Show us where you live Friday: Dining Room

This week is dining rooms. This is the view of the dining room from the living room. You can see murphys kennel in the corner behind the hutch. its a great spot for it, hidden.




This is the Dining Room chairs that I re-cushioned last year. This set is ryan's great grandparents so it has sentimental value. I just made the chair alittle more comfy.



This is the shot of Audreys Hello Kitty house. She doesnt find it very entertaining yet. Only when I get inside and hide and play peek a boo. Hopefully later in life she will enjoy it.



This is the hutch, keeps all our junk and dog supplies. Above it is a picture I got when I went to Ireland in 2002. Its from the aran islands. I love it. And the pictures on the right are from our wedding.



This is the hutch. We got this as a wedding present from kitty and sharon. I love it. Audrey has started to be able to get to the open shelves on the bottom, so I have been emptying them, or she will.




This is from Kellys Korner Blog. Be sure to check out all the links to see other dining rooms.

Refinishing Furniture

Last October Ryan and I were garage sale shopping in portville and we found a Lane cedar chest that was really cheap, but painted white with a terrible flower clothe on the top. I thought oh how easy we will strip it and make it beautiful for so cheap!
Well note to self- its alot harder than you would think. And ALOT longer than you would think. I would estimate that I spent 5-6 hours stripping the white paint, Ryan spent 5-6 nights glueing, sanding, staining, and polyurethening it.

Before



After





But in the end it turned out nice. Next time I would consider just buying new :)

Show us where you live Friday: Guest Room

Thanks to Amanda I have been hooked on Kellys Korner Blog since her little girl was born. She is such a fun blog to follow and she started this show us where you live so I am joining in the fun!

This week is guest rooms, and mine after taking pictures of it is pretty blah. I have nothing on the walls at all. So this weekend I will be fixing that. We havent painted this room because this will most likely become Audreys room if we have any more children. We still call this the treadmill bedroom because this is where we kept the never used treadmill. Until we gave it to RB.

Here is the bed, Ryan was given this from a guy he worked with who was getting rid of it. I love the real wood. I love the too small comforter on it too :)



This is the dresser. The drawing on the top RB made me for a birthday present probably 10 years ago. its Ed k. from +Live+.



This also doubles as my scrapbook room. I know its a mess- and its actually been "organized" recently.

Audrey Painting

I want to do a painting of audrey, do you think this would be a good one?

Happy Mothers Day

my first mothers day...well first mothers day to a non-canine...i cant ignore all the years of puppy mothers day cards.

Here is Audrey and I at our breakfast. We tried to go to church this morning, but there was no daycare and we got the impression that it was the 'older peoples' service and that audrey was not invited :)
















Audrey in her mothers day outfit
















Today was Audreys first ride in her umbrella stroller, grammy is going to be sooo happy.
















This is my new tree- isnt it cute? can you see it? its a miniture christmas tree...but we will never cut it down to decorate...we wont live that long. ha ha

Survivor Update #11

I hate when they blindside the audience....they totally had us convinced that coach was going home, and the they send debbie home. I like how Jeff gets jabs in at coach. too funny



Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra& Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Week 2 Baby contest

This weeks baby contest

Vote for audrey!!

The Dog Whisperer

Well after much contemplation over getting rid of the dog or dogs. And after we have found at least 2 homes for murphy, none for linus (surprise, surprise). we have looked into some dog behavioral help. ***Side note: Since the incidence that prompted this- the dogs have not been inside around audrey- we have kept them outside or blocked off in other rooms. I called the 'dog whisperer' and had to tell him linus and murphy's issues. i was so embarressed going on and on and on about linus's bad behavior. murphy is a shorter list, but still pretty bad. He has assured me that with his training murphy would never snap/scratch audrey. so we will see. the main thing is do we have time and dedication to do the training. He is coming to our house tonight. I seriously think we could video this and send it in to TDW show. Our additude has changed towards the dogs in the last 48 hours since I talked to this guy and I can actually already see a change, so I am hopeful.

Survivor Update #10

poor sierra, but it was coming we all knew it. i would have liked to see coach go, too bad he won immunity



Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Baby Contest

I entered Audrey in a baby contest, winner gets $5,000!!! sooo vote for audrey please

contest

Heat Wave

Its officially a heat wave today- we went into the 90s again today and I think 95 is the forecast for tomorrow. then wednesday it is going to be 65. A 30 degree drop in one day! I actually hate this heat, esp in april- something is wrong with THAT!
Here is Audrey in her first pair of shorts, too cute!

Survivor Update #9

Another person out... i'm glad they got asst coach out though- he was alittle too high on himself. He needed to be put in his place. and what male wears v neck t-shirts? that totally bugged me. and I felt alittle bad for sierra. Did anyone else expect her to go to Taj and Stephen and say "WTF! i thought we had an alliance??" Next week looks good- coach will be the one scrambling.

