Down

Ellen found us the perfect rental. It was 2,000 square feet with: a great kitchen, family and living rooms, a laundry room the size of my kitchen, a huge tub in the master, and an orchard outside. Oh, and Boronda Lake (photo below) was literally across the street. We were one of five families to apply for the house and unfortunately, we weren't chosen as the "lucky renters." The property management company said everyone qualified with stellar credit, but the landlord ultimately chose the family based on rapport. Very humbling!

I had envisioned Andrew practicing baseball with his sons on the grassy field next to the lake:

Photo

Another downer is that my favorite spin teacher has finished subbing for one of the regular teachers. He taught the first class I ever took and you can't beat his music selection. He had a way of making you feel like you were in a serene setting and the hills really were getting steeper. The teacher today was a kill joy. I would like to state that country music does not make for fun spin music. Jeesh. I felt like yelling, "What does it take to get a little Justin Bieber played around here?"

I don't think I have blogged about my total addiction to spin classes. I was so scared to try one and now I can't live without my three spin sessions each week. These machines call out to me every time I see them:


I was going to complain about something else, but I have forgotten what it was. I wish I had written this post yesterday so I could have called it Wednesday Whine and Wine. What a catchy phrase. I think I whine enough so setting a whole day aside for it just might drive my husband crazy.

Walking

Look who's walking:

Three Years Young

Three years ago, this tiny thing entered our lives.


Today, he is one of my most favorite people in the world. I could list every single thing I love and appreciate about this boy, but I fear leaving anything out. Thank you Blake for making my life so full. Tired, but full. You are the best:

Cinema

Okay, Andrew started watching this on the computer while I was busy and I said to myself, "How horrible is this? Why does he watch this stupid, nerd stuff?" Then I got thoroughly engrossed. It is a 24 minute review of a terrible, horror flick. The language is not light and fluffy so don't watch it if you don't want to be offended.

Oh, and please resist the urge to watch the actual trailer after you see this. I had to see it for myself, but it made me feel sick and twisted. Leave it up to your own imagination!!!

Tosh.0
Tags: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

Reade (Ten Months)

Why does my child dislike that horse so much now?



At 10 Months I:
* Have attempted a few steps on my own
* Love to babble
* Tend to speak loudly
* Still squeal in a high pitch way when I want things
* Shove myself in tight spots
* Push/pull harder when things aren't going my way
* Cry whenever I get hurt and my brother is in a five foot vicinity
* Don't cry if I get hurt and it is my own fault
* Sleep through the night because my mom refuses to get up (I still try though)
* Enjoyed sitting in hot springs with my family
* Walk around the house pushing shopping carts or fire trucks
* Now put everything in my mouth
* Eat almost everything
* Got another tooth
* Make my mom think I am going to be a talker and a joker

Check out my Nine Month photo.

Fail

Yesterday was Sunday. The day when every snack, sweet, or second helping is up for grabs. Too bad there was a sweet shortage in the house due to my control during the week. I jumped online at 8:30pm in hopes of finding a recipe to fill my void. What would be better than whipping up little chocolate coconut balls before watching an episode of Cops, doing 20 minutes of Spanish Rosetta Stone, and then heading to bed? Maybe a recipe that actually turns out!

Diana's Kitchen sounded doable:

No-Bake Cookies

These favorite no-bake cookies are made with cocoa, coconut, and oats

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup coconut

In a large saucepan, combine butter, milk and sugar; bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in oats, cocoa, and coconut. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper.
Makes about 36 yummy no-bake cookies.

They turned out to be lumps of grainy yuck. Who knows what I did wrong, but I ended up just eating chocolate chips from the Tollhouse bag. (wah wah):

Late Leprechauns

Did you have a good St. Patrick's Day 2011? We did. Nothing beats playing in Great Nana's backyard:


Matching "This is my lucky tee shirt" t-shirts always add a festive touch:


Reade was chilling out on the lawn when he let out a sound to get our attention. I looked down at him pointing in the grass. About an inch away from his pointer finger stood a four leaf clover. Quickly, I picked the four leaf clover and handed it over to my Nana with amazement. I looked again and found another one for Reade. I was sure my Nana had the luckiest grass around, but I couldn't find any others after searching. It goes to say that Reade and his Great Nana are kindred spirits. The luck of those two on their Month-Before-Their-Birthdays Day. I taped the four leaf clover to a piece of paper so I can add it to his baby book. Andrew just looked online and Wikipedia says there is one four leaf clover for every 10,000 three leaf clovers.

Baa

It was time to head up to Sacramento to visit my family. There was a break in the rain so my mom took Blake around the corner to feed some local sheep.

Calling them over:


Here they are:


Yum, carrots:


Happy sheep lovers:

Try It

Someone please try out this recipe and tell me how it tastes!

Nedra's Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake


Thanks to this book, I can only eat sweet treats on days beginning with the letter "S."


I am calling all bakers to whip one of these out so I can walk around with a chocolate mustache next weekend.

Hookah

We hit up the local hookah bar for our date night out. We went to Da Hookah Spot off of University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. It was a fun place to be.

