I Think We All Have Cabin Fever...

That, my friends, is my daughter passed out asleep on her sled. What kind of kid falls asleep while sledding? One that is tired of winter, that's what. While hilarious as all get out, I think there's a deeper meaning to my little Sledding Sleeping Beauty-- there's a spreading epidemic of the Winter Blahs.

You see, living where we do, it's common knowledge that we're going to have a good 5 months of winter--at the very least. It's not unusual for the kids up in this neck of the woods to have to go trick-or-treating in their snowpants and boots. It's pretty much standard to own a snow blower. We consider zero degrees Farenheit "not so bad". Don't get me wrong, I love a white Christmas, sledding, and snow angels as much as the next person; but I cannot wait for Spring, and I don't think I'm alone.

The sparkly blanket of white that covers our city is beginning to dull. My baby girl fights putting on the hat and mittens a little bit more each day. If my husband has to shovel us out one more morning before leaving for work, he's going to snap. Our community as a whole seems to have its crabby pants on as of late, and I'm right there with them. Everywhere you turn you see scowling, hear the cursing of the cold and snow, and you could probably even smell the cold if your nostrils weren't frozen together. The kids at school are just owly and cranky because they haven't been able to go outside for recess.

There is a desperate need to throw open the windows and let fresh air wash through our cozy little bungalow. I need to see green lawns and colorful flower beds again. I long for the sound and smell of mowing the lawn. I want to be able to order my warm-weather coffee. (Yes, what I order at the coffee shop changes with the seasons--don't judge me. There just seems something wrong about drinking an iced Americano during a blizzard...are ya with me?)

So, maybe I can will warmer weather our direction... Today I packed away the red and pink-ness that covered our house in Valentine's Day beauty and made way for the St. Patrick's Day clovery goodness. We went shopping yesterday and purchased a few new items for my Spring wardrobe. We've even got Sofia's Easter dress all ready to go. Can Spring (and my iced Americano) be far behind...?

Amber and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad President's Day Weekend

Do you ever feel like you've completely dropped every single ball you're trying to juggle? That's me. In fact, I don't even know why I'm sitting here blogging instead of doing the dozens of things I should be getting done.

I have a class all day tomorrow and Thursday that I need to finish homework for. I have an entire book to read for starters--I've known that I have to read it since about December, but lately the only reading I get done is "I Love Monkey", or "Knuffle Bunny", or the "Pokey Little Puppy"--you get the idea. By the time Sofia goes to bed at night, I'm wiped. And then I muster up the energy it takes to finish the highest priority item that's been placed on the back burner. (Usually means re-running the washing machine because I ran a load a day or two ago, but got distracted and forgot to throw it in the dryer; washing the supper dishes; ironing a pair of pants and shirt for David for work tomorrow; going over lesson plans for work the next day and then falling into bed. Crap! Get up and go throw those towels into the dryer or you'll be washing them again tomorrow!)

My house is always a disaster. Always. Right now you can't see the top of my dining room table, there are dust bunnies in almost every corner of the floor, and the basement is still ripped apart. Because the basement's ripped apart, half of its contents are in my upstairs and the other half are crammed into my storage room downstairs. Everywhere I look, there's sh**. (When will these renovation projects end?!) We had a plumbing disaster on Saturday when I apparently exceeded the limits of the garbage disposal but didn't realize it. Both sides of the basin sink downstairs were full of water and disposaled (is that even a word?!?!) food. Everything was working fine upstairs at the kitchen sink, so the only reason I discovered the problem was because I went to go put a load of laundry into the machine. I ran and got David, because hell if I know how to fix it, and in the process of him fixing it, the trap of the basin sink gave out and we had a nasty mess all over the laundry room/work shop area. I knew it was bad when I heard, "!@#$%^--Call an aunt!". Eight minutes later, my sister was here and David and I were ankle deep in water and what used to be the forgotten leftovers in the refrigerator. Fast forward to Sunday and me trying to clean the rest of the house and wash all the towels, rugs, and rags that were wet and filthy from the mess yesterday. In the process, I mention to my husband that my stress level regarding this house has reached its limit. A discussion ensues, and said discussion turns into an argument. A big one. Probably would have been bigger, but Sofia was up. Steam is still coming out of my ears, by the way. It's now Monday (Happy President's Day, by the way), and after a trip to the dentist this morning (and a return visit scheduled for March because I have a cavity. What the hell? What 29-year old still gets cavities?)I returned home to my husband working on my sister's wedding invitation design and my mom and other sister watching Sofia. As Mom is leaving, she says, "Why don't you send your ironing with me. If I don't do it, it won't get done. I know how things go around here." REALLY?!?! Like I don't feel enough guilt? Because I enjoy feeling like a failure of a homemaker, wife, and mother?!

I work full time and am trying to raise a daughter and keep house with a husband who works over 70 hours a week (I kid you not.) It's not that he doesn't want to be home-- he's just trying to provide for his family as best he can and get these renovations finished. (Although, his renovation addiction is part of the fuel for this fire..............but that's a topic for another day........) It's just so hard to get everything done and meet expectations. Expectations that I mostly have of myself. I am just too Type-A. And probably read too much of "Real Simple" and "Better Homes and Gardens" than is healthy for my self-esteem.

Off I go. I need to get homework done and go scrub the bathroom. And Google "cleaning ladies". I wonder how that would go over...

