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and making stuff...the Freestyle workshop had me inspired to play with paint and paper and masking tape and stamps to see what I could do. I was also inspired by this and this so I came up with this...
it's not all that good but it was VERY fun...I'm pretty sure I have a new addiction. :)
Off to take a long, hot shower and head to bed...night.
The meeting at Mac's school went unexpectedly, but well enough...not what we initially intended, but it's an understandable situation. Moral of the story is he's going to need to change programs and therefore schools. We walked out of his school and drove directly to the tiny private, Montessori school my brother and sister attended years ago. I just wanted to see what else is out there in our seemingly insurmountable task of finding what's best for Mac. I sat in the front office with Sean and in walks Nora...the principal...still after all these years...a former Irish nun who heads up a little school that teaches children how to learn, not how to take a standardized test. Thankfully she recognized me immediately...we set it up for Mac to visit this Wednesday to see what she thinks. I've made the executive position to pull the wool over his eyes for now and not subject him to the uncertain changes before him so our trip there will be under the guise of a visit...hopefully a smooth, successful one. The other obstacle was discussing this all with Bryce, oh the joys of raising a child with your high school boyfriend, I held my breath when he called about the news from the meeting he had to miss due to work...he really liked the idea of putting Mac in the Montessori school...thank good God...I teased him that I think it was the first time we've whole-heartily agreed on something in the last thirteen years.
Next
The doctor's appointment...uneventful and informative. We got our small handful of questions answered, found out that this is going to be a little more involved since our doctor likes to do some proactive diagnostic work before attempting artificial insemination, and it's ever so slightly cheaper than we originally thought. I was kidding around with Sean all day as we went from one of Mac's educational related task to another asking him, "You know what sounds good? A pelvic ultrasound" thinking that I'd inevitably end up with my feet in stirrups later in the afternoon, but the doctor didn't decide to do one...my small respite before all the fertility fun and excitement really gets underway.
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Freestyle...all day yesterday at Scrapbook Oasis. So fun...great projects...and just IDEAS...I love ideas....whether it was pipe cleaners, masking tape or back-stitching...it was just inspiring to make stuff all day long. Can't wait to use some of this new inspiration and ideas soon. This was the little book Kim Henkle taught...
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Later today is an unofficial Memorial Day event here on Franzen Ave...just a little neighborly BBQ at our house...the potato salad is chilled, watermelon is all chopped up, and the tri-tip is marinating...I think I'm going to break out the martini accouterments and make it a nice little party...not that I ever drink that much, but I might as well imbibe a little before it's off limits.
Cheers :)
With summer getting closer to full swing we started the first of our annual water games today...just a hose and buckets in the front yard...don't know why we're so entertained by dousing each other with water, but we are. :)
Tomorrow's a big day for the three of us...we have Mac's IEP first thing in the morning and we have a major request to discuss with the district mucky-mucks who will be there. Then in the afternoon we have our fertility specialist appointment so hopefully we'll be well on our way to what I'm coining as our, "science project".
this recipe and this recipe...that is what we had for dinner tonight...and oh my goodness gracious it was pretty darn good.
I added a couple of things to ours...to the stoup I added zucchini and chopped spinach and to the biscuit mixture I stirred in some extra garlic powder instead of just putting it on top like the recipe calls for.
Time to head outside to try to walk some it away...
So the organizing bug/mental-illness has hit me again today...I've decided I need to see more of my supplies...get them out of drawers so I can really use them instead of forgetting they exist. Although it's crazy-making trying to find a new home for things the end result always feels fresh and good...now I just need to get scrapping with my reorganized stash.
this was a big weekend for him...Saturday morning he had his last challenger baseball game for the season...where afterward he received his very first trophy...which inevitably reads, "Jordan McIntosh" because heaven forbid someone get his name in the correct order...and, when the coach's wife asked what did we want it to say, I got to explain for the 453rd time in nine years that it didn't occur to me when I named him McIntosh that my last name (Jordan) was now a common first name therefore dooming him to a life of mistaken identity.
I digress.
Back to this weekend...
In the afternoon we went to a family friend's graduation party where Mac got to do something he'd been dreaming of for weeks...go swimming. A couple of weeks ago Sean hosted my surprise party at their house, but Mac couldn't take advantage of their awesome pool since half his body was casted...so this party was an EVENT for him. I think he managed to stay in the pool for three hours straight. One of the few times he got out was when he made an I-pod request for "Macerana" to be played. He proceeded to dance the entire dance...carefully making sure his swim trunks didn't fall down...he even managed to entice two "hot chicks" (his words) into dancing with him. The entire group was in stitches watching my child have the time of his life shaking his booty.
