I give up

I took these pictures last night in anticipation of posting a glorious before and after of my new floors today. Because today I had the installers coming to start replacing the 50 year old blue (or is it green?) disgusting carpet that despite what everyone tries to tell me is 100% disgusting. I promise. It's not pretty. It's ugly and smelly and gross and older than me and it's EVERYWHERE and I have a very large credit card balance that is currently ensuring that I won't have to live with it much longer. I am very, very excited about this. 

I planned to work from home today so I could let them in and manage the hellbeasts, and so I could be the first human to set foot on my glorious new floors. I have been JACKED about today. To say that I've been a bit stressed lately would be an understatement. My mom's estate is nearing an end but there's a snag with the insurance company that may mean that I have to take a predatory company to court. There are lots of spreadsheets. I finally had a very serious come to Jesus about our own finances and have been trying to figure out how to use YNAB, which I'm sure will help but hasn't been exactly fun to manage. It's just been a lot of life and stuff and things, like you do. So I really wanted a little dopamine hit. 

It's EVERYWHERE. 

I moved all my plants into the hall because I didn't want the installers to have to do it. 

So this was a fucking awesome surprise. 

An hour in, after they had disassembled my couch and pulled up half the blue carpet, we discovered that one of the windows has been leaking in the record setting downpours and these poor guys keep telling me that they couldn't possibly put the flooring on top of the soaking wet subfloor. I'm like, "Yeah. No, I get it." It was literally so bad I couldn't even try to find a loophole. 

So now instead of my disgusting blue carpet, I have disgusting subfloor, no furniture, and a hole in my wall. And a giant repair bill I wasn't expecting. And I get to reschedule the installation of my flooring for...sometime. 

 

Happy Birthday, Mom

 Today was my mom’s birthday and I wanted to mark it by making pineapple upside down cake. It was her favorite, and it always reminds me of her. But of course my day fell to shit and I got home way later than I meant to so rather than eat cake at midnight I thought “I’ll make mini cakes!” 

Spoiler alert: They definitely cool faster but mini pineapple upside down cakes? They look an awful lot like perky little boobs. So that was festive!

Be Prepared

 I was walking through one of our client houses the other day, and noticed that one of the clients had this beautiful case of retractable, muted color pens. I wish I had a better way to describe the color, because it was what really drew me to it. They weren't pastel, or candy colored, or neon. They were these rich gorgeous almost nature colored purples and greens and muted pinks. I'm a sucker for a good art supply, so I commented on it and asked if they were as awesome as they looked. 

The client enthusiastically said they were and then offered to let me try one! I looked around for a piece of paper, and they opened their journal to let me write in there. THEY. OPENED. THEIR. JOURNAL. Their TREATMENT JOURNAL. Suddenly this silly little interaction felt enormously monumental. I simultaneously could not decline to write in their journal, but was also paralyzed with "what the hell should I write in here?!" My go to for testing pens is a heart and the word "Love" because it has so many delightful swoops. I started the heart and then panicked. I can't write "Love" in a kid's journal! But I'd already done the heart (in a lovely mauve ink). I quickly pivoted from "Love" to "Believe," which I feel like was the best choice possible. I hope. Pretty sure it at least won't get any weird looks or grievances. 

It's three days later and I'm still neurotically thinking about it. So PSA. Have a plan (or a scrap of paper) before you complement someone's pens. 

Hogwarts Sleepover

I may have mentioned it before, but long ago in a moment of pure genius, we decided that our kids would get birthday parties for the "major" ages. This is mostly because I'm an introvert, but also, as you'll see, because I go a teensy bit overboard with a theme. 

Since Averson turned 10 this year, she was due a party. She originally wanted to take friends to Great Wolf Lodge, but at 4 million dollars that was a little out of our budget. So then she asked for a sleepover. Specifically, a Harry Potter sleepover. 

It was THE CUTEST. And even though there were 7 9/10 year olds running amok, it wasn't too too terrible. Next time I maybe wouldn't plan it to coincide with Daylight Savings Time since I'm pretty sure no one has slept since, but other than that it was a huge success! 

We hand delivered personalized invitations. I fully acknowledge my ridiculousness

The Sweets Trolley. I stocked it with random candies from the bulk section and a plate of chocolate frogs I made. The kids loved it!

C painted a brick wall for the 9 3/4 platform and it came out so well! It was super rainy (thank you atmospheric river that keeps on rivering...) so we hung it inside, which ended up being way more fun to run through. 

She kills me. Seriously, she's just the cutest

You can't tell, but these are official Hogwarts PJs courtesy of Poshmark. I'm pretty proud of that little detail...

We forgot to eat the cake and no one slept, but no one cried, went home early, or wet the bed so I'm calling it a huge success :) 

And now a quick breather before our soon-to-be 13 year old's party!  

Ten years ago...

C tucked Averson in last night and told her that it was his last time saying good night to a nine year old, and suddenly I got very nostalgic for my squishy little baby. She's so excited to be 10 and is just the most fun, cookiest little creature. We're currently going WAY overboard on a Harry Potter themed slumber party and when I asked what I should tell people that she wants for her birthday she listed Harry Potter, Nightmare Before Christmas, Vintage, and Dragons. She makes the best morning play lists, continues to be fiercely independent, and claims to be dark and edgy while actually being one of the sweetest, kindest people I know. 

In no discernible order, a birthday retrospective. I love that she's picked the same birthday donut for three years running