28 ¾

Hello, Dolly!


That's right, we watched "Hello, Dolly!" again tonight for what must be the family's 153rd time.
We seriously love this movie, and watched it a lot immediately before and after William's birth. I will always have that "new baby" feeling when I watch this movie, I swear...

Anyway!
I (re)realized that the character Cornelius Hackl is 28 ¾...and that's just how old I am now!!
And I was born in Yonkers, where he lives and works -- coincidence??

Most lovable goof ever

As he says in the movie, there are some things he's never done before and ought to by his age:

Cornelius: 28 ¾ years old and I still don't get an evening free. When am I gonna begin to live? Barnaby? How much money have you got?
Barnaby: Huh?
C: I mean, that you can get your hands on?                 
B: About three dollars. Why?
C: Barnaby, you and I are going to New York.
B: Cornelius, we can't. Close the store?
C: We'll have to, cos some rotten cans of chicken mash are going to explode.
B: Holy cabooses! How do you know?
C: Because I'll light some candles under them. They'll make such a stink that customers won't be able to come in for 24 hours. That'll get us an evening free. We are going to New York and we are gonna live. We're gonna have a good meal, be in danger, get almost arrested. And we're gonna spend all our money.
B: Holy cabooses!
C: And one more thing. We are not coming back to Yonkers until we've each kissed a girl.
B: Cornelius, you can't do that. You don't know any girls.
C: I'm 28 ¾. I gotta begin sometime.

Aaaaah, gotta love that Cornelius.
What he said got me thinking about my own status at 28 ¾. Have I done all the things he wanted to do? Let's see:

[x] Go to New York
[x] Have a good meal
[x] Be in danger
[x] Almost get arrested
[  ] Spend all money
[x] Kiss a girl

Not too shabby!
I think the closest I got to "spending all my money" was when I took out all the money in my account to buy a couple of original pages from Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero by Bryan O'Malley back in college.

Maybe someday they'll be valuable...?

Since that was back in college, there probably wasn't that much money in my account, but I'm pretty sure I completely emptied it out for those pages. I was a devoted fan of Radiomaru to say the least.

Anyway, back to "Hello, Dolly!" -- I have to say it was one of my all time faves, right there along with "Groundhog Day" and "Kiki's Delivery Service".

Great music! Great dancing! Great costumes!! Dancing waiters!!!

Yes, please.

If you haven't watched it yet, you can catch it on Amazon Prime.

Until then, enjoy and Happy Dolly!!

Ella Rose's Hair

Howdy, howdy!

Today I just want to take a moment to share with you something that Ella Rose is very proud of.
Her long, long hair! ;)

Wait, isn't that Rapunzel? Just kidding...

I think it really was ever since watching Tanlged, that Ella got pretty fixated on wanting to have wicked long hair. So I joined her in her Long Hair Campaign, and we are both growing it out as long as it will go.

Also, I've always loved mermaids, and for anyone who's seen how mermaids are historically portrayed, you know that they tend to have their hair cover their breasts (oh, so modest!), right?
Well, that was always what I thought was a good "hair goal" -- hair long enough that it can double as a modesty barrier for your boobs. Like covering your nipples is so darn important or something! But hey, that's how young Chrissy thought ;)

Anyway, Ella Rose's passion for long hair was also what got her eating her vegetables better!
Whenever she turns her nose up to some kind of new vegetable, we always remind her, "Vegetables help your hair grow!"
Works like a charm (almost) every time.

Well! I just wanted to share that with you all.
And maybe the veggies=long hair trick with work with your little ones too~ ;)

Until next time, take care and Happy Hair Growing!!

Ages & Stages

Hello, all:


So, I feel like I don't have that much to report today because I am just work-work-working to finish this (past due!) deadline.
But I will say really quick, that we just did the "Ages & Stages Questionnaire" (from the Live & Learn With Your Baby Class) with William...and he is right on schedule. :)

For those of you not familiar with it, the questionnaire is just a run-down of the developmental milestones (socially, gross motor, fine motor, etc) that our kiddo should be meeting during any given range of months.

Keep in mind, it's not a test or anything. Just a questionnaire.
Click the link above to try it with your kiddo and you'll see what fun it is to watch your little one "passing"all the activities ;)

Well, that's all for now.
Back to work!!
Until next time, Happy Ages & Stages!

Skirt...Revived!

Hello again!

So I am feeling bounced back from my low mood yesterday.
Maybe it's this bit of homemakery I get to share with you today. :)

Truth be told, I did this a couple of weeks ago but haven't gotten around to sharing it with you.
But here it is:

Skiiiiirt

You're probably wondering, "Okay, what's the big deal with this skirt? Did she make it from scratch??"
The answer would be no, I didn't.
But I did mend it after many years of it waiting in the attic for me to brave its many rips and tears.
This skirt has a fair bit of history which I will share with you now:

To be honest, I'm not quite sure how I came to own this skirt, but I'm pretty sure I didn't pay for it. That doesn't mean I stole it! It means I probably procured it from a Free Box at college. Or maybe a friend? Who knows. Aaaanyway.
This skirt was my best friend for most of the end of my pregnancy with Ella Rose, and my primary go-to piece of clothing up until she was about 5 months old.

