busybee

BOO!

 

We carved pumpkins last night.  Oh yes we did.  In the time that it took Jeff to carve ONE, I had finished carving THREE.  I invite you to take a look at the above photo and see if you can determine which pumpkin I did NOT carve. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!! 

 

reason #246 why my new house is way cool...

Most of my childhood (at least all the parts I can remember) I grew up in a house that had the little heaters that lined one wall of the floor in each room.  I always remember my Dad going around and neurotically checking to make sure nothing was touching the heaters.  I'm pretty sure my irrational fears surrounding fire have something to do with this...  But we'll leave that to be determined in therapy.  Heh.

A note-worthy piece of information for you is to know that I am a cold person.  Not cold in the Paula Abdul, Cold-Hearted-Snake kind of way, but rather in the poor circulation, ice-cubes-for-toes variety.  Always cold.  Always wrapped up in scarves and blankets.  Always in need of hot cocoa and ear-muffs, and if you've ever seen my giant nose in person, well then you will understand my irrational fears surrounding frostbite.  Again, we'll leave that for therapy.

But, in my new house, for the very first time ever in my life, I have FLOOR VENTS.  Floor vents, I have decided, are magical little places that allow warm & fuzzy air to blow into the room as though it were delivered straight from heaven.  I came to this conclusion the other night while cleaning up plates after dinner.  I accidentally stepped over the floor vent, and for a moment, as I stood there in my warm little air pocket, I swear I heard Louis Armstrong singing "Wonderful World" somewhere in the distance and perhaps a blue bird (or two) flitted through my dining room followed closely by Bambi and maybe a couple bunnies, and we were all being painted into a "happy little picture" by Bob Ross himself...

Short of actually climbing into my dryer and putting myself on a hot-fluff cycle, it was the best feeling in the world and I would be lying if I said I didn't revisit that floor vent at least twice more before bed last night...

Don't judge me.  ;)

so un-thirty-like.

I think it's pretty obvious that I don't take much of anything very seriously, unless I have to.

So as my 30th birthday looms just around the corner, I am reminding myself of just how un-thirty-like I actually am.

Because thirty does not sound OLD...  It sounds grown up.  And the last time I checked, I am so not grown up.  Sure, I have a job, and kids, and responsibilities...  But I still listen to pop radio and eat extraordinary amounts of candy and stumble when I wear heels.  I like being called "princessy,"  I check for monsters under my bed, and I would rather use crayons than pens any day.  I wear sparkly shoes, and twirl my hair, and even occasionally skip instead of walking. 

I mean, what self-respecting thirty-something DOES that stuff?

Who doesn't love a new chapter?  Or the opportunity for a fresh start?  And what better time to be all introspective and epiphanic than at the beginning of a new decade?  I clearly have much to reflect on during this last month of my twenties, and I do not take that task lightly. 

But, seriously?  THIRTY?! 

It's just never going to sound right to me. 

So in the spirit of trying something new, I say:  Bring it on!

It's not easy being green... unless you prefer the warehouse look.

In an effort to be more enviro-conscious, and implement small changes in my life that are more "green,"  I had decided that going forward I would replace all burnt-out light bulbs with the freaken expensive earth friendly energy smart ones.  A couple weeks ago, while wandering through hell Walmart, a VERY LARGE center-aisle display of energy smart light bulbs caught my attention.  Since I knew there were at least two light bulbs I needed to replace, I picked up several packages to keep on hand...

What I did not realize, is that there are apparently different colors of energy smart light bulbs, and apparently, this center-aisle display was comprised of only the "cool daylight" variety. So when the light bulb in my bedroom burned out the other day, I was prepared to replace it with my brand new energy smart cool daylight light bulb.  HOW EXCITING!

GO ME!  GO ME! 

I unscrewed the old bulb.  I screwed in the new one.  I climbed off my bed and flipped on the light, And.........................

