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.