Category Archives: the lived in house

Meet Izzy

Posted on August 8, 2010 by brigidday| 4 Comments

We did it. We got a kitten.

We got to Happy Tales about 8 minutes before they opened on Saturday. The children spent those 8 minutes with their noses pressed to the glass.

We held quite a few kittens. They were (almost) all sweet in their own way. But we settled on a dear 3-month-old kitten who was going by the name Kelly. We waited until we got out the door before calling her by her new name – Isabella Happy Day, Izzy for short. She’s such a lover. Purrs constantly. Begs to be held and petted.

But after a short car ride and coming into a new home, she chose to hang out under the basement stairs for about 4 hours. We left her alone after trying to coax her out and about the third time I checked on her, she meowed and came right to me. (Those are her eyes looking out at us.)

(Could my child look any longer? I think not.)

(And those shoes barely fit her.)

I tried to get a good picture for longer than I care to admit. Kittens are kind of quick. By today, she finally slowed down long enough to let me get a few shots. So without further ado, meet Izzy.

More photos to come. I assure you. :)

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Brigid, Izzy, Maggie, Nicholas, parenting - my way, the lived in house

Tagged , ,

buffet

Posted on July 17, 2010 by brigidday| Leave a comment

Our neighbors (who are so very, very good to us) gave Maggie Sea Monkeys for her birthday. We got them set up which included letting the water sit (mixed with packet #1) for 24 hours, then putting the sea monkeys (from packet #2) in and waiting another five days, then feeding them (from packet #3.)

We were supposed to feed them on Friday. But we were busy and forgot.

So Maggie and I were about to feed them today when we noticed the water was quite green. My husband came in right then and mentioned that he had already fed them. It looked a little cloudy, and green, but we went on about our day.

Every time I passed them I couldn’t help but stare at the cloudy green mess. There had been about 20-30 little, teeny, tiny things swimming around.

Now there was one.

And it was getting bigger by the hour.

Then I picked up packet #3 and read the instructions which were to add one spoonful of food on the fifth day. Then I saw the “spoon” that was next to the packet. One serving of Sea Monkey food would be the equivalent of, oh, say, 1/8 of 1/8 of a teaspoon.

Ours had almost an entire teaspoon.

They swam right up to the all-they-could-eat-buffet and ate themselves to death. Literally.

But that one that was still swimming? It’s still growing by the minute. We’re hoping it doesn’t bust out of the tank and eat us all in our sleep.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Maggie, the lived in house

Tagged ,

inch by inch

Posted on July 6, 2010 by brigidday| 5 Comments

Back in April, we started with this:

You see, I had a hankering to have a garden.

Almost three months to the day later, we have this:

Holy cow! We are having so much fun. And the salad we had the other night with our own lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers was the best I have ever eaten.

I have 800 bazillion other photos because I have turned into “woman-who-photographs-her-garden” but I’ll save those for my 365, assuming I can catch up with the three months I need to edit and upload.

If you have considered planting a garden…      …DO IT!!!

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Brigid, parenting - my way, the lived in house

Tagged , ,

think before you act

Posted on July 3, 2010 by brigidday| Leave a comment

Around 10:30 this morning, after a rousing session of playing trains with the kids, Mike and I were heading downstairs to begin some random piddling about. You know, he was going to cut the grass (of course) and I was going to wander around and avoid cleaning the kitchen floors.

I casually asked if we still had the leftover paint from the kitchen or if it had been destroyed in the flood. (Lots of old paint cans were ruined and had to be disposed of after the flood.)

“What are you going to paint?” he asked.

“I was thinking of painting that other wall in the kitchen,” I answered.

When we painted the kitchen we followed the schematic that the prior owners had used as far as which walls to paint. This particular wall morphs between being a kitchen wall and a hallway wall. I have been thinking for a few months that maybe I would prefer it painted to match the kitchen.

He checked the garage, found the paint cans, brought in the supplies, put down the drop cloth, and moved the furniture out of the way.

So 12 minutes after posing the question, I was painting.

I couldn’t help but think while I was painting. It’s what I do. Think.

I had been thinking about painting for a few months, but had never gotten around to looking for the paint. Knowing that we had the paint would have moved the painting project up in my mind to “sometime in the near future.”

