On losing 50 pounds

So ... this is what I've been up to in 2011.  I mean, I realize I'm bragging a little bit here, but this is pretty incredible, right?  I look at these two pictures and I can't believe the girl on the right is me ... right now ... sitting here ... typing this.  I hear this is a common malady among people that lose weight, but in my mind, I still think I look like the one on the left.

I didn't actually start the year with any sort of weight loss goal in mind.  I've struggled with my weight all my life, but I've always had excuses why I just couldn't lose my extra weight.

See if you can relate to any of these:

• I don't know how to lose weight.  How much "less" should I eat?  How much "more" should I exercise?
• Exercise only makes me more hungry, and so I eat more anyway
• Being overweight is part of my genetics a.k.a. I have a slow metabolism
• I'm not one of those "shallow" people who cares about looks
• Joining a weight loss program is too expensive
• I'm not ready to stop eating whatever I want
• I'm not willing to give up sweets!!
• I'm afraid I'll feel deprived if I cut back what I eat
• I'll have to spend money I don't have in order to buy an all new wardrobe
• I'm afraid of FAILURE, so I won't even try

But as the first few months of the year came along with a few more pounds packed on, I finally started to come to the realization that it was time to do SOMETHING.  Not only that, but once Lydia started on solid foods, I became a lot more conscious of what I was eating.  I wanted DESPERATELY to teach my daughter how to eat right so that she didn't end up "fat like me".  I knew that I could teach her how to eat correctly with my words, but it was my actions she was ultimately going to follow.  I guiltily realized that I needed to learn how to be a better example.  So, I chose to join Weight Watchers, with the idea already in place that I was ready to make a change for LIFE, not just for a few days or a few months.

And it was ... easy.  Surprisingly easy.  I lost 8 pounds the first week and 3 pounds the second week.  All together I lost 25 pounds in my first 2 1/2 months.

And then, of course, it got harder.  It took me an agonizing 6 more months to lose the next 25 pounds.  There are still days and weeks (like around holidays!!!!) where I think, "oh man, this is sooooo hard".  And there are days and weeks when I mess up and I go over my weekly points.  But, I pick myself up and dust myself off and start over again and don't let myself get discouraged.  The weight didn't come on overnight and it certainly isn't going to come off any faster than it came on!!  And then there were the weeks when I only lost a little, or none at all, or worse ... I gained ...  That was/is hard.  But eventually, with persistence, I kept losing, bit by bit.

I've also learned a lot about myself over this journey.  I've learned that I have more resolve than I previously imagined.  I've learned that I thrive on small rewards (stickers, keychains, etc.).  I've learned that I don't have a problem finding time to exercise.  I've also found that I don't need to bake sweets all the time to be happy.  I hardly ever bake any more, and it was one of the things I was the most loathe to give up before I started WW.

And, some other amazing things have happened too.  First of all, none of my clothes from before fit.  AT ALL.  They are all too big and it's wonderful.  I go shopping at thrift stores and I find some pretty decent things there.  And, it doesn't hurt any more when I exercise!  I used to come home with aching feet and knees.  Today I actually started training myself to start running.  I was amazed that I actually ran for 2 whole minutes on the treadmill.  ME.  RUNNING.  It's crazy.  I always swore I would NEVER run.  I have a goal to run a 5K in 2012.  I'm also eating more fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and fiber rich foods.  I've always enjoyed cooking, and now I'm enjoying the challenge to cook healthier food that actually tastes good.  And it's not such a drastic change.  Just a tweak here and a tweak there.  Some of my recipes I don't make as often as I used to.  WW is all about moderation, not deprivation.  I still eat my two favorite foods, cheese and chocolate, every single day.

