Just Make Stuff

I need to know something...

How in the world does a house get soooo dirty/cluttered soooo freaking fast?

How?

Do you know how much crap I have everywhere?  It wasn't there a couple days ago because I cleaned it up and now it's all back and multiplying.

I'm pretty good about doing things right away and not letting them pile up, but oh dear mother of all that is heinous in this world you should see the piles now. 

Anyways...had to share my frustration...gave me something to do besides tackle the total disaster area...

Next...

Thump...

Thump...

Thump...

That's the sound going through our neighborhood right now.

Front yard phase II is underway as of this afternoon.  We have this walkway made up of pink cement.  Sean's taking out two pieces and planting sod in it's place so we can have more grass in the front yard. 

This will be another busy week...I haven't gotten a chance yet to cover the adoption fun and excitement that is going to result in me being crazy stressed until September 13th.  We had the first meeting with our social worker a couple weeks ago and set up the other three interviews.  The result is our home-study will be complete, and hopefully approved by September 12th.  Then our family information is released to birth mothers to look through.  The agency requests that you write a letter to the birth moms to introduce your family (hardest thing I'll ever write) and make a "photo album"...actually three copies of a photo album. 

Well, we all know that photo album=scrapbook...but that means three scrapbooks...and I cannot bring myself to have anything but original books...granted I'll make all three the same, but there will be no color copies from me...so that's a little bit of work to do in my immediate future.

The other complicating factor is what photos they request to be included in the books...the individual members of our family, photos of our immediate family, things we like to do together, our pets, our home, the nursery...

NURSERY?

We have no nursery.  We need to have a nursery done so we can photograph it and include it in the book.  It makes sense if you think about it...a mom can see that we are really ready and waiting. 

Sean and I went to Babies'R'Us last week and are the proud owners of a gender-neutral crib set.  Eddie Bauer's Believing in Dreams...cute, country, colorful...discontinued three months ago.  So I spent hours on the phone calling stores all over California to piece everything else together.  I got everything but the lamp base and shade.  We have sheets and valances and wallpaper borders and a mobile. 

We also bought nursery furniture...can I tell you I've never had nursery furniture.  Mac never had a nursery...he never even had a crib.  He was so small he could sleep in bassinet until he was a year old.  The he slept in his pack'n'play since I had no room for a crib in my tiny cinder-block apartment.  I didn't even know how to open a crib the night we were at the store. 

So Jon, who works at Babies'R'Us is our new best friend...he found all the furniture we wanted, (since we are obviously cursed and everything we wanted was out of stock) is having it shipped to us for free, and even gave us the floor model of the crib we bought to borrow so we could have it to photograph in case our crib wasn't delivered in time.  Isn't Jon the best thing ever? :)  Sean actually took the crib back this afternoon since we  were called on Friday and told ours would be delivered this week along with the rest of the furniture.  So here's where the nursery stands as of now...

Sean started taping off the walls to paint...but I still have to pick out paint colors.  Hopefully we can turn this into baby-land ever so quickly.  Of course this will be amidst me making 60 or so 9x9 pages for three different scrapbooks...oh and English class (have a 110 pages of reading to do this week), seven various appointments, Sean's birthday, Mac's first day of school, and that little cement demolishing project I mentioned.

I really can't wait till it's September 13th, when the important letter is written, three scrapbooks are complete, grass is growing, and we have a nursery. :)

Phew...

That's how you spell the sound of relief, right? :)  That long exhale filled with accomplishment when you begin to feel everything just might work out okay.

It's 11:52pm and I'm going to bed now...if I fall asleep soon will be one thing because my mind is flying.  Sean, after working right alongside me tonight and actually even before I got home this afternoon, offered to rub my feet to try to help me fall asleep.  God bless that man.

Everything that can be done for the baby shower tomorrow is done.  Tables set up, house all decorated except for balloons, games ready, favors and prizes and cups and serving-ware and all kinds of fun ready to go.  I'm excited now...this is the part of entertaining I just love...when everything is all organized and good to go.  All the details from the clothesline filled with baby clothes as a decoration to the little pastel safety pins scattered on the tables. 

Oh and the food...so far I have been doing pretty okay with the whole weight-loss thing.  Tomorrow my house will be carb, mayonnaise, and sugar city.  Five different kinds of tea sandwiches...four different little desserts...fruit salad, yummy punch...all being packed up and given away so the most damage I can do is during the party.  Hopefully that plan will work. :)

Camera's ready to go too...hopefully I'll get a chance to share a few photos before the weekend is over...

Stressed...

Remember Sunday's to-do list?  Well it's all coming crashing down on me tonight.  Even though a lot of it's done...I just feel an enormous amount of pressure.  I'm putting it on myself.  I keep trying to take deep breaths, one thing at a time, it'll all get done.  Yet, it just builds again..."what about this"..."and don't forget that"..."how are you ever going to finish...?". 

