i think we have established

Annabell with her big-girl present, Colbie Callait's CD

I am no good at this blogging. Well at least the part involving any sort of repetitive regularity. I am gonna ease into it today with a little mad-lib style blogging entitled "4 Things"

4 things that recently made me laugh..
watching some clips from one of my favorite movies "What's Up Doc"

Annabell singing at her school's end of year show.

Maizy swimming- its hilarious!

Matt lighting off fireworks (funnier than it reads cuz we were drinking & silly)

4 places I have been in the last 7 days..
Bennington Battle Monument http://www.vtliving.com/historicsites/benningtonmon/index.shtml

we drove by this place- worth mentioning!! I am told there are tours in the fall- i will definitely look into that!http://www.newenglandtravelplanner.com/photo_gallery/new_england/photopages/023.html

Curtis' http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4487941

Target

4 things I have watched in the last 7 days..
Oceans Eleven

Days of our Lives and some of the best acting Ive ever seen on it. Seriously.

RAIN.

A terrible tragedy in my back yard involving a bunny. :-[

4 things that have touched my heart..

Seeing my baby 'graduate' Pre-School
comforting Annabell when she missed her Diddy after he left for work.

Annabell telling me I'm her best friend.

my husband letting ME sleep in on Father's Day!

4 things that are driving me crazy..
web-site building (www.embellishfloralstudio.com)

bills.

clutter.

babysitting.

4 places I would like to go..
MAINE

Somewhere tropical.

A Spa for massage and pampering.

Out for dinner just me and Matt

4 things I'm hopeful for this week..
more bookings

continuing the weight loss!!

The rain to stop.

The scar on my nose to fade more.

My cat's got it down. THIS is the life!

finally feeling blog-ish again

just really have had an uneventful winter.

But it occured to me I should start blogging again when a new bloggy-friend suggested i start one. A bit red in the face I told I had one but was not exactly in the running for blogger of the year. Anyhow I am here and will try, try again.

A couple days ago Matt and I celebrated 8 years of being married to our best friend. I love him and I'm so happy he is my partner on this crazy wonderful ride.

I suppose the most excitement there is to catch you up on is my surgery next week. I will be undergoing a procedure to remove a skin cancer from the tip of my nose. I have tried hard to not think about it. Back in February I decided to ask my Doctor about a small, barely noticeable to others, skin irregularity on the tip of my nose. I had first noticed it last summer when I wrongly assumed it was a pimple and tried my darndest to deal with it the only way I know how. I squeezed the heck out of it but it never really went away. Just got irritated, bled and became flaky again. My doctor referred me to a dermatologist. In March I saw the skin doctor who looked at my nose and asked me "Have you EVER had a bad sunburn as a kid?" At first I thought I would give him a number of how many I recalled. I quickly realized a summer hadn't gone by IN MY LIFE that I didnt get at least one good burn. Probably sensing my thought process the doctor quickly told me one good burn will raise your chances of this sort of cancer. It turns out it is a Basal Cell Carcinoma. BSC is the most common but least aggressive skin cancer. He then did a full check of my skin and fortunately found nothing else of concern. I was scheduled for MOHS surgery for next week.

WHY O WHY does it take this sort of thing to make people do what should be common sense? I have been wearing sunblock every day now. My husband's aunt gave me some great moisturizer that contains sunblock, Eucerin. Its wonderfully light. Annabell has been getting sprayed with SPF 50 every morning and slathering her face in my moisturizer before school as well.

All I can say is 'Don't let this happen to you!'

So it is time for me (to quote a friend) embrace my pastey-white complexion. Treat it with care and respect and hope I will not have to go thru this again. Now instead of shopping for summer clothes in shades that will compliment my 'sun-kissed' skin, (what a joke that phrase now seems, BTW) I am looking for colors that compliment my 'natural (eccentric) beauty' How I will miss that shade of pale yellow that is not at all wearable on my natural coloring. But on the other hand I now have a solid excuse to buy some really sweet wide brimmed hats.

