210 Olympics Time!!!

We are SO excited that the Olympics have begun! Bean was 2 for Beijing, so she didn't really get it. The DQ was 8 and enjoyed them, but doesn't really remember much about them.

Living on the east coast is rough some times because things come on an hour later than they do in the west. 

The LT and I attempted to watch the opening ceremonies last night, but were so frustrated when a huge storm knocked out the satellite (such problems, right!). Fortunately an abbreviated version aired at 2am so I recorded that. Today the girls and I lounged around and watched them, as well as a few of the events. They were both really excited to watch and are looking forward to the rest of the show!

209 Baby Shower

My dear friend Ada is having a baby very soon! Some ladies from church got together for a baby shower and some good girl time. The lady who organized it was brilliant because she planned it at a pool. It was wonderful because the women had a lot of time to visit while the kids swam. Usually they are bored or getting into trouble. We actually had to drag them away! 

Ada moved here in May and I have had such a great time getting to know her. She was born in Mexico, then moved to Canada when she was four. She speaks Spanish, French and English fluently. She is bubbly and outgoing and so much fun to be around. I can't wait to meet her sweet daughter!

208 Making Some Progress

Since it now appears that we will be here a while (of course, we could get that, "You're moving in a week" call still) I have decided that I need to stop whining about this crappy house and make it a home. As much as I desperately want to, I am not going to paint. I don't want to move all of the furniture, and it really is a hassle. I'll save that for the next house. (hopefully we'll have some surety that we will be there a few years)

The kitchen has been a headache since the beginning. Every time I go to someone's house in my neighborhood, I study how they have things laid out. I did some rearranging and cleaning of a few cupboards to hopefully lessen some of the clutter and that has made it so much better. 

Of course while I was cleaning, I was trying to do some decorating. 

It's not something I loved but I do like where some people have spelled out words, like "eat" with the cute metal Anthropologie letters in the kitchen. It was kind of like, "Well, that's the trend, so I'll do it..." So I did.

Except, rather than spend the $18 per letter from Antrho, I found this tutorial and made them myself. The whole project was less than $10. 

I didn't like the look with the brads, so I just left them as is. I was a little skeptical at first because they just looked too shiny and painted with metallic silver paint, so I took a piece of sand paper and rubbed the edges and the front, and viola! They look much more authentic!

Now to figure out where to hang them...

207 Yikes!

Bean had book club today, and it's pretty far up north, so rather than going home, the DQ and I needed to find a place to hang out. I have heard about this place, Front Porch of the South, a lot, and so we figured that was as good a place as any to spend the time.

I didn't really know what to expect. I knew they had antiques, but the only way I can describe it, is as if everyone's grandmother just died, so the family cleaned out her house and set it up in a stall. There were tons of stalls there with some crazy things. Some people looked to have had really cool grandmas, and some, well... I'm just glad they weren't my grandma!

It is a swap mart/flea market/consignment store I guess. There weren't any people at the stalls though, you just go up to a register to pay for things. 

I did find some really beautiful things but there wasn't anything I really needed, so I walked out empty handed. That and we had to hurry to get Bean, so we barely made it through a quarter of the store!

This stall by far had to be the creepiest though. The photo doesn't do it justice!

206 Squirrels!

Short story long:

Our neighbors left a few weeks ago. One of the things they left behind was a tomato plant in their front yard.

The mailman noticed this and, worried about it, suggested I move it to my yard and start caring for it.

(He clearly doesn't know my track record for inexplicably killing any plant that comes near me, as well as my complete lack of ability to process the art of growing my own food)

I had not intended to take it (Sorry Dawn!) because, really, what would I do with it? I doubted that I could actually grow them to red, and then I would have to use them if they did survive, and of course, the odds that I would want to make something tomato based within the window that they were ripe and ready are not good, and I don't think I could get enough ripened tomatoes to actually make something tomato based with, so I would have to buy more tomatoes anyways, and then, why not just buy them in the first place!?

But I digress.

Solely based on the fact that the mailman is now holding me accountable for the care of this plant, I moved it into our front yard. I noticed that there was one orangeish red tomato, and several green ones on it. 

Today I went out to water it and thought, "Hmm, wonder where that red one went? Did it un-ripen?" (seriously, I know nothing of gardening) But I didn't think too much of it. 

The LT came home at lunch and said, "Huh! Look at what that crafty squirrel did!" and sure enough, a squirrel is trying to thwart my attempt at gardening.

205 Baby Shoot

Oh my.

Isn't she scrumptious!!?

204 Tooth Two!

Bean lost her second tooth this morning before church. She was certain it was never going to fall out.

You can see her big tooth poking up back there, it finally pushed that baby tooth out of the way!