My bedroom was instantly transformed into the SAM'S CLUB WAREHOUSE...I am thinking about putting up an end-cap at the foot of the bed, and perhaps re-decorating with empty shopping carts instead of empty picture frames.  The light is blue.  I am half expecting to see a fork-lift cruise down my hallway at any given moment.

And because I am such a neurotic control freak who likes to plan ahead... I now have four packages of warehouse lights to use throughout my apartment.  And isn't it AWESOME that energy smart light bulbs are supposed to last FOUR-TIMES as long as regular light bulbs? 

Sweet!

being smart can sometimes make you stupider.

I, like most of the struggling middle-class of America, have been waiting until the very last possible frozen-boogers-in-the-nostrils moment to turn on my heat.  That's right...  After all those years spent complaining about my cheap thrifty Dad, as I put on my eleventh layer of sweaters and socks as a teenager, I have completely turned into him.

Well.  This morning there was frost on the ground, people.  FROST ON THE GROUND!!  OMG!  WHY IS WINTER HERE ALREADY??  WHERE ARE MY BOOTS??  WHERE IS THE ICE SCRAPER??  I AM NOT PREPARED!!

When I calmed down, and realized that it was a not-so-balmy 58 degrees in my house, I realized that perhaps my children would like to keep their extremities in-tact, and perhaps I should consider actually turning the heat on so that we did not all end up in the Emergency Room being treated for frost bite.

So I did.  But in true Steph fashion, it did not work.  (Of course it didn't!  You'd think I would know that by now.)  I unsuccessfully tried every setting on the thermostat.  I went down to the basement and circled around my furnace several times while thinking about C&C Music Factory - because this was most certainly in the category of "things that make you go hmmmm"...  But never having had a natural gas heating system in the past, I felt very alone in my quest to determine a method by which to make it heat my house...  

I decided maybe Jeff wasn't so silly for wanting a magic wand after all...

Instead of trying to troubleshoot it myself, I sent my landlord an email asking her what I was doing wrong...  She sent back the following response, which left me feeling slightly less than smart.

Stephanie,
There is an electric switch at the entrance to basement , right at the main floor level. This switch cuts off electricity to the furnace. Make sure that this switch is in the 'on' position.

I love this response for many reasons.  Mostly because I know the EXACT switch she is referring to, and I have even flipped it on and off several times while trying to determine what light it belonged to, because (surprisingly) no lights ever came on when I switched it to the 'on' position. 

So, while I am hopeful that tonight we will resume blood-flow to our noses and toes, let's get real...  That puppy's not getting turned up a degree above 65! 

Layer it up, baby!!  (See Dad?  I did learn a something from you!!) 

sunday night syndrome...

I have MAJOR Sunday night syndrome tonight...  It's Sunday night, back to work tomorrow after a very relaxing and quiet weekend, and I just wanna stomp my feet and pout.

Walmart screwed up my photo printing, and therefore screwed up my plans of scrapbooking all weekend, so instead I broke out some brushes and canvases and got my paint on.

 
 

And, a couple elsie flannigan inspired creations....

 
 

Clearly, my creative side was experiencing some bi-polar-ness this weekend....  Clearly, I need some prozac or something.  But actually, and more importantly...  I wanted to talk for a minute about water colors, because I. am. LOVING. them. lately.  And I'm not talking fancy-schmancy expensive watercolors in the itty bitty tubes...  Nooo sir...  I am talking a ghetto-style package of crayola watercolor ovals in the plastic tray.  $3.99 at Target, peeps.  I borrowed them from Alyza, and I think I'll keep them.

I also spent some time working on these...

 

...which I can't really discuss just yet, but HOLY CRAP they are rocking my little world...  SO EXCITED ABOUT THEM RIGHT NOW!!!

Walmart finally managed to get my photo order correct, so I will hopefully be posting some new scrappy creations soon!!

Happy Sunday.

excited is an understatement.

So.  It sort of just happened without planning it.

