Guess What I am Doing?

Mentally (and electronically) rearranging furniture in my house in order to make room for the...

wait for it....

wait for it....

Are you ready?

DINING ROOM SET that is soon to grace what is now considered the 'computer area' of the house. Evan is starting work on a dining table for a client, and given that I love the design and there is some efficiency of scale, he is simply going to make two at once. I am beyond excited. It has been two years in this house without anywhere big enough or 'formal' enough to entertain friends and family for a sit down meal. I can't wait. His target timeline is six weeks, so hopefully by mid-April, I'll have my table. I'm going to buy chairs, because I don't feel like growing old waiting for him to have the time to make them for us. I may possibly go with super cheap ones and buy something like this to go over them. I'll have to look around and see.

In the meantime, here's how I've been spending my morning. Anyone who has been to my house will recognize these as 'before' and after arrangements.

Our current set up (living room area to the left, and computer table, bookcase and hall-type table in an otherwise, unused space to the right.

Our future set-up, with the computer table and chair moved to the den, the caddycorner bookcase moved to the living room, and the hall table somewhat squished in the corner. I may have to rethink that one.

I've been crappy at blogging lately

Not really sure why...I have plenty of things to go on about, and even time to do it, I just haven't been doing so. Anyway, here's what's doing on our end these days:

SNOW

• In spite of the fact that I thought we were going to have a truly snowless winter this year (heck, I was even starting to lament the lack of snow!), we did end up having a winter wonderland here last Friday, complete with a day off of school and work!
• It was, for all intents and purposes, Eden's first real experience with snow (what a difference from Sadie's life at that age!), and she just adored the white stuff.
  

Here are some pix from the day.

All bundled up and rarin' to go.

Trekking.

You know you're a shore girl when your boogie board doubles as a sled.

WORK (mine)

• I had a very encouraging meeting with my new boss the other day, and it looks very probably that a positive position change (and salary increase) is in the works. This is good news (obviously), as I really want to make the University my career home for the next 20+ years, so the idea that there is room to grow professionally is a positive development.

WORK (Evan's)

• Evan continues to be busy. He delivered a big piece (a display table/cabinet for an engineer to display blueprints and drawings) last week and is on target to deliver a smaller piece (bathroom vanity) this weekend.
  
• Next up is a dining room table (the bonus is that he's going to do a two-for on this so that we actually end up with a much needed dining room table ourselves!).
• Once the table is complete, he will begin work on a desk for a 'repeat customer'. This project is especially nice, as this customer gives Evan carte blanche to simply create to his heart's desire, and price is no object (must be nice, huh?).
• Finally, he's got three things in the pipeline - one is 'this close' to being a for-sure project and the other two are iffy. So, in any event, he seems to have enough work to keep him busy (and our bills paid) for the next few months, at least.

THE GIRLS

• The kids are doing great. Sadie's reading just continues to amaze me, and she all of the sudden seems to have grown up so much. It is :) and :( at the same time. Bittersweet, I guess, is the word.
• I've stuck to my 'playdate plan' with her, and she's had a playdate scheduled each weekend. Some have gone better than others, but overall, I can see that she's becoming more comfortable with other kids, in general. She has also willingly gone on playdates without me, which was something I thought would never happen.
• Eden continues to be her same adorable, devilish self. In any given day, I can go from just wanting to eat her up, to wanting to auction her off on ebay, and back again, multiple times. She truly is a little 'curious George'.
  
• She has hit the 'why?' stage (early), it seems. As I recall, Sadie hit this much closer to 2 1/2 or three. Now, every statement I make is met with "Why?". She also has take to saying (about anything she likes) "Oh, I love ---! That's my favorite!" It is really too cute.
  

ME
As for me, things are status quo. I haven't been exercising as much as I would like, though I'm optimistic that after the clocks change ahead next week, I can start riding my bike in to work after doing the lunchtime dropoff. Just doing that made such a difference in my overall fitness level last year, that I'm looking forward to getting into it again.

As my last post indicates, I'm also spending a ridiculous amount of time and energy planning out this trip to WDW. I'm even starting to 'get' the obsessive planning that I had previously mocked. This is really our first big vacation just as a core family, and I want it to be the best it can be.

I've also been trying to help Evan out with some of the more mundane, administrative tasks with regard to his business (creating invoices, writing up estimates). That kind of stuff appeals to my love of micro-managing ;) , so it is really a good fit.

I guess that's about all that is going on here. I will try to be better about blogging. I'm not really doing the pay to post stuff anymore (just kind of lost my motivation), so that's probably why I am not posting as frequently. Anyway, that's all for now.

WDW, Here we Come!

I'm not sure why I had such a lapse in posting, but I'm back.

