How To Make A Desk For $100

Supplies: Two assembly-required filing cabinets from Ollie's (one,a lovely cherry finish, the other, black with "alumacast" fronts, oops!), a solid slab door from Home Depot, and some grip liner to hold the door/desk top in place.

Instructions: After hubby disappears to the basement to start a project, suggest that we finally make the desk we've been talking about. After child is put down for a nap, offer to go to Home Depot to buy the door and grip liner while hubby puts the filing cabinets together. Return home with door and grip liner. Argue a bit about how to get the 3,000 pound door inside the house. Finish arguing. Finish putting cabinets together, which takes the longest. Darn you assembly required furniture! Thank God that hubby offered to do it instead of you. Cut grip liner to fit tops of cabinets. Position cabinets so that the door will be directly over top. Lift 3,000 pound door and position over top cabinets. And voila! A huge, brand-new desk for less than 100 dollars! Enough work space to spread out. Enough room for the computer. And enough leg room too! Fantastic! And it even has shiny, new "alumacast" fronts on one side! How modern!

Merry Tossmas!

A friend of mine sent this video to me today. Let us all remember the true meaning of Christmas. It's not about getting gifts, or going into debt to buy gifts, or seeing how much light you can display on your home! It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the only Son of the one and ONLY God! Check this video out!

Just cut and paste this link into your browser thingy:

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm

Nuff said!

A Weekend in Review

This past weekend, my husband and I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate our 5th anniversary in peace and quiet. We dropped off our son at grandma's and headed out to Mercersburg, PA, where we stayed at a lovely historic bed and breakfast called the Squire Smith Inn. It's owned by a friendly couple, who bought the place 5 years ago and renovated it to become a bed and breakfast. During the snowy season, they have many guest stay who like to ski at White Tail, but this past weekend, hubby and I were the only guests. Much to our surprise, they upgraded us to the biggest and most expensive room, free of charge. Beautiful king size four poster bed. Large windows with lace curtains. Down pillows that hug the sides of your face when you lay down. A crisp, clean bathroom, with pedestal sink and shower. They even had Andes mints on our pillows. And absolutely no television. Thank the Lord!!

We ordered the romance package that included the normal bed and breakfast deal, plus a box of decadent French chocolate truffles, which we devoured in 3 days, a fragrant bouquet of one dozen roses, and a dinner out at a local restaurant of choice.

When we arrived on Friday, we settled in and after chatting with the innkeepers, we headed out to have dinner at the James Buchanan Tavern and Inn. It's right down the street from our B&B, and has a most AMAZING New Orleans style Cajun food. It recently was adopted by new owners, who came to Mercersburg from, you guessed it, New Orleans. For an appetizer, we enjoyed a Chicken and Anduoille Sausage Gumbo sprinkled with white rice and a salad with an interesting dressing made of plain yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, and finely diced cucumber. Very refreshing. For our main fare, my husband enjoyed a bone in pork chop stuffed with a crab cake and I enjoyed crab cakes (WAY more crab than cake, yummy!). Each was served with roasted mashed potatoes and green beans. To top it off, we had their Black Raspberry and Strawberry swirled cheese cake. YUM-O!

After dinner, we decided to walk down to the Star Theater. This old theater used to show silent films way back, and now the owners have added a big screen and sound system, while preserving the charm, and created a movie theater. Can't beat seeing The Bee Movie for 5 bucks each, huh! And the movie treats were no more than 2 dollars.

On Saturday, we got to sleep in a little (the innkeepers asked if we wanted to), and woke up to a breakfast of fresh fruit, blueberry buckle, pancakes, and bacon. YUM! After breakfast, we, even though it was windy and cold, decided to go on the walking tour of Mercersburg. So many beautiful historic homes. And did you know that James Buchanan, the 15th president, grew up there? He was the only president from PA.

After our tour, we decided to go to Hagerstown, the nearest "big" city, have lunch, and go see another movie. Since we loved to see movies at least 2 times a month before we had our son, we wanted to see as many movies as possible this past weekend. So, we went to see the movie Enchanted, which was really cute and just plain fun. If I tried to explain it, this post would be WAY longer than it is already. After the movie, we did a little Christmas shopping and then headed back to get ready for dinner.

