Category Archives: Photos
It’s a bit icy.
Happy birthday, Owen! Or not.
So I came downstairs and gave Owen a big birthday hug or four and we talked about his birthday and his sleepover that afternoon… I took a casual birthday picture.
I wore his baby face necklace and took a birthday picture with him.
I posted a happy birthday post on Facebook.
While he was at another birthday party, Tom and I gave some cuddles to Katie because we knew the rest of the day would be about Owen.
And it wasn’t until we were all eating dinner (with his friends!) that I realized it wasn’t his birthday. OMG, am I a bad mom or what?! I asked Owen why he hadn’t said anything and he just shrugged his shoulders and said it wasn’t a big deal.
That said, I knocked it out of of the park with his gift: 900 Pokémon cards. He couldn’t believe his eyes and was practically vibrating with excitement. 🙂
This is what it looks like to be the mom of a 10-year-old with two 10-year-old boys over for a sleepover. #thirdmargarita #soloud #thankheavensforbasements
I think we only had to go in about five times to tell them to quiet down, and they were out by 11:30.
Owen’s amazing Pokémon evolutions.
Owen really is amazing when it comes to creating Pokémon and evolutions. Today he was making a birthday card for his friend and wasn’t sure what to draw so we told him to draw some Pokémon. We thought he’d just draw a common Pokémon, but he came up with two new Pokémon, complete with two evolutions each, for a total of six new Pokémon (he did one for the birthday boy and one for his sister, just because). He just blows me away.
Get me out of the house!
The kids were back to school today so I decided to give myself a treat and get my nails redone. I really debated what color but ended up with another darker purple.
Polar Vortex Day 1
We knew it was coming (school was even called off in advance) but it was still a shock to see it. Feels like -45°.
I stayed in bed because the kids can fend for themselves (and Tom had a late start) but eventually Katie came up to cuddle for a few minutes.
Then Tom went to work and I honestly hadn’t been planning to leave the house but we were invited down to the neighbor’s house for lunch and to just hang out…so we did. The kids had fun playing, we had a yummy lunch and birthday cake (for Enzo’s birthday), and I actually helped Stacey organize her pantry (yes, that’s fun for me!).
When we got home we turned our new heater on…and someone loved it. 🙂
And even though the furnace was working and it said it was 70° in the house I was still cold so pretty much sat under blankets next to the heater…
The polar vortex can bite me.
All of the windows in this house are horrible and leak air. We have tried covering them with the insulating plastic wrap but this is what happens. It’s useless.
So I thought I’d try this hack: bubble wrap. Not perfect by any stretch but doable. (Guess what? It didn’t work.)
And I did the same thing in the master bedroom to my window plus put a towel over the crack because the cold air was just pouring in.
The house couldn’t get past 64° with the furnace running all day (it was 61° when I got up, and it should have been 72°). Long story short—after some texts to the landlord and an HVAC guy—our problem was the furnace filters!! We had expensive 3M allergy filters and he said those were the worst thing you could use and to take it out immediately. We did, and the house heated up to 68 within two hours. Lesson learned.
After an unexpected snow day with everyone at home…it’s time.
This might have been more prep then we did for dinner.
When the flue sticks shut and we didn’t quite notice in time.
We were really surprised at how quickly the smoke filled up the house. But we now know the smoke detectors work!!
Sleepover night!
Owen was off at a sleepover so we let Katie have a sleepover, too. So, of course, princesses.
Damn cat food cost me $134.
Tom: We need cat food. Why don’t you run to Target and stay out awhile.
Me: /leaves before he can change his mind/
Damn cat food cost me $134.
Like mother, like daughter.
She sees me doing this and she wanted to be like me!! So she’s wearing She’s Apples and Blue Orchid gloss (and I’m wearing Fly Girl with Blue Orchid gloss). Maybe she can sell something at Parents Night Out tonight. 😂
And a little background…
And the “BirdboxLipsenseChallenge” I did…
Braces!!
Braces are coming shortly!! He is excited!!
Getting closer! First they have to remove the expander.
He wasn’t nervous but his feet did come off the chair while it was happening.
Picking colors! He gets to pick as many as he wants since his birthday is coming up! (Normally they get a max of two colors.)
He opted for rainbow colors since he was getting six brackets. And instead of purple he chose lilac for me. 🙂
Prepping his teeth.
Brackets going on!
First braces selfie! My baby!!!!!!!
After!! OMG.
So here’s what happened this morning.
🐈 I decided I was going to do a cat eye no matter what. Every single time I try this I say I’m going to just go balls to the wall and draw that cat eye like nobody’s business but I really meant it.
