You can always count on me to class up the joint

I have a cute striped cardigan sweater with 3/4-length sleeves. I've had it for approximately two months. Each sleeve is held up by a little piece of thread, but they also button. Like so:

A month ago, I was walking briskly through my office and grazed past a cubicle wall a little too closely ... and it ripped the button off of one arm! I am nothing if not resourceful, so I looked around for something to hold it together until I could get home that night. I didn't have a safety pin, needle and thread or even a bobby pin. I did, however, have a black metal binder clip. Yep. Hence:

Thing is, remember how I mentioned recently that I don't have a needle and thread in my house? I've worn that sweater three times since this happened, and up until this week it still had the binder clip on it. FOR SHAME. Finally our executive assistant took pity on me and sewed the button back on. (Thanks, Kath!)

Related, but I don't have a pithy segue so just bear with me here: While I was watching House Hunters the other night, I was wondering what kind of people would try to sell a house featuring THIS particular look:

I decided they might be the kind of people who hold up their sweater sleeves with black metal binder clips. Oh wait. You don't see what's wrong with that picture? How about now?

Yeah. They built some kind of window wall on the OUTSIDE of their garage door. Makes a little sense if you're going to ... well, I'm honestly trying to come up with something and I can't. But it REALLY doesn't make any sense if the inside of the garage still looks like this:

I mean, seriously. Any thoughts? I'll just be over here fashioning garments from scratch using only staples, White-out and Post-it Notes.


*** Don't forget: In one week you'll have the chance to win a $100 Target gift card! Become a Follower and get ready to Comment for a chance to win. I love my readers! ***

The Open House was sweet

I've said this before, but I struggle with the balance of my blog. I try to give you some thoughts that come straight out of my head that don't necessarily relate to our kids, but I also originally started the blog to help our many far-flung family members feel more connected to us on a daily basis. Hence, lots of posts about the kids.

So bear with me as I share with you another post about ... the kids. (I'll try to come up with something tomorrow for those of you like Paige, who also appreciate the oddity that is the occasional brain-dump.)

Last night was Open House at Nathaniel and Nicholas' elementary school. I picked Jake up at daycare first, and then we headed up the mountain to the big boys' school.

Jake would give almost anything to go to school with them every day. I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but he cries every morning when he and Grayson get in Grayson's car and we get in the van. It's quite pitiful. But reuniting at the end of the day is such a happy time.

And this picture's just for kicks, mostly for my sister, since I didn't include a picture of Jakey yesterday in the post that was all about him. (Except for the picture of him sleeping in the crib, but you could really only see one of his ears in the dark. Sorry 'bout that.)

As they walked down the sidewalk toward the school entrance, they were joking and palling around like fraternity brothers.

And then one of them fell down, also kind of like a fraternity brother.

No tears. He jumped right back up and caught up to his brothers.

We visited Nick's classroom first, where we were treated to his self-portrait on his chair.

Umm, he got the eyebrows DEAD ON. They are a signature of our family.

 

Next, Nick was happy to show me his scarecrow, which all the other kids had decorated with cut-out patches of paper, but Nicholas chose to DRAW his own patches. He definitely fancies himself an artist, and I have to say, he actually is handier with the crayons and paints than most other kids his age. Although you wouldn't necessarily know that by the face on this scarecrow.

, 

After talking with his teacher, we headed down to Nathaniel's 2nd-grade classroom, where he proudly showed off his "silhouette book." It was filled with fun facts about him and our family, and on the Dedication Page, he'd dedicated it to his teacher, which I thought was really sweet.

One of the fun facts inside was, "Over the summer I saw The Sorserers Aprentis. I liked it because ther was vilens." AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. Violence is quite the draw for the 2nd-grade set. But I LOVE the idea of the silhouette book. So neat! I will treasure it.

I guess scarecrows are "in" this Fall, because Nathaniel had made one, too. I forgot to ask him why he looks like his face had been bludgeoned. I guess it was from all the vilens.

When we left Nathaniel's room, the boys wanted to show me and Jake the computer room.

Jakey immediately made himself right at home.

Luckily there were plenty of computers to go around. And apparently also plenty of high-speed Internet connections.

Jake cried when I said it was time to leave. At 7:40, 20 minutes before bedtime. When we still had to get home, check backpacks for homework assignments and get ready for bed. At that point, I felt like it was already 10:30, so leave we did.

