jennanddave.com

After experiencing the bi-monthly angst that always accompanies paying our bills (this month being extra-angsty because of car insurance and municipal bills), I once again made a vow to cease and desist with the spending of money on things we don't need.

Then I went ahead and purchased the soundtrack for the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd. I could make an argument that I absolutely needed to buy this album, but it would be a weak one and you all would be shaking your heads and feeling a little embarrassed for me. You probably do that anyway, so why add fuel to the fire.

Fine. Since I'm making confessions, I may as well also confess that I bought "Balls of Fury" while at Target today. Terry Crews' pecs deserve an Oscar nomination for their work in that movie. What oh what will Dave and I do tonight to pass the time?

Posted by Jenn at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry and I are fast approaching the end of our week-long vacation. On Thursday, after his nap and while on the way to the bathroom, Henry suddenly stopped and asked "Where's Daddy?" It took him five days but he did eventually realize there was a gaping hole in his life that could only be filled by the presence of his Daddy.

We've been extremely busy, riding lots of trains, doing some toy shopping, running up to Salem, and riding more trains. Today I left Henry in the hands of his Grandparents so I could head off to do some shopping on my own. I bought some clothes, a book (the first book I've ever purchased based purely on the author's good looks), a chai latte, and a Hawaiian crêpe. I thoroughly enjoyed leisurely browsing through stores that I had noticed on previous trips but knew I couldn't fully appreciate with a toddler in tow.

We're heading back to the wilds of central Pennsylvania on Monday. Tomorrow we're going to try and squeeze in as much fun as can possibly be had on the last day of a vacation.

Dave, your days as a bachelor are almost up, so get in all the Doom you can, because we're coming home...

Posted by Jenn at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today I clogged Megan's Mom's toilet. Then I died of embarrassment. It's too bad I can never come here again because it's really, really nice.

Tomorrow Henry and I are getting dumped on the doorstep of dropped off at my parents' house. I waited until this evening to tell Henry we would be seeing them on this trip. He's now extra super duper incredibly excited. I think Leo's Grandpa Bill will be equally excited to see him go because this evening every three minutes Henry would drop what he was doing to go up to Grandpa Bill and say "Hey, hey! Whatcha doin' Bill? Hey! Whatcha doin'?" and he wouldn't stop until he would get an answer. I finally had to ban him from the room Bill was in but that didn't stop him from following him down the hall and into his bedroom.

I'm starting to get the distinct impression we're not fun guests to have in your house.

Also, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese crackers = Heaven in a box.

Posted by Jenn at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Megan and I are taking the kids and getting out of dodge for the week. We're heading up to New Hampshire for a few days and then Henry and I will go down to Boston on Tuesday to spend the rest of the week eating all of my parents' food and hopefully spending all of their money. I'm just kidding! About the spending all of their money part, that is. No, wait, I'm kidding about eating all of their food. No, wait, I'm not kidding about anything at all.

Henry's looking forward to stopping at his Great-Grandma Ethel's house on the way to NH tomorrow because she has not only a piano, but also an organ. It doesn't even matter that the organ doesn't work, it's just as awesome anyway because it has two whole rows of keys, plus a ton of pedals and levers. She also has a stream with lots of rocks and she always has cake ready for his consumption. We're going to have to pry his fingers from her doorjamb in order to get him to leave.

Henry's also looking forward to riding lots of escalators with his Grammy and Grandpa. In fact, on Thursday when we asked him what he did that day, he said "Rode the escalators with Grammy and Grandpa!" Poor confused kid. And yet, that's how much of an impression riding the escalators made.

Anyway, I don't know how much posting I'll be doing while I'm gone, not that I've been doing much at all anyway, but I will be taking lots of pictures with my brand-spanking new awesome camera, so there should be lots to see when I get back.

Posted by Jenn at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Way back in 2002 I ordered a pillow kit from Arts and Crafts Period Textiles. If I wasn't able to have an Arts and Crafts bungalow complete with ridiculously expensive Stickley pieces and an inglenook, I was at least going to have a pillow. I didn't know how to embroider but a good friend of my mom's did, so after a spending a very informative afternoon with her, I was on my way. A few weeks before we moved from Salem to Pennsylvania, I was up late one night madly embroidering away so my pillow would be done in time for a lesson in blocking fabric (I also learned how to make a killer guacamole because my mom's friend also happens to be an amazing cook), and when I left her house that day, all I had left to do was let the fabric dry, buy a pillow form, and sew that baby together.

And for the next five years that's still all I had to do. Two weeks ago I bought a pillow form and a zipper. A week ago I realized that although I put a zipper in my cart the week before, it never actually made it onto my receipt or into my bag, so I went back and really did buy a zipper. This afternoon I sat down and put the thing together:

I'm really happy with the results.