Okay more deep breaths...there's more to elaborate on, but there's not the time to do it...not until I get it all done...then I'll feel better...

Color...

So, we're getting there.  There is actually color on the walls.  Never got an official before shot but there wasn't much to see.  Before the green wall was white with that little welcome wreath and that's it. 

Now it, hopefully, is a warm welcome to our house.  Sean built and stained the little table.  I had a little fun shopping. :)  One of the photos (our hands held...one of my favorite photos ever) was taken by Tara Whitney and the other one I caught of Mac on the beach this summer.  The ivy topiary is real and will probably meet it's demise soon enough, but I decided to try it anyway and hope it'll grow.  Two of the dining room walls are a buttery mustard-ish yellow.  I love how it sets off the red hutch we have...made it my favorite room even more now.

What I carefully cropped out was the disaster the house is right now.  You can only see a corner of the Pier One bags sitting in the dining room.  You can't see the two valances that are laid out on the floor since we're painting another wall right now.  You can't see the pile of stuff to hang back up...so much left to do

...slowly but surely we're getting there.

School has begun...

I'm officially in Freshman Composition 101...seriously..."Freshman"...oh I'm too old.

I had another friend starting back at school today and I just e-mailed her this...

I got into my english class, but can I tell you it's a 23 year old, a 25 year old, me the ancient 29 year old, and about 30 18 year olds...fresh from high school.  We had to go around the room introducing ourselves and sharing where we came from...everyone was saying "Hi my name is (fill in the blank) and I graduated from (fill in the blank) high school this past June"

"Hi my name is Nora Griffin and I graduated from Mater Dei High School in 199-grumble grumble-4"

...I started working at a high school when you all were in eighth grade...you were 8 freaking years old when I graduated high school...I am old and fat and a little frumpy

but I didn't say that last part :)

So, that sums up the demographics of the class.  However, it's totally worth being the oldest just to take a class with this professor.  I took a Women's Studies class with her in Spring of 2003 and she is great.  Practical, down-to-earth, worldly, open-minded, and demanding.  I know that by having her grade my papers I will be so much better equipped to play by the rules.  You know all those grammar rules, and organization of thought, concise sentences...and everything else I don't do? 

Time for "to-do's" again...

Woke up this morning and realized this is another one of those weeks.  I haven't had one in awhile.  The kind that I have to keep going over in my head everything I have to get done so I hopefully don't forget anything...

-I'm hopefully starting an english class Monday morning...I'm #5 on the waitlist, I'll need to get all paperwork done for it and battle the lines at the admissions office and the bookstore

-I need to buy my gift for the shower I'm throwing next Saturday...I'm using a clothes line as a decoration and all the baby clothes and blankets and socks hanging on it will be my gift to her

-I need to make all the favors and something to put the favors in and make her thank you notes that match the invitations

-Sean's gone everyday from 8am to 5pm for district training

-He'll need to finish up the painting projects when he gets home

-Mac has an appointment for a brace check, a follow-up before his testicular surgery, and a birthday party to attend on Thursday

-I have a meeting with a counselor at the community college that backs right into what time the birthday party is at

-I've planned to go to lunch & spend some time with friends on Friday, which I'm really looking forward to...but then will spend the rest of the day and into the wee hours of the morning making food for the shower the next day

-I need to make phone calls...to the adoption agency to ask a couple questions, to a store to see if a can of sealer came in for the table Sean built and stained, to a sod company about ordering bermuda grass for the front yard

-I need to make two thank you cards that are well overdue and a get well card

-I need to clean this house...really need to

-I need to get all the kitchen appliance stuff officially ordered and the installation sheduled

-I need to get stuff figured out for Sean's birthday next week

-I need to hem over 12 feet of curtains I bought to make a new valance for our family room

-I need to make some returns of stuff that I thought might work for the house and didn't

I wish I could think, "I just need to get to Sunday" but the next week we have 7 more various appointments scheduled, we're doing the second half of the front yard, the kitchen appliance installation, and Mac has his first day of school.

I can't imagine how boring this was to read but it sure helped me get my sleepy head all organized and ready to go...I can do this!!

I hope :)

The result...

Here are a few photos of the front yard.  We parked the old wheelbarrow the formers owners left behind out front and filled it with flowers.  We're waiting on the ground cover behind the wheelbarrow to grow in and we planted a willowy tree back there.  Other than that it's a modge-podge of plants that will hopefully flourish and a border of annuals for some color right now.  Sean also outlined everything with brick.  Some of the grass needs to grow back too it was being stifled by the trees and bushes that were there before...

