My newest dust magnet

I have a problem with the table - it's not big enough for everything I want to put on it, but it's pretty much just the right size for the space. Guess I'm just going to have to compromise on my plans and do my best.

Here's how it looks now and how it'll probably stay looking until I come across other stuff that just seems like a perfect addition.






































I played around with putting a plant on top. I really like that idea so I may have to look for something smallish but slow-growing and light-loving since it'll be right in front of a window.














I love with a capital L-O-V-E that I now have a little lamp in that space. Anyone who's been over at night knows that our foyer is a dark and scary place even with the foyer light on so it's great to now have some extra light. I actually have Jeremy to thank for the ability to illuminate the space because he put the outlet in. Thanks, Jeremy!



















I need to find a new home for that mirror, and I think I want to hang my big M over the pictures. But then that leaves a lot of blank space up above. I'm not sure if the emptiness looks bad to me just because I'm used to having the mirror up or if it really does require that something be hung up there.

I wonder if Michelle Obama is having these kind of issues in the White House?

Some assembly required

I ordered a table for our foyer (such that it is) from Walmart and it came in yesterday. After a few chores around the house and some sustenance from Jersey Mike's, I decided to put the table together. Of course, I had some help...

"Here, it says you need to use glue."














"Thanks, Tucker, that did the trick. Thank goodness I have you reading the directions for me. What's next?"














Tori supervised, but she had other projects to check on so she couldn't stay long.














Tori came back to check on my progress. "How's it going over here? You got that screw in yet?"














And, just like the magic of HGTV where one minute they're painting a room and the next it's dry and they're hanging pictures, here's the table all assembled with no leftover parts.



















Now for the hard part: decorating the table.

Our neighbors are putting in a decent-sized garden. I don't know how much dirt they had dropped off in their driveway, but it was a lot. They transported it all to the backyard in the bed of their Sport Track, which got stuck back there twice (that we know of - they may've been too embarrassed to admit to it happening more than that). Once all the dirt was moved to its final resting place, they needed to clean off the driveway.

Guess where all the dirt and water - a.k.a. mud - that they washed off their driveway ended up?

At the end of ours.

The McHusband, knowing that it was going to rain this weekend, wanted to get the mud washed away so that we weren't tracking it down our driveway and into the garage all weekend. Once he got that cleaned up, he moved to the backyard.

The side of the house has mildew on it and has since before we moved in. We tried to get the previous owners to powerwash the house, but they didn't agree to those terms so guess what? We get to powerwash it. And by "we," of course I mean the McHusband.



















"Careful, McHusband!"



















You can't tell, but the McHusband's wearing his fancy sound-deadening headphones so that instead of mower or powerwasher noise contributing to hearing loss, loud music can do the trick. Anyway, there was a bowl down by the bottom of the ladder and it had some water in it. The McHusband kicked it or stepped in it and pretty much soaked his foot. He said - well, he thought he SAID; he pretty much shouted - "Aw, s#^t!"

I later told him, "No cursing while wearing those things." I don't think the neighbors with their 3-year-old and 1-year-old would appreciate the kids learning new words from the McHusband.

A toast!

The McHusband and I toasted my work yesterday. I had a mini-bottle of champagne from Christmas so I made mimosas because I don't like plain champagne and I didn't figure I could do my usual and add diet Sprite to it - that's a lot of bubbles. I also don't really care for orange juice, but OJ and champagne = good.

Anyway, my office is doing pretty well so far this year so we got what I suppose is a delayed end-of-year bonus. Yay!

An interesting thing to note: That picture is of our mimosas is in honor of my "windfall." What's in the background? A Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, a Lucky 32 coupon, and an Ann Taylor Loft coupon. You know, it was more of a breeze-fall so I gotta make sure I keep saving when I can.

Lyla and Owen

As of our trip this past weekend, Lyla is 8 months old and Owen's about 4 1/2 months old. I know it's a cliche but I can't help saying, "They just grow so fast!"

Lyla showed us how she can play by herself and even stand up (mostly on her own) and dance.

Did you see G'ma's mad babysitting skills at the beginning? Thank goodness for lots of padding in those diapers. And don't tell Bri, but I think Lyla might get her dancing skills from her Aunt Steph.

All that dancing's hard work (just ask Bri) so Lyla had a take a nap before we left.

