Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

It has been a crazy few hours! Last night I got home and the construction crew was still at the house. The electrician had been in so my soon to be new kitchen had a ton of brand new outlets! In my old kitchen, there was one place to plug in appliances, suffice my excitement on each of the new outlets. That morning we asked our construction guy if the electrician could put in two recessed lights above our "Bamboo" Peter Lik picture in the living room that hangs above the fire place. When I opened my front door last night there was my "Bamboo" picture all lit up and pretty. That moment of awe lasted only a few minutes because I went on to serve Baby Girl dinner which she threw at me and then I discovered that the heat wasn't working. When hubby called to see what the crew had done it was too late for anything to be fixed so we had to tough it out. I didn't mind for me but I was worried about my daughter who is fighting off an upper respiratory infe...

Yesterday, marked the first day of our kitchen remodel. Gone are the 3 small rooms that spilled together to form our kitchen/washer/dryer/buffet/dining area. Our contractor said he works fast but I had no idea he could completely rip apart cabinets, and tear down walls in one day! I told the foreman last night that I just couldn't believe all the work they had done! Besides firming up our design and buying all of our new appliances, we have picked out our cabinet style (white shaker) and a grey-black floor tile. Today is electrical day. So all of our lights and outlets will be installed when we go home tonight. While they are there we are having them install two recessed lights in our living room to shine on the Hawaii bamboo forrest picture. It's very exciting to see our home change once again, as I believe this is now the second remodeling since the house was built in 1939. Here is a picture of what our new kitchen area looks like as of last night. There is so m...

Baby Girl is sick again. Yesterday she woke up with a cough that sounded like an 80-year-old woman who had been chain smoking for years. When she woke up this morning with the same cough I decided it was time to see the doctor, again. Baby Girl just finished two rounds of antibiotics in December. I blame the LA Zoo for this latest round. The daycare of course is full of germs but that playground at the zoo is worse! Anyhow, we saw the doctor and he says that she has bronchitis. The doctor asked if hubby or I had an asthma in our families and we said no. He prescribed an inhaler with a mask as he said Baby Girl had a cold in her bronchial tubes. So every three hours we have to have Baby Girl inhale into this tube. She hates diaper changes and clothing changes so this should be fun...not! I feel awful for Baby Girl every time she coughs. I hope this goes away and never comes back. Doctor said that sometimes this leads to kids having asthma later on. I hope not!

So last night we had dinner with Caroline & Minh and Matt & his girlfriend, Susanne, whom he has been dating since August. Two weeks ago, when our dinner with Caroline and Minh turned out to a fun night of reminiscing, we scheduled another dinner. Then we ran into Matt during our Great Liquor giveaway and he mentioned getting together and so our party of four turned into a party of six. Caroline cooked up some BBQ spare ribs, mac-n-cheese, creamed corn and broccoli soup (for the ailing Minh who had just gotten his wisdom teeth pulled). Matt's GF brought some yummy garlic mashed potatoes. In what kitchen we had left, we made cornbread and asparagus. Suffice to say, with our cocktails in hand, we sat down to a feast. It was really nice to not only be with old friends but to have a nice dinner. Hubbers and I are not used to having such a complete meal. We are lucky if we even get to eat with our crazy nightly schedule! Hubbers and I had met Susanne a few times befor...

So today we headed off to Pacific Sales aka Best Buy to purchase all new appliances. After doing his homework, hubby had a good idea of what we wanted. So Baby Girl and I headed over to Los Feliz today to do a bit of shopping...well, it turned out to be a lot. What was nice about Pacific Sales was that they weren't overly pushy and what I hate most is salespeople. Even at the mall they freak me out. We had gone to Sears the other weekend and we had several salesmen and women approach us until we finally let one talk to us. We went in to Pacific Sales and a nice guy in his twenties came up and struct up a conversation. After 5 minutes I knew he was cool and progressed to let him show us appliance after appliance. He was very knowledgable about all the products. He took us through stoves, fridges, stove hoods, garbage disposals, washer and dryers, and dishwashers. What was nice is that he was telling us the pluses and minus of a few products and he let choose what we ...

