in the kitchen. GULP. I have been dragging my feet on this step because as long as the wall was up I could close the door and pretend that my house isn't under construction. That is what I've been doing for the past 15 months. Today, that all changed. The wall came down. No, it wasn't as dramatic as the Berlin Wall and no pieces of it aren't selling on EBay (at least not yet) but it was a big deal for me. It was a bigger deal because I am preparing for a party. But I took a few deep breaths to lower my blood pressure and watched the destruction. The good part of this is maybe we will stay motivated to finish the project now that it is literally staring us in the face.

view from living room, looking towards kitchen and wall that will soon be gone

"Mr. Rightmyer, tear down this wall!"

the wall is gone

'til next time...

Hot, hot, hot...

It has been so hot lately, much hotter than normal for June!  We been finding ways to cool off. Wythe has enjoyed his sprinkler ball several days. It is nice to have for those days when you just want to run outside, play a little, cool off and not have the hassle of filling the pool.

'til next time...

Priming...priming and more priming...

I think the title of the post sums it up....priming the walls. So far I have put up 6 gallons of primer and I'm not done. I'm not even sure how many gallons of paint this is going to take!  I'm getting the feeling that we underestimated the painting budget!

One thing about painting/priming is you start seeing big changes, it really changes an area fast! I know I've said it before and I'll say it again....it is a whole different ballgame to paint with 2 little ones! You start painting and 15 minutes later someone has a meltdown or needs a diaper change or needs to eat. So you spend 10 minutes putting everything away, cleaning your brushes etc., all for 15 minutes of work. I have never felt so inclined to just throw out the paint tray and brushes every time I paint and start over with new ones! Now, that would break the budget!

'til next time...

What a difference...

What a difference a year and a half makes! Peter picked up Wythe and put him in the exersaucer tonight. I thought he would fuss about it but he seemed to find it entertaining. It is hard to believe that not so long ago it was too big for him, now he can barely fit!  The earliest picture I was able to find is from Christmas 2008.

'til next time...

End of an era...

After about 20 years of working for AMS today is Peter's last day. It is exciting and a little scary at the same time. I know the work has been really stressful for him for quite some time so I'm looking forward to a change for him. On the other hand I have some fondness in my heart for the company because that is where we met. It is easy to bash your employer but for us some very good things came out of our work place!

Peter is taking a week off before he starts his new job, same industry but different company. He plans to get a lot of work done on the addition and catch up on some other things at home.

With his new job he won't be able to work at home anymore but on the plus side I can now use his office for something else. I think for the time being I will use it to store some of this stuff that is for the addition. Eventually I will move all of our paperwork out there since it is set up as an office. I may even set up the sewing machine out there so that I can leave it set up and ready to use. I joking said that I was going to use the office for a playroom and just put a baby monitor out there....I WAS KIDDING. I'm not really going to stick my kiddos out in a room that isn't even attached to the house! At least not while they are so young...

'til next time...

Reading...Philippa Gregory

I thought I had read all of her books but apparently not as this one was unfamiliar. I am reading "The Other Queen" which is the story of Mary Stuart while she is being held captive in England. As with all of the other books I am enjoying this one.
One of the things I find fascinating about Philippa Gregory is the way she makes you feel sympathy with the main character and yet in another book you may disdain this character. In "The Other Queen" you certainly tend to side with Mary Stuart in her fight against Queen Elizabeth. And yet, in "The Virgin's Lover" you feel very sympathetic to Elizabeth.

'til next time...

Starting the day out right...

Wythe thinks he needs his morning coffee to start out his day. This morning he thought he was being very tricky by sneaking some of dad's coffee.

'til next time...

Addition update...

As I mentioned before I spent yesterday priming....more today. This addition is growing by the minute. Here I've been thinking that we didn't make it big enough yet every time I pick up the paint roller the place seems to enlarge....it's a mystery.

Of course, as I prime I'm finding areas of the drywall that need to be fixed so some of these areas will need another coat of primer after the repair.

'til next time...

Father's Day...

Today we celebrated Father's Day, but probably not like most people celebrated the holiday. I made the "mistake" of asking my husband how he would like to celebrate his day. I then spent the day priming walls in the addition.

      *Note to self....when your husband is knee deep in a massive project be careful what you ask.

Actually, it was a good day except it was a little disappointing that his Father's day gift didn't arrive. It should have been here on Friday but wasn't. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

Happy Father's day to my sweetie!

'til next time...

I found some babies...

