We're Back

We've been missing in action for quite sometime now, and I do apologize for that (especially to anyone who had Izzy withdrawal) It's been....an eventful month. Besides struggling to keep up with a crummy new job, and trying to get one step ahead of those darn weeds, we've been preoccupied with a few other things.

Izzy is all signed up for ballet and tap class and has been "breaking in" her ballet slippers for about a week now. By the time her class rolls around, those shoes will be in tatters

I've attempted simple home improvement projects all.by.myself - I am woman, hear me ROAR! =0)

We've sheared our locks

(I did too, but since it's gotten some unfavorable comments *ahem*, I'm not going to post a picture --- it needs to grow about a 1/4 - 1/2" more anyway.

We braced ourselves for the hurricane

And were extremely fortunate to come out of it unscathed. Some areas around us were not so lucky

I've been attempting to organize. Gosh, I love organizing.

Sometimes it feels like I'm juggling more than I can handle

Other times, it feels like I'm sitting still...everything is prepared, and I am just waiting...Perhaps for the rest of my life to start? For things to start changing? For life to get better?  Time is a funny thing

Izzy has also done a lot of growing up. 

She's completely potty trained and out of diapers, her drawings have actual shapes in them rather than just scribbles, her thoughts are pretty insightful at times.

She's still a girly girl and her favorite color is still purple though.

We've spent a lot of time together at home for the past week since her daycare was closed due to Hurricane Irene. We try to take a walk in the evenings to go see the duckies that sometimes are found by the river near our house and today, she was saying "The weather is nice - it's not hot. It's good for a walk. We are having fun and having adventures."

She melts my heart.

Hope you've had a great month.

P/S: We love you, Great-Grandma! =)

Twenty Eight

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Happy birthday to me!!!!!!

Well then --- it was slightly weird singing "Happy Birthday" to myself as I cut my cake alone in the middle of the night, but I just pretended that all the well-wishers who communicated through emails, Facebook, text messages and phone calls were with me. Truly thank you to each and everyone who remembered and took the time out of their busy lives to send me a wish.

Today was mostly...work, work, work, reading on organic weeding, work, work, weeding, and more work. It's fun being me.

The one thing I looked forward to tackling when I came home was the weeding.

I'm obsessed.

The crab grass is challenging me and I intend to defeat it, bit by bit. There's just something so satisfying and calming about methodically pulling the weeds out one by one, manually. Not even using the weed puller (I actually felt cheated out of the sense of accomplishment when I used it - yes, I'm weird an overachiever like that)

And it was cute to see Isabel put on her gardening gloves and help me.

Although it was not so cute finding out that she was having so much fun working that she peed herself.

I'm ending the day with a glass of wine in hand.

Yum...ice wine, a Christmas present from last year courtesy of my husband, ex-husband soon-to-be-ex husband (it's slightly awkward when referring to him to others)

Although, I made an oops...Wine enthusiasts, you'll probably going to cringe so consider this a warning to look away.....

Yea...I pushed the cork into the bottle itself by mistake. Can you tell that I'm an expert bottle opener? I wonder how long the wine is good for now....

Well then...it's past midnight (and way past my bedtime)

Have a good night.

Izzy Ballerina

The first thing Isabel said this morning when she woke up was "I want to wear my tutu, momma"

I made her a tutu for a costume parade that she had at her daycare a few weeks ago (the tutu was a spur of the moment thing, cost about $3 and about 5 minutes to make. She helped me put the petals in)

She's about as graceful as an elephant =)

Fulfilled!

I mentioned here that I wanted to run in a race/marathon.

I've never been athletic. Ever. I can't throw straight. (my arm is weirdly twisted when I hold it out straight) I can't jump. I don't like water.

I think as I grew older (as in like, 7) I became more self-conscious, and thus, began to doubt my abilities.

But I've always been in awe with people who have athletic grace and ability. Actually, I'm pretty much in awe of people who do things better than I do. I suppose it's one way for me to continuously push myself to be better. But I digress. So, I've always been in awe of athletic people. And I've always wanted to be able to be one of those people who run so effortlessly. Plus, I've been hearing the excuse "Oh, I'm going running" far too many times by then, which makes me feel like he thinks I'm the stupidest person alive. So I wanted to do something that says that at least ONE of us were really, truly running.

So I began going to the gym. I couldn't run for more than 2 minutes. It was pretty sad. But I persisted. I began taking classes - kickboxing, Zumba.

And I tried again at the treadmill after a few months. I could run for 15 minutes now, at 5.0 mph. I was thrilled!

To push even further, I coerced a bunch of colleagues and signed up for a 3.5 mile race.

I can't say I "trained". I never ran for more than 2.5 miles at a time, I hurt my neck/shoulder and was out of commission 3 weeks, which left me 2 weeks before the race. But I did my best

The results could have been better, but I'm pretty proud of myself . That I finished, and I ran as much as I could. (I did walk for probably about 1/2 mile. I had to breathe!)

And I'm going to keep going at it.

And I love how I'm one of those now who jogs/runs along the boardwalk at the beach near my house. =)

An Izzy Update

I haven't done this in awhile, and figured I probably should.

Izzy is now 2 years, 6 months and 19 days old. 

I have a 2 1/2 year old. How did that happen?

She's been potty training for awhile now - just some lacksidaisal approach, but now that she's moved into the potty training room at daycare, I've been trying to be more diligent about it.

To help things, she's got new underwear. Dora underwear, no less. Which she loves.

