Thrice bitten

I’m sure you’d like me to believe that you have better things to do with your time than read about my bug-bitten finger, but I don’t believe you. Poor Mark has had to listen to me complain about three bug bites I have (2 on my left forearm and one on my right ring finger) all weekend, trying not to laugh when I refer to them as “my mosquito bites,” so I’m going to give him a break. Mark, if you’re reading this, now’s your cue to stop.

All my life I have been the victim of mosquito bites, regardless of the time of year, climate, time of day, or layers of clothing I happen to be wearing. I believe my sister shares this problem, but I may be mistaken. Mark always asks, “how come you’re the only one getting bitten?,” to which I reply *as if I know what I’m talking about,* “I have sweet blood!” I’m pretty confident that I’m getting bitten in my sleep, because I have mad-mosquito-swatting-ninja-skills when I’m conscious…

The most likely cause of these bites can be traced back to our new windows. –By no means that it was their fault; in fact I should actually blame the old ones. Had they not sucked so bad, we wouldn’t have had the need to replace them. When replacing windows, there is an unavoidable period of time where a gaping hole resides in the wall. Whether it is for 30 seconds or 15 minutes, those damn mosquitoes will find their way in, because they obviously smell my sweet blood…

Now as soon as the swelling of my finger goes down, I pray to have no more reminders of the windows that were.

In the meantime, I will continue to dream about the kitchen that will be. Now that we’ve taken care of our windows, and we’re fixin’ to file our taxes, we’ve started talking about the impending kitchen overhaul. Here is what we’re thinking so far…

And on a parting note, if anyone’s got a good exterminator in the Valley that specializes in mosquito eradication, please share!

Windows 7

Actually we had 8 windows replaced... But my new and early Valentine's Day present runs Windows 7. I know it's a silly reference, but I'm really excited about it. I've had my laptop for almost four years and it's gotten slower and more troublesome over time.

When Tali was here over MLK day weekend, she brought along her new Netbook and Mark and I were all about it! -Let's not fail to mention the hype of the iPad in the last week or two... Anyhow, I convinced myself and Mark that a Netbook would be a win for the both of us and the world... It takes up less space in our house, I would blog more, and we could take it on vacations with us and barely make a dent in our carry on luggage...

So now we've got Windows 7 and Windows 8. Our new windows (the 8 variety) are a dream-come-true! We have been basking in the glory of our new windows for the past week.


Prior to the window overhaul not only did we rely heavily on our central heating, but more importantly, we prayed for outdoor silence, whether it be from our neighbors' playing children or barking dogs... -But this past Sunday, Mark ran inside from walking Lola around 8am, exclaiming, "look out the window!" I quickly did, only to discover about twenty boys between the ages of 9 and 13 gathered in the middle of the street, just yards away from our window. Now unless these children are students of the local mimery, they were likely talking and laughing, exchanges that would have typically led Mark and I to complete and utter insanity on any given Sunday morning... But not last Sunday! Thanks to our friend Mike and our newly installed windows, these paintballin' birthday celebratin' boys didn't as much as jostle us from our peaceful slumber. Amen!


In other news, you may have noticed the new layout. I know, I love it too... Thanks Tali!!! Head over to her blog and check out the completed baby bedding. She did an amazing job!

Surviving on Cabbage Soup

I'm baaaaack! Sort of... Sometimes the motivation to sit and blog just escapes me, and this week it has escaped me a lot! Mark and I were inspired by a couple of friends to take on the cabbage soup cleansing diet. Crazy, I know. We have eaten nothing but fruits, vegetables and cabbage soup for 4+ days now. Today is day 5 of 7 and we finally get to weave protein back in, and I am stoked! We have gone to bed super early all week, which has helped us get through this insane diet. I can't say I'm really suffering. I feel fairly energized and I know that this is helping Mark and I prove to ourselves that we can eat healthy if we put our minds to it. After this week, we'll surely abandon some of the insanity of this diet, but I plan to keep loading up on fruits and veggies which I didn't do enough of before.

But the bigger more exciting news is we get our windows tomorrow!!! We actually already have them -they're all lined up in our garage- but tomorrow is installation day! The thought of not hearing distant sirens and nearby motorcycles as if they're right outside our window... ahhhhhhhhh.

I will definitely be including some before and afters, so stay tuned.

In other news, Tali and Cliff are working diligently on the nursery. Cliff did the painting while Tali was here a couple of weeks ago, and the bedding is well underway. You can see photos of the nursery-in-progress here.

They were kind enough to video tape the unveiling of the first baby room accessory received -the doxie lamp!

first baby furniture! ptii from Cliff Wildman on Vimeo.

Happy Friday!!!