Blonde Redhead

So I decided to find out for myself if blondes really do have more fun.

Before:

After:

Balloon Ecstasy

We went to the open house for the College Park home yesterday afternoon, and since we got there at the very end, we asked the Realtor if she wouldn't mind giving Frankie one of the balloons from her 'Open House' signs. She decided to give us all of them, which put Frankie into balloon overload. He absolutely had to carry all four of them at all times, and he wouldn't let go. I had to spoon feed him his dinner because he had them in a kung-fu death grip, and we had to wrestle them from his hands in order to put him in his pajamas. Photographic proof:

Snow Day #2

It snowed again on Saturday. It started off at about 11 AM and finally stopped at around 7 PM. We stayed inside almost all day, but we did bundle up for a few pictures.

Doesn't Frankie look like Juston in this picture?

The one that got away.

The house we originally wanted to buy this second time around was a rehabber in Historic College Park. When we were looking at it, the home was bright blue, had a weird layout, and was in a serious need of some major updates. Unfortunately, while we were dragging our feet, an investor bought the home (it was listed at $140k) and flipped it. It's now back on the market for $399k, and it's in pristine condition. Have a look at it here. I'm anxious to attend the open house this weekend and see what kind of renovations can fetch that kind of price, especially in this stinky market. We're about ready to hire a contractor for our West End house, though, because we know we can't make it look like $399k on our skills and good looks alone!

Hell Freezes Over! Er, wait, make that Atlanta....

Today the unthinkable happened. It snowed for at least two hours, long enough for some of it to stick, but not long enough to create panic in the hearts of southerners and transplants who don't know how to drive on icy roads (myself included.) Now it's turning into rain and sleet, which is basically slush, but I did grab my camera and get a few shots this afternoon.

The view from my front stoop

That guy's roof isn't normally white.

My pink Florida-esque flamingos with some 'white stuff'. (Yes, I'm the kind of person that has a set in my front yard. It's the best landmark ever when trying to give people directions.)

Frankie gets cold and wet and loves every minute of it.

(Notice Frankie's 'super high speed' pants - he wore them to kid's gym today and was flying down the slide faster than any of the other kids.)

THE Sale

For those of you who know me, you know that I love Old Navy's 75% off sale. Basically, everything that's on the sales rack is another 50% off the sale price. It's happening right now, so if you want some really sweet deals, better get there fast (the sale started Friday)! There was still a lot of merchandise at the Camp Creek Old Navy and I will probably hit up another store tomorrow just to make sure I'm not missing anything!

Hawaii

You ask, I deliver. I will fix captions later.

Why haven't I seen these re-created at a roadshow before?

And yes, that kid is Carlton Banks from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

Happy New Year!

Well, here it is, New Year's Eve, and I'm lying on my parents' couch with a really nasty cold. The TV is on to keep me company and Frankie is asleep upstairs. What's a girl to do but update her blog? If anyone has any good cold remedies, let me know. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from our visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Another reason we love Grandma...she takes us to Chuck-E-Cheese. You won't catch Mom or Dad doing that anytime soon!

Is it cruel to give your kid a green onion if your kid will eat anything?

Bridget's Christmas dress

I love my birthday girl! (She turned 3 on Christmas Eve.)

Frankie!

Frankie's newest cousin

Welcome, baby Audrey! We're so excited that you're here.

Pretty baby Audrey, only a few hours old. She weighs 6 lbs, 14 oz, a full pound bigger than her older sister was at birth; her length is 19 3/4 inches.

Audrey and Laura, the proud and hard-working mommy!

Auntie Becky

Auntie Mary (don't worry, these things do not make me baby hungry whatsoever.)

Christmas Chaos!

Why organize the pics? It's all about the madness!

House update.....

So I forgot the camera on Saturday. I'll try to make a trip over to the house this week to snap a few pics of the destruction since I won't be there for awhile (Juston will be there, but I'm going to be preoccupied for a few weeks.) The good news is that after ripping up carpet in two rooms and the most disgusting design of parquet and tile flooring in another, we found hardwoods! Hooray! We suspect there are hardwood floors in the other bedroom and the hallway, and quite possibly the kitchen, but we're not quite there yet. I did miss the neighborhood association Christmas party on Saturday due to a last-minute freelance job that I had to do (money trumps social revelry, and I needed to be home early), but there is a write-up on it in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the metro area paper here in Atlanta. After reading about it here and on a couple of other blogs, I'm sad that I missed it and it makes me excited to move to the West End. The neighborhood has a great sense of community, at least from my perspective on the outside, that I just haven't seen in most other parts of the city. By the way, our East Point house will still be up for rent sometime early next year if anyone is interested.... :)

Santa, he's not so bad.

He gives you stuff!

Just for fun...last weekend, we spent some time on the porch because it was a temperate 70 degrees at night! In December! Frankie and Bridget think that I'm pretty fun when it comes to making dogpiles.

My life as a....busy lady

I know I've been a major slacker lately, but I've been very busy! I worked all week (thank you thank you thank you to those who helped with the Frankster) and I've even landed a job for this weekend. When it rains, it pours, eh? Plus with all the Christmas stuff to do - who can blame a girl for letting her blog slip?

