Target Results

I love being a mom. And spoiling my two Goofballs. Our trip to Target yesterday was more about them than me. (OK, so I wanted to go to Target, but I bought stuff for the Goofballs, not me.)

I wanted to get the Goofballs sidewalk chalk. I thought it would be fun. It seems that has ended up being more for me. We were trying it out yesterday and Goofball #1 would say “draw this, draw that.” So I ended up drawing everyone in our family, including the four hamsters, and GB1’s three friends from school.

 

GB1 needed new summer sandals. I wanted to get him some that were nice enough to wear to church. I had him try on some sandals and then Goofball #2 was there trying to take off his shoes so he could try on some sandals. I hadn’t planned on buying sandals for both of them. But I couldn’t resist. Plus, once I got the sandals on GB2 he did not want to take them off. So GB1 didn’t want to take his off either. The result? The GBs walking to the checkstand with new sandals that had the elastic still attached (you know, the elastic holding the sandals together as a pair). Their steps were kind of small and measured. It was silly to watch. Then when our items were being scanned I had to lift the boys up so the checker could scan the tags on their sandals. She lent me a pair of scissors to cut off the tags and elastic. It was funny. And the boys were happy.

(My obsession with Target started many years ago. I blame it on my sister Nann. We didn’t have a Target where I lived but she had one by where she lived. She would always show us these totally sweet things she would buy for way cheap at Target. I was hooked. So hooked, that when Joe and I started talking about moving away from Utah my two criteria for a new home was #1 Target and #2 Costco. So every new city/town he would mention would have to pass the Target/Costco test before I would consider it. True story.) 

 

I knew we were going to be out for a while, and we were on a budget and couldn’t buy lunch, so I had packed a lunch for our shopping adventure. After we left Target we went to the truck to eat. If it wouldn’t have been so windy we would have sat in the bed of the truck to enjoy our picnic. Instead, all three of us piled into the front seat. I think the GBs thought it was cool to sit in the front seat and to eat our lunch. It was fun.

We also went to The Home Depot for more joint compound. I’m still excited to finish texturizing the walls. I want to get it done so I can start hanging up pictures and making it feel more home-like. We’ve lived here for over six months and haven’t really done anything in the main living area to make it “ours”. Ya know?

Speaking of the walls… Our friends Jared & April came over for dinner last night. Jared was checking out the walls we’ve done so far and asking what color we were going to paint them. I showed him the color. It’s called Swiss Coffee and it’s the color we did the ceiling/doors/trim in the GBs’ rooms. “White? You’re going to paint the walls white?” Grr… After they left Joe said that he didn’t want to paint them white either. We’ve already bought a 5-gallon bucket of the paint!!! So we’ve settled on painting the trim/doors/ceiling in the Swiss Coffee (since we already have it!) and doing the walls Country Beige. So I’m off to The Home Depot again soon. Buying more paint. Actually, I really dig this so I’m a big fan of THD and really do like going there.

A Good Day

Rob & Amber are gone!!! Wahoo!!! What a good day! J

TMNT PJs - Check!

The writing isn’t coming easy today. Writers block or something. It’s been a good couple of days so I don’t know why it is so hard to write about them today. Nothing spectacular has happened so it’s not like I’m unable to express some incredible event. It’s frustrating and kind of taking me back to my working days.

 

The weather has just been so beautiful here. I am now very much regretting not having planted bulbs last fall. Tulips are my absolute favorite flower and I’m not going to have any to look at. We’ve spent a lot of time outside this weekend. Saturday we picnicked on the deck with the boys. They were such silly kids. And they’ve played hard outside. Digging the dirt, riding their bikes, throwing rocks (which is a BIG no-no). They’ve been coming inside in the evenings with that smelly little boy stink about them. Thank goodness for soap and water.

 

Despite the good weather, or maybe because of it (???) we didn’t paint the hall this weekend. Saturday I said to Joe “It’s perfect weather to be painting.” He said “Yes.” and then we both continued doing what we were doing (me sewing, him getting his lesson ready for church).

 

I was able to finish the TMNT PJs for the Goofballs. I’m wondering why every time I buy material for PJs I get home and it says “not intended for children sleepwear”. Is it a licensing issue, or a safety issue, or what? Oh well. I went ahead and made those PJs. And boy, were the boys excited! So excited that I had GB2 standing by the sewing machine while I was hemming. The result is some long PJs. But oh well, they should last even if my short guy hits a growth spurt. We had a little photo shoot before they went to bed. I can’t decide what picture to include because they were all so cute! There was only one “serious” pose and the rest were full of ninja stances. And after each picture they would rush to the camera to check out how cool they looked.

I had extra fabric so I also made little stuffed TMNT pillows for the Goofballs and a library bag.  