And I'm happy to say that I was later able to relax on the couch and catch Glee, House Hunters and Flipping Out, plus check in quickly to see that the right man went home on Dancing with the Stars. Thank goodness for TiVo. I don't know what I'd do without it.

The End.

He's growing up ... sort of

Jakey is 2 and a half. It's such a fun age, because he's exploring language, excelling physically, and trying new things all the time. And every bit of it excites him as much as it excites us (all FOUR of his proud "parents," because I have to include Nathaniel and Nicholas and their pride in his accomplishments).

Sometimes I can't believe the "adult" things he's picked up from us. Night before last, we went to IHOP for supper, because we were all craving breakfast food (and one of us was craving a waitress instead of the "opportunity" to make pancakes at home). When the waitress came to take our order, Grayson went first, and then she asked about Jake. And he ordered for himself: "chocka-cheep puncakes." It didn't occur to him to allow one of us to order for him. He even pointed right to it on the menu so there wouldn't be any mistaking what he wanted.

When the waitress brought him a refill on his "Shuh-lee Tipple" -- um, yes, they do serve Shirley Temples at IHOP in case you didn't know -- he said, "Tank yoo" to her. She was completely under his spell by this point.

And when she brought our check, she said, "Y'all have a great night, OK?" And Jakey shot back, "Yoo too!" Which completely did her -- and me -- in.

While he's showing all these signs of growing up, he's still such a wonderful mix of baby and toddler, too. Cut to our house later on Sunday night, when we were getting ready for bed. He asked to sleep with his "new Supah Whah" plate, which is a paper plate with the Super Why! characters on it.

He's obsessed with the show itself AND the plate, which really should be in the trash but which I really couldn't bear to take away from him at bedtime. PUSHOVER. I know. But he's my BABY.

He also insisted on sleeping with what he calls "My J," which is the letter J. He's been taking this little slip of paper with a handwritten J on it to bed with him for several nights now, because he just loves the letter J so much.

HAVE. YOU. EVER? I know. I'm dying, too.

My beloved PB has disappointed me

Okay, in years past I've looked forward to the Autumn Pottery Barn catalog like I've looked forward to the Returning Favorites issue of TV Guide. Which is to say, A LOT.

Last week, that double-issue PB catalog arrived in my mailbox and I couldn't WAIT to dig into it. Little did I know what was waiting for me.

When did it become cool for the cul-de-sac-lovin', rosebush-plantin', carpoolin' families of Middle America to go completely GOTH for Halloween? I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks because of what greeted me inside my beloved PB catalog.

Exhibit A: Rats. I'm not sure I could name an amount of money you'd have to pay me to display these in my house for a month.

A few pages over, huge black spiders and dead moss. On the mantel. REALLY?

Perhaps if you're not into giant black spiders on your mantel, you'd be willing to put tombstone candles up there. Because who doesn't want melted reminders of death on their mantel all month long?

And then they REALLY upped it a notch. Turned the amp up to 11, if you will. (That one was for my dad.) Spiders? Check. Tombstone candles? Check. Creepy skull on a mercury glass candlestick? Check. Dead moss? Check. Other than that, IT'S LOVELY.

I've never really needed a bottle stopper. Maybe my friends are a bunch of lushes, but whenever I've opened a bottle of wine in my home, it's been drained to the last drop. No need to "store" it again. But even if they left a sip or two in a bottle in October, I certainly wouldn't use one of these disturbing stoppers for it. Blech.

Only a couple more, so don't worry if you feel as icky as I do right now. The catalogs are full of beautiful things painted on canvases or scrolls right now. These particular scrolls belong in a medieval anatomy & physiology class, though, not in my den.

And lastly, at first I couldn't figure out what bothered me so much about the white pumpkins that are all the rage in the catalogs and DIY circles. I mean, they're just pumpkins, and I LOVE me some festive pumpkins.

But a few days ago, it finally hit me. It's the color. It reminds me sooooo much of the scene in E.T. where he's almost dead and they find him in that ditch and he's that ghastly white color and they have to put him in that incubator and I was so afraid he was going to DIE and sometimes I'm just like that, I get way too caught up in fiction and it bleeds over into other areas of my life. Like seasonal decorating.

That part of the movie has remained with me my entire life. I searched for 20 minutes to find an image to remind you, IN CASE IT HADN'T ALREADY SCARRED YOU FOR LIFE, TOO. And side note, I don't recommend doing a Google search for "dead E.T." anytime soon.

So. I can see that I may have just accidentally ruined white pumpkins for you.

SORRY. Write Pottery Barn a letter.

