Thursday This & That

Posted on April 21, 2011 by carrie

It is barely still Thursday, but I thought I’d sneak a This & That in since I haven’t done one in awhile and I have a bunch of random mish-mash – none of which makes a full post all on its own. So I say…let’s bring Thursday T & T back!

You might be wondering (or maybe you didn’t even notice at all – those few readers I even have left!) where the Team UP Thursday has disappeared to. My fearless partner and I decided that we just needed a little break. We had been participating for over a year and lately our hearts were just too full of other stuff to really be fully into TUT. In fact, most weeks we were both scrambling on Wednesday night just to get it done, and some of the creative process was getting lost along the way. So we said goodbye to TUT – at least for awhile. (But I do miss everyone and especially you, K! I hope you are doing well.)

Today we also said goodbye to our awesome a/c & heating crew who have been working hard this week and have installed a new unit in our attic for our upstairs. So perhaps this summer we will be stylin’ in cool, cool comfort. I think I might have freaked the crew out a little bit earlier this week, though. I asked if our condenser could be switched around the corner and the guys replied “of course, but we need to get that tree stump out of there.” So I tried to find someone that could do stumps quickly and when I did not find anybody…I took on the stump myself.

VERY good therapy, let me tell you. And it was pretty cool to see the look of awe on the guys’ faces when they came into the backyard and realized that it was ME who got the stump out.

Of course, I quickly found someone to take care of the other 10 stumps spread throughout the yard. Because…yeah. One stump I can do…Ten? No. Plus Addikins and I have some big gardening plans and we don’t have time to be grinding and digging stumps. Addie is obsessed with wanting to plant stuff. She has asked me no less than ten times in the last two days if it is time to put her bean and sunflower plants in the ground. “They need to have their roots in soil in the ground, Mama. They can’t stay in my cup.” So clearly I really need to get her space ready for her.

I mean, look! She came home with garden plans in her backpack today…

Eeeee! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this. I mean seriously? Ovkotow tree? (Avocado tree) Carits? (Carrots) Boobaes? (Blueberries) And Mashroom? (Mushrooms) How can you not totally love her sweet drawings and her completely phonetic attempts at spelling?! It is so darn KUOOT! (That would be “cute” ala Addie!)

And we do indeed have some lovely blueberry bushes that we need to plant, and I have a feeling the Easter Bunny just might bring some gardening equipment our way this weekend, too.

I hope you all have a lovely and blessed Easter as well, if I don’t make it back on here before the weekend is out.

Whew…Another Weekend Down.

Posted on April 17, 2011 by carrie

But even though this weekend was non-stop packed, it was just a beautiful weekend all around.

We began on Friday with “THE” phone call that we had officially closed on the house. It was a wee bit anti-climactic since we didn’t get handed keys, didn’t get to drive by our new house slowly relishing in the thought of a “new home,” and didn’t even get to move all of our junk from one place to the other. Oh…wait – we have a new “house” and didn’t have to move! All good, yes.

In fact, we celebrated our new place with a rockin’ Spring Boutique. I think that my dear Erin may have taken a photo or two, so maybe I can talk about our crafty fun tomorrow with some photos.

Saturday we started making our “to-do” list and finding a few little things here and there that make a huge difference. All bets are off now – we are kind of house improvement obsessed. We spent this afternoon ripping out all of the overgrown bushes and flowerbeds in the backyard. And I have the sunburn and achy muscles to prove it. Addie is beside herself with excitement. She is itchin’ to plant a garden! And flowers! And anything that she can get dirty doing! Each flowerbed that we uncovered she was ready to replant, I had to keep telling her, “Soon, baby. Soon.” I did remember to take photos before the deconstruction of the jungle, but I forgot to take photos before J. demo’d the rotten (literally – the wood was completely rotten!) pergola/arbor/thingy. I’m so disappointed because it makes such a huge difference in the backyard.

