Heather Ann Melzer

Dancing on the brain

It's offical - Kenzie is enrolled in her first dance class.  I've been searching the entire year for a class that accepts 2 year olds and I finally found one not too far from home.  It's a "Bitty Ballet" class for 2 and 3 year olds and it starts in just a couple of weeks.  Somehow Kenzie knows all about ballerinas, so when I came home with this surprise last night, she started hoopin' and hollerin' and running all around the house.  I tried to teach her a few quick ballerina moves (like I have a clue) and she was such a little nut.  She'd be much more suited for tap or a crazy hip hop class, but we have to start somewhere! 

My mom enrolled me in tap when I was little and this newspaper clipping of me in tap class is one of my favorite childhood possessions (my sister, Sheila, is to the left of me in the lineup).  My mom said that I didn't want to continue with classes, so she signed me up for t-ball and I played softball every year up until my 30th birthday.  I did dance in high school, though, as the captain of my dance team and I truly, truly loved it.  I choreographed the routine that led us to beat a nationally ranked squad at camp one summer (even though I had to sit out due to having knee surgery earlier that year from a softball injury).  It was never easy splitting my time between athletics and dance.  I remember the athletic director paging me over the PA system during dance class, "Heather Sherman, report to basketball practice!"  Even now I'm torn over what path we should lead Kenzie down.  Athletics made me tough and taught me to be a good team player, while dance had me in the best shape of my life and was so much fun.  I think we'll just let her try a little of everything and let her do whatever it is she loves best.  It was funny, we almost couldn't get Kenzie to go to school this morning.  "I have ballerina class!!!", she said.  Part of me worries that she might become too much of a diva if this continued for too long, but then I remember that this is Kenzie we're talking about - such a crazy, happy-go-lucky little munchkin.  I don't think anything could change that.

PS - Has everyone seen So You Think You Can Dance?  It's the American Idol for dancers and it's on tonight on Fox.  I'm SO in love with this show!  There is something about watching really great dancers that just sends chills down my spine.  My favorites are Ryan, Melody, Blake, and Destini.

Sick

   

"Mommy, I can't have alot of candy... cuz I'm sick."

Poor Kenzie.  She's had a fever since Friday morning, has a sore throat and is all stuffed up.  I'm taking her to the doctor today and took the day off work.  I'm feeling just so buried.  Work, designing kits, assignments, scrapping, keeping the house picked up.  I'm just overwhelmed lately.  Katie was feeling better and went to school, so it's just me and Kenzie.  Lots of Nick Jr. today and I'm hoping to get a bunch of laundry done and do some more work on the kits that just can't seem to finish themselves. 

On my mind lately...

I hate sewing and drapes are just too expensive to buy.  I don't mind spending a lot of time on a project if I'm trilled with the results and that just isn't the case with the curtains I make.  So beyond frustrated.

I want everything now.  Tom had me make a list of everything I wanted to buy.  Mattresses for the girls, comforters, end tables for the family room - etc. etc. etc.  Being impatient stinks.

I have too much going on.  Constantly feeling overwhelmed.

So happy to fit back into my size 12 Gap jeans.  Woohoo!

Worried about Kenzie falling asleep on us every night and us carrying her to bed.  It took care of the escaping the room problem, but will we ever be able to just put her to bed at night?  Ugh.

Adoption - really admiring people that do.

I really want to take the girls to the zoo/beach before summer is over.

True friends.

Loving the daily photo blog - such a great way to get a glance at our life month-by-month.