This was the evening that the inn was taking care of dinner. So, we decided to dine at Flannery's, an old Irish pub. It was great to had a 50 dollar tab waiting for us, so we were able to pick about anything on the menu. I had a spicy vegetable coconut curry and salad, while my husband had crab cakes served with this sinful ball of breaded and fried blue cheese mashed potatoes. I thought about ordering that as a side, but shuttered to think about how many calories was in that let alone how many I'd already consumed since arriving. For dessert, since we had money left over, we each ordered our own. I had a chocolate moouse truffle and hubby had an apple crisp. We decided to take home the pumpkin cheesecake. We didn't want to have to be rolled out of the restaurant. Ha!

After dinner, we headed up to the Mercersburg Academy to be filled with the music of Mercersburg Orchestra and Chorus. They performed a lovely group of pieces from Handel's Messiah, some Rachmaninoff, and some familiar and unfamiliar carols. It was so nice to listen to this beautiful music and be filled with the spirit of Christmas. It was also nice to just be together as a couple, something we don't get a whole lot having a toddler.

All in all, we had a fantastic, restful weekend. Something we'll probably do in 5 more years, perhaps sooner.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

My son has a funny fascination with my chapstick. I'll find him sitting on the floor with the cap off. Hand to mouth, shaking his head side to side with his tongue sticking out. He's using the cap, not the actual stick, to put the chapstick on. He's a bit confused, so I try to help him by showing how I do it, and then let him let me put some on his lips. He ends up wanting to try and eat it. I get his top lip, but he sticks out his tongue and ends up licking it. I guess that's why they make it taste good?

It's really cute, just as long as he doesn't start rubbing it on the dog's rear end. That would be really gross!

A Mother's Job is Never Over

Note to self: Never change a diaper in the dark to prevent a child from waking up. One must ALWAYS turn some sort of illuminating device on to better see a rear end.

My son woke up while my husband was getting ready for work. I heard him, so I got up, but before I could get to his room, hubby rushed in and closed the door. Apparently he was trying to get him to go back to sleep. Hubby had to change his diaper, which was very wet and poopy. After changing and rocking him, hubby brought our son out with no success. After hubby left for work and our son was fed, I got him down from the booster seat and let him play while I fixed my breakfast. As I was sitting down to enjoy my breakfast, I saw this unusual shadow on the back side of my son's sleeper. I got a little closer, gagged from the odor, and realized that he has messed outside of his diaper. Apparently, hubby, while putting a clean diaper on, managed to only cover one butt cheek, leaving the other free. And now, it was my job to clean it up. Have no fear, supermommy is here! Reminds me of the explosive diapers when he was an infant. I shutter to even think about them. Ahhh, what a wonderful life!

Post Office Angel

This forward was sent to me, and I thought I might share. It is just so sweet and kind, and it put a tear in my eye:

"This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced.

I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul
working in the dead letter office of the US Postal service.

Our 14 year old dog , Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey.

She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when
Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that
I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday
and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith.




We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredit h and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it.

Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of st a mps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold pa per on our front porch addressed, "To Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand.
Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called,
"When a Pet Dies." Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and thi s note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven.
Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for
helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I am wherever there is love.

Love, God"

Never A Dull Moment

Well today was an interesting and exciting, to say the least, day. Let's just say that God has a really big sense of humor.

James and I went to the mall to get some new shoes and a belt for him. Note: if you have a Children's Place Outlet near you, you MUST go shopping there. They have the BEST deals on clothes, and now they even have shoes!

But first, I went over to the Stride Rite shoe store to get him re-measured. I browsed around the store, but didn't find anything I liked. Most everything was a little too pricey for what I wanted to spend. Then I browsed around Children's Place, and I bought 2 pairs of shoes for the price of one pair at Stride Rite. Amazing! Where else can you get a pair of nice suede shoes for 5 bucks?!?

Anyways. . .after sharing a yummy Auntie Anne's pretzel with my son outside, I noticed that he needed a diaper change. It was time to go, so I just decided to change him in the back of my van.

Lately, he's been really hard to change, and I practically have to wrestle him to stay still. And, boy, was I in for it today! I imagined someone sitting in their car watching me and getting a huge belly laugh for what you're about to read.

