It's beginning to look a lot like...

SPRING, what?! With it being 65, raining and on going tornado watches, yes, it feels like spring only a few days after Christmas.

Anywho, Christmas take 2 was a nice one. The menu this year consisted of bbq ribs (oh my god, they were goooood), hot spicy chicken wings, weenies, mac and cheese, beef house rolls, deviled eggs, and apple pie. We went to mass at Holy Cross this year and afterwards opened presents at home. This year I won the monopoly game, yeeehaa. Then on Christmas day we watched hours of The Christmas Story and then made some homemade pizza, after we did nothing at all.

We'll be heading towards Tenneesee on Tuesday for Christmas part 3.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Whoot, we got the Mountaineer fixed yesterday! We dropped it off at 9:30 and it was done by 2, I'm making a shameless plug for the car-x on university ave, they are great!

Yesterday I was working out on the treadmill and completed the whole 1st program! Intervals of walking, jogging and running, a little over 2 miles in 30 minutes, go me!

The weather is a little crazy out there today, be careful!

Christmas Take 1

New photos are up!

Whoot New Camera!

Woohoo we got our new camera in the mail yesterday!

We got a Sony this time. I like the pictures it can take in low light, love it! Here is a picture, I didn't take it, it came from dphotojournal. 7mp, 4x optical zoom, love it.

And some photos taken with it:

This weekend we are going to Indiana for my Dad's side of the family's Christmas. Saturday we are making cookies at the Grandparents house and then Sunday is the official unofficial Christmas day.

New photos are up.

Photos from this past weekend...

This weekend we went to the parade of lights..and by went I mean we ate at the Great Impasta and watched it through the big restaurant windows, ha! We also moved all the furniture back to the rightful places and put up the Christmas tree!

The floors are finished! We have to wait a couple more days before we can move the furniture back but we are ALMOST there, no more poly and butts that hurt.

By the way, these pictures were taken with one of my older cameras not the new one. Meijer had the one I wanted on sale but then they upped the price the other day when I went to buy it, so I ebayed it instead.

The dining room before

The dining room after some sanding.

The dining room all polyed and pretty.

The sitting room before

The sitting room after sanding.

The sitting room after poly.

The entry before

The entry way after sanding.
The entry after poly.

New photos are up.

So I've not posted pictures of the floors yet for two reasons.

1. The day we started, the flash on our camera stopped working. The camera is pretty useless without it. Though I did manage to get a few pictures, b/c I have another camera, but I need to recharge the batteries. I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on our camera, as it had lasted almost two and a half years and thousands of photos!

2. We aren't finished yet. Apparently we are a lot older than we were last year, b/c last year it took us about a day to sand. This year TWO days of sanding, yep we paid the extra rental day fee. So we have one more coat of poly to do tonight, then before we move furniture back we are suppose to wait 72 hours. Mind you EVERYTHING from the entryway, dining room and sitting room is stuffed into the living room and the guest room, ohhhh and kitchen (glassware and alcohol), deeming the kitchen fairly useless.

And I am ape crazy about putting up the christmas tree! Not to mention going bat-y b/c to get into the livingroom I have to squeeze between a couch and a wall. Anywho, we are getting a new camera tonight, and tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the floor.

Let's get ready tooooooooo

reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinish the floors!!!!!!!!!!




We pick up the sander tomorrow, we'll take lots of pictures.


Thanksgiving was quite nice, here are some photos. New photos are up & video.

Ohhh The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

But the new uncovered fireplace hearth is sooo delightful!

Yeah I'll figure out how to remove the permanant marker off the tile....somehow.

Toddler Twos

1. Yesterday I converted Makenna's crib into a toddler bed. (Sigh) Where did my little 5 pound baby go? She can climb in and out of it herself. Last night was her first night, I heard her come to her door but quickly there after she returned to bed, she slept til 8:30 this morning before quietly coming into our room. While converting the crib yesterday, I turn around to see Makenna laying on her mattress, on the floor, with her cookie monster, she's saying "Look at the stars, do you see em?", she's staring at the ceiling. I thought I might have some problems when it came nap time with her playing instead of napping, but nothing, she just went to sleep. And yes, I do realize how lucky I am to have such an easy child.

