Still here

Still here, alive and kicking.  Nothing new on the home front ... literally.  We've had plenty of showings, but no offers yet.  One couple was here two days in a row this week - yay!  Fingers and toes are double crossed and I'm hoping that St. Joe works his magic.

I haven't vacuumed and swiffered with this much frequency in my whole life!  You can imagine how much fun it is to try and get your house ready for a showing when a toddler is right behind you, undoing almost everything you've just done.  I figure that if that is my only real complaint to life right now, I have it pretty really good.  So no more complaining!  pinky promise

We are going to look at five more homes this weekend.  I'm sure our realtor just loves us - ha!  Out of the 10-15 homes that we have seen thus far, we just haven't found anything yet that we are crazy about.  Some that we definitely like, but nothing that we love.  Thus the search continues, but we really need an offer on our home if anything is going to happen.  Otherwise we will stay, content for the time being, and analyze our options in the future.

This week I didn't have to tutor because the kids were taking their state standardized tests.  It has been a blissful week of nothing.  I mean, sure, I did plenty of errands, meet ups with good friends and playtime with G.  But there were zero expectations of me besides leaving the house for showings.    It was nice and it helps me recharge the 'ol mama booster pack when it starts getting low.  I stayed in my pajamas for a ridiculous amount of time.  I let my crazy mom hair do its thang and I was happy.  Sometimes you just need to be served a big serving of nothing to stop, slow down, and get back in the groove of things...

...Into the groove of teacher appreciation crafting thanks to pinterest!

...Into the groove of making Mother's Day crafts for my own mama (can't spoil the surprise until next week!).

I hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend loving and spoiling all the women in your life who matter the most.  xoxoxo

My guilty pleasure

After reading all of the hullabaloo on the blogosphere about the Fifty Shades trilogy, I caved and bought the series on my kindle.  One week later, and all three books are finished.

If your boyfriend/husband/partner/whatever is smart, he will buy you the books for Mother's Day because, after all, it's the present that keeps on giving ... if you catch my drift.  R is disappointed that I read through them so quickly - ha!

These books will not win any awards for literary prowess, but they do hold your attention and keep you reading for more.  Book one was the most shocking, book two my favorite, and book three had a nice, albeit sappy ending.

If you found certain (ahem) scenes in Like Water for Elephants too risqué, then these are not the books for you.  It's definitely a "I would be embarrassed to have a stranger look over my shoulder and see what I was reading" type of book.

It doesn't qualify for my favorite book list, but it is highly entertaining and I'll let you see for yourself just what all the fuss is about.  :)

May the fourth be with you

We are still alive and kickin', gearing up for our big annual crawfish boil tomorrow ... cinco de crawfish this year!

As I'm preparing some sombrero sugar cookies today (thanks pinterest!), R wanders into the kitchen and eagerly offers to be my taster.  I relented, but only if he told me what they looked like first.

R: Boobies?
Me: Ugh.  (Seriously, men!)  Nooo, think cinco de mayo.
R: Oh, a Spanish hat!
Me: Yes, otherwise known as sombrero!

Wordless Wednesday

While dada's away...

the monkeys will play!

R  has been gone all week in California for work and while we've been staying busy, I'm ready for my other half to be home!

G was up to his usual shenanigans at the table...

His new "thing" is to grab for my phone whenever I try to take his picture while he is eating.

He played in dada's desk (shhhhhh!)...

And had fun "helping" me outside in the yard...

We had a blast playing at Poppa/Gigi's...

and around the house in just our diaper (mama opted to stay fully clothed though)...

I sure do love my sweet, busy boy and am so thankful for this time at home with him.

Oh!  And side note: G has not woken up once since I put the pillow in his bed and has even been sleeping from 7:30ish until 9:00!!!  Maybe it's just a crazy growth spurt, but I'm definitely keeping that pillow where it's at!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Product of the Week: Jason Aloe Vera

I'm back for another POTW link up!



Okay, you will hopefully not need to use my amazing recommended product if you are smarter than me and apply sunscreen.

Now that it's getting warm outside, those pesky UV rays are muy peligroso ... especially to fair skinned peeps like myself.  The other day I was outside in a cross-back dress for maybe two hours tops and neglected to put on any sunscreen (shame on me!).  I could already feel my the warmth radiating from my back when I got home that evening, and sho 'nuff, I had myself a nice little sunburn.  Not bad enough to be in agony, but it was definitely uncomfortable in the hot shower.

The following day G and I hit up the grocery store, and I perused the personal hygiene aisles looking for an aloe moisturizer that wasn't chock full of chemicals but would still serve its intended purpose.

Friends, meet

This stuff did the trick!  It is sticky while drying (just like 100% aloe), but unless you are squeezing the goods directly from the plant, I would make sure you have a bottle of this on hand ... you know, just in case.  

