January's Wrapping Up

The first month of the new year - almost gone! In a way it seems like time is flying by, but on the other hand, I'm so anxious to get into our new house that the time also seems to draaaag on. Patience Barbara!

Here's what's been going on this last week:

We had our inspection last weekend. Of course they found little problems here and there, but the biggest concern for me was... dun dun dun..... black mold in the attic. I worried that it would be a deal breaker, but I'm happy to say we've worked out an agreement and it will be taken care of next week! Phew! The seller will also be fixing the garage door which is currently dented. Not for long though! Unfortunately the snow prevented the inspector from seeing "everything" but I suppose that's just what happens if you buy a house in this area in the winter.

 

The snow might have hampered our inspection a bit, but it certainly hasn't slowed down Miss Birdie. She doesn't seem to mind at all - even when the snow gives her beard crystals!

Work has also been busy. I had a family concert last weekend, which meant it was time for kiddie crafts. It took a lot of work to pull it together - and it didn't help that I've been super distracted with house stuff while trying to work. But it all came together and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Another work happening - one of my favorite people at the office celebrated her 25th work anniversary!!!

Way to go Irene!!! I complain a lot about work, and trust me... there are some SERIOUSLY bad eggs here. However, there are a lot of really good people too that I genuinely look forward to seeing each day. Irene is definitely one of them!

The rest of the month should go by without much to report. I have a handful of meetings, I'm looking forward to watching Downton Abbey on Sunday... but all in all it's going to be a pretty low key weekend. Oh wait! Luna is going to stay with us so Birdie will have a buddy! I'm sure that will result in some adorable pictures. Stay tuned!

2016!!

Happy New Year!!

Ok I know, we are in the latter part of January, so it's not really a new new year, but still... I love the new year. It's a time of renewed hope and possibilities. And let me tell you what. This year has already started off with a bang!!!

Here are 16 things that have happened in 2016.

1) It wouldn't be New Year's Day without having "Good Luck Pot." We must have made a good batch this year...

2) Andy and I enjoyed dinner at the Amsel/Vrbsky house! In addition to dinner, the four of us also put together a puzzle in record time (while enjoying Rose's apple-cloud dessert).

3) I tackled some at-home organization projects. Now my craft supplies and makeup things are suuuper organized and I love it.

 

4) Birdie has continued being adorable in 2016.

5) My planner and food/fitness journal game is going strong thanks to new stickers I got while in WA. I know it's dumb, but for some reason... this makes me so happy.

6) I had some atypical cells (discovered last summer when I had a mole biopsied) removed from my lower back. Of course it was right at my waist band, so that meant an entire week of not being able to wear real pants. I either wore scrub pants (thanks dad!) or a maxi-skirt - both of which I could hike up really high so as not to interfere with the area.

 

7) I also had a consultation with a periodontist. Thanks to gum recession caused by wearing braces, I now need a skin graft. However! Instead of having tissue harvested from the roof of my mouth, I am opting to have "donor tissue" sewed into my gums. Who's the donor, you ask? A dead person. I'm going to have a dead person in my mouth. :-) This won't happen for a few months... so more on that much later.

8) I dreamed of winning the Powerball. Oh man did I have plans. I was especially excited to donate to the Rochester Zoo so they could renovate all of their animal enclosures. Guess that won't be happening. :-(

9) I've been working like a boss as I start to get ready for kids' concerts in February and March.

10) I've also already had 3 different outreach events so far. They're actually fun, but take a lot of extra time to do (so I'm ready for a break from them for a bit).

11) Winter has also finally arrived. Trust me, I'm not disappointed AT ALL that it took awhile this year. But the cold and snow are definitely here now. Birdie does surprisingly well, although it doesn't take a lot of snow to cover her little legs. Poor puppy dog!

12) We also suffered a loss. The purple monkey was massacred one terrible Saturday morning.

