Treasure Hunting!

If you know anything about me, you are probably familiar with my habit for shopping at thift stores. Consignment shopping is like a sport to me. Finding good deals brings me great pleasure and I take pride in the "hidden treasures" that I sometimes find.

I wasn't always like this. As a kid, I wouldn't have been caught dead in a Goodwill store. Shopping at KMart or Farm N' Fleet for school clothes at the end of the summer was enough to make me cringe and wince. I hated trying on clothes or even looking at clothes. The feeling in my stomach was the same as if I were going to the doctor or dentist!

But now, I frequent the area thrift and consignment stores willingly. Finding a pair of Aeropostale jeans for $3.49 at the Salvation Army store is enough to make me whistle a happy tune. (Although I wish they would come up with a better system of attaching price tags. I hate pulling staples out of things before I throw them in the wash!)

This is one of my favorite times of the year: the weekend of the Spring children's consignment sales.

Each spring and fall, two separate moms' groups hold children's consignment sales at area churches. Typically I am able to purchase an entire season's wardrobe for the girls for less than $100.

This year was no different. I hit the jackpot!

I am a consignor at one of the sales, so I was allowed access to the "Pre-Sale" last night. With my blue wristband on and my adrenalin pumping, I drove into the church parking lot and saw the line of about 30 people waiting to enter the church.

This is not your typical yard sale.

If you know what you're doing, you arrive with a laundry basket, a large bag or a spouse. (I learned that lesson the hard way after my first sale, as I tried to make my way to the cashier, dropping a trail of clothes behind me!)

The church basement has three separate rooms jam-packed with toys, bikes, outdoor gear and shoes. The entire upstairs gathering room houses clothing, books, baby equipment, furniture and miscellaneous gear.

Last night I managed to find shoes for both Amanda and Eva, along with several summer dresses for Amanda. Luckily Eva doesn't need much, since she is fully stocked with gently worn hand-me-downs from Amanda.

Sale #1: Total of $53.00

This morning, at the Moms of Multiples sale, I found rain boots for Eva (yeah!), several more spring/summer outfits and a few random things like Colorforms for Amanda and a Magna Doodle for Eva.

Sale #2: Total of $23.00

As I went through everything this afternoon to launder it, I tallied up my loot.

The results?
- 9 dresses
- 3 skirts
- 3 tops
- 2 pairs of shorts
- 2 pairs of pajamas
- 4 pairs of shoes
- 1 pair of rain boots
- Dr. Seuss Colorforms, Magna Doodle, 2 story cassettes, 1 Winnie the Pooh CD, 1 Workbook

All for $76.

And a lot of the clothes are brands like Gap and The Children's Place, and will fetch a decent amount when I consign them back at future sales.

In a month, I'll find out how much I made through today's sale and with any luck, I'll earn more than what I spent.

And that makes me a happy girl. Can you hear me whistling?

Jogging

Since Amanda was about a year old, Dave has been taking her jogging with him. He pushes the jogging the stroller while running on the bridal path or sometimes down to the beach.

Now that Eva is getting older, he's been taking her on a few of his runs. (I think she's a lot easier to push than Amanda, who now weighs 40 pounds!)

A few days ago, I fixed the little pink doll stroller. Within minutes, Eva found it, plopped down in it and announced,"Ready!!!"

Amanda ran over and asked Eva if she wanted to go jogging on the bridal path, to which Eva shouted,"Yeeeaaaaah!"

Initially, I warned that the doll stroller wasn't meant to hold a real child... but after Amanda began pushing, I decided to let it go. They were doing fine.

I quickly grabbed the camera. You know, just in case.

And here's what I got:



In case you can't catch the dialogue:

"You might be hungry, Eva. This is where we need to park. Stay right there. I'll go get something to eat. Are you thirsty, Eva? Have a sip."

What I find so funny about this video is how Amanda acts so much like a mama. Meanwhile Eva is completely complacent. It's not always like this. Normally, Eva would be screaming and scrambling to get out - - especially with Amanda's reckless driving.

After I stopped recording, Amanda gave Eva a slice of pizza and told her they were going on a run to Boston... to go to the circus.

Never a dull moment.

A Girls' Day Out

Amanda, Eva and I had to vacate the premises on Saturday while Dave worked in Eva's room.

Specifically that meant driving around in the car at the usual napping hour for Eva, since she couldn't nap in her construction zone of a room.

