Katerbug Blue

My husband has let me know that the time has come to cut down my tree! He has promised to wait until it drops all of it’s Spring blossoms. It is a heavenly, magical tree. We had never had a Spring with it before last year, and I can’t tell you what a surprise it was to when this baby bloomed! I have always loved Plum trees in the Spring…but this was even better!

Of course, it’s a crabapple tree, and as anyone who knows crabapples will tell you…they are horrid in the summer and early fall! The fruit falls on our driveway to get crushed by the cars and kids playing. And the squashed rotten fruit attracts flies…HORDES OF THEM! So it is with heavy heart, I say goodbye to my magic tree!

I am going over to my sisters old house tomorrow to help her and her mother in law pull things out to be put in a garage sale in a couple of months. What is so fun is that the attic and basement are full of her husbands grandparents things–total “Antique Roadshow fodder up there! There is depression glass, and even an old stove from the 1920’s in PERFECT condition! That alone could fetch several thousands of dollars–and it still works!

Then I have to hit the streets…major coupon savings happening this week! I need to hit Jewel, Meijer and Wlagreens…I even hope to find a great deal on pet supplies!

So tomorrow will be really an interesting day–I can’t wait to fill you in on what else I find!

Holy Crap–there is a ton of snow out there! But you know the one thing that drives me nuts–there could be 10 feet of snow outside our door and my children’s school would not be canceled! I guess they figure we can all walk-so why not keep it open! Yes, we can walk–but there is no way my kids are walking to school in 10 feet of snow–so I have to dig my car out of–not 10–but 15 feet of snow thanks to the snowplow shoveling me in! MMMM HMMMM Thanks guys!

I finally bit the bullet and called the kids in sick! I’m sorry–if it’s snowy enough for every other school to close in the state–it’s snowy enough for my kids to stay home and snuggle where it’s warm! They are all prone to Bronchitis–so this is another precaution for that! When the sun comes out a little later–we will go out and begin the digging out process!!

There are so many events going on this month at the Art Institute, and what makes it better…It’s FREE!

Everyday throughout the month of February you can enjoy all that the museum has to offer. There are even fun things for the kids to do. Family Fun Times are from 11 am until 3 pm. Here is just a sampling of their scheduled events:

Artists Studio, Drop in between 11:00-4:00;
Story Time 12:00-12:30;
Gallery Drawing Station, Drop in between 1:00 and 3:00;
Gallery Walks, Me and My Museum, 2:00-2:30.

For other information you can contact the museum directly, or through their website, Art Institute of Chicago.

I told you a few posts down about the TV stand I want in my bedroom, but I didn’t tell you about the TV wall mount we put in the family room. I was originally against the idea, I’d only ever seen these in hospitals or motels but my husband convinced me to give it a try. They are HEAVEN! For two reasons. First off, they are up in the air and not taking up valuable floor space. The whole room just looks bigger and I can vacuum under the TV anytime I want to without having to move it. The reason that made the most sense and actually sold me on the idea (long before I saw how cool they really were) my 2 year old (Houdini) wouldn’t be able to climb on it anymore. I’ve heard so many horror stories of kids being squashed by furnishings that they try to climb up and then that item falls on them and kills them. That was my worry with my little man. But this way, unless he’s part monkey, he won’t be able to climb on it any more. If you have little ones or even a smaller TV room, you’ve just gotta look into these!

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Living in the Chicago area there are a ton of things to do and plan. You can go your whole life without duplicating a Valentine’s Day! Unless you are boring like me! I don’t need a lot of hoopla–I just enjoy a quiet evening out with my husband. It doesn’t happen very often so it makes it extra nice to be able to drop the kids off and head out as adults.

As far as gifts go, I tend to go more on the practical side. New robe, slippers, hockey jersey–you know–”guy stuff”. My husband has surprised me on a number of occasions with jewelry, flowers and even organic gift baskets. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed all of the above. It’s just really fun to open the door to the delivery man holding a box filled with a fun Valentine surprise! Even if you don’t spend a lot of money, that moment of opening the door–or the one just following that when you are pulling beautiful blooms out of the box and arranging them in the vase, it’s just fun and girly. I don’t know any girl who doesn’t love that!

