It's finally over...

We closed on the condo today. It was really rough. It took most of the day for the wire transfer to go through. Eh... But it's all over and we are so relieved.

We did have to go and see the condo one last time this morning. I cried. I couldn't even go in the bedrooms. So many happy memories there and so much emotion. *sigh* But at the same time I don't miss living there. I love our new house and our new neighborhood.

Today is also my momma in law's birthday. We visited the Clerk's office to see our old work buddies (hers and mine). We also went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and shopping at Geneva Commons. Then my Mom and Dad were willing to watch the kids so we could go out to dinner at the fabulous Millrose Restaurant in South Barrrington. Yummy! All in all, it was a nice day.

The fates ARE against me...

I had such high hopes that today would go more smoothly....it didn't. Let me just share the list with ya....

1. Josh lost the I Pass which we needed to pay the tolls. This is also a problem because we will lose our deposit on the unit.
2. The kids were horrid brats when we were getting ready to go...eek. (This is probably how Josh lost the I Pass)
3. Hit some major traffic on I88.
4. Got lost on the way to Chinatown.
5. Screamed at eachother in front of my momma in law.
6. Had bad anxiety attack while shopping because Abby was touching like everything (We forgot the stroller too!).
7. Got lost on the way from the zoo in the Loop. Mind you, I told him to stay on Lake Shore Drive until Congress...but he just wouldn't listen to me. Ugh.

So now I think to reward myself, I'm going to put a pink streak in my hair.

Are the fates against me?

Why is that when you try the hardest to do something nice that everything goes all wrong? Ugh. I tried to take my momma in law out for a fun girl's night last night but nothing went my way. (She is staying with us this week). We planned on going to have our nails done and then going to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We met my Mom and sister at the nail school expecting to have some good, cheap relaxation. But fate had other plans....

The first problem was that instead of scheduling us with students, they had put us with the pros. This of course meant that our services were nearly double in price. Since we are all on a budget, this was a dissappointment. The second issue was that I wound up with this totally weird girl doing my pedicure. Cassandra and I had been there before and I had gotten her when she was a student. Eh. She was super slow. She took about 40 minutes longer on my pedicure than Cassandra's girl did. She also interrupted our conversations with stupid comments. She made a comment to me about it must be so easy to just be a mom. Uh, yeah right...try it some time! The third and biggest problem was that halfway through our services, the power went out and never went back on. This meant that my momma in law didn't get to have her manicure or her pedicure. She had really been looking forward to that. Eh, so I felt horrible.

Then we tried to go to the Macaroni Grill, but they didn't have power either. This was suprising since they were several miles away from the nail school. It was of course at this point, pouring rain. I hate driving in the rain! We did wind up going to Pizzeria Uno which I LOVE! We had a pretty good time anyway.

Today we are going to go to Chicago. We are going to the Lincoln Park Zoo and also to Chinatown. I'm looking forward to eating some yummy chinese food and doing some shopping for fat little buddhas and Hello Kitty stuff. Hopefully this plan won't go awry....

Getting into Mommy's make up

If you have kids, you know that when they are quiet...it means trouble. It means they are coloring on the wall or playing in the toilet. In this case, it was playing in Mommy's make up.

I was on the phone with my mom when Abby went into the bathroom. I *thought* she was going in to brush her teeth. But when she was quiet, I knew she was up to something. This is what I found:

Pictures from the tea party

The Tea Party spread. We made lemon poppyseed scones, pigs in blankets, petit fours and cucumber sandwiches.


The kids tea party table....


We used my Grandmother's china for the first time...




Opening presents...


Abby's birthday cake....


Showing that she's 3 years old with her 3 fingers....

Tea Party!

Tomorrow is Abby's birthday party. I'm so excited for her. We are doing a big tea party. She loves to play tea party all the time with us so that would be fun for her. She is all excited about wearing her pretty dress and her birthday crown. I got her a tiara that flashes the number 3 on it. Hee hee. She is also excited that Gram and Grandpa Dude are flying on an airplane to come and see her.

Josh and I are pretty much ready for the party and for his parents coming. We cleaned the house today, went birthday shopping and started making treats. We made lemon poppyseed scones and heart shaped petit fours. Not sure how the petit fours are going to be. They were darn hard to frost. But we made little pink hearts with sprinkles on them.

Now all we have to do tomorrow is a last minute straighten, Swiffer the wood floors and get her tea pot cake from Walmart. I will be posting pictures if I can get her to hold still long enough. LOL.

Ponderings

Why is it that every home improvement project we do has many kinks to be worked out?

Why do cats have to have stinky pee?

Why do my cats have to be so lazy that they can't catch the one lone fly that got into the house?

I love going into our dollar store. They always have cool stuff like garden gnomes.

I never get tired of staring at my wedding rings and watching the "fire" in them that the sunlight brings out.

Cherry Pepsi is liquid happiness.

I never get tired of staring at my husband or my children and marveling at their beauty.