Going Glam

I got my hair done on Thursday and my hairdresser, Beth, felt like I needed a little excitement in my life so she did my hair glam-style.  I haven't had my entire head curled with an iron in sooo long.  I felt a little silly, but it was fun to see Tom and the girls' reactions when they came home from work/school.  I was running around the house cleaning up when Tom walked in.  His eyes got real wide and he said, "Woah!!!"  He wasn't sure if he liked it or not - it was something different, I think.  Plus, I'm usually in sweats, no makeup and my hair in a ponytail when he comes home so it was REALLY different.  Kenzie was totally freaked out and asked me what my mom's name was - did she not know who I was or did she really want to know what Grandma's name was?  Tom was worried that this was some new hairstyle that was going to take me 3x as long to do whenever we did go somewhere that warranted an actual hairdo.  I assured him that it was just for fun.  PS - Beth rocks!  For years I went to Mario Tricoci and spent 3x as much as I do going to Beth.  She gives me highlights/lowlights/allover toner and a cut and style and does such a great job.  She started doing hair in her kitchen and now has a little salon in her new home not far from me.  I'm so glad my neighbor, Heather, was kind enough to refer me to her.  PSS - When did all of those horrible wrinkles show up around my eyes??!!  Getting old is for the birds! 

Sick babies

Things have been super nutso lately.  The girls have both been sick and I ended up keeping both of them home yesterday.  Kenzie's been running a fever for 2 days now and I'm going to start freaking out soon if it doesn't let up.  Motrin kicks it in the butt, but then 8 hours later, it's back again.  She's all stuffed up, too, but other than that no symptoms.  Katie has been throwing up here and there and has had fevers on and off but seems totally fine now.  Kenzie also fell down the stairs the other night - very scary.  She was walking down the deck stairs in her princess pumps and tumbled down a few.  Ugh, the worst.  She had 8 family members jump out of their chairs and chase after her.  Just a couple scratches and a bruise - thank goodness!  She told me that we need to put a gate up - I think she's right ;)  I finally got Kenzie down for a nap and Tom is working on Katie now.  We've been running around all morning and then Tom was hanging a new clock we bought and some curtain rods for the curtains I ALMOST have finished - can't wait!  Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, so we'll have a nice relaxing day going out to eat and hanging out with my family afterwards.  I usually don't come down to my office at all on the weekend, but I ran down to print some pics for a gift I'm making for her.  Above is a layout that I did of Katie on Thursday.  I got Gina's new kits (coming soon!) and I had to play with the fun negative frame from Twist of Lime - those torn paper pieces are just darling, too!  Katie did all of her little tricks within just a few minutes of each other before school on Thursday.  She is such a little goofball baby.

Old friends

I finished up an article for the magazine this morning and that felt great.  The thought of a writing assignment is very stressful to me and then once I start and get something down that I like, it becomes fun and then having a finished product is such an amazing sense of accomplishment.  So, that's a good thing.  I had a call for work this morning and I'm being put on a team to work on some hot needs right now, so that means work, work, work and more train trips for me next week, so I better be productive on the scrap front this week.  That also means that I definitely need a trip to the outlet mall for some new pants.  I'm holding steady at 10 lbs. lost, so I think it's time to make some purchases so I'm not walking around in pants that are cinched so tight with a belt that they're bunching in very strange places (lol).  I was telling Tom this morning that I would really like to lose another 10 lbs, but that would mean cutting out ALL indulgences, of which I've had quite a few lately, and I just don't know if it's worth it to me.  Although, as I was running to the train yesterday I realized that my body is very jiggly and I didn't care for that much.  Maybe I just need to leave more time to catching the train so I don't ever have to run and then I won't notice - haha.

Anyhoo!  We had a great time last weekend.  On Sunday, we invited over a big group of Tom's high school and college friends for a reunion get-together.  It's been quite a few years since we've seen some of them, so it was great to get the group back together.  The kids played all afternoon on the waterslide and in the pool, while the adults caught up over cocktails.  Tom and I cooked kabobs, corn and baked potatoes - yum.  It was really great to catch up with everyone and we're going to be planning an adult-only night out soon - definitely looking forward to that.

It's been a couple of years since we've seen Moira, too.  Moira is the 11 year old daughter of Tom's friend Kevin (the tall guy next to him in the group pic).  I can't believe how much she's grown!  She said that she remembered coming to visit Tom and I in our condo and that I made her Mac n' cheese and chocolate milk all the time.  And she said that she still has the tiara that she wore for our wedding in a curio cabinet in her room (see pic to the right). 

