The Elle Word

Winter, the long hard road to spring.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:46:00 +0000

I was looking through my Kindle books that I downloaded during the Christmas season and realized that Christmas went by way too fast. It always seems to, especially this year since i didn't get all of my seasonal books read. There's the huge anticipation, then the relief that the decorations can come down and the house be put back together after a good cleaning. And then there's the long wait until spring. Why even bother with Valentines day and St. Patrick's day? My eyes are set for March 31, Easter 2013.

Tonight I had a Beat the Winter Blues party for a few friends. What's better on a cold February night than hot cocoa, lots of yummy foods and a few goods friends? I don't think hubby is all that fond of my parties since he and the toddler have to spend an evening out of the house. Usually they visit Chick Fil A and maybe a stop at Cabela's.

I didn't get any photos tonight, sometimes people are too busy behind the camera to really live and participate in life. Not today, I fully enjoyed even minute of my friend time. I'm seriously blessed to have such fantastic women around.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Saturday night E spent the night with my parents. She loves going there. She would carry her bag to the car is she could and she cries if my parents visit here and leave without her. These are they kind of grandparents I had. My grandparents could have given lessons on how to be a grandparent. My parents must have been taking notes. Anyway, M and I went to dinner at Houlihan's that night since it had recently opened in the area. I had heard good things, and the food was good, but the service was TERRIBLE! It was worse than terrible. We arrived at 5:20 and didn't leave until after 7 and only waited briefly to be seated! We didn't have any drinks, so I would think they would be trying to get us to leave faster since our bill wouldn't be much. M texted for a free dessert, we ordered apple pie with ice cream. When it arrived, 20 mins later, the ice cream was melted, so it had sat out, waiting to be delivered that long. Wow. Won't go back there.

After we finally got out of there, I wanted to walk around the corner to Pottery Barn. Last year I had tried to order this:

The Partridge in a Pear Tree Salt and Pepper Shakers. Last year they sold out. M ordered them for me for my birthday last month, they were backordered until Dec. 8th. Dec. 8th comes and goes and no shipment. They actually had these in our store last weekend! M called from the store and canceled the online order, plus he had a 20% off coupon for the day so we ended up saving $17! Kinda makes up for the crappy service at Houlihan's.

A visit with Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000

I love the Christmas season. I love the lights, the coziness and strangely this year, I've really taken to glitter. I'm certain to be cleaning up glitter from projects, ribbon and decorations until June.

We went to the mall the week after Thanksgiving for our visit with Santa. My friend had taken his kids earlier that day and advised us to go early. I already had E's outfit ready to go, so we went that night after we voted in the run-off election. My two main questions for my friend were: Is the set nice, or is it some cardboard background? And the most important question: Is Santa's beard real? I don't even bother with the fake beard Santas.

Ah Glitter. I got the idea from Pinterest, which links to this blog. Plus, my friend Tiffany had done them at her craft day that I was unable to attend, but she was kind enough to bring me the supplies. This was a canvas that I had from her last craft day that I hadn't done anything with and I have a total obsession with moose. I also have a deer head that Tiffany brought me similar to the one on the Crazy Wonderful Blog.

This is our mantle for the holidays this year. Fresh greenery, pinecones, green ornaments and Al. I tried a green Banana Republic scarf on Al, but it was just too short.

I almost took all the ornaments off the tree last week to add more stuff. It just seemed uninteresting to me. M didn't want me to put on the regular berry garland, in case E put it in her mouth, and I forgot about the grapevines I had saved to wrap around it. All the ornaments are shatterproof and I don't have out any of my special ornaments that I have made and collected over the years. It will be quite a surprise when I get them out (hopefully next year) since I haven't seen them in so long. After I wrapped some gifts, the tree seemed to look a little better, so I haven't changed anything....yet.

