Rain, Rain go away....

Well since the rain just keeps on coming & I cant get anything done outside, I guess Pat & I are going to have to buy a car today. LOL.

So we are headed to Queens yet again & regardless we are coming home with a vehicle. Whether we find one we can pay cash for or we have to try & finance one. But Momma should be driving home in a new expedition TODAY!! *Hopefully* Just in time too, cause my dear beater has been just about beat to death & Meg & Ant are getting ready to move & that thing has lots of room with the seats down so I will gladly offer my services!!

Anyways.. Here's hoping!! I will post pics of the new car if we get one!!

I've got sunshine....

So the spring is really starting to get me antsy.. It like sunshine is flowing in my veins...

I want to clean the yard, the house, all the closets, rearrange the furniture, start planting, break out the patio furniture, get the BBQ ready....
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I have talked Mr. Bloom into holding off on buying a house for at least a year until we have a CRAP load of money in the bank rather than "enough". Hopefully for our sake the market will keep going down.. Fingers crossed!! So with that decided I now want to get outside & get this yard cleaned up for lots of summertime activities, I am hoping!
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Anyways, I have been spending as much time outside with the baby & Lissi as possible. We went to a few garage sales yesterday. After my mother came here & showed me some of her finds, I got the bug. I spent a whooping $9... But Lissi got a white framed chalk board. My mom bought me a toy box bench that I am going to refinish in a washed antiqued white today & make a cushion for the top hopefully. I got a copper mini vase that is turning so it has that cool blue -ing effect & a wooden carved bird. I like to do crafts.. I meddle in it. I get it from my mom. Seeing something ugly & making it pretty.
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So I had this ugly wooden chair sitting by my front door painted ugly brown that I have been wanting to spray paint white for like a year, so I finally got to it yesterday. I always intended on leaving it outside so I wanted it to look worn & beat up, weathered, if you will. So once that was done, ( I have to do it once more today now that its dry) I threw the copper vase on it with some of my pine cones from my walks with Taylor in it, grabbed the wooden bird, a wicker basket which is pretty beat ( I am still thinking if I want to paint it or not) threwsome more pine cones in that & viola... a pretty little piece by my front door. All for a total of $6 bucks for the chair, the vase & the bird. I had the spray paint left over from the branches that we never did for the wedding.
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My mom also bought 3 white flower boxes, that she ended up giving me. They too are worn. I love little English gardens with the worn wood & funky planters. So I was researching this morning vine plants that grow down to cover the ugly lattice that is on my deck. Hopefully I can make our house look pretty this year, since we cant do anything to the actual house cause its a rental.
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That's the only thing I love about the thought of being home. I get to try & do all the things I have always wanted to do. I get to make memories with the kids. I want Lissi & Tori to help me plant a garden & then it can be theirs to show off to everyone. Pat is already getting his veggie garden itch, he was talking about it last night. I was outside yesterday restacking the stones around the gardens & cleaning out the leaves. Now if I could just get him to take the wood stove pipe out of the damn window........
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I am also getting a burn barrel from my mom so I can get rid of all these leaves.. I cant believe how much we have. A burn barrel & a leaf blower. That will help take care of most of the ugly.
I tried to rake for like 3 hours yesterday but it seemed like I got nothing accomplished except blisters!
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Anyways those are my projects for now. I hope to go to more yard sales this weekend with my mom to see what I can find... I will post once my "refurbs" are completed!

Four, Three, Two, One.....

What a crazy 3 days....

