Basement mini-makeover

Up until a few weeks ago, our basement got little use since it was sparse, cold, and hard. We didn't spend much time down there. With Christmas and the inevitable growth of toys upon us, we decided to fix it up so it would be more inviting for us to play and hang out down there. We didn't to spend a lot of money because it's temporary and, well, we don't have a lot, but I think we did a pretty good job!

The walls had been damaged by moisture before we had working gutters (the previous homeowner drilled holes into the gutters for who knows what reason). Kevin scraped off the damaged paint with a wire brush. Before carpet, it was gray concrete floor. We got a big remnant for a good price, and Kev and my dad laid it down with carpet tape.

My co-worker/art teacher friend Amy helped me decide what color to paint the walls. We went with Georgian Bay by Sherwin Williams. We used SW's online color visualizer to come up with a coordinating color, Navajo White. Once I started painting the white walls, I realized they already WERE Navajo White. I put on a very quick coat of it on, not worrying about covering the entire area. I'd like to either buy a vinyl decal or have Amy paint something on a wall, but for now they're just blank.

Here are the before-and-after comparisons

As you're coming down the steps. My mom gave Colin some foam floor tiles for Christmas and they almost fill in the concrete part.

Bottom of the steps looking to the left. The laundry room, bathroom, and storage room are down that hallway. I'd like to buy a plastic magazine rack to hang on the wall by the little table to store coloring books in. Some day we'll get a little table and chairs to replace the IKEA end table and hand-me-down camping chair :)

The treadmill :)

The future TV/couch area. Once we get our big TV fixed, we'll move our small TV down to this corner. My parents graciously offered to give us an old loveseat they have just sitting around. Kevin would like to enclose the stairs and have a TV mounted to the wall someday.

Now we spend a lot of time in the basement "cooking," "camping," building, playing trucks, fixing things with tools, riding four wheelers, and just running around or dancing to music. It's not our dream basement by any means, but for now it's a dream come true for Colin and us!

Colin's first piece of jewelry

We bought Colin a necklace and it came in the mail the other day. It's made of amber and it's used to relieve teething pain, among other things. As the amber heats up from body temperature, the amber releases healing oils containing succinic acid which are absorbed into the skin and into the bloodstream. Sounds made up, doesn't it? I've heard so many good things about these necklaces that I thought it would be worth a shot. It's a heck of a lot better than giving him orajel and tylenol and motrin if we *think* he's teething. He can wear it to bed, too.

He loves it! He was kind of mad last night when I had to take it off at bath time. After I told him he could put it back on after his bath, he was happier. So maybe he feels better when he wears it. He even shows it off to other people.
I know, it looks a little girly. I was going to buy him a darker-colored one that was more boyish, but the lighter the amber color, the more succinic acid it has in it. We need all the help we can get here! Maybe next time I'll get a mixture of dark and light.

I'll let you know how he tolerates these canines that are taking their sweet precious time to pop through.

Amber (and hazelwood) helps even adults with a wide variety of problems such as eczema, acne, rashes, earaches, fevers, colds, upset stomach, etc. The website Hazelaid is where we bought ours and it has more information if you're interested!

Christmas (the photos of it)

The kids by the Christmas tree.
Kevin's family's side on Christmas Eve

The "stand-by-your-large-present and smile!" picture, without a smile.

Four-wheeler #1, for use in the new and improved basement

Opening presents at our house Christmas morning

This is right after I turned on the lights and Colin saw his presents under the tree.
It's a tired but surprised face.

When they're this little, you can wrap a shampoo cup and it's okay!Rocket got a bottle buddyMy family's side on the 26th

Passing out presents, which he was actually quite good at!

Hanging out in his new tent

His uncles think alike! Four-wheeler #2, deemed for outside use

Thanks, family, for your generosity! You sure know how to spoil our little dude. We fixed up the basement a little bit knowing he'd have a lot of new toys coming. Can you imagine a four-wheeler, a tent, a kitchen, a work bench, and MORE in our living room? Me neither. Thank goodness for the basement. I will post some before-and-afters of said basement later this week.