The most amazing thing that has happened is that my husband has also joined WW and he has lost over 40 pounds, too.  He looks great and keeps telling me how grateful he is that I got him to join.  I can hardly believe it when I think that together we have lost over 90 pounds!!! That's a whole Nicole Richie!! ;)

Lest I deceive you, my journey is NOT over.  Truthfully, I don't know what my ideal weight is, but I'm not worried.  I know that when I get there, or at least get close, I will know.  I've got at least 50 pounds more to go, but now more than ever, I know that I WILL get there.  The question is not IF, or even WHEN, but WHO.  Who will I be when I get there?  In so many ways I wonder about that, and I'm so excited to find out.  I just know that despite my reservations and my fear of failure, in the end, the person that emerges from this cocoon will be the best version of myself I've ever known.  I understand now, more than ever, that I am worth it.  Worth every bit of it.

Christmas 2011

This year was one of my most favorite Christmases ever.  We didn't have church until noon, so it was nice to have some time in the morning to open presents and prep Christmas dinner.  Ben and I got up first and exchanged gifts.  I gave my hubby a new wedding ring because his was falling off and Tungsten Carbide can't be re-sized.  I was really happy that he hadn't been able to guess what I'd gotten for him.  He got me a Kindle, which I was NOT expecting, and I'm pretty excited about that since the last one got smashed to bits last month.  Hopefully this one will last a little longer ...  My in-laws came over at 8:30 and we got on Skype with my parents so they could all watch while we brought Lydia downstairs to see what Santa had brought her.  I had wrapped everything but the play kitchen we gave her (it was a little too big to wrap).  She was excited about the kitchen of course and wasn't too interested in opening anything else.  It took some MAJOR coaxing to get her to open some of her other gifts.  And then, after opening all the presents from the grandparents, she was too interested in playing with those things to want to open any of her presents from Santa.  So, she opened a present here and there throughout the day.

The Christmas Program at church was beautiful.  Ben and I both sang in the choir and the choir had the whole program!! There was no recitation or talking until it was all over and the Bishop said a few words.  The Spirit was so strong during that program.  It left me on a spiritual high for the rest of the day.  Our choir director had brought rose corsages and boutonnieres for every member of the choir.  I still have mine and Ben's sitting in a little dish of water on the windowsill.  Just a beautiful touch.

For dinner, Ben smoked a stuffed pork loin.  It was DELICIOUS.  We had so much good food and enjoyed the company of Ben's parents, my brother's family, and my sister-in-law's mother whom I consider to be family as well.

Despite the fact that we sorely missed having my parents join us here in Georgia, which has been the tradition for the last 4 years, we still had a wonderful day.  I can honestly say that it wasn't so much the presents that made the day memorable, it was the beautiful spirit of peace and goodwill that settled over my home for the entire day.  At the end of the day, although I was exhausted from the effort of getting up early, cooking dinner and cleaning it all up, I sat for nearly 20 minutes, just musing to myself about that precious time that I had spent singing praises to my Savior and being close to dear loved ones.  I truly felt the Spirit of Christmas this year.

Trying to get something out of the bottom of the stocking.             "I can't get it out!!!!"

       All dressed up and ready for church!!                      Playing with a toy from G-ma and G-pa.

                                                                            Dressed up in the tutu  I made for her :) 

                              Opening a present                                                  (Complete with dress-up shoes)     

OCD

My daughter is OCD.  I ... uh ... have no idea where she gets it from ...

She is an obsessive door closer.  I suppose it's better than being an obsessive door opener?  She always has to close all the doors in the house, no matter whether she and I are on the same side or not.

This afternoon she went upstairs and shut herself in our bedroom.  Typical. The lights were off, so I left her alone for about 5 minutes and then went to make sure she wasn't getting into too much trouble.  This is what I found: 

In the split second before I turned the light on and she sat bolt upright, she had been snuggled down in our bed, playing with her hair and sucking on her tongue.  I was sure glad I hadn't bothered to fold those clothes yet ...

Of course first question that popped into my head was, "how in the world did she get up on the bed"?  She's been trying for weeks now, but our bed is preeeeetty high.  Turns out (as she proudly demonstrated for me at least 3 times while I folded the aforementioned laundry) she climbs up on Ben's nightstand, and then bunny hops from there up on to the bed.

