New Floor

Two years ago, Nick tiled the floor in our kitchen.

It ended up costing us around $600.

Imagine my dismay, when shortly after we had the floors installed, the grout started coming up, and the tiles started cracking.

The best we can figure is that the cement compound under the tiles was a bad batch.

Over time, my floors went from looking nice, to looking like garbage.

At first, I bought a rug to hide the trouble spots.

Then I bought a second, bigger rug.

But eventually, there was no hiding it.  The floors were crap.

The final straw was when Reagan cut her hand on a broken piece of tile she picked up.

I did a lot of research on different types of flooring.  I needed something budget-friendly, and something that DIY novices could handle.

Lumber liquidators had a product that fit the bill.  So, I purchased it, and we got to work.

Nick did most of the demo work.

The existing tile came up with very little effort.

The hardest part was getting the backer-board out.  Nick spent a lot of time on that.

Then, I set about removing the paste from the sub floor, leftover from the 1980's vinyl flooring that had initially been in the kitchen.

The sub-floor was finally prepped, and ready.
Over the next 3 days I spent about 8 hours installing the floor in our 100 square foot kitchen.  The most time-consuming part was cutting the planks to fit in the nooks and crannies around the kitchen, and in the pantry.

But I felt such a sense of accomplishment when it was finally done!

Sure, it's a bamboo pattern, that's directly next to the real wood flooring in my dining room.  Clash!

It didn't do anything to boost the attractive factor of my kitchen.  I'm still living with Formica countertops, and the orange oak cabinets.  But it is a definite improvement.

And at .49 cents/square foot, I'm not going to cry if it only lasts 5 years.  All told, I put new flooring in my kitchen for less than $75.

And I did it myself.

The Biggest Parenting Mistake I've Made, To Date.

I broke Elsa and Cohen of their binky habits, at the same time, over the summer.

I threw some away.  But, every time I've stumbled across one in the house, when I'm cleaning; I've put it in the cabinet above the stove.  Pretty soon, there was quite a collection.  Cohen hid pacifiers all over the house!

In December, one of Nick's workweeks when he worked all nights, Cohen and I ended up getting sick.
One night, I was so tired, and Cohen wouldn't sleep.  So, I went to the kitchen, and got a binky.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

I got sleep that night.
But I found out that breaking Cohen of the binky the second-time around would be far worse!
Now, he knew where the binky's were hidden.  He'd stand underneath the cupboard, and cry.  OK, actually, HE'D scream, for a binky.  He can speak a lot better now.  And he would hound me for a binky.

For an entire month, he was back on the binky.

It took a lot more work this time, to get him "off" the binky.
A lot more crying at nap, and bedtime.
But I finally managed it.  Again.

And then....  Two days after Cohen had "forgotten" about the binky he got a cold.
Nick was at home.  And Cohen wasn't sleeping.
So, Nick gave him.  Yes.   A binky.

I took that sucker out of Cohens mouth so fast, the next morning!
I'm not going through this a 3rd time.

Gender Reveal Party

Everyone is so excited that my brother, Brian, and his wife, Jenny, will be welcoming a new little bundle this spring!  They've been married for 6 years.
They've been the "fun" Aunt and Uncle for a long time.

I can't wait to teach their child all of the antics, that Brian has passed along to my kids (think, wet-willy's).

Seriously though, welcoming a new baby is always a reason to celebrate.

Jenny put together a gender-reveal party.
At the beginning of the party she had all of the guests pick out a baby rattle in either: blue, or pink.  Depending on which gender they thought the baby was.

I picked a blue rattle.  I was the only female of the group that did.

Then, a pinata was set up.
The kids got to take turns hitting the pinata.

Everyone took a turn.  Except Elsa.  She didn't want to hit the pinata.
Reagan, on the other hand, got REALLY in to it!

Toward the end, Jenny took a turn, and a single piece of blue taffy came flying out of the pinata.
It's a Boy!

The kids kept-at hitting the pinata, and they all went home with a large haul of blue taffy and chocolate coins.

Staycation.

When we went on vacation to Seattle, in October, we earned enough stays at Marriott Hotels to be "Elite".  Since that happened, I've been getting promotions to earn free nights, and we earn bonus Marriott points.  It's kind of nice.
The winter promotion was: stay two nights, get one night free.  You could earn up to 2 free nights.
We needed one more stay, to earn a second "free" night.
So, I used Nick's corporate discount to get a cheap-o rate at the Fairfield Inn, in Layton.  We decided to have a stay-cation.

Reagan kept insisting that she wanted to eat at Red Lobster.  I didn't fight it, because Brian and Jenny gave us a Red Lobster gift card for Christmas, so dinner would be free.
It's where we ended up going for dinner to start off our staycation.
There was a 15 minute wait, to be seated.  The kids loved watching the lobsters, in the tank.  And everyone ate what they ordered.  So, I'd deem it a success.