And so, we went on a spontaneous girls' adventure and it was a lot of fun to just get in the car and go... without any specific plan in mind.

First, we went to a neighboring town's library to pick up museum passes for a Sunday trip to the Boston Museum of Science with Daddy and Grampy. While at the library, the girls played and read books, while I rocked in a comfy chair and read a novel. Very peaceful. Our day was off to a great start!

Then we had lunch at Friendly's... followed by a Candy Shoppe Sundae. This was probably the highlight of the day for them. It may even have been their first sundae, which they shared without fighting. At one point, Eva even spoonfed Amanda.

Then we ran a few errands and drove to Cape Cod. I figured they could nap in the car and by the time we got to our destination, they would be well-rested. It worked perfectly.


We ended up in Sandwich... first stopping at the Town Boardwalk and then the Sandwich Marina.


The weather was cold but sunny, so we made a stop at the marina's playground.

Finally, we headed back home... eager to see the progress that had been made on the house while we were gone.

All in all, it was a very fine day.

It taught me that we should do this more often. The girls are definitely getting to the age where spontaneous day trips can be fun and freeing.

Goodbye, Chimney!

The chimney is gone! Hooray!

The entire thing was taken down today and I must say, I am very impressed that Dave, Jay and Bill finished the job in one day! They even replaced the shingles on the roof, vacuumed up all of the brick dust... and came very close to filling the dumpster with all of the debris.

There are still holes in Eva's ceiling and floor that will need to be repaired, so Eva will be sleeping in Amanda's room until that's finished. (I cannot begin to express how excited Amanda is about the new arrangement. She was practically bouncing off the walls when we told her they'd be having sleepovers for a few days. Now, an hour after we said goodnight to them, they are finally quiet!)

We have decided to pull up the carpet in Eva's room and possibly replace it with wood laminate flooring.

Here are some photos of the day's work.

Before: Eva's Room with Chimney

After: Eva's Room without Chimney

Looking up at the ceiling in Eva's room where the chimney used to be

Looking down through the floor in Eva's room.
You can see straight down to the kitchen floor in this photo.

It's amazing how much bigger Eva's bedroom seems, now that the chimney is gone! Removing it was an idea that we had been tossing around for a long time, but just couldn't justify the added time and labor it would take. Once we found that the chimney was crumbling, we had no choice.

Now that it's done, I am very glad that we were forced into that decision!

While the men worked, I took the girls out on an all-day adventure. What fun we had!! More on that in another post...

Completely Random Updates

This has been quite a busy week, which explains the lack of blog entries.

For starters, Dave began the much anticipated kitchen demolition this past weekend. After he tore out the cabinets and opened up the walls to get at the electrical wiring, he found that the chimney was literally crumbling and had large holes where the bricks had already fallen out. We shouldn't have been surprised at this finding, since the same thing happened to the chimney on the other side of the house. (We ended up tearing that one down, and the new space became our closet.)

Since the water heater vents through the chimney, we have no other option but to remove the whole chimney... and replace the water heater with one that vents some other way.

And so, this weekend, Dave will tear down the house's last remaining chimney, brick by brick... cinder block by cinder block. (As he pointed out, it's a real shame that he spent so much time meticulously replacing the flashing around the chimney when he reshingled the roof this past summer, only to have to tear it all up months later.)

Taking out the chimney will be an arduous and labor intensive task, especially trekking up and down the rickety staircase, which will be replaced at a yet-to-be-determined date. We'll also have to move everything out of Eva's room before the work begins, since the chimney goes right through there, which means repair work on her ceiling and floor/carpet will follow.

The bad news is that the stenciled mural I proudly created while pregnant with Amanda will be destroyed.

May 2005: Stenciling a 4-sided mural on the chimney

This was taken before I added the bees.

I guess I never took a photo of the finished product.

Now that I think about it, it doesn't really fit with Eva's stenciled tropical fish theme anyhow. It's going to take a while to get used to a pillar-less room, but it will give us more options as far as furniture rearranging. I guess the girls will soon have to find a new hiding place for Hide-and-Seek!

The good news is that removing the chimney will open up both the kitchen and Eva's room a bit and the space will be much appreciated. The other good news is that as of yesterday, we now have a brand new energy efficient tankless water heater!

