Monday, Monday

I have tried to stay away from any potty-training talk here on the blog, because no one wants to hear about that unless you are also dealing with it.  That was a rather convoluted sentence, but y'all know what I mean.  Anyhoo, I walked into Miss Priss sitting on her potty in our bathroom the other day, talking to herself.  Intrigued, I paused at the doorway and listened.

"Help me, Jesus.  I need poopy so I get TWO jelly beans.  Please, Jesus! Help me."

Yep.  My child was praying for a poop so she could up her jelly bean quota. Thatta girl. Glad to know all my Sunday Schooling is really sinking in.

She wore my dress to church yesterday.  That's me above at around 3.5 and Miss Priss at 2.5

Speaking of two and a half, it's really giving me a run for my money.  I was working away during nap time yesterday while a rare concurrent nap was happening.  I hear a small giggle and turn around to see DH with stuffed animals sticking out of her shirt, waving a flashlight around.  I tell her to march back to her room.  On the way, she decides to run at top speed, eluding capture, to "Show Baby Deeds my flashlight and tell him to wake up!".  This resulted in a flashlight dropped in/on Baby Deeds and said baby screaming his lungs out.  Meanwhile I was distracted by the sound of running water and the discovery that the little mischief maker had also turned on my bathtub. Law, she is going to send me to the loony bin.  She's mastered the  "I saw-ry, Mama.  Huggie!!"  whenever I'm ticked off at her.  It's losing its magic though, best get straightened up, little Missy.

I think it's time to get out the discipline books.  Have any of y'all heard of 1-2-3 Magic?  I've heard good things.  It's time to drop the hammer.  (especially after she ran off in Target the other night- gave me heart palpitations when I could not find her- story for another day).

Deedsie is still being PC (Prince Charming, per his grandmother), although the emergence of his first tooth is dampening his smiles a bit lately.  I should buy stock in infant Tylenol and gripe water, along with chew toys full of grand promises that he has no interest in whatsoever.

 Look at those baby thighs!  Are they not just delicious?

At least they love each other.  Contrary to his expression, Deeds was actually giggling here.  DO you like their "summertime fancy" attire?  I think we are all just lucky that I manage to get myself clothed some of these days!

Conversations with Dell Harper (Part 2)

So we were reading the Frozen book once again the other night, and I asked Miss Priss if she knew what a true love's kiss is- obviously, it has been mentioned frequently, as we read the book every single night.

DH:  (shrugs) "I dunno know, Mommy."

Me:  "Your true love is the person you get married to- like Daddy is my true love."

DH:  "Okay, Mommy."

Me:  "Who do you want to marry?  Jack?"

DH:  (giggling)  "Nooooooooo."

Me: "Charlie?"

DH: (still giggling) "Nooooooo."

This goes on for a while as I name every boy she knows.  I even scrape the bottom of the barrel and ask about Daddy or Deeds.  No's abound, until-

DH:  "I want to marry a ro-baa!"

Me: (confused)  "A robot?"

DH:  "Yes, Mommy! I marry robot!!! I your true love, me, Daa Happaar! I Mommy's true love!"

Obviously, she is a genius- she wants a live-in robot to pick up after her for her adult life, and tops this off with a super suck-up sweet comment to her current picker-upper.  The girl is destined to live a life of leisure at this rate.

Thoughts on Paint

Ooh, I have been having so much fun picking out paint colors for the new house.  I adore color, but the current walls are rather, um, bold for my taste.  Bold and dark and high gloss.  Not a great combo.  The main areas of the house- kitchen, keeping room, and family room are totally fine.  The rest?  Well, I immediately got out my paint deck when our offer was accepted and started dreaming.

This post is totally boring to those of you who don't love paint.  I'm sorry.  When I was a little kid, I loved leafing through a paint deck and savoring the name of each color- I end to get really nerdy about paint.  Moving on-

1.  Pale Oats- I have never seen this peachy hue used before, but it's in our current master bathroom and I adore it.  Ladies, I have bags under my eyes like you've never seen, but this background manages to make me look rosy and alive.  I'm repeating it in our new master bathroom, which is rather dark.  Highly recommend for any bathroom- super flattering and warm, without being overwhelmingly, 80's style peach.