My little "Macerena" can manage to be the life of the party like nothing I have ever seen before.
since there's now National Scrapbook Day that we need other holidays...and I vote for celebrating National New CatsLife Press Stamps Have Come Out And Good Thing Because I Need My Fix Day...what do you think? :)
I made my celebratory order already...LOVE the "limited edition" and "one of a kind orginal" and the trading card number stamp and the "follow your art" stamp and the "newsworthy" one and...oh well you get the idea.
Happy day :)
Something fairly momentous has happened around here...
I have MADE dinner three nights in a row.
It's like I'm June-freaking-Cleaver or something. :)
It started with BBQing some tri-tip on Sunday which we had with some smashed red potatoes and vegetables. Then last night it was Shepherd's Pie made with ground beef, and the leftover smashed potatoes and vegetables. Tonight it was blue cheese stuffed burgers, some roasted potatoes with garlic and parmesan cheese and corn-on-the-cob Mac wanted to buy at the grocery store yesterday.
After dinner we're really back to walking now that Mac is once again riding his bike. The results of his surgery have been pretty remarkable so far...he is able to get his ankle on the ground almost all the time and his hand has increased motility...it is amazing to see. I can't wait to see where he can go with it once we get his physical and occupational therapy started up again.
I have nothing terribly exciting to share....life is pretty good...we have some fun things to look forward to this week and in the coming months which feels really nice. So, being I have nothing profound to say I figured I show some cute stuff I found lately...
Prima flower crate...saw this at CHA and drooled...a couple of weeks ago I literally helped tear into boxes at my LSS (because they are way too nice and humor me when ask to do that) to try and find it...and I did :)
A purse from, of all places, Crabtree & Evelyn...saw it last week when I was running around shopping for my Mom's birthday and Mother's Day...saw that green flower and had to have it
Was at Borders on Saturday night after taking my mom to a movie and dinner for her birthday and found patterns galore...little boxes, postcards, wrapping paper...they had TONS of cute stuff
And this little person from Willow Tree...he/she is sitting on a dresser in our bedroom...reminding us of what is hopefully to come in our near future...we have an another consultation with the fertility specialist we saw last year scheduled for next Friday
the word that makes Sean tremble...the look in my eye that makes him want to run far away...ah yes, today I used the p-word for the first time in a few months.
I said...paint.
You see, we have a living room where I have narrow bookcases that store our scrapbooks. The bookcases are stuffed and there are other scrapbooks piling up without a home. I tired to remedy this with a trip to IKEA only to find that they have changed the color they used to call "Beech" and it no longer matched what we have. So after a good hour of staring at this wall trying to figure out what to do...it hit me...paint. The wall needs a big rectangle of a reddish, brick-like cranberry hue (we'd paint the whole wall but it goes up to about 20 feet). I figured, since it seems as if I was able to pull off squares in our bedroom, surely a gigantic rectangle will work. Then we need two new bookcases to flank each side of what we have now and the way to get them to coordinate? Paint. I'm thinking the horrid/lovely green of my grandmother's couch.
So, tomorrow begins the paint chip exploration...good times in the Griffin household. :)
My life is fairly simple...
Organization + Productivity + Exercise
= a much more happy & relaxed me
It seems, though, that I all too often forget these 3 cornerstones of peacefulness and contentment in my life.
Today I straightened up around the house, got all my thank you cards made and written, and I worked-out. It's amazing how much better I feel than the day before.
I am totally depressed today...you know like the feeling you have the day after Christmas because you realize all the festivities are done?
I had such an astoundingly good time yesterday. It was a perfect Disneyland day...good weather, reasonably short lines, lots of food, and my friends hanging out together.
I hate the fact we all have to live far apart, but I'm endlessly grateful for the fact that it's like time never passes with us and we're usually laughing our asses off within minutes of saying hello.
So, now there's today...I have to sink down off my birthday high and get back to life...such as Mac getting his casts off and all the screaming that went it. Oh well...it was way too fun while it lasted. :)
I was so very lazy this morning...and actually this afternoon too...I spent a couple extra hours laying in bed reading with this lazy guy keeping me company...he is all about burrowing under the covers or laying on top of clothes pile at the foot of the bed. Neither Shamrock or I have anything productive to show for today...and he's just a dog--the most productive thing he does is sit himself in our front window and watch what's going on in the front yard.
