2012 September

Time Flies

September 26, 2012

From the looks of my recent blog posts, I might be going through a little something or other in regards to Wito. I mean, I think I’ve written about him more in the past few weeks than I have in the past few years combined. I’m just so wistful about him growing up, and I feel like the six years he’s been with us have absolutely flown. If the next six fly as fast (and that’s all I hear these days…”next thing you know, he’ll be leaving for college!”), he’ll suddenly be a young man whose interests probably won’t include cuddling with me, holding my hand, or chatting incessantly about whatever his current obsession happens to be. (Two words for you. Lego Ninjago. Those spinner things have got to be the Cabbage Patch Kids of 2012. Nowhere to be found, I say!)

I read this post by Linda shortly after I wrote about my little absent-minded professor, and well, it just about slayed me to bits. “He is everything I rushed him to be.” Heart ripping out again, stomp stomp, you know the drill.

So! Let’s just say I’ve been watching a lot of old Wito videos lately. I found this one, and I can’t remember if I shared it with you, but it was shot the first week Wita was home with us. I look at teeny tiny Wita and marvel at how much she’s grown, but at 2 years old, she’s still a baby to me. Wito, on the other hand, has changed so much in the past two years. The round, fleshy cheeks are gone. The pudgy fingers? Gone. The staccato giggle is still around, but barely.

Last night, he sat next to me in my bed, and I showed him this video. However, I didn’t watch a second of it. Instead, I watched him watching the video. I studied every feature on his face – the light spattering of freckles on his cheeks, the little curve of his nose, the flick of his eyelashes, all in a desperate attempt to brand them into my memory forever. I know good and well that they will vanish too soon.

As the video played, he looked over at me pensively, and I just knew he was going to say something so profound. Something that would validate this moment, something that would bring all of my recent feelings full circle…I could feel it in my heart of hearts.

Instead, he asked me where the cup sitting on my nightstand in the video had gone because if I threw it away, I must not care about him at all. “MOM. That was my favorite cup, and I haven’t seen it in awhile. We got that cup at Disneyland, don’t you remember? You bought that cup for me! [tears are flowing] Are you sure it isn’t in the kitchen? Maybe you should go look in the kitchen. WHY WOULD YOU THROW MY FAVORITE CUP AWAY? I LOVE THAT CUP, MOM! PAUSE THE VIDEO! PAUSE THE VIDEO! I NEED TO SEE THE CUP CLOSE UP! WHY DID YOU GET RID OF IT? WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

It’s cool, time. You can keep moving at a steady pace.

(I would also like to direct you to the contents on my nightstand. Glass of water, prenatal vitamins, Purell, nipple cream, iPhone…if that isn’t the bedside table of a newborn’s mama, I don’t know what is.)

COMMENTS (12)

Red Carpet Report

September 25, 2012

My favorite part of reading magazines as a young teen was finding the little italicized blurb stating the exact brand and shade of makeup that the model was wearing in the photo. It was almost like if I bought that exact shade of lipstick/blush/eye shadow, I would look EXACTLY like the photo. Yeah, not so much. Regardless, I would make a list, save up some cash, and then head off to the mall where I would purchase said colors. (Am I the only one who did this?)

I have to admit, I still get excited when I see a gorgeous face and all the details are there for me to obsess over. Frankly, I geeked OUT when sites like Makeup411.com started years and years ago. However, now you can find out almost anything in regards to beauty products, and I especially love when they just happen to appear in my inbox.

I really enjoyed many of the understated looks at the Emmy Awards, and the Lancome team sent me a rundown of several of them. Here’s the scoop if you are interested. Who were some of your favorites from the night?

COMMENTS (2)

Soccer mom

September 24, 2012

Walking to Wito’s soccer game this weekend.

D: “Well, aren’t you two cutesy.”
Me: “Uhhh, what do you mean?”
D: “You and Wito match perfectly.”
Me: “Oh! You’re right….oh NO. No no no. I can’t. I can’t be that person. I CAN’T BE THE COLOR COORDINATED SOCCER MOM.”
D: “Well, you kind of are. Even down to the water bottle and soccer ball.”
Me: “OH NO NO NO NO NO.”