Even the small things make great changes. Like Daddy and Addie took the babygate at the top of the stairs down…and now it is crazy how different our hallway feels. While they were taking it down I made a little sigh and Addie asked me, “Do you still need the gate, Mama?” I said, “I still need you to be little enough to need the gate.” And she shot back with, “Well, you should put a brick on my head, Mama!”

Don’t think I wouldn’t try if I thought it would stop her from growing or stop time – for even a few minutes. But instead time marches on…and we are off since we still have lots more work to do.

Addison: “No more dead animals.”

Posted on April 13, 2011 by carrie

As we are walking through the grocery store the other night, looking for something to put on our newly fixed grill, Addie spied a package of chicken legs…

A: “Ew. Mama? I don’t wanna eat no more dead animals.”

She has a friend who is a vegetarian and I’ve tried “no meat” for a time or two, so I wasn’t totally surprised and wasn’t stressed out about it.

M: “Hmmm…ok. Well, what would you like to eat? Can we put some vegetables on the grill for you?”
A: “Mmmm…let’s have steak!”

No. I didn’t tell her where steak comes from. She’ll figure it out soon enough.

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on April 11, 2011 by carrie

Okay, so it may seem like not-a-lot of Craftiness here today, but believe me, we are busy crafting as we speak (as you read). In fact it is safe to say that no matter when you read this post this week, the Two Birdies will be frantically crafting away for the Spring Boutique this Friday. (PLEASE local peeps – come visit us on Friday! It is going to be lots of fun.)

Anyhow, I’ve been hinting at our newly acquired, magnificent machine and today I have a peek at a little of the coolness we have dreamt up and created with her. Oh yes – our new machine is a girl and her name is Eva (pronounced Ee-vah, ala Wall-E) because she is white, sleek, shiny and…the mother of all creation.

She is fantastic. She cuts any and everything…most importantly (and excitingly) FABRIC! So we whipped up these little cougar-paw (no comments from the peanut gallery, please – Dad!) t-shirts for the jog-a-thon last week.

Yellow for the second-graders….

And red for the kindergartners…

The girls loved them. And I love how the sweet big girls are always taking care of the littles…

The shirts were a huge hit…and we managed to get a few orders for them, so the sample will definitely have a prominent spot at our Boutique, I think.

Oh, and Em and I also concocted these cupcakes for her class and Brownie troop for her birthday.

She found these banana split cupcakes in my cupcake book and I had to reign her in a little bit. We decided on a single, hot fudge sundae cupcake instead. No ice cream was harmed in the making of these cupcakes – just a whole heck of a lot of frosting. Hmmm….maybe that is why I had 18 uncontrollable Brownies at the meeting on Friday?

Next week we’ll have some serious crafting around here, in the meantime – leave it if you got it.

Thank Goodness It Is Monday…

Posted on April 10, 2011 by carrie

…now we can rest!

THAT was an insanely crazy weekend and I’m looking forward to a hopefully slower-paced week so we can all get a little rest and recuperating done.

Thank you for all of your well-wishes, presents and phone calls on Em’s birthday yesterday. She had a blast and truly felt loved. She even told me that yesterday was the best birthday EVER. No pressure for next year or anything!

Since we had a big party last year, I told her we needed to keep it small this year. She invited a few of her friends and we went to Common Thread, a sewing studio and lovely Jin helped the girls make monster pillows.

You should totally stop in for a class or visit with Jin and her cute puppy, Lucca – it is such a cool place!

Next we went to Mix ‘N Munch for lunch. They have gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches…and about 50 different kinds of cereal. Yes. Like cold cereal and milk. But…that is what Em wanted and that is what she got.

(Like how Daddy is clearly feeling outnumbered by all of the girls as he sits patiently in the back corner?)

Then we walked down for a little Menchie’s treat. Again, Em’s choice.

I love that pic of Em. She had something in her eye and I didn’t realize it when I took the photo – but I love that she looks like she is winking. Such a cute 8-year old!