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Yellow Lab - Free to a Good Home

70 lb yellow lab in need of a new home - Anyone know anyone that wants a yellow lab? we had a small 'episode' where murphy scratched Audrey in the face, and growled/snapped at her. Its a very sad time for us and want a home that will love him. And has no babies. We have all the supplies you could possibly need. Dog house, small outdoor fence, indoor dog kennel, leashes, etc.

Survivor Update #8

sorry luanne, your favorite coach got you kicked out :)
i was sad to see coach win and not brendan, but oh well he is on the jury. I hope they turn on him and asst coach next.


Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Survivor Update #7

I knew with all the crazy scheming going on that Joe was going to be medically discharged from the show. too much scheming, i wonder if they do that every week but we only see some of it. I hate that assistant coach and coach for that matter. anyone else feel that way? brandon looks just like colby i realized.

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Survivor Update #6

so sad to see sydney go. I'm thinking that this weeks is going to be good

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

New Kitchen Table

Here is a picture of our new kitchen table, it is slightly larger than I anticipated...but that happens on an impluse buy. I think it fits nicely though.

productive weekend

this weekend becky and p-head came to visit...patty was wishing it was only a 10 minute visit- she was miserable- linus didn't leave her alone- she wouldnt let becky out of her sight this morning. she was so happy to be leaving :( I dont think she will be excited to hear that she will be coming back in a couple weeks for a whole week.

Saturday morning we went to a baby junk sale- becky got a nice pack-n-play and i got some clothes and a new changing table. here is the picture.
















then we went to IKEA and we were going just for becky so she could get a shelf. I showed her though the kitchen table i have dreamed of getting someday. after we were all done shopping we went to the scratch and dent part of IKEA and MY table was there. 45% off! so we got it! it had some scratches on the top though- so we had a sanding party when audrey went to bed. this was becky helping:
















Audrey Playing in IKEA

Happy St Patricks Day!

Survivor Update #5

I was surprised to see Spencer go, I liked him. Taj is not playing a very smart game I dont think- I dont know if she is cocky now that she has a "secret" alliance, but I dont trust Stephen AT ALL. and I dont think they are hiding their alliance well enough. even the asst coach has figured it out, and he is no sharp tool


Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Weekend

Losing one hour sucks...But I am liking the daylight much later into the evening. Yesterday it was 70 degrees here...almost shorts weather, but i definately was in a tshirt only outside and was hot. And to think monday was my snow day. crazy weather. Cath and I went to the best baby junk sale on saturday morning. We got almost everything on our list. Lots of adorable clothes for audrey for this summer and some for next summer. She got 4 new bathing suits...now we have to go to the beach/pool ALOT this summer to get some use out of them. the best one we got was a purple hello kitty one, with a sarong. that one is for next summer though. Got her some new toys and a backpack so we can go hiking with her, so now we wont have to leave her in the car....kidding of course....And we got her a sun bonnet and sunglasses...she is ready for some summer i think! It was a fun weekend! It was so nice not to have to go to the baby junk sale alone.

Then cath and I put together her wagon here is a picture of her in it.
















Audrey has been making her funny face again...i think i almost caught it here

Survivor Update #4

oooh Becky is gone already...and forever I should officially record...I'm sure someone will gladly fill her spot next time. i'm glad this time that one tribe didnt win immunity. luckily for Taj and Brendan, Sierra picked Taj- or their whole plan could have blown up. how do you not have time in 3 days to talk to a person? seems alittle unlikely- its not like they do anything.


Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

SNOW DAY!!

Audrey had a snow day today!! So I ran into work to get my laptop and have been working from home today. I took a little break to take audrey out in the snow. Bundled her up in her sleeping bag and winter coat. needless to say she HATED it. she couldnt move she was so bundled up and she got very frustrated. then i sat her on the snow and she fell over onto her back. she got really mad. here is my munchkin in the snow :) you cant help but laugh at her.

Survivor Update #3

i'm so happy that erinn made it through...sad news for becky, i dont think you are going to win with sandy...i think the assistant coach is very scary looking.

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Assistant Coach
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Coach & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Survivor Update #2

I must say it usually takes me a few weeks to get into survivor, this year being no different, too many people to even keep track of.

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Tyson
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Benjamin & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Philly Car Show

Last weekend we went to the philly auto show. it was a fun adventure- we took the train down into the city...audreys first train ride. She was great all day...especially since she was getting very very sick. We saw all my future cars...i sat in a volkswagen convertible, a mercedes looking land rover, a range rover, a scion xb, a mini cooper, a smart car, a porsche, and a prius...oh and many many others...but those are the ones i really would want. I will need a very big garage thats for sure.

