Am I a bad mom?

So yesterday was one of those days where as soon as Shawn walked in the door, I threw my hands up and said I'm clocking out. Inara and I went to a park playdate with the moms group. I had a great time talking to a couple of moms I haven't had the chance to talk to much. Inara had a fun time playing with the kids, especially in the sand play area. She started getting fussy because it was time for a nap, so we headed out and she fell asleep on the car ride home. When we got home, I placed her in the crib and she crashed for about an hour. When she woke up, boy did I feel like the world's worst mom. I hadn't even considered the possibility of this happening. When I went in to get her, I noticed her crib was covered in sand. What the? JACKED!!! I scooped her up and started taking her clothes off only to find sand sprinkled all over her body, even in her diaper. Please explain to me how does that happen! I know she fell in the sand once, but she had a long sleeve shirt on, socks and shoes, and pants, so how in the world did she get sand in her butt?

Anyways, I got her changed and let her run around upstairs after I closed off the hallway with the gate. I then proceeded to clean up her changing table, which now had sand on it, and brought the vacuum up to clean her crib. For my second surprise, my vacuum wasn't working. So I went and got a new bag, cleaned the vacuum, and tried again. No luck. Mind you, this whole time Inara is up in my business because she can't be more than 5 inches away from me most of the time. So I realize I'm going to have to take off the crib sheet without spilling sand all over the place. With my bad back, I can't pull the crib out from the wall to get the damn bumper pad off. Yes, I said damn. So I finally get the sheet off the bed. Gather up all the dirty laundry and Inara, and we head downstairs. My luck, one corner of the wad of stuff comes undone and sand starts trickling out as we're heading downstairs. Just great! So I now have spots of sand in her room and on the stairs and no vacuum to get it up. Oh and Inara had a nice little rash at the top of her diaper area around her waist where sand must have been rubbing on her when she was sleeping on her belly. Ugh! I now understand what a "Calgon take me away" day is.

How does my inbox get so full?

Things have been pretty busy around here lately that's how. Plus, as you all know Inara sure keeps me super busy every day. Last week was kinda a whirlwind. I hosted a craft playdate on Tue. We had 10 moms and 10 kids here. It was super crazy, loud, messy...I loved it! Inara got so wore out that day that she ended up taking 3 naps! Funny thing about Inara at the playdate: she didn't seem to into the socializing, playing with other kids aspect until one of the moms got snacks out for her little girl and Inara was right there wanting some. My daughter sure loves to eat lately. Then Thu we went to a playdate at our friend Laura and Whitney's house. Inara seemed to do a little better playing that day, but not much. The girl just loves to observe all the kids playing instead. My guess is she's learning by observing that way when she's ready to walk and play, she'll be a pro. This playdate was fun because it was an Iron Chef cook-off of sorts in that all the moms had to bring a dish using pumpkin. I brought pumpkin pancakes, which were not very good. Only after the playdate did I realize that in the madness of doubling the recipe, I forgot to add to eggs instead of just the one. Oops. At least I now know why they turned out thick and doughy.

On Saturday we hosted a small shower for Thane and Kristi and baby Jack who is due to arrive in less than a month now. Our good friend Eeutung made a ton of food, which I was very grateful for. It was a small gathering, but fun to catch up with old and new friends. I was super excited to give Kristi the scrapbook I've been making her for the past few months. What I did was make up all the pages so all Kristi has to do is add the pictures and write any text she wants to include. Each page is a letter of the alphabet, so like U is for Uncle Shawn, I is for Inara, S is for sister, etc. It was super fun making this book. There were some panic attacks along the way, but it was all worth it because I knew Kristi would love the book. As friends know, I love giving gifts, especially when it's something special that I've put a lot of thought into. Plus, I know this will make life easier for Kristi when it comes to scrapbooking and documenting Jack's first year.