2.  Revere Pewter- you've heard about this color ad nauseam, I know.  It's in our current master, an excellent foil to the warm Pale Oats, and looks great with my red iron bed.  There you go.  It will be replacing mustard yellow.

3.  Hazelnut Cream- my go-to neutral. I covered our condo in this shade, used it in our mudroom, kitchen, and family room here, and now will use it in the entry, upstairs hall, guest bathroom, powder room and my office space in the new house.  People always ask me the name of this paint- it has just the right amount of both brown and pink.  It warms up a room, but stays firmly in the background.

4.  Hawthorne Yellow- this is a new one for me.  I adore all the historical colors collection from Benjamin Moore, and this color comes highly recommended.  I love a good yellow- hopefully it will work, for the small, dark and dreary kids' bathroom and the currently pea-green laundry room.

5.  Camouflage-  another new-to-me shade, I plan on using this in the formal living room (currently a non-offensive light blue, that is just not me) and dining room (currently an offensive high gloss cobalt blue). This is a lighter and greener gray than the Revere Pewter.

6.  Palladian Blue- same as current nursery.  I love this hue, and it is super popular, so obviously I am neither alone nor original.  It's going to be great in Deeds' new nursery, and will transition well when he gets a big boy room.  It's replacing a baby poop brown.

7.  Guilford Green- normally I use Georgian Green (our laundry room cabinets and DH's current room, plus our kitchen in the condo), but this is a bit lighter and the guest bedroom seems a little dark.  We shall see how it looks.  It's replacing a bright purple.

8.  Love and Happiness- Dell Harper's new room.  Pinks are tough, but this one has excellent reviews.  Pink little girls' rooms can be super annoying, so I hope this works.  If it looks like a Pottery Barn Kids catalog, I will be hitting up the paint decks anew.  The fact that it's named after my favorite Al Green song is a sign in its favor.

All colors are Benjamin Moore.  Nothing is sponsored.  If someone wants to, however, I'm completely down with that.  Paint gets expensive, yo.  Especially when you are going to have to do 5 billion coats of primer to eradicate the current colors.

In the saving money department, I found a Baker dining room table and chairs for $250 off Craigslist a couple weekends ago.  It is beautiful!  I also found barely-used moving boxes and supplies which I am looking at this week.  Morgan did not share my enthusiasm when I showed him the moving supply post, while jumping up and down.  The boy obviously does not understand how those boxes get pricey, and that liquor store boxes ain't gonna cut it for our fine china and other assorted wares.  This is not college, mister.

Finally, an anonymous commenter left a comment on Friday's post containing my new address and admonishing me to think of my safety.  Although the commenter could have probably been a bit gentler in his/her warning, they were in fact, completely correct.  I was being a moron.  In my naiveté and excitement, I did not heed caution when putting up a picture of my soon-to-be (fingers crossed) front door.  I truly appreciate the comment and warning, even though it called me a moron- that definitely caught my attention, which was needed!  So thank you, commenter!!  (that looks sarcastic- it is not.)

Five on Friday

1.  So due to our recent upcoming, unplanned-for, large expense, I have been trying to buckle down with my expenditures, i.e. not buying stupid crap at Target or more clothes for the kiddos off Zullily.  I've also been trying to eat up everything in our freezer and pantry- lessening our load when we move, and saving money.

I had pinned this recipe on Pinterest, and realized that I had all the ingredients on hand.  Miracle of miracles.  I added mushrooms, doubled the artichokes (also, I used frozen), and tripled the seasoning- salt, pepper and Italian spices.  It was pretty tasty!

 2.   The Unauthorized Saved By the Bell Story coming to a TV near you on Lifetime Labor Day. I have nothing else to add (except hell to the yeah).

