Bonus Room Redo

I've made an executive decision to begin commission on the dreaded bonus room overhaul.  It's the mess of all messes.  

 Despite that, Hudson loves to come here to play so I want to make it a pleasant place to be for both me and him.  Phase one is painting.  I've been nagging asking Casey to get it painted for literally months now.  Us girls know that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.  So I found myself trying to surprise the better half with having this done when he got back from Texas a few weeks back (I'm a little slow on the blogging).

I spent all day Tuesday edging everything and thought I could get one coat finished that night and the second coat finished Wednesday.  Wrong!  Tuesday night about one third of the way though rolling, my arms were sore, I was sweating and praying for a stranger to show up at the door and volunteer to finish.  Or maybe the paint fairy would come overnight and finish.  Now I know why Casey wanted to pay someone to do this job.  I quit at 9:30, took a shower and fell asleep watching a movie.  Cut to Wednesday night and I was just trying to get coat #1 finished.  That's the hard part anyway, right?  My whole body was aching, I had calluses on my hands, and just wanted to lay down and sleep.  Or die.  I was so tired of moving my arms up and down I was holding the roller in place and jumping up and down to paint.  The blinds were open.  I'm sure the neighbors where watching and laughing.  I have no shame.

Why did I decide to do this?  Now that Casey is home he is helping the coat #2 and the ceiling.  I hate painting.

Happy Weekend

Hope you are having a happy weekend like we are.  Ours has included music and a red balloon.  That makes for one happy baby... and that makes for two happy parents.

This Weekend's Homework

You may not know this but we lead pretty exciting lives.  Take tonight for example.  We got a babysitter and got all gussied and went out to....(drum roll please)...a business dinner.  And were home before 9:00pm.  No worries.  It's always good times when we are with our friends the Hills (of Jilly Moo's fame).  

The hubbies of the group already work together but are expanding.  Taking it to the next level you might say.  The guys are starting to turn their focus more toward the everyday buying and selling of real estate, in addition to the bank-owned/foreclosure side of things (which is what they primarily do now).  Look for big things coming soon like a website and the whole shebang.  If you know of anyone looking to buy or sell a house or land, give us a holler. 

 The weekend's homework:  coming up with a name for the new venture.  Hum....

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

Look who got new boots...

Little Man and Big Man (well, both of my Little Men).  Casey picked up a pair for Hud and himself when he was in Texas last week.  I try to console myself by thinking 'at least he didn't get a 10 gallon hat' (isn't that what they are called?).

Don't you love trying to take pictures of kids?  They just won't cooperate.

The Graduate

Yesterday my baby sis, Kayla, graduated from college.  She won an award for one of the best in her class for her clinical work.  She even has a job lined up already.  We are all so happy and proud of her.

 Hudson had some play time with Kayla's nephews, "Ashy," who is only three days older than Hud, and "Shep".  We had dinner at my parent's after the ceremony and I looked out the window at one point and saw my dad pulling all three of the boys in a wagon.  Of course I didn't get a picture but it was so cute.  You will just have to take my word for it.

Instead you get this blurred picture.  It would have been cute but these boys move too fast for me and my little camera.

Kayla still has her big national test to concur to determine if she gets her license or not.  Be thinking and praying for her this Thursday.  I remember when I was having to go through this same type of big test to get my license and it was so nerve-racking and super hard.  I've been there and made it through and so will you Kay!  Good luck!

Home Alone

Hubby is off on a business trip in the Lone Star State this week so Spudlow and I have had the house all to ourselves.  

Oh yeah.  We've got this trouble maker too.

We've been doing a little shopping, a little playing, and trying to hold up some of the work around the house.

 Is it sad that I can't figure out how to wrap the garden hose back up, so it is still laying strewn around the backyard?  Oh well.  Something for hubby to do when he gets home.  That and finish the project I started while he was gone.  It is a surprise that I didn't get finished.  More on that later.

UCB

I have some UCB to report.  That's Unusual Child Behavior. 