Saturday night, Shawn and I got a bit of a surprise. It was about 7:30 when all of a sudden there's a knock at the door. When Shawn went to answer it, there was nobody there. However, there was a gift bag left on the porch. Shawn brought it in and opened the scroll that was inside. We were Boo'd! I've never heard of this, but one of our neighbors boo'd us, and we then had to boo two of our neighbors. Basically, what it is is we have to put some candies and surprises in a bag, make copies of the Halloween letter and the ghost that's to be posted on our front door once we're boo'd, then we have to do the same for two neighbors, but you have to knock on the door and run so they don't know who it's from. That's part of the fun of it. I thought this was totally cute and a fun way to get in the Halloween spirit. I swear I love our neighborhood. We are so lucky to have such cool people around us.

Sunday was another fun-filled day. We went to see Shawn's cousin Cari who sings kids songs. She and her partner were doing a Halloween performance in Boulder, so Barb and the 3 of us went out there and met Eetung and William. The auditorium was packed and kids were all dressed up. Duh, I didn't even think about putting Inara in her costume. Oh well. Inara loved the first two songs and even clapped along with one of the songs. However, after that, she was done and just wanted to walk around. I took her for a bit, then Shawn took the second shift. At one point, she almost walked onto the stage through the side door. Too funny. We then went to dinner at The Med, a yummy Mediterranean restaurant. Inara and William sat next to each other. It was pretty funny that Inara kept taking Goldfish out of her mouth and wanting to hand them to William, who was clearly puzzled by her gross kindness. Glad she wants to share, but really with soggy goldfish? Yuck! By the time we left, the floor was covered with Inara's dropped food. I picked some of it up, because I hate to be that mom who leaves a disaster. I remember what that was like when I worked at Olive Garden. It would make me so mad. I know she can't help it though, so I just picked up some of the mess.

Well, Inara is getting pissed that I'm on the computer, so I better jam. Pretty impressive it only took me less than 20 min. to write this long ass blog. So glad I can type fast with a toddling toddler around. I'll be sure to write about the Mom's Night Out I went to last night later. (Sorry if there's any typing errors. No time to proofread this one.)

Inara's 13 months old!

Oops. So I'm obviously a week late on her monthly post. I asked Shawn if we were still going to take a monthly pic and do her measurements. He said, neh. Well, I decided I still want to do her measurements and post a blog about her, so poo on Shawn. I just won't have a "monthly" pic to post since that would mean bugging him to post it, but we will have plenty of pics to post of her regardless. So onto what's new with Inara.

First, she's about 23 pounds and about 30 inches long. I swear the kid is growing every day. I think she seems rather tall for her age, but that could be just me. She's quickly growing out of her 12 month clothes I've noticed this past week. I feel like I just packed away all her 9 month stuff and now have to start packing away more clothes. She's in that tough stage though where 12 month tops are getting too short for her. (Her belly's showing in many of them. It's kinda cute though.) However, 18 month pants are too long for her. Maybe she's just got a long torso. Perhaps.

As for her learning, the kid is a sponge right now. She can do so many new things. I can't keep up some times. She amazes me with how many words she recognizes and can identify even if she can't say them yet. She can point to things like her feet, socks, shoes, and body parts on others and sometimes her own, such as nose, eyes, ears, hair. She actually loves to point at and squeeze her daddy's nose. She thinks that's pretty funny. She loves to look at books with Mama. I'll even ask her to sit on my lap so we can read and she backs her butt up to me and sits on my lap. It's so cute to watch. She's getting to where she can point to some things she recognizes in books. There's one book in particular, Baby Faces, that she just loves. The best part is there is a picture of two babies kissing. When we get to that page, we say, "Ah Inara. Look at the babies kissing. Do you want to give them kisses too?" And she leans right in and gives them kisses. She actually gives lots of kisses to her toys, just not mom and dad yet. She does blow kisses though. Super cute! One of my favorite things she does.

