Random comments for a lazy blogger

Since I am a little behind on my blogging, I decided to update the easy way.

• The potty is FIXED!! We forgot we had an AHS warranty, silly us!! We made the call and the plumbers left about 30 minutes ago. Problem solved. Actually, they ended up fixing our master toilet as well.
• I made a menu for two weeks. Yea me!
• We spent the weekend at Toledo Bend Lake with Richard's sister's family. They have a lake house and we had a BLAST! Matt thinks his Uncle Ryan is the coolest. (Sorry Uncle Earnie, you need to get a boat and 4-wheeler)
• Matt finished school and we have three weeks to go until Dad is done.
• We have rented a beach house in Gulf Shores with Richard's parents for our summer vacation. We cannot wait!
• I went to Brenham last week for an unplanned spur of the moment trip and had Bailee totally confused. Matt and I showed up at her school during lunch and she was a little shocked; it was great. ( I would like to schedule a date to come on a Wednesday and see all my "sister mama"friends!)
• Speaking of Brenham, it's been almost a year since the move and I have been a little homesick lately. That's for another post.
• Did I ever mention that I have a job? It's very part-time, 5 hours a week. I am working at our church for our children's minister and I love it.
• My mom's blood count is steadily rising, praise the Lord! Today she called and said it was up to 10.5. The goal is 12 and she started at 6. Go mom!!

That's all I can think of for now.

I have no shame

About a month ago, my sweet, wonderful, smart, funny, cuddly, wild-child, little four year old boy accidentally flushed his toothbrush down the toilet. When I discovered this, I just stood staring at the toilet dumbfounded repeating "you did what?"

So I mentioned it to daddy but his reaction was not as calm as mine. He went and took a look but the toilet was working fine so we forgot about it. I think we were hoping that it actually made it's way down the pipes. Smart huh?

Then, a couple of weeks later, the toothbrush started to rear it's ugly head; we would flush and all the water would rise up then slowly go down. This went on for a few days. When the weekend came, Richard was finally able to address the problem.

Let me stop here and give "props" to my hubby. He is truly a handyman and I am so thankful for this talent!! He can fix just about anything around the house.

Richard worked on the toilet for awhile and finally decided he needed to pick it up and move it to the backyard to try and "flush" it out with the hose. Imagine, if you will, my husband carrying a 15 year old pot in his arms, through our living room and kitchen, and out to our backyard. We are a first class unit around here, we wouldn't dream of doing this in the front yard.

So Rich gets it outside and begins flushing it out with water and hardly any water is coming out of the bottom. Then he starts moving the potty around and finally paper begins to come out of the bottom. This was really exciting because stuff was coming out. Little did we know or maybe we were just too naive but soon, this paper was followed by other "natural products".

This was probably the grossest moment of my life! I have a strong stomach but I thought I was going to lose it. However, at the same time, the moment was so ridiculous that I could not stop laughing. Could you imagine if all this junk would have fallen out in my living room when he was carrying it outside. I will stop with the gross part here. If you want the full story with details, then give me a call and I will be happy to tell you.

We continued with the flushing technique until all was clear. Finally, when Richard was moving the toilet again I hear something rattle. I started yelling "it's the toothbrush, the TOOTHBRUSH!" And guess what? When he set it upright, out popped the toothbrush.

CLEAN AS A WHISTLE!!

That might have been the weirdest part. There was not a speck of anything on that brush if you know what I mean.

We cleaned up and detoxed everything, took the toilet back in and reset it. Guess what. It had a leak. Richard determined it was the valve so he replaced it a few days later.

Guess what. It still leaked! This time he decided it was rotten gaskets so he replaced them.

Guess what. It still leaked!!! At this point, we decided the potty had seen it's last bottom and we went to Lowes and bought a new one. Richard installed it this weekend.

Guess what.

There is still a leak!!!! Richard said he noticed there was a small crack in the pipe ring that is coming out of the floor but was hoping that it was nothing. So now, I think we are going to have to break down and call a plumber.

All of this drama because of a toothbrush.

I did it!!

Remember my crazy Harwin Street purchases last week? Well, guess who made a necklace?

I love the colors because they are so summery and remind me of sea glass.

I am not too crazy about those two clear dangle beads. I didn't realize they dangled until I put it on. Oh well.

Anyways, just wanted to share my creation.

Laundry Gone Wrong

Can you believe that a family of three can make this much laundry!? This picture did not include two more loads that were in the process of washing and drying. I think I spent about 30 minutes folding this pile.

Which is better, folding all at once or after each load?

I can't decide. What do you think?

Garden Fresh

Ta-Daaaaa!!!

We picked the first "fruits" of our garden. The white basket contains arugula and the yellow basket has an eggplant, a couple of string beans, and lettuce.

Everything looks great except for the spinach. All of the rain we had the past couple of weeks pretty much caused it to rot. After I clean that row, I think I am going to plant more lettuce or maybe some cantaloupe. The problem with growing cantaloupe is that they like to roam and I do not have that much space. Then again I could plant more squash or try spinach again.

Any suggestions?

Matt's "library"

A couple of Saturday's ago we were watching a show on HGTV called Hammer Heads. They were remaking a kid's room and it was awesome. They created this whole custom loft system where the beds were on the bottom but the top was a play area.

Matt's bed is a convertible loft from Ikea. He has been sleeping on the top for a couple of months now, but ever since his pal Leah spent the night and slept on the floor under his mattress, he has been begging to do the same.

