Spring...where are you?

I am really itching for spring...I've decided to change the blog background to a nice blue sky.  Oh how I long for blue skys, green grass and warm wind.  Oh how I depise ice dams, sidewalks narrowed by mountains of snow, dirty salty cars, soggy boots, snowy dog tracks on the carpet, frozen nostrils, runny noses and the list goes on and on.  Today I will think spring...from inside my house...not daring to go out into the frozen air.  Ugh.

Winter = Evil

Show of hands, please...who's sick to death of winter????  Holy moly...what a rough one its been!

It seem Mikaylah has been constantly sick.  She's had three colds, two ear infections, two throat infections, a stuffy nose, cough and countless other issues.  There is snow piled as high as the eye can see.  There is nowhere to walk the dog that isn't covered with dangerous ice or mile high mountains of snow.  And DO NOT get me started on ice dams and the water spots appearing in my master bedroom and living room. 

I'm so done.  Buzz off winter!

A Blessed Day

Today was awesome...

My Dad came to town this past Thursday. For those of you that don't know, he lives in Portland, OR which in my opinion is WAY too far away from ME!!  He's very good about coming to see us here in MN though (I digress but, I'm sure he regrets the weather here this week...woke up to -29 on Friday...brr!).  At any rate...I've had  a great visit.  And I have an even greater Dad.

Thursday consisted of picking Dad up at the airport, visiting, playing games, a spaghetti dinner and just having fun!  Mik was sick, so she was home.  Not good to miss school, but if you're gonna be sick and be home it is BEST to do it when Grandpa is here, right?!?!? 

Friday consisted of coffee and morning scones at Starbucks...games and playing all day long!  Mik was sick again...but seriously, what a great sick day!  She didn't really act sick, but had a fever and cough so technically wasn't allowed at school.  Dawn and Amanda came over that evening too...I made barbecued shredded pork sandwiches and we ate and laughed. Alot.

Saturday...HOLY FUN BATMAN!!  Had donuts and coffee with Dad to start the day. Doesn't get much better than that.  Goofed around awhile.  Went bowling with Dad, Dawn, Tom, Amanda, Evan, Jaryd, Jason and Mik.  Fun times...its the first time Mik has bowled and we 'Franko's' like a good game every now and then so it was fun for all of us.  Plus, I'm pretty sure Jaryd has a crush on Mik, so it was fun watching him help her out and follow her around. :0)  My favorite part...aside from just being with family...was when Jason entered everyone's name on the scoreboard and Tom said "Who's Doodle?"....LOL. YOU'RE GIRLFRIEND DUDE!  After bowling, we went to Buca Di Beppo for dinner.  Had bread with olive oil, garlic mashed potatoes, citrus green beans, linguine frutti di marre, chicken alfredo, baked rigatoni and a HUGE piece of chocolate cake that six of us ate from....delish. Finished the day by Mik watching a movie with Grandpa and Jason and Dad playing their 'obligatory' cribbage game. We chatted awhile and annoyed the dog by messing with him.  I could chat with Dad all night and never run out of things to say...or even if I did run out of things to say, I'd still really, REALLY enjoy it.  Good times.

Tomorrow, will be low key...I have to share Dad so he's going to Dawn's for the day while I do laundry and Mik attends a birthday party for a friend from school...Dad goes home Monday morning so I have to take him to the airport on my way to work.  This week, the Sunday evening blues will be tenfold because Dad leaves....drat.

Like totally 80's!

I was just watching VH1's I Love the 80's...got me thinking...

E.T.
Cabbage Patch Kid's
Trapper Keepers
Scratch 'n Sniff Sticklers
Friendship Pins
Banana Clips
Side Ponytails
Layered Socks
Stirrup Pants
Cassette Tapes
Fruit Stripe Gum
Guess Jeans
Reebok Hightops
Dolly Pops
Swatch Watches
Neon
Acid Washed Jeans
Parachute Pants
Rubik's Cube
Speak and Spell
Helen Keller Jokes
Strawberry Shortcake
Teddy Ruxpin
My Buddy
Kid Sister
Merlin
Glo Worm
Care Bears
Rainbow Brite
Punky Brewster
Top Loading VCR's with Cord Remotes
TAB
"Where's the Beef?"
Pinning or Rolling Your Pants
Aqua Net
Jelly Shoes
Jordache Jeans
MacGyver
Atari
Rollerskating
Wanting He-man and She-ra to "hook up"
Pop Rocks
Coke
Pop Rocks and Coke (it could KILL you)
Pac Man
New York Seltzer
Mullets
Jelly Bracelets
Charm Necklaces
Shoulder Pads
Hammer Pants
Leg Warmers
BIG Earrings
Fingerless Gloves
Miami Vice
Wanting to be a Goonie
Marty McFly
Pogo Ball
Magic 8 Ball
Monchichi
Bosom Buddies
Fruity Yummy Mummy
Nerds Cereal
Qbert
Donkey Kong
Candy Cigarette's
Big Red Gum Commercials
El Camino's
Fame
Weeble Wobbles
Puttin' on the Hits
Solid Gold
Pound Puppies
Battleship
Bubble Up
Lollies
Bottle Caps
Banana Seats
Slinky
Apple Computers (with the GIANT floppy drive)
Scrunch Socks
Penny Loafers
Valley Girl Talk
Lip Smacker
Break Dancing
Puffy Stickers
California Raisins
Hacky Sack
Tether Ball
Boom Boxes
Crappy Horror Movies (Who remembers Saturday the 14th?)
Spuds Mackenzie
Chinese Jumprope
Four Square
Dynamite Magazine
The Bloodhound Gang
3.2.1 Contact
Simon
Relax Shirts
Hypercolor
Socks with Pom Pom Balls on the back
Lee Press on Nails
Roach Clips with Feathers and Beads
"I know you are but what am I?"
"Gag me with a spoon."
Webster
Silver Spoons
Different Strokes
Family Ties
Who's the Boss?
The Facts of Life


....I should really stop now...