Especially when Ella Rose was 3-4 months old. That was the month when we put all our belongings into storage, packed our car only with the necessities (including all of her cloth diapers + diaper pail!) and wandered up the West Coast until we reached our home of Corvallis. A month-long endeavor where we scouted many a small town, relying on our iPhone to feed us information on different destinations via Wiki, and traveled as far north as Portland. But it was Corvallis that called to us most -- with its "small size" (relative to L.A.!) and higher education, it was perfect. :)

Anyway, I wish I had some photo evidence to show you just how attached I was to this skirt. I wore it every day, cross-legged in the back of the car with baby Ella Rose, and in our new home too as we unpacked and got to know the town.

It was all fine and dandy, until some time during our second week in our new home that we went to a park with our dog, Tak'e. Maybe it was his newfound freedom and the novelty of this unknown terrain, but he got so wildly excited that he decided to "play" rough and chomp onto my dress, yanking at it until it got torn up pretty bad!! >:(
I was pretty upset, but still very unsteady with the sewing machine so I just washed the skirt, folded it neatly, and stowed it away in the attic.

That is...until now! The tears in the skirt were no big deal in the end, and I revived it in like 5 minutes!
Maybe you'll see it around town and think, "Hey, there's that skirt that I know way too much about!" :D
And maybe you have a piece of clothing like that too. That has some kind of problem with it (tear, stain, etc) that you are procrastinating getting around to fixing.
Well, if you do, I hope this post inspires you to finally tackle it because it's probably not that big a problem to deal with anyway! :)

Until then, take care and Happy Reviving!

Feeling in a Slump...

'Allo, 'allo


Sorry I missed writing on Sunday.
I did not sleep well Saturday night -- I was up from 1:45 until about 4:30.
Mostly anxiety, I think.
And now here I am doing it again! It's 3:00 a.m. Monday "night"...guuuuh...

Super Bowl Sunday was supposed to be a bit of shindig at our house, but our guests all cancelled on account of their children not feeling well.
Then I ate a bunch of chips and pizza (albeit homemade!), and drank a lot of beer and I think it was just too much salt and alcohol because it did not leave me feeling very energized.
At least Dash enjoyed the game between the Ravens and the 49ers -- it's always fun to see him get all revved up.
I randomly decided to wash and iron the kitchen curtains during the game. So that was good.

Then "today" (Monday) I brought Ella Rose to a painting class for kids that she really enjoyed.
William was a bit of a handful -- he's not being his usual jolly self. I think it's more teeth coming in because he seems generally discontent and whiny.
We'll see how Tuesday goes.

Well! Sorry for the bit of a downer post, but hopefully this cloud will lift.
Wishing you all a better start to your week.
Happy Positive Energy~!

Another Social Saturday!

Hey hey!

Today was a doozy of a day!

The first half of the day, I went with the kiddos to LBCC's Family Fun Day in Albany.
I had wanted to take the bus, but I idiotically waited at the bus stop on the wrong side of the street, and so missed the bus. It wouldn't come by again for another hour and so I opted to take the car. D'oh!

But anyway, everything was fantastic once we got there. Admission was free and then for mere quarters a piece, Ella Rose got to partake in everything from playdough free-for-all, obstacle course and bouncy house to crown creation, face painting and rice trough (a trough full of multi-colored rice...kept her entertained for like 30 minutes!). I also got to see many friends whom I haven't caught up with since before the holidays. So that was good.

The minute we got home, we then got ready to go to a Crepe Party!!
Hosted by the same lovely folks who had the Epiphany Party, it was a fantastic crowd and fantastic eats! I got to flip my own crepes and did not too bad! Photos coming soon, I assure you~ ;)

Back at home, we then had a visit from our neighbor-friends across the street. I tell you I cannot get enough of talking with my friends! If only our children could play peacefully without so much intervention. Oh, well! That will only get better, right? :)

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and we had planned on quite a bit of company (split between two families) but it is looking like it might actually a small and quaint gathering. That, too, is always welcome after a day like today. Phew!

Until then, take care and Happy Friends!!

A Beautiful Start

Howdy howdy,

Today was a beauuuuutiful way to start February.

The first crocus of the season!!

We could actually see blue skies and blazing bright sunlight!

Ella rockin' a hippie look -- with bright sunlight outside!

There were more people out and about, so we decided to join them too.

He couldn't reach the wheels but it was still fun seeing him on a trike.

Away to Central Park we went!

Tak'e taking in the sights.

William in mid-swing

Hope you are all enjoying February so far ;)
Until next time, Happy Sunlight!!