Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/to/about:

• That Elizabeth at least gets "something" from me. I may regret this one later, though. Here's how I know my kid is related to me (because she sure does look an awful lot like her Daddy!): Yesterday morning while she was eating her breakfast, she smacked both of her hands to her head and said, "What - the - hell?" To which I said, "Elizabeth, you can't say that." In all seriousness, she looked at me and replied, "I just did." I guess this means when I relinquish my title, she will be known as The Mouth of the South!
• That I'm taking a few days off next week - tired of work at the moment...we're going to DC to stay with Rikki & Doug in their new house...and taking Elizabeth (and Nana) to the National Zoo - woo hoo!
• That I'm done, at least for the moment, with my expense report from the Annual Meeting - one trip ~ 7 days + 2 currencies (yes, 2 types of math) = not a good time.
• That Erin came to Wheeling for a visit and got to see our house...I'm still so in love with it! (Check back after I begin dealing with the hideous wall paper situation...)
• Mad Men - just a well-written show on TV...helps me get through until Grey's is back on in the fall...
• XM radio in my car...which means Air America Radio all the time (that Elizabeth isn't in the back seat saying, " I want 'Ginia, Mommy!")...and Air America Radio putting The Young Turks back on for my morning drive.
• My folks & Reid's folks for their generous gifts for our anniversary...got our patio furniture with the cash...and we're loving being outside to eat in the evenings!
• The MLB trade deadline is over...and that Manny is staying put...now if only he will kiss & make up - GOOOOO SOX!!!!

What the F*#K????

Seriously, what the F??? Who in the F writes on the front of MY house in BALL POINT PEN??? Are you F-ing kidding me???

Are the "good folks" at the USPS that over worked that they have to mark up my house in ball point F-ing pen on my F-ing house in order to remember that we are the only F-ing people to live here???

I'll post happier thoughts when I've cooled off a bit... GRRRR!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for/to/about:

• Cards that make me giggle - like our Anniversary card from Anne, Sean, & Alex. Touché!
• My scrapbook space - it is shaping up, but I haven't yet gotten it to the point where I'm able to scrapbook...soon, I hope!
• Erin letting me crash at her place on Tuesday evening...and the yummy Thai noodles lettuce wraps! I am so about stealing that recipe!!!
• Catching up on missed TV shows on http://www.surfthechannel.com/ (thanks, EJ (assist from JP) for the hook-up!!!)
• The best hugs from Elizabeth when we picked her up from daycare today! "Mommy & Daddy you came and picked me up!"
• TV in my kitchen...
• In-laws that come to visit - and fix things!
• Clothes chute that help me stay on top of the laundry (who would have ever guessed that one?)
• EBay finds - I just got confirmation that my newest cookbook has been shipped - Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Cookbook (illustrations by Andy Warhol) - oooh...ahhhh....

Happy Anniversary

Today Reid & I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. It was a rather difficult one. Not because of our relationship with each other - that is great (unless there is something you need to tell me, Sweetness...) But, today was Elizabeth's first day in Day Care. Like we were told, it would be harder on us than it would be on her.

Elizabeth faired well. She passed on the beef-a-roni for lunch - and who in their right mind could blame her? But she did eat all of her green beans and peaches. She also ate all of her snack which was animal crackers and yogurt. She only took a 30 minute nap - not a shock to us, but I believe the other 2-year-olds take 2+ hours in a nap. She "played with the kids" and "played on the playground." She cried a whole big bunch when we came to pick her up. She wanted to stay and play. For dinner, she is insisting on sitting at the "big table" and to drink from a regular cup - not a sippy cup. She is inhaling her food right now as I type. She is still a little excited from her big day. When she took too big of a bite of rice than could fit in her mouth, she spilled more than she shoveled in. Then she said, quietly I might add, "Kennedy, come here. I need your help." Then she proceeded to feed her the rice she dropped in her lap. I was too busy trying not to laugh to play Amy Vanderbilt and correct the poor table etiquette.

Nana & Papa were her this weekend and helped out a TON around the house. Rick and Reid fixed the gate. Carol, Elizabeth, and I weeded in the back "yard." They got us a lot of gardening tools (Reid & I skipped out on the horticulture class - if there ever was such a thing) and attempted a crash course at what are weeds and what needs trimmed/watered/nurtured. I thought Mother Nature was doing a fine job...and to prove me right, it rained a bit yesterday afternoon and cooled things off.