Building Traditions...

So far I have found the beginning of the holiday season to be quite fun.  Mikaylah, being five years old now, is without a doubt 'in the know' about the Christmas season.  I'm quite loving all the fun that's gone into "holiday prep" thus far. 

When the toy ads started to come out before Thanksgiving, she would grab them, grab a marker, sit her butt down and start circling what she wanted.  She would gasp with every turn of a page and yelp out "I want that!!".  Funny.  I think everything was circled....

And...truth be told...how fun is it to play the "Santa Card"?!?!?  You know which one I'm talking about...the "oh my goodness I hope you'll put on your jammy's and brush your teeth like a good girl - it would make Santa so happy...".  I have to giggle when she disappears for awhile, comes back and lets me know that she cleaned her room or brushed her teeth without being told and then asks shyly "will you call and tell Santa that I was a good girl?".  How can I resist?  I grab the phone, dial the number (which COINCIDENTALLY happens to all be my work number AND Santa's number) and "talk" with Santa.  The first time I did this, Mik giggled, rolled around on the floor and snorted with excitement.  When I hung up I said "Santa had to go help and Elf with a toy issue he was having..." to which she said "was it my toy" with giant wide eyes!!!

So yesterday, we decorated the tree...I unpacked the ornaments, Daddy handed them to her and she hung them on the tree.  Although some branches are heavy with ornaments and giant sections of tree have no ornaments at all, its still quite pretty and she did a good job.  After she went to bed last night, Jason hung candy canes all over the tree.  This morning we told her that Santa stopped by last night and hung up some candy canes all because he loved the tree she made so much!  Haha....oh the stories we tell....and the smiles they bring.

Despite the fact that its pooring rain today, the holiday season is off to a great start.  I have very little shopping left to do, our house has been decorated compliments of Mik and holiday party plans are in the works. 

What traditions are you building with your family??

Needing a Maid!

Its been a great long weekend.  I had Thursday off for Veteran's Day, Friday is my usual day off and then of course there was the weekend of Saturday and Sunday. 

I spent Thursday with my husband...we had lunch at DaVinci's in St. Paul.  We love that place and haven't been there in years.  Its a pasta bar...choose your sauce, choose your veggies, choose your meat, choose your pasta...watch them cook it up for you!  Delish!  And get a load of this...we really party hard in this house...after lunch, we came home and took a long, snuggly nap together.  It was awesome.

Friday, I took my kiddo to school and then spent the morning and early afternoon doing some Christmas shopping.  I got lots done and as it turns out, there were a lot of deals to be had on Friday.  Can't complain about that.  Friday afternoon, I played with Mik and had a lovely time.

Saturday I woke up to a freakin' blizzard!  We were supposed to get 2 to 4 inches, but it turned out more like 8 to 10.  Anyway...Mik and I had our very first Daisy Scout meeting and she is officially a Daisy now! 

It was a nice group of little girls and some nice mothers too!  We played games, made bracelets and painted fingernails!  Then, we learned some new songs and the Girl Scout Promise.  It should be a fun year!  We played in the snow on Saturday afternoon...

Mik spent nearly an hour moving snow around on the driveway with her brand new shovel.  She loved it!  Saturday night concluded with me and Mik watching Charlie Brown episodes with a big bowl of buttery popcorn.  It doesn't get better than that does it??

Sunday...spent the day playing games, dollhouse, Lego's baking cookies and brownes and watching the football game (what a waste that part was). 

I love the weekends...whoever invented Monday through Thursday was just plain evil! 

This brings me to my blog title...who has time to clean house when they're busy enjoying their family all weekend?  I need a maid...my sister says that I should just enjoy my kid and that I can clean when she grows up.  It'll be awfully dusty here by then....

Sunday Evening Blues

I've said it before...I'm sayin' it again.  I hate Sunday evenings.  The weekend was fun...I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday all day with my family and now its Sunday evening.  A sure sign that work is just around the corner and my time with my kiddo and hubby are diminshed to a few evening hours...ugh. 

Friday I took Mikaylah and her friend Ellie to the Minnesota Children's Museum for a day of fun!  We had a great time...they didn't have a really exciting traveling exhibit like they sometimes do, but the girls really had a ton of fun in the Our World exhibit.  Basically this is a kid sized town with a grocery store, restaurant, doctor office, post office, art gallery, bus, etc.  The kids walk around and play and be wild and messy.  Its fun....I took about a hundred million photos...see Facebook. 

Saturday was my day to sleep in so I stayed up late watching Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Pyschic Kids, L.A. Ink and various other shows.  I slept in Saturday and then spent the afternoon shopping with my kiddo...we tried on all her winter gear  and then picked up some new stuff.  We watched tv together and had a great time.

Today, Mik and I played dollhouse and games...did laundry, made a lasagne and just had a good time.  Then Jason and I watched the Vikings play horribly, ate dinner and am now relaxing...you see where this is going now....

Tomorrow....work.  Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to have a job and even more grateful that its one I enjoy.  I just want more days and more time with my family.

Have a great week all.