busygirl

the little tow motor that could.

I'm refusing to believe that spring isn't here yet.  It's April, isn't that close enough?  Why the forty degree weather and hushed talk of snow flurries?  I just can't take the cold and cloudy anymore, I need thoughts of summer to be here.

We're one step closer though.  On Saturday, we put Adam's parent's boat in the water.  And luckily, Adam and I got to experience the whole thing for the first time.  Walking up and down the marina full of looming tarped figures.   Every few there would be one that was free of the tarp, getting painted and ready for a summer on the lake.

 
And of course, their boat was prepped and ready to be the first one in.

 
And finally it was time.  The marina staff carefully placed the boat on the trailer that was to be pulled by this mighty little tow motor.

 Apparently this little guy has more strength than it appears, considering he pulled a 14,000lb boat around with ease.  So off we went down the street over to the sling.  And the best part?  We got to ride on the boat!  I can't even begin to tell you how weird it is to be riding a boat down a street.  Here's my semi-interview of Adam on the boat, since a full video of just the boat moving seems a bit dull.  We apparently get excited over the little things.

And finally they backed the boat into the loading area, attaching two slings under the hull of the boat, lifting it into the air.  And then the two slings are moved backwards over the water, and lowered until the boat floats in the water.   Again, being suspended midair in a boat?  Weird feeling.  Kind of reminded me of when they used the slings to get the whale back in the ocean in Free Willy.   At this point Adam was probably annoyed with me because I asked eight gazillion questions about this entire process, including about six regarding whales and boat slings.  I'm very fun to be around on a cold, blustery morning.

 
 

A quick engine check and off we went for a quick ride around the freezing, choppy lake.  So cold, but so worth it (note: obnoxiously red nose)

 
I can't wait for summer.

birthday wishes.

To my little nephew who is turning 3 today!  What a cutie :)  Uncle Adam and Auntie Nicole (and cousin Ricki) love you!

souperbowl twenty-eleven.

In celebration of it being winter, and all of us really liking soup, Adam's family decided to hold a souperbowl a few weeks ago.  The rules were simple: each adult had to bring a 6 quart pot of homemade soup.  And you couldn't stick with the standard chicken noodle.  It had to be something different, creative and of course, delicious.

I pulled out my mom's spinach tortellini soup, an old favorite from my childhood.  While Adam recreated his Zuppa'tus'Adam, which is similar to Olive Garden's zuppa, but packed with flavor.  A creamy soup full of sausage, potatoes and kale.

Along with our submissions, we enjoyed potato leek, vegetable barley, chicken cordon bleu, broccoli mushroom, chicken tortilla and the coveted crab chowder.

Every bowl was scraped clean and we all left with bellies full of soup and laughter.

Take forty-eight quarts of soup, add great family and friends and you've got an evening full of more fun than the actual SuperBowl!  I cannot wait until our next attempt, I'm already scheming as to the next recipe I'll make...

ahoy matey.

Waking up to single-digit temperatures on Saturday morning immediately threw us for a loop.  Snowboarding was out of the question and the idea of running around town getting errands done in this cold wasn't too appealing.

So instead we headed to the Cleveland Boat Show for a piece of summer.  While there was no sun or water, at least the lineup of boats reminded us of warmer days.

I must confess that I did NOT want to go to this and was conned into it by my husband.  To me a boat is like a car, just more complicated and luxurious.  And looking at a bunch of stuff that we cannot ever afford just wasn't my idea of fun.  But as always, hubby proved me wrong.  I had an absolute blast walking through the yachts, learning about engines and propellers and oohing and ahhing over simple things like built in coffee makers.

I think we need a boat.

[my brother, Adamand FIL]

Just kidding.  Unless we happened to have half a million dollars just laying around, a boat is certainly not in our future until much, much later.

But it is nice to dream isn't it?

While pulling Adam and brother away from the seadoos before they open their wallets.

 
 [sorry for the blurry images, dang cell phone photography]

And I must share the most creative thing found at the boat show.  While you are allowed to waltz around with a beer in your hand, no drinks are allowed onboard.  And you must leave your shoes at the dock.  Of course this resulted in my MIL and me standing on the docks holding beers while Adam, my brother and FIL scrambled aboard.  However, this gentleman found an more practical way to have his beer and enjoy boating too:

 

Not that I'd leave my beer unattended in a giant exposition center, but you've gotta give the guy props for creativity.

our first sleepover.

