THE Project...Week 2

By first look at the picture, you can't really see much difference than the first week of cleaning the office, right? Well, trust me, there's a big difference. I have sorted all the bills from the past...ahem, nine months; and am ready to disassemble the table formerly known as my scrapbooking table.I am going to try to have Matt do it, but we'll see how lucky I get with that. Once that's down, I can start to put together the new Ikea bookshelf that's still in a flat box in the back of my car. (Matt just mentioned that he would like to get in the office to do the taxes on Sunday so yipee! I have a goal of trying to get all this done by Sunday).
I am typing this on my knees because the chair has some scrapbooking supplies on it. I have one minor purchase to make from Amazon for some of my scrapbooking supplies (Crop in Style PSB Binder--unless someone has one they want to part with for less than $20) and then I can start to put the desk together and reorganize this office.

Wish me luck.

On to Soccer

Diana started Just for Kicks soccer class today. It's an eight-week class for a half hour each that teaches the fundamentals. They do some kicking drills and just work on kicking. They did a lot of that. It was great. Diana was awesome. I was most proud of Diana during ballet on the days when she really listened to her teacher and followed instruction and didn't get influenced by the other girls who were off running around and doing her own thing. She's in a soccer class now with 3-4 year olds, boys and girls. While it is a Mommy, Daddy and Me class, Matt and I stayed behind for the most part and just let her do her soccer thing. She listened, she kicked the heck out of the soccer ball, she got a great workout and most important, she had fun! She had a huge smile on her face after we left...and that was even when she realized that she had some fans there - Grandpa D recorded the whole thing on video (in addition to my standard picture taking), and Gramma V and her friend Linda stopped by on a covert mission to spy on the little one in her class. It was a great way to start the morning!
Here's some photos from the class...Enjoy!

This is Matt putting her cleats on.


This is Matt and Diana warming up.


More warming up.


Diana scoring on an open-netter. :)


I think I need one more barrette next time, Mommy.


Is there anything better than seeing your kid smile so big?

Gramma V, the rock star

I have preached over and over how awesome my mom (aka Gramma V) is. She helps us out with Diana at the drop of a hat and supports my sister and I and our families 100 percent. She's just awesome. I could go on and on, but she truly is the best lady in the world.
Today, I am not the only one to believe that. My mom was named California Adult Education Adminstrator of the Year today. I don't know the name of the organization that named her that because when her secretary called me this afternoon, I was in tears and didn't hear. I will update this when I find out for sure.
The Fairfield-Suisun Adult School is such a special place to my mom. She's been there for a very long time and it's a very dear place in her heart. She works extremely hard and this award comes as no surprise to me. She's the bomb! It's nice to know that someone gets rewarded for working hard and truly caring and being passionate about something.
I hope my mom gets recognized by the school district, the local community and other organizations for this honor because it's truly deserving. The number of people she's touched in her time at the adult school is humongous and the list will keep growing!

Congrats, Gramma V! We are so proud of you!

THE project

The baby that's cooking in the oven has inspired me to get down to work and do some home improvements. No. 1 task is the office, which the baby will share after it's grown out of the bassinet which will be in our room for the first couple months of its life. Eventually, we would like Diana and the baby to share a room, but that's not going to happen until the baby is sleeping through the night. There's no need to deprive Miss D of a good night's sleep.
Anyway, I am going to shame myself by posting a picture after day one of work in the office. This was taken Monday night, but it was mostly after work that was done Sunday night (for all of 1 hour and a half). I know, it's not a lot. But this task is monumental. I am a) a pack rat; b) a slob; c) suck at putting stuff (i.e. paid bills) away. Go ahead, judge me! I pay for it later...like now.
I have months of bills to sort through and file away not to mention all the scrapbooking stuff that has to be organized. I have to disassemble the big table that used to be my scrapbooking table and bring that into the garage (OK, Matt will bring it into the garage). But this is my project. Until I am done, he's not allowed in here. Mostly because I know he would have a heart attack if he sees the mess I am making in here.
I also have to clean out the closet and make room for stuff that matters. For instance, we have team photos from when Matt coached at Hartnell and DeAnza in the early 1990s. Do the math. They have been in some type of storage space since 2001 when we moved in to this house. They have never been put up on the walls. When I asked Matt what he wanted to do with them tonight...he actually suggested we keep them in the frames because he would like to hang them up eventually.
"Uh, sorry, hon...no." This is the baby's room now. Team photos from the 1990s with the scary hair-dos are not going to give my kids nightmares for the rest of their lives. That's what yearbooks are for!
So, here I go. About an hour to an hour and a half every night and I hope to have this project done in two weeks. I will post pics on the progress.

In the meantime, I have to find time to run. I want to do the Run For Good 5K in Fairfield on April 18 with some girls from work so I have to make sure I can still run 3.1 miles without having a heart attack.

Leprechauns Attack!

The leprechauns invaded our house on Monday night...well, I think it was Tuesday morning because the house was perfectly fine when we all went to bed on Monday night. The rascals, one of which was named Angus, left the house in shambles.
They got into Diana's cookies and Cheerios, tore all the blankets and pillows off the couches and played with her dolls and turned the toilet water in all three toilets green.
I have a feeling this is just the start of it all and we are going to be seeing a lot more of Angus and his little friends every year. We will have to be prepared....

Pay it Forward

How it works:The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive a free photo session from me to be used by the end of this year as a gift from me. UPDATE: Please keep in mind that this gift covers the sitting fee only. I will offer all the photos from our shoot to you on a CD for a small fee.
The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions).
Then come back and let me know that you are going to play. Then sit back and wait to see if you are one of the lucky winners. I can't wait to see who I am going to be taking photos of!
It's THAT easy!
Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify.

Good luck!

Chef Pregnant Lady

It's not a news flash that Matt is the chef in the family. He's older than me, grew up in a family where the dad did the cooking, Mom did the baking and just has a knack for it, I guess.
He does the cooking, I clean up afterwards. No biggie.
Well, in the last year, I have been experimenting more with recipes and cooking. Tonight was the big one...a recipe I got off the San Francisco Chronicle Website last week...Penne pasta with meat and sausage. No biggie, right? Wrong. The recipe called for something I think was called cremini mushrooms (I was lucky to find them at Raley's), Brandy (though I didn't use it), marjoram and other spices that I had either never heard of or never used in cooking before and Gruyere cheese (which Raley's also had, luckily).
Preparation took forever and mostly because I grated the fresh parmesean and Gruyere. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, including 15 minutes in the oven to bake. It was delicious.
I found some plain noodles in the dish to give to Diana for dinner and though she just had a couple, she told me that it was very good. Huge compliment.
This is only a dish I will be making on the weekend, because it was way too involved. And now, being pregnant, I can't see myself standing on my two feet for that long period of time in the kitchen. It made a large dish though so we have enough probably for the rest of the week. Yummy! Yay Angela...you goo girl! :)