My girlfriend Paulina came up from LI on Thursday. It was so good to see her & amazed me that we picked up right where we left off. Like we never missed a beat. That is what I love about my friends, no matter how much time passes, once we are together its like I saw them yesterday & when they need me, they know I am here regardless of how much time has passed. Being able to know that the same person I left is the one I will be seeing helps me remember that all my friends are genuine people. So this visit was good for me. I always love having my friends here to share & see my life now.
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That same day Alyssa had her friend Savannah over for a sleepover also, which lasted till Saturday afternoon. It was fine though because she is the sweetest, most polite child I have ever encountered. They behaved so well that I was the one who offered the second sleepover on Friday. It was funny cause there was a point where they were sitting at the dining room table, playing, laughing, talking silly & just being goof balls. I was standing in the kitchen washing dishes & I found myself smiling because for a minute it was like I was watching myself & my bff Becky when we were there age. We were the same, always giggling, inseparable, had our own language, just a couple of girls who loved nothing more than to just play together. It was at this moment that I was so thankful that Alyssa had this in her life. Some of my most treasured memories as a child are because of Becky. So I of course felt compelled to send her an email telling her this & thanking her for being that person in that part of my life.
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On Saturday I was lucky enough to have all of my girls at the house. Lissi, Tori & Taylor...I love it when they are all together. Nothing brings me more joy. So the girls & I all went outside to enjoy the sunshine. They played school while Taylor watched them all run around. I attempted to start cleaning up the yard. Then we drew all over the driveway with chalk, a welcome home sign for Pat because he was working all day, drawings of the earth, peace signs & save the trees... LOL. I was the same way when I was there age. All about saving the world. I used to drive my parents crazy with what is & isn't biodegradable. What needs to be recycled. I even started a recycling program at my school with friends.. Newspapers, cans, etc. & styrofoam was banned from all aspects of my life. So it is funny to me to see my girls right where I was at that age. Then of course it was in the house for 3 hours of I'm bored, what can we do?, let's stare at mom for an hour... So we played the Wii, did arts & crafts, watched some Drake & Josh, watched silly videos on youtube, put silly glasses on Taylor & take pictures... We even stopped so the kids could visit Grandma & Pop which came with a bonus visit cause Aunt Emily & Uncle Kevin were there with Mia & Bub. So that was nice for me cause everyone is so busy I hardly get to see Em & the kids... At some point my friend Ellen was here too & was subjected to the kids "new person in the house hover" that they have perfected, but she didn't mind, I warned her before she came so she knew what she was getting into. It is always nice for me to have a little adult conversation.

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Pat ended up not coming home till about 9:40 which he was lucky to get in that early because his boss was nice enough to give him the MDX to drive home. Otherwise he would have been taking the 9 train & not getting home till 11:30. By the time he got home, Tori had left, Alyssa & Taylor were asleep & I was almost asleep. But I of course, stayed up with him. We cuddled on the couch for a little & watched TV so he could unwind, then it was off to bed where for some reason Patrick who usually just passes out before his head hits the pillow, was so chatty.. LOL. I was of course trying to stay awake to talk, but while he was talking he was being cuddly again & I love being held so I must have fallen right asleep. I don't remember any part of the conversation.. Just the alarm blaring at 5 this morning & Pat kissing me on my forehead telling me he should be taking a 1pm train home.

So there it is... 4 kids, 3 days, 2 friends, & 1 very loving husband...

Company is coming!!

Just wanted to write quickly that thanks to facebook I have been getting in touch with alot of friends who because of life we just kinda drifted apart.

One of my girlie's, Paulina who I was super close with, emailed me last night asking if she could come for a night.. I of course, said absolutely & now she is coming today for the night!! I am so excited, we have so much to catch up on!! About 7 years worth of gossip!

So I am cleaning (any excuse to use the vacuum again) & happy as can be!! I will post all about it tomorrow!!

It's Time...

So after my walk yesterday & again today.. I am ready to quit.

So I went on the NY quit website, set my quit date & signed up for my patches!!

I am ready, ready to leave the embarrassment of smoking behind, ready to put that 7 plus dollars a day to something healthy, ready to ensure I live a long & healthy life for all my girls. I know I may not succeed the first time, but I am determined by the end of the summer to be done with smoking FOREVER!!

Now my warning is .. I will be pissy, I will be cranky, I know I will have a short fuse, I will more than likely eat my way through this but hopefully not, I have smoked everyday since I was 12. That is more than half my life, & because of this I have probably lost half of that time in years on my life & spent enough money to own 2 houses outright.

So bring on the 24th, bring on the crank, bring on the bitch, bring on the healthy me!!

I signed my hubby up too... If we can make it through this without killing each other.. We can definitely make it through anything!!

Some fresh air, sunshine & a lesson learned....

So I put my little munchkin in the carriage & down the driveway we went...

We walked down Pine kill Road towards 209... We walked along the creek (stream?) ah hum, water, cause that is my favorite part of living here. I used to spend lots of money to come upstate for the weekends just to see that, & now it's right outside my front door. So we left at noon & I figured we would walk down Pine kill till 1 then turn around... the walk was easy & the scenery was beautiful & the sun felt fabulous on my face. Taylor was loving it too. Little squeals of excitement, wide eyes & smiles. As we were walking I was thinking, who gets to see this in LI when they take their kid out in the carriage? This is gorgeous!!