Today I found several baby Praying Mantis (not sure if Mantis is plural or not?) on my blueberry bush. I have never seen a baby Praying Mantis before. I didn't see Mama Mantis so I guess they were on their own. I took a couple of pics, it is hard to see them against the green of the leaves.

'til next time...

Reading...Bruce Alexander

I picked up this book at my favorite used book store, Page Master Used Books. They cleverly put tags on the shelf with their recommended picks and suggestions, "if you like so-and-so try this author". So I picked up Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander. It is part of the Sir John Fielding Mystery series. It takes place in London in the mid-to-late 1700's. Sir John is a well known magistrate that goes beyond the call of duty to solve issues that are brought before him. The mystery aspect kind of reminded me of an Agatha Christie book. Maybe since it is written from the perspective of a boy named Jeremy Procter who is acting as a helped to Sir John. At times it had the feeling of Agatha's books when told from the view of Hastings. I really enjoyed the book and will be looking for more at the bookstore or at the library.


'til next time...

Toddler talk...

Wythe is really starting to expand his vocabulary, he still doesn't say many words but he is starting to try to repeat things that we say. He has his 2 year appointment soon so hopefully the doctor will be pleased with his progress. I still think he has the ability to speak but not the desire or perhaps the need to. Oddly enough, when he does say something it is more likely to be a short sentence than a word.

He has started saying "truck" again, so now everything is a truck, although I am 90% sure that he said "car" the other day. He definitely knows the difference between the two. He has a bunch of Matchbox vehicles that he plays with a lot. Sometimes when we are picking up toys I will say "Wythe, hand me your cars". Several times when I have included a truck in that request he will stand there and say "truck, truck, truck" until I say "Wythe, please hand me the truck." Then he brings the trucks right over. It is funny that despite his limited vocabulary he can still correct me!

He really likes Winnie The Pooh, one of his sentences has been "I a woozle". We can usually get him to say it by asking "Wythe, are you a heffalump??"  He will laugh and say "I a woozle!"

He has one phrase that I haven't been able to translate into English yet, "ajah woo". This can be said as a question, "ajah woo???" or as an exclamation "AJAH WOO!!" or just a statement, over and over again. I really wish I could figure out what he means when he says that, maybe one day soon!

It is so exciting to see him trying to say more words, still waiting for the favorite one though, "mommy" or "mama", have yet to hear that and I have been waiting and waiting!

Ainsley is starting to babble a lot so maybe they will encourage each other to speak!


'til next time...

A visit from the grandparents...

As mentioned in my previous post, my mom and dad were up for a few days. Wythe and Ainsley were very happy to see them because grandma and granddaddy never fail to spoil them!

Ainsley has been especially fussy for the last month or so with all this teething she is doing. Do you think she was fussy when grandma was here??? No, she was a perfect angel. Figures.

Mom brought a fruit pizza for dessert. We had to take a picture it was so pretty. Not too pretty to eat though, our motto for pretty food is 'take a picture to document the loveliness then dig in!'

Dad and Peter were able to work on the addition, they moved the gas water heater and worked on the attic fans. They also moved some light switches so now I have to flip every switch on and off trying to figure out what switch operates what light, it is like being in someone elses house.

'til next time...

Never under estimate the kitchen staff that does all the prep work...

My parents were here for the weekend, actually the weekend and a day. Since my dad likes ribs I had the idea to fix the rest of the ribs that we have from our pigs. I didn't have any BBQ sauce and I thought "why buy some from the store when I can make my own?". 

That was my first mistake - faulty thinking.

So, I google "grilled rib recipe" and find some recipes that look quite yummy. There is a recipe from a well known, very cute TV chef with a cute accent. This recipe looks especially good, or maybe it is just the chef. Wait, I am not that shallow, I would never select a recipe just because the guy promoting it is cute and has an accent...would I???   Surely not.  I look at the recipe, looks like a lot of ingredients but not "too much prep...."    I even watched the video. This is going to be perfect, he just tosses some ingredients in a pot while the ribs are smoking (yes, I said "smoking") Then you just let the sauce simmer for an hour or so....how hard could it be???

(still thinking this should be easy...should have gotten in the car and gone to the store)

So, first I make the "dry rub" for the ribs. So far things are going well, this is pretty easy. Wait, 7 TBSP of Paprika???   Ok, we might have a problem since I don't have that much Paprika so I will start a trend of substituting ingredients, a trend that continues throughout the process.