All of these unexpected glitches have forced Dave to completely rework his time schedule on the project. As we always joke, take the original estimate and triple it. But we're plugging along and making progress.

Thank goodness he is able to do most of the work himself! I can't even imagine how much the whole project would cost if we had to hire contractors.

* *
In other news, the potty training with Eva is going fantastically! She is really getting the hang of it, and tells ME when she needs to go... rather than me suggesting that she try. She woke up one morning with a dry diaper, and also been dry after naps a few times this week! She has already filled up half of her potty chart with stickers.

It would be soooo great if she was fully potty trained by this summer, as it would make beach going and other outings much easier!

Eva counts the stickers on her Potty Chart.

As soon as Eva goes potty, she bounces up and down and announces,"Chocolate!" (We give her one or two M&M's, depending on what she does.) Amanda gets the same reward, assuming she was a "good cheerleader." Each and every time, she asks,"Mama, was I a good cheerleader?" It's quite comical to see how enthusiastic Amanda gets when she congratulates Eva.

And it's truly amazing how effective a simple M&M can be.

This morning, as Amanda was sitting on the potty, Eva patted her on the back and said,"Good job, Nana! Chocolate?"

To which Amanda responded somewhat glumly,"I don't get chocolate for going potty. I'm a big girl."

* *
Yesterday, as I was doing the breakfast dishes, the girls were playing quietly in the next room. After a while, Amanda said,"Mama, look! I made a man."

I went in and this is what I found:

Amanda's "man"

I was very impressed with her creative use of train tracks and bristle blocks! She definitely takes after her daddy. (You should see the two of them with the Legos! Pretty crafty indeed...)

* *
And my final update for the day...

Grampy arrives for a 2 week visit this afternoon. I hope he remembers to bring his work clothes because Dave has a laundry list of things to do and not much time to do them. It will be interesting to see how we fare hosting a guest without a kitchen. So far we're doing pretty well with the crockpot, toaster oven, microwave and the portable 2-burner "stove." Luckily they're predicting a sunny weekend, so hopefully we can use the grill.

Dave is planning to smoke a turkey on the Weber, which is always a treat!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Pizza, Cake and Friends

It's been another nice weekend, weatherwise. Yesterday, after some morning errands and the gym, the girls and I were able to enjoy some outdoor time in the afternoon.

We even dragged out the lawn chairs for snacktime. They look comfy, don't they?

In the evening, we unwound with a visit from our friends, Andre and Jen.

Up from Connecticut for the weekend, they came over for some delicious pizza and cappuccino fudge cake to celebrate Jen's birthday from a week earlier.

As usual, Jen and Andre indulged the kids with plenty of playtime, laughs and stories.


After the kids went to bed, the adults relaxed and enjoyed some grown-up conversation. It was really great to catch up with them!

Almost There...

Progress on the hand rail continued yesterday. As you will see, it is nearing completion!

First Dave and I carried the clamped rail out to the back deck. After unclamping the glued rail, we were relieved to see that the hand rail kept its curved shape! Success!


Dave, Jay and Ryan worked on getting the rail in place and then secured the first ballister.

The next step will be to put the rest of the ballisters in place (two per step) and then finally stain the wood.

It looks pretty spiffy! I can't wait to see the FINISHED product!

In other news, kitchen demo starts today! Wish us luck!

To be continued...

Hide-and- Seek

The girls have been having fun playing Hide-and-Seek together lately.

It's funny to watch the dynamics between them.

Even Eva takes a turn at being the "seeker" while Amanda scurries to find a good hiding spot, while Eva counts like this,"One... Nine... Ready...Here'ah come!"

When it's Amanda's turn to count, Eva usually pops out of her hiding place before Amanda even has a chance to look for her.

Sometimes they both decide to hide at the same time, leaving no one left to seek. Sometimes they fight over the same hiding spot. Here you can see Eva trying to tell Amanda,"Had it!!"


Here's an example of how it goes. (There's nothing better than a rousing game of Hide-and-Seek to delay bedtime!)

Celebrating Kim's Birthday

Yesterday was not just Sarah's birthday; it was also our good friend, Kim's special day!

Kim and Eliana came over in the afternoon, and we celebrated with cupcakes and presents. The girls love any excuse to have cupcakes (and blow out the candles!) and yesterday was no exception.

Kim, we hope you enjoyed your day! As always, it was great to visit with you.