After watching that show, we finally decided why not put his mattress on the floor and a piece of plywood up top for a play area. From a mom's point of view this is much better. Now I do not have visions of him falling out in the middle of the night and changing the sheets is SO much easier!!

It looks like his entire room is from IKEA and well, it pretty much is. He has a bookshelf you can't see that was mine from my bachelorette days. The paint color and shelves around the room are from the previous owners. I would love to repaint because I am not much of a beige person but considering I would have to relocate Matt for a few days, I can be a beige person.

Do you see Matt and Lola playing on his bed? This is a bonus because now Lola can lay on his bed with him. Honestly, this is a bonus for him, not mom. I am not thrilled about the dog getting in his bed.

Here is the best part, his play area. We bought a piece of plywood which Richard cut to fit. Then I spread a blanket over that so he would have a soft place to play. Eventually, I would like to go to a carpet store and ask about purchasing a remnant (maybe they will just give it to me for free).

We took all of his books and lined them down the side of his loft. He refers to this as his "library". Pretty cool huh? If you can't tell, I have a serious weakness for children's books (my mom does too). The really great thing about his play area being on top is Lola can't eat any toys that are left out!

Splish Splash

One of the great things about living in South Texas is that you can break out the pool in early May. Well, truth be told, you could use it anytime of the year because the weather is so unpredictable here. Last week was so hot and humid around here. Matt has been begging to get the splash pool out and after school on Thursday I finally broke down.

We had a great time. At least Matt and I did, I can't say the same for Lola. We thought it was hilarious to spray her and watch her run. This was a bad trick to show Matt because he decided to do the same to mom.

Gotta love the little kid pot belly; it always brings a smile to my face.

When I was a kid, I use to drink so much water out of the hose that I would make myself sick. I was obsessed with the water hose.

Our favorite picture, classic Matt.

Happy Mother's Day

My mom, me, and my brother Earnie

This picture was taken on Saturday at my mom's. Our presence on Mother's Day was her girft. This is the up side to living far away from your mom, you can get out cheap! Ha, just kidding mom.

I love you and we had a great time!! Happy Mother's Day again.

Harwin Street

I took my first trip to Harwin Street in Houston yesterday. I had heard about this mythical place from many but had no idea what to expect. I have to say, it exceeded all expectations in one way and left me confused in another.

Harwin St. is like the United Nations of cheap knock-off shopping. It seemed like every nation was there to sell there gaudy cheap clothes, purses, and shoes. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time but I have never seen so much JUNK!

I was hoping to find a cute bag but I never did. My mother-in-law found quite a bit to sell in her shop but nothing really jumped out at me. So what did I buy?

Junk.

• A wooden samurai sword for Matt, a paper dragon to hang from Matt's ceiling, and 10 sets of chopsticks from some kind of Chinese store
• A Spiderman backpack for Matt and one of those tall rolling bag things for travel or shopping (like I ever need a large bag to carry around my mall purchases!)
• $20 worth of glass beads to make jewelry

I bet you just thought "wow Aleesa, I had know idea you made jewelry". Guess what? I don't. I have never made any kind of jewelry. I had a moment of weakness and succumbed to the beauty of the beads.

I know. I know. I am so random.

However, just think, you can come to my house and eat with chopsticks and you might receive a handmade one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry from me.

I usually plan my menu weekly (at one point, I did this monthly). I love the idea of sharing it but I do not always have the time to post. I am going to work on that. I have a strange obsession of looking at what other moms are cooking for their families but it gives me great ideas and fuels my creativity.

Some of you guys get a big thrill out of what weird concoction I will force my family to eat and others are interested in how cheap I can cook, so I am sure you will enjoy this new feautre.

Breakfast ideas: mango muffins (I made these yesterday), oatmeal, eggs and toast, and yogurt with fruit

Dinner:

• Monday- Broccoli and Bacon Pasta, salad
• Tuesday- Mashed Potato casserole for small group
• Wednesday- Roasted Chicken, salad, sauteed squash
• Thursday- BBQ chicken pizza using leftover chicken
• Friday- chicken salad sandwiches using leftover chicken, fruit, and pretzels on the road
• Saturday- eat out :)
• Sunday- turkey tacos, leftover pintos (frozen from last week), "wholly guacamole" that I got for free with sales and coupons (I love this stuff)

Down by the Bayou

Last Saturday we went to a crawfish boil at our neighbors'. They are from Baton Rouge, love to host neighborhood gatherings, and we LOVE going to them! They are an interesting combination because the wife is originally from the northeast and the husband is from Louisiana.

Did I mention that they use to run a family restaurant back in Louisiana? Let me just say that anytime our neighbor has his big black cast iron pots out, I am running over to see what's cooking. We have had the pleasure of eating real jambalaya, sauce piquant, and catfish to name a few things.

Anyways, they had a crawfish boil on Saturday and all I can say is oh my gosh! It was the best boil I have ever been to. I ate about 6 small platters of crawfish. At one point, Richard told our neighbor that it was the best crawfish he had ever had. Our neighbor responded with "you ain't never had a coonass cook for you!" At that, I just busted out laughing because the look on Richard's face was priceless.

Matt enjoyed the festivities. He played with the crawfish, but wanted nothing to do with putting the tails into his mouth. We tried bribing, withholding dessert, our neighbor fake crying, and comparing it to shrimp but he would not budge. Oh well, more for me.