She let me take some pics of her on Sunday and this one was our combined favorite.  She also said that she reads my blog daily, sooo... Hi, Moira!  Thanks for taking care of Katie at the party - you did a great job!  And thanks for taking all of those pictures, too - you got some great ones!  It was great seeing you! :)

Checking in

I feel like I've fallen off the face of the internet world, and it's only been a few days!  Work has been hectic with training and meetings, so I've been in the office a lot more than usual.  My usual 40 minute train ride turned into 2 and half hours this morning when a bicyclist was hit by the train traveling in front of mine.  There was a train derailment at this crossing earlier in the day, which caused the express train to travel on a different track than usual.  The bicyclist rode past the flashing lights and gates and stopped on the track the express train was traveling on.  When I arrived at the office, another coworker said that her train hit someone else last Friday.  The number of train related deaths in the Chicago area has been on the rise for the last few years - it's very sad.  I didn't mean to depress everyone, but please don't go near a moving train, please!

We had a big party with a big group of Tom's friends on Sunday and I have tons of pics to share.  Things should be getting back to normal for me soon (whatever that is - lol) so I should be around more often and scrapping and finishing kits for the site (soooo close).  :)

Once a blabber mouth...

Oh, you know the rest :)  Everyday I have a million things that I want to post on here, which turns out to be very telling.  My mom was over the other day and Kenzie was in perpetual motion - playing with this doll, jumping on this couch, stuffing her face with some kind of snack - all the while blabbing on and on and on and on.  So, I looked at my mom and said, "Was I like this as a kid?"  She said, "Heather, you NEVER shut up."  LOL!!  I guess it's true what they say, you get it back ten fold with your own kids.  I should just make my permanent blog post title "random thoughts" and get on with it. 

Our ottoman arrived yesterday - yeay!  Just one week after ordering it online from The Home Depot, of all places.  They have a new catalog of furniture and other things that you can't find in the store.  I was a little nervous about ordering a piece of furniture without seeing it in person, but it looks great.  One of the legs was a little banged up on one side, but I turned it inside when I screwed it in and you'll never see it, so all is good.  Kenzie and Katie LOVE it because it replaced an old pine coffee table that they were not allowed to sit on.  Kenzie still asks me if she can sit on it about 10 times before climbing on it (very cute).  It makes the room look so different.  I'll have to post a pic of the table it replaced so you can get an idea.  After the house is cleaned tomorrow, I'm going to take a pic of the entire room and solicit some interior design help from anyone reading - I could use it.  It's a decent size room with very tall ceilings and it looks so empty.

Tom is my link to the outside world as I'm usually too busy reading people's blogs and cruising the galleries at SBB and 2peas to read "real" news - lol.  He sends me links to interesting news stories on a daily basis and I received this VERY disturbing one this morning.  I swear that is all Kenzie eats when we dine out or grab food to bring home.  What now???

Ok, is this not the coolest thing EVER??  Kenzie would lose her mind for this!  I must order in time for Christmas.  I also love these and this (they also have baseball and football ones).  Such cute stuff.

I also saw these this morning - making me wish I'd done green in Kenzie's room.  Sooo cute!  And another great girly gift idea here.

I'm also waiting for this to go on sale.  I have a perfect spot for it, although I feel like our entire house is just pictures, pictures, pictures everywhere.  I need to break down and get some art, but framing is so expensive.  I actually cut my first mat this morning to frame a large wedding print in our dining room and I'll be venturing out to get another mat this afternoon - lol!  A recut is definitely in order!  I was using a yardstick because my T square wasn't big enough and I ended up slicing the yardstick up.  It wasn't a bad first try, but I have to keep my lines straighter.  I'll share a pic when I do it right ;)

I'm off to meet Tom for lunch and see if I can score with some end tables at Crate & Barrel outlet.  They get new shipments at the end of every week, so wish me luck!  I also have to have to have to sew those curtains for Tom's office that I've had cut for months now!  I had to run back out and get liner for them, since Tom mentioned wanting his privacy, so I have to cut that and get em sewed already! 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Catching up