To Sarah... Happy Birthday!

Today is my friend Sarah's birthday! (Friday the 13th... I wonder how many times in our friendship the 13th of March has fallen on a Friday?)

Sarah is my very best friend in the entire world. To think that we have been friends for 18 years is mind boggling to me! To think of all we've been through together is even more amazing.

She and I met under somewhat unusual circumstances when we were randomly placed together as dorm roommates in our Freshman year of college. Looking back, I guess it was a risky move to allow the UW-Whitewater staff to select my roommate. But, not having any friends attending the same college, I had no other choice than to get the luck of the draw.

And lucky it was.

Sarah ended up being a lot like me, although you'd never know it by looking at us. She was petite, whereas I felt like an Amazon woman around her; she had a fun style, whereas I had no style whatsoever; she liked groups like U2 and the Violent Femmes, whereas I liked Rush and Def Leppard - and had never even heard of the Violent Femmes.

But our similarities prevailed. We soon discovered that we had the same work ethics, values, goals, study habits and a strong desire to succeed.

It all started during the summer after we graduated from high school. I remember tearing open the envelope from the university, which announced my assigned dorm, Knilans Hall: a Co-Ed dorm. (I still don't know how I ever got my preference for a Co-Ed residence hall approved by my parents, but they must have known I was too naive for it to make a difference.) The letter stated the name and address of my roommate-to-be. After receiving that vital information, Sarah and I immediately became penpals, exchanging letters at a rapid rate in order to become acquainted as fast as possible before we thrown together in the cramped dorm room.

I looked forward to the mailman's deliveries every day, hoping for another letter to help fill in the gaps of our newly developing friendship. Each new letter that arrived was longer than the previous one, and was always handwritten in pen on lined looseleaf paper. Those were the days before computers and word processing programs were commonplace. (I wish I had held onto those letters, although I'm sure I would be terribly embarrassed if I were to reread them today!)

Over the summer of 1991, Sarah and I went through the whole routine of getting to know each other, listing our likes and dislikes, detailing our plans for the future, and describing what our respective high school experiences had been like. We also discussed the necessary particulars such as who would bring the microwave, who would bring the TV, and who would bring the bunkbeds. (Thank goodness, Sarah's dad constructed bunk beds for us, which gave us a lot more room in the cramped dorm room.)

Although I don't remember much about our initial face to face meeting once on campus, I think our shyness probably made it a little awkward in the first moments of that hot August day. But it didn't take long before we clicked and became practically inseparable. Luckily I also clicked with all of her high school friends, and we quickly became a close knit group. For that, I am extremely grateful because my college experience would have been quite different without all of them!

Sarah and I remained roommates during our entire 4 year college stay, through moves from one side of campus to another, and finally to an apartment that we shared with two other friends. I don't think there was ever a question as to whether or not we would live together year after year. It was just a given.

To this day, Sarah is a wonderful person and friend. She's smart, warm, patient, thoughtful and funny. Sarah is also an extremely talented artist. Check out this sculpture she made in college! It's even more impressive in real life. (Sarah, do you still have this? I sure hope so!)

Sarah's self-portrait sculpture

Above everything else though, Sarah's most admirable quality is her loyalty. Through thick and thin, you know you can always count on Sarah. She is never too busy to listen or offer help or support. That is what being a true friend means, and I am lucky to know her.

Like all of my friends and family, Sarah still lives back in Wisconsin. You would think that it would be hard to maintain a friendship with so many miles between us. However, whether I lived in California or Massachusetts, the distance made no difference. When we talk or email, we just pick up where we left off. Photos and videos make it much easier to keep up with each other's lives, especially now that we each have daughters of our own. I also try my best to fit in visits whenever I get to Wisconsin, but they are always much too brief... and it's always hard to say goodbye.

Anyhow Sarah, I hope you have the happiest birthday ever. If I were there to celebrate, you can bet I'd show up at your door with a cherry cheesecake... although it would be the REAL thing, not the boxed Jello kind.

Sarah's 21st Birthday

(Remember that green plate... and how we'd burn our hands on it after taking it out of the microwave? I think that must have been the only plate we had in our room, because it shows up in every food-related picture!)

I'm so glad our friendship remains strong to this day. I think the world of you and love you dearly! Enjoy your day!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Anyone who knows me is probably familiar with my fondness for barbeque sauce.

