Remembering

This time of year (Halloween through first week of November) makes me think back on the brief history of Boots and me.

2007- November-- we were at a U.S. Band concert at the college I went to (he and a friend crashed) and after talking about it we have decided we probably stood right next to each other-- this was before we met.

2008- Halloween-- the first time I ever laid eyes on him, but we were both distracted by other people at the party.

2009- November 4th-- We had been dating a few months at this point and went to a Sister Hazel concert.  He told me he loved me for the first time at the Mexican restaurant.

2010-2014--- married.  The End!  Just kidding!  But seriously, we've settled down and haven't been that exciting.  Maybe next year we could do something different and record-worthy.

Saturday + Sunday

This Father's Day weekend was appropriately (and rarely!) filled with lots of Daddy time.

Saturday the three of us went to a morning birthday party on a little farm and one of us had lots of fun mocking the rooster.  That one also got the biggest kick out of tiny baby piglets running around and the other two laughed because he laughed.  Pigs are interesting even to me because they're one of the few animals I didn't grow up around.  Daddy always said no because "they'll eat you out of house and home."  The highlight of the afternoon was a nap before Boots went to work.

Sunday we all went to church and I forgot to take a picture of Mayhem and his daddy before.  I said I'd take one after, forgot again.  We ate lunch at Chipotle (my pick!) but we were too busy shoveling our burrito bowls into our faces to knock the rice off Mayhem's lips and think about smiling.  Then Boots decided to turn Mayhem's car seat around and that was a twenty minute ordeal in the parking lot.  After he was all hot and sweaty I gave up on the idea of a photo op.  Once we finally made it back home we all took a short nap and went for a long walk.

Pretty good weekend!

BootsSanta

After the original Santa called in sick last week, Boots got roped into being his replacement at a local daycare this morning.  Mayhem and I tagged along for laughs and it was so worth it!  How hilarious is it seeing your husband dressed as Santa Claus with a bunch of little kids, haha!  I couldn't stop laughing, especially when we were driving and getting funny looks!

Two More Things Off My List!

Our little town held its little Christmas parade tonight so Boots and I packed Mayhem in the stroller with blankets and two hot rice socks and walked downtown to watch it. 

We missed about half because we were in the coffee shop getting hot chocolate, but still made it in plenty of time to see a clown being towed on a skateboard, a four-wheeler costumed as Mater, and a transfer truck hauling the biggest candy cane I've ever seen in my life. 

Santa and Mrs. Claus were in the square with a line fifty feet long, but we skipped them and the little kids' singing and strolled on home so BootsGrinch didn't have to spend any more time than necessary in a crowd enjoying cheesey, hokey Christmas celebrations. 

Boots' First Father's Day

We haven't had time to really celebrate Boots' first Father's Day with dinner out yet, but I took these pictures on our way to church last week.  My two men!

Instapril

My Instagram feed got quite the workout in April.  See for yourself, in no particular order!

Monday with Mayhem

  After a week of Boots' parents and baby brother being here visiting, last night the house felt strangely empty just the three of us. 

  Today has been even weirder since Boots went back to work on the garbage truck for the first time in six weeks now that his paternity leave is over and it's just been me and Mayhem. 

  I'm at work today, too.  Started my new job.  After many months of deliberations and prayers, I gave the funeral home my three weeks notice a week and half before Mayhem was born.  It worked out to my advantage he was early, no tearful good-byes on my part because there were no good-byes. 

  I didn't discuss it with anyone until I knew absolutely for sure we could work it out and were going to do it.  It was an easy decision because I knew it's what both Boots and I wanted, but a difficult decision to willingly lose an income.

  It's been hard writing "unemployed" on paperwork I've had to fill out for Mayhem.  The Stay at Home Mom title has been run slap into the ground so I'm going to call myself a "residential life manager."  Doesn't that sound official?  Now I've just got to say it to somebody with a perfectly straight face.

  We had a little adventure today called "jeans shopping" that made me want to pull my hair out because I hate shopping for clothes.  (Thank you, Lord, for giving me a boy.)  What is with the clothes this season?  All the jeans are either neon colors or so blue they're nearly black, neither of which I really like.  Oy, ve.