Audrey and Mom in the smart car


Audrey already has preference to the bugs :)














Saturday night and Sunday morning Audrey started to get very sick...she wouldnt eat, she felt warm, she wasnt her usual chipper self. BUTTTTT we took her out to an irish pub/resturant anyways to meet my friends and their new baby. We were there all of 10 minutes and audrey puked all over ryan and the floor. and it wasnt spit up- it was puke. it was awful. Ryan had just gotten his guiness when this happened too. so he had to chugg it and we left. hopefully their daughter didnt get sick. Audrey had a stomach bug, a cold, and an ear infection. I took her to the doctor monday and she is back on antibotics. Shes finally back to her old happy self again...here she is in her pooh nightgown

SURVIVOR RESULTS

Well I missed the first 15 minutes of the episode due to my DVR not being set up for the new season. The episode was pretty boring if i remember correctly...since i dont remember very much about it. but carolina got voted off...

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Tyson
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Benjamin & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

Tocantins Survivor

New survivor starts tonight...i cant believe how fast it seems to have started. I just barely got the names drawn in time- Good Luck to Everyone!

Becky: Jerry & Sandy
Carrie: Sierra & Sydney
Cathy: Candace & Tyson
Hope: Debra & Stephen
Ryan/Emily: Erinn & Taj
LuAnne: Brendan & Carolina
Mike: Benjamin & JT
Nicole: Joe & Spencer

audrey wants a different bottle

Audrey has been not eating her formula like she used to...at first i thought it was the additional food we are giving her- but now i think she wants dads bottle instead of her own. Here is the proof:

New hair

I got my hair highlighted again yesterday...i now have blonde and red streaks in my hair...i love it.

Cute Audrey Pictures

Audrey has been making this new face and I was trying to capture it this morning...i'm not sure if I completely got it, but I thought they were still cute.

You know you are living in 2009 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

9. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

10. You start tilting your head sideways to smile.
: )

new couch

we went shopping this weekend for a new couch. we gave becky back her futon and figured we should buy a new couch for the living room. we got a sofa bed. Here is a picture of it. we have since covered it with some sheets so that murphy and the poms wont get it all gross. we may rearrange the room, but for now it works.

I also had to order the last two books in the twilight series and needed to buy a few more dollars worth of books to get the free shipping. so i remembered there were kids books about "Emily Brown" that i HAD to get. its actually a pretty good book. ryan was making fun of me for getting it. but i think he is just jealous that no books are written about him.

loving the cold weather!

the ground has FINALLY frozen in PA. And i am loving it!! people at work are complaining and complaining...almost as much as those syracuse people are :) ha ha ha. I'm telling you you'd miss it if you didnt get it.

i've been very busy at work lately...havent had any time to blog...plus not too much is happening. I've upped my gym visits to 3x a week. I've been sore 5 of the last 9 days :( but its good i guess. this saturday i am starting weight watchers...again... they have commericials showing a new program. hopefully it can get me motivated again. I have to lose some weight before mexico.
















Audrey is growing like crazy...talking...scooting on the floor...sitting up on her own...drinking juice...found her tongue...her first word is officially da da da...then ba ba ba...i'm still trying her to get her M but nothing yet. she has started to push away from me too- i'm afriad her cuddling days are almost over. she wants to get down and see the dog hair :)

Audreys new lobster shoes

a while

wow i havent posted in a while... well i was on a New york state tour for the past 10 days...i'm finally home and i slept like a baby for 11 hours last night :) i brought my rain cd and cd player along with me, but it didnt seem to help my sleeping. i guess its your own bed that makes all the difference. i just finished unpacking all our christmas presents. i feel awful because christmas morning was such a blur to me know i cant remember who got me/audrey what. but i love everything! i cant believe all a 6 month old could possibly get. people from my work, ryans work, all the family, and friends got her stuff. she has way too much now :) luckily some of it is for when she is older though. she absolutly loved her curious george doll she got and is so cute everytime she sees it she grabs and like hugs him with a little squeal. she found her voice on the trip too. she usually would talk and sing and 'tell stories' only in the morning. now it seems all the time and she definately is saying words, like 'dadadadada' and 'bababababa' i dont think she knows what they mean but i think officially her first word is 'dada'. i'm still working on mama.
New years was fun...besides a debate i got into with bird on affirmative action it went smoothly...no puking...only a slight hangover, which is probably due to all the drinking i did last week- it built my tolerance back up. i think my news years resolution to be to cut down on the sauce.
today i unpacked and made a bunch of baby food for audrey, tomorrow i am going to tackle the christmas decorations. i'm glad we came back with a few days to spare. i needed it.

