Joy

Friday, August 27, 2010

Mini Series of Unfortunate Events

Lately, I have had trouble with my clumsiness. Don't get me wrong, even when my belly does not enter a room before I do, a day rarely goes by when I don't spill something, break something or my all time favorite, ram myself into a door jam, but the past few weeks I have had more than my average share of mishaps.

Last week, I quickly went out in the backyard to water our poor grass. No big deal, what could wrong? Well, we have one of those door lock sticks that only allows the door to open so far.I carelessly threw it up out of it's latch groove and went outside. As I was closing the door behind me, as to not let in the sweltering heat, I heard the bar fall. Oh NO.
This is how far the door opens when the bar is down.I have had this happen to me before, but when I am not pregnant (or breastfeeding) I can squeeze through there with out much problem. But obviously, I had no such luck this time. Believe me I tried. I began to wonder what I should do. I would have to jump the fence, which sounded great given the current condition of my midsection and back. But even if I did, the garage door is still broken (has been for a year) so the code won't work. I would have to hope the one and only neighbor I have talked to is home and I can use her phone to call Josh.
I spotted our shovel by the side of the house and since the head of it is angled I thought it might help me out. So there I was with the top half of my body inside the house, my bottom half outside, Wildly, swinging a heavy shovel at the bar trying to get it up and out of it's groove. Unfortunately, the bar fell under the groove so I was pretty sure there was no hope. I worked at it for a a very long time. I can only hope the neighbors weren't watching, since we are surrounded by two-stories. Finally, I hit it at the right angle and was able to dislodge it sideways. Hurray! Safe inside but very sweaty.

Then, yesterday, I was on one of my nesting streaks and it became very important to me to fix Claire's curtain even though it has been fine for the past 2 years. So I sewed loops on it, so it would hang better, sewed a blackout drape to the back of it so it keeps her room dark, and rehung the pink fabric the way it was intended to hang.

(I still need to hem it.) While doing this, I was standing on a chair, trying to find the center of the loooooong pink piece so my arms were spread out and I was trying to maneuver the fabric. I felt a sharp pain in my arm and heard a loud crack and crash. It was weird because I literally stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out what had happened. My arm had gotten in the way of the ceiling fan and instead of stopping it or just causing it to hit my arm out of the way, my arm actually broke the metal blade arm in two. Thankfully, Claire was not in the room at the time because this spiraling through the air could have been lethal.For a moment I thought "Maybe the fan will still work alright with only 4 blades." Wrong. I was fearing for my life as I rushed to turn the switch off. Luckily, the fan in Will's soon-to-be room is the same so I took a blade from his and put it on Claire's so she could have a fan that night. We have a bit of time before Will's room will need a fan.

Yikes, I'd like to go back to ramming myself into door jams again. It requires less work and money.

Summer Afternoon Shopping = Child Abuse



Not anymore!
Thanks to my other carseat invention! I made this earlier in the summer, as soon as I first started getting complaints about the seat being "Hot!"

I had seen similar products online and in specialty children's stores but they are so darn expensive! So I made one instead. Not the prettiest, but it works.

I used a tablecloth from Walmart for $3. T-shirt fabric I had in my fabric closet and I bought these blue ice packs at Fry's for 88 cents.I just sewed the white fabric to the tablecloth fabric and made pouches that fit the ice packs.

I must admit my heart swells with pride a little, every time Claire gets in her seat on a 107 degree day and says "It's not hot, it's told." (She doesn't say her C's very well. If you ask her what her name is she says "Taire")

The only hard part is remembering to put it in the freezer when not in use and put it out in the car ahead of time if we go somewhere later in the day. It is well worth it though!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My Gross Zucchini Plant

I have had a little break from blogging - not because I really wanted to, but because somebody, (who shall remain nameless) pulled my camera photo card out of the computer and lost it at her Nana's house.

We still haven't found it but I just realized it has a plug-in cord that works to get photos off of it so we're back in business.

My garden this year was a flop - as are all my gardens but for some reason I am always hopeful each year. I decided I must come to terms with the fact that I am not discplined enough to take care of a garden and that growing a garden in Arizona is pretty much sure to fail anyway. The only plant that grew well was my zucchini. I had never planted one before so I was surprised how big it got and so quickly. I think I got maybe 3 good zucchinis off of it.

