Brain Dump…Again

On Friday Holden went to the doctor. He had been sick all week with a mild fever and when mucus started coming out of his eyes on Thursday I decided it was time. It was probably passed time actually.
Turns out he had Pink Eye, Strep Throat and a double ear infection. So while I cried in the bathroom for being the worst parent in the world on Friday afternoon I just knew this weekend was going to be tough.
It got even tougher when I got home on Friday afternoon to find Dave sent home from work because HE was sick. Double sickness in my house this weekend.
Oddly enough though..this weekend did not suck. Holden was in pretty good spirits despite being sick and having the worst most uncaring mother in the world (that’s me). I got to spend it at home doing all those little things I have meant to do for months like spray paint curtain hooks and plant new Azaleas in the front yard.

That one was more like a brain purge not a brain dump actually. Whatevs.

I am not going to lie I have been struggling with my job this year. It has been challenging and tough and sometimes I look at Holden and I long for those first nine months I got to be a stay at home mom. I also want another baby so bad but I just cannot imagine how a second little booger would fit into our lives at the moment. I get a little envious of blogs of SAHM or WAHM’s. I want to blog on the back porch while Holden plays. But that is just a “grass is greener” kind of thing. Because honestly I am lucky. I adore my job. Even though this year has been tough and some mornings I would rather stay in bed and watch Sesame Street I still love doing what I do. I also know that after Holden has grown and baby number 2 has made it to school I would feel a bit…empty. Teaching is a huge part of me. It is what I love to do. In a way I am lucky because some people never find what they love to do. I am also in that lull between Christmas Break and the end of the year where I forget that in just about nine weeks I will have about two months off to be that stay at home mom that I am daydreaming about. It really is the best of both worlds.

We have these trees in our backyard. They are Dogwoods I think. They bloom white flowers before they grow their leaves. The blooms smell like dead fish or cat urnine. I know this because Holden and I have spent the betternpart of the afternoon outside. FYI, I am blogging on the back porch. So yeah. Dream accomplished.

I am thinking about taking the blinds off of the doors in the kitchen. Now that Spring has come I want to see sunshine people. My biggest problem will be making sure Dave doesn’t run in their naked or something.

I have got to get Holden to stop saying “what the hell!”. Seriously, how do I do this? I think step one would probably be to stop laughing everytime he says it. But. It. Is. So. Funny. I can’t help it. He said it in McDonalds this afternoon when he dropped his spoon.

Titanic in 3-D! Oh, yes!

The ice cream tuck that is circulating our neighborhood plays “My Lumps” by the Black Eyed Peas…in Ice Cream truck type
music though. I wish I was kidding.

True stories that have actually happened.

18 years old..about four months into college and living on my own for the first time I had this conversation.  I swear up and down that the following statements actually came out of my mouth.

The setting..Victoria’s Secret checkout counter…

“Miss, would you like to apply for a Victoria’s Secret credit card?”

Me:  “God no.  The fact that I sometimes run out of clean underwear is the only reason that I do laundry.  (It was true..when I was in college I had enough clothes to essentially outfit every girl in my sorority  and their worst enemies.)  Can you imagine what would happen if I had unlimited access to panites?   My laundry already looks like it threw up all over my room.  I think it would eat me if I got a credit card here.”

Slightly dramatic yes..but..it was completely true.

Yesterday I had that moment in life when I realized that the girl I was at 18 and the girl I am at 30 might not seem the same but …I haven’t completely lost her.

The setting..the checkout counter at Lowe’s.

“Ma’am (I preferred the miss) would you like to save 5% and apply for a Lowe’s Credit Card”

Me:  “God no!  Can you imagine what would happen if I had a Lowe’s credit card?  My husband would leave me.  I’m certain of that.  He already hates house projects but if I bought him a table saw he would have no excuse.  I’d be installing toilets and installing hardwood like it is my job.”

Good news.  I’m still crazy.

High on thrifitng..and spray paint apparently..

I grew up on Hilton Head.  You are probably thinking one of two things right now.  Oh, you’re a snob OR where the crap is that?