Dave still teases me about the time he tried to woo me, early on in our relationship, by by inviting me over to his place for dinner. He had gone out of his way to choose an expensive cut of steak, which he grilled to perfection.

When he served it, I asked if he had any barbeque sauce. Apparently he was quite insulted and has never let me forget it. I guess it's just one of my many quirks.

With that said, I don't think I will ever buy the bottled barbeque sauce again. After an extensive internet search, I found a recipe that had potential and then tweaked it to fit my taste.

It's sweet; it's sour; it's tangy; it's spicy. It's perfect. And it's better than any store bought sauce, believe me.

I just made a batch of it and have 3 pounds of boneless spareribs marinating in the refrigerator. Tomorrow night's dinner is going to be a real treat: BBQ ribs (cooking all day in the crockpot), coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

Homemade Barbeque Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tpsp Frank's hot sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Whisk all together... and serve with the meat of your choice.

Just don't use it on your steak. Or else.

First Bike Ride of the Season

As far as I'm concerned, there are two sure signs of spring.

#1 - Dairy Queen is open.

Check.

We drove past the other day and sure enough, the OPEN sign was hanging over the storefront. You can bet we'll be there in the next few weeks, enjoying a cone and watching the kids at the Skate Park.

#2 - Dave took his bike out of storage.Check.

One of the things Dave and I really enjoy is going on bike rides together. There's nothing quite like riding on the back roads through the pine forests, past serene ponds and smelling the refreshing aroma of nature.

We took our first ride of 2009 this afternoon. It was exhilerating, albeit a little chilly. The last time we took the bike out was October 2008... and the temperature was probably the same then as it was today. But for some reason, when it seemed nearly unbearable in October, the ride was just fine today. I guess it's all relative.

We made a pitstop at Frankie D's, in hopes of having some much craved burnt ends. Burnt Ends are the barbequed ends of a beef brisket and we've learned that one must arrive early if you want them.
Unfortunately, today was not our lucky day... so we settled for chili and clam chowder. After some fun conversation, it was back on the bike for a brisk ride home.

Tonight we're sparking up the grill for some hamburgers with the family. Dave is buying charcoal at this very minute, which is yet another sign of the upcoming season.

Tonight we "spring ahead" with the Daylight Savings' changing of the clocks. Dare I say that winter is gone?

Can you tell how anxious I am for the days of more sunlight and warmer temperatures? It's been a long winter and I am more than ready to unpack the boxes of shorts, T shirts and bathing suits.

Yeah, I probably just jinxed it, didn't I?

Happy Birthday, Jen... and Hello Spring!

Ahhh... Finally, I can breathe again! The girls and I have been fighting colds and sinus aggravation for the past week, but I think that's all behind us now.

And not a moment too soon, I might add!

When we looked out the window this morning, we were pleasantly surprised to see that half of the snow from Monday's storm had melted.

By mid-morning, the temperature had climbed to a balmy 50* so we headed outdoors for some backyard fun.

First the girls took the tricycle for a short spin.
Then, it was time for some graffiti fun with their new Princess sidewalk chalk... (Ignore my commentary. I always ruin these videos by talking!)


Amanda was delighted to try out her "new" rain boots that I found for $1 last week. Eva joined her for some puddle splashing. It reminded me that I need to find some rain books in Eva's size!



And finally, the big hit of the day: making a "snow birthday cake."

Appropriately enough, today happens to be our friend Jen's birthday! Happy Birthday, Jen!

What better way to celebrate than with some faux ice cream cake!

The girls had a blast decorating the cake, complete with twigs for birthday candles.

Jen, we all hope you have a wonderful birthday! We're looking forward to celebrating when you come up next weekend! Spring has sprung!

Bending the Hand Rail

More progress was made on the barn staircase this past weekend.

This was the hardest part... the most dreaded part: bending the wood to create the hand rail.

Using a series of clamps, glue and lots of muscle, the guys were able to create just the right curvature to create the rail.

Clamping the layers of wood to create the curved shape

The next step, scheduled for this weekend, will be to unclamp the wood and see if it held its shape. We're crossing our fingers in a major way.

If that doesn't work, I overheard a conversation that involved torching the whole thing. We joked that it would have been easier just to mold a rail out of clay. Yeah, an adobe hand rail.

We will all be glad when this arduous task is complete.

Next project: the kitchen...