Christmas (the short of it)

Because I could go on forever about what we ate and what presents we gave and received, I will only give you only a quick rundown of festivities.

On Christmas Eve, we went to church. This, I think, was the very first time I've ever been to church on Christmas Eve. Sacrilegious, I know. But it was nice, and Colin did amazingly well listening and watching all the babies and big kids around him. Then we went to Kevin's parents house. Colin got introduced to the word "present" and the fun things that hide in small (and big!) boxes underneath a tree.

On Christmas Day, Colin woke up and toddled into a dark living room. When I turned the lights on, he saw his blue chair and presents and was ready to open them right away. After having breakfast, we packed up the car and headed to Mankato where my aunt lives. It was a long drive, but Colin was a great rider! He slept only about half the drive time, but the awake half he was content just riding. From Mankato, we went to Rochester and spent the night.

On the 26th, my brother and his girlfriend arrived at my parents house. After brunch, Colin was laying on the floor on his belly propped up on his elbows, hands clasped, waiting patiently for the go-ahead to open more presents. Oh how I wish I took a picture of that. The one in my head is so cute that any photography skillz of mine just wouldn't do it justice. He helped pass out presents and then got to dig into the goodies. Kevin drove home that afternoon because he had to work on Monday. My mom, Colin, and I went to Target and when we strolled down the toy aisle, he thought everything was "presents."

Colin woke up at 3:45 on the 27th and wanted to be awake. I, of course, thought that was insane and refused to let him go to the living room and play. I kid you not, he cried, screamed, kicked, scratched, hit, jumped, fell on the floor, etc. for at least an hour and 15 minutes if not longer. I did my best to calm him down or ignore him. Finally, he climbed into bed on top of my face and fell asleep until he woke up at 7:30. After getting ready and packing up the car, Colin and I went to my friend's house to see her new baby girl. Then we met up with Jess and Nolan at the House of Bounce. It was Toddler Time, and there sure we a lot of them there! We ate lunch at our favorite pizza joint where Colin ate at LEAST half a slice of pizza. Then we buzzed out of town. Colin slept the whole way home.

Pictures to come.

"I'm AJ. Nice to meet you. I'm 30."

^That's how I feel I need to introduce myself to people these days. Weird, right? And not that I actually have, but I feel like everyone's wondering, "Is she in her 20s or her 30s?" Eh, c'est la vie. We all turn 30 sometime.

We celebrated by going to Brady's Brewhouse. It's in town, but when you walk in, you feel like you're somewhere in the Twin Cities. The atmosphere is awesome. The food? Not so much. I ordered a cheeseburger stuffed with Ellsworth cheese curds, which I expected to be ooey gooey goodness. Instead, the bun was pretty crispy and the burger didn't have much taste. Kev had a hamburger with peanut butter inside it, and Colin noshed on some Goldfish-encrusted chicken fingers. I also had a glass of wine. Moscato d'Asti, of course :)

On Thursday, my co-worker teammates treated me to a lunch which was pretty tasty. They gave me this book (notice the dog's name is Rocket and the guy's name is Jake):
Which reminded me that(in regards to my first graders, half of whom are checked out at any given time, but are perfectly capable of what I ask them to do)

On Friday, I got to hang out with some of my co-workers and drink some fuzzy navels and down a few jello shots. I called it an "early" night at 11:30. The rest of them stayed out much later. My excuse for leaving was that if I left right then, I'd be able to get 7 hrs of sleep. That didn't happen! Colin's not sleeping well again, and that night I probably got about 4 hours of interrupted sleep.

On Saturday we had a busy house! My friend Stephie came up and we got pedicures, which was so nice in the cold weather. In case you're curious, my nail polish color is "No Spain, No Gain." (dark plummy purple). Then we ate lunch. Thanks for the girl time, Stephie!!

