Addiction

I am crazy addicted to shoes.  I know that most women are but I was once known as the girl with all the shoes when I was in high school.  People would come into class and look at my shoes every day just to which ones I was wearing.  I didn't have a million pairs or anything but they must have been special or different enough for people to notice.

I was sorta high maintenance in high school.  Contacts in, make up done, hair curled, outfit picked to not look too much like everyone else's.  I wore lipstick every second of my life- deep, dark red.  Slowly though, I let it go.  Mark didn't want to kiss me with lipstick on, it was so hard wearing those fancy heels while trying to make it to class at UB.  I had my moments to dress up and feel pretty- weddings, special date nights, girls night out at the clubs dancing to all hours.

The I got married and had a baby and stopped working and all those opportunities to but those cute new shoes were few and far between.  But then three years or so ago.  I found a new brand of shoe that I love.  I am now the proud owner of five pairs of Crocs.  Not the big ugly gross looking Crocs, but cute little sandal-type Crocs.  And I have just gone and bought myself two new pairs plus a pair for Annabelle.  They are so comfy and cute all at the same time. 

Mark is so not going to be happy that I've spent $80 on more shoes that he thinks I don't need but can you blame me?  They are cute!

Smorgasbord

• Another post of my ramblings.  I feel like a have a ga-billion things that I should be doing, but no will to actually do them.
• I'm feeling down on me right now.  I'm trying to pull myself out of it but I had a big fight with Mark this morning so now I feel worse.
• Mark's having surgery tomorrow.  I don't want to fight with him right now when I know he's just as stressed out as I am.
• I'm trying to find a good yet cheap place to send Annabelle for swim lessons.  I think she would do better with private lessons but remember, I want inexpensive.
• Mark finally got his bonus.  It will pay for our trip to Disney with a good sized chunk left over to go into savings for all the things that are slowly breaking down around here.  After 10 years in this house, our appliances, computer, cars, etc are soon going to need to be replaced.  Blah!
• Annabelle told me that she was put on bad card #1 yesterday at school for not finishing her work.  She didn't do her domino math but made a puzzle instead.  She said it's the first time she's been bad.  I'm glad she told me. 
• Annabelle has a new fear of dying or people around her dying.  She keeps getting herself so worked up about it.  Anyone have any ideas how to help her?
• I went to Wahl's candy shop yesterday and bought all of our Easter chocolate.  There is something so peaceful and calming standing in the middle of the Easter room smelling the chocolate every year.  I love it in there.
• I'm making Slutty Brownies this weekend for Girl's Night In.  I'm a little bit afraid of them but they can't be awful right?
• I still haven't gotten my bloodwork done yet.  I really need someone to kick my ass and make me make the stupid appointment.

You Give Me Fever

When Mark and I first started dating, we worked together at Burger King.  I will always tell people that it was one tough job, which I know people scoff at, but there were so many little things that had to be done on a consistent basis.  You very rarely had any down time.  I made lots of friends and acquaintances while I worked there and though it was hard work, I also made sure that there were fun times too.  Time to laugh and be an 18 year old kid. 

One of the friends that I made there was a giant of a black man, named Butch.  Six foot two or three and easily 300 pounds but he was a teddy bear of a guy.  His real name was Alfred, which he absolutely hated.  I had so much fun laughing with him every time we worked together.  I can remember one particular night, it was either after we closed or it was just dead, but we were doing all the little miscellaneous stuff that doesn't always get done.  Washing windows, polishing brass, wiping down ice machines, things like that.  Mark, Butch and I were getting our work done, talking, when all of the sudden Peggy Lee's Fever comes on.  There is just something about that song that I have always loved, so sultry.  And Butch, my big old teddy bear Butch, starts dancing around the restaurant with a broom.  Singing into the handle like an old microphone from the 50's.  All three of us laughed and sang and danced and just had so much much fun.

So you're probably wondering why in the world I'm writing about this.  It probably seems so random.  This week at Zumba, we started a new cool down song.  The previous one was The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson.  There's always a 30 second lull between the last song and the cool down to let everyone catch their breath, get a drink.  That's when the instructor mentioned it will be a new song.  And then I hear those first few notes of Fever this one by Michael Buble but still so, so good.  As soon as I heard those notes, I was transported back to Burger King, to the innocence that I didn't know I had back then.  Without the worries of adulthood.  I remembered my friend.  I felt good and light and happy.  Sometimes memories hurt me but this one buoyed me up.  I think that this song will always do that for me.

Report Crads

On Friday we had a parent/teacher conference with Annabelle's teacher.  Overall, I knew she was doing fine.  I could see the progress that she is making but I was still worried (though that is probably too strong of a word) that we would get some less than stellar news.  I worry that she is just too much like me.  I wish she had gotten more of Mark's resolve for things.  She tends to fall into her own little world and it's hard to get her out of it.  I was like that as a child and to be perfectly honest, I still am.

