House Pics--Part One

I can't tell you how many times I have almost posted pics of the new house on here. And every time I'm about to--I hesitate because, even though we've come a looooong way since we moved in, I still feel like things are not ready enough for pics...So many things still need to be done like window treatments and replacing gross light fixtures, hanging up pictures and getting new furniture. But then I decided I was being too picky and I should just show them already. So keep in mind that it's not DONE done--but you'll get the idea!

I'm only going to the first floor tonight. I need to retake a few of the upstairs that I'm still being neurotic about.

OK, so....Entry hall (facing front door):

Another view of entry hall. I don't think it reads in these pics, but the hall is painted a pewtery gray color.
Dining room--still very messy with stuff all piled up...Color on walls is called Yam and I'm happy with the way it turned out.
Living room. Remember the retro green velvet sofa? I got it! This room is painted a blue that I had the paint store mix up for me--I couldn't find it in an existing paint so we invented it!
The fireplace was a VERY exciting find. When we bought the house it had been plastered over (for probably over 50 years!) and we took a chance by tearing all the plaster and wood down--but it was worth it! It was somewhat damaged and the wood you see in this pic was missing, but we had a carpenter recreate it in a way we feel is true to what the original must have been.
Another view of the living room--you can see the giant frog and bee science charts!
Family room--this room was originally called the "music room" but it's working pretty well as a family room for now, though some day we will probably add a family room on. Sorry about the blankets and magazines on the floor!
Kitchen--very messy! Note the "Princess Potty" on the floor--Pickle is potty trained!!
Screened-in porch. I took this pic at night so it doesn't look that great. I need to take some better pics because this is a nice room!

And here's the backyard (unraked!):
I'll show you the upstairs soon--I'm still waiting for some stuff to be delivered like the rug for Pickle's room--then it will be ready for the unveiling!

Meanwhile--remember a long time ago I said we were going to a dinner party with one of last season's Top Chefs (Radhika) cooking? It's happening tomorrow night! So I should have an interesting evening to tell you about and hopefully get some fun pics--and maybe some good gossip on Padma and Tom Colicchio!!

Worst Halloween Evah!

This pumpkin represents our Halloween this year: soggy, sad and slumped over.
First of all, it rained. And rained and rained and rained.

In the morning I was hopeful that we'd get the rain out of the way in time for trick-or-treating--but no, it actually got worse as the day went on to the point where the sidewalks started flooding.

Although Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, our trick or treating was slated for Friday as the school parade and parties are all part of the Halloween tradition. So the plan was that the kids go to school in the morning and then come home at lunch to get their costumes on--then back to school for the parade, etc.

So I practically swam to school to get the kids at lunch and began the frenzy of costumes and makeup application.

Patrick was going to be a zombie-type Ronald McDonald. (By the way I started earching for Ronlad costumes on eBay, etc. a few weeks ago and they were expensive--like $150! Then I scored one for $20 on Craigslist!)

So anyway, I had just applied Patrick's clown makeup and was trying to get his wig adjusted when he suddenly sluped over Teddy who was sitting in a kitchen chair. At first I thought he was goofing around and bothering Teddy or something--but I was screaming "Get up Patrick!" and Teddy was screaming "Get off me!" and I was like shaking him and stuff when I realized he had fainted!

I was so scared, but he came to and seemed okay, though a little dizzy... I called the doctor who thought it was a fluke due to the humid weather, costume, wig and whatnot--so I kept him home from school for the rest of the day so he could lie down.

I call this pic Clown Down.

So that kind of put a major damper on the day, but after resting for awhile, seemed well enough for trick or treating, so we ventured out into the muck.

Now for some pics:

Pickle, for months now, has been saying she wanted to be a "Pink Girl" for Halloween--but it sounds extra cute when she says it because it kind of sounds like she has a little English accent when she says "girl." The Pink Girl is a "Supergirl" costume she saw in a catalog and she was adamant about it--so that's what she was!

She was thrilled that she could wear some "pink girl makeup" too!
Gooser was a Transformer and Teddy was (a very realistic, I think!) Michael Jackson:
Here's Patrick perked up and Pickle:
All the kids outside--Andy was the Burger King:
Here I am hiding under two umbrellas!
This is what the sidewalks looked like:
Andy had to carry Pickle through all that water!
Action trick-or-treating shot!
I love this pic:
After the candy and the rain, we came home to have our little party, but it wasn't nearly as fun as usual, because my sister and her kids always come--but they couldn't this year because one of her kids was diagnosed with stupid Swine Flu.

But I managed to make some cupcakes:
And the grossly delicious Kitty Litter cake:

And I made some chili and decorated and stuff...

...but it just wasn't the same.

Let's hope next year is better!!

Weekend Getaway: The Good, The Bad and The Scary!!