I'm not going to tell you how after I put in the zipper I went ahead and sewed the rest of the square shut because, hey, there's a zipper there. It wasn't until I cut the thread that I realized it probably would have been a good idea to unzip the zipper before sewing the rest of the pillow square shut. After some finagling I managed to get it open, but I felt incredibly silly the whole time I was messing with it. But, again, I'm not going to tell you about that.

Posted by Jenn at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

While shopping at a toy store over the weekend, Dave and I came across this bargain:

A whole penny off the original price! WOW!!!

I'll give you one guess what Henry's getting for his birthday...

Posted by Jenn at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We're finally getting a new camera. I'm extremely excited for two reasons: 1. Instead of buying a cheap digital camera to get by with, we went ahead and purchased another Panasonic Lumix. We're getting a slightly lower end model than the one I so thoughtfully destroyed by launching it off of our kitchen counter onto the floor last Fall, but I will love and adore it no less. Guess what else? It's pink! Which is the second reason why I'm so excited. Dave was not thrilled by the prospect of a pink camera, but eventually decided that since I'm the one who uses it the most, it wouldn't affect his manliness much one way or the other, however, I will not be surprised if he strains and flexes his muscles if he ever has to use it. We compromised over the pinkness by getting a relatively unattractive black camera bag in which to keep it safe from harm.

Since it wasn't in stock at the store, we ended up purchasing it online. I'm counting the seconds until its arrival.

Posted by Jenn at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember back in March when I listed out the three things I wanted to accomplish by the end of this summer? To jog the memory of those who don't:

1. Lose the binky.
2. Get Henry into a "big boy bed"
3. Get him potty trained

Of those three things, the one which really struck fear into my heart was number 1. And 2. Aaaaaand 3.

As it turns out, it wasn't too bad. We tackled item number 1 first by telling Henry we lost his binky. He asked for it a few times then he seemed to just get over it. He never cried or seemed very upset that it was gone.

Item number 2 took care of itself while we were at the beach. Ages ago I bought him one of those toddler aerobeds for traveling. He hated it so we kept using the Pack and Play even though he outgrew it in length and weight. After a week of sleeping in it while on vacation, he decided he'd had enough. He asked to sleep in our bed which we let him do until it was time for us to go to bed, after which we would move him back to the Pack and Play. Henry did this every night until we got home. He seemed pretty happy to get back to his own bed, but we figured if he had spent a week getting accustomed to a bigger bed, we didn't want to lose this opportunity to transition him to one at home. So we brought up the mattress in our guest room and he's been happily snoozing away in the freedom of a full-sized bed ever since. The bonus is now we can crawl in with him and talk about our day after he's been tucked in. It's one of my favorite times of day.

The third one we accomplished with the help of my friend Gabriella who I've since told should write a book about potty training. I thought it was going to be a nightmare, but it was pretty easy, until, of course, he regresses, but, you know, la-la-la-la-laaa...

So, the potty training was the really big thing we needed to accomplish because at the end of the summer Henry is starting school. In fact, he's starting school on the 8th of September. He isn't going to know what hit him. I feel bad, because once you start preschool it doesn't end for a really long time. So long carefree days of playgroups and sitting around banging drums, and hello text books and teachers' dirty looks. Poor kid.

Posted by Jenn at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend of ours hosted a 4th of July parade that went up and back down the street where they live. Everyone was decked out in patriotic colors, and the kids rode bikes/trikes/wagons covered in red, white, and blue balloons. I brought Henry's tricycle along for him to ride. We were about fifty feet down the parade route when Henry brought the rear faction to a screeching halt after he decided to disembark and declare his preference for sitting in the car and having a snack. So that's we did.

After the parade and the post-parade popsicles, we headed over to the park with a cooler full of food and met up with another couple of friends who also brought coolers full of food. We played and ate for a few hours and then we carried our tired selves back to the house for naps. It's been a full day and there are still fireworks and BBQ to look forward to.

Hope all of you are having an equally fun and festive 4th!

Posted by Jenn at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I woke up last night around 3AM in the throes of a major allergy attack. At 3:30AM I was wandering around the pharmacy section of Walmart, searching for Claritin. There were a few other shoppers in the store with me who were doing some grocery shopping. On the one hand, grocery shopping at Walmart at that hour of the morning seemed strange. On the other hand, I bet it's nice not having to dodge fifty other people and their carts just to get to the cheese.

This morning I woke up completely exhausted. The thing about being that tired and cranky at the start of the day is that twelve hours later, you're no worse off. So I'm feeling at the end pretty much like I felt at the beginning. Does that make it a good day?

Posted by Jenn at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)