The new couch isn’t as conducive to sleeping on the top/back as the old one (its MUCH narrower and REALLY slippery) but that doesn’t stop the animals from trying. Maggie was actually successful today…though it didn’t last too long.
Category Archives: House & Home
I’m a big girl now!
We moved her into the big kid car seat and she loved it!
Welcome, guests!
As you know, we no longer have an official guest room now that Katie is taking up the third bedroom. So, when we have overnight guests, they get the upstairs living room pullout sofa. It’s a queen—and we now have a topper—but otherwise, that’s all the sleeping space unless you wanted a plain ol’ couch. But, we rarely need more room than that. BUT, we kinda wanted to be prepared anyway.
So in the meantime, the peanut gallery (you know who you are!) has let us know that the downstairs couch was just a bit too—shall we say—plush (or comfortable!) and was a bit hard to get out of…
And then every now and again when we sat down or moved around, we’d hear something creaking. Or snapping. Or groaning. Or ripping. And then we started thinking about just how long we’ve had the couch and chair set…and came to realize it’s about eight years old! EIGHT! HOLY WAH! It certainly doesn’t seem like that long. The set is still good/comfy but is obviously breaking down…and we feel like we want to sell it as a set while it still has life.
SOOOOO…considering all of the above things, we decided that selling the set would allow us to actually scale back the furniture we currently have (by only replacing the couch and NOT the chair since we have the big leather chair that’s really out-of-place in the playroom). We thought it could be cheap—but should be comfortable since we use that couch on a daily basis. But not anything of great quality since we still have a lot of baby and kid messy stages to go through.
We bookmarked some on Amazon but I refused to buy something like that without testing seating comfort. Sam’s Club had a similar one but refused to take it down for us to try (they told us to just return it if we didn’t like it—REALLY?!). Costco was hit or miss…and again, I would hesitate ordering without testing it and they never have the same one in the stores as they do online (and if we found one in the store, how the hell would we get it home?).
And then we broke down and went to our favorite (dangerous) furniture store…and the same guy who we bought ALL of our past furniture from was still there—and remembered us! And 30 minutes and $1100 later we have a new leather sleeper couch. (It’s amazing how a moderately inexpensive $799 couch jumps up to $1100 after 5 year warranty, taxes, and delivery are added on.) But it’s a nicer quality couch than we planned on (plus it’s leather) that will last longer than we planned on. And we’ve used the warranty before on a different piece of furniture so for that extra $100 it was worth it. It should actually last quite a long time—it’s better quality than the stuff we’re replacing…so the high quality new couch should easily last that long or longer.
Owen liked this couch:
Waiting for us to do the paperwork:
Watching them bring in the couch:
REALLY enjoying the new couch:
The bonus is that the couch is a bit smaller—plus we moved Owen’s drawing table to the playroom—so the room feels quite a bit bigger. Owen AND Katie were having a blast in all the open space…but I wonder when Owen will realize his once-in-awhile eat-in-front-of-the-TV table and chairs are gone…
So now, we have room for more guests! Come on down!!
Almost sushi…but good enough for me.
Well, you may remember that I’ve always said I wanted a kid who, when asked where they wanted to go for dinner, would ask for sushi.
And you can probavly guess that I don’t quite have that (yet?)…but I did get a kid who picks the “fish tank resternot.”
I’ll take it. 🙂
I’m seeing red.
I love my car…but this is why I prefer unique colored cars.
Golfing!
We were invited over to our friend’s house (Tom and Karen) for Easter lunch, and then the guys decided to take the kids to hit a bucket of balls. These are the pictures Tom texted me:
And our friend, Tom.
Coloring Eggs
Owen was really interested…for about three minutes. 😐
Starting him young!
Revamped Playroom
With the help of my stepsister Kathryn who went to her local (Atlanta) IKEA to pick up the shelf for me…and then hauled it to Myrtle Beach where I then picked it up at my parent’s condo…and then Tom putting it together…we now have a revamped playroom!
When I showed it to Owen for the first time, his eyes got really wide as he said “HOLY MACKEREL!” 🙂
Then I told him everything had its own basket.
Me: Cars go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Trains go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Animals go here.
Owen: YEAH!
Me: Puzzles are here.
Owen: YEAH!
🙂
Lobster grilled cheese? Yes, please!
I highly recommend this sandwich from The Grilled Cheese & Crab Cake Co. that mom and David brought back for me today!
I also found this magazine article about the restaurant.
Margaritas, anyone?
When we were in Florida last month I discovered the Kirkland brand margaritas at Costco—holy cow were they good. I wondered why we hadn’t seen them at our Costco… Oh yeah, that’s right, you can only get liquor and liquor-based drinks at ABC stores…which Costco is not. So, I checked South Carolina (since I’d be heading there to visit my mom and David in about a month) and by golly, they carried it. Hot damn! I told my friends that I’d probably buy about 10 of them…and I’m not sure they believed me.