 

Now I’m wondering what to do with the boys tomorrow. For some reason unknown to me, GB1 doesn’t have preschool. I’m thinking we’ll drive in to Bend. Go to The Home Depot and buy some more joint compound for wall texturizing, and then to Target. I’m in Target withdrawals because the last time I remember going was before Christmas. I just love walking down the end of the aisles and seeing what is on clearance. It’s pretty amazing what you can find! I’ll go to sleep tonight with visions of red clearance stickers dancing in my head.

Today’s Adventure

I just had to get out of the house today. So the Goofballs and I went to Wal-Mart. I know, so exciting. You’re probably jealous. Tee hee! (*sigh* I really miss living closer to Target, though.) The good thing about Wal-Mart is how cheap the fabric can be. I picked out the fabrics below. 

My friend Khris saw the pictures of my spring bag and said that she wanted one. I got the floral and stripe for her. So Khris, do you care what is the outside and what is the lining? Let me know! Khris is my BFF from high school. (I threw BFF in there for Joe’s sake. He keeps teasing me and saying that certain people are my BFFs. But Khris really is. J)

The rest of the fabric is for my boys. When GB1 saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fabric he was yelling. Yes, yelling in the store. It was quite funny. I just had to buy it. I’ll make PJ pants for the boys. And then I bought four pieces of felt to make eye masks for the TMNT movie. I decided to go ahead and use felt and sew black ribbon on for the ties. If it turns out I think I’ll be the coolest mom.

And I had to throw in this picture of GB2. Before we left for the store he was carrying around his bear in a blanky. I folded up the blanket and wrapped the bear up and here they are. The bear went with us in the truck. GB2 was holding him tight with the most serious expression on his face. It was precious.

Scissor Memories

Last night I finished folding all my usable pieces of fabric. They look so nice all snug in their tote (snug because it was a tight fit). I’m mighty pleased. It’s all organized by fabric size then by color. We’ll see how long it lasts, eh? I still have small odds and ends to cut into squares or strips.

While I was cutting off the weird little pieces last night I was mesmerized by the sound of my scissors cutting the fabric. It took me back to my childhood. I remember sitting in the dining room or kitchen listening to my mom’s scissors cut fabric. We had a huge counter in our kitchen and my mom would stand there and cut out fabric for whatever sewing project she was tackling. So the sound of scissors cutting fabric is a really comforting sound to me.

And thinking back to those times I wonder how my mom managed to get as much done as she did. And how did she put up with kids like me who would sneak up to her machine and pretend to sew. I’m sure I probably jacked up her machine a time or two. Sorry Mom!!!! But I’m sure that’s also where I got my sewing bug. I remember Mom patiently sitting with me teaching me to sew—my first project was a pair of blue shorts. Now I’m trying to catch her quilting bug. My mom has made some pretty amazing quilts. She had a project a few years back to make a nice one for each of her eight kids. Now I’m impatiently waiting for us to finish the hall (maybe we’ll paint this weekend!!!!) so I can hang up that amazing quilt. It’s not the only amazing one she’s made me. I got a few from her when I got married. And each of my boys have a few that she made them when they were born. I think my kids are pretty lucky so I hope to have just a smidgen of my mom’s talent so I can make things for my posterity, too.

My mom’s birthday is tomorrow, that must be part of an explanation as to why I’m reminiscing about her so much today. So happy birthday tomorrow, Mom. I’ll call you! Miss you and Love you!

I’m a Survivor

Yes! I survived McDs. Maybe now Goofball #1 will lay off for a while. They had tons of fun. As always, I made them eat before they could play. Here’s some pictures of them (taken with camera phone so not best quality, and the play land is painted Duck green and yellow).

 

 

 

Goofball #2 did go up the big play thing. And cried! I tried to get Goofball #1 to lead him back down the stairs but he just wanted to play. So I squished my 5’6” self into the play thing and rescued GB2. I rewarded myself with an apple pie and more Coke. They had fun. I’m glad it’s over.

Bring on the Texture!

I’m so into re-texturizing the walls!!! It took Joe and I about two hours to do the hall. About a half hour or so of that was deciding on the “look” we wanted. How thick, how thin, how many lines, etc. (The Goofballs watched The Little Mermaid and they let me sing along from the hall! Hee hee.)

Here is what the old icky texture looks like. It’s so bad that as we’ve been washing the walls and filling in holes to prep for paint, anywhere we fill in the hole becomes a big circle because it fills in the texture. If we left it our walls would look seriously weird because the previous owners had tons of nails in the walls.

Here is the new texture in the hall. I’m so digging it! It’s going to look so wonderful when we paint it.