Now that our kitchen is going to be demolished it has encouraged us rather quickly to go through our current kitchen and assess what we really need for the new kitchen. What we found is that we don't need the 30-40 odd bottles of liquor and assorted drinking stemware that we currently have. So yesterday I sent out a note to our peeps and announced our give away this Saturday. Well, someone jumped on the news and came over and took the majority of those bottles with them, leaving us with about 10 bottles left and glassware. Its funny all the stuff we amass over the years. Really we don't need much but much we have. I try to clean out the best I can throughout the year but sometimes things just pile up in corners or cabinets that you don't even think about until you stumble across them one day. Anyhow, now that we are parents there probably won't be any big parties and by nature we are not big drinkers so the need for all those liquors and mixers was pretty mu...

Baby Girl and I spent Martin Luther King Day at the Zoo. It was quite an exciting trip because Baby Girl was much more aware of her surroundings then when we went 3 months ago. I knew when she saw the flamingos (pretty much the first exhibit at the zoo) and started crying upon me trying to take her to another exhibit that I was in for a very different zoo trip. And different it was. It was actually alot of fun because Baby Girl really enjoyed the animals. She loved the zebras and stuck her hands through the fence to try and touch them. She loved watching the giraffe eat from a tree. She had a ton of fun in the amphibian pavillion where she watched fish, turtles and snakes. She screamed with delight upon seeing the monkey swing from branch to branch. A friend of mine told me to always go to the zoo early. I found out why. Because around noon-1pm not only does the zoo get hot but a ton of people come through the doors. So glad we got our 3 hours in and left the madhouse at...

So my favorite toy in the world is a little talking and dancing Walle toy that I got during one of my business trips to Amsterdam. It was the year the movie came out and I remember watching the movie and being awed by it. After the screening the folks at Disney gave each of us trade show members a bag of goodies and this little Walle was in it. I have gotten a lot of promo items over the years and pretty much I either take them out of the box and enjoy them for a while, give them to family who I think might like them or immediately get rid of them because they are dumb. This little Walle has been my favorite item of all time. I had it at home but when Baby Girl was born I took a lot of my movie stuff to work to display in my office. Every once in a while when the mood strikes I would push the button that would make Walle sing or dance and basically, his little dancing would make my heart smile. Walle is like a little piece of heaven. Anyhow, fast forward to January 8th....

...the heat that is. Penny is so happy that the 80 degree heat is back in LA. After weeks of cold weather, 30 degrees anyone, our lovely So Cal Sunny heat has returned! Unfortunately, I heard it was going to get cold again in a week's time. So as this picture shows, there is no time to waste enjoying our summer clothes. Yay, the onesie is back!

My daughter is a science experiment in motion and I mean that in a good way. She is always so interesting to watch as she explores the world for the first time. Lately, Baby Girl has taken to shaking her butt to music. It's quite funny to watch that little touch shake back and forth. Or to watch her bob her head up and down to the rhythm. Not only is she more musically inclined but she has taken to communicating her wants to better. I think underneath all that baby talk is one smart little cookie. I have revisited my signing skills and its been really fun to communicate with her. I ask her with my hands and fingers if she wants water or if she is all done with her meal. Yesterday, her teacher was so proud of her because she signed for milk for the very first time. So this morning, teacher taught me the sign for milk. Baby Girl can be fussy but I read an article this week on toddler fussiness and half the time they are just trying to communicate with you and there real...

Another milestone in Baby Girl's life has occurred. Today she went to school in real, true blue, walking shoes. She has been wearing moccasans or slippers to date. Now that she has been welcomed to the walking world she required hard core soled shoes. That and her teacher asked that I buy her some cuz her little feet were getting cold in this blizzard type whether we have been having in Los Angeles. The most interesting thing I found about buying children's shoes is that they are not any cheaper than adult shoes. I looked in the store and online and kiddie shoes are going for $50 a pop. And the kicker is they only wear them for about 3 months before they need another. Thank goodness for Nordie's shoe sale. They had sold out of all the girls sizes I needed so I ended up buying Baby Girl a pair of grey boys shoes. I think they are more cooler than those only pink things the girls have. Anyhow, I got a pair of Stride Rites for $20 bucks plus free shipping. N...

