12 on 12

Sunday 10 on 10s are hard for me, for some reason. I snapped a few pictures of the girls in the morning, but didn't get much more than that, so I decided to do a special set for my birthday. Because, why not? So here it is. My 36th birthday.

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{1} Ginny made me a necklace for my "burthbay." {2} Second cup. {3} Trav got me beautiful flowers even though he already gave me an amazing present. {4} Over the past week Livy and I have watched, with great interest, the demolition of the house next door. I need to do a whole separate post about that. It was really something. We also watched them pull down this HUGE tree. I took this from my dining room window. {5} She watched Monsters, Inc. and I took a nap. That movie is her favorite and naps are mine. {6} Yeah, that's me. {7} Blue skies in the school pick-up line. {8} Second grade homework. {9} Baking my own birthday cake. {10} I'm pretty proud that I was able to watch this happen without having heart palpitations. {11} Sweet dirty faced girl. {12} Ginny insisted on the candle and sang to me. I made a wish. I don't remember now what it was. But I'm sure it will come true.

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Small Victories

That? Oh, that's just Livy sleeping in her own bed for the first time since... (searching blog archives...) mid-September.  After those first few magical days when she hadn't yet learned to take advantage of the freedoms offered by a toddler bed I had no luck getting her to sleep there. The siren song of books and toys was simply too seductive. So she's been sleeping in the pack & play for a month and a half. She's very nearly too long to do so any more and bending over to tuck her in  (over and over and over) has done a number on my lower back, but here's hoping we may have some success in the Big Girl Bed in the near future. She is transitioning into a single mid-day nap (queue the sad violin music), which means I'll only have to fight the "STAY IN BED" battle twice a day, rather than three times. I'm going to call that a victory. I may even eventually start to believe it.

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Stuff I Didn't Buy at Goodwill

I ran away from home yesterday. Just for a couple of  hours. I don't remember the last time I left my house alone to do something I wanted to do. And I was feeling the strain. You know where I went, of course.  I bought a pair of jeans and a glass tumbler to replace the one I broke day before yesterday. These are a few of the jewels I left behind. 

Here we have a set of Emancipation Proclamation commemorative drinking glasses, featuring portraits of all your favorite emancipators -- Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, and the like. Why not enjoy a history lesson with that refreshing beverage?

What could be more charming on your breakfast table? Perfect for all of your lobster-eating, champagne-swilling occasions.

Apparently this washPOD is all the rage for infant bathing in Europe. Just fill 'er up and dunk Petit Junior in. It's the most natural way! Olivia would have fit in this for approximately 10 days after her birth.

I think the less said about this the better. 

Now this is a tricky one.  Why -- you are most certainly wondering -- didn't she buy this? Besides the fact that it is a fantastic movie with which I have a long and glorious history, the price is a steal. ($19 on Amazon!) But when I picked it up the case felt suspiciously light. So I opened it up. 

Heartbreak. What kind of a wretch pulls a stunt like this? Unconscionable. 

So, how about you? Had any major retail disappointments lately?

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Friday

It's Friday, people. Or, as we're calling it in our house, Fall Break Eve. Ginny has the next 2 weeks off from school, and as is my wont, I have grand plans for our doing lots of fun and exciting things. In reality we will probably spend most days in our pajamas watching Disney Junior and eating cereal or popcorn for lunch. Who's excited?

I am still a bit giddy about having a cell phone with a camera that takes half-decent pictures, and I've been having way too much fun with Instagram. Here's what's making me happy.

A few girlfriends and I drove into Nashville last Friday. We went to Burger Up and then walked down the street to Jeni's. It was sprinkling when we got there. It was pouring when we came out. We got drenched... and it was totally worth it. I had Loveless Bisquits + Peach Jam and Black Coffee. Yum.

We had a really foggy morning last week -- so much so that I could barely see to drive Ginny to school. Slightly nerve-wracking, but so beautiful, too.

Ginny had spirit day at school (GO WILDCATS!) and I gave her a fancy braid for maximum school color impact.

This week her school held a Fun Run fund raiser and she ran 35 laps. (Around what? I didn't ask.) She had been looking forward to it for weeks. Last night she told me that she wished every day could be Fun Run day. Personally, I don't feel that the words "Fun" and "Run" should ever be uttered in the same sentence, but I am really, really glad that she loves running. In this case, at least, don't be like me, child.

