February Slacker

First I must share a picture I took Valentine’s weekend of pres and my dad reading the paper.  Katie and I call my dad, “weekend dad” when he reads the paper.  He totally zones out, ignoring perhaps even a nuclear war, in order to absorb the metro section.  In fact we nicknamed this because if you try to talk to my dad he gives you an obligatory “Uh huh.”  It was great as a teenager: “Dad. Yeah going out. Taking the car…buying some beer…sleeping at X’s house because their parents aren’t home and the guy I like will be there.” So Katie and I termed him weekend dad.  Because if you keep pestering him while he reads the paper, then he gets all flustered and it’s comical.  He did it to Pres once.  Pres called him out.  He said, “PaPa. Why do you say ‘uh huh’ to me?  Are you not listening?”  Here is weekend dad and Pres:

Here is my little funny Valentine:

I was away last weekend in New Orleans for a business seminar.  I absolutely love these seminars.  I had such a great time.  I would also love to return to the Big Easy  to see some of the touristy sites as well.  While I was gone, Grandma and PaPa got to spend four days with Pres (thanks Mom and Dad)!  While away, my parents took Preston on an Amtrak ride.  One stop from Richmond to Ashland.  Once in Ashland there is a huge train store.  I now have three more tremendous Thomas track boxes and stantions for bridges in my guest room.  I love these pics of Pres and my mom.  I was looking through them quick and did a double take.  At first I thought it was me and I thought, “When did we take this picture?”

And just some other random pictures:  Katie is on her way down for the weekend.  And who’s excited for Idol blogging????  Whoo hoo!

Valentine Weekend

This weekend my friend told me about a program run by Lowes called Build and Grow. It’s every other Saturday morning and it’s free.  The kids all get their own goggles and an apron and they build a project.  Lowes provides hammers and nails and the wood is already pre-nailed.  This week’s project was a heart music box.  Lisa has a four year old so we met up for breakfast and then took the kids over to Lowes. What an awesome time we had.  Here’s my little Tim Allen:

He decided to give Grandma the music box.  I told him to keep it a secret until this afternoon.  We got to my mother’s and Preston said the following, “Grandma, I made you something but it’s a surprise….it’s a music box.”  My mother responds, “Pres, don’t tell me.  It’s ok, I don’t know what it looks like.” Preston: “It’s a heart.”  We went today to pick her out a pair of earrings to put in the box.  He kept picking out necklaces.  My mother only wears her cross.  I think I’ve seen her change necklaces twice in my lifetime.  So I tell Preston that Grandma doesn’t wear necklaces, to which he retorted, “Yes she does.  She wears the church one!”  I really don’t even know how to respond to this kid anymore.

This morning we baked Valentine cookies and cupcakes.  Notice his black teeth from eating the sugar lips and hearts he was supposed to be putting on the cupcakes!

And no Valentine’s Day is complete without a big bag of goodies from Grandma and PaPa!

Happy Hearts Day!!!!  We are off to make his Valentine’s for school and then I am hosting my friend for dinner and the Grammys and gossip!

Our Random Week

Nothing too exciting this week.  We are getting food ready for Super Bowl-off to a party this evening.  Pres wants Green Bay to win.  My brother called before and told Preston he was rooting for the Steelers.  I heard my son say into the phone, “The Steelers stink.  The Packers are going to win.” This morning we had my parents over for brunch.  Pres called to invite them last night.  I even heard him say to my mom, “Do you want to come for breakfast tomorrow?  Um…..10:30?”  I did not tell him a time! He’s too much! Here are some random pics from the week.  Hope everyone enjoys their Super Bowl! Pres is off to decorate our Super Bowl cake with his Eli Manning figure.  He told me he wants Eli on the cake, despite the fact I’m sure Eli is hanging on a beach somewhere.

And our portrait after he inhaled cheese doodles.

Yesterday we split up all our holiday decorations into boxes depending on holiday.  We found the Valentine’s bear that my mom gave Preston when he was just two months old.  At one point Preston only had a few inches on the bear.

A Little of This of That

What else have Pres and I been up to this January?  Well, last weekend we met at my parents’ clubhouse to make Valentine cards for sick children.  One of the woman in the development organizes this every year. She does an amazing job choosing the children and getting all the supplies. It is so heart wrenching to read the stories of these children and how many of them will not get better.  It’s amazing how health is taken for granted. I know most of my readers have children where health concerns have always been in the forefront. It just proves how we should never take health for granted.  Here are Pres and I making our cards. 

We are still acclimating to the house. Preston does love his room and has found a home for all his toys! Those canvas bins from Target are a lifesaver!

He convinced my father to set up the train set at my parents’ house.  He is very excited to go with my father tomorrow to pick up Lionel trains.  My father has an amazing collection and had to have his two engines fixed.  The man who fixed them has a train room that will knock Preston’s socks off.  It’s equivalent of me walking into Carrie Bradshaw’s shoe closet.  As you can also see, I also could no longer deal with the growing out of the hair.  It looked great at night after bath, but by morning was just impossible to deal with.  No worries if I didn’t like it since Pres’ hair grows like a weed! Have a great week everyone!  (And for my Idol followers----I cannot wait to start blogging for Idol.  I am actually very excited about this season)!

Some House Pictures!

I am not one to post pictures of the house without it being completely done, but realizing that it may not happen for a few more months, I decided ok-well actually my friend Jessie last night after visiting told me to suck it up and post some pics.  I figured since the curtains are not up yet in any room (just blinds) except the living room, I would post pictures of the second floor! First here is an old picture from December of Preston on the deck off the second floor looking into the backyard:

 

The second floor is living room/dining room/kitchen and powder room.  I’d like to get a nice throw rug for under the table and obviously a runner on the table.