(should have realized if I don't have the right ingredients it may be easier to go buy some sauce, still thinking I should make my own)

The dry rub is mixed and now I start rubbing it into the ribs, wow, this looks like a lot of ribs! Not to worry, most people eat at least a half rack or rack of ribs since there is not a lot of meat, this should be the right amount.

(running out of dry rub and have to spread it thin, should have realized maybe there were too many ribs but instead kept rubbing)

Finished with the dry rub now onto making the sauce. A little twinge of concern since the ingredient list is stretching to the 2nd page of my printout but I bravely press on. Remember, I watched the video and it only took him about 5 minutes to season the ribs, smoke them, make the sauce and cook the ribs.

One hour later....still making the sauce. Still chopping ingredients, still trying to figure out how to substitute for items I don't have.

About 3 hours later....the sauce is as complete as it is going to be, it is simmering away, should be thickening up by now, recipe says it only takes an hour to thicken....mine takes over 2 hours. May have something to do with missing ingredients and/or substitutions.

The sauce is doing it's thing and I am supposed to be smoking the ribs but due to lack of planning this idea is going out of the window. To be honest I wasn't sure exactly how to make a fire in the charcoal grill that would smolder for 1 hour but by this time it was almost dinner anyway so I decided to forgo the smoking step. I did however put the mesquite chips on the charcoal so there was some smoking going on while cooking. Enough so that my hair and clothes smelled like I had been smoked.

Once we started cooking the ribs it became apparent that if we cooked all of them we were going to be filling the grill up multiple times. We ended up cooked about half of the ribs that I had seasoned and we still had enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day. So no, I did not accurately estimate the correct amount of ribs needed for 4 adults. The ribs were pretty tasty but not fall off the bone tender, I think that was the necessary smoking step that I missed. On the positive side, the sauce was absolutely delicious. So much so that I am confident that one day in the future I will have the thought "should I run to the store and buy sauce or just make some.....hmmm....that last sauce I made was really tasty....I think I'll make some."

'til next time...

Reading...Anne Perry

I've been reading, for the second time, Buckingham Palace by Anne Perry. I have read most, if not all, of her books and really enjoy them. I'm constantly debating with myself whether I like the Thomas Pitt series the best or the William Monk series. When I read a book about Thomas and Charlotte I am convinced that they are my favorite characters but when I read about William and Hester then I change my mind.
This book is about Thomas Pitt but it is not one of my favorites, it is still good, I have read it twice but it has very little of Charlotte, Emily or Aunt Vespasia in it, and they are critical characters. Thomas seems to be under a lot of stress and isn't functioning like he normally would. I feel at times that as the reader you start to get impatient with him for not understanding what you can see. Overall, it is still a good book, just not my favorite of the series.

'til next time...

Wythe and his lovey...

I just realized the other day that I didn't have any pictures of Wythe and his lovey "puppy". The stuffed puppy was given to him when he was born but when he was about 8 months old he got really attached to it. He has to snuggle with it when he goes to sleep. I thought that it might be a good idea to buy a second one in case something happens to Puppy. But after doing a little research we have decided that if he loses it he will learn a tough lesson! Apparently this puppy is one of those collector animals, the cheapest I see it on EBay is $40! So, for the most part puppy has to stay in the crib. Sometimes he gets to come out to the living room if Wythe is having a rough day but for the most part he lives in the crib. I took a few pictures of Wythe and puppy, too cute!

'til next time...

Addition update...

Still doing drywall work but making great progress. Peter is making progress, not me. I tried my hand at it but it definitely takes some practice. "Someone" told me that mudding is just like frosting a cake. Apparently that "someone" has not frosted a cake! Peter just hates doing drywall work and the dust is just awful, it coats everything including your lungs!

'til next time...

Fake fussing...

I was trying to post a video of my offspring in their attempt to convince me of what dire straights they were in but my Internet connection is too slow. Basically, they were both crying and periodically they would stop look at each other, then start again!
 It is so cute to watch the two of them learning to interact with each other. For awhile Wythe had little interest in Ainsley, and the little interest he showed resulted in hitting her, throwing things, etc. But now that she is sitting up and playing with his toys they are starting to "play" together and yes, fight over the toys. For a brief time it was easy, I would just hand her a different toy if there was an issue but now she is old enough that she knows if the toy she likes was taken from her.
The most precious thing is seeing their faces light up when they see each other, I think the next few years are going to be a lot of fun!

'til next time...

Storytime...