2. We are working on potty training, she was fighting it a couple of weeks ago, so I dropped it, so now she asks to sit on the potty at least four times a day. Apparently she just needs to think SHE is in control of the potty training, hopefully she doesn't know that I know her game plan, haha.

Next week is Thanksgiving! Before we know it, it will be Christmas!

A Weekend Review

Just as I said, a review of the weekend. Friday Brent took the day off work...just because. We took Makenna to the library to play and headed over to the Urbana mall to get some oh so delish Rubens chocolate (and do a little Christmas shopping). Saturday we headed over to PACA to look for a couple of cold air return grates (and found two!), we were able to get a super deal on them. I still need to prep and paint the largest of the two. We also ran to Lowes for some shims and flat black spray paint. After all that we returned home and started doing a little patching of the floor. Around 6 we took Makenna to Mom's to spend the night with "Mickey" (this is what Makenna calls her). Brent and I went out to dinner and then to a movie, Changling (it was good). Sunday after picking up Makenna we had lunch with Brent's Grandparents who were stopping through town. Then later in the day worked a little more on patching, we only have an old outlet hole to patch and THEN we will be ready to set a date to rent the sander! Whoot, I just imagine how beautiful the floors will be this Christmas, lights glistening off the newly finished floor. I can't wait! New pictures are up.

Dinner And A Movie

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have found our favorite Chinese restaurant. It's newer, I don't know when it opened, it is more of a hole in the wall. Green Jade. Wonderful Chinese food goodness. I don't know what the deal was with me yesterday, all I wanted was ethnic food, either Chinese, Indian, or Mexican. Anyway Brent said he also wanted Mexican or Chinese, so we chose the Chinese. We ate until we were afraid we'd start to feel sick, and on the way home stopped for some baklava (love). I found out last weekend that Ruben's chocolate is being carried in TWO stores now in Champaign, I've been dying since they closed the retail location, six months ago!

Last night we watched a movie that we rented from the library, No Country For Old Men, it was.....weird, it wasn't one that I would recommend. Last week we watched Atonement (also from the library), and I really like that one (gonna go get the book now). It just seemed...right, the way life is. I read some reviews from others online today about it, a lot of them saying they thought it was boring, but I guess it was just the movie I was looking for that night. I will let you know that there is some language in it and sexual "behavior", so it isn't recommended for those under 17, and not something you'd want to watch with Grandparents. Ha!

One way or another...

We went to the visitation today for Dr. Hetherington. Apparently one way or another I needed to go a funeral home this weekend....ie-Grandma Zelma also passing.

Dr. Edward Norton "Pete" Hetherington, 85, passed away on the evening of Nov. 5, 2008. "Doc Pete," as his numerous patients called him throughout his decades of practice in Danville, will be sorely missed by his family and friends.

Read more here:Linky

Fall Fun

Shutterfly now allows you to "download" pictures, the whole full sized picture, so you can print it or have it printed somewhere. Just click on the photo, on the right hand side there will be a green arrow with download picture next to it.

New president elect- Obama. I must say history has been made and I am proud of the fact that it happened in my lifetime. "I have a dream.." Jesse Jackson was crying as the election was called. Students last night celebrated on Green street and you could hear it all the way at our house, inside our house, lol. I was really impressed last night with McCain's speech, it was eloquent and heart touching.

On a more somber note- Grandma Zelma died yesterday morning. We will miss her but know she is with her other family that has also passed. I spoke with Grandma Helen last night as they were on the way back from Arkansas, back to Indiana to get ready to head to North Dakota.

On a selfish note, my Victoria Secret order shipped, whoot. I got a deal using three discount codes. 2 sweaters, two bras and a pair of underwear for 30 bucks shipped, whoot whoot.