14) New TV shows also started. My shows this year include Downton Abbey on Sunday nights, The Biggest Loser on Monday nights, and My Diet Is Better Than Your Diet on Thursday nights. I don't know why, but I just love watching people lose weight.

15) Andy turned 33 - actually TODAY is his birthday!!

He said 32 was the year of 'cooking'. When I asked him what 33 would be the year of he said 'home improvements' because....

16) WE HAD AN OFFER ACCEPTED ON A HOUSE!!!!!

There it is! It's very small, only 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, but it will be perfectly fine for the two of us - plus Birdie will have own big fenced in yard!!! Let me tell you... things have been crazy since finding out our offer was accepted. Talking to an attorney, meeting with the bank, scheduling the inspection (which is this Saturday). I will feel a lot better once the inspection is over and the bank comes through with a stamp of approval. But... assuming all will work out, we'll be moving into our very own house in a few months!!!! 

See...? Must have been a good batch of Good Luck Pot this year. I wonder if it's because we used vegetarian sausage?? ;-)

Home Sweet Home

Andy, Birdie, and I all made the trip west to spend Christmas with my parents. Praise the heavens!!! It had been over a year since I'd been home, and ooooooh how I missed it.

Before we left, I gave Andy one of his Christmas presents as it was way too big to travel with.

In addition to cooking, Jacques Pepin also does a lot of artwork. I got Andy a print of one of Jacque's hand-drawn menus. Oh, and it was also ACTUALLY signed my Jacques Pepin himself. You can see his signature in pencil in the center at the bottom.

I bought this months ago, so I was very excited to finally give it to him. :-) Andy also gave me gifts before we left, which included the most amazing luxurious perfectly absorbent bath robe in gray, my favorite color. What a man - he knows me so well!

Onto the trip! We flew out of Toronto because it saved my parents $$$$$$. However.... that decision turned out to be an incredibly painful one. We stood in customs/security lines for 3 hours (easily) and, along with many other people, missed our flight. Andy and I ended up flying standby.... 9 hours later I was on my way to Chicago, and he thankfully got the flight after mine going through Las Vegas. We left James' apartment in Toronto at 8:45am East Coast time. We pulled into my parents' driveway at 2:30am West Coast time. That's about 21 hours door to door. Now if that wouldn't be stressful enough as is..... we had Birdie with us!!! And there was no pet relief area in the Toronto airport!!!!! I took her into a family restroom once an hour to take her out of her crate. She would not go potty, and I was a ball of nerves. Thankfully once she and I got to Chicago, she finally went pee in their pet relief zone. Thank you Chicago for being puppy friendly!!

I have to say, I was so impressed with how Birdie did on both the trip to and from Seattle. She is a very good travelling partner. :-) I was such a proud Mommy!!!

The long day of travel also gave me the chance to read a book Sheena had sent me (she knew the only way to get me to read it was to physically put it in my hands - smart girl). 

"Slade House" is about a set of soul-sucking vampire twins and their victims. It. was. weird. But I'll admit, once I finished reading it, I kept thinking about it.... which makes me think I must have actually liked it, haha.

The 23rd was our first day in WA, so we did a little last minute Christmas shopping, then of course headed to Muckleshoot (the casino near my parents' house). I won $20 playing roulette and slots. Woohoo! Christmas Eve was spent grocery shopping for Christmas dinner ingredients. Typically we have KFC for Christmas Eve dinner, but that didn't make a lot of sense since I haven't been eating meat, so instead we had.... TACOS!!!!

I lobbied to have Mexican food on Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember while I was growing up... it's like my dream finally came true, lol. After dinner we played Pictionary, boys against girls. My mom and I are still the victors!!!! 

The best part of Christmas Eve was at night when Birdie rounded the corner.....wearing her new Christmas Jammies!!! My mom had got them as a surprise, and she looked sooooooooooo cute in them.

Isn't she adorable?!?!?!?!?!?????

Christmas morning was fun - especially since it was Birdie's first Christmas! She had her own stocking (my mom made it to look like her, and did such a good job). And she even sniffed out and opened her own presents. She had a very good time shredding the paper.

