Open for Business

It is officially spring because the South Hadley Gray Tree Frog Spa and Resort is now open. This morning Tai ate his breakfast while watching this little guy hop around inside a Tupperware container.

Minh has just about perfected his catch-and-release system, which includes a Free Souvenir Photo for each satisfied customer (see below).

Oriental Iris

So...here's the new-and-improved master bathroom. Let me walk you through the highlights:

(1) The fan in the ceiling light can no longer be heard three towns away.

(2) The medicine cabinet doors can now be opened without moving items off the vanity.

(3) The walls are a happy shade of purple.

I am pleased.*

*Though I hope to never paint another bathroom as long as I live.

A-Minus

Tai has not nursed in over three weeks. I think it is safe to say that he is officially weaned.

Even if he were to try to nurse, at this point there's nothing there (as evidenced by the fact that my A-cup bras are a tad too big these days.) Seriously? A-cups are too big? Seriously. It must be time to get pregnant again -- to get my figure back :)


PS - More evidence that we live in The Happy Valley .... Tai, at 15 months, is the first kid in his class at "school" to kick the booby habit. I am such a mean mom.

Fixing a Hole

More like Painting a Hole, actually. Yes, despite my previous resolutions, I find myself starting another painting project. But it's not my fault. Honest. Some minor home improvements have left holes in our walls and Minh has just finished patching said holes. So now my bedroom and bathroom have a distinct absence of paint in a couple areas.

The bedroom is one of the rooms I ambitiously glazed with a "faux finish" a-la Home Depot Commercials when we moved in. So re-doing that will be a little bit of work (but I've already had to fix the bedroom walls TWICE since I first painted, so I am a pro at it by now). And it's a very small area to paint, so it should be easy-peasy.

The bathroom is turning into a slightly larger project (don't they all?) The re-located medicine cabinet has left a relatively small area of wall without paint, BUT:

(1) We have no more of the original paint color, and
(2) I never liked that color anyway.

So....it's time to re-paint the entire master bathroom. I can't believe it myself. But yes, rather than purchase a quart of the old color that I never really liked and touch up the walls in about 10 minutes, I've decided to go with an entirely different color. Not red this time. I learned that lesson already.

This time, I'll paint the master bathroom the same color as our bedroom, minus the glaze. So, while the bedroom is a hazy-swirly-glazy lavender, the bathroom will be a slightly darker version of the same thing. Make sense? In theory it sounds great. But I may change my tune when I'm up to my elbows in Oriental Iris.

Brunch/Lunch

Sunday we went to some friends' house for brunch and they really went all out. We were impressed with everything from the juice served in wine glasses to the vast array of wholesome foods for us and our son. They went to great lengths to make sure everything they served would be tasty and healthy for Tai. And Tai did enjoy it all -- organic eggs, pancakes, fresh tropical fruit, etc. We ate and played and had a lovely visit.

On the way home, we stopped in at Costco to pick up a few things. By this time, Tai was just about due for lunch. I have two words for you:

Free Samples.

Tai tasted every single thing they were handing out at Costco, starting with the coconut cream pie (what balanced meal doesn't START with dessert?) After that wholesome organic breakfast, Tai's lunch consisted of:

coconut cream pie
Mediterranean pasta salad
kielbasa on a a toothpick
potato salad
organic raisin bran
chicken taquito with guacamole
dehydrated Fuji apples
and raspberry sorbet (to cleanse the pallet, of course).

Suddenly, I'm a little less worried that we're turning into Happy Valley Hippies.

Mexico, Our Yard is Not

Last week we heard of a family who hired a college student to come along on their vacation to Mexico to help take care of the kids. Imagine that? Being able to afford a trip to Mexico and bring along a third-parent-for-hire....must be nice.

But we're heading down that road too, in our own special way. Last weekend we hired a babysitter to watch Tai for 3 hours so we would do yard work. But really, I would have preferred to pay someone $30 to trim the damn hedges!

Dexter

When you have a young kid, renting TV series on DVD instead of movies makes a lot of sense. It's much easier to squeeze in an episode or two here and there than set aside time for a full length movie. Of course, this whole rationale is completely blown when you watch four 45-minute episodes of a show all in one day.

But we just couldn't help ourselves. Dexter is fantastic. Originally a Showtime series, it's about a vigilante serial killer who only targets people who have committed heinous crimes themselves. it doesn't sound that great when I try to explain it, but it's incredibly well written and the actor playing Dexter is just perfect. I highly recommend it.

I anxiously await Disc 2...