Read this article. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/corinne-mcdermott/las-vegas_b_2481197.html One of my friend's girlfriend is the mom behind the popular breastfeeding blog called "The Leaky Boob." Today my friend shared this article about her friend's breastfeeding experiences in Las Vegas. The article had me flabbergasted that even in the city of sin, women are being discriminated against for feeding their child. I mean, for a city that is all about "the boob," it amazes me that people are still offended by women breasting feeding in public especially when that city is as "boob" centric as Las Vegas. Really people? What is so gross about it? Since becoming a mother, I've talked to numerous mom's who either a) have a story to tell about a bad experience of breastfeeding in public or b) have a friend or relative that had a bad experience breast feeding in public. One of my girlfriend's told me they were breastfeeding on an airpla...

Since having a baby, I've have learned that sometimes a mom (and a dad) need time to do things for themselves. Luckily, hubby and I have one date night a month, courtesy of our friends, The P's but that is usually planned weeks in advanced. Hubbers and I are pretty much on our own the other times, which is makes it hard to be super social in a city that is all about being social. I suppose, I should find a babysitter but it's hard to trust just anyone with the most precious commodity of your life! So I guess it's a good thing hubbers and I enjoy spending time with our little family! Anyhow, Mom and also Dad needs a break every now and then for some good old fashion "me" time. Dad escaped the house the other day to see a movie and I decided to take an even bigger escape and take 2 days off from work. Since it wasn't busy it was the perfect time. I took Penny to daycare on both days and one day I headed to the relaxation of the spa with a giant s...

Okay, Facebook got interesting today...there is a new trading page for Lego Minifigures that hubby has discovered today. I can't wait to get my trade list together!!! Here is what I am looking for incase you come across them and you want to help a girl out with her collection! Series 1 (Magician, Robinhood) Series 2 (Surfer Guy, Pharaoh, Ringmaster and Dracula) Series 3 (Hula Girl) Series 4 (Ice Skater, Kimono Girl, Sailor) Series 5 (Ice Fishing Guy, Cleopatra) Series 6 None Series 7 (Bunny Rabbit, Merman) Series 8 (Werewolf) Series 9 (Chicken Suit Guy and Waiter)

We are finally gonna do it! We are taking the first steps to remodeling our kitchen. This weekend we called a contractor, who was highly recommended by a good friend of mine. First of all, who highly recommends a contractor? Forget the remodel, that alone was enough to pique my curiousity about this man, who is awesome in fixing stuff. I emailed him and hubbers called him and he is coming out to the house next week to check out our kitchen. We are gonna see if he can knock down our wall to make a big kitchen! Suffice to say, we are so excited! I just can't get enough of looking at examples of remodeled kitchens online. If you were remodeling your kitchen, what would you add? I am trying to put together a wish list as I type! Right now, my favorite kitchen is the one above. The perfect example of light and bright. Cheery and bright!

It's boring...

AArgh! Now hubby is sick again...enough said.

Well, it was back to work and school this week. Everyone wanted to know how our vacation was and all I could say was, "We were sick!" This lead to, "Are you feeling better now?" I thought I could safely say "Yes" but every other day we have congestion, coughing, sneezing, etc. It probably doesn't help that it is freezing cold down here on the first floor at work. I called facilities and they came to look at our floor and they determined that our water heater was broken. I am sure that it will take forever to fix! Meanwhile, our whole group has taken to wearing two sweaters and scarfs. Good thing I got a new scarf for Christmas! Basically, the sickness of 2012 will not go away! Baby Girl has completed a second course of antibiotics and appeared to be doing better but as the days of this week go on, she continues to battle the symptoms of a nasty cold. I just visited her at daycare and had to give her some Tylenol. Tonight hubby is going to T...

Another year has come and gone. Baby Girl seems to be feeling a lot better this morning and getting back to her normal schedule, which is getting up a little before 7am. These past two weeks when she was sick we enjoyed sleeping in till 7:40 ish. But as I heard the cries this morning I knew it was baby girl getting us back to schedule. So up I went and found baby girl smiling at me in her crib. I love that morning smile. I got her her bottle which is no longer formula but 2% milk and we sat in the living room and listened to the news. After the bottle was her crackers which she of course, shared with Moses and then we turned the channel to watch the Pasadena Rose Parade. For once, she turned off all of that energy and sat in my lap and we watched the parade. She is just learning how to say and wave HI and GOODBYE so she thoroughly enjoyed waving back at all the people waving on the floats. It was a fun moment for me to share that with Baby Girl. Papa got up and found us...