She is one smart little cookie.  I guess nowhere is safe any longer.

Mommy's Little Helper

Lydia has a new chore.  In fact, it's her only chore: putting away the clean silverware from the dishwasher.  She does a *FANTASTIC* job, as you can see.  But, she loves to help, which is the most important part ... even if it does require a little ... ahem ... rearranging after she's done :)

This and that

Lydia has a new favorite thing around here: sensory "table".  I requisitioned this bin and filled it with some rice a couple of months ago.  It kinda disappeared while we were doing our whole living room renovation thing, but now it's back and Lydia LOVES it! She will stand there and play for at least 10 minutes--which is a miracle, because this girl is BUSY.  (She looks so old in this picture--I can't believe I no longer have a "baby".)

And of course, any time I am cooking ANYTHING, Lydia HAS to be up on the counter "helping" me.  If I don't automatically invite her, she grabs on to my apron and says, "cookies? cookies? pwees?  pwees?"  She thinks anytime the mixer is going, it must be cookies.  Actually, this time it was pumpkin brownies, but she absolutely HAD to help.

That girl is growing so fast ... *sigh*.  I cannot believe how many words she knows.  She will point out everything in a book, and most of the time she knows what they all are.  She knows several phrases that I can understand, but she still says complete sentences that I don't understand any part of.  We're also working on manners, which is really fun.  I just love being a mom and watching her learn and grow!

When things are lost

Yesterday Ben came home from a service project where he had been helping with parking for a special concert at church, and realized that he didn't know where his Kindle was.  He had taken his Kindle with him to help pass the time, but he never actually ended up using it.  The last place he thought he remembered it being, was on the back seat of the car.  We tore the car apart from top to bottom ... no Kindle.

We said a prayer and felt that we should drive the 30 minutes back to the church where he had been helping and see if we could find it.  Ben's parents happened to be over and they agreed to hold down the fort so I could go with Ben and help him.  After an hour and a half of searching, including driving halfway home only to receive a bit of inspiration which encouraged us to turn around and go back, we found the Kindle, smashed to bits, on the side of the road about 1/4 mile down from the church.  Ben had left the Kindle on top of the car and driven off to his assignment, not realizing at the time that the "thump" he heard on the trunk was the Kindle falling off.

Needles to say, I felt slightly sick carrying home the battered Kindle case, back cover, and battery.  We couldn't even find the main part of the Kindle.  As I sat in the car, mourning the loss of such an expensive and useful "toy", the Lord decided to teach me, I was reminded of something else I had lost a few weeks ago:

We were at a friends' house for a Halloween party 3 weeks ago, and unbeknownst to anyone, Lydia opened the front door (a lever handle, the only kind she can open), went outside, shut the door behind her, and ran off down the road.  Just at the moment of her escape, another one of the party guests who was just leaving saw Lydia, snagged her, and brought her back inside.  I had just started to look for her since it had been about a minute and a half since I had seen her.  Those ninety seconds that could have changed my life forever.  Instead, Heavenly Father sent an angel to protect my family.

In the case of the Kindle, there was no guardian angel.  We simply lost the Kindle, and it's gone.  But when things are lost, although it may be sad, they are only "things" and life will go on pretty much as it did before.  I certainly am grateful that even though I don't have a Kindle, I still have my beautiful daughter, my wonderful husband, a roof over our heads, and food on our table.  With Thanksgiving next week, I can't help but think this was an appropriate lesson for me.  This Thanksgiving, I am genuinely thankful.

I smell a __________

Yesterday I went down to the basement to talk to my husband and it smelled AWFUL down there.  I mean, it was REALLY bad.  It reminded me of the time when I was in college and I cleaned out the freezer then forgot to take out the trash ... Two days ago there had been a faint smell of something rancid, but it wasn't too bad (and Ben couldn't even smell it then ... MEN!) so I didn't worry too much about it.  But, yesterday, piewwwwiiee!!!  Even he agreed that it stunk.