Owen, like Lyla and Chase, likes the horsey even though he's not quite big enough to really get it. He was content to hang out in it while we were eating breakfast, then I worked on getting some smiles out of him.

The McHusband even took a turn holding Owen. Doesn't he look like a pro?

Worth a thousand words

As promised, here are the pictures, in the order they appeared, from the frame that we gave the McMom for her birthday. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but it's not that easy to get a three-month old to both look in the direction of the camera AND have a cute look on his face, especially when it's cold and windy and close to naptime. That should explain the annoyed look on Chase's face in the picture of just him, Jenny, and Kevin.




















































For those of you who don't know, Kevin is actually 2 years YOUNGER than the McHusband. Jenny's almost 3 years to the day younger than I am, but I doubt you were wondering about that since I probably don't look that much older than her. Right? RIGHT?

Maybe you shouldn't answer that question.

Fun at Leigh and Mickey's

Morgan and Tucker had a blast at Leigh and Mickey's this past weekend. Sure, Duke felt the need to put Tucker in his place with some barking and he humped both dogs throughout the weekend, and Tucker peed on their kitchen floor and got all ADHD at mealtime. Fun times, right?

Here are the dogs in the mornings. Notice the foot in the doorway kicking them out so Leigh and Mickey could get a few minutes of peace and quiet while they got ready.














After getting some fresh air, it was time to line up for toys.



















At night, all Morgan wanted to do was put a paw over her head and go to sleep. She's not as young as she used to be and she needs her rest.














Thank you, Leigh and Mickey and Duke and Daisy! We all appreciate it very much. Duke and Daisy, we'll see you guys in March.

Happy Birthday, McMom!

We daughters-in-law, along with the McHusband, Kevin, and the McDad - connived to put together a surprise dinner with the McMom's friends this past Saturday night in honor of her 60th birthday. Cantina 1511 on Rea Road hosted our event and they did a great job.

I don't have access to all the pictures right now, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post about the dinner.

Here's a pretty good shot of our table.














My mom suggested sparkler candles in the shapes of numbers (a 6 and a 0) for the McMom's cake. I thought it was a great idea because I didn't figure she wanted 60 candles on the cake, and sparklers are fun, right?

Here's the cake coming out. Looks like fun, yes?














The McMom: "Um, McHusband, don't tell her right now because I appreciate the effort, but I actually don't like sparklers so no more sparkler candles in the future, okay?"














"Oh man, I really hate this. But they're throwing me a party so I guess I need to act excited. So, um, yay! Now someone please put the fire out. And get me another margarita."














Sorry, McMom!

I think we redeemed ourselves with our gift. We kids snuck out at the same time the day after Christmas and had our wedding photographer take our picture at the Ballantyne Resort.














I'll put the individual pictures in another post.

Of course, I can't end this post without a picture of Chase, who was a great guest at the dinner. He got hot so Kevin and Jenny took his pants off (the only stripping of the evening), and once he cooled off, he was happy to inspect his other grandma's jacket. Something about those stripes grabbed his attention and he grabbed right back.













All in all, it was a very fun day and night, and we were really excited to be able to pull off the surprise.

Friday Funny

(Courtesy of my Grandma Grace.)

A woman goes to the doctor for her yearly physical. The nurse starts with certain basic items.

"How much do you weigh?" she asks.
"115," replies the woman.

The nurse puts her on the scale. Turns out, she weighs 150.

The nurse asks, "Your height?"
The woman says, "5 feet 8 inches."

The nurse measures and sees that woman's only 5-foot-4.

The nurse then takes the woman's blood pressure and tells the woman it's very high.

"Of course it's high!" screams the woman. "When I came in here, I was tall and slender. Now I'm short and fat!"

TGIF!!!

A small big dog

We took Morgan and Tucker over to Leigh and Mickey's last night. They're staying with them while we're in Charlotte this weekend. It's getting harder and harder to get around with both of them and both of us in one car. Typically, I ride in the backseat with Morgan, and Tucker rides up front. That's how we did it last night in the truck. However, if we could count on Morgan to curl up like she did and stay that way for the whole ride, we could fit several Tuckers in the backseat.














She fit on just one seat - see how she's not overlapping onto the rest of the bench? Even her tail stayed on one side of the line.

Now let's all say a prayer for Leigh and Mickey and their sanity. And their livers. They might need to drink a LOT this weekend.