Well, I wasn't expecting a messy diaper, so I just laid him down on the changing pad, ready to just put on a clean diaper. No wipes needed, right? Nope! So, picture this, I was scrambling for the wipes with one hand and holding him up with the other so he wouldn't make a mess. Then, I hear this squeal from James and I look over and he's peeing on himself and it's hitting his face and getting all over my car. He stops finally and I clean his bum off and he wiggles away from me before I could get the new diaper on. The little stinker. I catch him, and then I see this lovely stream of pee hitting the floor. Guess he wasn't done! So I quickly grab the dirty diaper to try and catch it, but the non-absorbent Velcro strap gets in the way and now I have pee running down my hand and arm. So finally he was done, and I got the new diaper on.

Whew! What felt like an eternity was probably only like 10 minutes, but jeez God, could you have picked a better day for this? Never a dull moment! That's for sure!

10-20-30

A friend of mine posted a meme on her blog and I thought I'd partake since I've never done a meme before.

10-

10 years ago I was a love-struck junior in high school. I had been writing love letters to a guy I had only seen at church twice. His sister thought I might be interested so I took a chance and started writing to him and talking on the phone. I was excited because soon I was going to be meeting him officially for the first time. It was his birthday and I was going over to his mom's for dinner for our first date. He was attending Valley Forge Military College, and was coming home for the weekend. Heck of a first date, huh?

20-

20 years ago I was in first grade at The Banner School. My teacher was Mrs. Campbell. Grumpy old woman she was! I remember that our school was in an old white farm house on Patrick Street. Our class room was on the top floor, and we had to go up a long and steep set of stairs. I remember my friend Matt bringing his golden retriever puppy to school and it peeing on the carpet. I remember a little french student named Jean Baptist was visiting with us and he got us into all sorts of trouble. We decided that it would be cool to melt crayons on the radiator and smear paper in it to create art. Mrs. Campbell put all of us in detention.

30-

30 years ago I wasn't even born.

What about you? What were you up to 10, 20, and 30 years ago?

Fall Decorations

The crisp fall weather put me in the mood to do my decorating for the season. I love to dress up my home. . .when I get the chance. The problem is when I get in the mood for any kind of crafty project, I get very focused and tend to partially ignore everything else. Here's what my son was doing while my back was turned. And yes, he climbed in there himself!







Here is the result of my decorating. Enjoy!

Are You Ready?

Vacation

Just got back from our vacation. You might be thinking, "oh she must have gone to the beach or some place warm", but no, I went to Ohio. Lovely, flat Ohio. My husband is from Ohio, the Dayton area, and he has some family out that way as do I, in the Columbus area. We stayed at his aunt and uncle's home, which was great because we didn't have to pay for a hotel. While we stayed with them, it was nice to be able to visit with family.

Since having a child, I've begun to appreciate more the value of family, which is why I enjoyed our vacation so much. While we were there, it was really important for my husband to visit his relatives whom he had not seen in 10+ years. While sitting in Aunt Shirley's (my father in law's aunt) living room, I saw pictures. Old pictures. And new pictures. Pictures of my father in law's biological mother, who died in her 30s. I saw pictures of us, my husband, myself, and my son. I had sent Aunt Shirley a photo Christmas card, and she had it displayed among other photographs. I saw pictures of my father in law as a baby, adolescent, and teenager. My husband was stunned to learn that his dad looks very similar to what he, hubby's father, looked like as a child. Perhaps that means that hubby has good genes, and he'll look the same when he's an old man.

It was really great to meet Aunt Shirley, as well as some cousins and second cousins and third cousins. Let's just all call them cousins, because it gets too confusing after the second. I mean, aren't they all just family.

While we were in Dayton, we went to the Hospice Nursing Home, where my husband's grandmother (his dad's step mom), is staying, for now at least, as she battles cancer (Please pray for her). This was the second time I've met her, yet I felt so close to her because she became family to me when I got married. It was very difficult to see her so weak and thin. She has to only weigh 100 pounds if that. We brought her a bouquet of flowers, and of course she got to see her great grandson, and her grandson. I only hope that we brought a smile to her heart and helped to brighten her spirits. The chemo wasn't working, and there's nothing else that the doctors can do except help manage the pain. My only hope is that she is saved so that she'll be going to Heaven to be with Jesus one day. It was so hard to leave her because we are afraid that this was the last time we'd ever see her. I keep playing back in my mind that very moment as I saw her face as we were leaving her room. She looked like she was trying to remember us as she was craning her neck to see us leave. I wanted to stay forever so we could be with her and comfort her, but she needed to rest and so did my son. As we left, we were happy to have been able to visit her, but were sad as well.

