Painting

Julia loves to paint.

She is currently into rock painting.

And, as she is a rather messy painter, all of the painting has to be done with water colors at the kitchen table under supervision.

I mean, she is only 2.5 years old.

Yesterday, Julia asked me to paint her fingernails. This is yet another type of painting that she loves. I was in the middle of cooking about 3 things at once and told her she'd need to wait until I was done cooking. Besides, I reminded her, her nails were already painted. She pointed to some spots that had chipped away. I told her I'd fix them after I finished up in the kitchen. She said ok and wandered away.

She came up to me a few minutes later to tell me she had a surprise for me. With a huge grin on her little chubby face, she held up her hands and showed me this...

I screamed. Loudly. I ran to my bathroom, where all fingernail polish is kept, but didn't see a mess. I could definitely smell that polish had been used, but couldn't see it. I asked Julia to come here to show me where she'd painted her nails.

She said no.

I said to get her little toddler self over to me pronto.

She meandered in very s l o w l y.

I asked her where she'd painted her nails. She pointed to my closet.

I opened the door and saw a spill spot on the carpet. Not as big of one as I was anticipating, but purple is not a forgiving color on tan carpet.

After explaining why she can't paint her own nails by herself in my closet, I had her help me clean it up.

She's going to be the end of me, people.

Zumba

I took a Zumba class for the first time today.

I was nervous. I'm always nervous walking into a room of people I don't know, especially when that room is an exercise room and I'm expected to exercise in front of everyone.

The teacher walked in and I felt a bit more comfortable because the teacher was a Colorado version of my cousin Jamie. For those of you who do not know my cousin Jamie, she is a 4'11" tiny blonde who could be Reese Witherspoon's sister. Jamie's been dancing since she was teeny and tiny and is very confident in a dancing realm. This teacher had that same confidence. And was also the same height.

I kind of knew what Zumba was, but if you do not know, it's a dance-fitness program. It's a lot of Latin music and dance moves. It makes you sweat and shimmy and feel inadequate at times.

I loved it.

Now, I love to dance anyway, which I why I thought Zumba would be kind of interesting. Am I a good dancer? Ha! No. No I am not. But, I love it anyway.

The zumba class I took at the Y was an hour long and I was ready to be done after 30 minutes. It's also done in an aerobic room, so there are mirrors on 2 out of 4 walls and I find that so annoying. The last thing I want to do is watch myself turn red as a tomato and sweat like a pig. I like to believe that I don't look like a red hot mess while exercising and those damn mirrors kept showing me otherwise.

It was such a workout, though. Lots of moving and jumping. I had walked 2 miles before the class, so my calves hated me a little. But, overall, it was fun! I liked it. I'm definitely going to go back next week.

I'm just going to ignore the mirrors. They're just bullies.

Virtual Coffee

Good morning! Want some coffee? Some virtual coffee? Great! Then grab a mug and let's chit chat at my kitchen table where the sun is pouring in.

The illness that shook this house last week is finally over. Julia still has a lingering cough and has been car napping a lot lately, but the doctor said the cough could last 2-3 weeks. Awesome.

I need to show you some of the things I found when I went antique browsing over the weekend with a couple of friends. I am such a sucker for an antique/vintage store. They call to me.

This I loved instantly because Evan's grandpa was a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer fan, but this is a Pabst cheese box because they apparently made cheese too.
Ah...this is my new love.
The sticker just cemented my adoration.
Not a rip, not a tear, not a thing wrong with the inside. And it cost me $6. :)
I have this Rice Krispies magazine ad framed in my kitchen. I've been hunting for more vintage ads to frame and hang next to it.
Which made me super excited to find this one!!
I had to buy this one. I heart him.
And, seriously? It says Virginia House! It needed to be in my house!!
It was a fabulous day for finding things.

Yesterday, my friend Rachel came over to clean my house (and bleach away any stray germs) and she totally helped me rearrange and reorganize the upstairs loft. The loft is the girls' play area and it was just a dump. A hopeless dump. So, we moved furniture, threw out garbage, threw together a donation bag and now the whole upstairs is fabulous! Elisabeth saw it when she came home from school and declared it "Beautiful!". Sometimes you just need an outsider to help you see what changes need to be made to be more efficient. Thank heavens for Rachel!

So, do you have any plans for today? It's just errand running for us. We're headed to the Y for a little yoga and some treadmill walking and then to a couple of stores. I find it much easier to run errands when the weather is lovely. When it's cloudy and cold and windy, I'd rather hole up in my house.

Before you leave, I need to tell you how much crocheting I have been doing lately. There are a bajillion babies being born this year and I have been working on small blankets as gifts for them all. I'm really excited a bout a new, simple pattern I've learned from a crocheting book my friend Danielle bought me years ago. I'll post pictures soon to show you, because if you're looking for a simple blanket to make that is also lovely, this pattern is for you!

Thanks for stopping by. I'm so glad to have found Amy at Lucky Number 13 because virtual coffee is one of my favorite days. See you all next week!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I am most enjoying this Scavenger Hunt Sunday over at Ashley's site. It just gives me yet another reason to always have my camera with me. :)

This week's words were:

1. CAPTURE THE SKY

2. EVERYDAY

3. FURRY

4. LIFE

5. BLURRY

I got the crap beat out of me...