Kansas City Southern Christmas Train in Noel, MO. Dec. 8th, 2012.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:29:00 +0000

So, it's been a while. Many things have changed around our house. Matt wanted to get a new sofa, with a sleeper, since I turned the guest room into a craft room. Of course, a new sofa means re-decorating the living room, which means repainting the dining room and kitchen. We went from tan to gray and LOVE it! More on that later. Here is my latest project: Elle's growth chart. I didn't want something really childish-looking so I found this on Pinterest and since my dad has a cabinet shop he was nice enough to cut a board that fit this spot between the dining and living room.

My board was 4" x 6'. I purchased some stencils at Hobby Lobby, plus a black paint pen. I started measuring the board at 6", so it hangs 6" off the floor to avoid the base trim. In pencil first, I marked off each inch with a tape measure and added lines all the way across the board for each even foot. The inch tick marks are about 1/2" and I used a small lettering triangle I had from college drafting/interior design classes to get the marks straight. Then, I just traced over the pencil lines with a paint pen. I stained the board and lightly sanded it once the stain was dry to age it a little. I added a sawtooth hanger on the back and measure where it was to be hung on the wall. Pretty simple.

After the measurement. She's 34" at almost 22 months.

I finally finished the apron I started at a friend's craft day back in November. Matt's mom was the lucky recipient of this one for Mother's Day.

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution...

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:11:00 +0000

..but a metal recycling facility behind your house certainly is. I was looking for some ways to deaden the metal crunching sound in our bedrooms so Elle and I can get our afternoon naps. On Pinterest, I saw that someone had covered foam insulation board with fabric to hang on their walls, so we decided to have some cut to fit our bedroom windows and cover them with fabric. Elle and I went to Home Depot last week to price the boards, we would need 3, and they came in 4' x 8' sheets. Since I couldn't fit them in the car that day, I mentioned it while at my parents that weekend, luckily, Dad had some extra when he insulated the shop several years ago...$50 savings...SCORE! I think I ended up spending about $85 on fabric for the 3, but got home decor fabric for the master, and that's more expensive, but much thicker than regular broadcloth. I have Elle's room done, it turned out pretty cute too, with the matching paisley fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. It helps with the noise and I like it, it's a WIN! Next, to get the master bedroom done.

Shadow box of Elle's newborn pj's, NASA hat from Aunt B and handmade shoes from Tiffany. They look so cute in there!

Here's Elle's Tutu table that mom and I made last fall. I still love the birds I painted, but loathe the look of this chair. It will be in my next garage sale.

Give Me Back My Children!

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:25:00 +0000

What I'm about to say is probably one of my most embarrassing things. I am deeply saddened to tell you that I REALLY REALLY miss All My Children. It's like a part of me is missing...people I have "known" for 15 years are no longer in my life. I've tried watching other soap operas, but just can't get into them.

I was chatting online with friend tonight and she reminded me that we used to have All My Children updates when we worked together. I would either Tivo the daily episode or read what happened online and we would get caught up on the goings-on in Pine Valley.

I wish the show had ended better. I understand that the plan was for the show to move online, but that got the ax in November. I want to know who the other person that David was keeping alive. Babe? And I'm dying to know who JR shot, a good idea, when in Dallas the question was "Who shot JR?" But I need some answers. I think Agnes Nixon should write an epilogue to be published online to give the fans the finale they want...and the crazy ones like me, the finale they need.

Kill Your TV

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:51:00 +0000

I remember seeing this hippies with "Kill Your TV" bumber stickers and wondering why someone would possibly do that. After realizing that we were paying $80/month for basic U-Verse or cable equivilant with only mediocre programming, we decided to just shut it off and go to Netflix streaming, Hulu, plus we bought a lifetime subscription to PlayOn, which is pretty nice. We could affford cable, but there wasn't much on anymore, HGTV become basically House Hunters (boo) and we just decided it wasn't worth it. It was worth dropping the bill by $70/month....80 cost-10 for Netflix. That's just more in savings and I like seeing that grow!

