life update

For the past few months my life has swung wildly out of balance.

All my own doing of course.

When I lean towards the obsessive end of things the other things in my life get off kilter and lately for me I have had an unhealthy obsession with all things in the house hunting, house decorating, HGTV department.

It's kinda a long and somewhat boring story but when I put my all into something I tend to go a little overboard...if you have ever attended a birthday party at my house then you know what I am talking about.

Take the past couple of days as example...I happened upon a tv stand at Cost Plus and got a really great deal and I have hated our old beat up corner unit for ages...this simple purchased has spurred a major purge and clean out around here.

I have rearranged the living room, sorted books, cleaned out Delia's closet, dropped several bags off at Goodwill, sold a couple kids toys and gave goodies to friends.

Today, I stripped our bedroom, spackled, taped and primed the room for painting...I also did the same thing to our bathroom (including yanking a big ugly 3 way mirror vanity off the wall) and then I decided to end the evening by bathing the dog.

You see, when the husband is away (with the son) then I get busy.

Of course, the house is in a major upheaval but I am trying bloom where I am planted if you get the drift.

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In other news, Lucy is SICK...again.  I think we might have gotten the puppy with the weakest immune system...in the past 3 months Lucy's sickness have included fungal ear infection, tumor on her fore paw and now she has demodectic mange (see her forehead in the photo) and a small growth on her shoulder that we need to keep an eye on.  The vet said she is likely to outgrow these issues...I hope so because otherwise this is going to be one expensive dog.  Truly, it is hard to know where to draw the line.

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I know, I know, I need to post the photos from the final 3 days of the hiking tour...I will I promise...this week...after the painting projects are complete...okay, maybe before.

have you seen the "fallen princesses" project?

or what about the ferris wheel wedding?

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via howaboutorange  and youaremyfav

dinner and lunch

is it okay to eat half a container for dinner one night 

and

eat the other half for lunch the following day?

...

only 5 ingredients.

...

delish.

to hear

a summer afternoon.

dad (sporting his daughter's guitar) and delia (sporting roller skates)

...

sometimes, i forget about the miracle.

the miracle of bionic hearing.

amazing but true.

for so many years, i fretted about what delia could or could not hear.

i worried about speech therapy, loud restaurants and background music.

all valid things to think about when raising a deaf child in a hearing world.

a deaf child with an implant.

now, years later, i take many of the early worries for granted.

i rely on delia to tell me if and when she can not hear.

this is not to say i don't worry about her hearing.

because, trust me, i do.

but, yesterday, when delia and i were in the electronics department at our local target, several aisles over from the tv's, delia looked at me and said, "do you hear that mom? kai-lan is on the tv."

wow.

amazing hearing.

we had not passed by the tv's and she had no visual cues and over the din of the store she could identify the kids program kai-lan.  i know the voice is distinctive but she rarely watches it.

i was blown away.

i, of course, gave her a big high 5.

that bionic ear was working...really working.

the fourth follow up

I promised more photos, didn't I?

A beautiful day for a ball game.

Where is the fog?

Play ball!

A forever Giants fan.

Perhaps this should be yearly tradition...

a family day at the ballpark on the Fourth of July!

Eat some ice cream!

Save some for later!

da balm

da balm.

as in the lip balm.

adapted from martha's dec 2008 recipe.

this is the 3rd batch i have made and it just might be the best yet.

i think it is the vitamin e oil and the apricot oil.

homemade grapefruit balm.

with shimmer.

made by delia, molly and me.

 a few days ago, our favorite molly in the whole wide world was in town and delia and i spent most of the day with her...eating pizza in the median, making lip balm, chatting, perusing anthro & j crew, visiting and of course eating.

what are friends for.

freedom

Happy 4th of July!

Freedom.

As a family, we made a last minute decision to attend a Giants game...complete with the Lincecum discount and free metered parking.

Wahoo.

More photos tomorrow or perhaps the day after.

family day

On Sunday we did as the heathen.

Opted for a much needed family day.

We spent part of the day at the space center and ate brunch at a new-to-us cafe.

if you need an excuse to cry...

or if you want to hit a matinee by yourself and not  feel embarrassed to cry, then go see My Sister's Keeper.  I enjoyed the book and the movie, although the movie veers away from the book slightly.  I went to an afternoon matinee by myself and cried about 1 hr 30 minutes of the 1 hr  45 minute movie.  Obviously, I had some pent up sadness.  As for my original opinion about Cameron Diaz playing the mom,  I changed my mind, she did an amazing job.