My kiddos love their books, and love to be read to. I know that is normal for this age but I am really hoping that they inherit my love of books!

'til next time...

the dreaded task...

Peter is doing drywall work....need I say more??

'til next time...

Reading...

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, to write about what I'm reading and if I like it or not. I am an avid reader, though I tend to not read the best seller list. I don't avoid it, it just seems that I don't pick those books up. I am venturing out more though by picking up random books at the library and trying them out.

I constantly have a book going, oftentimes more than one at a time. I am a fast reader, probably more of a skimmer than in depth reader, but I go through many books. I usually read at night before crashing because I find I can sleep better if my mind isn't dwelling on my never ending "to-do" lists!

So, I will start mentioning what books I am reading, feel free to comment with whether you liked/loved/hated that book. I have discovered many authors from recommendations of others!

'til next time...

Dave Skudder...

Today we went to the funeral of our neighbor, Dave Skudder. After a battle with cancer and a brain tumor Dave's suffering was ended on June 4, 2010.

It is always sad to go to a funeral, always thought provoking. Even in this situation when you are glad that he is no longer suffering there is still sadness that you will not have the opportunity to see him or talk to him again. In the past couple of days Peter and I have reminisced a lot about Dave. I was trying to think of my "favorite memory" of Dave but couldn't decide. I'll just share a few here.

Dave used to come down here and help Peter work on projects a lot. He and Peter were probably just about opposites when it came to the way they worked. Dave tended to measure to the 32nd of an inch whereas Peter usually just says "it's close enough". That made for some interesting work experiences but some how they always worked it out. Sometimes Peter just had to put his foot down and say, "Dave, I appreciate what you are trying to do and I know you want to make this perfect. But the door frame isn't square so if we make the door square it will not fit in the door frame!"

Dave was a fantastic gardener, he always had a great big garden and got tons of vegetables from it. We would talk about gardening sometimes, he would give me pointers. One year it was nearing the end of April and I had been preparing the garden but wasn't ready to plant anything yet. Peter and I went away for the day and the next day or so we noticed that over half of the garden had been planted! The only problem was we didn't know what had been planted. Turns out, Dave had come down and planted potatoes for me, filling up most of my garden. At the time I was a little upset because I hadn't planned on planting potatoes and had all of these other plants to go in the ground. But Dave had such a good heart that you couldn't say anything but "thank you". In time it grew to be funny, especially as we continued to harvest potatoes!

As some of you know we used to have a huge, un-curtained window in our bathroom. It was very disconcerting to guests, we had many a guest try to drape bath towels over the shower enclosure in an attempt for some privacy. In fact, to be perfectly honest I did the same thing the first couple of times I came to this house! Well, one day I was in the shower, shampooing my hair when out of the window I see Dave driving through the back yard on his tractor! I immediately crouch down in the shower hiding below the window, occasionally peeking out to see if he is still there. Now, let me pause for a moment to describe our house and Dave's house. Our house is on a heavily wooded lot, we have lots of trees, we keep cutting down trees and still have lots of trees. In the fall we have leaves, lots and lots of leaves. Dave's house is situated in a cleared field. He has trees on his property but not like we do. So, as I'm peeking out the window it appears that he is unloading leaves out of a trailer into my garden area! Now, why would Dave be bringing us leaves??  We have thousands, perhaps millions of leaves. I hide in the shower till he leaves (no pun intended) and later tell Peter about the experience. Neither of us has any idea why Dave brought a trailer full of leaves to our garden. Fast forward to a few days later...I'm in the shower, shampooing my hair when....yep, you got it, here comes Dave, driving through the yard bringing us more leaves! This time Peter had to ask him why he was bringing the leaves, Dave says "well....leaves are good mulch for your garden."  "But Dave, I'm drowning in leaves, I have more leaves than I can possibly deal with, why are you bringing me leaves from your house?"  "Well..."   Like I said before, Dave had a great heart, you had to love him!