On a happy note, my husband got to visit where he and his dad lived when he was a child. He also got to see the home of his late grandfather and also visit his grave. I think the best part of this vacation was going to this old Jim's Dairy Shack, where my husband remembers going with his dad to get a foot long Coney. Talk about good hometown food! If you ever have seen the show Feasting on Asphalt, you'll know what I'm talking about. We also visited some family friends, whom my husband stayed with alot when we was a kid as his dad was getting on his feet after the divorce. It really made me happy because my husband was happy. He was experiencing all the childhood memories he had as a kid. He remarked how he remembered it taking much longer to get to places when he was younger. Isn't it funny how we remember things being so much bigger, yet in actuality, they weren't?

Anyway. . .perhaps it's time to end here. I'm getting tired of typing, and I hear someone calling on the monitor. Until next time. . .

All Done!

It was a quiet and lovely afternoon at the home of Supermommy. Flying Baby was taking a nap and Supermommy was enjoying the peace and quiet for a little while longer. As she was fast forwarding through an episode of Martha, they just signed up for a more affordable DirecTV with DVR, she hears, "Aaaa, maaaa maaaa" signaling that Flying Baby was finished napping. Reveling in the fact that he had been sleeping for 3 hours, she quietly goes upstairs into his room. As she turns on the light, she sees her son standing at the crib rail bouncing up and down with excitement. As she approaches the crib, Flying Baby signs and says, "Alllll done!" with his little arms. This seems to be his favorite sign language sign. He uses it for almost everything that he feels he's done with, a meal, wanting to go home from a Weight Watcher meeting, and even when taking a nap. It's quite amusing and interesting because Supermommy definitely underestimates the intelligence of Flying Baby.

"Alllll done!"

24 Hours

24 hours. No TV. No lights. No air conditioning. No electricity.

That's what life was like for my family in the past 24 hours. A huge, nasty storm rolled in Saturday night and lit up the sky with lightening and loud rolls of thunder. Apparently, it knocked over an electric pole and splintered a gigantic tree, which took down more power lines and half of an old produce shack.

Thank goodness we have a corded phone so we could report a power outage at our home to BGE. Then, as I was on hold probably because everyone and their mother was calling to report just like me, I thought to myself "you know they probably have figured out that I don't have power at my house and listening to this recorded message is a HUGE waste of my time". Still. . . my husband and I took turns holding the phone up to our ear in hopes that SOMEONE would pick up. It's like we're on the island of the TV show LOST in the Hatch with the old Commodore PC and the green blinky light. HA!

Talk about the luxury of flicking on a light switch! It's just so amazingly automatic that my hand and brain know exactly where a switch is on the wall. I bet I could go around my house blindfolded and know exactly where every switch is located.

It's also so amazing how easily bored I can become with not having any electricity. So much of what I do involves power. Cooking a meal for my family. Microwaving a bag of popcorn. Turning on a light to see if my son has any poop in his diaper. Charging my cell phone that is flashing low battery.

You know, I could actually read or sleep or just sit and be quiet for a while. And actually I did. Today, I finished reading the entire Bible. My husband and I joined a class at church called Rev Up Your Faith: The Bible in 90 Days. Now I am really excited about continuing my journey as I start CBS (Community Bible Study) in September. Now I have no excuse to complain that a passage is too long because I actually read the entire book of Revelations in one day. How many times can you say that?

It was nice to not have electricity for 24 hours. Despite the ice cream thawing a little bit, we got to talk about more subjects than if we had the television on. And we got to enjoy the sound of silence, minus the revving generators. Oh and hopefully our electric bill will be much less next month, but I'm not counting on it.

Faith Like A Child

A friend sent this link to me the other day and I thought I'd share it with you. May we all have faith like a child every day that we walk with Jesus Christ.

How To Eat Worms

Ever since my son was born, my dad has been asking, "when can we go fishing"? You see, my dad loves to fish, but when I was growing up it really wasn't my favorite thing to do. Lack of patience and complete dislike of touching worms probably had something to do with it. So, last weekend my dad finally got his wish, and my husband, son, and I went with dad to a friend's pond and caught a boat load! Dad was tickled pink! My son caught the first fish plus many others. I was mainly there to take pictures, as requested by my mom. Thanks mom, for the great idea because I got some awesome shots! Anyway. . .we had a blast, and my son even got to taste a worm, well almost. Daddy wouldn't let him bite it, but he did get it in his mouth. Here are some pictures of our little fishing trip.