Note to self: always wear sunscreen!

Tuesday Tidbits

I have a major case of mom brain today.  Mamas, you know what I mean (at least I hope you can relate)!  The first hint of mom brain came when I was thinking of a word but could not for the life of me remember what it was ... doh!  Then I decided to buy a cute monogrammed pillow case for G and couldn't remember my credit card number -- I had that thing memorized a long time ago (online shopping much?  hehe), but for some reason the only numbers that came to my mind were my bank account and social security number.

Therefore, I decided to do a bulleted list for today's post to cope with my less than stellar mental capacity.  ;)

• We now have two monkeys residing in our house.  Remember this pirate monkey that G was scared of but is now obsessed with?  Well he (the monkey) decided that he needed a lady companion and she was on mega clearance at Target, so I couldn't resist.  Or maybe I'm considering having a sock monkey themed birthday party for G (I know his birthday isn't until August, but I like to plan ahead - no judgies please!) ... either way, she came home with us and now I get to listen to two monkeys simultaneously.  The pirate plays G's all time favorite song, "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida, and the girl plays, "Only Girl (in the World)" by Rhianna.  OMG... the noise!  What was I thinking?!? 

• I can't remember (Mom brain at its finest) if I already talked about this previously or not, but G's teachers at school asked me to be one of the room moms!  Ummm hello, yes please!  Haha!  Is it sad that I was honored by their request and simultaneously giddy about the prospect of all of the crafty things I would get to do?!?  Wow, I am such a SAHM, first time mom dork!  The only thing R wanted to know if it was a paying gig - ha!  My duties up until now had been sending group emails and reminders, but I just got tasked the job of putting together our class donations into gift baskets for the annual silent auction fundraiser.  What do you think???

• This past weekend we ventured out to look at five different houses, none of which are close to our current part of town.  We love our neighborhood, schools and location, but it would be nice to have more space and an office for R.  We keep toying around the idea of adding on vs. selling, but we have definitely decided to put our house on the market and see what kind of offers we get before making the ultimate decision.   Of the five houses we looked at, we really liked one in particular and are going to look at five others this coming weekend.  It's so hard to figure out what to do - I keep going back and forth!

• Speaking of which, our house goes on the market this Friday!  Ahhhh!  Tomorrow we are getting new windows installed, the photographer will take pictures for the listing, and we will have the open house this weekend!  Is it wrong that I shudder at the idea of strangers traipsing through our house, yet I love being nosy and looking at other people's homes? 

• G has been really good about not messing up the stager's work!  I thought for sure I would constantly be chasing him away from certain areas of the house and re-doing her work, but he has largely ignored the new changes and has been fine with having the majority of his toys packed away!  I am so thankful for having such a laid back little boy.

• Was anyone else sad about picnik closing?  All of my picture collages and any of the pictures you see on here with text were edited with picnik via picassa, but now that picnik has shut down I have heard about some good alternatives.  Check out this blog for more info and let me know if you have tried anything else out!

• Like I admitted recently, we have been bad about caving and bringing G into bed with us if he put up a huge fuss.  If he cried out in the middle of the night, I would attempt to rock him and he would immediately point to the door, scamper off my lap, and pitter patter down the hall to our room.  Spoiled.  All three of us in this smaller bed, though, is not fun at all.  One night recently, I had had enough of G's giant head and kicking feet.  I took him back to his crib but left him with one of our pillows, and he has stayed in his own bed since then!  Maybe it is just a coincidence, but I'm giving myself a little pat on the back for that one.  While his crib has always had bumpers and quite the assortment of lovies, he has never slept with a pillow until now because of the whole SIDS thing.  I think we are in the clear now as far as SIDS is concerned (right?!?), so the pillow shall stay... which is why I was trying to get a cute pillow case earlier today.  You know, since you care so much about those important details of my life.  ;)

• I keep reading good book reviews on various blogs for the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy.  Has anyone else read them???  I'm thinking about downloading them to my kindle once I finish my current book.

• I had a serviceman come out this morning and I didn't even bother getting out of my pajamas or fixing my crazy morning hair ... winning! I did cringe when he made a lot of racket while G was napping, but he probably cringed at my lovely appearance.

Still not sure why he didn't ask me out ... hehe.

• The new store that I am now sick of going to repeatedly is Lowe's.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have any complaints about their products or service, I'm just tired of going there non-stop.  And I usually am clueless about what in fact I should be getting or where things are located within the store, so luckily there is someone around every corner willing to help a mama out.  

My big "helper" during one of our many trips to Lowe's!  

• Now that the NBA regular season is coming to a close and play-offs are upon us, I will finally start watching some games and cheer on my Spurs.  Go, Spurs, Go!  Just call me MWP (Mama World Peace).

Okay, enough rambling from me.  Gold stars to any of you who actually read through this post in its entirety.  :)  The end!