Brandon's Puppy

Long Day

I had to work overtime today, which isn't really overtime when you're a salaried employee, to make up for some time I wasn't in the office this morning. I left the office at 5:30, faced mad-crazy rush hour traffic, stopped at Ross to buy another fabulous suit for $19.99, and got home about 45 minutes ago. I'm now making dinner (thank you, Hamburger Helper!!) and then I'll be sitting on my comfy couch watching Idol. I wish I could sit on my comfy couch and watch Twilight again, which I saw last night with the commentary on and giggled like a teenager every time Robert Pattinson said something remotely funny, but I want to give hubby a break. I think he's reaching his Twilight limit.
And to make up for all the Twilight talk lately, here's a picture of the boys at the Fair late last week. That was Matty's first ride, by 'himself", ever!

A little annoying

Can someone tell me how I ended up on a mailing list for Wilmington NC real estate? I could understand if it were from other parts of Florida, since I'm registered with some state-wide groups, but North Carolina? My only connections to NC are my cousin who lives in Durham and two friends who live in Charlotte, neither of which is even remotely close to Wilmington. Damn list sellers!!

Our growing garden

Our garden, which is normally very neglected, is getting a makeover. As I mentioned earlier, yesterday morning I cleaned it up. I raked and swept, and cursed at the wind, then swept again. It took one big lawn garbage bag and five kitchen-size garbage bags to discard all the leaves and weeds I gathered. Hubby then planted our very first attempt at fruit, a tiny pot of tomato seeds I bought last Spring (!!). We have to wait a while for it to grow a few inches, but when it does he's making a homemade Topsy Turvy planter, just like my friend WB. Also, like WB, we have a papaya plant. The thing about our papaya plant is that we didn't know it was there until my grandfather and mom pointed it out during one of the boys' birthdays. My mom took the only papaya on the tree at that time, but now it has three ripe fruit! She's big, at least 7 feet tall if not more, and clearly she's thriving. Unfortunately she's also tearing our fence and hubby wants to cut her down. Any volunteers out there that want to come by and help us transplant her?

Interview with my child

Got this meme on Facebook, and Brandon's answers were so sweet I thought I'd share on here too.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Take a bath and it's time to eat dinner

2. What makes mom happy?
When I behave

3. What makes mom sad?
When I don't behave

4..How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickliing me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Short (LOL)

6. How old is your mom?
I don't know...pretend daddy's is 41, and you're 40 (gee..thanks, Brandon! LOL)

7. How tall is your mom?
7 feet tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Watch your favorite movie, Twinlights...I think that's the name. (haha, close enough!)

9. What does your mom do when you are not home?
Go to work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know

11. What is your mom really good at?
Cleaning up the house, except for my playroom and bedroom (yeah, because he's supposed to do that! LOL)

12 What is your mom not good at?
You're good at everything! (awww...)

13. What does your mom do for a job
Make money to buy a house, food, toys and that's it.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Shells

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Because you love me!

16. If your mom were a cartoon character who would she be?
The Little Mermaid

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Fix our garden, my homework

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We live in the same house, we have the same family, we eat the same dinner, we watch TV on the same TV

19. How are we different?
I am a boy and you are a girl.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Because I know.

21. Where is your moms favorite place to go?
Target and New York

Productive

It felt so good to scratch so many things off the to-do list yesterday. The boys and I cleaned up the backyard in the morning while hubby made breakfast, while simultaneously doing laundry. Then we all got dressed and headed to my aunt's hair salon. Both boys got haircuts, and I got a trim and a mani and a pedi. Afterwards we went to eat at Five Guys (which I love, and hubby hadn't been) and once home I caught up with stuff on the DVR.
I was not, however, able to go to the store and buy Brandon a new jacket for school. He's lost two out of the three he owns. And I won't mention the school supplies we are constantly replacing. All his stuff had his name on it in permanent marker, but I noticed on some things it's quite faded (yeah, not so permanent then, huh?). I may have to bite the bullet and invest in custom rubber stamps for his things next school year. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what will!

I got nothin'

Sorry, peeps, I'm suffering from a temporary bout of writer's block. Well, I do have a couple of things to say:

-It's a crazy birthday week for me: Happy birthdays to my hubby (the 23rd), one of my oldest friends Melissa (yesterday), my dear friend Sonia (today) and my mommy (tomorrow).

-I still haven't bought Twilight. I think I might go tomorrow after work.

That's pretty much it. Not much else to say right now. Be back soon!

More on Twilight

So, I've yet to purchase Twilight, but not for lack of wanting. Yesterday we ran errands to buy things for a birthday brunch we had earlier today in honor of hubby's birthday, which is tomorrow. And today, our guests left around 3pm, and we just didn't feel like leaving the house. We realized last night that Twilight was also released on Pay Per View yesterday, so we watched it last night, and again today. Although I still think that the movie does not live up to the book, I'm getting more and more comfortable with a few of the changes made. Like, it doesn't bother me so much anymore that Bella has a cell phone and a laptop in the movie. The story is set in modern times, so it is completely plausible that she would have these things. And I like the scene in the Cullen's kitchen when they are cooking for Bella, even though it's not in the book.
Hubby saw it with me last night, and he liked it. I told him there were several things missing compared to the book, but he said that it seemed fine to him. I'm trying to convince him to read the books, or at the very least the first one. That's my perfect excuse for buying the box set next month.