But he still sat down there, studying in the stink ... Men are so weird.  Actually I believe his exact words about the smell were "swamp gas".  Right ...  Anway, I had remembered hearing a scrabbling noise in the chimney several days earlier, as if some critter had gotten itself stuck.  Ugh.  I bet you can guess where this is going.

I started searching high and low for the source of the smell.  I got the flashlight and looked in the crawl space ...   It's super creepy down there.  You could definitely stash several dead bodies in there and no one would ever find them.  Well, except for the smell, maybe.  But there was nothing there this time.

I stuck my nose in the bathroom ... nothing quite that offensive in there.

I went outside and sniffed around the chimney ... inconclusive.

Back inside, I sniffed at a hole in the wall between the 2 basement rooms ... nothing.

Then, I sniffed at the woodstove.  BINGO.

But surely there wouldn't be anything in the actual woodstove right?  It's probably stuck between the pipe and the chimney structure.  That would be just my luck.  I decide to open the woodstove anyway, just to be sure.

5 minutes later ...

I finally figure out how to open the darn thing.  Very slowly I opened the door, caught a glimpse of the inside and hurriedly shut it.  Yep, dead squirrel, curled up on the floor of the woodstove.  Ick, ick, ick, and blech.  I ran upstairs and outside, just to make sure I'm not smelling it any more, and took several gulps of fresh air. Ewwwwwwww!  I would have been a REALLY bad pioneer.

Five hours later my husband finally decides to take care of the squirrel.  FIVE HOURS.  Seriously?  His excuse ... "It's raining".  I even took a box, bags and gloves (and Lysol) downstairs for him.  Oh well, I guess he was the one that had to sit in that stinky room!  Which still had a residue of the smell this morning, by the way, and he complained when I opened the window.  "Too cold," he says.  "Too bad," I said!

Potty Awareness

Lately I've been working really hard on "Potty Awareness" with Lydia.  It's not potty training, per se, which I'm not convinced she's ready for, but I am constantly pointing out anything and everything related to going potty.  I am hoping this will make it so that she understands that the potty is not something to be afraid of, and something that is very normal for everyone to do.  I will put her on the potty sometimes (we have a fabulous toddler-sized toilet seat built in to the adult one) and she will sit there very happily and read books.  She has actually gone pee pee in the potty a couple of times on accident, but it wasn't very recent so it doesn't count for much.  I can tell she's starting to get the concept of the potty, though.  Whenever anyone around here has ... ahem ... gas (which is ... uh ...extremely rare) she proudly announces "poopy!" as soon as she hears the "wind".  Last week she was standing up in the bathtub and she points to herself and says "pee pee" and I look in time to see that she is peeing in the bathwater.  Then tonight after her bath, she was standing in our bedroom and I was doing something really quick before getting her dressed.  She shouts, "Poopy! Potty!" and I look at her really hard for a second trying to decide if she is wanting to sit on the potty or whether she was just saying words that she knows.  I had just decided it was probably a false alarm when she started peeing on my floor.  Lovely.  I scooped her up and put her on the potty, but she was already done.  I wiped the pee off her leg, tossed the tp in the toilet and she flushed the potty, waving "buh-bye!"   On the other hand ... maybe she is ready for a more serious attempt at potty training ...

A New Direction

Things have been ... interesting ... around here lately.  The most important news is that my husband no longer has a job.  We've known it was coming for a while, but we didn't know how soon until it actually happened.  The good news is that Ben has finally decided what he wants to be when he grow up!  His plan is to move into the Computer/IT industry beginning with getting his A+ certification.  He's been studying for the test for a couple of weeks now and he should be able to take the it before Christmas.  With his A+ certification, he can get a job doing tech support like "Geek Squad" or something similar to build up his skill base and gain some experience in the industry.  He's actually really excited about it, and we both feel really good about this new direction.  I think with his personality, this kind of a job will suit him pretty well.  He's such a nerd ...

