tuesday night goodness

tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week.

can you guess why?

american idol night baby!

this is a BIG deal at my house. the kids and i all love to follow this show, we really get into it. probably a little too much. we can never wait until the tivo has recorded it, we always have to watch it live, because we are addicts and can't wait for our fix.

maybe because there's always some really great ones that we love to cheer for, and there's always someone good to really hate that loves to stick around.

and simon almost always says what i'm thinking.

last year was my favorite season so far, because i LOVE cookie baby. he's my favorite idol winner so far, pure awesomeness.

this year, we are cheering for matt, danny, chris, allison and anoop.

and we definitely don't like adam, he can sing, but he is definitely not the whole AI package. that whole "ring of fire" week made me squirm, gross man. and when he hits those high note/scream things with his tongue hanging out, yuck-o. he should stick to the stage. and since we are seasoned idol watchers now, i think i'm definitely qualified to offer that as my professional opinion. and how did matt end up in the bottom two last week? it's definitely time to start voting.

we LOVE american idol!

are you an AI addict too?

who is your favorite idol?

who are you loving this year?

who do you love to hate?

acting responsibly. which is so inconvenient some times

tonight after the teenagers and cranky toddler were finally in bed, and my hard working husband working away at his computer on something or other, i found myself trying to decide how to spend the rest of my night. my to-do list is long, but i narrowed it down to three choices:

a: clean my office that has reached an unpresidented level of chaotic.

b: edit photos that have been sitting in my inbox forever.

or

c: drool over robert pattinson because today i folded like a house of cards and bought the twilight dvd.

ya, i know, i'm weak ok? i resisted all last week when it first came out. but today i was at costco and it wasn't a bad price and it was an ok movie, not great but, well, just LOOK at him.do i even need to explain why i wanted to sit and watch this overly cheesy, turn-your-brain-off movie, alone in my living room? one look at those gorgeous eyes and that crazy hair that just screams, "run your fingers through me please!" and i'm thinking that an explaination is no longer necessary.

however, i did the responsible thing and cleaned my office. i know! i must not be as weak as i thought. cleaning the office didn't really have the same sexual tension as watching the movie would have, but it was very satisfying to get things put away and have some elbow room on my desk again. i think i made the right choice. my husband who shares my office space but manages to keep his half very neat and tidy, agrees. i am looking forward to spending some time with edward though. soon.

"A" is for Allie

after two terms of getting a 3.9 (which totally made her mad), she finally, got the big number she has been working so hard for. the best part is that she did it all by herself. no poking or prodding from me or rich, it's something SHE wants for herself. i love that about her.

you go four-point-ooooooh girl!

hill-billery or desperation?

so ethan's famous lightning mcqueen shoes have really seen a lot of love. driven many a mile and are really starting to lose their "new car" smell. one has lost a tire, and the strap on the same one was starting to break in the back. it's a real problem because ethan won't wear any other shoes and i haven't been able to find new ones for him in his size. so today while running errands, the poor strap finally popped and broke all the way. luckily, it happened in the duct tape isle at target. ya, that's right, i said duct tape. and if you're afraid right now and saying to yourself, "no, no, don't do it!" i'm here to say, "yup i did do it, and it worked." i found RED duct tape and fixed those plastic shoes. yes i did. so now they're good as new. sort of. not really. but they work.don't judge a desperate mom.

slow progress *edit!*

i finished painting the cupboards last weekend and spent all week reorganizing where i want things to go. i was never very happy with where anything was before so i decided to take my time and give everything a better home. i still don't have the doors or drawer fronts painted, all that work will happen out in the garage so it's safe to move all the cupboard contents back in. i have to say that it's so pleasing to me to see my cupboard full of my pretty fiestware dishes, i may consider never getting the doors done! just kidding, they'll get done, but in the mean time, i'm not minding so much.

**edit - many of you have wondered about the inside of the cupboards. i actually did not paint the inside of the cupboards because they have a laminate surface (for easy clean up) and so painting them would be really difficult and unpractical. and...i promise to post a bigger photo of the whole kitchen later. when it's cleaner. which might really be, never.

teenagerhood

teenagers never change. and neither to their forms of entertainment. which is why i've decided to lock my kids in their rooms until they're twenty five. maybe thirty. okay, twenty.

i guess after this mess, (pictured is only one tree of many actually decorated), i think we are officially a family with teenagers. no more denial here.

pink or blue?

hi, my name is wende and i am a blog neglector.

it's for a good reason. i have some big news and needless to say, it's made me a little preoccupied.

it started out as just an idea, something rich and i were just talking about. at first, he wasn't really on board. but, the more we talked, the more fun it sounded and the more excited i started to get. then we, (really me more than him), decided that a change could be good for us, in fact, it could be down right refreshing. but then i started to become obsessed with the details, how long would we have to wait? can we afford it - it's alwasy more expensive than you think it's going to be? do i really have it in me to pull this off? we decided that we don't really have all the answers, but we do have some experience, so we think that this will be a welcome change. even though the road to getting there will be rough. and so it began...i decided to paint my kitchen cabinets. i know, i'm crazy. it's been a mammoth project that has completely taken over my life. so far, i've cleaned out all the cupboards, taken down the doors and drawers, sanded, taped and primed - and that's just the cupboards! the doors and drawers are all stacked in the garage and will have to wait until another day. i can't believe how much work this has been, WAY more labor intensive that i anticipated. this weekend i pretty much did nothing else and was so happy to get the priming done that i did a little happy dance all over the house. and now you know why i am a blog neglector.

and just incase you're wondering about the pink and blue? the blue is really grey, and those cupboards are going to be black, and the pink cupboards are going to be a deep brick red. tinting the primer really helps a job along. the funny part of all of this, is that spencer thought these were the colors i had chosen and confessed to rich that he didn't really care for them. infact, he asked rich, "why did you let mom choose the paint color, the cupboards look awful."

so what do you think, am i crazy?

have you ever painted your cupboards?

would you like a blue and pink kitchen?

harvesting the organs

rich spent a little bit of our tax return on himself and bought fancy new computer. i'm so glad he did, the man rarely does stuff like this for himself, he definitely deserves it. i walked into the office the other day to this scene, rich busy at something he referes to as "harvesting the organs". besides how gross that termonology is, i'm pretty sure it's just nerd speak for "saving all the good stuff". i'm not exactly sure what he does with pieces once their harvested, but the process itself is kind of entertaining to me. i mean, just incase i was unclear as to whether or not i married a nerd (i wasn't), this photograph certainly puts to rest any doubts. how many people do you know with a nerd score high enough to harvest organs from a computer?