What a blessing it is to know that Em has such a great group of girls to depend on and have fun with!

Some of the girls went home at that point, but the party didn’t stop. Em decided she wanted her ears pierced. Yeah, I know she doesn’t look too sure of it here…

…but she powered through…

…and now has some bling!

And is also now obsessed with cleaning/turning/admiring them.

So it was a pretty full birthday. Throw in a jog-a-thon, Girl Scout meeting, birthday dinner, a Silent Auction for the girls’ school, bringing in 200 pairs of shoes the Brownies collected for Japan, a little bit of gardening and…oh, YEAH…signing all the paperwork on OUR HOUSE, and it was a pretty full weekend, too.

C’mon, Monday. Bring it.

It is GREAT to be EIGHT.

Posted on April 9, 2011 by carrie

Dear Emma Gracie,

Today you are eight. For the past few months your answer to all questions has simply been, “I can probably do that when I am eight,” or “Yeah, I think I’ll do that when I am eight.” So I’m thinking starting today you are going to be able to do EVERYthing.

Although, I think you are pretty much on your way to doing every and anything you put your mind to. I am forever astounded by how *old* you seem. Each day you try something new, figure something out on your own, or surprise even yourself with a new discovery. It is so exciting to watch, with just a little twinge of sadness. For as eager as you are to be older, Mommy is just as hesitant to let go.

But the more we let you go and explore, the prouder you make us. You are a spectacular girl. I’ll try to stop calling you “little” now that you are “8 years old!” (*said with the rolling of the eyes*) But you will forever be my little Gracie Girl. And I hope this is your best year yet, baby.

Happy Birthday, Emmy.
Love,
Mama

eight years of emma grace from carrie voris on Vimeo.

Wait…what happened to March?

Posted on April 4, 2011 by carrie

Holy cow. I just had to make a new folder on our Flickr account and realized that April is here! What happened to March? I just opened up my calendar to see what the heck we did over the last month because it seems like it was nothing but a blur. From the looks of things, I certainly wasn’t blogging. And I was told that there are far too few photos of the girls lately (as in…none!) So a few photos for Daddy…

And for when I need to remember, a little laundry list of “What we did over the last month” for Mommy…

ballet performances – piano lessons – sold girl scout cookies – PTA meetings – made the swim team – school-wide pottery project – finished a website or two – swim practice – sold more cookies – played a little soccer – tried out for the variety show – little more piano – put in a bid on our house – ran the Pasadena triathlon – some more ballet – shuttled a myriad of inspectors, contractors and bidders through the house – sold a few more cookies – had an offer accepted on our house (!) – brought Tiger to school for Addie – celebrated two friend’s birthdays – open houses for both girls – bundled up every bit of food in our house – enjoyed a little spring break – tented our house – scrubbed the “tenting” out of our house – and kissed March goodbye.

Whew. Yeah, it was quite a month when you put it all out there like that.

Here is to a “lamb” of an April.

And a few more pics for Daddy…

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on March 28, 2011 by carrie

I’m in need of some honest opinions here.

I’m reusing a bunch of old t-shirts that were rescued from the Goodwill pile and I’m making little baby knit hats with them. The tees are perfect, all soft and cuddly sweet. But the pattern I’ve been using has cute little ribbons around the “ears” that, for the girls, are tied into cute little bows.

I’m not entirely sure if it works for little caps that are intended for little boys. Remember it is all girls, all the time around here. So I sent a pic of it to my other Birdie and asked her – “too girly?” Yeah…I’m asking my cohort in crime who also has…ALL GIRLS (even one more than over here), ALL THE TIME.

So I’ll ask you guys instead. Any mommies of boys – would you put this on your little one? Should I ditch the ribbons?

Also…if you are a friend and/or neighbor and are around April 15th make sure to stop by for a some wine and apps and shop some crafty goodness. Spring birthdays, Easter, Mother’s Day…they are all coming up and we have fun stuff for all of your shopping needs! The boutique is sponsored by Two Birdies Workshop and we have several other talented ladies bringing their own crafty flair to the evening. So join us if you can!