First off, I'm in a semi-rage because I wrote a looong post a couple of nights ago and uploaded a LOT of pictures--and the whole thing deleted--just like that! No back-up, nothin'. So I'm disgruntled, but I will regroup now and carrry on!

So what I was going on (and on) about was that the work on our new house is finally FINALLY done!! Well, mostly...we still have to do a little floor refinishing so we will have to evacuate in a couple of weeks for a few days--but after all that's gone on here, that doesn't seem too bad.

So now that the house is under control, we managed to go off for a little weekend getaway--well technically we were going out of town for a funeral because Don's aunt fell out a window (!?!) (although the details are sketchy and shrouded in mystery) but then there was confusion with the date of the funeral, so actually we missed it entirely. So in a nutshell--we went out of town for a non-funeral and to investigate the scene of the crime so to speak where the unfortunate window accident occured.

Are you confused yet? I am. Now you can see why I'm so mad my other post was deleted--I swear it made more sense the first time I wrote it!

So we drove to the farm town where Don's mom grew up (Trivia: Don's mom rode in a cart pulled by a pony to school every day.) (More trivia: The pony's name was Don! Is it weird he's named after a horse?).

Anyway, we went to this town which is very quaint and was extra-nice because of the fall folliage--also making for a great backdrop for photos of the kids!

Our first stop was the farm where Don's mom grew up (and also the scene of the window accident). There were so many beautiful spots for pics!

I made the kids lay down in the leaves for a photo op--though they were not too keen on doing it!
They look happy--but they were complaining.
Andy and Pickle were the only ones that enjoyed it!
Here are some of the kids in front of a shed:
The farm is surrounded by corn fields as far as the eye can see--so we ended up with lots of corn pics.
Pickle was really into the corn! It's grain corn and very beautiful:
All the kids posing with their corn:
Here's Pickle with some kind of grain. Hay? I'm not too good with the farm terms...
And Pickle checking out the well water (I love this pic):
And yet another one of Pickle hanging on a windmill:
The smokehouse:
This place was infested with lady bugs! I call this pic Potrait of suitcase and Lady Bugs:
Oops--another one of Pickle ringing the dinner bell:
After that, we headed down the road to the family cemetery. There were lots of cool picture opportunities there too.


Here's the cemetery with the cornfields in the background:
I liked the way the moss looked on this gravestone:
Poor Bony Bly! Struck down by one of those newfangled automobiles!
Gooser amongst the graves:
This Way Up:
Angel grave:
Miss Pickle:
After the cemetery, we did a little more sightseeing around town. Here are the kids posing by a river:
And by some beautiful trees:
I LOVE this pic of Pickle!!

Here are the kids with a cool statue:

And now for the scary part of the trip...

We went out for a nice dinner that evening and Pickle ate the usual kid fare--grilled cheese, etc.--but she had a bite of Teddy's raspberry cheesecake and things went rapidly downhill after that.

Right after eating it she said she felt like she was going to throw up--and as soon as we got to the hotel room, she did. All over everything...

But as I was changing her pajamas I noticed that she had a bumpy rash on her stomach and I realized she was having an allergic reaction.

Patrick has a peaunut allergy (nightmare!) so I always carry Benadryl in my purse and I gave her one right away. Then she had a bath and seemed to be fine, so I put her to bed.

About a half hour later, she started coughing. At first I thought Oh no--I hope she's not getting sick. Then, as the coughing continued, I started to worry that maybe she had aspirated the vomit when she got sick and it was messing up her lungs or something.

So I got her out of the crib and realized that not only was she coughing non-stop, she was wheezing and it sounded BAD.

She was kind of scratching at herself so I lifted up her pajama top and saw that she was COVERED in a horrible rash.

By now it was about 11:00 at night, but Don and I had no choice--we had to drive her to the nearest Emergency Room. Which was unfortunately not very close.

I decided to give her one more Benadryl before we left--and I'm so glad I did--because I think it made a huge difference in her breathing. Then we had to drive on these very dark and winding roads--not really knowing where we were going. And did I mention it was raining?

But we made it in one piece and they were able to fix her right up with some steroids and antihistimines.

This is what the backs of her legs looked like:

Basically, her entire body was bright red and covered with bumps. It was SO scary!

Poor Pickle!

But she's fine now--though I have to get to the bottom of what she's allergic to. I called the restaurant, thinking there must have been nuts in that cheesecake, but they say no...I'm having her allergy tested soon.

The next day we were all exausted from our night of terror, so we didn't hang around long--just for breakfast and a few more pics.

Here are some of Teddy looking like a little model!

Gooser and Patrick:

And, finally, the kids posing on some rocks:

OMG--can you believe how long this post is? Can you believe I had to write it TWICE?? Sorry if it's incoherent--it's late, but I'm determined to post it tonight.