Thank goodness for the rain as we had a power outage for 4+ hours last evening. We uncovered candles...and Reid's headband flashlight (saucy!)...and played a wee bit of Trivial Pursuit. I think the score was tied when the power came back on. Circulating air never felt so good - and we called it quits with the game to just enjoy AC and the ceiling fans.

Here are a few pics from the weekend that I was going to post yesterday, but lost the post in the power outage and the computer losing battery power...

E playing with her new sprinkler...Diego got lonely as E was perplexed with his spinning action...Nana, what's on your shirt? Water perhaps?..."Slick" Rick earning his nickname & Reid at work...Can it get any better than silky 'jamas & a popsicle? Elizabeth doesn't think so!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for/to/that:

• be working from my beautiful new home in Wheeling (come and visit us, please!)
• Elizabeth has excellent manners - and often says "Ganks, Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Papi/Nana/Papa..."
• Comcast finally came to our beautiful new home in Wheeling (come and visit us, please!) and installed our Internet and cable so that Reid didn't have to break his foot off in somebody's [bleep] - or that his "less rational wife" didn't have to deal with the not-so-good-folks at Comcast
• despite me literally kicking my "Sweet Baby Girl" Kennedy out of the bed during our last night at Coleman Avenue, she still loves me dearly and wants to be right next to me all of the time - which she currently is! (Explanation of the literal kicking out of the bed - I was, for starters, exhausted - see my previous post referencing the meeting from Hell - and note this was the night that I came home. Then, you may need to note that Reid was sleeping in the middle of our bed, serious bed-hog Elizabeth (who was happy to see me after my being in Toronto for a week) was in between Reid and me...I was on a sliver of the bed, nearly falling off the edge. I went to move, and figured that Kennedy would be on the wide open space of the other 1/2 of the king size bed - on the other side of Reid. Naturally, she was not. She, too, had missed me after I had been in Toronto for a week. She was at my feet. I went to move. I kicked Kennedy. All I could see were her sweet little paws and this very puzzled look on her face as she slid off the bottom of our very high onto the hard wood floor. She landed on her right hip. She's been limping a bit since. Poor Sweet Baby Girl!)
• the best family ever! My folks kept Elizabeth this week, until we came back to Wheeling - including driving her back up to Fairmont so I didn't have to go all of the way to Sutton to get her. Anne, Sean, & Alex served as high entertainment and play friends as well. (Exception would be when Sean tried to get Elizabeth to feed one of Charlie's horses - she still says, "No I not feed the horses!" She does, at least, recall feeding the chickens fondly, "They ate all the corn!" And I have a sneaking suspicion that Aunt Anne had her hands in the painting of her fingernails - a much bolder color than anything I have ever seen on Grandma!) My awesome in-laws - not only provided me a comfy place to sleep, but yummy food - and good entertainment of the Home Run Derby & All Star Game (neither of which Reid had!) Talking with Jake as he walked through the house yesterday giving me his impressions and opinions on what we should do in each room - and then I got a little giggle to myself as I heard him say "Oooh. Nutty Bars."
• Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy on Sponge Bob for entertaining E at the moment...
• Sporty Baby Golf DVD - because, trust me when I say this - her swing looks unbelievable sweet for her 2-1/2 years of age...great turn, keeping her eye on the ball, makes good contact with the ball. Reid can see a college scholarship in her future. (I did have to hold him back last night, literally, from giving her tips - perhaps a wee bit premature on that!)
• batteries in the most annoying of toys don't last forever ;-)
• Snapfish - so I can share pictures and receive pictures from friends and family - totally loving Aunt Cathy's album from today!
• PhotoShop as I can do this (still a work in progress so that the lighting on Kennedy doesn't look like she was sitting in the living room and not with the three of us...which, of course, she was!):
• My DH & DD:

Gone, But Not Forgotten

I say: Hello. My name is Jennie. It has been nearly two months since my last post.

You say: Hello, Jennie.

Well, I've done it. I've pulled a Reid - in not posting to my Blog in what seems like forever. Let's just suffice it to say that I have been a little preoccupied.

