Little Tidbits

And I'm immediately thinking pineapple! 

I'm already off topic. :)

Anyway.......We've been working on our basement for...um...2.5 years now.  A huge part of the hold up is deciding what to do with the ceiling in the craft/laundry room.  It's a mess of all kinds of pipes and wires, most of which aren't tucked up neatly between the beams.  Shudder...My mom eventually volunteered my handy man dad to come put up a suspended ceiling for me (thereby clearing up clutter from her house since he had the supplies laying around).  We also had to wire a light in.  There was an existing feature in the laundry portion of the room, but my craft area was a dark corner.  Lots of time hanging with my dad and a week later:

Ta-da!  We have light!  And a ceiling.  Wahoo!!There's still a bit to be done, like sheet rocking one wall, taping and mudding another wall, painting, adding a door to the bathroom and flooring throughout.  It'll get done.  Eventually.

I also (partly in thanks to my wonderful new lighting) finished my first goal of the year.  I finished scrapbooking our Disneyland trip (from 07).  The goal was to have it finished before this coming weekend (as in the 22-23 of Jan) before my big scrapbooking crop that I'm attending.  Honestly, I'm done with 07. I just need to get a few holiday pictures out of the way and that year will finally be history.

Last, but not least.  The kids talked us into a game or two of Uno attack the other night.  After the first round Sophie had the hang of it enough (with help) that I could have my own hand. We were all having a lovely time.  Then I looked over at my darling baby girl and nudged Jeff.  We broke out in hysterical laughter.  Sophie was holding her hand with the cards fanned out between her toes!  The big and second toe to be exact.  Jeff grabbed the camera and we caught this for posterity.  Love it!

Mothers Day and More

First off-I'm a slacker who's now playing catch up. Lots of blog fodder. Gobble it all up at once or savor it for a few days, but enjoy it. :)

Mothers day was nice and laid back. I got to share my special day with my most special man. Jeff's birthday happened to fall on moms day this year. We did cake and presents Saturday night. I fooled him into thinking I'd just gotten him some candy and a (rather boring looking) Frisbee-until he turned it over and got tickets he's been wanting. hehe.

(Don't you love how McKay's picking his nose? Such a boy!)

Sunday morning I tried to help Jeff and McKay make breakfast. I'm all for not helping with breakfast this one day a year, but I don't think you should have to do the cooking on your birthday either. McKay, however, had a different idea and told me I had to go back to bed. I went (to my bed) and started working on my mom's gift. McKay wandered in and said, "Hey! You are supposed to be laying down with the lights off, Mom!!" He then brought me his present he made at preschool, some hearts he colored and cut out at home, and some seashells.

After church we visited with my grandparents and then had a BBQ at my moms with my family after.

Also that weekend, we were able to get our garden started. Thanks in a HUGE way to my best-ever dad. He brought his tiller over, fertilizer, all the nutrients for the soil and some black plastic ground cover. He tilled and tilled some more, mixed the stuff in and then kept tilling. Then I raked it smooth. The ground was sooooo soft when he was done. He laid the plastic down and told us how to cut it for the different veggies. (Minimal weeds. I am SOOO excited!) Last night we got most of our veggies in: tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro, onions, beans, peas, carrots, zucchini, and cucumber. Next week we'll do more cilantro, peppers, and pumpkins. Yummy!

Bonfires and Amplifiers and Dads and Daughters

Last night my dad and I went on our first daddy-daughter date since I was a Merry Miss (for those who are too young to remember Merry Miss-think Activity Days.) A couple of weeks ago I decided that I really wanted to go to the Brad Paisley concert. Jeff was leaving town and I needed someone to go with me, so I asked my dad. It was so much fun we went out to dinner before and then to the concert. Openers: Chuck Wicks (Stealing Cinderella) and Rodney Atkins (If your goin' thru hell, keep on going). They both did really well. Unfortunately, the concert was held at the Energy Solutions Arena and the acoustics were horrible. Rodney A. was really fun to watch, lots of energy, talked a lot about his kids and was having fun up there. If he ever headlines here, I would definitely go see him again. (In fact, I am going out this morning and buying his CD). Brad Paisley was, of course, awesome. He is so talented. He sings fabulous live, he had some great animation that he did himself, and he plays the guitar like it's no ones business! It was so cool.

We did meet lots of interesting people there. I was a little surprised by the lack of hats and funny cowboy shirts, but I guess the cowboy trend is seeming to go away from at least the shirts (thankfully). I did see a lot of "high maintenance" girls , ya know, trendy clothes, lots of makeup, perfectly styled hair. We had 2 cute girls in front of us who gave us a cotton ball. (Concert tip: When at the former Delta Center, stuff cotton balls in your ears and then you can magically take all the echo out and understand what is being said/sung.) There was a cute little couple next to us that couldn't have been older than 17 or 18. She was adorable and he was the perfect gentleman. Very smooth. Hope he had enough gas in his car. ;) (I'm sure that probably came out wrong. Sorry!) There were 4 kids that came in on our row (none older than 18 I'm sure) all with a beer in hand. As you can guess (thankfully), the arena staff checked their ages and escorted them all out, taking away their beers. Yay E.S.A.!! Then there was the row of rowdy girls behind us. (Ok. Really they were grown women, probably all having to take their kids to school today, but acting like girls for the evening. ) They joined us part way thru the 2nd opening act and were apparently much in love with Mr. Atkins. I won't repeat things I heard. They had obviously started their party before they came to sit with us. The alcohol was already taking affect. :) I was glad when they moved though.

I am so glad I went. I've been trying to live without regrets (or as few as possible) and I don't think I will ever regret this fun night-drunks and all.