One of my favorite memories of Dave is when he asked us to do him a favor. He called Peter and said, "Ethel and I are going out of town and I had ordered some fish from the fish truck. Can you go down to the co-op when the Fish Truck arrives and pick up the fish and then put them in my pond?" Peter said we would. So on the appointed day we show up at the co-op and meet the Fish Truck. First, the driver of the truck doesn't want to give us the quantities Dave ordered, supposedly certain fish you have to buy a large quantity at a time. It would seem that person that took his order had made a mistake, however since we had the paperwork we were able to get what he ordered. We knew Dave wanted us to make sure they gave him the right amounts of fish. Some were easy, 6 of one kind, 6 of another but some of the little ones were difficult. How do you really know if you are getting a pound of minnows? No, I didn't scoop them all out of the water to weigh them, we decided some things you just had to have faith about! So. we get the fish and drive to Dave's house, as we are pulling in the driveway I say to Peter is the pond in the front of the house? We just sit there looking at each other, we have no idea where this pond is. Not in the front of the house, not in the field, so it must be in the woods. Dave has about 20 acres of land, so looking for a small pond on 20 acres is daunting. Also, I forgot to mention that it was really cold that day, we were wondering if the fish would even make it. Peter starts scouring the woods and finds a small pond, then a 2nd small pond. Then we were really confused which pond did he want the fish in??  We were tempted to flip a coin but finally just chose the one that seemed most likely. Then we had to haul the bags of fish from the car, across the field and to the pond. We were really hoping that we hadn't gone to all this effort just to find out that we had released fish into the wrong pond! But fortunately we were right and Dave was happy to have his fish!

We will miss you Dave!

'til next time...

Greek Festival...yummy, yummy...

Today we went to the Greek Festival at St. Katharine's in Bailey's Crossroads. I've been to that one several times and it is consistently good. For me, rating a Greek Festival as "good" is not unusual, I'm not sure that I've ever said one was "bad". However, some are more organized than others, I have been to some that you had to wait in horribly long lines for food, think Miller School! (Some of my friends will understand that reference) Some festivals have been set up so that the dancing overlaps with the food area, it is difficult to navigate a tray of food through a Greek dance!

Ainsley and Wythe - wearing blue for the Greek festival

The food was yummy as always, I just love Greek food! One of my favorites is always the Tiropita, though to pat myself on the back...I now make a pretty mean Tiropita dish!  But I have to say their Spanikopita was some of the best I have ever had! I couldn't figure out what was different about it but it was delicious!

The only complaint I had about this festival is that the musicians didn't preform on schedule and we ended having to leave without seeing them. Wythe had fun though, there were a bunch of kids running around playing and he joined right in. It was really sweet seeing him interacting with the other children. At one point he was standing near some children who were playing "Simon Says", they were running around and totally oblivious of Wythe but he thought they were playing with him. It was really cute, every time they would run by he would shriek with laughter. 

 

Wythe making friends

"ooo....lots of friends"

I love this picture of Wythe, he was so excited watching the other children play, I wish I could have captured the sound of his laughter and the smile that he couldn't wipe off his face!

Wythe and his friend having a stare down

It is so cute to see how quick children are to make friends, it is a shame that that trait gets squelched for most of us as we grow older. If we were as friendly as toddlers we would probably have a lot more friends and have a lot more fun in life.

'til next time...

Shout out to absorbancy...

Ok, so I just posted about my love for cloth diapers but since I am a fair person I have to give credit where credit is due. I still use Pampers for Wythe and sometimes for Ainsley. Just the other day I didn't have a swim diaper for Wythe so I let him swim in his regular diaper. I know some people have mean things to say about disposible diapers but you have to admit they are absorbant. Check out the photo below.

By the way, I did order a cloth swim diaper for Wythe so we should have to do this again!

'til next time...

Lovin' on the cloth...

I like cloth diapers. I like them for many reasons. I like the fact that they don't contribute to the overfull landfill problems, I like the fact that I don't have to rush out to the store because I have run out of diapers. (although I may have to delay a diaper change while waiting for a diaper to dry) I like all the cute brand names; Tiny Tush, Bum Genius, FuzziBunz, Happy Heinys, Knickernappies, RumpARooz, SoftBums.  And most of all I how doggone cute little babies bottoms look swaddled in cloth!

I have been slowly transitioning to cloth as my collection of diapers grows. I am using them primarily for Ainsley. The plan was to find a one-size diaper that I could use for both of them. That is proving to be a little difficult. Wythe is such a big boy that the largest one size diaper is a little snug, doable but snug. I could buy a larger diaper that would fit him but if I have to buy separate diapers for both then it gets really expensive. I don't anticipate Ainsley being as big as Wythe is, so she may not get any use out of a bigger diaper.

Wythe shows no sign of being potty trained anytime soon so I should have time to to figure out what I want to do with him as far as cloth diapers goes. One of the many things I didn't consider when having children close in age, two in diapers, in diapers for a while!

'til next time...