New floors

So I had some new flooring installed in Jan.  Here are some pics for you:

Dining room old:

Dining room new:

Living room old:

 

 

Living Room new:

Bedroom old:

Bedroom new:

So I have to say, I'm still getting used to how dark it is.  But I like it.  It feels like A LOT more maintenance.  And it's definitely noisier than carpet.  If there is one tiny speck of anything white on the floor, it feels like it's visible from the space station.  For the first few weeks, I was literally sweeping like every 10 min.  I finally had to make a rule that I sweep ONCE a day, no matter what is on the floor!  But it's fairly easy to dry dust and mop.  I just seem to be doing it a lot more often...

Lighthouses

So if you know me, you probably know that I kind of like lighthouses.  I'm not like totally obsessed with them or anything but if I'm in an area where a lighthouse is near I would def go out of my way to see it.  Two weeks ago, I went to the Cape Florida Light in Miami.  I went up top, it was really cool.  As much as I love going to the top of a lighthouse, I am totally freaked out because of my fear of heights.  But the view is amazing.  And I'm not going to let a little thing like vertigo get in my way.

Last year when I took the kids to Maine I got to see 4 different lighthouses.  Pemaquid, Fort Point Light, Owls Head Light and Marshall Point Light.  Now Pemaquid is a staple of visiting Maine and I've been there quite a few times and have at least 50 pictures of it.  But I always have to take more pictures of it every time I'm there!  But the other 3, we kind of went to coincidentally.  We have these Maine passports and you go to all the state parks and get a stamp in your passport.  So last trip, me and the kids made it a point to get 3 new stamps in our passports.  So when I explained to Joe's mom that we wanted three passport stamps she literally turned into our tour guide through basically all of Midcoast Maine.  She would say "Well, if we go to this park, then this park is just a few miles away."  And we ended up getting 7 stamps from 7 Maine state parks!  Some she had never even been to herself.  It was really fun.  So, three of the lighthouses we saw just happened to be at some of the state parks.  And funny enough, I kept running into people doing some kind of lighthouse "race" where they had a passport that they had to get stamped from certain lighthouses in like one weekend, or something like that.

Last year when I went to Key West, I ended up seeing 3 lighthouses.  Key West Light, Loggerhead Key Light and Garden Key Light.  Some lighthouses are kind of hard to get to.  Like you can only take a boat to get there or they're not open and doing tours all the time.  The Key West Light is actually "retired" and was moved from it's original location.  But they still do tours.  The Garden Key Light is part of Fort Jefferson and is about a 2 hour boat ride off the coast of Key West in the Dry Tortugas.  The Loggerhead Key Light is only accessible by private boat.  It can be seen from Garden Key, but is about 3 miles off shore.  Literally in the middle of the ocean with NOTHING around!

I've been to other lighthouses as well but can't really remember their names.  I know one was in SC (I think it may have been Hunting Island Light).

After I went to the Cape Florida Light a few weeks ago I have been fired up about seeing as many Florida lighthouses as I can.  There are only about 30.  As I go to each one I will take pictures and document them here.  If I'm coming to visit you, and there is a lighthouse nearby, don't be surprised if I ask to visit it!

Sleepover

Jill had her first sleepover this weekend.  She invited two friends from school.  We all did face masks, I painted all their toes we ate junk food and did crafts.  OK, that was Jill's experience, this was mine:

Cook dinner.  Hear a little girl I barely know tell me she doesn't like almost everything on the table.  Ask Jill to eat her hamburger at least 10 times.  Tell Liam to get off the video games and come eat at least 20 times.  Do dishes and sweep up dining room.  Playing with the bunny.  Help Liam start a school project that is due in 5 days.  "Mommy, can we do face masks?"  Help all little girls put on their face masks.  Remove all old polish from little toe nails.  Paint 30 little toe nails.  Help rinse faces and clean up the massive mess they made in the bathroom.  Playing with the bunny.  "Mommy, can we have snacks now"?  Help open all the snacks.  Sit on couch for 10 min.  Do more dishes and more sweeping.  Playing with the bunny.  "Mommy, can we paint pictures now?"  Help get out paper, find all crayons and pencils and markers.  Sit on couch for 10 min.  Clean up all the paper and crayons and pencils and markers.  More sweeping.  Work on project.  Finally sit down to watch a movie.  By 11pm I am so exhaused I just don't care anymore.  About anything.  I declare the girls have to go to Jill's room and stay there.  As I put them to bed, they all give me hugs and want me to tuck them in.  Wake up and cook pancakes and sausage.  But of course, one little girl doesn't like pancakes.  So I heat up a homemade frozen waffle for her.  She doesn't like it.  She wants a bowl of cereal.  Dishes, sweeping.  Painting pictures, playing with the bunny.  Finally!  Mommies show up.  Yay!

