About Video Games

This blog is written by my son George:

How about new people make a new video game. Like, you know, Ironman. You can be on a bad guy side or a good guy side and you can be on any side you want. You have to make a secret password to enter like Ninja, James Bond or Samaria. How about they make a new World War II game. You can be on the German side or the American side. You can make the name Honored Metals of Death. And you can like ride in vehicles like a half-track, a German bomber plane, a tank and also a battleship and a submarines and an aircraft carrier. You can also like ride in shooter planes you can also get a machine gun or an AA gun. You would have to hit the triangle to get in if you have a PlayStation.

Uuuuhhhh...

I have been wanting to make a new post forever and I just can't think of anything to write about. Here are some things I have been thinking of:
1. George's birthday party
2. Harper's birthday party
3. Spring Break
4. Day trip to D.C.
5. Recent info about George's learning disabilities
6. A basket I made to sit on the stairs and catch crap that should be upstairs
7. A yummy and delicious mushroom lasagna I made
8. My love for Ina Garten
I think that's it. At any rate I feel stumped but wanted to at least write something.

Run, Forrest, Run!

There is nothing I delight in more to welcome the Spring to good '0l Richmond, Va. than the Monument Avenue 10K. It gets bigger and bigger every year and it is so much fun to run in and to watch. This year there were 33,000 runners signed up for the big event. If you have not participated in the 10K in some capacity then where the hell have you been? My husband is quiet the runner if I don't mind saying so. He runs in everything and does great. He finished this race in 46 minutes. Not bad for an old man. Ha ha. A bunch of my friends ran and walked all finishing with exceptional times.

Let's see...who else did we see out there? Well, there was Indiana Jones being chased by an enormous boulder, 2 green men, a gladiator (who actually painted his body gold), Superman, Batman, Flash Gordon, a few Where's Waldo's, Leprechauns, Cheetah Girls, a dude that was wearing a mile countdown till his first beer, several very small children (hard core), Hoosier cheerleaders, a solider carrying a full size American flag, Darth Vader, Chubacka (I have know idea how to spell that correctly) , and lots and lots of people with a very determined look on their face.

This year also holds special significance for our little family. We are approaching the 1 year anniversary of all of Harper's hospital stays and her road to recovery. Last year I bundled her up and went out to cheer on her Dad for a brief moment. The following Monday she was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and so began all of her hurdles. Here we are a year later and she is a happy, healthy, growing baby girl. She is so full of energy and personality. She is a feisty little thing. Good thing she is too. We all think that's what has gotten her to this point so we will take that.

I will be posting pictures from her birthday soon. I have both my kids birthdays to post, actually. That's partly why I have been away so long.

Good to be back!

Distracted By All Sorts of Distractions

Between planning two birthday parties, snow days and my two new obsessions I have been a little distracted lately. It's nice to be back. I have sat down so many times to update my blog and instead of writing I start reading. This is one of my new obsessions. I can't stop reading all of the wonderful blogs out there. One site leads to another then another and before you know it a ridiculous amount of time has passed and not one word on my own little site has been typed. My favorite blogs are the ones written by women who are just sharing what's happening in their lives or projects they have finished or recipes they have been working on. It's great. I stay home with my family and it's so nice in the middle of the day when my son is at school and my daughter is napping to sit down and look at all of the pictures and read the funny stories. It's like having a whole bunch of friends here with me.

My second new obsession is decorating my house. I have been so inspired by all of these things I have discovered on blogs recently. My older sister has also been looking at things for us. She is awesome. She has my style pegged. She found this amazing website for vintage posters. I want them all. Seriously, all of them. Here are a few pictures of things I adore:

I love everything about this room. The pictures from floor to ceiling set such a cool tone for the room. I also love the lime green lamp with the orange in the sofa. By the way, the tulips in the vase are the same as the ones I used in my wedding. Obviously I must love those.

This kitchen makes me want to lay down on it's beautiful brick floor and cry I love it so much. Maybe I should just draw a picture of myself sitting at the table on the dry erase wall so I will never have to leave it.

I will and I repeat will be doing this in my daughter's bedroom. We will hopefully be moving her soon in to our room and we will be moving into a new room. The ceiling in my room (soon to be Harper's room) are perfect for this look because they are curved. How sweet is that?!

Last but not least I will leave you with a sampling of the vintage posters my sister found. They are gorgeous...

Aah, the Mystery...

So I sat down earlier tonight ready to write all about how inspired I am feeling. There are so many amazing blogs out there that just make you want to create. I also went shopping at Anthropologie this afternoon. That store always makes me feel inspired in so many ways. But I was quickly interrupted by horrifying screams through the baby monitor. I rushed up to see what was wrong. Did she have a nightmare? Did she pull something on top of her? Did she lay on an appendage in some odd way? The answer, my friends, to all of these questions is no. She had what one can only describe as...the dreaded sleeping poop.

What is the dreaded sleeping poop you ask. Well, I will tell you but I can not explain how it happens. The dreaded sleeping poop is a phenomenon, a mystery, a subject I may ponder for the rest of my days. The dreaded sleeping poop is when a baby some how poops in her sleep and wakes herself up scared crapless (no pun intend). Harper does this from time to time and it always fascinates me. There are so many questions that surround this topic.