I put Livy's hair in pigtails today. The joy that this brings to my soul is more than words can tell. She couldn't be any cuter if she tried.

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Good-Night and Goodwill

You will be relieved, I am sure, to learn that Olivia is, in fact, completely normal. Which is to say that after 3 glorious, miraculous days of laying down in her bed and going right to sleep, she has discovered the advantages of unfettered access to toys at bedtime. Also, it is fun to get up in the middle of the night and stand in the (gated) doorway and yell for milk to be brought on a silver platter. Okay, I made up the silver platter part, but the rest is true. Unfortunately. Like I said before, I'm no fool. I figured this was coming. I was holding on to the tiniest shred of hope that it wouldn't, but who am I kidding? Naps are still going pretty well, though, so I shouldn't complain too much, I guess. And really, as much as I like sleeping at night, I'm pretty used to dealing with wakeful children at this point. Just please, please don't take nap times away from me. I'm so not ready for that.

In other news, I took Ginny to the doctor yesterday (no big -- her allergies are just wretched this time of year) and, according to our custom, we went to Goodwill to wait for her prescription to be filled. Here are a few things that I did not bring home.

This beautiful, weird 55 year calendar (made in Pakistan) caught my eye. I've never seen anything like it and it took me a few minutes to figure out how it worked. I almost bought it, but decided against it. I mean, it's only good for 6 more years.

I'm not even sure what to say about this. My only hope is that Jonathan has not moved on to actually building this horrifying device. Poor LEGO guy. He doesn't stand a chance with that spear/bazooka.

Gorgeous antique sewing machine. Ginny spent the longest time trying to figure out how one would go about threading it. I couldn't figure it out either. I don't think the table is original.

Oh, how I wish I had a record player. Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town AND Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In? Gold, indeed.

I circled this drop-leaf table several times before I accepted the reality that we have absolutely NO place in our house for it. Sad face. It would make a great sewing table. In another color, of course. I don't do... whatever color that is.

There were several racks of Halloween costumes -- both of the "boughten" variety and the DIY variety. Basically they stuck all the formal dresses on the same rack with the Elmo and Elvira costumes and called it a day. This little number caught Ginny's eye. Naturally.

I did buy a pretty, insulated Corning Ware coffee pot to decant into when we have guests. Do you take cream and sugar?

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So that happened. (Toddler Bed Edition)

Just a little over 5 years ago I posted about moving Ginny out of her crib and into her "big girl bed." There was a lot of drama. She was almost 2 years old. I had a feeling that we might have to move Olivia a bit sooner, given her fondness for climbing. I did not plan to do it today.

It happened pretty much the same way as with Ginny. Nap time -- only Livy actually took her nap before scaling the side of her crib and taking a dive onto the carpet. I knew she was awake, but I was trying to finish reading something before I went to get her out of bed for lunch. One minute I could hear her in there, talking to herself and playing. Next minute -- THUMP. She was fine and she didn't even cry at first. I think she was too startled. She's not a big cryer over bumps and bruises, really. I asked her if she was hurt and she said, "Hurt," and then grinned at me -- the rare child, indeed, who hasn't learned to play her minor injuries for sympathy. May it ever be so.

I texted Trav to tell him what happened and after we had established that she was, in fact, fine, he said I needed to go ahead and convert the crib before she tried it again (because she was SO going to try that again) and did actually hurt herself. *Sigh.* So I did it. And it wasn't that difficult. And the whole time Livy was right beside me asking, "Wha-doin?" When she realized she could climb in and out by herself and that I could actually sit down on the bed with her for hugs and kisses... apparently these things equal hilarious when you are not-quite 18 months old.

I took a stab at getting her to take a nap, because I knew she needed one, but after all that crib-reconfiguring and picking up all the toys that were all over the place there really wasn't much time before we had to go pick Ginny up from school. Ginny was, by the way, equally excited about Livy's new bed situation. I'm not sure why exactly. Although it does present the necessary circumstances (which I have not mentioned to her) for one of the most potentially adorable sibling situations that I have been imagining ever since the very first day we realized we were going to have two children sharing a room, which is for Livy to get out of her own bed to go sleep with Ginny. This may, of course, never happen, and in the event that it does, there is a very real possibility that Ginny's aerobic sleeping style may result in Livy's being shoved rudely from the bed.

