Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - O

OBU - my alma mater. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not so sure I'd pick a small faith-based institution but, over all, I was pleased with my years there. Bison, go with Ka-rip!

Ombligo - my second favorite word in Spanish. Means "belly button." My favorite word in Spanish? Hipopotamo.

Orange - my favorite color. Usually. Sometimes it's pink. And sometimes it's black. But usually it's orange.

Orange Julius - back in the day a mall trip wasn't complete without hitting Claire's Boutique, stalking a couple of cute guys, and getting a drink at Orange Julius. I loved their Strawberry Julius.

Orbit - my gum of choice. Peppermint.

This is the outfit I picked up for Little Miss M on Saturday evening. She wanted to wear it to church yesterday. Without washing it. I thought it might irritate her sensitive skin but she didn't care. A slave to fashion in the making! My poor picture-taking skills don't allow you to see the super cute bow at the neckline. And the back of the dress buttons up with big pink buttons. Can you say cute?! I had picked up this pair of funky green tights at a thrift store months ago against my better judgment. Didn't think I'd ever actually find anything to match. Lo and behold! Need to be better about noticing what's in the background when I take photos...ugly!

Tidying Up

I don't know what got into me yesterday but before church I decided it was time to revamp my linen closet. And by linen closet I mean shoe closet. When I checked this house out and saw the linen closet in the hallway I thought that there was no way I would ever fill that much space with bedding. But shoes, I could probably fill it with shoes...just toss 'em in and shut the oh-so-trendy bifold doors. Works like a charm! Orginally there were purses and boots on the top shelf and everything else haphazardly thrown on a shelf below.

But yesterday morning as I selected my footwear I thought I could probably organize the space a little better and use some of it for {ahem} linens. Imagine that! So now it's purses, random bedding, and weekend totes on top, boots on bottom, and everything else in between.

I'm kicking myself for donating a couple of shoe racks before I moved. They fit perfectly on the shelves and double my shoe storage. Going to pick up a couple more and hopefully I'll be able to move the shoes hanging in the organizer behind my bedroom door to their new home across the hall. And I think I'm going to paint the back wall with a pop of yellow or turquoise. Once I start tacking the rest of the house. Which is just around the corner. Yeah, right.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - N

Nicknames - at various times in my life I have been called: Snortney, Boobs, Spud Bud, Buttercup, and Coco. Any others I'm leaving out?

Nissan Murano - I. Want. One. So sleek. So sexy. I know, just like me...right?!

Nose Ring - Been done twice before. I have been contemplating do this to myself one more time. I think I could get away with it at my current school.

A Thousand Words: December 2009

The Thrill of Thrifting

I love it when I score bigtime at thrift stores. I only hit two today but I picked up several things and I'm tickled pink with what I brought home!

At the first store I found:

~ a pair of sheer purple valances with embroidered flowers for Little Miss M's room ($4/pair)

~ pair of little Gap jeans for the girlie ($6 but 1/2 off = $3)

~ a "vintage glitter tree topper" from Pottery Barn still in the box ($2)

At store numero dos:

~ a Princess book...I think we're up to about 127 of these now... (.50)

~ two large white picture frames from Target ($3/ea)

~ "Hurdo Kitty" (that's M-speak for Hello Kitty) rainboots -- still had the elastic band tied on ($3.50 - Target is still selling them for $16.99! Woohoo!!)

Here's my booty (or is it bounty? loot? er...) from Goodwill.

And while there I donated four bags full of clothing, shoes, toys, and knick knacks. Don't you just love a good purge every now and then?

But the shopping extravaganza didn't stop there, no siree. We forged ahead into retail-priced retail therapy. Went to Payless mainly to measure her little tootsies (10-1/2) but, because you can't really pass up BOGO, ended up buying her some socks and flip flops. At Target I bought 4 smaller white frames that were on clearance (finally getting around to some art in Little Miss M's room), a super cute dress (so cute I paid FULL price...history in the making!) and ruffled hoodie for M, and boring stuff like dog food (but I did get a $5 gift card for buying it), bread, and cereal bars. Onto Marshalls where I loaded up on some stationery goodies and a silly little doodle book for my valentine.

Speaking of valentines...this is the first Valentine's Day in years that I actually have an honest-to-goodness valentine of my own. Of course, my little eCrush is laying in his bed with an abcessed tooth huffing and puffing while he awaits a root canal. So even though I celebrate actually having a valentine this year, I may not actually be celebrating the occassion. No biggie...I'm used to it.

Bow Chicka Bow Bow

Is that how you spell the sound of porno music? Although I'm sure my reading audience of three or four probably isn't the type to know that...

Anyway, it appears as though Little Miss M has been "gettin' her freak on" in daycare. When I picked her up today I was informed by the afternoon teacher that she and a classmate (a boy) were in the corner showing their "parts" to each other. Okay, great, um...er...what to do with that?! I have been assured that this is completely normal but I don't recall anything like that in my past.

So the conversation on the way home went something like this:

Me: So, uh, what did you do in school today?
M: Nothing.
Me: Oh. Ms. Lori said you were showing your "gina" (M's word, not mine) to a boy.
M: I didn't do it. (Surely she was just denying the events and doesn't know what "it" is...right?!?!?!)
Me: M, you need to tell the truth. It's not nice to lie.
M: I'm not.
Me: Hmmm. Well, you know that some people call "ginas" privates, right?
M: Yeah.
Me: Do you know what private means?
M: Yeah.
Me: What?
M: Dunno.
Me: It means it's only for you to see. That means you shouldn't show it to other people at school.
{silence}
Me: Or at church.
{crickets chirping}
Me: Or boys in general.
M: Okay, can we go to Old McDonald's for dinner?
Me: How about pizza?
M: Um, sure!

Miscellaneous J-Legs Received

Remember Chloe? The couch I finally caved and ordered all those months ago? Well, she was delivered to my mom's house in late November and my mom was kind enough to transport her all these miles to my house. I was so excited! We ripped into her plastic and cardboard packaging and she was oh so soft! Got her in place and then began the frantic search for her...can you guess? Yes, the title of the post was a big, fat wad of foreshadowing. My beautiful new couch was shipped to me sans legs! Can you believe it? So for the past two-and-a-half months we've been low riding in the living room.

Well, to make a long, boring story less long and hopefully less boring my mom got the legs in the mail last week and she graciously agreed to meet me halfway so I could at long last give my little Chloe the lift she needed. And...voila! She's got legs...and knows how to use them...

Okay, I realize that the difference probably doesn't seem so dramatic in the pictures but believe you me this is life changing! I'm now (slightly more) motivated to actually paint the walls finally hang the new curtains. Who knew five inches could make such a difference? I guess size really does matter!

Marshmallow Madness

I finally uploaded photos from my marshmallow experiment here.