Hudson has a small obsession with our vacuum cleaner.  He likes to take the parts off of it, stand on top of it, and follow it around while I'm trying to get my clean on.  Last week I was vacuuming upstairs and he brought one of his crayons over, stood in front of the vacuum cleaner, and held the crayon up to the vacuum.  He did that for a minute and then moved on.  Weird.  Later in the day I was vacuuming downstairs (yes, it takes me that long to get it together and get the whole house done) when he started again.  I think he likes to feel the wind in his hair.

Then he brought his bear in on the action.

Nut job.

The Bachelorette

This weekend was dedicated to Julie, who's big day is coming up very soon.  We had her bachelorette extravaganza, including the lingerie shower, a fun dinner at Dante's, and a "dance class".  I can't bring myself to put up pictures of the dancing so let's keep the pictures focused on the shower, shall we?

Kayla and I did an Asian theme; sushi chopsticks and all.

Games were played.  Fun was had. 

I'll explain the cloth over the head shots.  We had a game where everyone put this over their head and then we asked them to remove something of their choice off of their body that they didn't need.  Obviously they don't need the cloth on their head but most took off shoes, jewelry, etc before they realized this.

Don't forget the fun goodies for the bride-to-be.

NYC: Day 4

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Can I just note that the downside to traveling alone is you end up with a whole lot of pictures that look like this.  You know, the one's that are super up close with the arm hanging out in the side of the photo.

We were up bright and early to have breakfast at Norma's where you can get $1,000 pancakes with caviar.  I had plain old french toast (no caviar).  It was back to the hotel to pack and then we took a cab to the airport.

Now for the transportation story.  Our hotel had a "house car".  It was a Maybach which I guess is a big deal.  I know enough about cars to know this.  The house car came with a driver and you could use it on a first come, first served basis.  Casey made it his mission to ride in this car.  Every time and I do mean every time we left to go somewhere he would ask if the house car was available.  It was so embarrassing.  I just know that every time they saw us coming they were thinking "great... this guy again."  Guess who never got to use the car.  Little old unimportant us.  Casey took this as a personal insult.

*I would just like to say that it wouldn't have been such a big deal had they not said "you can't reserve it but if it's out there, it's yours".  Then three of the times, it is sitting out there and the excuse is "oh it's reserved" or "your destination is out of our range" or "the driver just stepped away on break".  -Casey

On the home front, my parents kept Hudson while we were gone.  Of course he got sick while we were out of town.  Tonsillitis, 103 degree fever, trip to the doctor, the works.  Guess who got a new toy to "make him feel better". 

Oh grandparents...

NYC: Day 3

It's Saturday!

The weather was fabulous and today we did a little shopping.  Happy times!  For me anyway.  We grabbed more bagels and then took the Subway downtown to SoHo, Greenwich Village, and Chinatown.  What self-restraint I have:  we only went to What Comes Around Goes Around (a very cool vintage store that I knew Casey would like) and Marc Jacobs (my favorite).  In NYC and we only went to two stores!  Can you believe it?  Casey wanted to go to Canal Street, which I had already been to but is always entertaining if not a little creepy.  We ate lunch at a cute restaurant in SoHo and then headed back uptown to make a quick stop in Times Square for a picture and then to my favorite New York City building, the NY Public Library. 

This t-shirt that Casey found at What Comes Around Goes Around has a back story.  Casey always jokes that Ron Wood (of the Rolling Stones fame) is his long lost uncle.  "Uncle Ronnie" he calls him.  I guess he did a solo tour back in the 70's, hence this shirt.  What is really awesome is that his last name is spelled with an 's' and the s is marked out.  People try to put an s on the end of our name all of the time!  We were like 'we aren't the only ones who have this problem!'  We thought it was hilarious.  Just us?  Anyone?  Anyone?  The cheese stands alone.

We had to go to FAO Schwartz to buy our little Spud a gift (a little backpack and a book...we are such squares).  We saw the Big Tom Hanks piano.  You know the one, right?  We had a wonderfully delicious dinner that our hotel recommended.  We even got complimentary glasses of champagne.  Our waiter was suggesting places downtown for us to go after dinner.  Yeah... one guess where we went.  Back to the hotel to go to bed.  Are we old or what?