I've been a bad blogger.  I spent the last 2 days downtown for some regional meetings for work, so my computer time has been zilch.  It was good to see my coworkers and get dressed in something other than sweats and my flip flops, though (although my feet are killing me today from the new shoes I wore yesterday - ouch!)  This morning I finished up this layout I started earlier this week.  I had to document Katie's big 8 month milestone - standing up by herself.  It's wild seeing the two of them standing together - where does the time go?!  Katie took a wopping 4 steps last week - very exciting!  Kenzie is having a REALLY hard time with it, though.  She's more jealous of her than she's ever been before.  One of Katie's teachers was saying that this can be a really hard time for toddlers because they begin to realize that baby really is growing up to be a kid just like them.  Kenzie has pushed Katie down more times that I'd like to see and we're definitely working on it with her.  It's so funny to hear her say, "Mommy, I can walk, too!"  The balancing act of attention really is something - hopefully it will get better soon.  Paper and elements on this layout are from Jen Wilson's Comfy Jammies Set - so fun!

Some really fun things going on at Scrapbook-Bytes this week - it's Camp SBB!  They had a Scavenger Hunt on Monday morning and it was way too fun not to join in.  You had to take pictures of 10 things and then post them to the gallery to receive a freebie kit.  1 - a real flower, 2 - article of blue clothing, 3 - fave digital element, 4 - inside of refridgerator, 5 - inside of someone's mouth, 6 - hubcap, 7 - mailbox, 8 - fave shoes, 9, book with more than 4 words in title, 10 - fave pic hanging on wall in house. Here is a link to the camp schedule for the week - I only wish I could have posted earlier.  Lots of fun crops to attend - check it out!

Below is a layout I scrapped of Katie earlier this week.  She was so happy one morning before school that I plopped her in front of our family room windows and got a few shots of her laughing away.  Such a cutie bird!  All paper and elements from the Just Peachy Kit from DDE Virtual Ink.  Is that pebble not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!  That Gina! :)

Well, our ottoman should be arriving today and we finally found a cleaning service that wasn't going to break our bank completely, so that starts up this weekend, just in time for a party with some of Tom's friends on Sunday.  Still on the hunt for the perfect mirror and end tables for our family room.  Hobby Lobby has mirrors, wall hangings, art, clocks, and a frames (exluding open ones) for half off this week.  I saw the cutest clock and mirror there yesterday, but they were banged up pretty bad.  I'll have to check another store before the sale ends on Saturday.

Back to kit creation - 2 in the works now, must finish!!

Melzer Movie (& Book) Review

It's been awhile, I know.  We spent quite a few weeks watching all 24 episodes of the first season of 24 and we're finally back on a new movie rotation - until season 2 starts to arrive, that is.  I'd like to rent Lost this way, too - you never miss an episode, which is great!

24: Season 1 - If you haven't seen this season or any episodes of 24, I HIGHLY recommend doing so.  Tom started watching episodes of the last season here and there and I wasn't into it at all, but when he rented the first season 1 DVD, I was hooked from the first episode.  This show keeps you guessing until the very end - wow - SOOO great!

Constantine - I am a HUGE Keanu Reeves fan, which is probably the only reason that I watched this entire movie.  It was like they stole giant portions of The Exorcist and The Matrix and called it a new movie.  I was not impressed, although Tom seemed to like the special effects.

The Pacifier - Very cute movie.  Kenzie took a late nap Saturday afternoon, so we put this one while she was still awake and she watched the entire movie on the couch next to me.  Vin is not the best dramatic actor, so the heavy drama scenes were a little lacking in the emotion dept., but it was still an entertaining movie.  Kenzie can't stop talking about how a duck bit Vin's ear and how she "DID NOT like that"!  LOL

 

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous - Another very cute movie.  A little too girly for Tom, though.  He played computer games while my sister and I watched it.  Definitely as good as the first, I thought.  It was great to see a different side of Sandra's character in this movie (quite the diva) and the relationship between her and her partner (Regina King) was quite funny.

The Jacket - One word - disturbing.  I can handle the occasional shock treatments and violent flashes of horrible scenes if the storyline is strong enough, but this was not the case with this movie.  It left me with many unanswered questions that I was driving myself crazy trying to answer until I realized that there were serous plot holes and I truly just didn't care.  Adrian Brody is a great actor but he just couldn't carry this one.