I have this ENTIRE DAY to myself.

AN ENTIRE DAY!  With NO PLANS UNTIL AFTER 6PM!!

I am so excited about this that I was up and ready to roll at 7am, without adorable children poking me from the side of the bed, without cats pawing me on the face begging for food, and without even a single drop of coffee.

I AM GOING TO MAKE STUFF ALL FREAKEN DAY.

AND YOU CANT STOP ME.

NEENER NEENER NEENER.

:)  I will share later.

WOOT!

Soxtober!?!

Okay, how many people stayed up past midnight last night?  Show of hands please. Soxtober was in full swing indeed. 

For this fan, it all began on a late Sunday night back in 2004.  With my beloved Red Sox down 3 games to none in the ALCS (to the hated Yankees), they found themselves trailing in the late innings of game 4.  They were a few outs away from elimination…yet again.  After seeing a heartbreaking loss in game 7 the year before, I just couldn’t stand to watch the final outs of their season.  So I said to them, through the TV screen in my living room, “guys, I am not giving up on you, but am I going to bed now. “  And I went to bed.  I missed two innings of that entire post season, and it was perhaps the most important two innings in Red Sox history.  Dave Roberts stole second base.....and history was re-written.

Last night I fought every urge in my body that was telling me to just go to bed and get a good night sleep.  I remembered how I missed the 2004 comeback, but surely there was no way they would come back from a 7 to 0 deficit in the 7^th inning.  The season was over.  But I was going to fight away the tears and the heavy eyelids and root for my team until the very end.  Boy did it pay off!!  The most incredible single-game comeback in playoff history. 

I absolutely love being a Red Sox fan today!!!  Go Sox!!!

Guest Blogger....Out.      

 

One less Super Hero on the streets today...

 
I am sad to report that Fuzz, our beloved pet guinea pig has passed away after close to 7 years in our family.  There are maybe only a handful of people on this planet that will understand just how sad that news really is.  Because, to the rest of you it may seem that he is just a rodent with a tremendously awesome case of bedhead.  But to us he was Super-Fuzz, the Super Crime Fighting Guinea Pig, who would escape from his cage at night to fight crime in the streets.  We would make up elaborate stories about the criminals he would take down, and every morning he would be back in time for his Super Hero breakfast of carrots and parsely. 

Remember the time he fell off the second floor of his 3-story guinea pig condo and busted up his grill?  I sure do.  It was pretty traumatic for all of us, including our bank account.  I remember bringing him to work and stashing him under my desk in a box so that I could administer his medicine during the day.  He was our first "baby" and in some strange way, he was way more to us than just a pet.

So this morning, as Steve and I cried our way through making burial arrangements (and then laughed our way through realizing that we were making funeral plans for a guinea pig) we talked about what a cool little dude he was.  As ridiculous as it sounds to an outsider, he will be sorely missed.

See you on the flip side, little guy!

magic wands, part two.

Later on, the very same day that Jeff decided to share with me his secret desire to own a magic wand,  it became apparent to me that magic wands were pretty much the ONLY thing on Jeff's mind that day.  While hanging out in the hotel, getting ready to head to dinner he brought it up again, only this time he got a little tripped up on the words...

J:  I still think it'd be cool to have a magic wan.

S:  Wand.

J:  What?

S:  Wand, baby.  You said wan.  It's wand.  Magic Wand.

J:  Wand?  Or Wan?

S:  WAND.  WAND.  WAN-DUH!!!

J:  Wanda?  A magic Wanda?

S:  Or a magic Juan.

J:  Magic Juan and Magic Wanda?

S: They sound like a fun couple!!

Later on in the trip, we are pretty sure we were abducted by aliens, and that the Juan/Wanda conversation was planted in our brains to distract us from all the probing that had taken place on the mother-ship. 

But that remains to be proven.  However, the following picture from our trip would suggest that there could have been some sort of alien encounter.