Another of my favorites came as a surprise one day. We have a couple sets of animal flash cards plus several Little People sets with elephants. I've been working a lot with her on animal sounds and was always raising my arm like a trunk when I'd make an elephant sound. One day I asked her, "What sound does an elephant make?" and she responded with a funny raspberry sound, but I knew what she was trying to do. I was so proud of her. She tried to make the elephant sound. Yay baby girl! That's another thing I've got her doing a lot: cheering and clapping for herself when she does something right. She does this a lot when she is playing with her blocks and shapes because the kid loves to stack things. Last night she actually was able to stack 6 wooden blocks. Most impressive! Then today she was digging in her food cupboard and ended up trying to stack all her little juice bottles. I had to help her because they're a bit unstable, but she was determined to get them stacked.

She's big on playing in cupboards now too. Along with this is taking DVDs off the racks and carrying them all over the house as well as her Little People figurines. So today in her cupboard I found the DVD of Seven, 3 Little People, a couple soggy Cheerios, 2 Halloween spider window decals she keeps wanting to play with, and her sippy cup with water. This reminds me of when I was little because I used to love to play in the cupboards as well. My mom used to tell me I could be entertained for hours. Guess that's one thing Inara gets from me.

I've tried working with Inara on learning sign language. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck with her using any of the signs I've taught her. Recently, though, Shawn taught her a sign and now she does it all the time. We say, "Ready. One. Two. Three. Touchdown!" And she throws her arms in the arm signaling a touchdown. Nice one, Shawn. Thanks for teaching her something practical. He said next he wants to teach her "Safe!" for baseball. Great.

At least twice a day Inara wants to go outside to walk around. I don't mind walking except for the fact that we stop every 5 seconds for her to pick something up off the cement: leaves, rocks, trash. I love watching her try to cram as many things in her little hands as possible. The scary part is most of the time these things will maneuver toward the mouth eventually. Not cool! I can just see her choking herself by trying to swallow that small rock she picked up.

My least favorite new thing Inara is doing is boycotting naps. Every day is a crap shoot when it comes to naps. Today, I got lucky and she took 3 (2 20 min naps and 1 hour nap...hey I'll take what I can get). Most days, however, I'm lucky if she naps for 20 min. I've even resorted to letting her cry for 15-20 min in hopes that she'll exhaust herself. No luck on that strategy yet. I think I just need to keep her super busy all morning long to wear her out for at least an hour afternoon nap. Another unfavorable new trait is her screaming when she doesn't get her way. I think she's way too young to start this, so I'm not too pleased with this new development. For example, yesterday, she opened the door where the trash is in the kitchen. I firmly told her Inara, NO, which got a response of a blood curdling scream as she left the kitchen and walked around to the front living room all the while carrying a Little People figurine in each hand. I'm such a mean ol mom. Little does she know she will have a lifetime of disciplining and disappointment ahead of her. Guess that means I will have lots of opportunities to hug her and tell her I'm sorry and then have to explain the "why's" behind everything bad.

Happy 13 month birthday, Inara Grace!

Need some political help

Shawn and I had a political discussion the other night, and it got me thinking even more about the upcoming election and the positions the candidates have espoused. Why are Republicans so against giving tax breaks to lower and middle classes and not those who make over 250K? Wouldn't it make more sense for the economy to help the majority of our society which are the lower and middle class? Won't that help people get out of debt, give them some breathing room to be able to "buy more", which in turn will help spur the economy? I guess I'm just having a hard time understanding why we should always give tax breaks to those who make a lot of money and not help out the majority of the populace. Can someone help explain this to me?

In our discussion, Shawn and I also agreed that we are sick of the logical fallacy that those who are wealthy will have to pay extra taxes to help those that are lazy, uneducated slackers. That's so false. Shawn and I are in no way part of the elite, nor are we part of this clumped together "lazy" underclass. True, we don't make a quarter of a million nor do any of our friends who are all educated, hardworking, holding steady jobs, paying off student loans, buying their first houses, and many who are new parents. These are the middle class that need that opportunity to get the economy rolling again I would think. These people could take an extra vacation next year. They could buy a new car. They could get work done on their homes. They could set some extra money aside for their kids' college tuition. I feel like the Republicans focus on the 1% who make up the upper class and that sure doesn't describe all the people I know. Guess I just always think what would help my family and friends most. So please help me understand that which seems most obvious to me and my friends and family.