We've started patching the vents, we have two done now. I bought new vent covers for the two, medium oak finish covers, they'll blend well with the refinished floors. I decided to go with new covers instead of using paca cast iron ones b/c they are in high traffic areas (so the smaller the better) & they were cheaper, cast iron $20 to $30 a pop, the new ones I got on clearance for $1.70 a piece.

I made a new enchilada recipe last night with some leftover roasted chicken I had. Ohhh it was gooood, I got the recipe off of oprah (it's on her website.) The other day at Meijer I bought some deli meat, they have excellent reduced fat salami, and I tried the hickory smoked turkey premium meijer brand, it is realllly realllly good. Makenna made out like a bandit while at Meijer, she got some free turkey from the deli lady and a free cookie from the bakery lady.

Election Day

Get your butt out there and vote!

Movie Monday

Because I haven't done Movie Monday in a few weeks, you get two today....

Pony Ride


Trick Or Treating

Christmas lights and Pumpkin sights

Yesterday we were out with the Grandparents. Tuesday night Grandma Helen spent the night since her train came in late. Wednesday morning Grandpa Lee arrived and we ventured out Curtis Orchard for some donut and pie goodness. After that we made a swing by the FCC to show it off and Makenna played for a bit. The company had to leave to get back to leave again, so we put Makenna down for her nap, and after a while I took one too, haha.

Brent had taken the day off so he dinked on the net til everyone woke. After that we started the chicken that I was going to roast for dinner. While that was cooking we played outside in the crispy leaves, Brent did some raking, I cut back some of the roses in the front. After that we decided that since it was still rather warm out that we would put the Christmas lights up now so we aren't out there freezing in a couple of weeks (now the next week is suppose to be in the 70s, WHAT!). I'm sure people passing by thought we were totally crazy. So the lights are hung on the house now! We still have some little lit trees to put out but I'll wait til after Thanksgiving to do that. Merry Christmas!


After putting up the Christmas lights we decided we should probably carve the pumpkin since tomorrow is Halloween, haha. Originally we were going to do a cookie monster design but it was kinda late, and more trouble than I thought. So I just decided to draw a face, and was having problems cutting so Brent went down to the basement and fetched the jigsaw, oh yeah. It worked really well, 2 minutes later the pumpkin was done!

A few new photos are up.

For The Love Of .....

Music.

One of my new most favorite artists these days is Adele. It is kinda a jazzy, a throw back to what use to be while still mingling with what is being. I regret now not buying the whole album from itunes, as I only bought two songs Hometown Glory, and Chasing pavement. Although Brent says she is kinda homely looking, I don't care, these days I would rather someone sound good when I am listening to them, then look good when I'm suppose to be listening to them. Does that makes sense?











The beginning on Hometown Glory sounds much like another one of my favorite songs by Sia called Breathe Me. Honest I love the song and can't seem to get through it without crying my eyes out. If you watched Six Feet Under you understand, that was one of the best finales to a show I've EVER seen. They use Breathe Me in the end to go on and show you how every character goes on to live their life and ultimately how they die. Whole lives played out in a matter of minutes before life is all over. Reminding you just as an afternoon may pass quickly, someday you'll look back to realize that you too may be passing too quickly. Here is to slowing down, loving life, enjoying every minute and breathing it all in.....

Bouncing Babies

This past weekend was a great one. Saturday we went to Danville for Keely's birthday partay, the big 03! There were tons of kids, lots of food and cake, and plenty of adult conversations! Ryan and Heather rented one of those air filled bounce houses. Most of the kids really liked it, Makenna didn't really like the unsteadiness of it. The photo above is from the party..see we were using markers to decorate little pumpkins at the beginning of the party...so that explains the blue marker on Makenna's face. Pictures are up.

We had a ton of stuff to get done before we went to Danville so we didn't make it to the Farmers Market this weekend. And I am totally craving the KETTLE CORN, it is so fresh and crunchy and salty and sweet, all at the same time....uhhhhh...I'm counting down the days til Saturday.

Ninja Cat

Brent found this on youtube and it is reallllly funny, watch it.