I was pretty surprised when one of the presents to me said it was from Mema. Turns out, when my mom and her siblings were going through Mema's things after she died, they found a set of poems she wrote to me back in the 80s. I never knew they existed, and I'm not sure anyone else did either. Here's one...

These poems are, without a doubt, one of my most treasured things. 

Back to Christmas morning! Andy made us crepes for breakfast wearing his new personalized chef's jacket!

Birdie also tried on her new Christmas socks!

Andy cooked our entire Christmas dinner. Good job Chef Andy!! I am really sad I didn't take a picture of all of his hard work. I did however get a picture of the pie we got from Pie Lab - chocolate peanut butter...can't go wrong there!

And after Christmas dinner.... we went to Muckleshoot! Hahaha. Who knew a casino would be PACKED on Christmas?? Andy and I really like Muckleshoot because you can play blackjack for $1 (his fav) and roulette for 25 cents (my fav). Which basically means your $20 can stretch for a long time. I ended up winning $10 more dollars. And Andy and my mom won too (my dad just watches). We all left winners - a Christmas miracle! lol

The day after Christmas was Leif's birthday party! Leif is Nicole's son who was turning 2. One of the best parts about going home for Christmas is seeing friends who are also going home. What a treat to see Nichi and her family!!!! For Leif's birthday, we got him "Darth Tater." I had no idea he would play with it as much as he did. I got a text from Nicole days later saying he was still playing with it, lol. Good!

And since Leif's party was up north...well, we might as well go to Tulalip!!! Tulalip is the awesome casino with the best buffet. I won 7 cents. The streak continued! lol

The next day (12/27) we all went to see Star Wars. Thank goodness the recliner seats are at their movie theaters too! I don't think I can watch a movie any other way.  I enjoyed Star Wars. I'll say it was more or less predictable, but I was still entertained. There's a Nordstrom Rack conveniently close to the movie theater so... I got two new pairs of boots!!! Yay for Nordstrom Rack!!!! 

Sunday was Nicole's last night in town, so Andy and I went out with her family for dinner. Oh it's so nice to see her. I wish we didn't live so far away. :-(

Monday turned out to be a day from heaven for me. We ate lunch at Taco Time, shopped for stickers for my journal and got a new pair of running shoes, then went to Pike Place market, followed by dinner at my favorite thai place, and then.... THE NORDSTROM HALF YEARLY SALE!!!!!!

The next day, my mom, Andy and I went to play Bingo! We did not win, but it was still fun. :-)

That night when my dad got home, we all went to a hockey game!

Wednesday, December 30th, was our last day in WA, and it started out with a bang. Literally! Andy, my mom, and I went to a shooting range and I shot my first real gun!! It was scary! I will say, all three of us did better than I thought we would, but Andy especially! He was a natural!

And for our last night in WA, we went to.... Muckleshoot!! Hahaha. They got a jump on their NYE decor. I played roulette and slots again, and won again! I ended the trip up $55. Cool!

Our flight left Seattle at 6:20am on New Year's Eve. That meant we were up at 3:00am. Ouch. My parents took us out to the airport at 4:00am, which is when my dad tried for the umpteenth-million time to steal Birdie lol. 

Let's talk about Birdie for a bit. She LOVES playing with my dad. She LOVES eating popcorn with my mom. She LOVES my parents' house, especially the mirror upstairs where she discovered there was another puppy that looked a lot like her (she would run up there to play with the puppy in the mirror). I think she would be happy being a PNW pup. :-) There is a dog park very close my parents' house that she went to almost every day. She had a good vacation too!

And now for a few miscellaneous pictures from the trip. 

Mt. Rainier.

 

A puzzle we worked on (and didn't finish).

And the best breakfast pastry known to man. A maple bar.

Dear Washington. I love you. So so so so much. Thank you Mom and Dad for an awesome trip!!!