 

 

We ended up using about 2/3 of the bucket of joint compound. It’s going to take quite a few more buckets. But at $10.83 for a bucket I figure it’s not that bad. But now the debate is whether or not to texturize the ceiling too. I guess we could, it’s just more work. So Joe will probably get his way and we’ll probably doing the ceilings too. I’m just so excited about it! I can’t wait to get all of it done and painted. The house will feel so much fresher! I’m tired of looking at the outlines on the wall from whatever the previous people had on the walls. I’ve scrubbed and can’t get rid of the outlines so I was dying to paint over it. Now I’m dying to texture and paint it!!

 

We’ll be off to McDs in a little while. It’ll be worth it just to have GB1 stop talking about it. I’m taking a magazine to read while they play in the play land. As long as GB1 doesn’t coax GB2 up the thing again we’ll be OK. I’m too old and too big to climb up there again to rescue my little one.

 

Speaking of GB1, he’s learning math in preschool. My kid rocks! I asked him how they did math and he said “I don’t know.” But Mrs. L said that they earned coins for getting questions right and he had four coins. He’s a budding genius or something! I hope his love of school and learning never stops.

 

GB2 is talking more. He has little phrases that crack me up. “More please”  “I did it” “Love you”. He thinks that he is such a big kid, but then he reverts to a little kid and wants me to hug and cuddle him. (Insert ooos and aahhs here J ) I like these little kid moments, but I’d sure like him to learn to sleep through the night like a big kid.

A Good Weekend

We had such beautiful weather over the weekend. Saturday we did some errands then came home and washed the truck. The boys had a blast! Goofball #1 just wanted to play with the hose but we didn’t want him wasting the water—wasn’t too happy about that, though. Goofball #2 kept playing in the bucket of sudsy water. He was soaked top to bottom! Joe washed the body of the truck and I spent my time detailing the rims (which were so gross). When the outside was done I worked my magic inside and Joe took care of the windows. We’re such a good team! We didn’t get it vacuumed since we should have done that way before we got the water going. But it is still so nice! It’s always good to get the winter grime off. But we’re supposed to get rain starting Thursday. Oh well.

Sunday was a good weather day too. In the afternoon the boys spent time playing in the backyard while Joe and I sat on the deck. It felt so good to have the warm sun on my face. The downside, as always, was the instant freckling of my face. I need to find some moisturizer with stronger SPF or something! (Lately I’m worried so much about aging skin! I’ve got crows feet and I’m only 31. AAHHH! And I’ve liked being a redhead but I’ve had a life full of freckles so I know my skin is going to be not so lovely the older I get. SHEESH!)

The downside of my weekend was Goofball #1’s constant talk about going to McDonalds. ENOUGH ALREADY! It all started Thursday at story time. After the stories they sat down to color their picture and the boy next to him had a toy that GB1 was so digging. Then the boy said that he got it at McDonalds. Grrrr… So I’ve been bargaining with him. If he’s a good boy all weekend and Monday, then on Tuesday we’ll go to McDs for lunch. He’s still trying to grasp how many days of being good that was. But so far so good. I’m not saying he’s been a perfect little guy all weekend, but I think he’s been good enough.

And to top it all off we’ve decided to re-texturize our walls. The texture on the walls is horrible. Paining it is no fun. When we did the boys’ rooms it was such a pain. Covering Goofball #2’s purple walls took some effort. Where the texture was deep I had to take a paint brush and stipple the paint in to cover up the purple. So we want to put new texture on our walls. We’re going to start in the hall and perfect our technique before we get to the family room, dining room, and kitchen. And it just so happens that our friends and neighbors have done it and are willing to help us out if we want. That might make it easier so I don’t have to try and help Joe while also corralling the boys. I’ll keep you posted…

Now if only Rob and Amber would be eliminated from the Amazing Race. J

Help!!!

My three guys are soooo excited for the new TMNT movie. They’re having a count down to 23 March. I admit the movie does look good. A lot more exciting than the “live action” movie and cartoon episodes that Goofball #1 subjects me to. But now they are so excited that they want to dress up somehow for the movie premier. And they’ve elected me to be their costumer. I shouldn’t have done such a good job on GB1’s Halloween costume. Jedi Goofball…

 

 

So now what do I do? I thought I could do the eye masks out of felt, that way I wouldn’t have to figure out how to keep the eye holes from fraying. Then the problem is the felt stretching too much when it is tied on. Hmm… Well, I’ve got three weeks to figure something out.

 

Cowabunga!

Can’t Wait for Spring!

 

Look at these feet! I found GB1’s first pair of flip-flops and put them on GB2 (feet on the right). And GB1 has his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle flip-flops from last summer on (feet on the left). I’m excited to buy them new flip-flops. I think we’re ready for spring!