Oh and one more thought I had was since the Republicans tend to be the more religious party, isn't it the more Christian way of thinking to do what's best for everyone? To help our fallen brothers and sisters? So if you are blessed and have done well for yourself, shouldn't you be open to helping those less fortunate? Not that I consider myself less fortunate by any means. I think I've been blessed with an amazing life, but I know there are others out there who are facing hard times that I am willing to help, those who've lost their jobs because of downsizing, those who've gone into financial debt because of an accident leaving them with astronomical medical bills, the list goes on and on. Even if all we believe in is the Golden Rule of do onto others as you want them to do onto you, then I would think we would want to help those who have fallen on hard times so they, too, can enjoy life to its fullest. And this is good Karma that we will see returned to us some day. Again, just my thinking, but I'm trying to understand more of the other side in this ever confusing political debate.

My brother's trip out to see us

Michael flew in Monday to see us. I was sooo happy he got to spend time with Inara. Even he said she's changed so much in the 3 months since he saw her back in CA. We took a couple outings while he was here. Weather was great thank goodness. We found a pumpkin patch at a local church, so we got pics of Inara walking among and sitting with pumpkins. We then picked out a few pumpkins to put out front of my house. I have never seen so many different kinds of pumpkins. Who knew there's a cinderella pumpkin even? Tonight, Shawn and I are going to carve the two Michael and I picked out. Of course, I put Michael to work while he was here, too, helping me put up Halloween decorations. He's so good with stuff like that, especially since he's tall. We found some good deals on a few decorations at Big Lots (one of my new favorite stores by the way). I also took Michael to Park Meadows Mall to show him the great stores we have there. I'm trying to get him to apply for jobs out here, so he can move closer to us. Then we had lunch with Shawn, Kristi and Avery at The Counter (the burger place I wrote about before). It was my first time there and was pretty happy with my customizable burger. Michael and Shawn liked theirs too. I'll have to add this one to the list of places to take visitors out to eat. The rest of the time he was here, Michael and I just hung out, chatted, and played with Inara. I've gotta say there is nothing like watching my little brother play with my daughter. It totally made me so happy, but it also made me miss him even more! Of course, I miss my parents, but I REALLY miss my little brother. He's my best friend, someone I can talk to about anything, and I miss having him here to share things with, good and bad. I hope I can convince him to move out here some day. I even promised him that I'd make dinner for him too. Let's see if that'll help. Thanks, Mikey, for flying out to see us. I love you!

Our first weekend away

Last weekend, Shawn and I went to Vegas to surprise our friend Mike for his 30th birthday. I was worried because a couple days before leaving Inara was acting a bit out of sorts and showing signs of getting sick or teething. Either way, I felt like I should be here for my baby and not in Vegas. I talked to Barb, and she said she didn't mind watching Inara regardless of her signs. So after much contemplating, I decided to go ahead with Shawn. I'm glad I did. Inara was perfect for Grammy. She didn't get sick, nor did any teeth break through. Grammy said she's actually a perfect little girl and that I should never have anything to complain about; she's a total delight! I've heard kids can be extra wonderful when parents are away. Guess this was one of those times. Not that Inara's a horrible kid, but as all kids do, she has her moments.

As for our trip, Mike was totally surprised to see us and was super excited that we made the trip. It was great to see Mike and Nina, John, Thien and Brenda, Aundrea and her brother Taylor, etc. Some other friends did make it out, but they hardly spent time with the group, so all I have to say is poo on them. Their lose! Saturday night Mike got really drunk (shocker!) and ended up back at the hotel by midnight. The shenanigans leading up to his drunken state were lots of fun. It's been awhile since I've seen drunken times. The best part was hanging out with Nina and getting to pamper myself Sunday by getting a manicure and pedicure. I totally needed that me time and even better, Nina, Drea and I got in some great "girl" talks. Boy, do I miss those. After the worrying about baby girl, I'm so glad I decided to get away for two days. It felt great to relax, unwind, and get recharged, but I'll totally admit I missed Inara SOOOO much! There's nothing like being away for a couple days and coming home to the most welcoming, warm, enthusiastic smile I could ever wish for. She was so happy to see us and us her!