I have long been looking at the idea of going back to school. Well, when my kids are a little older anyway. I’ve had my eye on a couple of career ideas and I’m hoping with the current slow down in the economy I’ll be able to find something when the time comes. jobs in logistics seem to be going strong right now, so there may be hope.

If not, I can always go back to doing what I was doing before we got married. I love working in an office environment, so it isn’t really a bad thing at all. I enjoyed having the chance to work with people everyday, and now after a decade and a half of kids, I’m kind of looking forward to some “grown up” time.

I have been loving my new kitchen. Not much is new, we just painted the cabinets and had a new counter top put down. I have a new kitchen sink and a cool new faucet. It’s not as beautiful as the Danze faucets, but compared to what we’ve been working with the past year and half, it’s heaven!

We painted the cabinets black which was kind of scary at first. It’s such a bold color for such a small room, but it really works. We put the little glass tiles on the walls of the backsplash, and it just came together so nicely with everything. I’ve been baking in the kitchen the past few days, and for some reason, it just makes me happy. Lame I know!

I wrote not too long ago about wanting one of those tv stands that raise out of a dresser and then disappear back down when you aren’t watching. Well, guess what I think I’m getting for my birthday? Isn’t it nice to know that my sweet husband pays attention when I blog about things I like!

Of course, if he were going strictly by the blog I’d be getting a new laptop, a KitchenAid and an Arizona room…so I’m just happy he found something the he’d like too!

I still can’t believe I’m going to be 40! It’s not that I haven’t been around a long time, but I just don’t feel 40. I still feel like a teenager in so many ways. I still want to do fun things that we did when we were younger. I’m just not ready to be old and stuffy! But I guess age really is just a number–I probably shouldn’t worry about it so much!

A few months ago we were over at my husbands grandparents home helping his parents clean it out. The fun thing about cleaning out these types of homes is the history you find deep inside. There was depression glass, antique toys and these little old fashioned espresso contraptions. They were so amazing in a couple of ways. One-they didn’t look like they would actually work–even when they were new, and two, they were in perfect condition. These were older than my mother in law, and there wasn’t a scratch on them. We’ve visited my mother in laws house since then and have seen these little things sitting on the top ledge of her stove. She love espresso, but hasn’t figured out how to work them. Kind of funny. She has these two cool little things, but for her birthday in a couple of weeks we are looking at modern espresso machines for her. One that comes with directions anyway.

My aunt called me the other day. She has always been one of my favorite people in the world. This woman can complain about everything from vaginal dryness to the clickety clack heels of her next door neighbor. My favorite complaints, I have to admit, are about her husband. The poor man! I’m not quite sure how he made it to maturity–he’s quite forgetful and pretty darn clumsy! He’s flooded their house not once, not twice but FOUR times! The funniest one being the time he hooked up the hose to the water bed to empty it, but forgot to put the other end of the house outside of the house. They were all in laying on, rolling on and pushing on the waterbed to get all of the water out when my aunt walked into the kitchen and found not only the other end of the hose on the kitchen floor–but all of the water they had been working so hard to remove. GALLONS of water on her kitchen floor!

I listened for awhile about all of the craziness going on at her place before I heard a loud shatter upstairs, and little feet scurrying to flee the scene! It seems my kids were climbing on top of my dresser to get the old fashioned gumball machine down when it slipped and fell to the floor. I still find gumballs in the oddest of places! I can’t wait to see what kind of things I get to complain about when I’m old!

We just finished our remodel. We updated the kitchen and many of the door knobs. What is funny is we had to change them from the decorative french ones to really round industrial knobs. The reason? Our little 2 year old could get outside just by pulling down on the handle.

Now normally that may not be a big deal, but there was NO keeping him in the house. The first thing he would do when he woke up…head outside! If I ran to use the bathroom for 30 seconds…he was outside. With the weather turning cold it just wasn’t possible to have him running outside every chance he got!

I’m hoping we only have to have these door knobs for a short time. Hopefully he’ll grow out of this stage and I can have my decorative handles back!