Home Improvement

Six years ago I painstakingly debated over brushed nickel or bronze hardware for our kitchen cabinets. I am so glad I picked the bronze, it goes beautifully with the Safety First cabinet locks. Six years ago I ordered glass coasters and inserted photos from my vacation in France. The black and white pictures went perfectly with my living room decor. This weekend, I shoved them in the back of a closet and replaced them with $5 non-breakable coasters from Target. Six years ago I searched everywhere for the perfect glossy-black paint for our coffee table. This weekend I stuck 3M tape on that perfect paint job and dressed the table up with foam caps on each corner. Funny, how your idea of home improvement changes after you bring children into the household.

Staycation Part 2

Being home 4 days in a row has given us the rare chance to just chill out. We've taken lots of walks and enjoyed some time relaxing on the lawn yesterday. Today, we hit the lake.

Staycation Part 1

We've been enjoying a 4-day staycation (vacation at home). On Saturday we went downtown Iowa City for lunch and then toured the Old Capitol Museum. Please don't tell anyone that this was my first trip inside Old Cap...I might be fired.

On Sunday we were hot on the trail of Grant Wood stopping at the Lincoln Cafe in Mt. Vernon and continuing on to Stone City (pictured). We wound our way back to Cedar Rapids where we stopped off to tour Brucemore. Animal control greated us and informed us that there was a stray pit bull lose on the grounds. That's all I had to hear...back in the car without a tour. I'll be happy to visit Brucemore on another day.

Great Jones County Fair

On Thursday night we went to the Great Jones County Fair in Monticello to see Brooks and Dunn. I was very impressed with what this small town pulls off each year and strongly suggest you all visit next summer. Prior to the concert we loaded up on Fair Food. Yummm......fresh fried potato chips for me and a pork chop sandwich for Scott, followed by a corn dog for each of us. Did I say we went to the fair for a concert? Ha! That's just my cover story for inhaling grease! Oh, the concert was pretty good too. Excuse me, I was so wrapped up in remembering the food that I forgot...Scott caught a t-shirt shot out of Kicks Brooks' t-shirt gun. I knew marrying an all-state tight end would come in handy at some point.

My Buddy

There was a yogurt melts feeding frenzy at our house last night when Miss Veda and her mommy stopped by. Who could eat the yogurt melts faster? Who could swipe one out of the other's mouth? Evy and Veda were pretty cute together. They played, took some pokes at each other and stole toys back and forth from each other. Two fiesty little girls! And, it looks like they go to the same hair stylist.

Daddy's Girl

While doing our family shopping the other night Evy and Scott went one direction and I went another. When we met back up Evy had this piano in her lap and she was happily banging out a tune on the keyboard. Then, I spotted this ball in the cart as well. One inquisitive look at Scott and I got the following response, "She likes the piano so I'm going to get it for her. And, she needs a ball." I don't think it's a coincidence that she was wearing her "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" shirt when this all went down.

Mamma Mia!

Did anyone like this movie? I just watched it for the first time on HBO. I was a big fan of the live show, but could hardly stand the movie. Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan were not made for musicals...I fast forwarded through all of their solos. The two and a half star rating was very generous, in my opinion.