The element of surprise

The surprise going away party that I threw for K was a huge success!

So excited

The little guy has been excited about a big day coming up for awhile now.The bedtime routine has still been going pretty smoothly despite all his excitement.
For him anyway.

The other night I was closing things up and getting ready to put myself to bed and when I went over to close up the TV cabinet....what do you suppose I see?

Yes. Thats right. A potato masher. Setting so very nicely by his videos. And I think, awww....look how he keeps his things so neat and tidy.

Well, I get back to my room and am getting ready to crawl into my cozy bed when I look over at my nightstand and hmmmm...there is something very, very important missing here.

I look all around, under the bed, under the covers, on the floor....I finally just give up and decide to start another.

But, its not quite time to tuck myself in. Another check on the little guy is necessary. And what do you think I see smiling up at me??? No, not the little guy. Hes sleeping very soundly. Thats right. My book. That was missing from its spot on my nightstand. That little turkey.

Fast forward to today. He laid down for his quiet time very, very excited. Hes having his first sleepover at grammys this evening after all.

When he comes out of his room at three zero zero he has his bag all packed up and ready to go. He had that bag stuffed to the brim with all kinds of things.

This is a portion of the clothing that I removed from the bag. But all said, he had packed 4 long sleeve shirts, 3 short sleeve shirts, 1 pair of pants, 1 undershirt, 1 pair of shorts, 4 pair of jammies, and 14 pair of underwear.

But most importantly, he had all his wrist bands.

His ice cream cone necklace.

And his trusty potato masher.

After a little talking and a very big compromise (on his part) we scaled down a bit and ended up with this. (his favorite red TJ's bag not to be left behind)

As Im getting his sneakers on and talking to him about all the fun hes going to have, of course, I have to remind him of a few things:

Me: What kind of behavior are you going to be on?
G: Best behavior, mama.

Me: What kind of report do I want from Grammy tomorrow?
G: A great report, mama.

Me: What are you gonna do when Grammy says its time to clean up and get ready for bed?
G: Im gonna say, Thats a great idea, Grammy, because when I go to bed and sleep it makes me grow big and strong.

Hes such a good boy.

Part 2, even tho there wasnt technically a part 1

So, you remember when I was sitting and waiting on that pretty, blue bench? Well, the main point of that trip(other than to see my handsome husband, of course) was to look at a house.

Okay, so, "to look at a house" is a bit vague. I mean, I had *seen* the house. But only in pictures. My husband went to walk through the house since he was there and I was not. And he took a bajillion and seven pictures for me...Now, that sounds like a lot of pictures, right? Well, in all honesty, I could have looked at more pictures....I mean, you cant ever have enough pictures....can you? Especially when you are thinking of buying a house.

Long story short. My husband bought me a house! Without me ever being in it. Is he crazy, you ask? Maybe. Was it a huge risk on his part? Well, really this could have gone one of two ways, right? It could have ended up the house of my dreams or the house of his nightmares. Luckily, he knows me very, very well.

The first time I got to see/walk through the house was after our offer had been accepted and the inspection was being done. I got to walk around and get a feel for everything. Thats very important when you get a new house...the way it makes you feel. That and the way it smells.

Well, I loved it. I mean, I LOVE it. And boy, was my husband ever happy to hear me say that!

But wait. Dont get too excited. Well, okay. You can get excited! What I mean to say is that things arent a sealed deal yet. We still have a couple hurdles to get over. And because of that Ive been holding out on you. Yep. Thats what Im saying. Im a holder outer. You see, when it comes to this kind of stuff...really, big, important stuff...I get a tad superstitious and more than a tad paranoid that something will go wrong if I say things about it out loud. And so, even though writing it isnt the same as saying it out loud....it still has that cloud of superstition and paranoia hanging over it. Have I made any of you run off yet due to the fact that you think I am officially crazy at this point? Well, you may want to come back...for just a minute anyway.

Without further ado, I present to you my soon to be home:

I have always wanted a long, curving drive to my house. Long=more than 25 ft.

My garden space. Soon to be filled with yummy produce.

No, these arent holes that drop into the center of the earth.

They are actually my strawberry beds. I think I counted a total of 18 plants in there. I heart strawberries.

My grape vines.

Some of my fruit trees.

And just everyday trees. Im gonna have trees. Me. I am.

A secret path.

A very charming gate that I love very,very much. Hang on tho. Look at the picture, but pretend that you are standing with your back to that tree you see there. This means that you will be facing that little charming gate in the opposite way that the picture is presented to you.

This is very important because now if you walk through the gate you can see one of my two pastures.

And my barn! (swoon)

Now quick. Knock on wood.

Did you do it? Phew. Thank you.

But hurry. Cross your fingers. Did you do it?

Sigh. Okay. Thank you.

Im nearly hyperventilating over here....

A nice "almost" Spring surprise

Imagine my surprise, when just 2 days ago I had a fire going in the fireplace, and then I wake up to see this. A beautiful,warm, sunny day. It made it up to 71 degrees here yesterday!

Well, of course, G and I took full advantage of it.

It made perfect sense to put that little guy to work!

And I know Illinois winters well enough to know that this pretty weather is a really nice trick. Mother Nature gives us a little preview of the beautiful Spring weather about this time so that we can make it the rest of the way through winter. It will turn cold and snowy again before I know it.

So, it was a good time to get the fire wood all stocked up again in the garage so that it stays nice and dry.

And I had just the perfect helper to get it all done!

We were both very happy to see a fat, juicy worm. G because he likes to let them wriggle in his hands and me because it means that the soil is super healthy.

We found a treasure.

And more to my liking we found bright, green plants making their appearance.


Even flowers!!!

And its never all work and no play, so we made lovely artwork on the driveway.

And we found some friends outside to help us enjoy the great weather.

A trip is in order!

I made my way to my new home state this past weekend. I was flying solo this time.

Its a good thing that I had my music to keep my company.

Because when I looked at my watch...I swear....I think time was standing still.

The attendants were very nice and handed out cool, refreshing beverages.

I do have to say tho that it was FREEZING on the plane. 4 hours of freezing.

I really think that they should give everyone on the plane one of these.

But since they dont, well, I took it upon myself to use this pretty, red blanket.

That I stole from her when she was fast asleep.

What? Dont look at me like that. She did hog the entire middle seat with all her stuff. (I did like her cute wallet, tho)

Just for mere comfort, I think these would make nice plane seats.

And wouldnt these be convenient to have while you were traveling in the air? A globe that also has a beverage center inside. You would always know where you were and never be thirsty.

And in case you were ever in a need of assistance, you would always have your cellphone handy if you had one of these.

I dont know about you, but this mitten warmer seems ideal to me. In fact, I think it would be a great place to hang your jammies, too. Nice and cozy warm when it was time for bed.

I know a few people who I am *sure* would love to have this in their yard.

After many hours the plane did land, which is good, because clearly I was running out of things to keep me busy.

I walked out to a beautiful day.

So beautiful that I didnt mind at all that I had to sit on a pretty blue bench and wait for my husband to pick me up.