It should be an adventure, anyway.  Of course, unemployment is no picnic, but we're very blessed to have no credit card debt, no car payments, and we've got some money in savings.  We could have done better with our food storage, but it is what it is.  Live and learn!  Of course, prayers are always appreciated.  We will need them!

A Day Full of Pumpkins

Today was all about pumpkins.  I didn't plan it that way, it just happened.

First Lydia and I explored a pumpkin patch; you know the kind where they sell pumpkins for an arm and a leg?

We ran ....

We climbed ...

We fell ...

And we did some thinking ...

....
Later we carved a pumpkin!  Thankfully we still had all our arms and legs because I only paid $2.50 for the pumpkin at the grocery store ...

Lydia THOROUGHLY enjoyed scooping the guts out of the pumpkin.
She even tasted it (of COURSE, this is my child we're talking about).  I thought it was funny that when I cut the eye pieces out she tried to put them back in.  It's a puzzle, right mom?
Eventually, even with all her "help", I did manage to finish carving the pumpkin.  I'd like to say it turned out amazing, but art really is not my forte.  Let's just say it's your average jack-o-lantern.  Ooohh and those are my birthday flowers in the background. Aren't they pretty??

AND a bonus video for the grandmas and grandpas (and aunts and uncles) out there who appreciate them.  This may have to be censored for people (a.k.a. brothers named Matthew) who have stomachs which might empty at the slightest hint of the word "pumpkin".  Don't say I didn't warn you ...

To renovate or not to renovate? That is the question ... or is it?

We've been working on our living room ... and working ... and working ...

I'll post pictures when it's done ... if it ever is.

Is this the way more home renovation projects start out, or is it just my family?

Me: Honey, I love all the space we have in our living room since we moved the love seat out when we had carpets cleaned.  I don't really want to bring it back in, but we need the extra seating in this room.  It's too bad we can fit the couch and the entertainment center along the same wall.  Maybe we could just take the TV out since we don't watch it anyway?

Ben: Well, I've been wanting to mount the TV on the wall.

Me:  Okay ... so then we could put the couch under the TV once it's mounted?

Ben: What would we do with all the electronics? X-box, PS3, cable box (if we ever get cable again)?

Me: Uhm ... I guess we'd better go to IKEA and see what we can do.


Several days and mucho mulah later ...

Ben: I'm just not sure how it's going to look mounting this IKEA shelving unit above the TV.

Me: Yeah, it's just too bad we can't get some chairs or something and then we could move the love seat downstairs.  I think that would look better ... Oh hey, our friends are having a moving sale.  Maybe they are selling some chairs!


Several days and a bit of mulah later

Me: These wingback chairs are going to be perfect ... but they're blue!  I hate blue.  I going to need to reupholster these.

Ben: So, not to change the subject, but if I'm going to mount the TV on the wall, it makes sense to paint the wall first.

Me: Ok, but if we paint the walls, I want to paint all the woodwork.  I hate that brown woodwork!  And we should probably paint the built-ins too, and the mantel ...

Ben: I want to rip that mantel down.  I really dislike it.

Me: That would be a pretty pricey project.  I bet we could just modify it, if we removed this piece and this piece and then nailed some boards and trim in place here ...


Several weeks later and more mulah shelled out ...

Ben: I really don't want to paint these windows.  Maybe we should just replace the windows instead of painting them.

Me: Yeah, they're original to the house and I would like to have double-paned windows.


A trip to Home Depot and the bank account is a looking pretty thin ...

Me: Well, we're almost done with the living room, but we can't finish up until you get all the wiring done for the new electrical box behind the TV (which still isn't mounted).

Ben: Let me go up in the attic and see what I will need to do .... Ewww!!! There are squirrel trails and rat droppings everywhere.

Me: Gross, I don't want you going up there with all that unsanitaryness! How do we get rid of that? We need to call some wildlife control company.


