Granny is magical

I swear I am not going to bore anyone with daily updates, but there is some news I just have to share. I don't want to jinx anything, but my mother pretty much put my daughter in some Elmo underwear the other day and told her to let us know if she had to go potty.

And for two whole days (excepting naps and sleep), my daughter has done just that. I know it's coming, but not even one single accident...just a complete 180 from diapers to using the potty full-time when she's awake.

I do not know how long this will last and I'm going to try not to get my hopes up, but dang, my mother is good.

Day 2

For the babe:

• A ride in Paw-paw's Model A and blowing the "a-OOga" horn
  
• A trip to our fabulous small town playground
  
• More playing with the cat
  
• Throwing rocks in the creek and shouting "KaBOOM" and "KerPLUNK"
  
• Meeting family friends, who graciously taught her other fabulous words such as "Ala-ka-ZAM"
  
• Lots of jumping and running and singing outside in the yard

For her parents:

• Picking out candy from barrels in the country store uptown (this was very much me, not my French husband)
  
• Buying good quality sneakers that were so cheap it still almost makes me fall over (this was him)
  
• Endulging in milkshakes and Dr. Pepper (you'll have to guess on this one)
  
• Buying books at the Goodwill for 35 cents
  
• Driving windy country roads in my parents' boat of a Buick

Home again

2-hour car trip to the airport
2-hour wait at the airport
9-hour airplane ride
4-hour layover
1-hour plane ride (with propellers -- yikes)
1-hour car trip to Granny and Paw-paw's house

=

19 hours of traveling with a 2-year-old.


It definitely could have been worse! Stinkerbella was a champion, though I guess the people to really ask are the people who sat near us on the airplane. She loved it and entertained herself fairly well. Two activities stood out as favorites: playing hide-and-seek with the airplane blanket and putting stickers all over her legs.

Our first day here she went to her first story hour (I love our public library and wouldn't mind living there), was reintroduced to Tigger the Cat and spent a lot of time outside in the backyard wandering around. On my part, I've had my first Dr. Pepper and am just taking it easy, enjoying the weather and the scenery. It's great to be back in Appalachian paradise.

It's the Small Things

Harvest from the garden as of 6/14/09

*8 radishes! Woo! I actually grew something from seed and ate it!

*The herb garden is full of mint, parsley and chives. The thyme is also starting to come back.


Hopeful signs of vegetables

*I think my tomatoes are actually going to bloom at some point

*Numerous carrots seem to be growing

*There are a couple of pink raspberries mixed in with a bunch of green ones

*A friend gave me some baby lettuce, so as long as I can keep those alive, we'll have salad!


In other plant news...

My orchid has another leaf! It really looks like it's at death's door, but apparently this little guy has a lot of will to live.

The bizarre stink plant's blooms have died off and now it just looks (and smells) like any old random plant.

The rose bushes also have a will to live and have all grown back with a vengeance. I didn't inherit any with a gorgeous smell, though the neighbor's giant pink rose bush is divine and helps make up for the fact that my yard will apparently smell like a sewage treatment plant for one week in late spring every year.

The california poppies are spreading with a vengeance. Good thing I like poppies.

I'm still letting lots of random things grow out of control but this past weekend I finally bit the bullet, decided unknown plant x was definitely a weed and then pulled it all out. I'm still too ashamed to post photos but maybe one day...

Is it June already?!

Yeah, so for a while there I was taking medication for a sinus infection and was surviving on 5 hours of sleep...and ended up with lots of extra time for blogging. Now I'm back to being a big, old lazy butt and still haven't gotten around to writing posts about that bachelorette party or book reviews. Not even sure they're going to happen anytime soon!

In the meantime, we are doing very well. It's amazing how chipper I feel as long as I can see some blue sky. My Saturday classes are wrapping up and I am ashamed to admit how much I am looking forward to having my weekends back for my family. We are also gearing up for our big trip back to Virginia this month -- woo hoo and yee haw!

The kitchen paint issue is still on hold. The yellow is not actually for the walls, it's for a part of our ugly cabinet doors since we're trying to make do with what we have instead of redo everything. I think my husband was just trying to make me feel better about my poor choice of paint (though technically he is color blind). Now I'm trying to figure out a plan B.

On the garden front, it looks like I might actually have an edible radish or two coming up! And last week in the front yard, my weird-looking plant finally bloomed. I was sitting outside with some visitors and kept noticing this horrible odor that made me think someone somewhere either had a sewer failure or had left meat out to rot. There were these gusts of wind that made it extremely intense and unpleasant. It was driving me absolutely crazy until I figured out it was coming from that plant.

I was torn between horror and excitement that I might possibly have inherited a carnivorous plant, until I checked with Google University and discovered that it was something called a Devil's Tongue and is not in fact insect-eating. Luckily, the odor lasts only a few days and now we can play outside again.

Off to wash floors and make spaghetti sauce! Hope everyone is well.

Learning the Hard Way About Paint

Our kitchen is fairly dark, and the inherited color scheme is brown, darker brown, brown that is a little bit lighter than that, and then more brown. We (okay, so it was really mainly me) decided to paint some of the darkest wood trim on the cupboards a nice sunflower yellow to brighten it up. Today I cracked open the pot and gave it a go.

Turns out it's more of a school bus yellow than sunflower.

OMG.

And holy crap.

It does not make me want to stand around cooking delicious food, it makes me want to cover my eyes and flee.

Turns out I'm much better at removing ugly wallpaper than choosing colors and applying paint, but I guess one has to start somewhere.

ETA: I've decided it's more of a "tennis ball yellow" than school bus. My husband says it's going to look nice. How am Iever going to get him to decide to try another color and think it's his idea??

The Family

Another new post is up on Pardon My Franglais! I briefly introduced my husband and me -- the basic story of how we met, what language we speak together, and our current state of bilingualism.

Soon to come on Pardon My French: my first French bachelorette party!