Halloween ready

I'm really going to miss this costume after Halloween. Oh heck, maybe I'll drag it out for Thanksgiving. And Christmas.

Baking with baby

I keep trying to bake with Aspen. I have these visions of us laughing and bonding together, while she pours flour into a bowl before I mix it with the milk. There'll be music in the background, and whatever we make will turn out golden brown and beautiful.
Instead, my baby walks all over the counters and tries to find out what happens when oil gets thrown on the floor. She thinks it's hilarious when I tell her for the third time that she needs to sit down, or get off the counter.
But I'll keep trying. I'm sure one day things'll click, and she'll realize that if she cooperates, all the stuff we're mixing together will make something yummy and sweet. And there'll be a much smaller mess!

Friends in the kitchen/a.k.a. I think I'm gonna be sick

The other day brother-in-law was talking about cooking teriyaki chicken in the crock-pot. It sounded delicious so I decided to make us some for dinner yesterday. Just as the aroma began to envelop the kitchen (and my nose) I thought it would be a good idea to throw in some rice for a more filling meal. After tossing in the rice and stirring, however, I noticed some strange dust at the bottom of the bag. Looking more closely I saw - to my horror - several maggots crawling in the bag. My jaw dropped, and I looked from the bag to the crock-pot and back to the bag. And here's the worst part: I actually considered grabbing the chicken from the crock-pot and salvaging it.

What can I say, I'm cheap. All I could think about was the money I'd wasted on the chicken, the teriyaki sauce, and the chicken broth I'd thrown in. I decided to call Eric and see what he thought (after all, it was his chicken and his money, too). It was a no brainer. "Throw it out," he said, so I did. And yes, here's a photo of the chicken in the garbage. Hey, at least I didn't post a photo of the rice pals.

The Debate

What would I do without the option of having my living room smell like a pine tree without having to cut down the tree and haul it through the front door (don't get me wrong, I will be doing this at the end of next month)? Or the option of having my kitchen smell like pumpkin pie without having to eat the calories? I love love love my oil burner, and I believe it loves me, too.

So here's the debate: Eric works for Scentsy, a company that makes wickless candles and warmers. How is he supposed to live a double life (working for Scentsy + have a wife that uses oil burners)? What are we supposed to do? I like Scentsy, don't get me wrong, and I have a warmer of my own (upstairs), but how can I just toss my burner, with all the memories and history we share? I've been living in guilt for the last several months. Finally, last night, I brought up my feelings with Eric.

It's hard, you know, when you feel like you're living a lie. Or maybe just a fib? But we've reached a conclusion: I can still use my burner, I just can't buy another one, or anymore oil. I'm okay with this, considering that I only need one burner, and I have a ton of oil. Because I got the burner before Eric started his job, we feel it's justified. It's a good feeling, you know, coming clean.

Happy Weekend.

Rants and raves

How is it fair that I have to be 30 years old, yet have the complexion of a teenage boy? I swear if I get another blemish on my face I'm not leaving this house! It drives me nuts. I just went out and purchased some over the counter wash and moisturizer and it better work!

Second rant: my belly. It bugs.

Okay, now for some raves. It's Eric's birthday today, and he's 28. Yes! I love the months between October and February because I can tell myself that I'm only two years older than Eric, instead of three (I'm actually 2 years and 8 months older than him, but when you're only counting in years, we're three years apart for most of the year). This makes me feel younger. Plus if it's Eric's birthday, that means a fun evening including pizza. Plus, let's face it: I married a younger man, and it rocks.

The last two days have been gorgeous. I don't mean sunny, birds singing and all that, I mean overcast, 60 degrees with a breeze and some sprinkles. Perfect fall weather! It's been great.

Projects

Parts of our home are finally presentable, so here's a look at what we've been doing.
This is probably one of my favorite features that we put in the home: these Ikea curtains against our gray walls. I love the way they pop.

Here are the shelves Eric and I decided to build to display some of our favorite photos. I'll tell you what, there's nothing like my man doing some wood working to get me all twitter-pated.

I thought it would be fun to see if my brother would make us a coffee table. Fortunately he agreed to do it, and I just love the way it turned out! That brother of mine has got some serious talent.

Woops! How'd this get in here? :) I thought I would add some serious cuteness to the post. I really like the word serious today.
Okay, here's our bedroom. It's nowhere near to being done, but It's close enough that I thought I'd share it. I think we're going to put up some mirrors above the "wings" of the bed, as Eric's sister calls them. We painted this room gray as well, but more of a brown gray. When accented with a bit of warm color, I think gray is just so soothing and serene.
Two years ago Eric and I walked into an Ikea in Stoughton, MA and saw these shelves. End of story.
Here's our backyard that has just an ounce of labor needed. Isn't it a beauty? We were going to get this plot beautified and grassed this fall, but laziness has crept in, and it just may have to wait until spring!

See that house across the way? That's our house. Isn't that fun? Our house is being built directly behind us, same color, same everything. We're just tickled! Okay we're not. It's lame. Very lame!

But we can live with it. :)

Righty or lefty?

It's hard to tell. She seems pretty ambidextrous at the moment.
Ohp! She's done the switch. She's quick. Wait a second....how'd she get that binky in her mouth?
Now she's back to her right hand. She's really getting into this scribble thing now. Look at that pose! By the way, do you see that little mouse up there to the right? I'm very proud of that mouse, in all it's stubby little hands and feet glory.
Okay, we're back to the lefty. Now she's just showing off!
Taking a break...boy, do those thighs look scrumptious....
Woops. This must be the "mom! I'm trying to work here!" look.

Growing up I never went to a pumpkin patch. Unless you count the one down in our garden. That's where we would go to pick our pumpkins. My parents would grow small ones that we'd carve, as well as gigantic ones that we would stand next to and compare ourselves with. And we'd guess their weight.
Last night Eric, Aspen and I headed to a local pumpkin patch.
"Icky pumpkin!" Aspen said, over and over to this poor sickly pumpkin. It never had a chance.
We took a hayride to the patch. Aspen wouldn't smile at the camera with her daddy. Tough, Roo! You're still cute!
We could have spent hours picking out pumpkins; there were so many to choose from! We ended choosing just three, which are on our front porch until carving time. We will definitely make this a yearly tradition; besides, the pumpkins here are so much cheaper than the ones in the stores. Go farms!

Fall is here....

and I'm not the only one enjoying it!

Just moved in....

We just closed on our house a week ago, and boy has it been a whirlwind! We finally have internet so I can share the news. We love our house and are pretty much smitten with every nook and cranny it's a little ridiculous. Instead of making it easy on ourselves and just moving in, we decided to take on a lot of projects to personalize the house. We also outfitted a couple rooms with Ikea furniture, so Eric's been assembling particleboard left and right! I'll be adding more pictures as soon as I can.