2 days later

Dude from Critter Control: Yes, so the process is that we will seal up your home to prevent any critters from getting in, then set up traps to catch the ones that are left inside.  Once there are no more critters we can clean up the droppings and sanitize in the attic.  Here's your estimate to complete this work.


Dude hands me the piece of paper and I nearly lose my breakfast.


Moral of the story: before starting any home renovation project, take that budget you came up with, and multiply it by at least 20.

There and Back Again: A Mother's Tale

A couple of months ago I decided I needed a vacation so I bought a plane ticket to go home and see my parents in New York; a plane ticket with a very distinctive "Infant in arms" stamped across it.  Despite my joy at seeing my family, I dreaded the day I would get on a plane with my very active, 17-month-old toddler, forced to sit in my lap, with very little room to maneuver, for 2 straight hours.  I dutifully researched and prepared for this trip, collecting snacks and toys that would be new to my daughter: a slinky, stickers, matchbox cars, a pack of cards with pictures and numbers on them, color wonder markers, post-it-notes, some books, and a family photo album.  The one thing I did NOT try, was benadryl or any other sort of medication, for either of us.  And this is how things went:

As we got settled in for the outbound flight, I became encouraged when no one claimed any of the other 2 seats in our row.  As it turned out, we ended up with the entire row to ourselves.  This was a huge blessing because I did not realize how sensitive my stomach has become.  I held Lydia on my lap, of course, during take-off, and so with the plane bouncing up and down through turbulence and Lydia jumping and wiggling all over me, I nearly puked. In fact, I had to put her in the seat next to me and do breathing exercises for a good 20 minutes and drink some ginger-ale to completely settle my stomach.  Who knew that would happen? Not me.  Meanwhile, Lydia is poking her head in between two of the seats checking out the folks sitting behind us.  Thankfully they are asleep and don't mind too much.  There's an 8-month-old little boy sitting with his mom in the row in front of us, and Lydia plays peek-a-boo with him, but quickly becomes bored with that.  She spends about 2 minutes taking the slinkies out of the box and trying to stuff them back in again.  I show her the cars and she scrapes them sideways along the tray-table, making a really loud annoying noise.  After about 30 seconds of that, I put the cars away and pull out the photo album.  She spends about a minute looking at the pictures and then wants something else to do.  We pull out a book.  That gets us through the next minute and then she's Little Miss Wiggly again.  I try the slinkies again, but she wants to get down.  I pull out the post-it notes.  "Look, Lydia, see how they stick??"  She has fun with the post-it notes for about 30 seconds and then is ready for something new.  Did I mention that I purposely scheduled the flight during naptime so that she would hopefully sleep?  Yep, no chance of that.  I decided to try walking in the aisles with her.  But no sooner do I put her down than she tries to take off running.  I snatch at her and she trips and falls flat on her face, wailing away.  I pick her up and sit her and my red face back down.  We try "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and a few other songs.  Then we play "peek-a-boo" again with the little boy in front of us.  Lydia steals his toy, and I make her give it back.  Then she's looking at the people sitting behind us again ... Lather. Rinse. Repeat.  Finally we are starting our descent and I pull out the stickers and some paper.  She is fascinated because the stickers are "Blues Clues" and so she keeps saying "doggie" over and over again.  I also have some animal stickers and this miraculously keeps her occupied until we are on the ground.