In the past month, I have finished a book I started last spring Bring Up Girls by James Dobson, read I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy Reagan, and am nearly halfway through Ted, White and Blue by Ted Nugent. I've learned that you need to take Ted in small doses, if not, you could become just like him. I also squeezed in You're Broke Because You Want To Be, by Larry Winget late last week. Larry's awesome! Everyone should read Larry's books. And I'm also still working my way through my camera for dummies book.

Plus, I get a lot more done around the house. I've mopped the kitchen floor twice this week.

So, I'm glad we killed the tv. RIP U-verse, it was nice knowing you.

New Year, New You...unless you're southern.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:48:00 +0000

These are the January issues of magazines that my mom and I get. I love magazines. I like the paper format, I'm not sure I would ever be able to enjoy a magazine as much on the B&N Nook or a Kindle. It's just not the same. This month, as we begin a new year, and the table is wiped clean, all of these covers promote a better you, either by getting in better shape, losing weight, being organized or breaking bad habits...except Southern Living. Their big article was 50 Southern Comfort Foods. They should have saved that until the February edition after some people have failed miserably at their diet attempt. So, if none of the betterment issues inspire you, just take some advice from Paula Dean herself and put some butter on it.

My resolution was to be more organized, which I am doing pretty well with, except for the two sweet little hands like to like to help. My other one is to have some killer abs by the summer. Hello, Jillian Michaels, I'm sure we'll have a love/hate relationship. Why not P90X? I'm just not that dedicated.

The best time to be treated in the ER.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:40:00 +0000

According to the sign on the interstate, Friday night, you could be treated in the ER at Northwest in Bentonville faster than you could get a pizza. We tried ordering a pizza from Bariola's...they hung up on us...twice. We tried Domino's in Lowell, it would take 40 minutes. I decided I wasn't going to wait 40 minutes for a Domino's pizza so Matt called them back to cancel and they couldn't find our order. Probably for the best anyway, if I had shown up and they couldn't find our pizza I may have gone "Julia Sugarbaker" on someone. The good news is this Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl that night.

We don't understand the facination so many people have with sports. In our house, we watch things like the History Channel, and listen to PodCasts from Stuff You Should Know (I really like Josh and Chuck) How did I know I was going to marry Matt? He had no interest in sports. That was it for me, we could have gone to the courhouse that very day.

We were watching the movie Real Genius the other day. Val Kilmer has a line "When you're smart, people need you." There will not be another Steve Jobs or Albert Einstein. There will always be another quarterback on the bench waiting to take your spot.

I can hear people now, they are saying "but sports teach teamwork." You know what else teaches teamwork? Being on a team at MIT and producing a vacuuming robot. And when the game is over, you have a vacuuming robot. That's what I call teamwork.

Happy RamaHanuKwanzmas.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:43:00 +0000

New Year Weim
The Godfather (cue the music)

Too much New Year.

One of the most perfect gifts ever.

Our new addition. When we do gifts in our house, we go big.

It's not a chair?

Learning to pop bubble wrap with Aunt Jen. Canine assistance required.

Pottery Barn chair. Purchased from Amazon at nearly half price. I tried ordering 3 things for gifts from Pottery Barn this year and NONE of them were available. Supply FAIL.

Bah, hum bug.

Recent stuff.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:36:00 +0000

Thanks for the rain coat, Lolly. We needed it.

Helping dad study for the CISSP exam.

She can fit in the basket, along with one sippy cup, a doll, a bear and her snack bowl, that's enough to be considered a party in a basket.

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Sweet little lobster

My dad built and installed some shelves on our angled wall with the air return in the middle last spring, we have a lot of storage and a place to decorate. I really like making stuff for Halloween and being able to have a spot to display it. I made all the jars and bottles. I found the labels online and printed them off and just used Mod Podge to attach them to the container. Next year, I might add some temporary black fabric/gift wrap/wall paper to the back of the shelves.

Petey has a lobster costume too. She was tired and not wanting to pose.