I plan on photo documenting the healing process to properly terrify any of my friends and family who still put effort into 'getting color' all summer. I hope it will just cause you all to think twice- cuz i love you.

dibba

Annabell has had an everchanging nickname. When I first brought her home from the hospital I called her Poopsie. I even had a little song. "Poopsie-do, Poopsie-do. Does whatever a Poopsie doos!" I know it looks silly written- and really it doesnt sound any less sung. (I actually would sing it to the same tune as 'Spiderman, Spiderman- does whatever a spider can...') Anyhow that was it. But when she was about a month old, Matt expressed his disapproval of the pet name I had chosen. I remember him saying, "You fought so hard for the name 'Annabell' (Its true- there was no talking me out of it) and it is such a pretty name. But now all you do is call her POOPSIE? Its so ridiculous." Maybe so- but as an infant she just was my poopsie. But within the first year her nick-name morphed from 'Poopsie-do into 'doop'. Changing again to doopa and finally to what it is now. Dibba. I do remembr how dibba came about tho. When I would go get her in the morning when she woke up, she would say, "Mama! Hi, dibba-dubba dibba." It was her cute little baby-babbling. The thing is, once she learned how to actually talk, it was too late Dibba or dib, had stuck.

Now she is 4 1/2 and 'diddy' (thats what she has always called Matt) has again brought up the subject of her nick-name. He casually in passing remarked how I hardly ever call her Annabell. Its true- I tend to use dibba a lot. It hs even got to the point where Matt says it some times, tho he prefers 'Sweet-heart' or 'sweetness'. I've heard my dad call her dibba as well. All fine with me. But the other day soeone outside the family called her dibba. It sort of took me aback. It wasnt a stranger or anything, but did I not give her a beautiful name for the purpose of people knowing and using IT? I also recalled the nickname my brothers use to call me because they were babies and couldnt say sister or Jennifer. They always called me Tudda. I never cared when family members us the name but I couldnt stand anyone else to say it.

So that is my current dilemma. What do you call your kids? What was your nickname as a child?

Before I go searching for the dinner involving the least effort, I want to share a sweet little moment I had with my Dib tonite.

I was putting her to bed. We were dancing in the dark in her bedroom, me holding her and her head on my shoulder. I was thinking about how little she ued to be and how big she is getting and how much I'm gonna miss these moments putting her to bed at nite when she's older. I quietly said "Oh dib, What did I do before I had my Dibba?" After a second she whispered back "Nothing". It was so simple yet so profound at the same time. I know I did lots of things in my 30 years before her. But at that moment I couldn't think of one. There was nothing else I'd rather been doing than singing & dancing to 'You are my Sunshine" with Annabell in the dark.

past-blast

I found something today. It was a journal-ly sort of scrap-book I started keeping years ago. No- I mean YEARS ago. Like when still lived in my parents house. It was this really pretty spiral notebook. The covers were midnigt blue and had this gold speckle. I remember thinking it reminded me of the night skies. (I had this afinity for lunar or star themed anything back then.)It was the sort of journal you buy at one of those cool paper stores at the mall for MUCH $$$ and then have only enough left to buy a matching pen. (I have no idea where that went.) I recalled immediately what the purpose of this book was to me. (It wasnt the typical angst-filled book where I was compelled to write down my very misunderstood teen-age emotions and thoughts. I stopped writing that journal after coming to the realization my younger brothers were very entertained by it. Brothers.) I glued clippings that made me smile in it. Pictures, quotes, recipes- mostly all from the pages of my then-favorite magazine, Victoria. (I miss that magazine- is it still published I wonder?) Anyhow I will share the very first page.

It says "find some Me-time; and make the most of it." Don't you just love the photo above it too?

It made me think again about how much I miss my crafty old self. I dont mean the crafts I do with Annabell gluing together 'foamies' animals or fashioning nifty picture frames out of paper plates and pipe-cleaners. I mean the ones that involved thought, real tools, and adequate ventilation. I am reminded of all the 'junk' furniture and collectibles I have here cuz "I just KNOW I could make something really cool with that". So, to help motivate myself, I am blogging here my intention to start digging thru all my lovely junk and transfoming it into the shabby-chic treasures I know it can be. And please if you return and find me slacking o this- remind me of how much I NEED to do this for me and fo your own amusement!

I must go now and locate my hot glue pan....

love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHZBOpxidvo

sorry it wouldnt allow me to put it here.

still worth the click, IMO

My little monkey

Annabell recently started gymnastics.

Its great for her and she LOVES it.

She is SUPPOSED to be sitting with the other litle girl waiting a turn on the trampoline.

But the horizontal bars look sooooo fun!
I love this picture of her pondering this.
FYI - she got down and walked across. ;-]

Mom does not like beam.