Hopefully it looks good.  It's such a big change, but I think it holds a good amount of potential...just crossing our fingers and thinking thriving thoughts...now say it with me...

"Grow Plants! Grow!"  :)

A good night...

Cantaloupe scented candle burning...

Jazz playing...

Scrapbooking...

...makes for a good night :)

Ideas...

Sean is threatening to find a job that has him working all summer long.  These three weeks off are killing him.  You know why?

My relentless ideas.

I'm in home beautification mode.  Granted it started with the front yard.  Phase one will be all done tomorrow morning so I'll take the official pictures then.  Phase two involves removing pink concrete and putting in some sod.  Sean has district training all next week (which I think he's thankful for) so phase two will be accomplished the week after. 

My other crazy ideas...a couple are accomplished, a couple are in the works, a couple might wait...

-Painting the wall behind our stove split pea green...done

-Painting two walls in our dining room a buttery yellow...done

-Parking the old wheelbarrow that the former owners left behind when they moved out in our front yard and filling it with plants and flowers to make it look cute...will be done tomorrow

-Switching out the circa 1976 brass handles in our kitchen to circa 2005 brushed nickle ones...almost done

-Removing a light switch that doesn't seem to hook up to anything on the little wall you see when you walk in our house, painting the wall a dark mossy green, building a very narrow table and staining it black, hanging a mirror over it that we might paint the frame of, and making it like a little entry area...in the works

-Painting the wall that goes from our kitchen to our family room that kind of trendy light warm brown color...thinking about it

-Painting the back wall of the bookshelves that flank our fireplace...thinking about it

-Finally taking the plunge and ordering new kitchen appliances...did that yesterday (and CANNOT wait for my new double oven/microwave combo with a warming drawer!)

-Getting rid of the ugly fluorescent lights in our kitchen and getting recessed lighting...need to learn more about that

So, we've been a little busy. :)

The Rematch...

Monopoly again tonight....because we had a lot of fun on Sunday night and it's a good way for Mac practice some math.

Timer set for one hour...

The results...

Sean=$2223

Nora=$2431

Mac=$2956

Damn that kid. :)

But watch out, we're catching up...

And the winner is...

So we set the timer for 45 minutes because, as I'm sure you know, Monopoly can go on forever. 

As those minutes ticked down to an end I reset the timer for 15 more...because the three of us were having so much fun. 

Then it was time.  Game over.  Count it up.  Who won?

Nora's total= $1428

Sean's total= $1792

Mac's total= $3562

Yeah, he won. :)

We're getting there...

Oh, has this been a week.

Good, but busy.  Sean's gotten so much accomplished.  Me, not so much. 

I've spent a lot of time sitting on our front porch staring, thinking, and mostly hoping.  It's been amazing to see him pull off something so major...the most I did was some sweeping, raking, cold-water supplying, sunscreen applying, and sandwich making.  Which equates to about 1/1000 of the whole project.

So, here's all the fun and excitement so you can see what's been going on around the Griffin household this week. Yard

We've been plant shopping...we spent over an hour at the home improvement store picking out each brick individually... Sean's never going to let me in those places again...I think I came up with four more house projects while we were there...I'm like a kid in a candy shop...except I know little to nothing about anything when it comes to all this house improvement & tools stuff....oh, but do I loooove to dream. :)

The yard is starting to take shape... hopefully a good shape...I'm still not quite confident enough and have been really grateful for every neighbor that has taken the time to tell us it's looking good.  We discovered as the first branch fell that our next door neighbor has a massive jungle that the trees had been dutifully hiding for us...I'm getting used to the idea it's all going to be exposed for our viewing pleasure until our little plants grow big and tall.

Tomorrow should be the day we can wrap it up.  We'll wait on one more plant and some ground cover for the back of the yard and hopefully we'll have everything wood-chipped so it looks nice and neat.  Notice how I keep throwing around the word, "we"...when it's actually Sean.  He really did it and I'm so grateful for that...the yard will be ours...my crazy ideas and his hard, hard work.

Here goes nothing...

Starting tomorrow morning these bad boys are going...Sean has the chainsaw all warmed up and I'm pretty darn frightened...not of Sean and power tools, but of the change. 

I'm taking something as visible as the front of my house and daring to trust myself to make it different.  I know Sean will do anything I ask of him, but that means it's kind of up to me to have the vision and I don't exactly feel like I have it right now. 

We've tried to learn about plants for the yard, talked to several people, asked 100's of questions, thought and thought about it...still it's not all hammered out in my head.  It's fairly by the seat of my pants, which is not my style.  I know I don't like these trees, I know I want this yard to be more "us"...Sean's sweat (and hopefully not blood) and my crazy ideas. 