Pinterest is my new addiction

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Since the last post, I've joined the Pinterest community, which does suck up a good portion of my day, just a few minutes at a time. I have gotten some really good ideas and made a few things. The first, a chalkboard make out of a platter for the kitchen. I found the platter at a garage sale for $1 and my mom had the chalkboard paint that she had bought at a garage sale for $.25, pretty cheap project...I ended up just free handing the painting, since painters tape doesn't seem to actually work.

For my next trick, I bought a 3XL fushia t-shirt on clearance at Walmart for $3. I had bought Elle this striped tee for $1.75 at Target but it needed something girly...since everyone thinks she's a boy...not that it matters, she could be wearing a shirt that said "I'm a girl" and everyone would still ask me how old HE is....but back to the story....

Shirt before

Shirt after with added yo-yo's, and a matching headband.

And if this photo were rotated, you would see that it is ruffled scarf that I made out of the same shirt. So, for $3 we did pretty good. Watch for my next project!

First Birthday.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:02:00 +0000

By Elle's first birthday, she started walking and had 8 teeth. I can't believe a year has passed so quickly. I remember thinking in just a few months, we'll be out of this stage of not sleeping but it seemed to drag on forever. Looking back, it all seemed to happen in a blink of the eye.

I'm the Birthday girl.

Cake by Aunt Jennifer (not one cake, but 2 cakes, on 2 separate weekends!)

Gifts and banner. I didn't like any I found in the stores...after all, anyone can buy one.

The dessert table. Complete with jelly beans, twizzlers, whoppers, lemon bars, cupcakes and brownie bites

And I'm already thinking about next year!

Summer!

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:40:00 +0000

Remy is very fun and entertaining.

HI!!

Elle's first time in the big pool. She really loved it and all the attention from the older cousins.

He's not too happy about sharing, but he deals with it. After all, she is calmer than Abby.

Happy 4th! Homemade ice cream at Lolly's house.

Feeding Remy puffs...this must be why he puts up with everything else she does to him.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:10:00 +0000

Bathtime!

Yes, that is a bubble vomiting frog on the wall.

First time in the new pool.

Remy says "Oh, good, you guys got me a giant water bowl."

Happy First Father's day!

Celebrating Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 30 May 2011 00:05:00 +0000

I read somewhere that it's a fun idea to celebrate everything. Pi day, sure, apple this year, maybe pumpkin next year. Geek Pride day was last week, which, we celebrate Geek Pride year round in our house. Here's some things we did last month:

First, we started with the Royal Wedding, yeah, we both wore tiaras. What better way to remember it, and we had a great picture that was a lot of fun.

Then we celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Las Fajitas, no photos, but it did involve our "usual" plus what they consider to be a small margarita.

Then, they Kentucky Derby. I made mint juleps, which turned out a little less mint and a little less julep and more straight bourbon. At least it was just us and I didn't have anyone to impress with my mad bar-tending skills.

And for the Kentucky Derby, you have to have hat.

Matt and I "bet" on the final race, which I think is called the Triple Crown. None of my horses even placed, Matt had 3 of the 4, wish we had money on that game.

Please forward my mail to our local Pottery Barn

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:52:00 +0000

I really want to live in Pottery Barn, like that pregnant girl lived at Walmart or Jimmy lived in the supermarket on Raising Hope last week. It's so organized, uncluttered, clean, cool and crisp. I love the look, all their stuff and most of the homes that are featured in their catalogs. Getting a Pottery Barn catalog in the mail is like getting the Christmas toy catalog as a child, I think I get just about as excited now as I did then. What will we order? Probably nothing, just the same as it was then, but I love looking. Now, I have found that I can get the look for much much less. There was a mirror that I wanted that was around $800, I found one similar to it at Hobby Lobby for $60 on sale.

Recently at Pottery Barn they were featuring their outdoor furniture. I think living in Arkansas and outdoor furniture has a lot of romance to it. We seem to have two seasons in NWA, winter and Hades, we do have a few days that are exceptions and classify as spring and fall, but not many. No need for much outdoor furniture, when Hades sets in usually in May, I will be scurrying from one air conditioned building to another, which is better than last summer, I waddled from one to another.