(Yes, I added a Twilight tag, and went back and tagged all related posts. I'm obsessed. Don't judge me.)

A bit sad

Tomorrow is hubby's birthday. This was the weekend we were supposed to be in Orlando, visiting Shrek, the Marvel superheroes, and the Cat in the Hat. We even had hubby's free ticket voucher ready for tomorrow's visit to the Magic Kingdom. Clearly, the trip didn't happen. Hubby says we won't be seeing Orlando for a couple of years, given our current financial situation. I'm not that pessimistic, I hope we can at least make it there for my birthday in December.
Anybody got lotto winnings they want to share with us?

Im a Twilighter, and I'm not ashamed

Claudia and I headed out to the Twilight release parties last night. We decided to go to Dolphin Mall because three retailers were having events: Borders, FYE and Hot Topic. Although the possibility that they would be in Miami was very unlikely, word on the street was that the cast and crewmembers would be visiting select release parties. So we headed to the mall, armed with our digital cameras, extra batteries and extra sd memory cards, just in case. Unfortunately, because we got there at 10:45pm, we weren't able to go into Borders or FYE as the doors had been closed.
We spent the evening loitering in and around Hot Topic. Yes, we drooled over all the merchandise, but asked ourselves: "What are we really going to do with this?" and didn't buy anything. We chatted with my cousin's girlfriend's sister (and her parents), who was waiting in line for the sale to start, for a while and then we heard the crowd start counting down. When the clock striked 12, I said "Happy New Year!" and started giggling. The mass of kids rushed into the store (surprisingly, in an orderly fashion), and the line moved pretty quickly. We stuck around for about five more minutes then left.
It was exciting for the most part, but because we didn't buy the DVD last night it was kind of anti-climactic. I think if we'd made it inside Borders it would have been better. They had a lot more things, like trivia and games and contests, going on. But that's okay, we had a good time and we took part in the hype, which was the whole point.

Sneaky little boy

On Thursday, I took Matty to my mother-in-law's for the day since he still wasn't feeling well. As a result, hubby drove Brandon to school. When I picked him up in the afternoon, he told me he got a "strike" (teacher's method of reprimand). Turns out he got 3 strikes because he snuck two action figures into his backpack and was playing with them in class, and didn't complete his work. He's a smart little sneak...I always check his bag before we leave the house in the mornings to make sure he has all his supplies, homework, etc. Apparently hubby doesn't and he figured it would be "safe" since daddy was dropping him off. Uh...wrong! We told him that for now he's not going to the Fair (warning, site has music playing automatically) next week. He has the next few days to earn that back. He'd better, because I really want to go. I've been counting the days, can't wait to pig out on Fair food!

The bright side

Lots of stressors going on lately. Yesterday I wore a skirt I hadn't worn in a while. It's always been ever so slightly big on me, but yesterday it felt as if it would fall right off my hips. One of my co-workers asked me if I knew how much weight I'd lost lately. I told her I wasn't sure, my scale isn't very accurate, and I know it's not reflected in my weight, but in inches around my waist. She told me to consider taking nutritional health supplements, since losing weight in this manner is not good for my body. I've got my appointment with my primary care physician in three weeks, I'll see what he suggests. I know the stressors will be relieved, one way or another, soon enough, but in the meantime, I don't want to weaken my immune system and get seriously sick. The things triggering the stress? Just not worth it.

Sicky Monkey

Matty's ear infection hasn't gone away. He started running a fever yesterday afternoon around 4pm. His school called me whne it was 100.6, and by the time I got there an hour and a half later it was 101.4. It reached it's highest point around 4am this morning, reaching 103.4. I took him back the pediatrician today, and she started him on another antibiotic. As far as his wheezing is concerned, he's better, but he started getting a dry cough late this weekend, so she wants him to stay on the nebulizer meds for a few more weeks. Poor little guy!
So here I am, at home, watching him sleep on the couch. I just put a load of laundry in, and I would like to take advantage that I'm home and get some stuff around the house done so there's less to do during the weekend, but he'll probably want some TLC when he wakes up. And truth be told, I'd rather hug and squeeze him than clean bathrooms anyway!
.

To plant, or not to plant

WB's update on her garden yesterday reminded me about the garden I've been meaning to create for over a year now. I've been wanting to set up a small area where we can grow our own fruits and vegetables. Since our space is limited, we can't attempt to grow Blackberry plants, though I've wanted some ever since visiting my parents' friend's house many, many years ago and eating berries straight from their tree. We'll start off with something small, like tomatoes, and see how that goes. Part of me really wants to get on with it, but whenever I think about the creepy-crawlies living in the dirt, and the possibilities of coming across a frog while pulling out weeds, I quickly change my mind. Maybe I can get hubby to do it and I just watch...