But all went well!  Mrs. Tripi told us we have a smart, exceptionally kind, sweet, thoughtful little girl.  She's a bit more immature than most of the other kids in the class, which we already knew.  Without another sibling to push her along, we have let her stay in a younger world than would have happened with a baby around.  We are OK with that though.  We want to her to be little while she can, because she grows too fast.  She told us once again what an amazing artist she is, one of the best in the class and that her journaling is improving leaps and bounds.  We were able to voice our concerns, ask if there was a way to request a certain boy in her class not be in it next year, and see what we can help her to work on.

I walked away from the conference feeling like at least I'm doing one thing right.  I'm raising a little girl who is loving and loved by others in return.  I am one proud mama right now.

This and That

• The weather here is outrageously warm, ranging from the mid 70's to over 80 today!  We've been living outside on the deck and Annabelle's swing set is getting a workout, that is for sure.
• One good thing about all the fresh air is that Annabelle crashes when we put her to bed.  One book and she's out.
• I'm trying to figure out what I want to to for Annabelle's birthday party.  I know that I have more than 2 months until she turns six but for me, this is really late to start planning.
• I'm starting to slowly go through the menus for the restaurants at Disney World for our trip in November.  I need to sit down with my mom to figure things out so that we can make our reservations on June 2.
• Since I mentioned Disney, it is so hard trying to keep it a secret from Annabelle.  It's all the girl can talk about!
• I really want to see Mirror, Mirror when it comes out at the movies.  I'm pretty sure Mark will try to veto me though.
• I still haven't gone in for my blood work.  I'm such a baby.
• I have six books checked out from the library right now and I'm spending every free minute reading and reading and reading.
• I think Annabelle will be getting her dance costume tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that it looks cute.

St Patty's Day Party

Every year, our friends Scott And Joleene, have a super fun St. Patty's Day party.  We all wear our green and dance and sing karaoke and imbibe.  Here are some of this years antics.

Me and my guy.

The girls.  Notice how everyone else has the same shirt on?  I had to be different, I made mine all by myself.  That way I stood out from the crowd:)

Singing some Bruno Mars with Jo.

Hot, sweaty and dancing.

There was mood lighting.

Five of the eight GNI girls.

Mark decided to put one of their chairs up onto their basketball net.  Don't ask me why he thought it was funny.

Licking the leg lamp.

As usual, we had a blast!  When's the next party?

Perfect

Did you ever have a perfect day?  A day where you look at each part and it is a perfect ball of memories that you can fit right in your hand.  I had that day on Friday.  I wasn't sure if the day would turn out so well but I'm thankful that it did because Saturday was not a good one!

Annabelle had off from school for superintendent's day, whatever that is, so decided that it should be a mommy and daughter day.  I thought she might fight me on it.  We haven't had any play dates since Christmas and she'd been asking and asking to play with friends.

We woke up and just vegged around the house for awhile, Annabelle played on the computer while I watched Grey's Anatomy.  Then we got ready and went to Pizza Hut for lunch.  Annabelle had a free personal pan pizza from the Book It club at school so it cost us next to nothing to have lunch together.  After we stuffed ourselves full of greasy pizza and breadsticks, we got on our way to the fun part of the day.  The Botanical Gardens!  I've taken her there one time before two years ago and we had such a fun time, so I thought this time would be even better.  It was.

The main building.  This is the only building that survived from the 1901 Exposition here in Buffalo.

Main Rotunda.

By the Koi Pond.

They have super cool topiary bushes shaped like dinosaurs in one of the rooms.  That is also where the koi are and a waterfall.

The water fall.

Me and the T-Rex.  I have a picture of me doing this same pose while I was 9 months pregnant. 

Who's prettier, the flower or my Annabelle?  Silly question, I know:)

More flowers.

This seemed to be her pose for the day.  She did it over and over and over...

Me and my buggle.

Playing chess.

We found Buffalo on the globe.

Searching for Leprechauns.

My favorite view of the day.

I took about one thousand pictures.  At every flower, shrub, decoration, Annabelle needed me to take her picture.  We stayed for hours and I literally had to drag her away from there with a promise to come back when the rose gardens were blooming.

We had the best time.  Annabelle smiled from ear to ear the entire day.  It was so nice starting of my day so perfectly and then ending it nicely too with a St. Patty's Day party at a friends house.  It was all too, too perfect.

Pierogis

For the past few years, around Easter, we go over to Mark's mom and dad's house and make homemade pierogis.  I don't like them so I don't know what the big fuss is all about but Mark absolutely loves them.  It was a family affair and we all pitched in.  It took very little time to get the double batch made and Mark was trying to convince everyone that we should make more but I think we're good for now.

Measuring ingredients with Grandma.

Mark's making the cheese mixture.

Our first batch of dough.

Rolling the dough.

Cutting the dough.

Cheese time!

Here's 1/2 of a batch.

There was just enough dough and cheese left to make a mini pierogi.