I was beaten up on Tuesday by a cold. A viral cold. A viral cold that knew no mercy.

I was down for the count until last night around dinner time. Evan came home and could instantly tell that I was feeling better. I think part of the break through was that I ate oranges yesterday like it was my job. I have the canker sore on my tongue to prove it.

While I was in my foggy head cold state, I came to a realization:

Julia is a horrific, terrible, not kind nurse.

She would badger me to not lay down; she would pry open my eyes when I was trying to nap on the couch; she refused to play by herself and would scream loudly when she wasn't getting her way (which is a normal reaction for her, but with a headache, it's such a nails-on-the-chalkboard noise). She took my blankets and wouldn't give them back. I would plead and remind her that I was sick and needed to just lay down and relax. "You not sick. Get up."

There were many texts to Evan that his child was not being kind. There may have been a couple of messages informing him that he would find his youngest child out on the curb when he got home. No promises that she would be in one piece.

And that's when I realized that being a mean, bully nurse was Julia's way of trying to make me better. She was trying to scare the crap out of the virus reeking havoc in my body. It reminded me of when people try to scare hiccups out of each other.

When I was sick when Elisabeth was that age, I took her to the day care. (Oh my word, I would have given a cabajillion dollars to take Julia to any day care this week just to get a nap in.) Daycare was paid for, she wouldn't have to be around while I sneezed and hacked my lungs out and I got to nap. But, even when Elisabeth didn't have day care, she had a much different attitude about my being sick. She'd cover me with blankets and kiss my head and ask me if I wanted more water. She'd sit quietly at my feet and watch movies while I dozed on the couch. She'd pat my hair and hug me. It was very sweet and something she still does when we're sick and she's home.

Just another dramatic difference between my girls. One's a Florence Nightingale and the other one's a drill sergeant. But, what's humorous is that Elisabeth is a FABULOUS patient when she's sick--apologizes for puking, offers to help clean up her messes, sits quietly and doesn't complain. Julia is a big fat whiner when she's sick. She needs cuddled and reassured and constant attention. She cries more easily and needs to be held the entire time she's awake. She's miserable and everyone around her needs to know it.

When I went to get Julia out of bed this morning, she greeted me with, "Mommy, you feel better?"

"Yes, I feel better."

"Hooray!" She then hugged me as tight as those little 2.5 year old arms could squeeze me.

She knew that bullying the virus out would totally work.

Virtual Coffee

Hello, dear friends. My head feels very foggy today because I have a bit of a cold. I hate having a cold; I find myself being super irritated more than anything else when I'm sick. Irritated with the sneezing and having to be within 2 feet of kleenexes at all times. Irritated with the headaches and the grogginess. Irritated that any sort of germ dared to test my fantastic immune system and put up a fight.

Julia was very sick this weekend. She was just kind of sniffley Friday afternoon, and then right around dinner time she had a fever and her breathing was fast and shallow. When she was around 9 months old, she had pneumonia and it was very scary, so when she started breathing like she couldn't catch her breath, I immediately took her in. Unfortunately, that meant the emergency room, but whatever. Thank heavens she did not have pneumonia (they took x-rays) and her breathing was because her temperature was so high. She's doing much better now, with a smoker's cough that could rival any 2-pack-a-dayer.

I picked up some pictures at Walgreens this weekend and have already added the new pictures to our refrigerator. The top half of our refrigerator has always been a photo gallery of our loved ones. When we first moved to DeKalb, I wanted pictures of our parents and siblings to be up where Elisabeth could see them daily since we would no longer be seeing them daily physically. The girls love discovering that I've added new ones and talk about what they're doing in the pictures. Putting pictures up on the refrigerator was one of the first things I did when we moved out here to Colorado and will be one of the first things I do when we move to Texas. It's definitely something that makes us feel more at home.

I have yoga today and I am excited. I haven't gone to yoga two weeks in a row since I first started yoga in January. Wait...I don't even know if that's true. I think I may have never been 2 weeks in a row. Well, no matter, because that's being remedied today! Elisabeth has shown interest in yoga and i believe they have a child/parent class at the Y, so I'm looking into it for us to go to together. Before we attend though, I'll need to have her sign a contract that no matter how often Mommy falls down during class, Elisabeth will promise not to point and laugh. I can not help it that I was born without balance.

Sometimes, I dream about having new furniture. Then, I have to scrape stickers off of our existing furniture (like I just did a second ago when Julia put stickers on the coffee table) and I remember why we can't have nice things until we're at least 87 years old. Sigh.

On that random note, I will say my good-byes and start getting ready for yoga. Thanks so much for stopping by for some coffee. Please make sure and stop by Amy's place for another cup and some fun conversations! See you next week!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I was ready this week to be on the look out for my scavenger hunt items.

Here's this week's finds:

1. CHOCOLATE

2. NUMBERS

3. CANNED FOOD

4. MUSIC

5. STACK

Please stop by over at Ramblings and Photos with Ashley to see everyone else's scavenger hunt finds. That's my favorite part is to see how others interpreted the words for the week!