Can you imagine how productive I would be if I acted so quickly all the time? I may just have to think about that for awhile…

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Brigid, the lived in house

Tagged , ,

sticking my toes back in

Posted on May 6, 2010 by brigidday| 1 Comment

I don’t even know where to begin. Honestly. This is the longest “blog break” I have taken since starting almost two years ago.

Maybe you heard about the flood our area had last weekend? Then again, if you’re not close by, maybe you haven’t heard about the flood. It seems to be kind of a non-issue to the rest of the country.

So much of the Nashville and surrounding areas have been damaged. Much is still underwater, after 4 days of sun and 80 degrees. The area I live in had 17 inches of rain in a 48-hour period. That’s 29% of our yearly rain in the span of two days.

We took in 7 inches of water in our basement. Half of our basement was unfinished, mostly used for storage and laundry. The other half was carpeted – with a couch, TV and bookshelf-lined walls.

We were lucky. We came out with minimal damages compared to so many people whose two-story houses were completely underwater. Imagine that for a moment. A two-story house. Underwater.

Lives were lost. Lifetimes of work were lost. Parts of Nashville’s history were lost.

*******

Two weeks before the flood, we met with the team that evaluated Nick for special services. After a month-long wait, he did in fact qualify. So he was due to start just a few days later. He will attend his new school four days a week for a few more weeks, then his old school for most of June. July is our “vacation” month (which really just means the kids won’t have to be anywhere and we are free to visit family and friends.) Then he will continue at the new school in August. That is a lot of transition for a guy like Nick. Making such important decisions in the interest of my child is not something I take lightly. He seems to like the new school and definitely enjoys the shorter day. (He’s a mama’s boy – what can I say?)

*******

The same afternoon as our two-hour meeting with the education team (which was emotionally exhausting, by the way) Mike had his yearly check up at the oncologist.

This would be the day we would find out he had a “spot” on the x-ray of his lung. This would be the day my life would tilt off its axis for the second time in our ten-year marriage.

And we would wait for seven days for the follow-up CT scan. Seven of the longest days of my life. Days where I wondered how I would explain chemo to my children. Days where I looked at our possessions, debating how much I would be able to sell them for. Days where I imagined the worst, all while trying to hope for the best.

The spot would turn out to be a shadow. Nothing more. We were given our lives back. The lives that we are comfortable with. The lives that we often complain about. The lives that seem filled with petty problems when facing something of such monumental importance.

*******

Nick still has horrible bug bites on his neck. Six weeks later. We have new instructions to apply two different creams a total of five times a day. I am not freaking out about it like I was before, but I will be a happy mom when they finally heal.

*******

Maggie had a very minor, minor stomach bug for two days. Well, minor to most of you. For me to watch her dry heave and turn green was so not what I wanted to wake up to. Especially knowing we have a water shortage right now and are not allowed to do laundry.  But she’s better now and went back to school today.

*******

I have a ton of photos to post. I have had almost zero time for posting with the change in schedule and end-of-year activities and, you know, being scared out of my mind, and, well, the flood.

Is there anything I have forgotten? Did I manage to sum up three weeks of hell in less than 700 words?

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Brigid, Maggie, Nicholas, parenting - my way, the lived in house

Tagged , ,

the funniest wrapping paper around

Posted on December 16, 2009 by brigidday| 6 Comments

I have been going on to my friends for a while now about how stressed I am. I overbooked my time. (All my own fault.) And I don’t know who I think I am pretending that I am any more stressed/busy than everyone else.

One thing has kept me laughing though.

Our wrapping paper from last year.

See, I bought this extra-long wrapping paper to wrap all those odd sized children’s presents. Except I didn’t really have that many odd sized presents and I ended up cutting all my extra-long paper down to regular paper size.

Then when Christmas was over, I had three partially used rolls left over to store for a year. (In addition to the new regular-sized rolls that I bought last year on clearance.)

Two years ago, in one of my many attempts at getting organized, I bought a wrapping paper caddy. (A big plastic container that fits long rolls.) Except, you guessed it, it doesn’t fit extra-long rolls.

So there I was last year with three extra-long rolls and a regular sized caddy. What to do? If I remember correctly, I waited until I was pissed about something else, then went down to the basement and took out my post-holiday vengeance. I grabbed a pair of scissors and went nutso on the extra-long rolls. I chopped at them, cussing and trying to pare them down to normal size. To make them fit.

And when they proved to be too much for me, when I proved to be too weak, I resorted to folding the ripped up ends over so that I could at least shut the lid to the caddy.