New homeowner lesson

Yesterday was a crazy day with a couple homeowner lessons to be learned. First, cold weather is coming this weekend, so it's time to turn the heater on. Without looking at the manual (I think of myself as pretty smart, so I knew I could set it on my own), I figured out how to change the day and time (which have been wrong since we moved in) and adjusted the temperature so the heater will start coming on. Good thing since we'll be leaving town for a couple days and I'd hate for Barb to freeze in the house while she watches Inara.

The second lesson was for the sprinklers. One of the moms on my walk the other day mentioned it might get to freezing temperatures this weekend, so she better hurry and blow out her sprinklers. Crap! With us leaving town, does this mean we should blow out our sprinklers too? I asked Shawn, so we both started scrambling to get someone out here before Noon on Sat. I couldn't find the gardener's phone number, so I called Jen (our agent) to get her advice and our neighbor Lisa to see if they could recommend someone to come do it. Shawn found a couple companies listed on Craigslist, so I called and left a message for one of them. Then at about 5pm last night, Lyle (our neighbor Lisa's husband) came over because he got our message. He said he could show me how to turn everything off if I'd like. Heck yeah I could use some help. We turned the sprinkler system off in the garage (now we'll be saving water until spring), then we turned the water off from the main valve in the basement, and then we went to the side of the house and he showed me the other main water valves to shut off. Lyle was even so kind to wrap the pipes in some sort of insulation to keep them from freezing as well. Come to find out he's a home inspector and one of the neighbors pulled up to get his mail as we were wrapping the pipes and he told me Lyle is the best handyman on the block. Yay a handy man to help me out! Lyle explained that it's not urgent to blow out the sprinklers this weekend; we should be fine. But he did say to do it before the end of the month. He said he'd be borrowing his dad's air compressor next weekend and doing his own sprinklers and if we would like, he could do ours for us. I told him that would be awesome and that Shawn would love for someone to show him how to do it, so he can do it himself next year. Lyle said he'd be more than happy to show Shawn and would call next weekend to set up a time to come over. Lyle rocks! I feel so lucky to have moved to the best block in the world and to have such awesome neighbors.

My thoughts on kids' tv and the primetime fall season

I am addicted to Disney channel. Perhaps because it reminds me of being a kid, but more than likely, it's because Inara seems to like a couple of the shows I put on for her in the morning. We love to watch My Friends Tigger & Pooh. I sing the theme song all day long, especially when she wants me to read her Tigger & Pooh books. Inara really seems to enjoy Imagination Movers. It's the one show where I think she's actually watching. She'll even dance in her high chair sometimes when the Movers start singing and dancing. It's super cute to watch. I am actually getting into the show too and can often be seen dancing to the theme song, which I also sing all day long. The only other show I really like for her to watch is Handy Manny. Mainly because I love the show. I love Manny! He's so cute as are all the townspeople of Sheet Rock Hills. The funny thing is these three shows are probably better than most of the crap found on prime time these days.

Obviously with a little one I don't get to watch as many nighttime shows as I used to. We Tivo a lot of stuff, but we're already falling behind. There are some "must watch" on our list though, so those are the ones I can comment on.

Heroes--Man, do I love this show! I am totally shocked with the flash forwards and plot twists that have happened so far. So didn't see the Sylar/Petrelli twist coming. I am kinda confused with who's good (Peter? Claire?) and who's bad (What the heck happened to Suresh? Boy, did he go kinda crazy. Has he never seen the movie The Fly? Don't mess with genetic mutations, dummy. However, his story line does remind me of The 4400 plot.), but I don't care. I'm hooked and can't stop watching. This is the one show each week that I can't miss!

