Home Improvement

Ever since we moved into this house in the Spring of 2006, our living room has been sparsely furnished. In a way, I kind of liked it. It looked nice and clean and big, but not very functional. As time has gone by, and we continue to host lots of guests each year, we became increasingly aware that we have little seating space. When people come over, we usually gather in the kitchen where there is a table and chairs. Or we lean on the kitchen counters for hours and talk. Our feet get a little tired when that happens. But, we could never justify the expense of more furniture, so we just dealt with it.

Now, with Mia's first birthday (wow!) coming up, we began to realize that with all the family coming for the big celebration, we had major problem. No seating! That is when we decided to go ahead and make the plunge, contribute again to the economy, and buy furniture. But this time, it wouldn't be the warehouse furniture we have purchased in the past (and regretted it). This time, we were determined to buy good, by-golly, last-twenty-lifetimes furniture.

So about 6 weeks ago, we found what we were looking for and after two weeks of agonizing (well, I agonized) over upholstery choices we purchased a love seat, chair and ottoman from a local manufacturer. I have to say, the whole order was a bit nerve racking for me. What if we didn't like the upholstery or the other details? I didn't like purchasing without seeng it first, but I had faith it would turn out great. We couldn't WAIT to get them. 6 weeks seemed forever away. We both had been daydreaming of this for years.

Yesterday was delivery day. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Mia was at daycare so I could get everything ready and clean. I was so excited I could have jumped out of my skin! All morning I flitted around, cleaning and cleaning, trying to keep myself busy to make the time move a bit faster.

Finally, they called to say they were 30 minutes out. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life. And the most productive. I hadn't been this excited since we bought our house!! (other than my daughter, but that was a different kind of excitement).

After what seemed like ages, we heard the rumble of the delivery truck.
I am jumping up at down at this point!
They're here! They're here!


Oh boy! Oh Boy! OH BOY!


If my hands were not full with the camera, I probably would have been jumping and clapping and embarrassing my husband. It's GORGEOUS!!!


I think Gabe is pretty happy too. The look on his face says he is daydreaming of all the reading he will do on this couch. Yea right. Who has time for leisurely reading?

This is when I really went to work. I had to put the room together and make all my dreams come true.

Viola!

Now I can't stop staring at it. I walk into the room just to stare for a few minutes. Is it weird to be so obsessed with furniture?

I need to get out more.

Sunday Best

A couple of Sunday's ago, Gabe and I vowed to make it to church. See, we have had a New Year's resolution to go to church more. But having a baby sort of puts a kink into those plans since her nap time always seems to fall right when church is supposed to start. And, being total saps, we cannot bring ourselves to wake that slumbering angel out of a peaceful sleep to drag her to a church nursery where she will torture the attendant to death with her crankiness.

But that Sunday, we had a plan. We would get up early enough to make it to the early service that was before her nap. Well, we got up, got dressed in our Sunday best. However, somehow, we were running too late to make it to the 8:30 service at our normal church.
Darn it!
"Well, the Lutheran church has a 9am service", I offered. We have been thinking about trying out different churches ever since the pastor that we loved got transferred.

So off we go to the Lutheran church. But we get there and things just don't feel right. It was a very small church with a sanctuary the size of my living room. The people there were not very friendly or welcoming. It just felt wrong. So we turned around and went back to the car feeling a bit defeated.

As we drove out of the parking lot, we looked at each other and thought the same thing.
"We got up early, and got dressed up for this. We are going to church, I don't care where it is!!"

So, we went to Mass.

Bugs

So, our little munchkin has developed an affinity for ladybugs.

Who doesn't like ladybugs? They are cute and sweet. They don't bite. They are great for a garden.

But each fall, we get infested with them. Hundreds and hundreds of ladybugs converge on the house. Through the winter we are constantly cleaning up ladybugs. Each time I think I finally have them all, more show up. They are all dying so they fall to the floor. This is where Mia comes in.

She loves to play with them, studiously pick them up from the floor (which is hard to do), and yes....eat them.

Each time I discover she has something in her mouth, I dig around (much to her disliking) and out comes the desecrated ladybug.

Yuk.

With the spring, the ladybugs finally disappear. Then the flies come.

Oh boy.

Double yuk!

Pic(s) of the Week: Winter Wonderland

Seems like every other day we have been getting snow. This last storm was so pretty I had to take pictures...

Pic(s) of the Week

So the other night I am emptying the dishwasher while Mia was playing contently on the floor. I somehow got lost in putting away the silverware and when I finally turned back around, I found this:



All I have to say is thank goodness for cell phone cameras...