We did go to the Cartoon Network Christmas party last night, and it was a riot. Baton Bob was there (those of you from ATL should know who I'm talking about), as well as a guy dressed like the Easter Bunny, a place to take 'prom pictures', and a VIP lounge complete with fried chicken and 'Santa Clause Conquers the Martians' on DVD. I even made Juston dance, and since we don't drink, he doesn't even have a way to loosen up and prep for it like everyone else! They had karaoke, but we had to leave before it really got swingin' because our babysitter had to go to school today. Oh well, next year we know to hire out someone until midnight or later! We even missed the free Deathklok show, but it started at 11 PM and who can be bothered to stay out that late?

Anyway I've got to get myself to editing this Now Playing guide or I'm going to be up all night on Sunday since it's due on Monday morning. Tomorrow is demolition day at the house! Hooray! Anyone who feels like swinging a sledgehammer and getting out all of your frustration through destruction, feel free to drop on by. :) I'll take some pictures of the demo if it's light enough to see; I forgot to call the power company this week (not that half of the rooms even have light fixtures in place).

Bombarded!

That is exactly how you'll feel when you look at all of these pictures. I've been blog lazy lately - I can't be bothered blogging. Many of you know that I spent a couple of days subbing at the Methodist (Mormon) preschool and daycare, which helped me to stay busy, and I've also spent a lot of time reading trashy teen fiction. We are in the process of closing on the house, so I've been on the phone a lot. For what it's worth, we've signed all of the paperwork but we're waiting for the bank to let us know they have our funds so we can take possession of the house and do demolition next week. I baked several times for the Ward Christmas Party and other assorted events. I've also done some Christmas shopping (almost done - two gifts left to buy and a few more left to make!) and yesterday I even went to the movies by myself, which was fantastic. All in all, I've been contentedly busy lately and haven't felt to get on the web and update my blog. I'm also working for TCM most of this week, so don't expect much. However, Juston just e-mailed me about 15 photos from his beloved iPhone, and it's my duty to make sure they make it to Grandma's eyes. And just for fun, I've only corrected three of these pictures. Try and guess which ones have been through photoshop.

Ah, a common scene at our house. Bridget attempts to use her feminine wiles to steal away a tasty morsel from young Frankie.

Lunch at Front Page News.

Daddy, I want a pony for Christmas!

Playing in the backyard before raking the leaves.

Leaves!

More leaves!

Stop with the leaves already!

Caged! (I think that's also the title of a film from the 'Women in Prison' genre.)

Another reason why kids think I'm a rock star - I will don a blanket as a cape and run around the house playing 'Super Why!' while babysitting.

Guy Fawkes Party - Gunpowder, plot, treason, and Frankie.

Frankie takes a nosedive into a pile of blankets.

I'm watching you.

I been tagged.

There's this thing going around on people's blogs - it's where you write six little-known things about yourself and then tag six other people to do it themselves. Heather (who is also in the ATL Ward Primary presidency) tagged me. Woooo. Unfortunatly, I have a rather small blogging circle, so I fear there's no one left to tag! But here's my six, in random order:

1) When I was a kid, I was obsessed with cats (and Miss Piggy, but that's another item in itself.) I became something of a junior artist in the second grade with my cat drawings. I had a pet cat named Tiger that I thought was the bee's knees, even though I don't think he really liked me much. (My dog willingly snuggles with me in bed, but I could never force that dang cat to sleep near me!) I really wanted to be a vet, like most other children. At one point, my family owned four cats. I was well on my way to becoming the crazy cat lady, but then I developed an affinity for dogs and don't see myself ever wanting to own a cat again. (I only put this item in because, well, most people think I'm dog obsessed.)

2) I draw. My favorite medium is watercolor pencils, which I use with liberal amounts of spit (I love the colored fingerprint smudges.) When I was on my mission, I kept a journal of drawings, which was my emotional outlet. I mostly draw girls, and animals. I still draw quite a bit these days, and Juston is currently egging me on to try and sell prints on etsy.com, just for fun. Heck, I bought a couple of art prints the other day from someone off of that site, so people do buy them!

3) When I was in high school, I loved calculus. I lobbied for the third trimester of calculus, but only two other people signed up, so the class was dropped from the schedule and I ended up with an additional choir class. Calculus is the math that makes sense of all of that algebra nonsense!

(This is starting to get hard....)

4) I really wanted to write a paper about plastic surgery and the media in grad school. My professor thought otherwise and 'strongly encouraged' me to write about another topic that he thought was 'sexier.' I will do it someday. (What? You haven't seen "Lovely and Amazing?" You really should, if you like that kind of thing - note - not for the more sensitive of those in my reading audience.)

5) This year I've become a recycling fanatic. I get really upset when I see people throwing away stuff that can be recycled and I've been known to dig through my trash when people throw away aluminum cans, magazines, plastic bottles, etc. I also take home glass jars, plastic stuff, etc., when I'm out to eat or in public so that I can recycle them when I get back to my house. I call this my new year's resolution gone crazy overboard!

6) I haven't had long hair in over ten years. I just don't want it. I find shorter hair empowering and, well, way more fun than long hair. I also hold a belief that about 90% of women would look better with short hair, but of course, everyone is entitled to choose their own hairstyle!

7 - BONUS!) (I use a lot of parenthetical statements.)

Since it's the same people posting this stuff that read my blogs, I have no idea who's left. Anyone who hasn't, I tag YOU! Everyone who doesn't have a blog, do it in your hearts. Or send out a mass e-mail if you want to spam your friends.