Since my last entry:

• We celebrated Father's Day...
• Aunt Anne celebrated a birthday...Elizabeth sang
• Reid celebrated a birthday...Elizabeth sang "Happy Birthday" a lot - except for when there was a birthday candle. Then she obsessed "Blow it out. Daddy burn his finger" while remembering that Alex had burnt his finger with his 1st birthday candle.
• Mom/Grandma had a birthday...Elizabeth sang some more... (I'm still behind in my shopping, if you can believe that!)
• I've survived the Annual Meeting from Hell - the attendees all thought it went swimmingly well, which is all good, but here's the brief low down on why the 2008 Annual Meeting will go down in infamy: 1.) a flood in the back of our registration counter, 2.) Christian got sick - really sick and had to spend 2.5 days holed up in his room, 3.) a fire in the same room where the flood had been, 4.) Marvin passed out at the bottom of an escalator and folks watched him ride it up to the next level...he was taken to the emergency room where he was treated for a virus and dehydration, 5.) Megan went out of commission - sick, shaking, unable to sleep...need I go on??? Some pretty funny stories, actually, and fortunately everyone managed to survive...
• The day (yes, that's right sports fans - the day) after my return from Toronto, the moving truck arrived...and we packed it up on Friday & Saturday AM...and it pulled out for a MOVE to Wheeling...
• We (and by "we" I mean we had a lot of help - from Nana & Papa watching Elizabeth...and giving Reid, E, me, and my folks a place to sleep, my folks, Anne, Jeff Creamer & his buddy that I met for the first time, Herb Minch, Mike Wehler (another lovely 'gent I met for the first time), Scott Cook (ditto), and Dave Flatley (and ditto), Dan Hopkins (ditto again), and two of West Lib's football players, whose names I didn't catch, but I will most definitely be cheering for this fall (like I wasn't going to anyway...even when they play my Bobcats!) - I certainly hope I haven't forgotten anyone as we were so very fortunate to have all of their help!!!) WE moved an entire truck load of stuff from Fairmont to Wheeling...then
  Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Mom, Reid, Elizabeth, and I unpacked...Jeff helped Reid move more stuff around - or out...
• On Wednesday I drove (95 miles from driveway to door) to Morgantown for work...I worked the remainder of the week...went to Mom & Daddy's for the weekend (after giving the new yet eerily old Gabes in Clarksburg a little lovin')...then have been back in the office this week...will finally get back to Wheeling on Wednesday night.
• Reid is going to "go Jennie crazy" on the not-so-good folks at Comcast if we don't have our cable and Internet installed today. I'm not kidding. Today on the phone with the not-so-good folks at Comcast he told them if the situation wasn't rectified by the close of business today that they would have to (and I quote) "deal with my wife, who is much less rational in situations like this than I am." I may be setting up a Pay Pal account to help with the funds to bail him out. I cannot understand why on earth it is so darned difficult to get someone to show up at your house when you have an appointment scheduled to hook up a little cable for Internet and cable. How on earth are people supposed to survive without TV? Or the freakin' Internet? (Fortunately for us, there is someone in the neighborhood that has an unsecured network - crazy, I know, but it has been slow but helpful!)

And to conclude this most random of posts, a few pictures of Elizabeth & Alex that make me giggle!

E riding "Big Pink" at the Belmont Stakes

E obsessing over her Daddy's birthday candle and refusing to sing "Happy Birthday" for the first time in days

E (2.5 years) & Alex (13 mo.) playing at Grandma & Papi's this past weekend

my svelte nephew

House Shopping

Reid, Elizabeth, and I toured 6 homes with our realtor on Sunday.

The first one was an older home that I had mentally moved my stuff into. Seriously. I knew exactly where I was going to put the Christmas tree...and the TV in the living room. In the pictures with the listing, it was stunning. I had concerns, mentally moving in of course, about how my dining room furniture was going to fit in the octagonal-shaped (yes, octagonal) dining room...and the kitchen looked small. But I was loving the look of the place online. Then we went there on Sunday. The living room, dining room, kitchen, terrace, and back yard did not disappoint. Beautiful. Then we went up stairs. WOW those were some tiny rooms. I was then mentally moving my Christmas tree into our faculty house on West Liberty's campus. Closet space wasn't good, but I don't expect it to be good in an old home. (And I love old homes!) I didn't, however, expect that two of the bedrooms (house has 4 bedrooms) would be so small that you could only fit a twin-sized bed and a small dresser in them. The master bedroom in that house is smaller than what we have in Fairmont. So, we moved on...

Then we were "treated" to a trip down Mike Brady's lane. A house built and last decorated in 1977 and one built in 1910 and last decorated in whatever year wood panelling would have been in fashion. Lots of freshly vacuumed shag carpet to go around both places.

Then we saw our house!

