A touch of color

I’ve been feeling alot more like myself these days which means I’ve been on super hyper mode as my body is playing catch up from 2 1/2 years of being practically motionless. 

I’m one of those annoying naturally hyper people, yeah the real annoying naturally hyper people.  When MG and I first got married he was (kinda) ok with my hyper mode, it got the house clean and furniture moved.  As the years passed and my condition worsened I moved my hyper activity from moving my body to only using my arms…hence the knitting.  I still knit regularly, still working on that Every Way Wrap…damn thing is long!  However now I can do more stuff like clean, laundry, unclutter and PAINT!! 

When I lived alone I painted my apartment like 12 times.  I’d switch colors from room to room, play around with weird swatches and redecorate every area just for kicks.  I mainly painted in the winter when I would get snowed in and had nothing to do.  In the warmer weather I’d just jog or hit the gym to help relieve myself from all the extra energy.  Most of the time no one knew I even painted anything because if I thought something I did sucked I’d just take my plain white and cover up the ugly then start all over again. 

I have painting issues. I know.

So now that I feel better I’m back to where I was 2.5 years ago and that’s “This bedroom needs to be painted like yesterday”.  Before we got preggers with Gray I was in the middle of convincing MG that our room should be painted a nice chocolate brown.  At the time we didn’t own a ladder that would allow me to tackle this project but now? Oh yeah, now we have a ladder…a good one. >:)  MG is now ok with the brown walls (well we’ll see how ok he is when I start painting lines of different browns all over the place) but he’s not ok with me painting his old dressers white.  >:|   The furniture is old, like really really old.  It’s his grandparents old furniture that has served us all well but we (and I mean all of us) haven’t taken care of these pieces at all.  The wood is holding up well but it’s scratched and water marked like crazy, it’s sad and ugly from all the neglect.  MG and I have already said that once we can we will replace this furniture so my theory is, if I paint our existing furniture then it’ll last us a few more years.  (also, we just bought a new bed so I’m not into spending on new furniture unless it’s a couch.  An L couch to be exact)

I’m also thinking about painting Gray’s room Tiffany blue and her bathroom hot pink.  Both colors were vitoed by MG because he was painting the baby room.  (stoopid fumes) Otherwise I totally would have painted them myself.  What does a guy know about girly girl rooms anyway?   pfft

GAH! Lizard!!!

The little bastards are back and freaky looking as ever!

I HATE that these lizards think my front steps are a good place to live.  Last year we had a female who was (no lie) 12 inches long hanging out on my front steps.  I hated her.  She scared the life out of me so many times I stopped using my front door.  This year I’m letting Sonya snap at them in hopes that they’ll scurry away to another home.

Bastards.

Missed Jen Lancaster AGAIN…ef! ef! ef!!!

So yeah, I haven’t been posting like AT ALL but not because I’ve forgotten but because I’ve been busy.  Sometime towards the end of April I started to feel (still ouchy and overall shitty) stronger so I decided to use whatever strength I had towards spending more time with Gray.  I have to say that since I started doing that she’s been a much happier kid.   I had the sneaky suspicion that she was acting up when I was/wasn’t around because she was missing some quality mom time.  Oops!

The first few weeks took a toll on me quickly.  Even if I spent 10 min playing with her I needed 3 hours to recover.   By last week I was able to carry her around and walk with her in my arms.  Again, it hurts like all hell but I can do it and I don’t seem to be breaking anything.  woo!

unfortunately last Thursday my mom decided she needed to do an emergency trip to NJ to take care of some business.  Being that I still wasn’t up to taking care of Gray alone we all went with her.

Somehow between VA and NJ we all forgot that I’m not yet capable of caring for Gray alone and I found myself doing all the caregiving alone.  Gray and I are sharing a room at my parents house so I put her to bed and I pick her up in the morning. My mom has made it a point to not be around at all so I’ve also been watching Gray, making all the meals, cleaning up after her, playing with her, giving her baths, going out alone and carrying her up and down the stairs.  It’s been 6 days of this and I’m at the point that my whole body starts to shake and muscles from my neck, ankles, thighs, fingers, ears and chest are kicking in to help me have the strength to lift her into and out of her crib.  I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen.

Thank GOD Vicodin is still my friend and I have an ass load of pills stockpiled in my nightstand.   

On the bright side Gray and I have had a really nice time here.  I had to improvise with watching her so I decided to have daily activities outside my parents house in order for me to not have a screaming kid in my care.  Friday when we arrived to NJ I took Gray to play at the sandy playground near my parents house then we stopped by my aunts house so she could visit with her cousin Bry.  Bry is a few years older but they love each other so much they are constantly asking for one another.  They played till they were so tired they couldn’t pick up their feet when they walked. LOL

Saturday I took Gray to another playground where she ran like a maniac for 2 hours.  Afterwards we stopped at the mall (cause it’s Jersey and going to the mall is required), after we stopped to visit my aunt until it was past Gray’s bedtime.  Oops.

Sunday we visited with a few family members and then I decided to take Gray to the zoo where we spent alot of money to get in and only spent an hour looking at a couple of animals.  We did get to see a bear though and that made Gray so excited that afterwards she got all sleepy on me so we had to leave for an early (but long…woo!) nap.  Later in the day we went to a BBQ at my aunts house.  All in all on Sunday we managed to visit 20 family members at 6 different houses all within a 2 mile radius.  That’s one of the few things that I miss about living in NJ, my family lived close by so I was never ever alone.

Monday I was tired as all heck and sick of the bickering that was going on at my house (‘rents are annoying) so I took Gray to Liberty Science Center.  She had a great time, I’m still trying to get over the cost for parking and entry.  DAMN that was expensive and I didn’t learn a damn thing!  Later in the day we went back to play with Bry (who btw Gray calls ‘da boyee’).  Missed her bedtime this time by 2 hours.  Double oops!

Tuesday I had no idea what to do so I decided I’d take her to an indoor play park that’s nearby.  I figured if I get there early there will only be little kids (under 5) there and I was right.  Gray ran like a maniac for 1.5 hours, then sat to have lunch with us, then ran like a maniac for another 45 minutes.  Finally when I realized the older kids were starting to show up I called it a day.  After another long 3 hour nap we went to visit her other cousin Nikki where they played for what seemed like a few minutes but was more like 3 hours.  We missed her bedtime once again this time I don’t even know by how long.

Today (Wed) we were supposed to go visit my sister for breakfast but Gray woke up with a fever.  All plans were cancelled including my plans to abandon everyone and go see my favorite author “Jen Lancaster” who is in NY for the release of her new book “My Fair Lazy“.  I was supposed to go see her last year but instead I accidentally slammed the trunk of my car onto my head.  We decided that driving 250 miles after a head injury that caused me to go to the ER and get a few staples was not a good idea.  This time I called off my night out for the sake of my sweet Gray…I love her but DANG I really wanted to go tonight!  grr…  

These books (including her new release My Fair Lazy that’s not in the picture, Pretty in Plaid isn’t pictured either but that’s cause it’s already signed…my BFF got a copy for me…this is too long of an insert for parenthesis right?) will have to wait until next year.  That is if she writes another book and has a book signing. 

If you haven’t read these yet I urge you to read Jen’s books starting with ‘Bitter is the New Black” all the way to “My Fair Lazy“.  She’s a funny author who isn’t afraid to write about her wrongs and is kind of a bitch but a loveable one that makes you laugh.