Step By Step

Yay! We're walking now! Not exclusively, but we're getting there. Here are some pictures of James walking with mommy to get the mail. He made it half way until he decided he was tired and wanted to crawl. Doesn't he look so cute wearing his San Francisco Giants baseball hat? His grandpa got him that.

Sponge

It is truly amazing to watch my son learn and grow. He is like a sponge that never stops soaking up water.

So we've been trying to teach him sign language and he's finally picked it up. First with "milk", and now today he signed "eat" and "all done". We think he's doing "more" but we're not sure because it looks like he's clapping his hands, which he likes to do ALOT anyways. It's so wonderful to be able to communicate with him and have the ability to know exactly what he wants. For now at least.

Also, one more fantastic milestone, he kind of took his first steps today. We were at my friend Rhonda's, whom we visit practically every day. Might as well just keep a bed made for me. Ha! She watches James while I go work out at Curves and I do the same for her daughter, Hilary. Sometimes we're lucky and Tu Tu (Hilary's great grandma) comes over and watches them. Anyways. . .James and Hilary were playing and he needed to get around her. So, he daringly let go of the coffee table and took two side steps around Hilary.

I was sitting there screaming like a fool "oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh" while bouncing up and down, eyes wide with excitement. I never thought I'd react that way. It was almost embarrassing, but I guess I have every right to do that.

My guess is that he'll be walking by the time he's 14 months, which is in a few weeks. Good for him, bad news for mommy. Friends tell me it's all over when your child starts to walk. We'll see. Maybe it'll help me take off those last 10 pounds I've been trying to lose.

Isn't there a running baby trailed by a running mommy? Lord help me!

Milk, It Does A Body Good!

Milk! Yaaay! Clap clap clap. Milk! Good job, lil' biddy! Those were our words as we shouted for joy after our son FINALLY signed his first sign.

After having a yummy dinner of Papa John's, we decided to try to reinforce (again and again) the sign for "milk" to see if he would finally do it.

We knew he wanted more milk, so we didn't give it to him until he did the sign, and miraculously he did it!

It's so pronounced and cute with his little pudgy fingers opening and closing. He's even more talented because he does it with both hands! Ooo ahhh.

Now it's on to "eat" and "more".

I'm such a proud mommy!

Me Time

::Long deep breath in::. . .::long deep breath out::. . .(repeat 3 times).

Between the hours of 7pm and 8pm is Me Time. No whiny one year old. No hubby. Just me. One hour of whatever I want to do. One hour of destressing. One hour of getting my ::bleep:: back together.

Sometimes I decide to read my Bible (hubby and I are doing a course at church called Rev Up Your Faith: Reading the Bible in 90 Days at 12 pages a day), take a walk (maybe come home, ha!), take a long shower, or even pay attention to my neglected ::sniffle sniffle:: blog.

So, as I sit here in silence (you don't get that much when you have a one year old) I am enjoying my one hour of peace and quiet, which every mom should try (emphasis on try) to make time for. And I thought I'd share some photos from our trip to Ohio a couple weeks ago during our "vacation" to visit family. It was the first time my father-in-law got to meet my son, James, and it was also the weekend of James' 1st birthday.

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I'm enjoying my Me Time.




Grandpa and James

Grandma Kathy and James

Sleepy Baby James

A Kiss from Great Grandma Cook

Aunt Ashley and Aunt Michelle playing with James









Notice how the booster seat tray gets progressively covered in cupcake.













In the end, even if I've had a bad day, it all seems to melt away when I am able to hold my baby boy and tell him that I love him.

Waiting for Mommy

I had to run some errands today. Grocery store. . .Target and Toys R US to return a few things. While I was gone, my hubby was holding down the fort with son and dog, Anakin (yes, he's a Star Wars fan). Here's a cute shot hubby took of son and dog. Hope you enjoy it!



Here are two more pictures my mom took of James and I at the MS Walk. Don't you just love that hat? The outfit courtesy of "Gram" (James' grandmother).