I was a snob because I was from Hilton Head and it wasn’t until I was 19 that I learned that “the ghetto” does not consist of double wides with a nice yard and friendly puppies and an ocean view (true..if you lived in a mobile home on Hilton Head you almost always had a water view)…  And god forbid I buy ANY article of clothing at Wal-Mart.  I remember my college roommates had the CUTEST Demin Jacket (it was 2001 people..those were awesome) from Wal-Mart but I absolutely refused to buy it and spent 40 dollars on an identical jacket from J.Crew.  The salt water in the air just does something to people down there.

Fyi, I did not live here even though I acted like I did.

I also never dreamed of setting foot inside of a thrift store before the age of 20 when I was out on my own (i.e. going to college and having my life funded by my parents) and furnishing an apartment did not come cheap.  There was this place on Hilton Head called The Bargain Box.  As teenagers we loudly mocked the people who would line up outside of the Bargain Box an hour before it opened to get the good stuff.  The Bargain Box was only open three days a week for about 4 hours a day.  Now I think about it..rich people’s stuff at Thrift Store prices..that place was probably a flippin’ gold mine.

The first time I went to the Bargain Box I was 21 and a junior in college.  My ex-boyfriend turned enemy turned friend again was a senior in college and getting his own apartment.  When I say enemy I mean enemy.  We continued to have the same friends and he hard core ignored me even if I was in the same room for a good year and a half.  That boy had stamina.  He was a bit eccentric so he wanted to go to the Bargain Box to look for stuff for his new apartment.  I was appalled..however..I was still kind of infatuated with him at the time (did I not mention that?)  so I went..happily.  I remember being AMAZED.  It was stuff..cool vintagey awesome STUFF that was cheap.  He found a lamp that had a map of Delaware on the base…I was obsessed with it.  If I wasn’t obsessed with him I probably would have fought him for it.  Right there in the Bargain Box.  I think about that lamp a lot.  I wonder if he still has it.  I think I actually think more about that lamp than I think about him.  We are facebook friends and sometimes I am tempted to ask him about it.  I never have though because that just seems a little..nuts.

Anyway, Mandy from Harper’s Happenings is sharing some of her recent thriftin’ finds and encouraging others to do that same.  I haven’t been to the Bargain Box in years because I moved away (and gained perspective..although I still have a major hang up about Wal-Mart clothes)…

This elephant I found at Goodwill in Columbia.  I was super pumped because they opened a new Goodwill about 3 miles from my house.  I was so excited I went on opening day and found this elephant.  He was bronze and all tarnished but I spray painted him white.  I am kind of obsessed with him.  I showed him to everyone who entered my house for a few months but no one really cared too much.  I, however, think he is god’s gift to elephantery.  He was 1.00 because..EVERYTHING! was HALF! OFF! for Opening Day!

Our friend Jonas let us store some stuff at his house and in return he asked us to drop some things off at the Salvation Army for him.  I usually don’t do the Salvation Army..but since we were already there………I found these cute little guys!  (There are two..even though there is only one in the picture).  The best part..they were yellow and puke green a’la 1976 thankyouverymuch!  I spray painted them white..again.  I named them Hoots and Boots.  They like their makeover and love being in the 21st century.  Together they were $4.00.  A little pricey in my opinion.  I tried to haggle but the muttery Salvation Army lady wasn’t into it.

 

Pst, that pretty beach picture came from here.

My mind..it’s a big jumble of weird up there…

So I haven’t been here in awhile. But I have a lot on my mind today..and where better to dump my random thoughts on than the interwebs.

You’re welcome.

Call it a brain dump if you will.