Fast forward a month, and…
Pool fun with cousins
Family Breakfast
The Laundry Channel
Katie was entranced by the wash machine. She’s obviously never seen ours at home. 🙂
Pizza Math
Homemade pesto (from the freezer) + Campari tomatoes + fresh mozzarella (from Costco) + pre-made pizza crusts (also from Costco) = YUMMMM!!
Before:
After:
New food #4!
I’m still shaking my head in disbelief—and excitement!
Tom brought home teriyaki (steak and chicken, fried rice, and fried onions/zucchini) for lunch and I asked Owen twice if he wanted to try the chicken (it was super tender with a really yummy sauce) but he said no. Okay, fine, that’s honestly what I expected.
So as I’m finishing my last bite, he looks over and says “What’s that?” I told him it was the last forkful of rice.
“I try it?”
Wait, what? HE ASKED TO TRY IT?
So I scraped up a few remaining pieces of rice and he ate it…and loved it…and wanted more! I was done, but managed to scrape a few more odds and ends of rice for another mini bite—and he wanted more! I felt bad I didn’t have any more…but who would have thought he’d ASK to try rice?
Grannie said she was making rice for dinner so he could have more then. I kept my fingers crossed that he’d still be interested by then.
Katie’s potatoes
Katie ate some of Grannie Lin’s potato salad tonight! (Well, okay, some teeny pieces of mashed boiled potatoes—but with flavoring!) I know it’s normal for babies (kids) to try new foods…I’m just SO conditioned otherwise because of Owen that it still kinda shocks me.
YAY KATIE!
Sharing a PB&J
Owen always seems to sidle over to Papa when he’s eating a PB&J…and of course Papa shares it with him!
Jello with Grannie
Helping Grannie make Jello.
Three times this week!
Because sushi three times in a week is perfectly acceptable. 🙂
(The other two sushi meals bookended our Florida vacation!)
Car rental places are sleazy thieves.
Or at least the second-rate place we used (Advantage) was.
First they tried to force us to buy their outrageously-priced insurance, blatantly claiming our insurance would DEFINITELY NOT cover anything. (And the cheapest plan was almost the price of the car per day; their “best” plan was almost TWICE the daily cost of the car.) Needless to say we called USAA from the counter and were told we’re completely covered.
Second, they sold us on their pre-paid gas plan—which was cheaper per gallon than regular gas stations OR their own outrageous post-rental prices…but they never told us the details. (Granted, we didn’t specifically ask how it worked, but they should really explain it.) So what we didn’t realize until the night before returning the car was that they charged us for a full tank UP FRONT but neglected to tell us. So we thought only using 1/4 tank was a good thing…because we’d only be charged the lower price-per-gallon for what we used. Then I noticed there was a line item for gas…so figured we’d get a refund. But NO, we apparently had to return the car with a full tank (as we received it) to be credited, otherwise we bought the whole tank. Or we could have brought it back on Empty (to use the $50 pre-paid credit). Which no one ever told us. So when we were returning the car and asked about it, the rep almost seemed overjoyed to let us know we got screwed. I’ve never seen such a shit-eating grin.
Are all car places this shady? It was my first car rental—though Tom has rented for work a few times. And we were both shocked.
Potty picture!
Me and my good friends Nancy and Sheryl taking a potty break before dinner… 🙂
Friendly Sushi
Our first meal of vacation was dinner with friends at Saki Room Sushi Lounge in Miami.
Oh. My.
We stuffed ourselves silly on appetizers, dinner, and dessert…all family style so we could try a bunch of things. Mmmmmm.
Eddy snapped this pic (and blinded us in the process):
Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!
Fun with leftover Lego parts!
Balloon fight with Grannie Lin!
Posing with his presents—and in his birthday shirt—for another birthday picture!
Katie in her new party dress…with Grannie (and a gift from Grannie):
And trying to peek around me to watch TV like Owen does:
Owen’s finished (lame) Lego cakes:
The appetizer set up:
Attempting to Skype with Gramma Jean/Grandpa David and Grandma Marsha/Uncle Rob (it didn’t work too well—our network couldn’t handle it):
Most of the attendees:
Singing Happy Birthday:
Really excited about his new Xbox Sesame Street game from Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob:
And the guitar I found on clearance for $3 (and took the batteries out ahead of time!):
He did pretty well opening presents…except he really loved the first things he opened (Lego Cars and a Ninja Lego) so he wanted to stop right then and play but we made him keep going. 🙂 We did stop about halfway through, though, because he was losing interest and really wanted to play. Which was just fine.
One last attempt at a good Katie pic:
Our attempted family photo:
And just for comparison…last year’s photo:
What I did all day.
It took me about five hours to bake four double layer cakes for Owen’s birthday cake.
Why so many?