Sentiment of the day

Crazy hail storm

Last night when I got home I pulled into the driveway and saw 3 of the garage windows busted out. My immediate thought was we must have gotten some hail that broke the windows...strange it was only on one door- then I saw ryan in the garage- i jump out of the car in the pouring icey rain, and ask him what happened?!?!. And he proceeds to tell me he was backing up into the driveway...and hit the garage door!

here is a pic... just lovely...

Happy Half Birthday Audrey!

Today Audrey is 6 months old!!!

Survivor: Gabon Finale

Hope wins!!! Good thing you havent paid yet- i will just send you the winnings, minus yours! Every year I get mad at the finale...every year... sugar just blew it at the jury just like amanda did TWICE. its so annoying. She answered questions like "i dont even care if I am here...I'm not even saying give me the money." Bob almost lost his too, some of his answers i was like 'what?'- I think sugar should have told susie, matty, and bob to just vote her out in the last tribal council instead of making matty and bob do the fire challenge. Atleast Matty would have put up a fight at the jury. Oh i just dont get it. and to think, if susie had just answered yes to corrine she would have a million dollars right now.


Becky: Sugar & Charlie
Carrie: GC & Crystal
Cathy: Jacque & Corinne
Emily: Paloma & Matty
Hope: Bob & Marcus
Luanne: Randy & Kenny
Mike: Dan & Gillian
Nicole: Michelle & Ace
Ryan: Kelly & Susie

Santa

tonight is the survivor finale!! I'll be updating tomorrow so if anyone doesnt watch it- don't check my blog.

Today we went to the mall to take Audrey to get her picture with santa. We showed up 30 minutes before santa was even there- hoping for the line to be short. There were ALOT of people already lined up. It took us about 45 minutes to get through. I thought audrey was going to be crabby by the time we got up there...but of course she was smiling so good for the camera! Here is her picture, even the people in front of us made comments like 'oh she knew exactly what to do when she saw the camera' i guess i am to blame for that :)

Survivor Update #11

That was a good one! I was pretty happy about this episode...not just for the fact that Matty is still in the game, but i do not like kenny AT ALL...he is soooo creepy and weird and all his scenes he looks so uncomfortable that he makes you uncomfortable...and then crystal- she just seemed kind of dumb. I will be glad to see what Kenny does when he gets back to camp. I also feel bad for crystal to have to go to ponderosa with the 4 members of the jury...that wont be fun for her. i cant believe this is almost over...which reminds me that noone has paid yet... well actually Becky, Cath and Mike have paid. And I think nicole owes me for 3 past seasons as well....so everyone needs to pay up by sunday!


Becky: Sugar & Charlie
Carrie: GC & Crystal
Cathy: Jacque & Corinne
Emily: Paloma & Matty
Hope: Bob & Marcus
Luanne: Randy & Kenny
Mike: Dan & Gillian
Nicole: Michelle & Ace
Ryan: Kelly & Susie

bailout

you can click on the picture to see it bigger

cookies cookies cookies

so many cookies got so made this weekend...
I cant even believe how many cookies that so few people could possibly make... it was alot of fun though! my stomach hurt from laughing so much. we played trivial pursuit again but there was no real winner. we split the old people with the young people to give everyone a fair shot. we even added an all play to game hoping to speed it, but it didnt seem to work.













Now I get to rest until christmas...unlike the rest of the family that is going to moving into new houses for the next two weeks! good luck to you all!

wheeeew

What Audrey would look like with black curly hair!

its been a crazy week...so much went on. becky came to visit on saturday. we went out to dinner at the blue dog pub. very good cheesesteaks. Then sunday we went and got her tires changed (very shady) then we went and watch 15 minutes of ryans flag football game. he scored a touchdown while we were there :) they ended up losing though. over for the winter.
nothing exciting monday, worked, yoga, TV...

Tuesday cath and mike came down- and i made some meatball soup.

Wednesday i had the day off!!! fun fun. we cooked and cleaned the house. and rick and yvonne arrived. we were suppose to go out to check out some local bars but we never made it. i dont think we stayed up past 11 at all this week, lame.

Thursday was thanksgiving - so yummy.

Friday we left our house at 3:49am and shopped until 9 am! i got 90% of my xmas shopping done- got amazing deals. it was the most successful black friday shopping i have ever experienced! it was great and i got into no fights. then we went out to a nice diner for breakfast, then becky left for NYC. we played trivial pursuit "the 80s" and ryan and I won by a landslide!!! i think its my favorite trivial pursuit, they have a care bear for one of the players. i love it.

saturday the boys went up to a park where ryan is going to hunt and the girls went to IKEA. we ended the night with some poker...that was alot of fun

here are the pics from the weekend