My parents, bro, and his girlfriend came up as well. We had dinner (grilled chicken veggie tortellini of course!), chatted, and did the present thing. I got some cash to buy some much-needed work clothes with. One of these days I'll take a picture of my sad closet to show you all why my clothes are on a week-long rotation. I also got this:
Yes, it's a baby carrier. But it's best for bigger babies and toddlers. Colin likes to be carried.
Annoying? Yes. But it's just the way he is. He likes to see what's going on. If I have to have him up high, I'd rather wear him and be hands-free than hold him and not get anything done.

Does he like it? I think so. He was being a crab.ster. tonight and just wanted to be carried around the house, so I put him in it and after he realized he'd be okay in it, he succumbed to the coziness of it and calmed down.

1 more day left and I am a free woman for 11 days! Christmas break is here! Just in time, too, because while I really do adore my class this year, a few of the boys are starting to wear on each others nerves. Let's hope a good, long break from their classmates will do some good!

Happy National Cupcake Day!

You know I love a cupcake. I craved them during pregnancy and I can't say no every time a student at school offers me one (unless, of course, it looks less than appetizing). The latter could also indicate why my pants don't fit as nicely as they did in August.

In honor of this truly delicious holiday, I'd like to offer you the finest of googled images for your viewing pleasure. (Click images to go to websites)

oh.em.gee. A strawberry inside a cupcake? Heaven.Two of my food loves, cheeseburgers and cupcakes, all rolled into one sweet bite:

You know I could go on and on.
What national food day does your birthday fall on? Check it out HERE. Here's a fun idea! Write a comment and tell us all! :D

I wouldn't be a true Minnesconsinite if I didn't write about the Blizzard of 2010.

From early morning to late afternoon Saturday, we had a total of 15 inches of snow dumped on us. These pictures were taken when Kevin was blowing snow for the second time that day.
Our weekend plans were canceled (my parents were going to come up overnight) and instead, we were snowed in. Being snowed in is great fun with a 1 1/2 year old (did anyone ever come up with a saracasm font yet? I'd like to use it). We all wore our comfy clothes all day long, and Colin and I took a nice nap. We did manage to get the little man outside for about 15 minutes.
Here are some other pictures from days and weeks past.
BFFs. Can you tell by Rocket's expression?:
Decorating the tree:His "say cheese" face:
These are the newest words and phrases often heard around the house:
"Beer" (bear)
"Wha doin?" (What are you doing?)
"Boddet" (Rocket)
"Ah mama" (Come on, Mama)
"Bed oo" (Bless you)
"Ay doo" (Thank you)
"bun" (fun, run, & pen)
"bus" (Bugs--a game he plays on Kevin's iPad)
"Beep" (sweep)
"Brrrr" (It's cold)
"Ba bowa" (snow blower)
"edgie" (veggies)
"om" (ham)
"Nanny" (Sandy)
"Die" (outside)
"Didder" (Tigger)
"Mo-ah" (more--the way Bostonians say it)--see video below
"Boooow!" (whoa!)--see video below


I also heard "Da doo-doo ba day-er!" (There's a choo-choo back there!) when he saw it in the back of the Explorer. I promptly got it out of the car and into hiding that night. It's his Christmas present, and although he was with us when we bought it, I didn't want him taking an interest in it yet!

Back in the saddle

As you know, I ran a 5K back in September. I actually loved training for it, I loved running it, and I wanted to continue to run. But I got sick and couldn't run for fear of leaving a lung behind on the sidewalk. In Mid-November, I was feeling normal again, and started to get the itch to run again.

I debated getting a Snap membership and actually going 3 times a week to qualify for my health insurance discount. That's what always happens though. I sign up, and by the end of that first month, I don't go the required amount of times to qualify and have to pay the full amount. Needless to say, it was my cheapest option.

That is, until I had a light bulb moment. I do my clearest thinking in the shower. Like yesterday morning, when I started thinking about chickens and eggs and twin-yolk eggs and wondering if twin chickens would ever develop long enough to both hatch. Luckily, my school's library aide raises chickens and she told me that she's never had twins hatch out of an egg. She thinks that one chicken twin dies while the other one lives. ANYWAY...