Well, for starters, the theme was Legos, so I wanted to make a bunch of Lego blocks (squares and rectangles) and I knew one cake certainly wouldn’t be enough so planned on two from the start. Then as I was making the second cake, I realized I left out an egg…so called dad and Lin who were at the store and had them pick up two more, just in case the minus-one-egg cake didn’t turn out plus an extra in case I had a kitchen catastrophe. 🙂
I was exhausted by this time (about 5pm) but still had to make the frosting and get the first layer on. What a mess—and I was being careful!
Facebook post, 4:49pm: Someone slap me if I decide to make Owen’s birthday cake next year. I’m 5 hours in and not even close to done. And the *hard* part is next.
Unfortunately, it was a nightmare. I didn’t love the taste of the frosting (made with Crisco and powdered sugar) and it was an absolute mess to work with. And I can’t frost a cake to save my life— which I already kinda knew but thought I could certainly do some square cakes—so that didn’t help. And trying to frost the marshmallows (what was suggested for the Lego pieces) was the absolute worst. THE WORST. Betty Crocker can kiss my ass (though, to be fair, I didn’t use their pre-made frosting). But I still don’t think it would have helped.
Facebook post, 8:55p: WHY DO I EVEN TRY? Ugh. I can NOT frost a cake. These look nothing like Legos. And there’s no red. It’s dark pink. And I don’t think I like the Crisco frosting. Too much work and frustration. /cry
Yeah, I so didn’t get the true, vibrant Lego colors I had wanted—even with my special purchase of gel food dyes. (No, I don’t even have pictures of those monstrosities.) At that point, I was tempted to just toss everything in the trash and go buy a cake. Seriously. But then I was more logical and thought since I already had HOURS and MONEY and TIME invested, we’d eat these cakes.
And the kicker is that I know Owen won’t care at all so I really shouldn’t be putting myself through the stress of it…but I honestly thought making a Lego cake would be, well, a piece of cake.
LESSON LEARNED? From now on…I will never make a birthday cake for Katie or Owen again unless it’s a 9×13 in the pan or possibly a layer cake. Nothing fancy. No designs. No themes. Ever. EVER.
Apparently I can’t count.
Mommy brain strikes.
Apparently I have lost my ability to count. I was getting a cash deposit ready for Tom to take in (from selling our fridge and the garage sale last fall) and counted it twice at $2400 both times.
Tom just calls me from the credit union: “How much did you count?”
Seems it was $2320. Even had her double count it.
Yeah, apparently when I was making $100 stacks of 20s…I counted a single 20 as $100. Twice.
😐
You thought that was a good idea?
While we were at Home Depot last week, we answered some questions about our water for a chance to win a gift certificate. Yeah, I knew they were likely going to call to get us to buy some sort of water service, but whatever, no biggie.
So they call to tell us HEY—YOU WON! Cool, the girl had said a $250 GC. So he goes on…”You win a free home water test and a $10 GC!” Oh, thanks. BIG WHOOP. We don’t care about the water test and a $10 GC isn’t really worth it to go through the hassle. But I say yes, because I am actually intrigued as to what’s in our water. We schedule for 8-9 on Friday, but say it really has to be at 8 before we start the kids bedtime routine and we go to bed. The guy says he’ll make that note. Friday comes and we have to reschedule because the guy who does the tests had been in a minor car accident. We reschedule for Monday at the same time, reiterating it really needs to be near 8. Fine.
Fast forward to tonight, Skyping with the grandparents, talking on the phone to other grandparents, putting Katie to bed, putting Owen to bed late at 8:45…when Tom says “Why is there someone in front of our house?” Oh yeah, the water guy—we had totally forgotten—but it was 8:50 and we were on our way to bed. So we turned off the lights and watched from the balcony in the dark. And after five minutes of watching (so, 8:55), he walked up our lawn and I was thinking he’d just leave a card or something. But NO. He rings the doorbell, which is VERY LOUD AND VERY LONG.
Tom goes down there and the guy says “Hi! I saw you turn off your lights so I figured it wasn’t a good time…” SO SINCE YOU FIGURED IT WASN’T A GOOD TIME YOU THOUGHT RINGING THE BELL WOULD BE A BETTER IDEA? 👿 Long story short, he will have them call to reschedule…at which point I will say thanks but no thanks, mail me my gift certificate (which I’m sure they won’t do).
And this is why I usually never give my number for anything…and why I will go back to NOT doing so again.
Yum.
Tom and I tried a new-to-us sushi place tonight.
It. Was. Delish.
Silly monkey…
Gramma Jean got Owen this talking gorilla bank for Christmas. He was—honestly—a little freaked out by it at first…so we just left it sit on the chair and activated the sound every so often. Well, today he was finally REALLY interested in it, so he moved all of his money from his old bank to this one, having a blast the whole time.
Helping dad paint
Tom: Owen, are you going to help me finish painting this?
Owen: Yes I am! But I’m not done playing.
…
Owen: Daddy, what is that?
Tom: A desk.
Owen: It’s beautiful!
…
Owen: I’m helping!
And then for real—soooo serious!