The return trip was better in some ways, and worse in others.  I took some Dramamine so I didn't have any issues with nausea, but there was not a single empty seat in the whole airplane.  In fact, I don't remember much of this leg of the trip.  I think I have blocked it from my memory.  One thing I do remember is the sweet angelic young woman whom we sat next to.  Bless her heart for being so understanding!  I heard the middle-aged couple sitting in front of me grumbling right after I sat down and muttering something about "should be a designated section ..."  Uhm, hello! We are in the back of the plane.  That kind-of IS the designated kids section. Anyway, do you expect peace and quiet when you are sitting right next to the propeller?  Oh well, I couldn't blame them really.  I don't like it when people kick my seat either.  Lydia did NOT like having to sit in my lap the entire time.  Sometimes I stood in the aisle and let her stand and bounce in the seat, but at one point she was playing with the pack of cards (I say playing, but I really mean she was throwing them on the floor) and I thought we should put them away.  She was NOT happy with me and started flailing her arms around.  Apparently she grabbed some of the pages from the book my seat-mate was reading because there was a ripping noise and suddenly Lydia was holding the corners of two of the pages from that book.  I was HORRIFIED.  I kept apologizing over and over but the woman just said, "Oh don't worry, we'll just tape that right back in there."  She was incredibly sweet about the incident, and about the whole plane ride, despite being whacked repeatedly by a restrained 17-month-old's flailing arms.

I had a wonderful time on my vacation, despite the torturous book-ends of the airplane flight.  I hope I never again have to fly solo with a toddler (in arms), at least not without benadryl.  I might try it one more time with benadryl, but I think driving anywhere would be preferable to 2 hours of pure torture confined in an airplane seat with a toddler in my lap.

Week in New York: Mackenzie-Childs

While I was in New York, my mom took me to visit the creative home of MacKenzie-Childs.  If you've never heard of MacKenzie-Childs, you're in the same boat that I was a couple of weeks ago.  They are a design company which creates ceramic and fabric everything ... using their eclectic mix of patented patterns.  They own a property in Aurora, NY, which used to be a Victorian dairy farm but currently houses the main design studio and gift shop.  They also offer a tour of the original Victorian house, which they have turned into a showpiece for many of their designer pieces.  The tour of the home was absolutely fascinating, but the products are ... kinda pricey ... like $250 for a teapot kind of pricey.  I'm convinced that the only way I would ever own anything designed by MacKenzie-Childs is, 1. If I made a million dollars a year, and 2. If I decorated an entire room or an entire house in that style.  The style is very cool, but very bold, so a single piece would look very out of place in my modest home.

 The house

The view of the lake from the front porch of the house

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is a (can't think of the name ARGH!) kind of art where every element of the landscape is at different depths.  This is actually a table and it was absolutely breathtaking.

Dining room and sitting room, completely decorated in MacKenzie-Childs

They call the pattern on the walls "Courtly Check".  Every square was HANDPAINTED.

A very curious lamp in the giftshop

The bathroom in the gift shop

And yes, every single tile is hand painted: floor, counter top, wainscoting, you name it.

The grounds around the estate were absolutely gorgeous and very well tended.  We found a pond surrounded by weeping willows;

and a comprehensive vegetable garden, complete with peppers, tomatoes, basil, carrots, kale, mustard greens, beets, honeybees and a very friendly cat, to name a few.

One of the barns next to the garden. I wish my house was as nice-looking as this barn!

In short, beautiful place, expensive stuff ... nice place to visit and dream :)

Week in New York: Skaneateles

One of my absolutes when I go home to New York, is a visit to Skaneateles, a picturesque town located in the Finger Lakes region.  It is pronounced "skinny-at'las", but my husband calls it "scan-ee-a-tell'-eez" which by saying it this way has become the only way I can seem to spell it nowadays.  Whenever we do go there, we always make sure we have time to eat at the historic Sherwood Inn which has absolutely delicious food.  I've never eaten anything there that I didn't like.  Then we typically venture over to "La Patisserie" to see what delicate pastries we can get our hands on.  This time, we made Skaneateles a "girls day out", leaving all three kids behind for my dad and brother to chase after.  Since I've been watching what I eat, I tried hard to determine which item from "La Patisserie" would have the lowest impact on my waist line, but I wasn't going to pass up a chance to eat chocolate!  In the end, I settled on a chocolate mousse cup, and truth be told, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten from "La Patisserie".  Samantha had a cupcake, which she went a little giddy over, and my mom had ... I can't remember what it's called--a fruit and nut ... bar ... thing with a delicious sugar-cookie like crust.  Samantha and I became a little silly as we sat down outside La Patisserie to eat our goodies.  The pictures will attest to the general silliness that was going on ...  And what better time for silliness than a girls' day out?