Supernatural--This is Shawn's favorite show, and while I used to find it entertaining, I now LOVE what they are doing with the story lines for the Winchester brothers. Dean, who was sent to an eternal life in hell, is now saved by an angel because God has plans for him? Wow! What a shocker. I love that this show that once was all about demons and bad things has suddenly taken on a godly, angelic twist to show both sides of "the story" so to speak. And now it's revealed that Sam has demon blood in him, hence the powers. I think this is now my 2nd favorite show! And I'm so crushing on Dean even more now. Hubba hubba! (Although I was grossed out by last night's ep about the flesh eating monster. Blech!)

Grey's Anatomy--Totally underwhelming. Hated the premiere and decided to not tape this week's so I could record the CSI premiere instead. Really a flood at Seattle Grace? That seems so cheesy to me. Is Shonda Rhimes running out of ideas?

Private Pratice--Although I'm kinda over all the sex going on on this show, Shonda Rhimes does seem to have some fresh ideas here to keep me tuning in: conceiving a child simply to save your first child (moral dilemmas always keep me intrigued), a couple who want to have kids only to find out they're brother and sister (scary but found the Hansel & Gretel jokes funny). Plus, Taye Diggs is so hot that I have to see him weekly. And I love Dr. Addison Montgomery too.

Pushing Daisies--I absolutely love this show. It's the kookiest, strangest, most artsy show on TV. It fulfills the whole left by Gilmore Girls in my TV appetite in that the characters are totally quirky and the dialogue is top notch, lightning speed. If you haven't watched this show, PLEASE check it out. I love that Kristen Chenoweth's character Olive has her own storyline going this season. She's such a delight to watch.

Brothers & Sisters--The Walker family makes me feel like my family is actually normal. Ha ha! I love how flawed these characters are. Holly is the best bitch on TV! I am really interested in the Kitty/Robert adoption story too since I have often thought about adopting. And who doesn't love watching Sally Field every week? She cries more than any other character on TV, and I find it believeable too.

That's my reviews for the fall season. Will post my comments on the CSI premiere once I get to watch it. Looking forward to the season finale of Project Runway next week. So surprised Kenley is going to fashion week after all her bitchiness, but they always seem to give the villain a chance too on this show. I'm rooting for Korto to wow the judges though.

Pictures from our weekend are up

Wow. In a rather quick turnaround, Shawn posted the pics from our scenic drive/walk on Saturday, so be sure to check out www.shawnandmarisa.com to see the latest updates to the photo gallery.

Inara and I were on TV today

A friend of mine, Kristen, runs a StrollerFit group here in Highlands Ranch and she was able to get Channel 2 news to come do a segment on SF. She asked a bunch of moms to come out at 6:40am mind you, and in return, she gave us a 10 class pass. I wasn't going to pass up such a good deal, plus, Kristen is such a sweet person that I was more than willing to get up early to support her and help her out. So Inara and I went this morning; however, we were a bit late, but we still made it before they started taping. Here is one of the segments they recorded. Not the best one since there's one segment the cameraman totally zooms in on Inara, and she does her now famous squishy face. I've got it on Tivo, so whenever you visit, I'll be more than happy to show you our television debut. You can see her walking a bit in the background of the clip here at least. http://www.kwgn.com/pages/chris_parente.

Our trip to see the autumn colors

We just got back home and the hubby and baby are sleeping, so I thought I'd post a quick blog about our drive today. We went up to Golden Gate Canyon, about an hour from here. I really wanted to take a drive to see the changing of the leaves now that fall is here. I wasn't sure if Shawn was into it when I first brought it up, but he ended up having a great time today. The mountain sides are such beautiful colors right now. It's so cool to see a wall of green trees with specs of yellow and gold and orange here and there. Then you come to some amazing looking aspen trees that have changed colors. They are every vibrant shade of yellow and orange. I loved it! We ended up getting out to walk around and hike up a short bit on one of the trails. Inara did so well. She wanted to walk, so Shawn would put her down and then she would want to pick up leaves, rocks, pine cones. It was too cute. Until she tried eating the rocks though. We got some great pictures of her sitting amongst the leaves and a few with Shawn and I taking turns holding her. It was such a great day too. A little chilly but clear skies. We stopped at one picnic area, fed her, and took another trail right alongside the creek. We weren't sure how far the pond was, so we turned back. We did see it when we drove a bit further down the road. The best part though, of course, was watching Inara look up at the trees, picking up her first pine cones, and playing with rocks. The girl loves being outside. I think we moved to the perfect place for her to get her fill of nature. (I promise I'll have Shawn post pics before the weekend is over.)