Jill says "that was so fun, we have to do it again!" Oh goodness...

Skippy's experience:  I'M NEVER LEAVING MY CAGE AGAIN!

Well Hello!

I've really missed blogging.  I have so many random thoughts but it's hard to make a whole post out of them.  But I'm going to try and be better about posting regularly.

Hope everyone is having a great 2014 so far.  It's almost March already, OMG!  Check back often for more updates!

Honeysuckle

I can remember being young and picking honeysuckle flowers. I would pick out the stamen of the flower and there would be ONE drop of nectar. And I would eat that ONE drop of nectar.  But I don't remember where I actually picked these flowers. Or what they actually looked like. What I remember the most is what they smelled like. 

I've talked before about what a bad memory I have. And mostly I've joked about it. But the truth is, there's so much of my life I don't actually remember and it makes me sad that I don't remember it.  Other people remember their lives. Why don't I?  Why am I talking about this?  Because I walked into my house tonight and it smelled like honeysuckle. I have no idea why.  But all of a sudden I remembered honeysuckle. Which leads me to another phenomena I suffer from - phantom smells...

Hi Y'all

Wow, it's been 6 weeks already since I've posted.  I got a new computer at work and now I can't access Blogger from work.  It's a Google thing.  I have so many work Google accounts and I don't know which one is associated to my Blogger login and so it cookies me and blocks me and it's confusing.  I understand Google less than I understand iTunes.  So now I can only post from home.  I'll try to be better about logging in from home.

We celebrated Jill's 8th bday a few weeks ago.  Can't believe how grown up that girl is.  I made her a pink lemonade cake.  It was yummy.

Liam has started to venture out into the world on his own.  He is now riding his bike to a friend's house in the neighborhood.  It's kind of scary knowing he's out there all by himself but he has really been pushing me for more independence.  But he kind of takes it overboard.  Because he can go to his friend's house alone now he wants inappropriate video games, to be a "walker" and stay home alone all afternoon, and to watch the movie "chucky" (But my friend has seen it like 15 times, MOM)  I said geez Liam, you don't have to do ALL THE GROWN UP THINGS at once now, you know.  One thing at a time kid.

Andrea and I went to Key West and Dry Tortugas last month.  It was pretty awesome.  We met a lot of fun people and had a great time.  Dry Tortugas Park was super cool.  Literally, a huge fort and lighthouse out in the middle of the ocean.  Two lighthouses actually.  The fort itself has it's own light, then there is Loggerhead lighthouse about 3 miles away on another island.  Watched a beautiful sunset from Mallory Square.  It was really a great trip.  It had been about 10 yrs since I'd been to Key West.

I participated in a breast cancer walk last weekend.  It was tons of fun!  I was the second highest fundraiser on my team.  Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that donated!  It def went to a good cause!!

Besides that, not too much is going on.  Just living another day in paradise people...

Meet Skipper

Jill begged me for about three days to get her a rabbit for her birthday.  As most of you know, I have zero desire to take care of any living creatures that I did not give birth to. But, I finally caved.

He is pretty cute though. It's only been 2 days so we are still getting used to him. I've never spent any significant time around a rabbit before. He's kind of jittery and always wants to be moving. 

Just look at those buggy eyes. But Jill is seriously SO happy to have her own little pet and she's been very responsible so far. Now Liam wants a cat. Ugh, I don't know. That is just living creature overload for me. I don't think I can do it.