  I've decided that since I'm not working, since I don't have a "real job" anymore, there is no excuse for me not to exercise every day.  I want to get in shape so maybe I can wear cute clothes.  (Side note: still wearing the same size as I did pre-Mayhem.  Take that!) 

  I pulled the silly Jillian tape out of the top of the closet and after childbirth the pain of working out was cake.  It's like now my body knows what kind of crazy body stuff it can do and if it can't, it won't quit in the face of a little pain.  Then I cut the dog's nails.

  Now, for your viewing pleasure, (why won't they fix this app so pictures don't have to be at the bottom?) I give you some dressing room shots of my extreme displeasure and dorkiness.  So dumb.

Marchagram

I'm more than a few days late posting my March Instagram photos, but that's OK, right?

The majority of them are pictures of Mayhem because what else is there to take pictures of anymore?

Februagram

  Here's a few pictures of things I did in February (in no particular order!) and filtered using the Instagram app "Brennan,"  it's sort of my favorite right now.  You can check out January here!  You can follow me @eatingcrowpie

Weirdness

I think my husband is the only man on the planet that doesn't like Westerns. How can you not love John Wayne? Oh, well. We can't all be obsessed with The Duke, I guess.

Happy Birthday to my Baby Daddy!

I'm Random & Jump Around A Lot (Like a Rabbit)

  I've got a new project in the works to share with you, but I haven't actually started on it yet.  My plan was to begin this weekend and we all know how plans go......they don't!

  Boots and I spent a surprise weekend at an expensive little bed and breakfast I like the call The Hospital.  That's right- we were Boots was laid up for 3 days after going to the doctor Friday morning (I had a feeling I needed to pack a bag!) and getting diagnosed with acute bronchitis and gastroenteritis.  His blood counts (red or white?  I don't know!) were really high and his chest was very......congested? chesty? gummed up? sickly?

  Ya'll, I've never spent a night in the hospital, besides being born.  This weekend was not a good time.  How do nurses expect patients to get better when they won't let them rest?  I saw every hour on that clock next to the TV from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, I swear.  They'd come in and take his blood pressure and temp, leave for 45 minutes then bring meds, another 45 minutes then food, 45 minutes, breathing treatment, 45 minutes, x ray and repeat over and over and over again!  Couldn't they time their visits and all come at once?  The attention was really appreciated, believe me, but sleeping 45 minutes at a time for nearly 3 days isn't exactly restful.  (Nurse people I know, don't get all heavy on me.  I'm not downing- I'm just sharing.)

  **Funny part- once Boots was so asleep the blood pressure lady couldn't wake him up by just calling his name.  Her voice got a little panicky so I got up and shook him to wake him (I know this man, talking doesn't always work).  When he opened his eyes I said, "Wake up!  She thinks you're dead!"  I couldn't resist! **

  The unnecessary pestering was probably just ignorance on my part, after all, I don't know how this hospital business works.  They were all super nice though.  Except for this one chick that ran me over and the "pay for your room" counter and then turned out to be the "check your blood lady."  She was having a bad day though.

  Some good did come out of this weekend.  Boots and I got to spends lots of quality quantity time together and I got invited to write for an online magazine, PaperBlog!

  I thought it was spam at first, but these guys put you through a pretty rigorous sign up process to be spam.  (Now I've done it, they probably are spam!)

  I'm excited about writing for them, but scared too.  What am I going to write about?  I'm in disbelief that people that aren't related to me want to read what I write!  Oh, the pressure!

  Have you guys seen that Pixar movie, Up?  We watched it Saturday night and I loved it even though I cried in the first ten minutes.  Cartoon death scenes are really hard to take when you're sitting next to your sick husband's hospital bed.  I want to watch it again.

13 Months + 1 Day = Us

Ain't it funny how you always realize things about yourself when you're driving down the road?  Just me?

This weekend, driving down the road, duh!, I got a glimpse of just how weird and mixed up inside I am.  For instance, if you tell me some random fact that I did not previously have stored in my brain I will take it as that's all she wrote, Amen!, and there'll be no telling me any different from then on.  Absorbent as a super sponge!

