Month: February 2017 (Page 1 of 2)

Oh baking, how I missed you!

I had to tidy up for the Oscar party tonight; a great time to snap pictures of my favorite place.

Untidy and poorly lit, but full of love.  This is the Saturday morning kitchen of my dreams.

Glamour shots of the kitchen still in progress.  For now we live here, and we love it.

FINALLY the house is done.  There’s plenty of this and that for me to fiddle with, but the contractor work is DONE!  My kitchen is gorgeous.  I haven’t finished putting things away and art on the wall, I’ll share pictures later.  Oh yeah, my birthday was this week too.  I got mega sick on my birthday: the small cold I sported for a week already blossomed into a fever.  That was a bummer.  And the work isn’t PERFECT.  There’s lots of little things that bother me that I’ll have to find solutions for myself, or accept and learn from my mistakes.  Even so, it’s a million times better than my old kitchen.  When I’m feeling better I’ll bust out some baking.  For now, I’m happy to have a load of dishes running and a sink near the fridge-near the dishes-near the counter-near the trash.

Jack gave me four valentines: a pink drawing of cats cradles, a paper heart filled with smaller cut out paper hearts, a “cootie catcher,” and this –

“It’s a toilet and a butt.  They are happy because they go together!” Then he exploded in giggles.  I gave my best stern-mom look, but was giggling inside too.

Ben gave me a lovely necklace and roses.  I have him a replacement Pebble watch.  There was chocolate for everyone.  With my limited kitchen, the only cooking we did was chocolate dipped strawberries.

I attended both kids’ school parties.  Sam got to tag along to his brothers.  We ended the day with pizza: a tradition that goes back to our first Valentine’s Day as a couple in Boulder in 2001.

We took the family to see Lego Batman this morning. Our friends the Arcands came too.  Leave it to the Alamo Drafthouse to make a real party out of a kids movie.

Someone parked their Bat-Monster Truck in front of the theater.  The kids all cycled through excitement and wariness when they found the Joker (a mannequin) had been strapped in the backseat.  A little too creepy for the younger ones.

Inside they had a set-up for photos.

Our screening was a special cereal party.  They provided an array of sugary breakfast cereals and milk at the front of the theater and we were welcome to help ourselves throughout the movie.  (Yeah, that’s my giant bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Delish.)

The movie itself was a ton of fun!  It dragged a bit at the end, but it’s a short movie anyway.  The beginning was non-stop laughs.  Ben and I were totally cracking up.  Lots of jokes for adults, and the boys found it hilarious too.  I’m sure I’ll see it many times more once it comes on home video.  Sure to be a regular favorite in our house, much like its predecessor (“Everything is awesome! . .  .”).

Jack’s writing has improved a lot this year. He’s very good at trying to figure out the spelling. In social studies they have been learning about American symbols and American history. 

Sam’s writing has improved too.  This is the first time I’ve seen him try to write his name at school on his play plan.  You can see, upside down, above the potato person, the S – A – M making his name! (“The blue “means he’s going to play in the blue color coded center that day. I think it is a restaurant this month.)

Last, Jack brought this home after his dress up day. Sometimes I can feel my heart warming with love. He turned this writing exercise into a beautiful thank you note. I like the picture of me picking him up after school too, that he drew on the back.  Kids can be wonderful. 

Jack’s school is celebrating reading this week – a spirit week that I fully endorse!  Monday and Tuesday were crazy sock and crazy hat days.  Tomorrow is “dress like your favorite literary character” day.  Jack gave just 36 hours to cobble together a Harry Potter costume.  We made wands after school.  Had to make one for Sam too.

Today I hunted down glasses.  Jack was so excited, he insisted on adding the scar right away.  If I can unearth my sewing machine I might whip up a cloak, but no promises.

Yesterday the snow started, melting into a wet layer of water that froze slick overnight.  This morning the ground was an ice skating rink.  I got the kids safely to school, then went to pick up tile samples.  In the empty parking lot, at roughly 3 mph, my car skidded into a curb.  Probably no biggie,  I thought, everything looked fairly normal, and went in to get my tiles.  When I tried to drive again, it gave an awful squeal and felt very very strange.  Discount Tire was 0.3 miles away, so I hobbled over and they took a quick look.  They said the wheel and tire look good, but the suspension has been jammed back.  The noise was the tire rubbing against the wheel well, and the strange axle angle explains why I had to hold the steering wheel at 2 o’clock to go straight.

An hour on the phone filing a claim got me a tow truck, a rental car, and an appointment at the repair shop.  Ben came whizzing down from Longmont to my rescue and to help pick up our pre-schooler on time.

Everyone at each of those places said they’ve been crazy busy; it seems most of the Denver area has stories similar to mine.  Four hours after the incident I’m finally home for lunch, after what was supposed to be a quiet, productive, relaxing morning without kids or house workers for the first day in weeks.

Looking on the bright side: Sam was a dear, and the repair shop had popcorn!

Also our insurance covered a mini-van rental.  I’m in love.  I don’t mind driving this luxury mom-machine for a few  weeks or months!  It will make my next trip to IKEA easy-breezy.

Also, no one was hurt.  No property or other cars were involved.  I have great insurance.  Sure, it’s our FIFTH claim since September, but that’s what it’s there for.  (If you weren’t keeping score: Water Damage, Ben’s Car, Wind Damage, Computer, My Car.)