For your phone or whathaveyou

If you have an iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry, for the love of all that is good and holy, WHY DON'T YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE?

This is the most adorable device holder I have ever seen in my life. As far as I'm concerned, plain leather is OUT and felt Pop-Tarts are IN.  $19.95 + $2.95 S&H

I need to go lie down from all the cuteness now.

On DIY work

Sign WIN! I would buy paint from this store on principle alone.

Courtesy, Fail Blog.

Uncomfortable truths, vol. 2

1. Last Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Railroad Park downtown, where the boys played on the playground, ran themselves ragged, then cooled off by walking through the creek. That evening, we went to the Cub Scout campout, where they played on the playground, ate supper out of a bag while sitting on the ground, and got SO sweaty. Did I mention it was a 96-degree day? When I took Jake home (leaving the others to camp out for the night), he and I were so exhausted that I put him in bed without a bath. I'm sure you're thinking, "If this is just an 'uncomfortable truth,' what the heck falls into the category of 'too embarrassing to TELL anyone'?" Huh. Maybe that would be the part that I left out: that morning Jake had wet through his diaper in his crib, and I didn't change his sheets before I put him down that night.

2. There are people this won't bother in the least, and then there's a whole other segment of people that absolutely won't be able to believe it: I don't have a needle and/or thread in my house. I used to have a tiny sewing kit in my purse, but when I flew to North Carolina in February for Jonah's birthday party, the TSA confiscated it. So last week when I lost a button at work, our department's executive assistant sewed it back on for me. Are YOU a needle-and-thread person?

3. I spend a lot of time thinking about ridiculous things like, Why do commercial toilet seats have that three-inch gap in the front and residential ones are perfectly oval with no gap? That doesn't keep me awake at night, but it does keep me awake when I'm sitting on the toilet at work. ** UPDATED: Wikipedia, the indisputable, reliable source for all things, says this: "The purpose of the open front is a subject of debate. Some say that it is so that a man who does not lift the seat to urinate and "dribbles" at the end will not get urine on the seat, but rather it will fall in the gap. Another thought is that the gap exists so that the genitalia of one user cannot contact the seat and therefore possibly spread disease to a subsequent user if their genitals contact the same area." ** Now we can all sleep tonight.

4. We have 147 season passes to TV series on our downstairs TiVo. That doesn't mean we watch 147 shows every week, but I bet there are a lot of people out there who didn't even know that there are currently more than 147 shows IN PRODUCTION right now.

5. I just checked, and 21 of the shows I watch are reality shows. Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Kate Plus 8, The Rachel Zoe Project, 9 by Design,  Tori & Dean, America's Next Top Model, Top Design, The Next Food Network Star, Ace of Cakes, Project Runway, Flipping Out, HGTV Design Star, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad (KILL ME NOW), The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol. I could run down my entire list of season passes, but this is "Uncomfortable truths," not "Truths that will make people stop reading my blog, my co-workers mock me and my husband leave me."

It's officially Fall and someone asked me eight questions

Tamar SB at Random-osity was kind enough to tag me in a meme about Fall, and since I'm all about Fall -- and can't WAIT for Fall temps to arrive -- I wanted to answer her questions today.

 
1. Do you like Starbucks? And are you a fan of their seasonal coffees?
I am a TOTAL coffee snob. I only drink gas station cappuccino. QT (QuickTrip) in Georgia is the absolute best, but I'll settle for Exxon if I have to. I've never had anything I liked very much at Starbucks.

2. How do you decorate and prepare for Fall?
I put a Fall wreath on my front door and have some orange-peel potpourri that goes in the hurricane globes on my mantel. Other than that, there's nothing special. But I read something that was laugh-out-loud funny about Fall decorating the other day. I've been debating for the last five minutes whether or not to link to it for you, and I'm gonna bite the bullet and do it. But it comes with a language warning. The faint of heart (when it comes to bad language) shouldn't click it. But OHMYWORD I laughed and laughed over it. Think before you click. Here it is.

3. Will you participate in your college's homecoming activities?
We'd never been back until last year, when my department had a reunion and BBQ on game day. We took the boys and they had the BEST time! They loved running around the quad and rolling down the hills. My department is having another BBQ this year, and I have it on our calendar as a tentative Yes. Since our college is all of eight miles from our house, it's really ridiculous that we don't take the boys over there whenever we feel like it. As a matter of fact, it's directly across the street from the bike trail mentioned in this post.