Remington for President.

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:50:00 +0000

I really don't have time to post anything, our house is an absolute wreck! My dad installed built in shelves in the living room yesterday, I just got out some summer clothes that are piled on top of the unmade bed, baby stuff is scattered all over the living room and I still need to get ready to leave to go to the vet this afternoon. But this is good.

I thought when I wasn't pregnant any longer the crazy dreams would go away. I THOUGHT, but I was wrong. Last night, I had a dream that I was certain that Remy could win the next Presidential election by write in vote. And his campaign was based entirely on finances. I can't believe that I don't remember the slogan...something about government overspending on budget plus all the government programs like welfare. Remington Yeager for president 2012...because career politicians don't seem to be working out.

Raising Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Matt and I love to watch Raising Hope on Fox. Every week, it seems that Elle has something just like Hope. Usually, it's an outfit, last night it was a plastic bowl. A few months ago, after we started noticing this, Matt says to me "I didn't think we were white trash." I'm fairly certain that we are not, but do annoying people know they are annoying?

Watch full episodes here.

A baby, a bunny and 2 baby chicks walk into a...

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:42:00 +0000

photo studio. Sure, everyone always posts the sweet, cute, perfect little photos that show how much talent that they have, but I think the real story is in the photos that no one sees. Here's ours, these are not edited, so they are not perfect. No animal was harmed during this process and everyone was returned safely across the street to the feed store.

The bunny seems to be praying "Lord, please get me away from this baby and let me get back to the feed store ALIVE."

This is my favorite. She sneaking up on those two unsuspecting little chicks. She looks so mischievous.

"Hmmm...you two again."

"You, come here."

Reach for it.

Soft bunny.

Ack!! (Seriously, the bunny was FINE!)

Uh oh, mom took the bunny away.

I think we're ALL done here.

A trip to Grandma and Grandpa's

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Here's what Elle and I did last week:

At home, Baby Curling

Elle is finally crawling, but rolling is her preferred method of transportation, it's much more efficient.

Inspecting the fireplace. And before anyone freaks out about her being over there, the pilot light is not lit and there's plexi-glass in front, not actual glass.

Doing some quality control on her Birthday present. They were on sale, so we bought them early.

Pictures with the flowers.

She learned the clap (and wave too, but I don't have a picture of that yet)

I painted the shelves for the built-ins Dad built for our living room. Painting sucks.

I made some things for my Mom's bake sale....on the left, those are jars of chocolate dipped marshmellows with sprinkles, on the right, white chocolate covered popcorn and peanuts.

They got Elle an wagon, so we walked over to GiGi's and picked some lilacs.

She really like riding around in it.

Just Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:15:00 +0000

Yea! Sun!!

8 months old

My baby can sit on a bar stool at the counter at 8 months. What can yours do? Or, her dad might be holding her on the stool, whatev.

Coach Purses and the Missouri Highway Patrol

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:37:00 +0000

Matt attended a geek conference in Vegas last week, and I decided that I couldn't be at home 24 hours a day for 4 days with a baby and not go completely insane, so Elle, Remington and I went to my parents. On Tuesday, I was driving from Noel to Gravette and came upon a Highway Patrol check point. I handed the officer my license but couldn't find my current insurance card, I could only find the 2010 card. He commented when I got my purse out that it was a Coach purse and his wife had just bought one. He didn't give me a ticket, or a warning and just said that he was sure I had current insurance since I had my 2010 card and to make sure it get it put in the car when I got home. So, I'm believing that my Coach purse saved me from getting a ticket. I think that validates the cost of the purse.

More stuff Matt says...

noreply@blogger.com (Uber Geek) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 04:08:00 +0000

"Were you baby curling today?" Elle liked hanging out on the wood floors today and I got some cute pictures, to be posted later.

Curling is the only olympic sport worth watching, and it made a good Simpsons episode.