Why I love Our House Even More Than I Initially Did

Last Saturday night Shawn and I went out for date night. Given we saw a 3pm movie and had dinner at 5, it was still a date night. It was great to get out and have some alone time with my hubby. Of course, we spent a good portion of our time talking about Inara, but still it was a much needed date night. One of the other popular topics of discussion was our house. We were talking about all the things we've done and what more we still want to work on. Obviously, I'm in the house more than Shawn is simply because he leaves to go to work every day, but I've been having this feeling lately and finally told him about it. I know many people refer to a first house as a starter house, but I don't see ours that way. I love it so much that it's more than a "starter" to me. With all the space we have, I can't imagine needing to move because we're bursting at the seams. It's in a great neighborhood and the neighbors I've met, I love already. The house is in close proximity to schools, so we wouldn't need to move for that reasoning. Since it is only 4 years old, it's not like the house needs a ton of work that we don't want to take on. Yes, there are things we'd like to change or improve about the house, but these are mainly cosmetic and most will add value to the house in the long run, ie. granite counter tops, finished basement, deck off the back. I finally told Shawn how I truly feel about the house: I don't want to and can't imagine moving in 7-10 years. I love this house THAT much. The best part was Shawn agreed with me. He loves it just as much as I do. He then told me he sees us living here until Inara and any other children grow up and go to college. I was thrilled to hear him say this. It made me realize we both have the same visions of what we want in our house and for our family. I now can't wait to work on the house, put pictures up on the walls, find the perfect decorations, and make this our HOME for the next 20 years with thousands of memories all made here.

My new favorite hobby: garage sale shopping

As some of you know, I've become a total garage sale junkie. Highlands Ranch has some of the best garage sales ever and I've found some great steals since moving here. It's hard for me to buy anything for Inara at stores any more because between garage sales and consignment sales, I find everything I need for her dirt cheap. However, shopping at garage sales can be a major disappointment at times as well. Last Saturday, Shawn and I hit up a couple sales and found one that was a gold mine. The couple are moving to Arizona and just sold their house. The husband is a stager (one who goes in and stages a house that's on the market for sale). He was selling a ton of the items he has used for staging, so items that are pretty much brand new and very nice looking. I totally wanted to buy a couple of the bedding sets they had because they were super cute and really well priced. I saw 4 framed pictures that I thought would look fantastic with the look I'd like to go for in our dining room, but thought $80 is a lot of us to be spending right now. I then grabbed a couple other good finds, but kept looking at the pictures. Just then Shawn comes over and says, "hey did you see those pictures over there?" I enthusiastically said, "Yes" hoping that meant he liked them too and thought we should get them. TOO LATE! At that exact moment, another shopper was making a deal for them. JACKED!! I was so bummed. All weekend long I just kept thinking how perfect those pictures would have been in our dining room. Then today I go out garage saling and find the Radio Flyer wagon I've been looking for. Too bad I missed it by seriously 30 seconds. The woman who pulled up at nearly the same time I did bought it right in front of my eyes. Then to top it all off. The last house I stopped at today had the perfect work bench for Shawn. A Craftsman black metal table with a couple drawers and a slat wall to hang tools on. I run up to see how much it is and am shocked to see only $50 written on it. Too bad there's a SOLD sign too. Feelers down! Guess I've gotta keep looking for more great finds in the coming weeks before garage sales die down in the winter months.