So, I began thinking that maybe I could check craigslist for a cheap treadmill. Then I had a better idea. Kevin's' grandma had a treadmill, and I wondered what happened to it. I asked Kevin to ask his mom, and she was storing it in her basement. She didn't need it because she already had one.

Kevin dragged (drug?) it home last night and set it up.

I stepped onto it today and started my 5-minute brisk walk. Then I ran for 15 minutes for a total of 1.5 miles without walking. I decided to stop there so I don't over-train right away. I'm tellin' ya, it was awesome :) What's not awesome, though, is the view. A surround of white wall makes for a non-scenic run. It's okay though! It's just for winter and rainy day use.

Thanks, J, for the treadmill!

Also, I'd like to say that if today were any other day but a Saturday or Sunday, we'd sooo have a snow day and I wouldn't have to go to work. It's only 1:2o pm, but we already have over 10 inches of snow that has fallen in the past, I don't know, 12 hrs.

Cookies were made

I went to a cookie bake today and had a very low-key mass-cookie-producing good time. There were 6 of us (the 7th had given her cookies to me to distribute). 1 co-worker, 1 former co-worker, 1 principal of the middle school and her mom, 1 middle school art teacher, and 1 partridge in a pear tree.

We brought a batch pre-made, bagged, and ready to share. About half of us also made another kind of cookie while there. We ended up spending about 5 hours baking and frosting, but it didn't seem that long at all. I hadn't seen my former co-worker since June, so it was soooo good to see her again because she's a delight.

It's also interesting to see what other peoples' definition of a classic Christmas cookie is.

I made Peanut butter cup cookies and White chocolate cranberry cookies. I now have about a dozen of the following as well:
-snowballs
-snickerdoodles
-more snickerdoodles?? or maybe they're some lemon creation??
-wreaths made from corn flakes like rice krispie bars
-green and red M&M cookies
-russian tea cakes
-pizelles
-thin mint cookies
-3 dozen cut outs
-meltaways
-sponge cookies. Ever had them? I wasn't a fan.

So if you want cookies, you know where to find them! But if you're looking for sponge cookies, I threw them away. Snickerdoodles are up for grabs :) No fans of them in our house. Not even Colin.

Mom: Notice no spritz on that list. ::hint, hint::

A promise

*This is prompted by an episode of "Datetime20/20" (not sure of the television newsmagazine) I saw about 6 weeks ago*

Dear Colin,

I promise to not use my cell phone to gab (or text--eep!) while I'm driving. Very rarely I have to call Daddy really quickly to ask him a 30-second question that just can't wait. But I will not call my girlfriends to chat or text anyone when I'm behind the wheel. No conversation is worth risking our lives for.

I am a cautious driver, but I know that the distraction of a cell phone diverts my attention to the conversation and off the road. Even hands-free is distracting, so I won't go there either.

I am an example for you. Even though you won't be driving for another 15 years, you are watching my every move. Because I want you to be an attentive driver when that time comes, I will show you what one looks like.

I love talking to my girlfriends, but I love even more to hear your sweet little voice after a long day at work. Even though I hear hundreds of little voices in the 9 hours I am away from you, yours is undoubtedly, obviously, my favorite. I can always chat with my friends and family when we're home, safe and sound, with our feet on the ground.

I know I can keep this promise because I've already done it for over a month. It was hard that first week, but now it's just the way it is. I don't want to get us into a car accident and have the worst happen and make Daddy and all our family and friends be all alone without us.

This I promise you, Colin.

Love,
Mommy
*Picture taken in July from the passenger's seat when we were stopped at a gas station while Kev was pumping gas; not while I was driving ;)*

Thankful

Thanksgiving 2010 is history, but it's never to late to be thankful.

For the little oneand the big one
and the furry one
and the ones who raised me (circa 2000)
and the ones who I will always, without a doubt, call friends (circa 2006).
and e-mealz
and Dave Ramsey
and my job

And for material things. Like...
the best wine ever, a moscato d'asti called Marco Negriand my favorite sweatshirt
and the House of Bounce which was a super duper fun treat for Colin (and me!) yesterday.
(that word he says is "Bapa" which means Grandpa)

and oh-so-much more.