Minky & Me

Layr and I have found two houses that we like in our town. One is the most spectacular place I’ve ever scene. It’s in the historical district. It has leaded windows, a fireplace, a great backyard. It has been almost completely renovated. The remaining project: the kitchen. Aside from that it’s on a very busy road, which is a huge drawback.

The other house is a colonial. Nothing exciting from the outside but nice enough. It’s got a good yard. Inside almost every wall is covered in wallpaper. There are few things I dislike more in this world than wallpaper. It’s on the no-more-wire-hangers level of dislike. The kitchen in this house needs updating, too. The original owners are selling it and they bought it in 1945. Really, that says it all.

As it’s Sunday both of these properties will have open houses today. Off we’ll go after Minky wakes up for some more self-torture. It’s become almost masochistic because neither of us can make a decision given all the pro’s and con’s (there are plenty more that I haven’t bothered to list).

Remodeling is not fun. We know that first hand. But the results can be dramatic. Here are four before and after photos of our kitchen. It was started two years ago this month and took three months to complete – a feat if there ever was one in the renovation game.

As you can see over there on the right side of the page, I’ve made some Minky & Me tees. Somehow the link to the page that shows them nice and big got blown away and instead if you clicked in the last week you probably went to Baby Einstien.

Anyway, it’s fixed now if you want to take a peek.

Minky has been sick all week with quite a cough. This morning I asked, “how are you?” Much to my surprise she said “goot.”

Yesterday afternoon when I went in to get Minky after her nap I got all sentimental and started crying. It was something about the way she hopped up, which she does everyday, and started swinging Willard around. I asked, “did you say hi mummy?” and she dutifully said hi and grinned. She is always seems so glad to see me.

As I laid her down on the changing table, she saw a tear running down my cheek and asked, “raining?”

It was one year ago today that I posted the first Minky & Me entry (many thanks to my friends Paul and Brian for their assistance getting it online). During the last twelve months, I’ve enjoyed keeping track of all of the new things Minky has learned as well as recounting some of the trials and tribulations we’ve had together. I’ve even gotten to the point that I can admit motherhood is not all roses, which in the beginning seemed a blasphemous notion.

This site has actually proven to be theraputic for me since after becoming a mother my life took a dramatic turn from working person to stay at home mom. It’s a creative outlet that I’ve needed in the last year. What began as a way to let our families know what was going on has really taken on a life of its own.

Mostly though I write this blog for Minky. I like to think about her reading it someday. I think she’ll get a kick out of it.

What’s going on in Louisiana and Mississippi in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina is an abomination. Usually I’m all over natural disaster stories but last week I was preparing for our trip to Florida and didn’t realize how dire the situation was and continues to be until my husband, a man renowned for his disinterest in newsworthy events, told me. The stories I’m hearing on NPR are despicable.

God help the United States.

This morning I dropped Minky off for her second day of daycare. She had a trial run yesterday and today and will begin in earnest next week. As I walked back to my car without her I felt funny. I wasn’t sad or worried. It was more a feeling of surprise that I was actually leaving her behind.

Rocky and I walked to pick her up at noon. We were running late and every time he stopped to sniff something I yanked his collar. I imagined dragging him along at one point when I thought we weren’t going to make it on time. When I arrived Minky was playing on the floor with one of the women that works there. She barely noticed me. When the woman pointed me out Minky ran in the opposite direction to a giant Pooh bear. Evidently she really wanted to introduce us and lugged him over to me.

We said some quick good byes and were on our way. It is a relief that she likes daycare since it would have been difficult to start a class had she not.

Below are photos of a book I made for my mother-in-law as a birthday gift. I put the music together for her party and didn’t want to hand her cd’s in boring jewel cases. I went to Paper Source, one of my favorite stores, and got cardboard, handmade paper and really sticky glue. I whipped this baby up in a few hours. It was pretty simple, suprisingly. The photo on each cd is of my mother-in-law at her graduation from flight attendant school. She was probably twenty or so and quite a looker.

Wonderful long weekend in Florida. We went for my mother-in-law, Jeanne’s, surprise birthday party. It was months in the making and I think everyone was a bit astounded that we pulled it off. Jeanne was thrilled. See how much here.

Beside the party and seeing Layr’s family, which is a rare event since they live all over the country, my favorite part was the beach that just the six of us went to Friday morning. It is rare occasion that my eldest beau-fils is with us on trips since starting college. We had a grand time swimming close to shore and scanning the water for sharks. Well, maybe that was just me scanning the water.

I got to see an alligator yesterday that was oh, about six feet away from me in the water behind one of the cottages we were staying at. My husband and brothers-in-law kept getting closer to him – as did my sister-in-law, Rosemary – all the while commenting on how amazingly fast they can move on land.

Glad to be home. The trip back was rough for Minky. It was hard to tell whether the unhappiness was sheer exhaustion from being so damned adorable all weekend or something else. Tomorrow starts a busy week. Minky’s first in daycare. Hand me my Puffs Plus with lotion.