Is it just me

or does the actor playing Ryan on Brothers and Sisters bear a striking resemblance to Edward Cullen? Which reminds me, Twilight comes out on Saturday! Does anyone want to go with me to the release party at Borders on Friday night?

Yeah, I've been lazy. So?

So our next book club meeting is not yet scheduled, but I know where it's not going to be...my house! There is no way this house is hosting-ready. I haven't cleaned, really cleaned, in over a month. I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that.
Besides the typical dusting-sweeping- mopping-decluttering that needs to get done, I have to get the steam cleaner from the attic and clean the living room carpet. I asked hubby to do it, numerous times, on his recent days off, but you all know what happened, right? Nothing, that's what. So I'm mentally preparing myself to do it this weekend. While I'm at it, I'll also clean the carpets in the boys' bedroom and the playroom. But I'll stop there, or the Ya Que Syndrome will get out of hand, as it is rather tempting to keep adding to the list.

An evening with La Reina

If you're not my friend on Facebook (and why aren't you??), you didn't see the picture of me in my fabulous new dress. I'm so glad I splurged and bought it!
And now I'll go ahead and tell you where we went. Val got four tickets to Celia the Queen, a documentary nine years in the making about our beloved Celia Cruz. The film is playing throughout the week as part of the Miami Film Festival. It will be telecast on PBS later on this year, if you aren't able to catch it during the festival.
The film mixes concert footage, interviews with Celia before her death in 2003, and testaments from family, friends and other artists to explore the musical legacy she left behind. Go see it. Trust me, it's worth it. It truly is a labor of love, and a fitting tribute to our Queen.

Free Resumes!

Free resume copies, that is. Go to any Fed Ex Office store (official stores, not affiliate franchises) tomorrow, March 10, during regular business hours and make up to 25 copies of your resume for free. The offer is for in-store orders only, and the copies are limited to black & white and one-side per page. It seems like a small gesture, but I know that for those that are unemployed, it will be a small relief to not use up those expensive ink cartridges.

Birthday Bloggage

Happy birthday to my marathon-running, picture-taking, animal-loving, job-seeking, beverage-imbibing, scooter-riding, Sherlock-loving friend WB!
Don't mind me making a couple of wishes your birthday, m'kay? Here goes: I wish to see you soon and I wish you a wonderful day!

wardrobe enhancements

I'm going to a special event tomorrow night with my super-cool, awesome uncle and his equally fabulous wife (my Titi Maggie), and I desperately needed to find something to wear. No, really, nothing in my closet fits me, everything is either too big or too tight.So I told hubby that we'd go to the store once he got home from work, and I wouldn't spend any more than $25. We walked into the store and I found the perfect dress right away (though mine is not black, it's white with black polka dots). I tried it on, thinking that even if it looked good I'd need some sort of corset to keep my flabbies from jiggling, but it's almost perfect. The only thing preventing it from being perfect is that the straps are a bit big, but that's my fault for not having the proper equipment to fill it out properly. It's suitable enough to wear tomorrow, and I'll have the straps altered at a later time. The price? $22.99, right up my alley! I'll post pictures tomorrow once I'm all dolled up.

I also got a suit for the same price. Given our current financial crunch I know I shouldn't have, but it fit me like a glove and at that price I couldn't not take it. I figured that purchasing it now could provide a return on my investment later. Plus, I looked like a real grown-up!

Not so lucky this time...

You all may remember hubby's good luck finding things of value at work. A couple of weeks ago he found a Sony Vaio laptop in a case, the power cord tucked neatly inside. Although I felt badly for the owner, we were getting a bit excited as the days went on because of that 30-day rule, and the possibility of us finally owning a laptop. Hubby was three days away from being able to claim it, but early this morning they got a call inquiring about it. The owner was there less than two hours later, thanking them profusely for hanging on to it.

Ah well...I guess we'll get a laptop someday, the old-fashioned way: paying for it.

My budding artist

Most of the time, Brandon's homework is complete by the time we get home. He does it in after school care. Once we get home I review it with him, help him correct any mistakes, and then we read for his daily reading log. Last week I got such a kick out of this particular assignment, I had to share it with you all. Check out the pictures he drew to illustrate three of his vocabulary words. Can you guess which one's my favorite?

Isn't she purty???

I forgot to take pictures during the day today, so I took a quick shot when we stopped at the market on the way home from my nephew's birthday party.
She's gorgeous, ain't she?

The more we look at her and drive her, the more we are convinced that we made the right choice. Not only is she fabulous, she's saving us money, too. When I called our auto insurance to get a binder in order to finalize the sale, the representative told me we'll be saving about $64 on coverage with the new Kia compared to the old one. Hubby was so pleased by that news that he wants me to get some free insurance quotes tomorrow, hoping for an even lower premium. Yeah, I'm not messing with a good thing. Let's just not and say I did, m'kay?