4. What is your favorite Fall clothing item or accessory?
I love this new sweater I just bought at Chico's. Love the color, love the fit. I haven't worn it yet, but I can't wait. I don't think I'd wear this shirt under it, but I've got other shirts.

I actually went IN to Chico's to buy this sweater, but it didn't look good on me when I tried it on. Funny how that happens.

5. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?
I'm pretty sure it was in 8th grade when I dressed up with my friend Missy as a punk rocker. It was right around the time Madonna hit it big with Like a Virgin, and I wore a burgundy corduroy miniskirt, a black/multi-colored sweater with poofy sleeves, black tights, hot pink legwarmers, my hair teased to here and back, and glitter hairspray to cap it all off. I was off the hook. Nothing says "punk rock" like burgundy corduroy.
 
6. Do you like Halloween/Horror movies? Do you have a favorite?
No, and I don't think I've ever seen an entire one of either genre all the way through. Honestly.

7. What is your favorite Fall activity?
I love, love, LOVE playing outside with the kids in the crisp weather. I also love going to the pumpkin patch with them, and most years we've been to our church's hoedown on a local farm, complete with bonfire and hobo stew. Fall is my favorite season, mainly because it's such a beautiful time of year to be outdoors as a family.

8. What is your favorite Fall recipe?
Are there seasonal recipes other than Egg Nog? This is news to me.

And then she added eight more quickie questions, and here they are:


1. What movie coming out soon are you looking forward to seeing? 
The Town  

2. What will you miss most about Summer?
This is a trick question. Nothing?

3. When do you start your holiday shopping?
I don't have a set day to start, but I always try to be finished by Thanksgiving.

4. Favorite exercise/activity?
Another trick question.

5. Best book you've read lately?
61 Hours by Lee Child

6. Do you make your bed every day?
Yes. I don't always put the pillow shams back on the bed, though.

7. If you could choose a personal chef or a personal shopper, which would you choose?
Personal chef.

8. Which TV show are you most excited for this Fall?
I'm thrilled Glee is back on already, and I'm really excited about The Good Wife and Top Chef: All-Stars.

If they are so inclined, I hereby tag:

- Paige
- Patrice
- Leigh
- Rachel
- Ryan Leigh
- Beckie

Some of them I know in real life; others are simply regular commenters I'd like to get to know. And whether I tagged you or not, let me know if you decide to participate!

The grand opening of Railroad Park

Smack dab in the middle of midtown Birmingham, the city has been working on a four-block-long park for two years. Not only is it within sight of my office, it's also on my route home from work.

So for two loooooooonnnnnnnnggggg years (the months always go by more slowly when construction is in your path every. darn. day. am. I. right.) I've watched it being built, bucket by bucket of dirt.

And last Thursday, it finally opened to the public! We made plans with my friend Vanessa (the boys' "Tee-Tee," which is not what it sounds like, but is short for "Auntie," which she pronounces like "Ont-ty," which was her choice, not mine) to meet for lunch on Saturday and then head to the park for all manner of fun and games. She will want to kill me for posting a picture of her without makeup on the Internet, but you can't tell, right?

The park has a couple of ponds, several HUGE grassy areas and even some neat play equipment. Here are the boys on the climbing dome in the middle of the park. (It's the one on which they were photographed for the local paper.)

Jakey even got in on the action.

A little farther down from the climbing dome is a jungle gym made of some sort of PVC or something that doesn't get hot, even in the 98-degree heat, WHICH WE KNOW FROM REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE.

It has this stiff rope webbing on the interior that makes it really easy to climb and far less painful if you fall.

The big boys wasted no time climbing straight to the top.

Next, we walked over to the creek that meanders through the grounds.

It was designed as a wading creek, so it's a great depth and has chopped up concrete in the bottom which makes it significantly less muddy than you'd expect.

Although it wasn't completely MUD-FREE, as Jakey found out when he took a little spill.

The last spot we hit was the skateboard bowl area. There are three large concrete bowls that were designed specifically for skateboarders.

When I tell you that the boys could have watched them for hours, I mean they could have watched them for HOURS.

They were utterly captivated by the jumps ...

... the spills ...

... the near-misses ...

... the excitement ...

... the artistry and athleticism ...

It really WAS amazing. Honestly, I could have sat and watched them for hours, too.

Although it was hotter than the hottest September Saturday most anywhere else in the U.S., it was still a great visit to a fun place I've been waiting on for years now. And we can't wait to go back ... on a 70-degree day.