Although she pees in them, which I don't love.

***

She fights bedtime like there's no tomorrow. Why do kids do this? Then she'll wake up (late) all whiny because she's tired. 

***

She's talking. Really talking. We hold actual conversations. Her favorite comeback these days?

"You're not the teacher. I'm the teacher"

To which I reply, "No, I'm not the teacher. I'm Momma"

 

Other conversations:

Momma: I'm tired. I want to cuddle

Izzy: Daddy's not here. Izzy's here. I'm sorry, momma

*

Momma:  Do you want to wear these?

Izzy: NO

Momma: Which one do you want to wear? You pick

Izzy: Ummm.........hmmmmm.........................this one. It has hearts.....and pockets....and it fits just nice.

*

Something I taught her as we went into alternate weekends with her daddy:

Momma: When you miss Momma and you can't find Momma, where's Momma?

Izzy: In my heart.

***

She loves her babies, and will give them story time, circle time, potty time and take them out for walks.

I bought a stroller from a yard sale so she has an outside stroller that she'll use when we go for walks around the neighbourhood.

***

She's a pouter. Especially when she doesn't get what she wants.

She gets over it pretty quickly. Thank goodness. But there are times where she doesn't. And that's not so fun.

***

She loves music, and she dominates the radio in the car. We listen to stories, or nursery rhymes

***

She loves the playground. As do most kids, I suppose. When in the swings, she'll say "Push me, momma. I want to go up to the sky!" 

***

She is the love of my life, my purple sunshine and the biggest pain in my patootie.

And I love her. Very much, indeed

Flowers

Flowers make me happy.

I think I'm going to buy myself flowers once every month.

It looks like it's smiling. And that makes me smile. 

June's Flower of the Month: Pink Gerbera Daisies. (Although honestly, it's part of the sunflower family)

Random useless facts:

• It's the 5th most cut flower in the world (I remember them being very popular in high school where the Interact Club of my high school would sell them to raise funds)
• It's commonly known as the African Daisy, Transvaal Daisy, and Barberton Daisy
• It is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds, but is resistant to deer

From You've Got Mail, one of my favorite sappy movies:

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan): I love daisies.

Joe Fox (Tom Hanks): You told me.
Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan): They're so friendly. Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower? 

Meet Sophie

Sophie has been the recipient of many cast-offs lately

I've been trying to make baby shoes for awhile now, but they always turn out slightly wonky. So they never get gifted. Sophie gets them instead.

The latest ones do match her outfit pretty well though, don't you think? Who knew babies feet were so small?!

My Dancing Queen

She cracks me up =)

And apparently Adele's Rolling In the Deep is "Izzy's song". She wouldn't let me turn the radio off when the song played.

A Moment Captured

I don't get in many pictures with Isabel. Mainly because I'm typically behind the camera. So when I was back home earlier this year, I got my fab friend & photographer to take some pics of us.

And I LOVE them!

I'm planning on blowing them up and having them on a gallery wall.

Thanks so much, Tsen, for being so generous with your time and talent!!!

PINK HOUSE!!!

 

image via luxury & opulence

And a purplish/blue one next to it! Isabel would approve!

Kitchen

On to the next room -- the heart and soul of any home - the kitchen.

There's no dining room in this house, which irks me sometimes as I don't feel comfortable inviting people over for a meal. So I don't. But I suppose an option is to get the island out of the kitchen and replace with an oval one? Painted a pale blue, I think, to match the curtain.

The island can be repurposed by moving it to the study to be used as a craft table. Although don't ask me how it's actually going to be moved, as it's heavy and it can't go through the doorway, unless the top is removed. Which would be a pain in the bum-bum.

And I think the door would look fab if the exterior side was painted the same grey as the chandelier. Hmmmm...I wonder if I still have the paint, and if it's still good....

I like the little corner that we added, although I wished those shelves can handle more weight. I'm not 100% confident that it's strong enough to handle all that it already does now.

I wished we had waited 2 more months prior to installing the cabinets, as the perfect dresser turned up by the side of the street. The best laid plans of mice and men....

Art

I've been looking for some artwork for Isabel and I came across Doodle Everyday through Twig & Thistle. His artwork is adorable, and how cool is this...he's from Puchong, Malaysia. =)

Some of my favorites:

ENTRANCE TO PARADISE

I'M LIKE A BIRD

I'M LIKE A SWAN

Bugger

My daughter went away for the weekend. Buddy and I were quite sad about it

However, instead of moping around the whole time (like what the dog did), I decided to tackle something that was challenging my competitiveness.

The garage is sided with wood, and the paint is peeling off.

6 hours later, under the sun, armed with the scraper and palm sander, the paint is definitely chipped off.

Another 2 hours on Sunday...I think I prefer the 6-hour chipped look

I suppose that's why people hire out...All I got out of it is a vicious tan line

Pictures

To list the house for sale, I had to take pictures of all the rooms. Isabel (and the dog) were my sidekick(s). It was a challenge to get her (and him) out of the shot.

Anyway, I might as well share it the pictures here, since I've never really shared pictures of the house before.

First up is Isabel's room.

I've never been happy with the way this room has looked, ever. Since the time I've had it as my "Closet" to when it was converted to a baby (boy!)'s room. There's something that was always unfinished about it that drove me nuts.

So last week, I finally said enough is enough, and I moved things around.

For now, I'm somewhat pacified. At least, it looks like a bedroom. now.

And I love the dresser. $50 from the thrift store and a coat of paint over it, and ta-da!