I love that my almost 3 year old daughter has to take a purse whenever we leave the house.

I love that my mom calls me every day.

Why do cats get to sleep like 20 hours a day?

What the heck is a Mr. Clean sponge made of anyway?

How can I be tired, but not sleepy?

Breathing a big sigh of relief

We just found out the appraisal on the home we are selling went through ok. We are all set to close next Friday. I am *so* relieved to be done with the money pit so that we can just focus on our new home

New auctions up and running!

Even though my computer and internet situation is all sucky, I decided to put up some auctions last night. Check 'em out!

Kitty love

Looky, it's my kitties! The orange one is Milo and the shy lady in the background is Tigerlilly. *Aww* I love my furkids!

Interesting: article on 10 Mansions

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8243894/

Interesting article that not only provides insight into the mansions, but their inhabitants. It's not often you see the word curmudgeon used either.

I have cute clippies!

I got my star clippies from Rubyroxx.com today. I love them! She is such a sweetie pie! Abby and I are dying to wear them tomorrow. I shall post a pic when my photo editing software is reinstalled.

*Scream* My sis got a job!

I am soooo proud! My little sister got a job as an 8th grade teacher. In a really good school district. WOOHOO!

10 things I love

In no certain order...
1. My family
2. Hello Kitty
3. Cute hair clippies
4. Candy flavored lipgloss
5. Glittery shiny nail polish
*. Books with chubby heroines. It's easier to relate.
7. Belly dancing. It makes me feel so alive.
8. Chocolate covered pretzels
9. Wild Cherry Pepsi
10. Funky hair

I'm back online...sort of

So I'm back online. It's a very ghetto computer situation, but I'm oh so happy to have some sort of internet connection. I should have DSL back by next Monday(Grr!). Hopefully it's sooner rather than later. Until then we are using a free trial of AOL dial-up. Gag, dial-up. Yes I'm a broadband snob. But hey, it's better than nothing right!?! And I'm using my laptop keyboard and CPU with a very scratched up monitor plugged into it. Again, something is better than nothing. We are talking about getting a new computer after we close on the condo. I really hope that works out.

My Surprise party was a lot of fun yesterday. It was only a few girls, but it was probably better that way. We made daquiris and ate snacks and laughed a lot.

Grrr at Verizon!

Poop, my email is down. Verizon claims that we cancelled our phone and DSL, although we most definitely DID NOT. So luckily my parents have an internet connection that I can use. But not so luckily they live an hour away from me. So I get to check my mail and stuff now. But then I have to wait until Verizon fixes my situation. Grrr!

The good news is that I'm having a surpise party tomorrow. Ooolala! I'm going to get me a new battery operated boyfriend. :-)

Only 3 more weeks

3 weeks from today we will close on the condo! I cannot wait to wash my hands of that money pit. It will be heavenly to get our lives back to normal and our finances back in the black.

I'm just an emotional sap.....

Have you seen the Chase commercial with the dad and daughter? They are preparing for her wedding and the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" is playing and the dad keeps envisioning her as a little girl. Awww! Made me bawl. Could be that I have my period and I'm all hormonal, but it really touched me.

I wonder if my Dad saw me that way on my wedding day. Awww. I actually have this one picture of the two of us that I just love. We are just coming through the doorway of the church and I have the hugest happiest grin on my face. And I remember how I felt in that moment. I felt like I was floating on air and the only two people that existed in that church were my Daddy holding my arm and my Josh waiting for me at the front of the church.

Wow, I actually made it to an "R"...

I would have thought that being a mom and housewife, I'd be too dull to make it past a PG. LOL!

My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

No more pretty nails....

I took off my acrylic nails today. It was sad...and it took forever. Actually about 3 hours of soaking, clipping and nipping. All this done while playing referee to the children of course. I was going to fill them in myself to save money, but I changed my mind. And with money being so darn tight...bi-weekly nail salon trips are a luxury I just can't afford. Another amenity bites the dust thanks to the condo chaos.

But I now that all the acrylic is off and my nails are all short and cute, I can type faster. And that's a nice thing. Also I pained them a cool orange "Nice Hand...Great Nails" by OPI with a glittery topcoat. Of course there had to be glitter!

Finally, some new pics!

Courtesy of my sis!

Here's my new hair:



Looky, Cassandra has new hair too!



Abby doesn't have new hair, but borrowed a hat...

Independence Day

Hope you had a good 4th of July!

We had my parents and Aunt over for a cookout. Then we all went over to the DeKalb fireworks. It was fun.

Abby was scared of the fireworks. She didn't want to hear them or look at them. Then she somehow managed to fall asleep 1/2 way through.

Shake your thang!

Video provided by www.tunes4yourpage.com

Oooo, I have new hair.

And I want to share a pic, but I can't because of my lappentoppen. Cassandra died it dark brown. It almost looks black. And I got it cut really short. I feel so cute!