Alexander - Ok, I have to be honest, I slept through half of this movie.  Tom took me back through some of the more important parts later and I still wasn't impressed.  I overheard him tell my Dad that is was the worst movie he's ever seen.  I am not an Oliver Stone fan - way too much artsy farty imagery and not enough storyline and relationship building between characters.  I don't recommend.

In Good Company - Great, great movie.  I love Dennis Quaid, so I'm a little partial, but it really was a very cute story about a successful young kid becoming the boss of a middle-aged family man who he ends up really admiring while finding himself.  Some great funny moments.

Dora the Explorer: Super Babies - Kenzie has seen this one about 400 times and she is still glued to the TV the entire time it's on.  Be prepared to start singing "Super Baabies, Super Baabies, Super Baabies" for quite some time afterwards, though ;)

Giraffe's Can't Dance - Kenzie's Aunt Tina and family sent her this book and it is easily one of my favorites.  I read it to Kenzie almost every night.  Beautifully illustrated and such a great story about setting out to do something and doing it - in your very own special way.  So sweet!

Take Me Out of the Bathtub - Kenzie would have fallen asleep if I had kept singing the songs in this book last night, so I eventually had to stop and get some dinner in her.  The book is filled with songs that are set to the tune of popular songs ("Take me out of the bathtub" set to the tune of "Take me out to the ballgame").  LOVE this book that was sent to Kenzie from her Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat).

Home beautification

Here is the table I picked up from Crate & Barrel outlet yesterday for $149.50 (50% off of $299).  It's solid wood and has a beat up texture on top, rustic yet pretty.  I love the little swoop out in front - makes it a little more unique and holds more stuff :)  As you can see, our mirror up above (that matched our other console table perfectly) now must go.  Snowball effect, I tell ya!

Pottery Barn has their summer clearance going on - here are some cute studio/scrap related things I saw there this morning:

Metal swivel stool - I have some wood ones like this at my scrapbook table that we picked up VERY cheaply from Ikea.  They remind me of the stools we used at our classroom tables in art class.

Big metal clips - love these, so cute!

Magazine rack - I think I have to order this, or have Tom make me one.  It's just too darn cute!

Ladder display shelf - I am so into these ladder display thingies, I'm just not sure where I'd put one.  So cute!

Big clipboard - So darn cute!

Personalized stamps - Fun, fun, fun!

"We don't have to wait till our birthday to have a celebration; we can do it every single day. In fact I think that each of us deserve to live in a home that is a celebration of our life. A home that hugs us! " ~ FlyLady

This quote comes from a site that Becky posted a comment about last week - maybe it's old news to everyone by now.  I know I've even seen some Flylady sigs out there, so it can't be that new.  I just had to check it out and it really has changed my life, in part.  I'm not following her steps exactly and I haven't "shined my sink" (although I think it's a really neat idea and I think it makes alot of sense in terms of motivation, etc.).  Basically, everytime I walk through a room that needs some tidying up, I spend 5-10 minutes doing it and then move on.  Tom said it appeared as though I was constantly picking up last weekend, which I probably was, but at the end of the weekend, the house was still as picked up as it was when I was a tornado here last week.  Our problem is that once we let it go, even if just for a day, the piles start to form until they are so out of control that it takes an entire day just to pick up and reorganize our house.  I finally straightened up the books on Kenzie's bookshelf that had all just been stacked up on top of each other and now I take a minute or two to straighten them up every night and it looks nice and neat.  I've also been so much better about making my bed (as soon as I'm done showering) and Kenzie has even been helping me make her bed.  We're hoping to get some babysitting help this weekend for a few hours so we can spend some time clearing junk out of our basement, too.  I feel so much better when the house we worked so hard to get looks nice.  We're getting there - baby steps!

PS - I had to jump on the bandwagon and make use of one of the other blogs that I'm already paying for.  Here is a link to my daily photos blog (link also on top of sidebar).  I think this is such a fun way to look back on the everyday happenings of the month (idea compliments of Tracy, and my buddy Kris was kind enough to walk me through how to do it - thanks, girlie!)