I probably haven't gotten anything done because I'm just about beside myself with the lack of knowledge I have for this weekend's activities. I have driven Sean up a wall (and back down again) with my incessant questions...
What about this?...Who coming to that?...Well, how many people?...What do I wear?...Is there food involved?...Will I know beforehand?...How's this going to work?...Who knows about it?...Am I going to like everything?...How long have you been working on this?...Why can't you tell me?
Yeah, now that I've started to list some of the rapid fire interrogation he's received all week, I'd be ready to strangle me too. I guess I'm just the tiniest bit of a control freak, and while I LOVE that there's surprises and he seemingly has wonderful things planned...I'm going to crazy not knowing...CRAZY.
From what I have been told the first mysterious event is this evening at 6pm...it has been delayed a couple of hours from when it was first planned...and, apparently, I will totally find the delay funny once I know what it all is...we won't be eating until after whatever is happening happens so if I'm worried about getting hungry I'd better just have a snack...and he's not answering any more questions...no matter what...seriously.
This is like Christmas morning on crack...I CANNOT wait...
this child is driving us nuts. He seems to LOVE whining and complaining, seriously he's all over it just about all day. As I type this he's freaking because Sean is getting ready to give him a bath...plastic bags over casts are apparently the most terrorizing thing ever...thankfully the cast are scheduled to come off Monday.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how to instill in him the fact that life is going to be what he makes of it and that his negativity isn't doing him any favors...it's been a couple of years now that he and I have been having this discussion.
Of course I should look at this situation with him with a glass-half-full attitude, count my blessings about all the wonderful things that make him a pretty cool little boy and think of how I love him dearly, but this one attitude issue of his is so trying on the patience...and with teenage-hood around the corner if it doesn't get better soon it had the potential to get all kinds of ugly.
I guess all I can do is take deep breaths and keep trying to explain as best I can...it'll sink in, right? :)
(A side note...in a recent conversation with Bryce it was reported that Mac, in moments of frustration when he's there at his dad's house, will exclaim, "For the Love of God!" just like his mother does...whoops...at least he hasn't seemed to pick up the other atrocious ways I manage to use the Lord's name in vain...hopefully.)
that's all I need for a perfect birthday. I had such a great day...got a few new stamps, managed to eat beef at both lunch and dinner (hence the joy in the cheesy smile Sean captured at the restaurant tonight), & was given a new purse--because I firmly believe that you can never have enough cute purses and I seem to live that belief to the fullest. :)
We stopped at Scrapbook Oasis this afternoon only to be ridiculously teased by my mom who thought it be funny to run before me and quickly hide the new Cathy Zielske book I totally wanted and have them tell me they were out of it even though my dear mother had told me she had one on hold for me before we drove down there--apparently that's hystical and helps makes the day that much more exciting--I just really wanted the book, it was excitement enough for me. Mac was about to pee his pants laughing at me though...most fun he's had in a scrapbook store in awhile.
The other great birthday surprise came in today's mail...the information packet from the sperm bank...what more could I have wanted? :)
looks like on me...stunning, huh? I went to bed with damp hair last night and woke up to this mop...so I thought I'd share what scared me in the mirror this morning. :)
I need to get exercising and showered so I can go off on a fieldtrip (codeword for shopping excursion) & lunch with my Mom and her best friend before I pick Mac up from school today. They're hoping some rubber stamp shopping will lessen the blow of old age.
that's what I've done all day...just futzed around being altogether lazy...but it kind of felt good...but I have to get SOMETHING done to redeem the day...I was thinking earlier how this is the very last day of my 20's and I've spent it in my pajamas...oh well, there are many worse ways to spend time, huh?
I did get the tiniest bit of scrapping done. This page is pretty darn simple and not much to show off, but I LOVE the memory recorded...seriously one of my top ten memories of Mac...it's up there with pants falling down at our wedding and asking for more corn at dinner one night, yet he still couldn't make the "K" sound and instead used "P"...so he would get "pold", sometimes want a sip of my "Poke" and that night he asked for more "porn". Good times.
I did use my new Maggie Mae stamps on the page...love this alphabet. The new company is owned by my friend April and I am so excited for her with this endevor...of course whatever brings more stamps into this world is something that usually thrills me to no end. :)