And then I started and it looked good…until I let go of my eye and–voilà!–it completely disappeared! DAMMIT. I added some more liner. It still disappeared. 📸 You can see the result: on the left, I’m pulling it taut and it looks smashing; on the right, I let go and buh-bye cat eye. Up close it was even more horrific. 😂 😡😣😢 I just don’t think my old baggy-ass eyes are cut out for a cat eye.
I posted my lament to a group I’m in and they basically said GO BIG OR GO HOME or get over yourself and do it like you mean it. My actual text to them: 💬 The amount of eyeliner I have on my eyes right now is completely frightening. Like it literally covers my entire eyelid and almost goes out to my eyebrows.
📸 You can kind of see it on the right. Crazy, right?! And while it looked kinda okay (like I went out in public with it), it’s nothing I’d want to do on a regular basis.
I sent the pics to one of my stylists (now don’t I sound all fancy) because she has agreed to help me learn how to actually do make up this year…and I had to show her just how desperate my situation was. I might have scared her off as she hasn’t responded yet. 😳😂
But the moral of the story is JUST TRY IT–it’s only makeup. And even if you screw it up badly there’s still comedic value in pictures.
Growing ever more comfortable with each other.
Maggie helping with the decorations.
I Konmari-ed all the ornaments and stuff and got rid of almost a full bag. If you count the old lights and garland I wasn’t using, it was more than a full bag. If you count the entire tree… Yes, we sold our fake tree. I have never loved it and we’ve been wanting to get a real tree so next Christmas we will get a real tree and then shop for a new tree during the post-Christmas sales.
The Bear, better late than never.
We just didn’t get around to the bear pics over Christmas so today we were taking the tree down so it was now or never.
She taught herself to braid!
Today is Katie’s clothes.
Today Katie and I tackled her drawers. We took each item out and decided if it was time to let it go or keep it. She did pretty well, actually, but I did have to step in a few times and prompt her to get rid of some things that were bordering on too small or that she had bigger sizes of in her closet waiting. She also learned how to fold her clothes so they would fit nicely in her drawers. She actually had fun doing it—we’d let them watch the show with us so they’d have an idea what was going on.
She wanted to get rid of this wig until I made her try it on and then she loved it. Bad move on my part. 🙂
After about two hours we had this:
Plus a packed garbage bag of clothes and shoes to give to friends!
Yay for new work friends!
A way-higher-ranked-than-me SeneGence girl moved to the area recently from Minnesota and long story short we met and hit it off. (I think I might have mentioned her before? I forget. CRS, you know.) She wants to get this area pumped and moving (the CEO has told her the Chicago area needs help!) so the plan is to start planning some meetups and trainings…and today was the first planning session with us two and another girl from Chicago.
We had a fun day just hanging out and sharing stories and getting to know each other. We might also have shared some wine at the house and margaritas over lunch. These ladies are totally my peeps.
This is where she chooses to sleep.
As soon as I lay down she’s on me. Usually here. Seriously, Bella?
Yes, we’re doing this. #konmari2019
We started the Netflix show tonight and are pumped to get going.
I read both of her books while we were in Virginia (around 2016). I did some of the tips—mostly the clothes-folding techniques after my closet was wiped out when I lost all the weight.
I think the hardest part for me is I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR THIS STUFF and it’s hard to just let go. I think her philosophy (IIRC) is you paid for it, you used the value, so let it go. But it’s hard.
I also don’t know what to do with all the stuff. If I’m going to let it go, it needs to just go in one fell swoop so I’m researching who will come take it all.
8:58pm: We’re going out of order but I wanted to start so tonight we spent one hour in the office. One bag of trash gone and one bin of electronics and stuff to go away. Yay us.
When you’re cleaning out the office and you find a rolled banner that you’re sure is his and he swears it’s yours…and you’re both kind of right.
That’s a lot of people waiting for Sam’s chickens.
We were there for milk and I just had to stop and take a pic of the hoarde of people waiting to stampede the roasted chickens.
This is the day we’re all having.
We might all still be in our PJs. #rainyday #movieday
Everyone likes a heated blanket!
Trees be gone!
Our neighbor innocently texted our landlord noting some concern about these trees.
So since Tom is amazingly handy, this happened.
And then since there was a crap ton of wood and branches to get rid of, this happened two full days in a row.
It’s like we’re homeowners or something.
Rainbow face twins!
They hadn’t seen each other in awhile so they played today…and they came to show us their faces! Apparently Sophia got the same face paint Katie did!
It’s been a daily part of my life for the last 8 years.
The rollercoaster of emotions when you find out one of your favorite small forums is shutting down.
These two are getting cuddly again.
Getting some air!
We went to a new trampoline place with friends. She and I sat and talked for two hours while the kids wore themselves out and pretty much left us alone. It was awesome.
After, it was off to Culver’s, which was next door…and so busy that the kids had to sit at a table by themselves. It. Was. Glorious.