What does one do when they have a sleepover at 25?

Play with the puppy and spoil him with treats.

Help Uncle Adam put plants in the fish tank and name all the fishes.

Have an impromptu dance party.

Eat our weight in popcorn and watch Looney Tunes in our pjs until we finally drift off to sleep.

 

why my dog loves thanksgiving.

Back from a four-day weekend and struggling to keep my focus already.  Sigh, if only every week were Thanksgiving!

We had a relatively mellow weekend...with the exception of Adam working...but still, a nice break from the typical daily grind.  Wednesday started out with a trip to the east side for dinner and drinks with my brother and FSIL.

Ricki ate TWO helpings of dinner by accident (a la me forgetting that I fed him BEFORE driving to Solon and then feeding him upon arrival).

Thursday began with a trip to the grocery store to hunt down forgotten ingredients.  And then off to my SIL's house for a vegan thanksgiving. 

Ricki not only was given extra treats out of pity since he had to stay home (my SIL has a cat) but was also given some mashed potatoes as a late night snack when we returned home.

Friday [morning] started early with black friday shopping.  We managed to hunt down the big ticket item we were searching for after a couple attempts, thank goodness, along with some deals for ourselves.  Adam wasn't impressed with his first black friday experience.  I don't think he was expecting the level of um, 'rudeness' exhibited by some shoppers.  Heck, I'd make my kid wear earplugs around them.  That night Adam put together the Christmas tree while I took Ricki for a long walk.  When I came back he was playing video games (apparently the TREE turned on the xBox) so I finished up the decorating and wrapping the presents we had purchased that morning.

Ricki was once again treated to some leftovers, three long walks and a morning of sunbeams.

Saturday was our second thanksgiving at Adam's parent's house!  Ricki came along with us for dinner with Adam's parents, sister/BIL and my brother/FSIL.  They actually deep-fried a turkey.  I know, it sounds gross but OH MY GOD have you ever had it?  UNBELIEVEABLE.  I may never bake a turkey again.

Ricki was given enough carrots that Bugs Bunny would be jealous, along with a green pepper, and TWO hearty helpings turkey and rice stuffing.  He finished off the evening by making his rounds napping in everyone's laps.

Sunday, Adam and I just hung out, slept in, watched football and were generally lazy.  We then headed off to a birthday party for Adam's cousin while Ricki kept an eye on the house for us.

Ricki, of course, snacked on some leftover turkey and bread stuffing for lunch.  And then finished it off with a nap in the sun before retiring to his bean bag chair for the evening.

We're going to have to up the walks after this weekend...for all THREE of us. 

thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I think Adam said it best while we were enjoying a lazy morning sitting in bed with the pup watching Big Bang Theory reruns.

'Everything I'm thankful for is sitting right here on the bed'

Which was incredibly sweet until he reached over and grabbed his iPhone and placed it on the bed.  Oh well, I guess we're thankful for iPhone Skeeball!

Enjoy a wonderful day with your families and friends!

stuck on stockings.

I'm mildly impressed with the fact that I've tackled most of my holiday shopping already this year.  Good thing too, because we really are short on time before the holidays with my grandma coming to Ohio and us going on our honeymoon!  But I'm finding myself stuck in the same spot I get stuck in year after year: the stockings.

Growing up my parentsSanta used to fill our stockings up with treats and toys, but as we've gotten bigger, the chore became a bit too much for my mom to handle.  So we decided that instead, each person would not only get everyone else a gift, but a stocking gift as well.  Which basically means I get everyone two presents and two stocking gifts because let's face it, Adam's not running into Bath & Body Works to pick up a sampler lotion for someone's stocking.  Where it gets hard, is that our stocking gifts are supposed to be around $1.  And THREE of my recipients are boys.  Well, men.  Well, 20-something boys.  Finding something around $1 that a boy would think is cool and not junk is IMPOSSIBLE!  I've managed to come up with one stocking gift for them (not telling because they might be snooping here) but am struggling to find something else 'cool' to put in there short of just buying those airplane liquor bottles.  Any ideas? Suggestions?

