First boat outing of the season

ha, ha just in time for September...

first unofficial dip into the Long Island Sound

- the bean found it a tad too chilly for his taste

cheese doodle smile

leftovers on my chin? a cookie I stole from Daddy

Here's hoping summer will stretch out a bit longer, we have some time to make up for!

Hooked on Blue October

Ok, so this may not be house-related content for the "Hooked On party" but I rediscovered this song today and I think it is just beautiful, creative and unique. Enjoy and happy weekend :o)
...Oh and be sure to check what everyone else is hooked on.

Caught red handed

This morning I was making a marinade for some flank steak while Charlie was playing tin the kitchen. Everythign got quiet and I know that meant trouble so I peered around the corner to see what type of mischief the bean was making. There he laid, belly pressed to the floor while he feverishly scrubbed at the floors with his blankie. He turned and saw me -smiled then went back to his work. This is about the tenth time I've caught him in the act-of cleaning. Goes to show you how much i must be cleaning up for him to find it so much 'fun'. This is a new 'trick' I'd like to cultivate :o)

Delish Summer Pasta

Last night I made this simple and very yummy dish off of Pioneer Woman's website. It was so good, Joe and I cleaned our plates- and quick. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Trip to the Zoo

The bean is totally in love with all animals; it doesn't matter if it has fur, scales, feathers or shells.

When I took him to Petsmart last week and the trip ended up being something akin to Christmas morning (he kept pointing at the fish and the birds and the cats , we made three trips around the store), I knew it was time for a zoo visit.

First carousel ride

Zoo snake from the cousins :o)

Hooked on...Kitchen Islands

I'm dreaming of the kitchen renovation when I should be focusing on the upcoming demo and remodeling of the two upstairs bathrooms. But I have a much clearer mental picture of what I want in the kitchen, which, in turn makes it easier to daydream. Anyways, enough talk, onto the pictures:







And of course, the most lovely of lovelies:

All images except the last are from crown-point.com. The Something's Gotta Give Kitchen was snagged from Cote De Texas' blog.

Sleep Issues Revisited

Sometimes I feel like a truly awful Mother.

For the past week or so Joe has been putting Charlie down to bed at night. He seemed to prefer his Daddy (wouldn't cry or throw up) so we went with it. Charlie has also been teething like crazy for the past month with all of his molars in different states of break-through. Joe would cuddle and read to Charlie and then basically Charlie would point to his crib telling Joe he was ready for bed.

Unfortunately this has also resulted in Charlie getting up in the middle of the night wanting lots more cuddling time, so last night around 1 am we had to cry-it-out. There is nothing more heart breaking or stress-inducing than listening to your child cry for you and know that you can't answer those cries. Because if you do go, then it will perpetuate the cycle and you will spend the whole night up. So I lay there and listen to him cry and want to cry myself.

Tonight I had to put Charlie down early because he did not nap well and we just had an awful time of it. It doesn't matter how much I try to soothe him, he is inconsolable and sobbing to the point of gagging.

Thank God Joe walked in the door in the midst of it all and I was able to cry on him because I felt so horrible.

I didn't realize the sleeping 'training' as they call it would continue on and on, initially I thought it was a one-time process with maybe some refreshers needed along the way.

I'm not sure how we are going to address this with (God willing) the next child. I would not be opposed to co-sleeping a little but it's impossible with Charlie. Each time I have tried to bring him into the bed has ended up being disastrous. I know in the grand scheme of things I am helping Charlie be a more independent, well adjusted little boy that can soothe himself, but it's hard to rationalize when your baby is crying.

I'm off to go have some....no lots of chocolate now ;o)

Remodeling Question

If you were able to redo your bathrooms, what would you do differently? What type of color scheme would you choose?

I'm currently feeling a little overwhelmed with where to start since we will be renovating two bathrooms in the very near future: Charlie's and the master bath. Hopefully a vision will spring forth sooner rather than later, ha, ha!

Picture from Rate My Space's Campbell1082.

Hooked on...Summer Cooking

One of my favorite blogs, Hooked on Houses, hosts a party called "Hooked on Fridays," where you can post the topic you are currently 'into'.

I have been stuck in a cooking rut since we moved to the new house and our grill was broken (still waiting on those pieces to fix it). In an attempt to pull myself out of the kitchen blahs I have been scouring Allrecipes.com for easy and fun summer cooking ideas.

This week I made slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches topped with coleslaw, zucchini bread, creamy corn chowder and chicken enchiladas with a spicy bean salsa.

The sauce (feautred on Food Network) that I used for the pulled pork-amazing.

I've also asked my closest friends to do a recipe swap so we can use each other's tried and true recipes. I'm planning to host a fall cook-a-thon where we can all buy ingredients in bulk do all the prep work together and then have everyone leave with a bunch of ready-to-heat dinners.

Now go check out what other bloggers are hooked on this Friday :o)

The Artist

15 month check-up

We had our 15 month check-up on Friday and my little man did great.
Unlike the last five visits, Charlie did NOT shriek when we entered the exam room.
Charlie is in the 25% for weight and 75% for height, much like his Daddy, skinny and long.
I had to share a few shots of something Charlie now enjoys--climbing into the laundry piles.
My friend added the 'decorations', which the bean thought where quite stylish :o)

This shot reminds me of that famous National Geographic picture...
must be the bean's bug-eyed look, ha!

Entryway Project

I had this idea to make our entry more personal by adding lots of family photos (real original, right?!) I wanted to do something high impact with multiple frames but I knew if I did all sort of different frame sizes that might drive Joe berserk hanging them all up. I love larger mats, so I thought I would try something crafty and pick up a bunch of those wedding photo frames, where everyone can write their well wishes to the happy couple on the mat.

By using those frames I get the higher impact of the larger mat but a standard 4x6 photo size fits inside. I can change the photos out to keep them fresh AND not have to pay through the nose for many different sized photos-simplifies the process.

The frames I purchased were from Kohls on clearance for $7.99! I had to buy hangers to nail in from Walmart for less than $2. And then developing the photos cost about a dollar. Total cost of the project was about $65. Eventually we'll put up gallery type lighting in the hall to illuminate everything better.

Speaking of lighting, I'm also so happy to post that the old icky dark light fixture was replaced with a cheap (but coordinating) one from Home Depot :o) Small changes can make a big difference.