However, if you are to tell me some random fact that I might have had previously stored in my brain and or already heard conflicting evidence of the same fact, I will question you to no end on its validity and ask a million different questions, "Why?  Why?  Why?" over and over again until you either crumple on the floor in agony from brain-question-overload or I'm satisfied with your answer, whichever comes first.

The second part of this realization drives my husband nuts.  He's really very sweet and patient with me most of the time (he's the good one of the two of us), but when I start on the whys he gets kinda testy.  I've been trying to work on the whys (my mother says I've done that since I was a wee tot), but its really a hard habit to break.

Boots gets particularly aggravated when Realization #1 and Realization #2 collide.  I can tell he reeeeeally wants to wring my neck when I take other people's peoples' the words of others at face value and question him for every. little. detail.


They even tell you not to do that in all the marriage books I've read!  (I'm not the only one?)  "Don't question your husband!!!!!!"  There goes my marriage.  But seriously, we've got a great thing going on.  (if I could just learn to shut my mouth)

Dear Boots,

Happy 365 Days!

Happy 52 Weeks!

Happy 12 Months!

Happy 1 Year!

Love,

Your Wife

31

Happy Birthday to my wunnerful amerzing huzzband, Boots!

Dear Boots,

One more month and we'll be eating frozen cake.

Love,
The Wifer

My New Friend, Joann

The day before the Great Flood of '11, Boots and I went our separate ways, as in he went fishing and I went shopping with my aunt, cousin, and my Meme (whose not really my Meme, but might as well be.)  Boots caught a few fish and I made a new friend named Joann.

Joann has cute sewing supply boxes like this......

......on the cheap like this!  (too bad I don't sew)

($7.97, kinda blurry)

Joann says that owls are popular baby patterns......

......I agree.

I found some material for my next Pocahontas outfit.

Boots getting his pre-fishing haircut. 

(Picture messages are great, its how we stay together apart!)

And something that looked like a veil.

Gypsy fabrics!

Mourning lace.

Green velvet is very Scarlet O'Hara, don't you think?

Plastic black with glitter!!

For when you feel like making your own blue jeans.....

Oh! Artificial ranunculus!

I so wanted to buy these, but then what would I do with them?

I'll just plant real ones instead.

I was in love!

More owls.  I wondered what I could iron this on.  Leg of my pants, perhaps?

You know I love peacock feathers, right? 

 If I was cute, I'd put this in my hair and wear it.

Everyday.

Peacock themed stationary paper!!

I loooooooove fabric flowers!  How cute!

Eel!  Gross!

Hand Applique with Embroidery by Sandra Leichner

I  looked at everything on every aisle in the store before I started on the book racks. 

I would love to do something like this.

The Joy of Sox by Linda Kopp

This one is for Boots since he used to call me Sox.



A to Z of Crochet: The Ultimate Guide for the Beginner to Advanced Crocheter

This might be helpful since I know zero about crocheting.

Baby catfish.

100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield

This wanted to go home with me.

I loved it, absolutely adored this book.

(It was kinda high-priced so I left it then bought it the next day at Barnes & Noble.

Now I gotta learn to crochet.

And knit.)

Crocheted Flowers by Nicky Epstein

Very creative!

Yeah, I need this.



Serendipity Quilts: Cutting Loose Fabric Collage by Susan Carlson

The quilts in this book were beautiful!

We spent about fifteen minutes trying to convince my hardheaded genius cousin (who adamently refused!) to make this.

Because she could totally do it.

(Check out my aunt's "modeling hands!")

I leave you with this disturbing image of a gar fish, hung on side of the boat.

Yikes, oh, my toes!

In the end I left with a plastic 6mm crochet hook, quilting needles and quilting thread for less than 10 big ones. 

When we got back from our shopping trip, my aunt, my cousin, my Popaw and my Granny all helped me glue the top onto the cotton inside and back of my future kid's quilt.

It was kind of a reality check moment thinking about preparing for the future in such a physical way since usually we prepare emotionally, spiritually, and financially for things.

Kinda scary.

I borrowed a quilting frame from Meme, but haven't even touched it or the quilt because like I said- this was the day before the Great Flood.