Now THAT's a bark

The McHusband has some song that starts out with dogs barking. I was downstairs watching TV last night and all of a sudden I hear Tucker barking in the bonus room where he, Morgan, and the McHusband are. When I came up later and asked about it, the McHusband showed me.

Apparently, Tucker doesn't like these invisible but loud dogs invading his space. He went over to sit by the McHusband, who says Tucker was protecting him. I'm not so sure Tucker wasn't actually the one looking for some protecting.

Silly puppy.

This one's for the McDad

The McInlaws were up on Sunday and the McDad hadn't seen the house since the day we closed. We toured the house but spent the majority of the time in the kitchen and den. The McDad was very quick to point out that my blue rug from the other house, which worked great in my blue kitchen, clashed with what we have going on in the new house.

This wasn't news to me, I just hadn't found a new rug yet.

I didn't have to work yesterday (gotta love President's Day) so I headed to the mall. I'd found a rug, the Murphy rug in brown, on Crate & Barrel's web site that I wanted to check out in person. I thought it would work so I brought it home.

Before with the blue rug:



















And now with my new Murphy rug:



















I don't think he should quit his day job(s) and I don't think Nate Berkus should be worried about job security, but I appreciate the McDad's input. It was just what I needed to get motivated to find a new rug. Thanks, McDad!

Babies' first Valentine's Days

I think my blog would win the award of Most V-Day posts. Sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. This should be the last one.

I couldn't resist getting something for each of the babies and since I've tried to be really good about not getting them clothes (because they all have MORE than enough), I decided I could give in this one time.

Here's Lyla's summer outfit:



















A close-up of the onesie:














And Chase's new outfit. (I don't know if he'll like it, but I heard Kevin did.)



















Here's what I got Owen. I can't wait to see him in his jeans.



















Just so I don't have to do yet ANOTHER Valetine post, I'm gonna include a picture of the roses the McHusband got for me.



















Okay, that's it, no more V-Day posts. Until next year anyway.

The backsplash

Last Saturday, the McHusband was finishing up the under-cabinet lighting at midnight. This past Saturday, he finished installing the the backsplash on the fridge wall at 12:30 that night.

Maybe we need to get out more.

Or not, because...the tile looks FAB-U-LOUS!

I wasn't the only one ready for bed by the time the project was finished for the night. Tucker, Tori and Morgan were, too.




























As with our Valentine's Day dinner, the McHusband gets all the credit. He did a great job, especially considering it was his first time tiling. I think we were smart to go with the kind of tile that had the mesh back. I'm not sure the McHusband would've been so gung-ho about the project if we'd gone with a larger tile but one that had to be installed one tile at a time.

Next up is grouting all that tile. It'll be messy and not much fun, but we can handle it.

V-Day dinner

As promised, the McHusband made dinner for us Saturday night. He'd chosen a shrimp alfredo recipe and it was scrumptious. I only helped a tad so he gets all the credit for making a wonderful meal.

Tucker, of course, was close by. That night, he was volunteering for clean-up duty in hopes that a shrimp would miss the pan. No such luck. Sorry, Tuck!

Check him out, he's got not one, but TWO pots going!

Voila! Shrimp with Spinach and Alfredo Sauce.

Bad luck

I don't really worry about Friday the 13th. Any Friday's a good one, right?

When I got home from work this past Friday, I headed upstairs like I usually do to feed the cats and get the dogs. When I opened the door to the bonus room, this is what I saw.














See that gray towel? Morgan's dog bed is usually right about there up against the couch. It was way over to the side:














Upon closer inspection, I realized that those little pieces of something all over the floor used to be the hand-held steam vac attachment that had been on the weight bench. Neither dog had ever paid it any attention before. (Disclaimer: By "neither," I really mean Tucker.)

The plastic part of the attachment was clear and the brush part was green.




























I think I know why Morgan's bed was so far out of place. Tucker had not only torn up that old plaid comforter after dragging it off the couch, he had also peed on it and Morgan didn't want to be anywhere near his mess.

Apparently, the McHusband didn't get the crate latched properly when he put the dogs away in the morning. There's no telling how long Tucker was a free man, but it was long enough. Thankfully, he didn't destroy anything important like the desk, the couch, or one of the McHusband's cars.

So, what do you think? Was it a coincidence that this happened on Friday the 13th, or should I start being more superstitious?