Master bedroom

Do you know how hard it is to pick a shade of WHITE?  The amount of options is ridiculous!  My master bedroom was kind of a caramely, gold, peachy color - which was really pretty with the furniture and bedding I had in it, will not be so good with Marlon's Man furniture.  Jenna volunteered to help - yes, she volunteered.  She's helped me paint this room before, she knew what she was getting herself into .  . or onto.  The pot shelf:

I really don't like being on ladders, I chose to paint closer to the ground.

(Notice the HGTV on in the background for inspiration?!)

Even covered in paint, this child is GORGEOUS!!

Thanks for helping me, Jenna!!!  It went a whole lot faster with you there.  Love you!!  XOXOXOX

Happy Birthday, Jenna!!!

Dear Jenna,

October 15th, 1989, 2:31 a.m., you made your debut. What a beautiful baby you were! And what a beautiful young woman you've become. I'm so proud to be your Mama. There have been times when it hasn't always been easy to be your Mom (your Junior High years were challenging), but I've ALWAYS been proud of you. ALWAYS. You are smart, funny, talented and stunningly beautiful. I look at you and just can't believe (to borrow a phrase from one of our favorite shows) that I made you from scratch. I can't help but think, "Dang - I did something right!!!" :)

I love you so much, Jenna. Happy, happy birthday.

Love you forever,

Mom

Favorite child

Email from Jenna today which made me totally crack up:

Mother's Day Weekend

My work took the employees to the Diamondback's game on Saturday. Our seats were in the new all-you-can-eat section. Who better to go with me to an all-you-can-eat event than my favorite boy!!! The all-you-can-eat is typical ball park food: popcorn, peanuts, chips, hot dogs, soda and water. I guess there was a ball game going on - we were too busy playing with the cool features on Jeremy's cell phone and eating hot dogs to watch it! Have you ever noticed that Jeremy has his Mother's smile?

On Sunday, Jeremy was out of town. He was given tickets to the Diamondback's game - so Jenna and I used them. We're not huge baseball fans - but Jenna is a huge fan of nachos and I am now a huge fan of Gordon Biersch's garlic french fries. Seriously good stuff. The Diamondback's were playing the Washington National's, I have no idea who won the game we were distracted by all the eating, and posting this really cute picture on Jenna's Facebook. Umm, Jenna? Has anybody told you that you look like your Mother?

When we got home from the game, Jenna, my good child, gave me the ultimate Mother's Day gift: she cleaned my bathroom. I love a clean bathroom - that I didn't have to clean myself! And she showed off the skills she's learning in college. She made Chocolate Mousse, from scratch. Not my kind of scratch: chocolate pudding and Cool Whip. Nope. For real from scratch: whipping cream, eggs, sugar and Ghirardelli chocolate. Five bowls, four spatulas and a double boiler later we had Chocolate Mousse. It was Sooooo good! My mother-in-law, Jeri, came for dinner and got to share in the chocolatey goodness. (Jenna put on that apron for you, Brenda!!)

I have good kids. I really do.

Happy Easter!

Isn't this cute? Jenna, my good child, came to help me with the bunny rolls yesterday AND she brought ME an Easter basket. Full of CHOCOLATE! Mmmmm. She's beautiful, smart AND thoughtful. I did a good job somewhere along the line. I love her!!

Happy Easter - I'll see most of you this afternoon.

My 5 Things

5 things I was doing 5 years ago:

Working for an Infiniti dealership
Dating Marlon and keeping it a secret from everyone at work
Remodeling my house
Watching my son graduate from High School
Teaching my daughter how to drive


5 things on my list to do today:

Laundry
Search for a volt meter at Dad's house
Lunch with Jeremy
Balance my checkbook
Make a grocery list

5 things I would do with a million dollars:

Pay for Jeremy and Jenna's college
Payoff Brenda and Marlon's houses
Go to Hawaii
Put in a pool
Build a shoe closet

5 places I have lived:

6th Avenue
Alma School and 8th Ave
Stewart and Southern
Brown and Center
Southern and Higley
(those are ALL of the places I have lived!!!)

5 jobs I have held:

Clerk at Card and Camera Corral
Accounting clerk at a mortgage company
Fabricator in a computer chip clean room
Full time Mommy
Payroll Goddess

She's cooking now!

Jenna called and wanted to know if I would teach her how to make one of her favorite meals. I guess she's getting tired of the Wendy's drive thru or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

She is a fast learner! It turned out really, really good. What did we make? Paprika chicken, smashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. Who knew that a vegetable would be something that Jenna would actually request?

Dear God,

Thank you for keeping my baby safe. I'm sorry your angels have had to work overtime watching over her. Remember when she was little and I had her convinced that the car wouldn't run unless the seatbelts were buckled? I hope I'm forgiven for that little untruth. She always wears her seatbelt, it's a habit, and who knows what would have happened if she didn't have it on last Friday. Thank you for giving Allen Breed the smarts to invent airbags. It might have given her a bloody nose, but it also helped keep her from going through the windshield. She walked away from her accident with a couple of bruises because you were watching over her. Thank you. I love her and I'm so glad she's safe.

Love, Lori

First act of independence

My younger baby decided to move out. NOT because life with Mom is excruciatingly painful (or unbearable or anything other than wonderful), but because she wants to be independent. She moved out of the house on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, she totaled her car. (link to her blog for her version) She's OK, everybody else is OK, the only thing not OK is the poor little Sentra. Welcome to life on your own. It's always something . . . . I heard that somewhere.

Don't make me cry

They did it again. They made me cry. I know . . . . you're all thinking, "what's new? you cry at TV commercials." I get that genetically from my Dad. My kids went way above and beyond for me this Christmas. They totally ignored me (gee - what a surprise). They were given a $5 limit for Christmas and they had to spend that $5 at a Dollar Store. They didn't. Instead, they pooled their resources, called in some favors and got me a SWEET laptop WITH a custom paint job.

Equal Opportunity Tree

Every year, Jeremy and Jenna get a new ornament for the tree. I try to pick one that matches what they are interested in or something they've done that year. It's easy to tell which ornament belong to which child. For the last couple of years, Jeremy wasn't living at home, so there were no boy ornaments on the tree. It was a GIRLY tree: bears, shoes, Barbies. This year, when they decorated the tree, Jeremy was trying to counteract the girly. That last Barbie looks kind of peeved that she has to share the limelight with a Superman lunchbox.

Home again

My house is once again inhabited by my babies. Jenna moved back from NAU today. She has decided she would rather go to Scottsdale Community College. She can work on the same degree (Hotel/Restaurant Management) at Community College rates. I borrowed Jeremy's truck and my lovely mother-in-law, Jeri, drove up to Flagstaff with me to bring back 4 months worth of . . . . stuff. It will be . . . . .interesting(!) having everybody under one roof again.