And if you are a crafter with some wares to sell, let’s talk! We still have a few tables open.

The word on the street.

Posted on March 27, 2011 by carrie

Sorry that I’ve been a bit absent but I’ve been off in a corner biting my tongue. I have been all-consumed with house happenings pretty much 24 hours a day for the past three weeks, and I didn’t trust myself to not talk about it since it has been ALL that has been on my mind. But I think it is safe to say we are indeed buying our house! Yes, it is true.

So here’s the backstory for those of you who maybe haven’t been on this long four-year journey with us. (Family and friends you can skip all of this, if ya want.) When we first moved back to California, 5 years ago it was at the height of the crazy real estate boom. We decided to rent until we could figure out what area to live in, where the good schools were, etc. – and we found a place to rent that we looooved! And then, the dog moved in. And we had to move out.

It was about that time that I met Ann, our real estate agent, and she started a hunt for a house for us. We saw so many houses but just couldn’t justify all that money for hardly nothing of a house. And then Ann suggested that maybe we would like to rent a house? She had friends moving out of a great house in a great neighborhood with…great schools. Perfect.

So we moved in, four years ago this week. I remember when we pulled up to look at the house, I told Ann that I wasn’t really fond of Spanish style homes. And then I walked into our house and said, “Huh. Well, I guess I do like Spanish style houses.” And we’ve been loving on our house ever since. We repeatedly told the property manager that when the landlord wanted to sell…we wanted to buy. But the landlord’s plan was to move back here after he retired, so staying here was always kind of an elusive dream for us.

And then, very unexpectedly, our landlord passed away and we have kind of been in a bit of limbo for a few months. Meanwhile our amazing Ann has been tirelessly helping us for the past FOUR YEARS, and a few weeks ago she calls me and says that the trust is putting our house on the market.

After the shock wore off, and J. brought me down from the edge of hysteria, reality set in and we set to work determining if this house was truly in our cards or not. Ann let me drag her to every house for sale in our neighborhood so we could be certain that ours really was the “one.” And I did honestly go into each of the other homes with an open mind, but I knew in my heart, I know in my heart, that our house is the home for us. After all, this is really the only home that Em and Ad remember. And we have built an amazing network, community and circle of friends. We have put down roots, and for the first time in our almost 18 years together, I really feel like J. and I are finally somewhere we can stay and both be happy forever.

And now we have the added bonus of having a great house (the inspector said that it has very good bones that will be around for 300+ years) that now we can really pour our time and energy into. Oh, and it is going to need a whole bunch of both of these, let me tell you.

So we are not completely official yet, but we are in escrow and all is looking very good. Hopefully we will close in a few weeks, and you better believe we will have a little celebrating to do here at Chaos.

It is a pretty good excuse for being so very absent her on the old blog, don’t you think? Forgive me?

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on March 21, 2011 by carrie

The other Birdie and I actually got to play with our new baby last week and we had some wicked fun but…I forgot to take photos. Next week maybe we can unveil the beauty of our new love.

This week I decided I needed some new reusable lunch packs for the girls’ lunchboxes. I had picked up a couple of these handy little pouches last year at a craft show, but they were made of fabric on the outside and after a few washings to get rid of the peanut butter and jelly, the fabric looked like it kinda started to mildew. Ew. So I used some oilcloth and made some new ones.

Saving the world three ziploc baggies at a time.

And that is all I have this week since we are still eyeball deep in other stuff that hopefully I can talk about soon. Very soon.

BarelyControlledChaos

Chaos Controlled.Barely.

Thursday This & That

Whew…Another Weekend Down.

Addison: “No more dead animals.”

Crafty Tuesday

Thank Goodness It Is Monday…

It is GREAT to be EIGHT.

Wait…what happened to March?

Crafty Tuesday

The word on the street.

Crafty Tuesday