It's silly I know, it's just my yard.  We've made some big changes around this house in the five years it's been our home and they've all worked out pretty well.  I think my fear is because this one is so visible....so easily judged.  Friends, family, neighbors, see the the inside of your house...anyone and everyone sees the outside.  You know you've driven past a house at some point or another and thought, "Oh, that's ugly." or "Why do they have it like that?".

I just need to trust myself.  Think of it as paper and glue and just play with it.  Make it mine, take a chance, create something...

You're cordially invited...

To a little of our wedding...I loaded some of the photos on here for you to join in on the memories.

Today is Sean and my 6th anniversary.  We spent part of the day down in San Diego with Mac.  The three of us went to the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum...very romantic, huh? :)  Actually, I was the one who suggested going and the three of us had a great time. 

In a little while Mac is going to go to a baseball game with my mom and Sean and I rented some movies to stay home and curl up with.

It's so funny how these past six years feel like a lifetime...but in a good way.  It feels like there wasn't much life before Sean...that we have always been a family. 

I had no idea that day how lucky I was.  Coming from divorced parents, marriage was a bit of a mystery for me.  I could have never guessed what an immense blessing it is.  How much I could pride myself on it.  How Sean and I would grow even closer with every passing day.  That I'd love him more, appreciate him more, understand him more.  It gives me so much to look forward to with him.

Here goes year #7...can't wait to see what it has in store for us...

Owning up to it...

I've discussed it a little before.  I've tried and I've failed...and I've tried again.  I've had a little success and now is the time to keep it going so today I signed up...

For what?

Weight Watchers

So, far I've lost 8.5lbs on my own, but I know myself.  I need structure...parameters...goals.

Three years ago (when I started out lighter anyway) I lost 23 pounds doing WW and then I quit...not drastically...slowly but surely...stopped weighing in...eating a little more of this and that...less exercise...no exercise.

Today I weigh 23 pounds more than I weighed when I started Weight Watchers the first time...which a little ironic I guess.  So, here it is...

182.6 pounds

I'm owning up to it...

and I'm getting rid of it.

At 5'3" I should weigh at the most 135.  My big goal is to get to 130 by 30...I don't know if I get all the way there but I sure as hell can get close by the time I hit the big 3-0.  I have one day less than nine months to get there.

Here's how I'm looking at it...

We're adopting so I'm not going to be pregnant...therefore I'm going to have an anti-pregnancy and lose weight.  I want to be the girl that people ask, "YOU just had a baby?!?" when I'm holding my newborn...that way I can explain we adopted as opposed to my current state where my stomach's so big it looks like I'm pregnant.

I want to weigh less than my husband again.  I want strength and endurance.  I want clothes sizes in single digits.  And I really sorta want a pair of those new trendy expensive jeans...and I want them to fit like butter...since I won't be eating much butter. :)

So, there it is.  I know I CAN do this...I just HAVE to do it. 

130 here I come...

Lofty Goal...

This afternoon I finally got a chance to do something I've been wanting to do for awhile now...

I finished printing out all the pictures I need to scrap and then got a whole list organized into my palm pilot. 

Turns out it's 67 pages.  Crazy girl that I am, I decided I'm going to try to get it all done this month.  It might be too lofty of a goal, but we'll see.  As of tonight I've already finished five pages and have four more organized on my desk to make tomorrow. 

It's amazing how happy a little organization can make me.  I feel like it's all under control and now it's just little to-do's to check off.  I can relax more and create.  I can watch this pile start to shrink...

Kinda Crazy...

So, the whole baby thing has been in the works for years.  We decided what year we'd start trying (2003) and then I wanted to put it off one more year.  Then we actually tried for about six months before we found out about the infertility stuff in September 2004.

Along the way we bough a few things...since we knew we'd need them someday.  Maybe it was something we found on vacation or while we were shopping for a baby gift for a friend.  Just little things.

A couple weeks ago Sean looked up from reading one of the five books we're required to read for the adoption and told me that it said we should start getting ready. 

I went into the linen closet and got out all the things we've collected over the last few years and went to Target to get something to hold it all.  It so much more fun to see it sitting out instead of buried underneath some blankets. 

So, here's the crazy part. 

You know the Pottery Barn Kids Catalog?  Slightly synonymous to crack for Mom's? :)  I got yet another issue in the mail last week and as I flipped through the pages low and behold there it was...

THE crib set I HAVE to have...

I know that's presumptuous at this early stage, but Pottery Barn has a good return policy just in case.  Yesterday Sean and I went and got a quilted pillow case sham and crib sheet so I could have the colors on hand.  We decided we'll buy part of it each month for the next couple months. 

Can I tell you how happy it made me to put those two items into the bin with the rest of the baby things.  We have to be patient, but this is going to happen and it feels sooooo good to have so much to look forward to.