Making messes and playing with torches

So last night Brent and I are sitting on the couch and Makenna wants to watch....Teletubbies...again...for the 114th time that day. Brent decides since we've already seen the dvd to check out the "special clips". We have two options, Brent reads making messes or playing with torches, what the...I remind him the teletubbies are British. "Torches are flashlights over there, remember?" Brent: "Oh yeah, ok that makes more sense."

That reminds me of a time Brent and I are watching tv, some program on milking cows and the treatment they receive. Brent out of the blue-"You know a more humane way of milking cows would be to just tickle them until milk shoots out of their noses."

A few nights ago when Makenna wasn't feeling well, she slept with us in our bed. While in bed with us she may whimper and she snuggles up to you but she doesn't full out cry like she would in her own bed. Around 8 in the morning I feel a tap on my shoulder and hear "Mommy, mommy." I turn over to see Makenna laying there and then she asks "How did you sleep?". I can't help but laugh.

We have some dentist appointments today to get the chompers clean. We also need to pick up a birthday present for a birthday party this weekend. And tonight I'm going out with a girlfriend to a restaurant I've not been to yet...I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm excited!

I mention previously that we were going to the paca party, we went, it was fun. They had lots of good food, indian, garcias pizza, veggie and meat tray and chevys tex mex, as well as a keg, wine and desserts from radio maria. Not to mention Darrell's wife makes WONDERFUL things called pumpkin bar, oh my word. We met lots of nice people, Brent spoke to the Indian restaurant owner, learned Darrell use to be a flight instructor, and met the president of paca. Not to mention the guys that said they liked to the see the younger generation taking an interest in old homes.

MeeMee

Makenna's started trying to talk in phrases now, and anytime we are going anywhere a conversation such as this starts:

Me: Do you want to go and take a shower?

Makenna runs across the room, grabbing (insert noun here), but today it was a blanket

Makenna: Me bankie?

Me: No, you can't take your blankie in the shower, it'll get wet

Makenna's thrown down the blanket and now is holding....her sippie cup of milk

Makenn: Me mulk?

Me: No, I don't think it would be a good idea to take the milk in the shower, Here take the frisbee

Luckily that was good enough for her.

After her shower we go upstairs to get dressed, she's in her room being a little too quiet for my comfort, so I peek in on her. She putting on her diaper, albeit backwards but it is mostly on now but she can't pull it up so she is walking like a little penguin towards me.

Anyway in the last post I was talking about how Makenna wasn't feeling well, she is almost all over it now, she developed a body rash from the viral infection a couple of days ago, from her forehead to her legs. She is still a tiny bit itchy still on her arms but the rash is almost totally gone, yay!

I've got nothing else.

Hi ho...Hi ho

Friday night while out to dinner we recieved a call from a PACA (old house store) saying they had a couple of houses that were going to be torn down and one of them had the right size flooring that we were looking for! Whoot! The elusive 2 inch wide 3/8 inch thick oak tongue and groove we needed to patch the holes in our floor before we could refinish the rest of the downstairs....glory! So we got in touch with our man Darrell and met up with him yesterday to see the house and get started on the floor removal! They gave us a serious deal and we are so thankful that they remembered our name on the want list! After we finished we did a little bit of old house lover talking with Darrell and his wife, we were invited to paca's party that is this afternoon and then went to meet up with Mom as she was watching Makenna for us. THANK YOU! After all that hammer usage and crowbar wiggling, my hands are a little sore....

Last night Makenna woke up crying, which means she isn't feeling well. I went to console her and she was burning up! So I layed her in our bed and gave her some tylenol, she seemed to feel better after that and slept in this morning til 11! She must be getting a cold or something, she didn't eat much yesterday and went to bed early the day before.

Yesterday we also ventured to Curtis Orchard, holy crap was it busy, I don't think we've ever seen it busier. They had the pony rides going so we decided since Makenna is on a pony kick (haha, no pun intended), we would buy her a ride. She LOVED it, as soon as they stopped the ponies she wanted to ride more. Brent says "So I didn't really budget for riding lessons in the future, maybe we should."

Peace out...new pics up