That hutch was my grandmother’s.  I bought the table to match the hutch.  You can see the pantry, the second coat closet and the stairs leading upstairs from here.

Living Room-obviously I need a lot of things for the walls!  But I am in love with my brand new coffee table!

That’s it for now----ok and a cute picture of Preston for good measure.  I am trying the whole-growing out his hair thing, but we need a trim to thin it out! Stay tuned to see if I keep up with it!

Pres brushing his teeth in his baseball bathroom in his football pajamas.

Our First Bake!

Preston and I still don’t completely feel at home yet in our new place.  I still reach to my right for garbage since that is where it is at my parents, instead of under the sink now at my place.  I still open five cabinets to find the plates I want.  We had our first movie date together-we watched Up (and I seriously cried through half the movie). It seems a bit more official that this place is ours since Preston and I baked our first batch of cupcakes in the new kitchen.  I have a little center island which is great-Preston just pulls over the stepstool and we are both good to go!

Aunt Melski gave us this great cake plate for our house warming gift from Sur La Table.  She thought that it would look great on the island displaying our baked goods.  An added bonus even she did not know, was it can be turned upside down and used as a punch bowl!  Here is our finished product.

How much do you heart that chair?  I have a bump out in the kitchen and saw two of those chairs.  I am now just looking for a little bistro table to join them! Tomorrow I’m cooking for football and having company.  I promise house pictures coming soon!

Southern Preston

I have not posted the house pics yet-partly because I’m one of those people who wants it perfect before showing.  Once I get Pres’ curtains up I will take his room.  The house still smells like paint so I’ve been lighting candles.  I did my first load of wash and ordered all new pictures for my frames.  It’s been a lot of fun going through boxes and putting out all the stuff I forgot I even owned.  Preston LOVES his new bed and has slept like a champ.  I still don’t have internet or phone yet (grrrrr) but thanks to my mother I have Direct TV! Yay!  Just in time for football (and Idol).  I was going nuts after four days that I stayed at my parents’ for Grey’s the other night. Here’s just a funny video of Pres dancing to his musical Cadillac Escalade.

I promise once I hang (*read my dad hangs) the curtains, I swear I will post pictures.

But I have to explain the pic below: I was looking through a box of Lenox items and came across a Lenox bulldog I had bought my ex husband when he said he wanted a dog.  I was totally going to deep six it in the trash when my brother took it and said in honor of my happiness that the Eagles lost he would take care of Michael Vick the Lenox bulldog.

My brother and sis were an awesome painting team:

And nothing beats a dinner at Yamato!!!!

or roasting marshmallows at the fire pit: (Fire pit totally at mom and dad’s-I am not yet that awesome)!

Have a great week!!!!

We Have Moved!

Right now I have no television, phone or Internet. I'm not sure what's worse the fact that I don't have any phone, cable or Internet until the 19th (yes, you heard correctly, the 19th) or the fact that there is a forecast for snow tomorrow. With the words "potentially significant" before it. I will blog this weekend from my parents' with pictures of the new digs. In true ironic fashion it was snowing on Saturday morning. Of course it was. Last weekend was 60 degrees. The move went rather smoothly. In other true Kim fashion, the house appears as it would for someone who has been living there for about three months. My room, bathroom and Preston's room and bathroom are painted and finished. All furniture is in, the beds are made, pictures on the wall. Our dining room and kitchen are all set up as is the living room. Charlie and Katie were awesome. They painted all the bedrooms already and my bathroom. They are such a good team. As long as they have an iPod and food, they are ready to roll. My mother helped with all the unpacking and the stocking of our fridge and pantry! Daddy hung all the blind, put together Preston's bed that came without directions and the dining room set I ordered.
It feels a bit odd staying there. I don't know which light switches turn on what, so I keep turning on fans (FANS MEL!) instead of lights but I am sure I will get the hang of it. Preston and I both enjoyed our first night's sleep. As my brother Charlie said, "Make this house a home Kim." I can't wait.

Auld Lang Syne

Welcome 2011.  2010 was a good year.  When my ex husband left four and a half years ago, I looked at my bank accounts (depleted), the damage to my credit card bill (staggering), my six month old baby who couldn’t sit up yet because of his back, an apartment that was $2300 a month, my father in the hospital recovering from quadruple bypass two days prior and I just recall looking at Mel (who raced up from Manhattan to Westchester when I called forty minutes prior) and said, “What am I going to do?”  It started the whirlwind that was my life.  And this past Tuesday I closed on my first house….all by myself.  When I came to Virginia I started looking at houses.  Every resale I’d look at had something I didn’t want to deal with (kitchen remodel, bath remodel, wallpaper to pull down).  Then I figured single family houses may not be the way to go (after all I wasn’t going to mow on the weekends).  A townhouse seemed like the best option.  I visited the one I finally decided on each time I’d look at a different subdivision.  I took the plunge.  I would build from the ground up.

Building this house was cathartic. It was my rebuild. Each nail represented my revenge.  Maybe that sounds immature.  But Preston and I did not deserve what has transpired.  It’s been hard.  I want to write about it and I will one day.  I want to put it all down because I need to, but for now suffice it to say that signing on the dotted line and being handed the keys was as close as I can come to closure.  As I bought all new furniture to replace what we picked out together, I got closure.  And being able to do this for my son, the son who I wheeled everyday three to four block to our apartment in a stroller regardless of the weather because there was no parking and no one would give up their spot…was closure.   For you Preston.  Welcome Home. 

It was only fitting because Mel and I typically parallel a lot in life, that she became ENGAGED this week.  So to you, my forever friend, much love, peace and happiness always!  Now let’s get planning that wedding!!!!!!

 

(May 1986)