How does a person poop in their sleep? Do they push and not know it until it's to late or does the poop somehow know you are sleeping and just slip out on it's own? If you do push is that what wakes you up or is it the strange poop in your diaper that does the waking? How does your body know when you are too old to poop in your sleep? Are we all at risk of someday waking up to a sleeping poop? Could you imagine that? There you are snoozing away all cuddled up in your comfy bed. You are dreaming of some delicious meal you just had and how full and happy you are and then BOOM! There it is, like a nightmare, the...dreaded...sleeping...poop. Who will comfort you then? Certainly your mom won't be there to make sure you're cleaned up and rock you back to sleep like she did back when you were a baby and you use to always crap in your sleep. What will become of you then?

And so I bring my thoughts to a close for the night. Aah, the mystery. I hope I don't dream of food tonight.

I Heart My Husband & Friends

Today is my birthday...I am a glorious 33. Can someone please tell me how that happened? I'm just kidding, I actually have an idea about how that phenomenon came to pass. It has something to do with the birds and the bees and time moving forward...

Anyway, I realized last night (not for the first time) how lucky I am to have my husband and wonderful group of friends in my life. We had our closest friends over last night for Chinese takeout and it was great. I got some really beautiful flowers and balloons and funny cards. I got something else much bigger and much better though, I got to spend the evening with people that I love, admire, laugh with, cry with and just genuinely enjoy being around. These people make me a better person for knowing them. I feel so blessed to be all grown up and to have a husband that is my best best friend and to have such a close knit group of chums. This is the best birthday gift I could ever imagine. My husband in particular is a real gift. He is the most thoughtful, caring, sweet, funny, honest, charming, handsome man I have ever met. He makes me happy every single day. He always knows when I need him the most and he never lets me down. I can trust him with the most intimate parts of my soul and he cherishes that and keeps that part of me safe. I don't know what my life would be like without him. I just love him so much. I can't ever think of the words that do justice in describing my deep admiration, respect and love for him.

Thank you to all of you for your friendship. Brett, I love you with everything I am.

Moving on to my next order of business...I have received an award from one of the above mentioned chums and the person that inspired me to pick back up my blog in the first place...Annie from Two Up Two Down: This Girl's Journey from OK to VA. Thanks Annie you rock!

Rules do accompany this honor:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

I will pass this award along with honor. Thanks again.

Why Do Boys Dress Like Girls?

Brett and I went to a fundraising event last night for Freedom House. Freedom House is a local organization that fights homelessness in the Richmond, Va. area. It was a really cool event at

The Canal Club. There is a group of bands from all over that are touring the country and donating all of the ticket sales to a local charity organization. The bands were good and it was very fun to be out on Monday night. I hope they made a nice little chunk of money.

Now to the point of this blog...why do boys dress like girls? I can't tell you a time where I have felt old, EVER, until last night. There we were hanging out and we were surrounded by younger people all dressed the same. It was a unisex crowd if you will. I was sure that there were more girls there then boys but I was very wrong. Every time I thought a girl was walking by it was in fact a boy. The skinny jean and very large flat bottom tennis shoe with a hoody. Now there is a look. How on earth do you even get those things on? No man should be able to get himself into something that tight. Especially if it is made with a denim material. All I can figure is possibly using Vaseline or baby powder. Maybe they even shave themselves smooth all over so they can wither around on the floor tugging and pulling till they have managed to get a teenage girl sized jean on. All of this leads to yet another question, at the end of the day when you are exhausted from standing around in your skinny jeans (there is no way they can possibly sit in these things) how do you get them off? Does it take more then one person to do this? The questions could go on and on. I haven't even gotten into the straightened hair or the confusion of gender in the bathroom.

I am girl who loves a mans man. I want my husband to look the part. I am not interested in sharing my clothes or products with him. This whole thing really throws me and so I must be getting old.

Perfect Example of Mind Wandering

As I mentioned in my previous blog the other night Harper stayed up and wailed off and on from 3:45 till about 6:00 in the morning. To keep myself awake while I was rocking her my mind started to wander about the "perfect home". I have figured it out...(imagine drum roll here)

a brand new house that looks like an old farm house

on a farm in the middle of the city

Voila! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Why haven't I thought of this before? It would be awesome. It would have all the charms of an older home minus the drafts and the squeaky floors and lack of storage space on any level. You would have tons of space outside for a great yard and garden and a few animals. Your family could enjoy all the things that come along with being able to immerse themselves in nature and being responsible for taking care of animals and the land. They would also have all the advantages of growing up around things that culture them and shape their minds and of course, shopping.

Now the real question is...Is this possible? Can you have the simple life and the on-the-go city life at once?

Obviously, I know that you can't have a farm in the middle of the city but wouldn't it be great to be able to have that kind of lifestyle. I guess it is possible if you can balance your life just right. That is one good thing about Richmond, you aren't too far away from open outdoor activities and the city is trying really hard to act like a city. This is something I am going to work a little harder on. I want my kids to enjoy the outdoors and appreciate how delicate our environment is but I also want them to go to plays and eat in restaurants where they can get more then a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets. I want them to go camping and grow a garden and learn how to be patient enough to catch a fish but to also shop in stores that are not owned by corporations but neighbors and to enjoy concerts and community events and see how many different kinds of people live all around them.

This will be an interesting journey for all of us. I'll let you know in about 20 years if it worked. Wish me luck!

Looky Looky

Well, well, well look what I came across. I can't believe after all of this time I came across my blog again! What a reunion... we laughed, we cried. It was beautiful. I missed you blog.

So much has happened since last we were together. Marriage is still two big thumbs up and the house is still coming together. Making a home takes time, you know. We have had a beautiful baby girl. She is a total blessing and we all love her very much. Georgie just said yesterday how happy he is and that he always wanted a sister. Last night when she screamed for 3 hours the jury was out for the rest of us but what can you do? Just kidding. The jury is never out.