Potty training + house renovation = Stale blog

2 few weeks back my favorite living brother wrote on my Facebook page,  "your blog is stale"

Well, that really made me want to sit down and write.

Not.

Funny how words of encouragement like that just make you want to run for the hills.

But he was right, my blog has been stale.  Frankly, my brain has been stale. I'd like to say that has changed but...I think that would be telling a falsehood.

Anyway, despite my brain being completely dysfunctional I have been potty training two toddlers, working on the house addition, potty training two toddlers,  planning for spring plantings,  potty training two toddlers, and potty training. I'm pretty sure the potty training explains everything that is wrong with my brain. That, however, deserves it's own post and I may or may not write about it, I'm still trying to decide if I want to document the misery.

In other news,  we have continued working in the addition but we have been doing the dreaded task of painting trim. To date we are putting our 3,287th coat of paint on the trim and it still looks the same as it did a few weeks ago. I can't even show pictures of the "progress" because the 3,287th coat looks remarkably like the 1,245th coat looked.
We did finish painting the bookcases and put the books in so that we could get the boxes off of the floor. That was an encouraging sight because the room starts to look "lived in".
Probably the biggest project I accomplished was cleaning out the closet in the addition.  That was kind of like my own Day of Reckoning. For weeks, or months, I have been shoving everything into that closet. Outgrown clothes, tools, paint buckets, gifts, everything that doesn't fit or have a place in our house. And, I know of at least one time that I just grabbed everything off the floor and stuffed it in that closet before company came over. I knew that one day I would have to clean out this closet of shame. The good news is I got a slight grace period on my day of reckoning, I got to move a lot of the stuff out to the office. That will be my next room of shame to deal with. But at least the closet is cleaned out and we can work on  installing the shelves and racks.

Just to humiliate myself I'll show you a before picture,

...and after a very long day,

Here's to stale blogs!

'til next time...

Celebrating Valentine's Day with small children...

...or rather, attempting to celebrate Valentine's Day with small children.

Pre-kids Valentine's Day was usually a romantic dinner for the two of us, something more like this.

But now that we have a 3-year-old and 2-year-old it is not quite the same. Celebrating the Hallmark version of Valentine's Day would entail making reservations at a restaurant, hiring a sitter and not nodding off during dinner, all those pesky details.

The past few years we have splurged on "ready to cook" meals from my favorite grocery store and indulged in desserts from the European bakery.  This year I had the brilliant idea of including the kids in on a nice dinner with us. In my fantasy world, we would sit around the table, eating our fancy food, discussing the history of Valentine's Day. The children would be well mannered, would eat the food served to them, listen attentively and learn about Saint Valentine, drink from their crystal water glasses without spilling, and never once think that it would be fun to stick things in the candle flame.

The table before the kids were seated....my fantasy is still alive.

My rosy tinted view of Valentine's Day dinner started to fade when every five minutes one of us was leaving the table to do this.

We don't always raise a glass of champagne to toast potty training achievements, but it was Valentine's Day after all.

As anyone who is acquainted with young children would know, my fantasy world came crashing down around my head.  We quickly shoveled food down the throats of the little beasts, shoved their arms and legs into pajamas and tossed those little ambiance destroyers into bed.

Then we shut the door to their room, turned up the Andrea Bocelli music really loud, rearranged the table to look like this...

...and attempted to ignore the outraged protests coming from our heathen offspring.

Without the savages at the table the romantic atmosphere seemed to return.

We gazed at the floating candles....

...and at the roses my husband brought me...

...and consumed the following...

...and that's how you celebrate a romantic Valentine's Day with small children.

'til next time...

Valentine's Day Vino

This is a great dessert wine for Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Shop

The Chocolate Lover's Wine

Chocolate Shop, the ultimate "Chocolate Lover's Wine" is a deep, ruby red wine blended with rich, velvety chocolate. Inviting aromas of black cherry and dark chocolate combine in the glass and continue on the palate surrounded by hints of cocoa powder. Nuances of sweet red wine lingers on the smooth finish. Chocolate Shop provides you with an indulgent wine experience like no other. 

Made in Walla Walla, Washington

'til next time...

The downside to Pinterest

Can there be such a thing??  I mean, I haven't yet heard any stories of a family starving to death while mommy pins away but I am sure there have been some close calls. 

The problem with Pinterest is that there are just So. Many. Daggone. Cool. Things.  And frankly, sometimes it is more fun to collect ideas rather than actually do them.  I have looked at enough kids crafts and activities to keep my kids busy through college. 

And recipes....if I randomly picked out one each day I could probably have our meals planned for the next few months. But like I said, it is easier to ogle recipes and pin them than to actually fix the meal. 

All that being said, I love Pinterest and I'm sure I will continue to find ways to justify the amount of time I waste on the site.

'til next time...