I've decided...

that I just might be the world's worst blogger. I have such grand visions of keeping this blog up-to-date and full of lovely photos. In reality, I have a lonely, ignored blog. Not that I don't have good intentions--it's just that my laundry, ironing, toothpaste-crusted bathroom sink, and piled-full-of-mail dining room table are usually just as ignored. And let's face it: When push comes to shove, I'm going to take care of those things over my blog, because unexpected guests aren't going to see this internet space from my front door. (You can, however, see straight into the bathroom.)

In the eons since I've been here, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's have come and gone, and along the way many more fond memories have been made in our nutshell. Sofia, being the ripe-old age of 18 months, was much more aware of Christmas this year, and enjoyed not one, not two, but three Christmas celebrations. By Round 3, she really had the opening gifts thing down, and decided it would be best if she opened everyone's presents for them.

In with all the happy, we've also had the sad; as is the way with life. In early December, David's grandmother passed away. She was 94 and suffered from Alzheimer's. While it was a blessing for her to pass and finally be at peace, she is dearly missed by all of us who loved her and her squiggly-line rulers :)

There is much more to say, but not enough time right now to get it all out. Here's a sign-off in hopes that I'm able to return soon!

Breaking a 4-Month Hiatus

In some respects I can't believe it was June when last I sat down to write, and in others, I'm not entirely surprised. I'm a wife, a teacher, and a mother of a sixteen-month old--I feel lucky when I have time to wash the make-up off my face before I collapse into bed each night.

When I wrote my last post, it was warm and green outside. I had that relaxed, "ahh, vacation" aura around me that only a teacher knows. Now, the air is crisp and rather than shades of green and blue, there is yellow, orange, gold, and deep burgundy. Fall. Mmmmm...... I love it. There's something for me to love about every season, and for me Fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and celebrating all things leafy and harvesty.

The remainder of our summer flew by fast, but was filled with so much fun. Our annual trip to the lake, Sofia's first birthday, the Fourth of July, family pictures, birthday celebrations for both David's and my mothers, more trips to the zoo, ice cream, playing in baby-sized wading pools on the back deck, wearing fabulous sunglasses, the engagement of my sister, and one last trip to visit family before school started again.

Now that we're deep into fall, we've had the fun and excitement of the first day of the school year, the Autumnfest Parade, Halloween, the annual visit from our Arizona relatives, and now we look forward to my grandma's birthday party and Thanksgiving.

Yes, I should be including photos at this point, but I'm just too weary. I'm happy to be back to my blog, but sleep is about to take priority. Priority over the two loads of laundry still left to be washed, priority over the ironing, priority over the dusting, and priority over the dishes waiting in the sink to be washed.

Good night :)

My Summer Vacation (So Far...)

With summer here, I am officially a full-time (albeit seasonal) stay-at-home-mama. I spent the first-third of last summer pregnant and the last two-thirds in a daze of sleep deprivation, delivery recovery, and new-mama hormonal highs and lows. Fun, I know. Anyway, as I enter this first summer of being a clear-thinking, rational (most of the time) human again, I realize a few things. I now know I am a mama because:

*I have been trying to drink the same cup of coffee since 10:00 this morning.

*my hair is still not done and I still don't have my make-up on and it's after 1:00pm. (At least my teeth have been brushed.....small victories, small victories...)

*my kitchen floor is a sticky mess of cereal puffs, water/pear juice combo that leaked out of the not-supposed-to-leak sippy cup, and scrambled eggs. And I just scrubbed it yesterday.

*I do laundry. All day. Every day.

*I've sung "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" no less than 6 times today to calm a baby who was sad that her daddy left for work and then got sad again after her aunt had to return to work after her lunch break.

*I love nap time. It means I can either try and get something done around the house, or go to to the bathroom, or, like yesterday, I can take a nap myself:)

*I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love my little wombat and I'm so lucky that I get to be with her all summer long. We've already had quite a few adventures this summer, which I'll have to write about later. Nap time is almost over.................

Pictures (or lack thereof)

Almost forgot.....the noticeable absence of pictures.

I can only apologize and promise to try and get better. I have only my own laziness to blame--it's just so much faster to type a post and be done. But, as a blog reader, I look forward to pictures and should extend the same courtesy to those who read this blog.

Someone hold me to this pledge...........Aunt Sue.....? I know you're out there--just start hounding me if photos don't start becoming regular characters around here. Ha! :)

Memorial Day

This past year has been full of firsts for our sweet baby girl, and today was no exception.

After a morning of sleeping in, toast and fruit for breakfast, a splishy-splashy bath, and a nice nap, we took Sofia on her first trip to the zoo. We brought the aunts along and spent the next couple of hours just strolling along and pointing out all the animals to our little one. David had the time of his life--he loves the zoo, and taking Sofia was one of the things he was looking forward to most about this summer. (He's already talking about their next visit.) Sofia enjoyed looking at the other babies in strollers and the zoo map more than she did the animals. It was hilarious--if you didn't know better, you'd swear she was actually reading the darn thing and planning out our next stop. Until we got to the pigs.

Sofia had a great time with her little swine friends. She smiled and laughed and they made their little piggy noises at her. She took this as her invitation to show them how she can make her piggy noises, too. The aunts were so moved by this exchange that they bought Sofia her own stuffed pig from the gift shop. (She's actually cuddled up asleep with it as I type this. Oh, that girl has a way of melting my heart like none other...)

After our zoo trip, we went back to my parents' where my dad had grilled a hot dog supper for us all. Our official kick-off to summer ended with a drive out to the Veteran's Memorial Cemetary to say our thank-you's and pay our respects to friends and family.

Happy Memorial Day, and let us never forget the true meaning behind this day...