But it's so shiny

We were all - especially Wavey - appreciative for the generous birthday gifts received from friends and family.  I especially thought this looked like fun...

...until someone quipped, "those will look great inside your vacuum canister."

Find the miserable kid

We celebrated Wavey's birthday over the weekend with friends, a bounce house and a slip n' slide.  Three things of note in the photo below:

(1)  Wav had the time of her life, but rounding up children ages six and under for one photo was worse than herding cats.  There are about five kids missing from the photo.

2. Griffin was about three hours past his usual naptime and it shows big time with his miserable pout.  And can we talk about his bird-chest?  I swear that we feed him even though he retains zero body fat.

3.  I absolutely love the company we rented the bounce house from even though Romeo and Juliets' faces has seen better days. Ha!

NKOTBeebs

I was on the fence with the appropriatness of Waverly sporting a shirt of her "crush," Justin Bieber.

But then got called out for my own "crush" with friends at a recent New Kids on the Block concert.

PS: I still love Joey Mac.

But not after Labor Day

What is more unbeliveable than how many pieces and hours it took to assemble Wavey's birthday present?

...That I'm to believe any normal parent would purchase white pants for their kid in hopes they'll stay clean:

Six years old

Happy birthday, Waverly, aka "Wav," "Wavey," and my favorite: "Bun-bun."

We love you!

Oh, that's where the magenta went

Because it's impossible to find every renegade crayon left on the floor, my dog picks up where I leave off.
 

It usually results in a startling but colorful, "what goes in the front comes out the back" moment several hours later.

"Your personal opinion is not helpful" award

Dear medical records receptionist,

My insurer and I have been trying to obtain my surgery report from your office for weeks without response or resolution.  So, when I had no choice but to come in and ask for the records in person, your snippy personal opinion of "the insurance company's job is to deny your claim anyway" is:

A) unsolicited,

B) unsubstantiated,

and

C) still does not explain why you've been sitting on the records request for weeks.

It must be nice to be you, having the super power of knowing my injury and the lone decision authority whether or not you feel like releasing authorized medical records.  You're pure genius and darn lucky my fingers can't be flexed in obscene gesture because they're casted.

Here's my personal opinion, miserable lady: Less talky, more printy. 

xoxo,

Choke-hold grad

We're very proud of Waverly, our little kindergarten grad.

After cruising through the photos we took of the day, I noticed a recurring theme going on between her and Griffin:

No lack of sibling love, that's for sure.

Pinky

I have good reason for slacking on the blog these days:

While I'm still able to do lots things with the cast until my wrist recovers from ligament surgery, typing on a keyboard is not really one of them and one- handed typing stiiiinks.  But I have so much to share that I don't care if it takes me all day to pull together one post, so I'm back on the daily train.

Do you like the choice for hot pink? There's little hiding an up-to-your-elbow cast, so I went out big.  But we won't talk about how I've already managed to drop foreign objects into it or crack the cast on one end.  Patient of the year.

Cheap = typos

Last year, I said to my husband, " I don't think you should buy a no-name laptop," but he contended it was purely for internet use so it didn't matter. 

This is the message on its screen when the battery was low yesterday:

Waming!

Bridge out ahead

Poor Griffin has been cursed with the Asian trait of having little bridge to his nose.  Though, he's come up with a good solution to keeping sunglasses on his face:

One-armed bandit

This is where I've been the past few days...exactly here in this chair and 95% of the time in those same yoga pants:

The ligaments in my wrist were surgically repaired, hopefully closing the long chapter of last year's car accident.  In the meantime, my husband has a lot of opportunities to perfect the perfect pony-tail. 

Mischief: That's my policy

It seems as though my insurance agent will never learn that sending me paperwork that requires returning always comes at a price:

He's a nice guy, really, with a great sense of humor.  But I'm sure he's regretting it BIG TIME for selling me coverage (and/or that his photo is readily accesible on his agent web page). 

I'm a wiener, you're a wiener

I've always wanted to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in person.  And there it was, just hanging out in a Portsmouth, N.H., hotel parking lot with no one around but us!

Making my kids dance in front of the Wienermobile: Just further solidification of my love for hotdogs.

Tearing wallpaper wasn't cutting it

Considering we're at the conclusion of Griffin's first diaper-free week, you'd think the greatest tragedies would be numerous loads of laundry or spot-cleaning the couch. But he's actually done quite well, so to make up for the surprise successes he's resorted to just wrecking the bathroom, bit by tiny bit:



Further proof that households with small children never have anything nice.

Free DIY Printable: "Don't do that thing"

Inspired by a line I heard in a hilarious TV commercial, sometimes it's just better to just tell it like it is:

I'm all for *real* inspirational quotes, but this line was just too good to let pass by.  Click here to download yours!

Stall tactics

It truly is coincidence that I have back-to-back potty-related posts, but we're in the midst of "cold turkey week" of Griffin abandoning diapers and going straight to big boy underwear. 

It hasn't been as bad as one would think...until boredom set in during one potty visit and Griffin decided he didn't care for bathroom wallpaper:

Poo stories are always funny

A pregnant friend who works in a corporate office setting gave me permission to share this email she sent me under the strict condition of anonimity.   We've had a long-running joke about the weirdness of an office ladies' room and she had me in tears sharing her recent experience:

"So, it's the rule that when doing something of a number two nature, you’d rather wait until no one is in the restroom.  I’m usually pretty lucky here because it’s mostly men in my office, so the women’s room is usually always empty. But I went in today and there was a woman already in one of the stalls. And I had to go. So I went in, sat down to wait... and it became clear we were in a stand-off. She wasn’t going to go until I left, and I wasn’t going to go until she left. It was deadly quiet and awkward, with neither of us doing anything except sitting and trying not to breathe.

"Who won, you ask? Sadly, she did. Pregnancy lowers my stamina. But I was out of there without seeing her face, so it was almost like I won, too."

Bravo, my friend.  Bravo on your stealth victory.

Scalloped, personalized birthday banner

I was asked by a birthday client if I would create a banner for her one-year-old son, and here it is! 

It's my first strung banner and I'm pleased with how it turned out using a shimmering silver scallop design and black/white images of her little one.

It was a little time-intensive handcrafting every scallop and circle, but the end design was worth it. 

Thank goodness her son has a short name, though.  If it was something alpha-hefty like "CHRISTOPHER," I would have thrown in the towel.  Ha ha, kidding!  Email me if you're interested in having a custom banner of your very own.