I think the big news since my last post is that I went ahead and took the plunge and booked our trip to Florida. I am really excited about it, probably more so than Sadie. In the process of gathering information, I stumbled across a message board for people who love WDW. Holy. Strange. Obsession is all I have to say about that. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of great info to be found on that board, and I feel like I've been through a 3 day 'all things Disney' bootcamp, I just had no idea that people were so passionate about the place. Anyway, I did manage to pull together a great plan and itinerary, thanks to the information there. *warning: this is where I blaaahg about my plans, which can't possibly be interesting to anyone but me, but hey, it's my blog and I'll blaaahg if I want to*

We will be going for five days, though I'll be in a conference for at least 1.5 of them. We're going to stay at a Disney Vacation Club property, courtesy of my very wonderful coworker, who has a timeshare there. Specifically, we're staying at this one. We're opting for a one bedroom villa, so that we'll have a separate sleeping area for the girls, as well as a full kitchen and a washer and dryer in the villa. I think those things will really come in handy and make traveling with the kids a lot easier. I found a grocery delivery service, so I will be able to pre-order food and have the place stocked upon our arrival. I'm planning on eating a lot of our meals there (definitely breakfast and some dinners) in order to save some money.

As far as park adventures, I'm going to get tickets for this annual event, and then plan on 2 full days at Magic Kingdom, and possibly a half day at Hollywood Studios. I want to leave plenty of time for enjoying the resort amenities as well as time for surprising the girls with a trip to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique in Downtown Disney. I'm going to let them get the princess makeover and wear their princess dresses so they look 'special' for their dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when that all unfolds.

While I'm in the conference, Evan will hang with them at the resort (looks like there are surrey bikes and pontoons to be rented) one day, and take them to Gatorland the other day.

All in all, I think it is going to be a wonderful trip, and I'm so excited. While I really did want to take an adults-only 10th anniversary trip, I'm so glad we decided to do this one, instead. They're only little for such a short time, and there's such a small window of time for them to really believe in the 'disney magic', so I'm glad we're going to catch it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm not one to generally get all worked up about hallmark manufactured holidays, but I do think this is a nice one. No, we don't go all out and do anything extravagant (none of those 'show her you love her' diamond numbers from Kay jewelers for me!), but cards and chocolates for all will abound. We're also going out to dinner tonight as a family in honor of the day. And, Sadie is wearing a shirt with pink and red hearts on it, so all in all, I feel like we are commemorating the day ;) Maybe one day when we're rolling in money (ha!), we'll go all out and I'll end up with a doorknob of a diamond ring, or even a used rolex, or something else equally 'blingy', but for now, I'm happy to enjoy the valentine's my girls have made for me and the chocolates or flowers I know Evan will be giving me. Oh, and I'm especially happy not to be repeating last year's "celebration"!

So, how about you? Any big plans? Big ticket items (something sparkly and new and decadent) on tap?

George Abrams

Sadie came home today with a picture she had drawn at school. "Here's George Abrams" she announced. Evan had no idea who she was talking about, even after she pointed out his beard. "Sadie, who is George Abrams?" he asked. "He was president a long time ago and we're celebrating his birthday tomorrow", she replied.

At that moment, Evan noticed that old bearded George Abrams' portrait was mounted on a round, brown background. Kind of like...a penny. Aha! Mystery solved. Abraham Lincoln. To forever be referred to as George Abrams, in this house, from this day forward.

So, for those of you who get to enjoy the day off tomorrow in honor of the birthday, I bid you a "Happy George Abrams Day".

Randomness

In no particular order:

• Sadie had a really great playdate with Amelia on Saturday. They played together beautifully for four hours, and would have kept going, only it was dinnertime and we had to call an end to it. It does my heart good to see her connect with another kid so well, and the fact that she lives just a few houses down is icing on the cake.
• Evan and I had a 'date night' on Saturday night. It was nice, we had a good meal and some quiet time just to talk. I will say that those 'date nights' seem more special when they are fewer and further between. Given that we just had one last weekend (did I remember to blog about our fabu evening in NYC with Jeff and Anonda??), this past one wasn't as desperately needed as they sometimes are. Still, it was good to get out.
• It is cold here. Really cold. Like, can't stay outside for more than a few minutes cold. Thankfully, the cold weather didn't blow in until late yesterday afternoon, so we were able to get the girls out to the playground to blow off some steam in the earlier part of the day.
• Had a nice dinner up at my parents' house yesterday, so it was an altogether 'woohoo! no need to cook dinner at all this weekend!' kind of weekend. My favorite kind!
• I finshed up our taxes last night and will file them this week. I was nervous that a number of things were going to converge this year to cause us to have to pay, but I'm happy to report that a nice refund in on the way. Phew!
• ...and, with that refund not even in our account yet, I went ahead and did something I've been dying to do for ages. I booked our trip to WDW! I don't know who is more excited, Sadie or me!
• Started reading Sadie a great book series...Junie B. Jones. We're both really enjoying the stories, and I was psyched to see that a mostly pictureless, 70 page book could hold her attention. I'm going to head to the library this week to pick up the next few in the series.
• I'm considering switching our phone/cable/Internet package to Verizon Fios. I know nothing about fiber optic cables and I have no issue with our current setup, but Verizon is offering a deal that would be cheaper than our current monthly cost, AND, they'll throw in a free HDTV, so how can I go wrong?
  
• Slow workweek ahead, so look for many posts from me. that's it for now.
  

I adore...

eavesdropping on my kids, when they are playing and don't think I can hear them. Sadie and Amelia are in the den now, playing some sort of very drawn out death scene with Barbies and Bratz. Oh, Barbie is crying and mourning the loss of her 'onliest child'...oh wait! now its Christmastime and they're all going to visit Santa! Ah, if only life were so simple.