Do other people still do stockings as adults?  Or the shoes?  Or just skip the traditional all together?

where the elephants roam...

We headed back to Kalahari's indoor waterpark this past weekend...you may remember our adventuresfrom last year.  It was a blast, just like last year.  But better, because the infamous zip coaster was open to ride.  It's apparently the only rollar coaster/water ride in one.  You sit in this rectangular tube and conveyor belts launch you up the hills.  Definitely lived up to all the hype.  Thank goodness, because they keep featuring the dang thing on the Travel Channel.

I am beyond THRILLED that it is a 3-day work week.  As in jumping up and down and out of my stilletos thrilled.  I desperately need to finish my Christmas shopping since we are completely booked for time the next two weeks.  I've been making my list excel spreadsheet and checking it twice.  Particularly the one mapping out my black friday plan of attack.  Yes, I'm one of those.  Only for the big ticket items though.  It's not worth braving the lines just to save $3 on a DVD.  I'll take my sleep over that.  Best Buy is first on my list...so it looks like 4am will be my start time.

And this week also marks the start of the it's-ok-to-put-your-tree-up-without-looking-crazy season.  I've been dying to get mine up, I love Christmas decorations.  And I've secretly been listening to Christmas music the past week.  But I adhere to Adam's strict post-thanksgiving rule.  And impatiently count the days till I can have twinkle lights all over the living room.

In an unrelated note, how are people feeling about this whole TSA scan thing?  I suppose we'll have to go through it when we jet off to Mexico next month, but I'm definitely not on board with this whole thing.  It just seems to cross that line of acceptable invasiveness.  And to be honest, if someone wants to attack a plane full of people that badly, there's not much that will stop them.  They'll find a way around any kind of security TSA throws at them.  Furthermore, why aren't we getting full-body-scanned everytime we go to a football game, or Walmart or drive in our cars on a busy freeway?  It's not like there haven't been threats in those places before.  Clearly there are better uses of government money that pouring it all into airport security. 

And if you live in Cleveland, don't even get me started on the OBAMA NEW HIGHWAY SIGN FUND.  Millions of dollars spent replacing signs with identical signs.  And putting up two LIVE ALERT signs that have been turned off for 8 months before they have 'nothing to report'.

Sigh.  If only I could run for president.  Ice cream for everyone!

weekend wrapup.

Busy weekend for us...although somewhat relaxing.  Except that I definitely have a pinched nerve in my back from sleeping funny.  So if you need to talk to me, please stand to the right.  Chances are I won't see you if you're on the left.  Sigh.

Friday we went out to dinner and then Saturday morning headed to Solon.  I had a quick photo session in the metroparks, gorgeous.  And Adam went to my mom's to tackle some home improvement projects with my brother.  Namely, operation GRANDMA IS COMING!  That's right, my 88 year old Grandma from California (remember this adventurous trip?) is flying all the way to Ohio for Christmas!  Which means a lot of prep work on our end.  Well, Chris/Adam's end since they're the ones with the tools.  [Note I did not say expertise, I just said tools]  Since Grandma can't handle stairs very well, the boys put up some doors to block off our dining room from the rest of the house so she can have a nice private bedroom.  They even wired up some cable tv for her!  Fancy.  Here they are, attempt to remove molding after politely asking my mom if they could perform some destruction on her doorways in order to make the doors fit better:

 
We jokingly call their home improvement efforts 'C-Plus Improvement' because 'good enough is good enough'. 

After their stunning HGTV efforts, we headed over to see Wren and Joe's new house which was just as gorgeous as their home tour video promised!  And played the new Black Ops game.  Well, played is a term I'd use loosely for Wren and I.  More like we followed each other around and provided a 2-for-1 deal for the enemy.

Sunday was spent cheering on the browns with some family and friends at a local dive bar.  Although I'm disappointed we weren't able to win or at least tie in overtime, as a Browns fan, you've just got to be happy that they gave us a good game to watch.

So there ya go, life's not that exciting around our house lately.  Ricki's been guarding the homestead from his bean bag chair, Adam's been working ridiculous hours and I've just been attempting to keep up with housework.