Here it is dying.
I didn't know the zucs got enormous overnight and are gross inside once they get too big. I let this one grow for a bit just to see how big it would get.The plant started looking bad and I didn't know why until I picked a zuc and found it covered in these gross bugs.I looked more closely to find that the plant is overrun with them and there are several leaves with eggs on them too.
I am completely repulsed by the plant now and told Josh to pull it out and throw it away next time he works on the yard. (because I am not touching it - that's for sure)

Our whole back yard has been neglected because of the heat and Josh's busy summer. We never go out this time of year so we kind of just close the curtains and pretend it's not there.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Beach and Pizza - It Doesn't Get Much Better

Thursday was another great day at the beach. The sun had come out early so the air was really warm.

As soon as we got there, Claire was determined to get as dirty as possible.

Aunt Shelbe blew up Claire's beach ball and that became the toy of the afternoon.
Grandpa played ball with her for a very long time.I love Claire's expression in this one - they were being silly.

Suddenly, Claire took the ball and dropped it up near our stuff and said "All done ball." in a quite voice like she was talking to herself. Then she decided it was Shelbe's turn to play with her.

The ball came out again later on. Claire literally ran the entire 3 hours we were there. Grandma took her on a walk and all Claire talked about was eating lunch.

We then played in the sand for a bit and buried her. She liked it but we could tell she was about to crash.

After getting the sand off in the cold water, she was freezing!
We got one more photo before leaving. We always forget to get a family shot. We then made the long journey back to the condo, endured much screaming while washing hair (there is still a ton of sand in her ears - I decided she is going to have to go swimming before that will come out.) and finally nap time.

That night we went to the best pizza place in the world - Pizza Port. It is soooooo good.

On the way home we found a dandelion and Claire had her first experience trying to blow on one. She was unsuccessful.

A Day With Friends

Wednesday morning, we left the condo early and drove out to the Cowell's house. Ashlee took us to Balboa Island where we let the kids play on the little beach. It was nice to have water without waves so we didn't have to be right next to kids the whole time. They played and ate lunch.

They tried to get Claire to eat a blueberry. For some reason she hates them. Even in baked goods.Every time we visit them, I am disappointed that I don't take more pictures.
Eszter was in La Jolla with her Grammy and cousins so it was just Claire and the twins all morning. They all took a bath together when we got back to their house. We had Claire watch as Ashlee washed the twins' hair by dumping water over their heads. They were totally okay with it and didn't care that soap and water were running down their faces. Then it was Claire's turn... despite the peer pressure she screamed bloody murder until we were done. I was cracking up the whole time because the twins froze and stared at her with pained looks on their faces and could not understand what her problem was.

Claire napped for 2 hours and then everyone was up and playing. They had a great time, although Claire was a little overwhelmed at times.

For dinner, Ashlee made a fantastic meal of pasta, and chicken parmesean. Then of course we had homemade ice cream, along with homemade caramel and hot fudge. Claire was in heaven!

It was a fun and busy day! Now I am inspired to make homemade caramel!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

What a Difference a Day Makes

We had a great day today!

Our day was filled with smiles,

laughter,
and silliness.
Which, as you can imagine, gave Claire a HUGE appetite.

We came home and she napped for nearly 3 hours!

Then we went to Cold Stone Creamery and Gippetos Toy Shop where Grandma and Grandpa bought Claire a set of Calico Critters. She adored them in the store and back at the house played with them for a very long time until it was time for bed. So cute!

Tomorrow we are driving out to visit the Cowells! We are so excited!

Monday Moodiness

Monday, we went to the beach and Grandma, Grandpa and Shelbe came too.

Claire spent a lot of time with Grandpa that day...wading in the ocean... and building a fortress in the sand.

Later, Josh and Shelbe buried Claire in the sand. She didn't know what to think or do. She seemed slightly pleased though.
Claire seemed a little unimpressed with the beach this day. She actually seemed unimpressed with life for a majority of the day and was quite moody. We went back to the condo, had a crying fight about washing her hair - which ended in a spank and clean hair, and then she went for her nap. Hurray!

Josh made his famous Italian chicken pasta for dinner with salad and bruschetta bread. It was delicious!