Our apple hookah (non-tobacco since I am getting over my cough):


Andrew being "swanky":


I was trying to find a link to their website, but instead found this:

"A Santa Clara County Superior Court jury has found a Palo Alto hookah bar owner guilty of murder for killing his girlfriend and setting her body on fire in October 2009.Bulos “Paul” Zumot, 37, who owns Da Hookah Spot, was convicted of first-degree murder and arson for the death of 29-year-old real estate agent Jennifer Schipsi. Prosecutors claimed the couple had a history of domestic violence and that Zumot killed Schipsi and set their Addison Avenue home on fire with her body inside on Oct. 15, 2009. The verdict was read in a San Jose courtroom at about 3:15 p.m. The jury, which consisted of four men and eight women, had begun deliberating on Wednesday."

Hm. I might not be hookah'ing in the near future.

Another

Okay, now Ellen and I are on a quest to find a rental that has an in-law unit in the back so we can live like one happy communal family. I find these great houses, but the rent is out the roof. Will we make it happen? Who knows. Is it fun looking at mansions? Completely!

4,800 square feet + separate in-law unit on the side
$5400/month rent main house + $1100/month rent in-law unit

The family room. The in-law unit is on the back of that wall:


There is an office to the left of the entertainment center in the family room. The office has a full bathroom to the right. Behind another door is the in-law unit. The property manager told us the refrigerator, in the in-law unit, is currently in front of the other bathroom door. I thought it would be fun to move the fridge so Ellen and David could have a two-bedroom area with two bathrooms:


On the back of the family room is the kitchen and breakfast nook (where I am standing to take the photo):


On the right of the kitchen is the formal dining room/living room (grand staircase is behind me as I take the picture). The hallway door leads to three bedrooms and two bathrooms:


The grand foyer:


Downstairs there is this recreation room, a laundry room, and a small room where the two-story laundry chute ends up, and a small bathroom:


Right side of the recreation room. Oh, how I loved the idea of turning the little nook, on the right, into a sewing area:


The backyard from the master bedroom (sorry for the screen):


The house definitely had its pluses and minuses, but it will be the perfect house to rearrange and furnish while I fall asleep at night.

Spider Plant

Where have all the spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) gone? I have searched every nursery/hardware store/grocery for two of these plants for over six months now. If you see one, please email me asap so I can drive over and make them mine. I read that they improve air quality so what better to have hanging out in a child's bedroom?

I will find you:


Wouldn't a plant be cute in here. I found the link to the seller's etsy page, but they are no longer active and the planter sold a long time ago. Good things get scooped up fast around those parts:

Really?

Ellen and David's lease is about up on their apartment so time to shop for a new rental. I love looking at houses and was so pleased with myself when I found this post on craigslist:

$2500 - 4br2ba house with huge lot in great location artists studio in back yard house needs paint clean up and some repairs

Ellen called the owner and he said that he would decrease the rent a bit, but the renter needs to paint and put in new carpets. We had to check it because Andrew's family has a knack for turning bland, outdated homes into fun places you "want" to be in. So here is what we found:

The artist's studio. Not so bad we thought:


Hmm, time to follow the trail of scratched off lottery tickets and check out the inside:


The kitchen wasn't so bad. Just needs some TLC:


The bedrooms are a tad bit dirty. Once again, just needing some elbow grease:


Okay, now it was getting gross. The floors under the disgusting carpet were rotted:


Noticeable damage in every room:


Really? $25oo/month for lack of windows. They told us to "go ahead on in ourselves" because the doors weren't even closed:


Ellen gave me a crash course in Dry Rot/ Termite Damage 101:


We got a few laughs out of that one. The owner said the tenant could fix all the stuff in under a week. Only if you apply for one of those home makeover shows and actually get them to do the work for you.

Good luck renting that one!

Back

Back to "normal" life. Oh, how hot springs melt the worries away. Our mini vacation afforded us the healing powers of mineral water, but sleep was not top quality. Reade never sleeps well in the same room as us. To compensate, he took huge, morning naps. Too bad I couldn't sleep on a floaty in the warm pools!

Sleeping:


Getting coffee while thrift store shopping in town:


Stylish ride:


I decided to rearrange rooms in my house so I am exhausted. I shouldn't have started this project, but I know it will be better in the end.

Exactly

Nirvana.

Beans

So much has happened this past week. There have been stressful times, quiet times, and fun times. All of it left me a bit exhausted. So here I am blogging about beans. I bought a $2.00 bag of beans at the grocery store. I followed the directions on the back to make bean soup. Visually, the soup looked horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was despite its starchy appearance. So when the going gets tough, the tough get bean-y:


Andrew brought home a Xoom tablet the other night so I am going to test its blogging skills this weekend. If my posts are slow then I obviously hate the thing!

Reade (Nine Months)

Reade's 9 month photo was a bust! I am two weeks late and he hated having his picture taken. This photo was the best one of the bunch. I would love to have his baby album full of happy baby pictures, but who are we kidding here? Sometimes days just don't go as expected.



At 9 Months I:
* went from no teeth to five teeth in the span of 10 days
* got my second ear infection
* crawl super fast and can pull myself up on anything
* say two sound sentences
* baby sign "all done" and "more"
* impress my mommy that I don't stick everything in my mouth
* go to bed at 8pm and only wake up once per night (if that)
* sleep in till 8am
* prefer one, long nap during the day
* am not really into eating finger foods myself
* love to play with my brother, but enjoy baby friends too
* still get called a red-head although my mom thinks I will be blonde
* throw myself backwards when I get upset
* think my name is "Readey Peadey Pumpkin Pie, Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry" because my mom says that all the time.
* seem a bit more accident prone than my older brother
* have juicy thighs that my mom adores
* finally let my mom leave the room for extended periods of time without freaking out
* will try almost anything to eat

Check out my Eight Month photo.