While we were cleaning up, Annabelle decided to play dress up in Grandma's closet.  Here's her first outfit. (Love the toe point)

Then she put on Grandpa's Sabres jersey like a cape.  It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Sabre!

Even though our weekend ended up being pretty full once again, it felt calm and peaceful.  No rushing around and getting ourselves crazy trying to get everything done.  It was just about perfect.

Joe's Crab Shack

We finally had a nice, relaxing weekend.  It feels like it's been forever that we have had any time to just relax around here.  We went looking for aquarium accessories on Friday for our new fishies. 

On Saturday, Mark's brother came over with McDonald's for Annabelle and spent the whole afternoon playing with her.  It gave Mark and I hours of free time to get stuff done around the house.  Mark started working on our crown molding and I put up all of our Easter decorations.  I've been getting headaches after Zumba lately so I even took a small nap around 2pm! 

After Keith left, Annabelle was playing Zoodles on the computer and Mark and I were watching TV, just relaxing when we saw a commercial for shrimp and we both made yummy noises.  It was barely 5pm so we knew if we hurried up we would be able to go out to eat without much of a wait.  We ended up at Joe's Crab Shack and it sure was yummy.

I got The Orleans with crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob.  And let me tell you, it was delicious!  Mark got crab and mussels and there was some other stuff in there but I was concentrating on my own food.  Annabelle ate so great that we decided to splurge and get dessert. Make Your Own Ice Cream Sandwiches for Annabelle and Mark and I shared and Turtle Sundae.  Mmm!

They had a lady wandering around with a camera.  She took our picture and it's up on the Joe's Crab Shack web page right now.  I love Annabelle's crazy face with the big eyes.

We Get to Watch

This week at our dance studio is Parent Watch Week.  We got to come in and watch Annabelle's class from start to finish.  Normally the door is closed and you just hear faint music and the girls yelling out the steps- jump ball change, jump ball change, point tendu together.  I'm always so excited to see Annabelle dance, and then every year I get depressed by how far behind she is with her gross motor skills than other kids.  Then there is her wandering mind where you see that she is paying no attention whatsoever to the teacher. 

I'm tyring to tell myself that she's doing fine, I believe she is the only first year in the class, but...  I worry that she will look silly up there on the stage.  That she will see that she's not as good as the other girls.  I'm not ready for her to have her first heartache at not being good enough.  I have to deal with my own insecurities about that, I don't want her to feel this way too.

But the last run through she did better.  She actually did most of the dance and some of it seemed like maybe she knew what she was doing.  Every year I get worried about how she'll do and every year she has done fine.  Not the best, not the worst.  For now she says she enjoys it and that is all that matters to me.  We'll see what happens down the road I guess.

New Family Members

We are a happy family of three, plus one handsome cat.  I thought we were perfectly complete, that is until Annabelle decided she needed two more family members.  Mickey Mouse and Orangey, our new fish.  We're not sure how long they will live because we don't have them set up quite to standards but for now she won't leave them alone for even a second.

Filling the bowl

In their bags waiting to be introduced to their new home.

Opening the bags.

Mickey Mouse and Annabelle checking each other out.

Orangey on the left, Mickey Mouse on the right.

We still need to buy some more stones for the bottom and Annabelle wants a plant and a castle for the tank.  Maybe the Easter Bunny can bring her some of that stuff though.

A Lovely Bunch

I have been in a majorly crafty mood lately.  It's all I want to do, so of course everything else is falling waaaay behind.  The house is dusty, the floors aren't vacuumed and my laundry refuses to go away.  But when I get the urge to craft, I just have to go with it.  Once it's gone I just can't force any crafty-ness out of me.

Easter is just a few weeks away.  I know every other person on the planet is thinking about St. Patty's Day but that holiday does nothing for me.  I'm not Irish, I don't like to eat or drink falsely green things so I don't decorate.  I'm ready for Easter.  I finally managed to get Mark to drag the decorations out of our creepy-crawly crawl space and I'm ready to go.  But while I was waiting for him to get a move on, I decided to make some super cute fabric carrots that I found on Pinterest.  I'm pretty sure every single person I know is obsessed with it right now, I know I am!

 First I went out to Joann Fabrics and found a bunch of cute little carrot-y colored fabric bundles.  They ended up being the perfect size and only $1.99 each.  I followed the directions and after some wrangling to get the carrots right side out and full of stuffing I ended up with this! 

Super cute, right?  I'm making bunches and bunches for everyone right now.  Our house looks like a carrot farm!  But now I am ready to move on to the next craft.  I saw an Easter wreath that looked sweet and easy and I want to make an egg garland for the banister.  Hopefully my crafty-loving-self will continue long enough to get everything done.

Truly

She can deal with stress and carry heavy burdens. She smiles when she feels
like screaming, and she sings when she feels like crying. She cries when
she's happy and laughs when she's afraid.  Her love is unconditional.  There's
only one thing wrong with her. She forgets what she's worth!  That is what it means to be a mom.