Progress on the Nursery!

Well, seeing as how this baby is more than halfway cooked, it seemed like time to get cracking on the nursery. Craig and our borrowed middle school kid (child labor is GREAT!) scrubbed all the paste from the ancient wall paper off the walls and got them cleaned and ready-- and then Craig's Dad came in to get the next step underway. Craig and Roy spent the week before thanksgiving sanding off ancient (probably lead based) very very chipped paint, patching walls and then painting everything with a good coat of primer followed by some paint. I had the very stressful job of choosing the paint colors--- yup, it was rough!

I think it turned out wonderfully, and the colors go just right with the bedding I got for a fantastic deal on eBay! I think that Craig is still going to hang a white crown moulding around the ceiling, but if not-- I think it looks pretty amazing right now! Other than that the room needs one more coat of blue on those parts, and then I am going to put some frogs on the wall (basically copying the design off the crib bedding onto one of the walls-- maybe with a few dragonflies here or there.) and then its just furniture and curtains and we are set!

I know the color looks like fluorescent lime in these pictures, but it is really not-- the color is sort of aloe-y and is called "lettuce alone" The bedding I chose is the Sammy the Frog set... you can see it here

Thanksgiving!

Our first Thanksgiving at home... other than a minor self-cooling turkey disaster (seriously... a 15.5lb turkey, fully thawed cooked for 7.5 hours at 350 and STILL was not done... who'd have thought that would happen?!?!) I'd have to say it was a success. I made a turkey (ok, I don't eat it, but I am told it was pretty good-- and Pappy actually asked for seconds which is pretty well unheard of, so it must have been darn good!), Stuffing with Sausage, Mashed potatoes with scallions, Candied Sweet potatoes with pecans, corn, peas, the infamous green bean casserole, rolls (ok, so pillsbury was responsible for those.... but crescents are SOOOOO good), opened the can o' cranberry jelly, and made apple galette with homemade caramel for dessert. (Fantastic stuff by the way!-- got the recipe from epicurious.com)


Craig's dad made these boiled dry peas ("Dad's peas" I am told) that only he eats--- so I will take no responsibility for that-- and Craig promises me that this is something that he has no sentimental attachment too-- just his dad. I suggested that if he wanted to keep that particular tradition going without torturing tastebuds, we could just donate some dried peas every year in honor of them... he thought that would be just dandy.


It was nice to spend the holiday at home, and it was great that Jane and Roy and my Pappy were able to join us (and take leftovers HOME with them!)



Craig with his Mom and Dad





Craig and Me. Not the most flattering photo of me-- but I'd been cooking since 8am-- and I was tired and HUNGRY.

One year ago (ok... so almost 13 months ago.... )

One year ago on November 4th, I was lucky enough to marry my wonderful husband Craig. Its been one terrific year and I am looking forward to all the years to come that we have to share. Happy Anniversary hon!

To celebrate, we headed off to DC-- where due to some fantastic connections through my SIL and her husband we got to stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner. Woohoo! It was wonderful to feel spoiled for a day. We drove down to DC, wandered the attached mall, lazed around (and enjoyed having cable for a few hours!) and then went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Mainly selected because they have guacamole made to order fresh... and well, my husband is a guacamole fan (I'd never had it before we met actually...) and had basically subsisted on the stuff while we were on our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta last year. (ok, so it was guacamole, girly drinks, and amazing fine dining at night) I had cheesecake-- white chocolate raspberry truffle cheescake. YUM. (Cheesecake is healthy for pregnant gals right?!?! lots of calcium!-- just allow me my delusions)





After dinner we headed back to the hotel and were greeted with a suprise platter of cheeses and sparkling apple cider from SIL and her husband. It was a great treat and I felt utterly spoiled by the whole day. Of course... I was asleep by 9pm.... gotta love the pregnant thing. But Craig had cable, so he was pretty content-- and it was nice just to not have to worry about getting up or fixing the house or anything the next day... so a nice lazy sleep in was definitely called for!






The next day we headed into DC and got a FREE parking space RIGHT IN FRONT of the Natural History Museum. We spent the afternoon browsing the fossils and animals and minerals and generally had ourselves a wonderful geeky time that was just right for us.

All in all a great weekend to cap off a wonderful first year.

Halloween and Trick or Treat

We had a boatload of little monsters come by for Trick or Treat-- which for some demented reason, our county did a WEEK before Halloween--- but anyway--- we were MOBBED with kids-- went through over 300 pieces of candy at 1 to a kid! People come to our street from neighboring counties to get more candy (lots of participating houses, all close together)

Plus Craig did this outstanding pumpkin of a Murphy head.

Kim, Ange, and Matt came over to help dole out candy and we snacked the evening away and giggled at cute costumes.

Alex came over and helped hand out candy til it was dark enough for him to trick or treat and then he took Craig and Kim trick or treating. He was pretty funny all covered in black on the porch-- the cauldron of candy at his feet--- he would sit very still for the little ones, but older kids... he'd scare the crap out of them. MANY were surprised that it was a real person in there when he tapped their candy grubbing hands with that sword.

The cutest kid of the night was 2-3ish... he was dressed as a lion-- he crawled on all 4 up the stairs to the porch and roared. He earned extra candy. Later in the evening, his Mom came by and asked if Craig was a Mad Scientist (he was) because her son had asked-- turned out he was a pediatric cancer patient and wondered if the folks who mix up his chemo are funny looking like Craig!! So, I said an extra prayer for that kiddo and was amazed that he could be so sick and still be a "normal" kid.

On a lighter note--- Murphy and Tiki took part in Halloween this year--- Tiki somewhat unwillingly, but she is a cat, so what can you expect!?

Murph's ready for his letter from Hogwarts! (and flying lessons)Tiki, well.... she thinks she's supposed to be making up the potions, not be an ingredient! But meanwhile she will exercise her mind control skills on you--- so watch out!