But Annabell looks so good!

I love this silly-Bell.

She calls these her 'crunchy teefies'

and then.... NO AND THEN!

We road-tripped to Virginia over Thanksgiving weekend

to visit our favorite friends, Dan & Cybll.

We were also able tomeet their new baby boy, Lincoln.

Bell at a gorgeous vineyard.

Me and my man.

"Uncle Matt" and baby Lincoln.

that's a bad bloggity-blogger!

I know.

I'm sorry.

Now without further ado- amusing pics and

slightly witty (haven't finished my coffee yet) commentary.

This is my favorite pic from my brothers engagement party

at mom & dad's house last month.

Dad and his best friend, Roxy.

Tracy, Carrie & Mike. Judging from the other 2,

I'd say Carrie is faking enthusism. ;-]

At least you're a good sport Carrie!

Annabell with Aunti Carrie & Uncle Brian

Cheesin' with AuntieTracy.

Hanging out with (twin) Uncles Randy & Brian.

or, as she calls them,

"I have TWO Uncle Randys!"

Meowwwwwwwwww

YUP! Kitteezzzzzz. How I love them. Annabell was promised a kitty when she was completely potty trained. And she has done well so she picked out a kitten. You may wonder then, why there are 2. Well if you had seen the very scary place I rescued them from you would wonder instead, why ONLY 2? My heart broke for the littermates I had to leave behind. I am still considering reporting them tho I am told in the woods of New Hampshire this is not uncommon so little may be done anyhow. But I digress. Annabell chose the Siamese mix and then named her Snoopy. The Russian Blue mix was my doing and since he was the runt and slept ALOT and cried whenever he was disturbed, I named him Little Boy Blue - Blue for short. They are not littermates - Snoopy is 2 weeks older.

Summer Times of Wonder

... and just like that, summer got away from us.

I will try to catch you up as best I can in one post.

pictures ARE so much better than a thousand words so Ill use lots of them!

My kids for the summer. I was so outnumbered.

Annabell (& Puppy) spent most of her time 'concentrating on her music'.

New favorites included Umbrella, Girls Just Wanna ave Fun, and Realize.

Matt and I at Radiohead. THEY SO ROCKED. I heart Thom, Jonny, Colin, Ed &Phil.

Now, its ok to cry at the sight of these next few. I TOTALLY did.

First day of Pre-School.

WHO gave her permission to grow up?


The dress that ALMOST made me wish for one of those mother/daughter outfits.

Annabell and I went to the Cheshire Fair aka Redneck-palooza.

But she LOVED the rides.

Me- down 17 pounds since July 1st!!

Matt- handsome as ever

We got up to Maine and as you can see, Maizy was totally happy.

She got to sleep with us in a tent, spend all day outside by the campfire or swimming

& got lots of attention and fun with all her 'cousins' (everyone in the fam has at least 1 dog)

And the big story of the trip to Maine: RANDY IS OFFICIALLY ENGAGED!

Mom and Dad are finally gonna be rid of all the kids.

The proposal was wonderful-

at Nubble Light and Nana and Nunu were on hand as well as everyone else.

But like all good things

our Summer ended.

But it ended just as it always has...

On Wells Beach

Take a farewell look at the waves and sky.

Take a farewell sniff of the salty sea.

A little bit sad about the place you are leaving,

a little bit glad about the place you are going.

It is a time of quiet wonder...

summer in New England

If you aren't lucky enough to be close to the coast, summer in New Hampshire is all about swimming holes. This weekend we packed it up and went exploring. We were please to find some lovely places just over the line in Vermont.

The river was LOADED with 'tad-petals'. ;-) Annabell had so much fun trying to catch the little buggers.

On Saturday Annabell and I tried to keep cool in the sprinkler.

It wasn't too long before we heard the familiar songs of the ice cream man off in the distance. Annabell chose "Spidahman Please"

ooooooh! Can you say headfreeze?

garden update

Everything has really filled in. Overall I am pleased with my work, but I continue to make mental notes of things I wish to change for next year. Note to self. Get a notebook.

Daylily 'Raspberry Candy'

Tiger Lily

Along my Garden Path

The Mascots that Annabell chose

Red 'knockout' rose bush

I planted my hydrangea bushes this weekend. I will post another update when these are in bloom.