Then, we drove over to the hotel.  It's the first time I've ever stayed at the Fairfield Inn brand, of Marriott hotels.  And it'll probably be the last...
I knew it was "low man on the totem pole", of all the Marriott brands.  But, I just didn't realize the difference in quality would be so drastic compared to, say, a Courtyard.

The kids were happy, and that's what matters most.
Any time they get to go swimming, they are happy.
We swam, a lot, while we were there.

 

When we first got to the hotel, it was deserted.  We had the pool all to ourselves.
Then, a bus unloaded a large group of high-school wrestlers.
They headed straight to the pool, too.  And things got very rowdy, very quickly.

We packed up our kids, and headed for the room, round about the time swim trunks started coming off, and were flying through the air.

I requested a room on a high floor.  They put us on the top floor.
I thought that all of the wrestlers were assigned rooms on the 1st floor.  So, I thought we wouldn't see them for the rest of the night.
Oh boy, was I wrong.
After the kids had bathed, I left the room to get some bottled water at the vending machine.

I opened the door to our room, and right there, on the floor was a pair of boxers....
I stepped out in to the hall, and out of the corner of my eye, saw two naked teenage boys streaking down the hall.

Whatever.  I was a teenager once too.  I was trying not to be too uptight.  But seriously?!
I mentioned it to the front desk.  I wasn't the only one.  Another Mom was speaking to the desk clerk, because the wrestlers were mooning each other, in front of her 6 year old daughter.  That Mom asked to be moved to a floor that was "wrestler-free".  Apparently, there were so many high-schoolers staying at the hotel, that they needed more rooms than just the ones on the first floor.  Lucky us.

The next morning, I told Nick that we needed to get to breakfast early, before those boys hit the buffet like a swarm of locust.
We did eat early.  But fortunately, the boys had weigh-in that morning, so they weren't going to eat until after the stood on the scales.  So, the food shortage didn't start until later in the AM.

The thing that killed me, was that I didn't see a single adult chaperon, for those boys!
The coach made an appearance the next morning.  I saw him speaking to the hotel manager.  And she was really brown-nosing that guy.  At first I was annoyed.  But when I thought about it, I realized that the hotel probably made a boatload of money off of that wrestling team.
Lesson learned.
If the rate is super-cheap, the hotel will attract deal-seekers.

I just got the spring promotion, from Marriott.  And again, we'll need to stay somewhere cheap for a night, to earn a free night.  I can tell you right now, that we won't be going back to the Layton Fairfield Inn :)
I'm open to suggestions about other affordable Marriott properties.

I snapped this picture of my handsome boy sitting under the sink at the hotel:

He has learned to squeeze in to a small space, when he get possession of an electronic device.  If the girls can't find him, or squeeze in next to him, they won't be able to take the phone, or ipad away from him.  What a smartie!

2014.

Here goes.  I've committed to another year of  blogging.

On New Year's Day, I took Reagan and Elsa to see Frozen.  Again.  Elsa is OBSESSED with that movie.  And I have no problem indulging her.  Elsa's character, in Frozen is probably my most favorite Disney character now.

I've had to laugh.  Since the movie came out, there have been several times when I've been in public with Elsa, and if I say her name loud enough for other people to hear, inevitably, I get a comment about my Elsa having the same name as the Frozen character.  Mostly, the comments come from other little girls.  It's obvious they wish their name was Elsa.  It's great.

So, the second time we saw it, Reagan's friend Evia came with us.  They didn't want me to take their picture near the Frozen poster.

Later in the week, I took Elsa shopping with me.  She is getting to be my favorite shopping buddy.  I thank God every day, for sending me such an easygoing, happy child. Most of the time.  The other day, I told my Mom that Elsa is either my easiest child, or my most difficult child, BY A LARGE MARGIN.

Anyway, on our shopping day, she was her usual angel self.
We went to a lot of stores.
By the time we made it to the mall, she had zonked out.

I really hit a home-run with Elsa's "big" Christmas present.  Cuddles the monkey has been her new best friend.  She takes that ape everywhere.

She's also started a music class, with some of the other girls from our neighborhood, and she's still going to pre-school.  She loves being social.
One evening she was walking around the house talking to no-one.  Or, so I thought.  She walked in to the room where I was sitting and introduced me to her two "invisible friends" Brunella, and Bubbles.  Oh boy.  I need to set up some play-dates with real, live playmates.  Too bad, there aren't many children in our neighborhood, her age.
I'm really going to have to do better by my blonde-haired baby.  Especially this summer, when she doesn't have preschool, or music class!