Built in 1915, it oozes charm. Warm and inviting. Stained glass windows in the entry, LR, DR, landing to 2nd floor, and family room. BIG closets (walk-in in the master BR, big one in Elizabeth's room, 3 regular-sized ones in the 3rd floor bedroom). Lots of extra storage in the garage and potential for lots of storage in the basement. There are 5 fireplaces in the house, but at the moment I can only recall where 3 of them are (LR, DR, master BR). The kitchen is sizable, but will need some work (although workable in the interim.) The downside is that there is only one bath, but it is a really, really nice one. There is a clothes chute (3rd floor, 2nd floor, main floor in the kitchen) all helping with the nasty chore of laundry (that neither Reid or I are fans of that task.) The family room is great - not too big, not too small - and just off of the kitchen. It will be the perfect place for Elizabeth to play while I'm in the kitchen. There are built-ins...two small seating areas on either side of the fireplace in the LR (pictured at left)...and two sets of bookcases/displays on either side of the entryway into the DR (pictured below right). There is a wonderful work-bench area for Reid so he can continue his tinkering with golf clubs. (Not that he doesn't already have a great work-bench for that task - he and Papa built one a few years ago.) But, ooh la la there is a rockin' scrapbook area for me!!! (Nice L-shaped built in area in the basement opposite of Reid's work-bench for me to catch up on my scrapbooking!) Coincidentally, it was the least expensive of the 6 homes we toured.

Then the rest of the house shopping was a bit of a blur as we couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities of that house.

We toured two more homes. One of which was very charming on the outside, but rather vanilla on the inside. (When it wasn't vanilla it was bordering on tragic.) The last home was huge, but I would need to either leave bread crumbs or hope my GPS unit could help me find my way around it. Not that I would need to GPS to help me find my way because of the size of the home, but rather the layout. It was like the architect was either mad or drunk...or both.

We put in an offer on Monday. The offer was accepted on Tuesday.

Wow! That was so much faster than what I anticipated it would be to house shop, put in a bid, and have the bid accepted. But what the hell do I know, I've never bought a house before...until now!

They Love You!

Cute E story...as most are...

E has recently been more obsessed with pictures than usual. She'll point to everyone she knows in a picture and say their name. If the picture is out of her reach she'll point and say something like, "That's Daddy on picture. That's Mommy on picture."

Last week as we were coming down the stairs in our house (if you haven't seen the house, you may need to note that one side of the stairway walls is lined with pictures, too many to count jammed on the wall.) A very, very small black & white picture of Grandma Ellen & Grandpa caught her eye (smaller than a wallet-sized pic...more like the small crappy size pictures that you gave out to your lesser friends in school - but those of course who still needed an annual picture of you...)

Elizabeth asked me who was "on" the picture. I told her that it was my Grandma and Grandpa. She replied, "Awwww. They love you."

Funny Stuff...

First of all, if you didn't see the Petraeus Hearings skit on SNL featuring WV "Senator" Bob Byrd, you're missing out. Get it here: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v69956042ckrJHPs

Now, some of Elizabeth's recent funnies:

• Yesterday on the drive to Nana's & Papa's, there were a few birds on the road. One bird waited until my car was very close before it flew away. My little back-seat drive said, "Sheeeew. That was a close call!"
• E is obsessed with Boo-Boos. She wants a bandaid on a freckle. She'll kiss anything that resembles a boo-boo. It's really awfully sweet. Last week, she wanted to kiss the boo-boos on Papa's hand. After several kisses, she gave up and told Nana, "Papa's all boo-boos."
• Last weekend, Reid, Elizabeth, and I went to Grandma & Papi's for Mother's Day. Reid was helping Elizabeth get ready for church when she started jumping around (literally) exclaiming, "I love church! I love church!"
• During Mass she was really quite good. She was on her belly on the kneeler "swimming" (albeit quietly.) When she was sitting on the kneeler, she discovered that she could see her own reflection in the back of the pew. Aunt Anne is so proud.

MEDICAL ALERT: Gem (WV) Chicken Bird Flu Virus UPDATE

This just in:

Anne reports - "Add Anne, Sean, Granddad Wine, Grandma Wine, Aunt Jane, Cousin Clint, and Aunt Cheryl to the "Typhoid Elizabeth Virus" list. She got sick BEFORE she saw the chickens so you can't blame it on them. I think everyone is on the mend now!!!!"

You say tomato (typhoid Elizabeth virus), I say tamato (Gem Chicken Bird Flu Virus)...