But first things first, eh? I steeled myself for what I was certain would be the long process of getting her to stay in bed and go to sleep. Bath time. Jammies. Read a book (Horns To Toes and In Between, by Sandra Boynton, if you're interested). I tucked her in with Cat, Monkey, LaLa (the leopard) and Blanket, hugs and kisses and several admonitions to LAY STILL, STAY IN BED and GO TO SLEEP, and I left the room. I sat down at my computer, which is right outside the girls' bedroom door to wait and I heard... nothing. Silence. Stillness. I waited some more. Nothing. She went right to sleep. Now I am no fool. I know it isn't going to be that easy. But I'll take what I can get.

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In which I look for things to paint.

I spent a good part of this week wandering around my house looking for things to paint. Because sometimes you just need to paint something, you know? A couple of months ago I rearranged a couple of cabinets in my kitchen and dining room, which I should have done years ago, but for some reason it never occurred to me before. Anyway, once the switch had been made I went crazy and decided to redecorate my dining room. All because of this:

Valspar Pantone Universe in Emerald

I went to Lowe's for a perfectly good reason (which I do not now recall) and walked out with this. No plan. Just a color I had to have. Then I spent the next 24 hours wandering around my house looking for something to paint. (Have you noticed a pattern here?) I wound up painting this:

And this (just the shelves. They were a much darker green before.):

 And suddenly the wall color totally didn't work anymore. And it still doesn't because for various reasons (not the least of which was Ginny's being out of school for the summer) I still haven't repainted. But I have plans! Which I will post about another time. Because this post is about how I randomly walk around my house looking for things (besides walls) to paint.

Maybe you've seen this -- "color-dipped" furniture? It's sort of a thing now, I guess.

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It isn't actually dipped, of course. Can you imagine what a mess that would be? Although I am sure somewhere there is someone trying to figure out how they are going to dip the top half of a dining chair into a bucket of paint. If that person is you, I apologize. But I really hope that person isn't you. Anyway, here's mine. I love it. Unfortunately it didn't require nearly enough painting to satisfy me, so the wandering continues. 

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Well, That Happened: Summer 2013 Edition

Summer is over. Today is the last day of Ginny first week of 1st grade. Yeah.  

I had all sorts of great plans for summer. We were going to go to the Splash Pad (We did -- once.), the zoo (twice), the Frist Center (nope), the movies (twice)... basically I thought we would get out of the house and go somewhere new and exciting at least once a week. Realistically speaking that's the most I can handle. Actually, that isn't true. As it turns out, realistically speaking, all I can handle is taking Ginny to her allergy shot once a week and doing my grocery shopping at Walmart (*SIGH*). Is it crazy and terrible that I hate leaving my house? It's not like I'm a hermit or anything. I just hate driving and when we go out somebody always misses a nap or a snack and someone (or everyone) always ends up crying and, I don't know about you, but that really kills my buzz. People don't say that, do they? Whatever. It stinks. 

We did manage to have a little fun (mostly accidental), despite my failures as an activities coordinator. And since I finally got a smartphone (WHOO-PA-DEE-DOO!) I actually took pictures of some of it. Ah, the wonders of this modern age. 

We met Granny for dinner at Cracker Barrel when Trav was out of town.

We went to the Splash Pad and Livy wore her green hat.

I took Ginny to the movies a couple of times. She loved it. And ate a lot of popcorn.

We saw Aslan at Goodwill. 

 We (okay, just Ginny) played with inchworms. 

We took silly selfies.

See? Even Alice thinks it's best if we just stay home.

We (okay, just Ginny again) played Fairy Princess.

 Cora... well, I don't really know what to say about this.

Livy had bed-head...

... and read books with Sissy. And yes I am going to paint the girls' room. But not in either of those colors. And I don't know when. Eventually.

Also, it rained. It rained a lot. And I got trapped in my car, in my own drive-way, with a sleeping toddler and the only reasonable thing to do was to just wait for it to clear up. So I took pictures with my phone and listened to the BBC A History of the World in 100 Objects podcast. Nerd alert.

This darling girl was serving salt and pepper to her baby doll, and talking so sweetly to her. Actually, that was my blond, blue-eyed baby doll when I was a little girl. Who'd have ever imagined that I would one day have a blond, blue-eyed real baby of my very own?

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