And this year I have laughed at the never-freaking ending supply of paper on those three rolls. I have to cut off the part that I hacked on, so basically I trim each few feet down to a regular-sized roll as I go. Unrolling has become impossible as the massacred end flops over with each twist of the roll.

But I laugh.

I laugh at the anger I knew I was feeling when I did it.

I laugh at how absurd most of my attempts at organization turn out.

I laugh at all the promises I make that next year I will start earlier. That I will enjoy more. Do less.

It’s a maniacal kind of laugh.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Brigid, the lived in house

Tagged , ,

nine

Posted on November 21, 2009 by brigidday| 1 Comment

I just had a realization. It’s Saturday so the whole family is together today. Tomorrow is Sunday. We will pick up Maggie from her first sleepover tomorrow morning. Then the kids go to school on Monday and Tuesday while Mike and I finish “the great paint of ’09.”

Then we will visit family for Thanksgiving since the kids will be off school Wednesday-Friday. Then it’s another weekend.

That’s nine days with my family. Yay! (Except I thrive on also being alone. Boo.) So I will be doing my best to enjoy my family, finish painting without needing to consult an attorney, and scheduling some me-time in there.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Brigid, parenting - my way, the lived in house

Tagged ,

Gluey

Posted on November 16, 2009 by brigidday| Leave a comment

Well, I peeled wallpaper most of the morning. And Mike and I finished the rest tonight. We have decidedly different styles of wallpaper removal. I’m trying to remember that I’m not always right. (There is that 1% of the time when I’m wrong…)

Anyway, my brain is fried from thinking all day. (What else are you supposed to do when staring at a wall and picking at glue?)

And I’m writing this on my phone, so forgive my brevity.

NaBloPoMo is making me a tad grumpy right now. Deep thoughts, tomorrow. OK?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Brigid, exercise - sort of, the lived in house

Tagged ,

paint

Posted on November 15, 2009 by brigidday| 1 Comment

Holy hell. We’re getting ready to paint.

This week marks the four-year anniversary of moving into our house. And wallpaper remains that we swore we would take down “right after the holidays were over.” Umm, four years ago.

And apparently the time has come. I am typically the interior painter in this marriage. I painted every inch of our last house (it came with white, white, white sawdusty builder walls that sucked up paint by the gallon. ugh.) Actually, I take that back. Mike and I painted the upstairs bonus room right before we had it carpeted. And it was a good thing we worked in that order. Let’s just say, my side had zero drips and his side had less than a thousand. Maybe.

And he told me the other day he wants to paint the kitchen. We have had plans to paint the kitchen for a while. I have colors picked out, which we finalized tonight.  (I think we finalized. I plan on waffling on colors for at least a few more days, just to make myself miserable.)

So tomorrow I will commence with wallpaper removal.

(Maggie was so darn cute tonight. She heard us talking and got all defensive of the wallpaper. She kept touching it and telling us how much she loved it. I will say, after four years it has grown in me a little, but not enough to keep it.)

The kicker is, painting the kitchen and dining room, means also painting two hallways, a staircase and the sloped ceiling bonus room. And woodwork. We are doomed lucky to have copious amounts of woodwork. That alone will take me a year to do. We have agreed that the kitchen and dining room are our current project and the rest will have to wait four more years until after the holidays.

And I was going to start with the guest room. One simple room. Ha.

One thing I know, I’m going to get one serious drop cloth.

 

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Brigid, the lived in house

Tagged ,

finally

Posted on November 8, 2009 by brigidday| Leave a comment

I am finally, finally, starting to feel caught up on my life. Since I wallow all the time about being behind, I figured I would also share being almost caught up. (Please, if there is a hubris diety out there waiting to strike me down, I beg you to pretend you never read that.)

I have had some major projects come my way in the last few weeks and I have crossed them all off the list.

The kids played outside all weekend, which is one of the most lovely things I can ask for.

I have nothing waiting to be monogrammed. No lie. As I was typing that I remembered another item I need to purchase and monogram. Drat. Oh well. It’s only one thing. And I have a gift or two rattling around in my brain so maybe I’ll get them all done and feel like a monogramming olympian.

The house is still pretty messy. That much hasn’t changed. Bet hey, I’m not a perfect person.

And I’m going to totally pretend that not being on the computer (much) for five days had nothing to do with it.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Brigid, the lived in house

Tagged