• I think this is the reason I haven’t been blogging lately.  Most of my thoughts are a sentence or two..and I think..who would want to read that?  So I skip it and don’t blog.
• Holden doesn’t even look like that baby up there anymore.  We had a conversation the other day which sort of blew my mind parts.  He said, “Mommy, I need oranges”.  I said, “Alright, I’ll get you some”…and then he said “Okay Mommy.  Thanks”.  Then whilst eating said oranges he comes up with this gem, “Thanks so much Mommy”.
• He sounds polite right?  Notsomuch.  At his nanny’s (fancy name for in-home daycare–but she prefers nanny to babysitter..I can’t blame her she’s a 37 year old woman not a 13 year old girl) Holden dropped his crayons and busted out with “What the hell!”  in front of all his little tiny friends.  I should mention this was right after they prayed for their lunch.
• I thought the pull to want to stay at home with your kids was supposed to get easier as they got older..not worse?  He’s just SO much fun these days.  I want to hang with this kid all the time.  Stupid work.
• I forgot to buy dog food for the 2nd day in a row.  I am completely unmotivated and just fed my dog a bowl full of Cheerio’s.
• Holden can eat 4 bags of Oatmeal for dinner and be super pumped about life.
• Reilly (my dog) barks every time the neighbor’s come home…and poor Holden always says, “Daddy’s here”.  Dave works til 8 and it kind of breaks my heart to tell him it’s not him
• 70 Days until school is over.  Round house kicks and finger guns in every general direction.  This year has been so hard.  I love what I teach but one of my classes is challenging and the other can be emotionally draining.  I still love those stinkin’ kids though.
• I have apparently coined “stinkin” as my new phrase.  I say it all the time.
• I had the stomach flu last week..Dave & I caught it from Holden.  It was awesome and I have never been more excited to have 2 toilets in our house.  It was that bad.  It did lead to an impromptu Sistare Family Sick Day a few weeks ago.  I went to work..got a call that Holden was sick so I had to leave early and go get him and then a little bit later Dave came sulking in still sick.  Yuck.
• We got Holden a potty training toilet.  It’s Lightening McQueen (nothing else will do I’m telling yah) and it goes “Vroom Vroom” when you use the flusher.  We haven’t actually used the thing yet.
• I’m reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time.  Yes, I’m on page 12 and yes, it’s been two weeks..but that’s how it goes around here now.
• I have so much work to do at school I feel like I could stay there for 24 hours a day for 7 days and still not get it all done.
• Dave got a new job (yeah!) but he works til 8 (*&^%)..so I don’t see him til 8:30 on weeknights.  I go to bed at 10:00.  Lots of quality time together.  Not really.

The ne where I confess my love for towel racks.

What happened to days 18-31? Well in classic Christen style I just got too busy and forgot. Well I didn’t forget so much and ignore. Oh well.
I did do stuff though. Holden’s birthday party was last week and I am kind of proud to say that our house did not look like we were waiting fora truck from Salvation Army to show up ans take away all our crap. At least not what people could see anyway. The guest room was a bit terrifying and the garage is still filled with boxes…but baby steps.
As for the stuff…Holden’s bathroom got a new coat of paint and a new shower curtain. It is not finished yet though. I was looking for towel racks and just had not found any that I liked or that were reasonably priced. We had towel racks before but seriously the day we moved in all the towel racks in the house started falling off. We had six when we moved in…none of them are still up. I found towel racks and towel hangers (the circle looking ones) at West Elm for $1.99. Yeah, a dollar friggin ninety-nine. I was terrified that it was some sort of crazy price error and it would go away so I scooped them up fast. I ordered enough for the entire house plus some. Knowing my luck I will probably get a stupid out of stock e-mail from them next week like I ALWAYs get from West Elm whenever I find something awesome for cheap.

I am pretty sure that I never ever thought I would blog about towel racks.

31 Days of: Making a House a Home:: Day 18

Bush-wacked.  Here are the promised pictures of my Saturday yard adventure.

Here is the big pile of leaves and mess.  It was tall.

 

Just as a reminder here is the house the day we bought it.

And here is the house after ignoring the front yard for 5 months and then finally doing something about it.

 

If you look closely you might notice the new roof.  We had to put that on within 24 hours of closing or else our homeowners insurance was going to drop us.  It was in that bad of shape.  Niiice.

31 Days of: Making a House a Home:: Day 17

Anonymous.

That’s the paint color I chose for Holden’s bathroom.  I went back and forth for a few days in my head between light gray or a darker light gray.  Eventually I just went and got a sample.  I normally love samples but in this case it made me irritated because I really wanted about 10 samples but that would have been ridculous and probably end up costing more than the paint that I eventually choose.  So on Saturday I went to Home Depot and picked up a same tub of Anonymous..which I thought would be my favorite.

I was right.  I love it.  Saturday is paint day and I cannot wait to get the color up on the walls.