Cute little Blog

Yes, you'll notice a completely new and different design to our blog. Is it not the cutest??!! I have to admit I came across another blog with this design and had to ask them where they found the template. They were nice enough to tell me about where they found it so I could "steal" it. :-) Of course, for me perusing different blog templates and graphics feels like being a kid in a candy shop. My inner graphic designer gets to meet up with my inner scrapbooker and get creative!! So thank you to Waltzing Matilda and to The Cutest Blog on the Block designers! Maybe someday I'll actually take advantage of their layout creator and design my own template. But for now I'm just trying to survive each cold winter day as it comes...along with the viruses it brings. Wherefore art thou, Spring?!!

Crown of glory, huh?

I've recently celebrated another birthday, one that has officially landed me smack dab in the middle of my 30's. Along with more candles to blow out, each year brings with it more signs I am definitely no longer in my 20's such as the decrease in circulatory flow, unfamiliar creaking of bones upon moving, the worsening aches and pains caused by pregnancy and the extra stores of fat as if my body were preparing for my and my baby's survival in the midst of a seven-year famine. But most unsettling of all, I've discovered another sign - strands of hair devoid of all color. Amongst the abundance of silky, red strands (all-natural, of course - NOT), I've started noticing these hairs that curiously bring to mind the song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong." At first, I convinced myself it was highlighted hair - lighter than the rest and simply blonde. After all, not only do I color my hair red, I also highlight it. So sure, that must be it. But many moons later, these "highlighted" hairs are rising up and proving their snowy existence by showing up against my ever darkening natural hair color (which I just don't get - why would my hair color get naturally darker as I age while some just get white?). I have now joined an exclusive club of people who look in the mirror and spy hairs just waiting to be plucked. The practice of dying my hair which was always a luxury will at some point become a necessity. That's just sad to me.

If the amount of salt in my pepper is proportional to the number of children and their accompanying mess contained within my small house, then I should bless my lucky stars I can still count on one hand how many gray hairs I've found. But I've always heard wisdom comes with graying hair. So how come I don't feel wise enough yet?

Snow Days & Sick Days

So sickness runs rampant through our house again. Jayce caught it first, and we thought maybe we'd scrape by with little aftereffects, but alas Reagan and the baby were next in line. Reagan seemed to catch it the worst (runny nose, bad croupy cough, little sleep, overall misery), and it was no picnic for Landon either (doesn't help that he's also teething). Then yesterday it hit Mike, and now I've got it today. Lauryn has been the only one spared so far - of course, it helps that she holes up in her room as if quarantined all day every day like a typical teenager (Lauryn? Nope - haven't seen her in oh...two days? Does she still live here??). While under the weather (and speaking of weather), I've decided to update this blog and post a small video of the boys playing out in the snow. Enjoy, Grandparents!

Hats

I LOVE hats. It's like wearing art on your head. I thinks it's the most fascinating accessory one can wear, and one can never have enough hats. So many shapes and sizes, styles and trends...so, how does one choose? This is a great page about hats. Considering I have so many, I know not all of them look good on me. Some are strange, but that's what make them unique. I hope that one day I'll have a room completely filled with hats and the way that I'm going, I just might get there. Fifty-two hats, ladies and gentlemen! And still growing! Three are actually reproductions, but the rest are original. If I had to guess, most of them are from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. There are a few in particular that I have no idea how to wear. Anyway, I want to share a few of my favorites here, because if I showed all of them, this blog post would be ten miles long.


This hat has a very cool menswear and flapper-style cloche look to it, plus it's fits very nicely.


This one has a very sixties vibe, which is why I love it, and an asymmetrical crown.

This is so far my all-time favorite hat. This yellow top hat looked quite plain without something extra; I added balloon ribbon from my sixteenth birthday and a giant red bow to finish it off. Great memories are tied to this hat: the last time I went trick-or-treating and wearing it at NTS and getting TONS of compliments..yes, I think everyone should have a memorable hat.

A Day In The Life vs. The Mean Reds

So, I woke up this morning. Went downstairs. Mom opened the dishwasher, took one look and said, "the dishwasher didn't run last night?" I started banging my head on the fridge. It's my job before bed to load the dishwasher of soap, set it to run, and make sure the counters are wiped down. Therefore, today...lucky me...gets to wash every dish that wasn't washed including the ones in the sink. So my goals for today are: pretty much washing every dish in the house (although it could be worse, I guess), doing an extravagant amount of literature homework, and finishing the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. I realized today in exactly 3 months, 6 days, 10 hours, and 1 minute I will officially be 17. FLIPPIN' SCARY!! I feel like I have the "mean reds"...

Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?
Paul Varjak: The mean reds, you mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?
Paul Varjak: Sure.
Holly Golightly: Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!

I wish I had a Tiffany's. The closest thing to that is my room, even then sometimes you can't find peace there. Anyway, I must do to some dishes. And to tell you the truth I really don't know why I posted this other than the fact that our last post was in November. :) But I enjoy blogging all the same.