Outside La Patisserie

 Chocolate Mousse Cup (yummy!!!!)

 Mom and Samantha (You can see Samantha starting to get giddy)

 The silliness is in full swing

 More evidence of complete and utter silliness

 Samantha, outside the historic Sherwood Inn

Week in New York: Zoo Trip

A couple of weeks ago Lydia and I flew to New York to spend some much needed time with my family, including my sister who flew in from Utah with her two children.  It had been two years since I had seen my sister, and if any of you have a sister that you love dearly, you know that is MUCH too long to go without seeing your sister.  Samantha's kids are 3 years and 7 months, and so my 17-month old had a great time playing with her cousins, just older and just younger than her.

One highlight of my trip was the visit to Ross Park Zoo, which was totally deserted despite the fantastic weather.  I suppose everyone in Binghamton was still recovering  from the recent devastating floods there.  We saw a lot of furniture and other items along the curbs while we were heading down there.  It was very sad to think of how many people's memories were sitting at the side of the road ...  But the zoo was wonderful; everyone had a good time.

Hungry Goats

Kakakakaka! (translation: "Look! Ducks! Quack quack!"

 Beautiful Shale Formation--It's just stunning when you can see all the layers of a rocky hill

 Checking out the penguins

 Mama kangaroo with baby in pouch!

 Lydia and Marin going down the slide. They LOVED the slide and went down together MULTIPLE times :)

Labor Day Weekend

This year we make the 4-hour drive to Savannah to spend Labor Day weekend with Ben's sister and her family.  We arrived on Friday afternoon, and they took us to one of their favorite restaurants which is right on the water.  Lydia was having a rough time after all the travelling we did, so she and I spend most of the evening on the dock right next to the restaurant.

 A view of the restaurant, from the dock

 The bank was COVERED with mussel shells.  It was so cool!

 On Saturday, we drove into downtown Savannah and were just amazed at how beautiful the city is with its green city squares and picturesque architecture.  We played in a fountain:

 ... and we went on a carriage tour through the city.  I would highly recommend the carriage tour to anyone visiting Savannah.  Much better than a bus tour!

 Recognize the backdrop? "Life is like a box of chocolates ..." (Just insert a bench and Tom Hanks.)

 Better Homes and Gardens rated this street the most beautiful place to live in the Unites States.

After our carriage tour, we made our way down to river street, where we strolled along and looked at the merchants selling various crafts and things.

Then we had lunch at a yummy pizza place called "Your Pie", which I thought was pretty good, although Lydia was tired, cranky and driving me berserk.

Sunday was pretty relaxed--Lydia actually had an official "in-the-bed" nap for the first time in almost a week! (Poor girl.)  After dinner we drove out to Tybee Island (a place I REALLY REALLY REALLY need to visit again REALLY soon) to see the beach.  Lydia LOVED the water.  This video is for the grandparents, as it is a little long and might seem like overkill to anyone but parents or grandparents!

As if that wasn't enough adventure for one weekend, we ventured down to Wormsloe Plantation on Monday before we headed home.  If you didn't know, Wormsloe Plantation was one of the first places settled in Savannah, and the site of much of the filming of "Forrest Gump".  The avenue of Oak Trees was absolutely breathtaking.  I started taking pictures while Ben went in to pay the entrance fee and then noticed this sign:

Whoops!  Well, I figured we WERE paying the fees, even if it was a little bit after I took pictures ...  The plantation included a walking tour of the remains of the originally "tabby" plantation house.  I learned that "tabby" is a construction material that is composed of shells.  It was pretty cool.

Of course we had to take some pictures of ourselves running down the avenue ... "Run, Forrest, run!!!"  Even Lydia got in on the running action ... sorta.

We were so sad to leave; we had an absolutely wonderful time.  We're hoping we can return to Savannah again soon.  I need some more time at the beach!