Go team!

COMMENTS (8)

House Renovation Update #2 (+ Requesting Appliance Advice)

September 21, 2012

Renovation Update #1 here.

Good news! Demo is officially finished. Bad news. It doesn’t make for a super exciting update #2. Lots of decision-making this week, and not so much doing.

So, we took out the kitchen and opened up the walls, and continued with ripping out all the window casing, the floor base, and crown molding this week. Electrical and plumbing are almost finished as of this morning. However, things look relatively the same as last week.

Oh, and how could I forget – we demolished and removed pretty much the entire backyard (deck, jacuzzi, so on and so forth). Right about now, if you walk out of the sliding doors, you’ll break an ankle from falling into a ravine of dirt and gravel. Here, I illustrated a highly scientific visual for you.

The backyard wasn’t really a project I wanted to take on during this first stage, but hey! What’s done is done.

Right now, we are making a lot of seemingly boring decisions about the house. Like, we decided to take out part of the wood floor in the kitchen and dining room. I mentioned last week that part of the floor was laminate, but surprise! It’s not. It’s real oak. However, D is very, very happy to rip that part out because this?

This is the kind of situation that makes me say, “Yep, not really optimal, but let’s talk about the kitchen backsplash!” On the flip side, this is something D loses sleep over. “We can’t possibly have that ridge. Absolutely not. Not only are the planks running in opposite directions, the floors are two different heights. No. I can’t bear to look at it for one more second. WE’RE REDOING THE FLOORS.” Remember, we are talking about a man who has degrees in both interior design and architecture…that breeds a very special of kind of picky. Persnickety, perhaps? (However, the dude is ALWAYS spot on. Always.)

So, although not originally in the budget, we are ripping out the newer oak and re-framing so the floors will be even. After that, we will sand all the floors and refinish the color. Think more grey-brown, less yellow-gold. Can’t wait – I think it will be so pretty.

Upcoming to-dos:

Drywall (Fun!)
Replace floor base and window casing (Titillating.)
Replace doors and door jams (zzzzzzzzz)
Floors – sanding and refinishing the wood, replace bathroom floor
Paint – prepping and painting (Can’t wait! No, really, that means we’re really, really close.)
Install kitchen cabinetry, island and appliances

Basically, loads of non-pretty renovation stuff in the upcoming weeks. But the pretty will come later, I promise. (Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. One daayyyyy…)

To be honest, most of our time this past week has been spent deciding on kitchen appliances. Because you see, if we don’t know what appliances we want, we don’t have the exact measurements of the appliances, which means we can’t complete the kitchen drawings, which means the cabinet maker can’t start making the kitchen cabinets, which means the toe-kicks can’t be installed, which means the floors can’t go down in the kitchen. It’s called a snowball effect, and I would surely like to get the snowball rolling.

All in all, I could write 50,000 words on the subject of kitchen appliances and why we chose the ones we did, but I will keep that kitchen manifesto to myself for fear of losing you to a deep, deep slumber. (But! I have seen/researched every refrigerator known to man. I could be a refrigerator saleswoman starting tomorrow, for reals. In fact, if I have to discuss ONE MORE refrigerator or hood range or dishwasher, for the matter, I will weep.)

We are going with Viking for the refrigerator since it truly was the only one that fit our size, aesthetic and price criteria, and thinking Bosch for the cooktop, oven, and dishwasher. But! Here’s where you come in, oh wise ones. Who out there uses a Bosch dishwasher? Are they truly as good as everyone says? (J.D. Power #1 in Customer Satisfaction! Best value out there!) I’m going between Bosch and KitchenAid – does anyone have something to say about these brands? Speak now or forever hold your peace! We’ve just hit that point, you know, where we’ve become so bogged down with research, review-reading, and talking to appliance experts that we’re going loco. (No matter what, I’m sure whatever we end up with will be amazing compared to the stuff we use at our rental now.)

So, yeah. Let me know about that. In return, I’m giving you the gift of video. 46 seconds of utter destruction to the tune of Moon River. Enjoy.