Add caption

3.  I have been searching for some darn Mu Shu Pork since the minute I recovered from my morning sickness with Deeds (so coming on a year now).  Unfortunately, there is nary a non-suspicious restaurant in my town that serves Mu Shu Pork anymore.  The really authentic place closed, P.F. Changs took it off their menu, and the remainder of the places in town are really sketchy.  I even drove out to the super suburbs to try a clean seeming place with high ratings that had Mu Shu on the menu.  It was super blah, tasted only of sodium, and I almost cried.  I was pregnant at the time, in my defense.  ANYWAY, some new place, Fulin's has opened up, and they actually have MU SHU PORK on the menu.  My enthusiasm is overwhelming!  At least to poor Morgan- he has been hearing me talk about Chinese food every few hours for two days now.  I'm getting it tonight, by damn.

It's in Nashville and a bunch of other places- are my high hopes unwarranted?  Have any of y'all eaten at this place?  Should I dash my dreams of the perfect plum sauce now?  How I wish that Saved By the Bell Lifetime movie was already out.  I would have a hot date with some Chinese takeout and my couch.

4.  I'm not really sure how to follow that ode to my quest for Mu Shu pork, but here we go.  I recently came across this study that babysitting grandkids helps prevent Alzheimer's and dementia. I immediately shared it with my mama, as I have been selflessly helping prevent her getting those diseases the past week or two.  With a busy work schedule, showing the house, and training to be a deacon, her dementia prevention is really going strong.  You are welcome, Mama.  I am so happy to help your mental health!*

5.  Through all this craziness and stress, I keep driving by the soon-to-be new house (fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed).  I know it will all be worth it.  And hey- the last couple of pounds of baby weight will likely melt off when I am subsiding off pinto beans for the next few years.

Speaking of houses, someone anonymous creepo commenter commented just my address on my house tour post yesterday.  Do you think that was some weird spam thing, or just a stalker-y weirdo?  I'm hoping the former.

Whelp, I better wrap up this incredibly random post- I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!  Thanks ladies for hosting the link up!

*Mama, in all seriousness, I could not have survived the past two weeks without you.  Thank you  bunches and bunches for all your help!!

Falling on the Face of the Earth

Apparently I have forgotten that I have a blog.  Life has gotten in the way, and I have not had a second to sit down to think, or cook, or browse the inter webs.

First it was vacation Bible school volunteer duties that were slowing me down.  Then in the middle of that insanity, my innate nosiness got the best of me, and I just had to see the inside of this house in my neighborhood which I have always loved.  Morgan and I walked into the house, and my first reaction was, "Oh, shit."  It was gorgeous, and comfortable, and "us" in every way.

I came home  full of dreams and schemes on how in the world I could swing the house.  Morgan confessed he was doing the same thing.  However, the plan has always been to move into my parents' house in a few years when they build a house on some adjoining property.  So, my dad admitted that he has no desire to move for at least another ten years, and we should seriously think about this house. We look at it again, make an offer which the sellers accepted, and all of the sudden we are under contract on our dream house.

At this point I was about to have a full blown panic attack.  List making and deep breathing is helping.  I got through a huge project at work last week then went into clean/purge/organize mode.  A week after going under contract on new house, our current house is on the market! (she crows not at all modestly). I'm exhausted, but in absolute wonder/fear of the lack of clutter in my house.  Miss Priss keeps asking for all of her various large pieces of plastic (her kitchen is being renovated, and her car is getting fixed- she seems satisfied with these responses).

We had a few showings yesterday before it was officially listed.  Packing up Buddy, Deeds and Dell Harper on short notice is a sweaty, hectic endeavor.  I had to wake both sleeping babies yesterday and get them out of the house for a last minute showing.  The definition of a motivated seller.  In case you are curious, putting your house on the market with a potty-training two year old, and a nursing baby is a rather stress-inducing proposition.  Hopefully the house will sell quickly!

So that's what it is happening with me.  Fingers crossed that everything will work out- I am a nervous wreck with all these happenings, but so amped up at the same time.