We stopped & looked at the water (since we don't know the correct terminology), I took a few pictures, she had a bottle, we picked some pine cones, since they are my favorite thing to use as decorations at Christmas time. I was laughing at myself because I used to spend so much money on Pine cones every year & here on our walk was more than I could ever think of what to do with. So we filled the whole basket under the carriage with some nice ones!!

We made it down to a little bit before the one lane bridge when 1 came & we turned around. Now at this point I had made a mental note that converse are stylish yes, but not good for walking.. My toes were numb. Upon walking back I was starting to realize that the walk home, not so easy.. Sun was still fabulous, scenery still gorgeous, Taylor still happy, breathing a little harder... sweating, ah crap, the whole walk home is little hills you never notice driving, but I felt them walking. I pushed on... what choice did I have. We of course took a few more detours & rests on the side of the road to "take pictures" & " look at the water" than we had going down the road. I was at this point cursing myself for smoking my whole life & being so damn out of shape. My brother in law runs up & down this road like its as easy as taking out the garbage.. I envy his lungs... I can barely walk it for 2 hours... LMAO.

So we make it back, the house is in view & I feel proud, proud that I did what I had set out to do, proud that I have yet to collapse, proud that I took advantage of this gorgeous day & didn't let the fact that there are no sidewalks scare me, proud that I got Taylor out of the house & in the sunshine, proud that even on my walk I saved money by picking up some pine cones! Then I see my driveway... Ugh... I don't know if you know what my driveway looks like, but here is a picture.. It's steep & long especially when you can barely breathe. But instead of walking, I ran, I pushed the carriage up it running just to prove that I could ( & to get to the top as fast as possible). Then we sat, mommy sat, or you could say threw herself down on the porch steps laughing at how out of shape I am. Taylor was smiling too cause she thought me trying to catch my breath was hilarious!!

But tomorrow at noon... we will be out there again!! Tonight I will be calling the NY quit line for free nicotine patches... Today's walk taught me it's time to attempt to quit!!

From Facials to Frugal...

Now being cheap was never in my nature. EVER. It still isn't. I didn't care if you could get an item somewhere else for cheaper, I never price shopped, I was never a coupon cutter, I never bought store brand. I never did thrift stores or garage sales.. You would have never caught me there. I was a full price, name brand, label whore, to put it as accurately as possible. Until this year. I don't know what snapped or what changed. Maybe wanting to save money, maybe growing up, maybe not having money like I used to, but something did, and you know what I learned? That life continues on & you can dress nice & your home can be nice & you can still have things you wanted. You may have to wait, you may have to do your research, you may have to cut a crapload of cupons or even get it second hand but eventually you will have it.

Kids stuff .....

For the baby, I don't mind the hand me downs, she only uses everything for so little time anyways. I appreciate them actually. I love finding things in great condition on http://www.freecycle.org/ & knowing I saved our family close to $100 a pop. That is 100 closer to owning a house. I love the consignment shop my mom showed me in Middletown, the stuff is like new,so cheap, & alot of name brands. I have yet to hit the one in Port that my mother in law raves about but I plan on getting there this week. For Lissi, well she is tougher, since I have no relatives in her age range. But I have been getting great name brand finds at the consignment shop. They look new & some even have tags on them.. She will never know. But usually, she ends up becoming the one who provides all the hand me downs, which is fine cause I know I am saving my cousin $. Plus her grandparents spoil the crap out of her so that leaves me hardly ever having to buy her very much. I don't ask them to do it, but I cant stop them either. I have tried, there is no stopping her & her Pappy from shopping sprees. But I also have become an Amazon shopper where you can buy things that are used but are like new for a fraction of the cost, so when Lissi wants a certain game or toy I will shop it on Amazon.

Groceries & household items.....

I have been buying store brand cereal, which honestly, tastes the same. That saves us about 10-15 a week since Lissi & I both pile off a box or 2 each a week. For Lissi's though I have to put the store brand cereal in the regular honey nut cheerios box, she would eat it otherwise, though she has no idea that its the store brand. I always get the Sunday paper & cut out the coupons. Lately I have been looking at all the store adds to see who has what & next shopping trip I plan on hitting each store that has it the cheapest with the coupons.... even if this is an all day event, a penny saved.... I also learned that it is easier & you spend less when you make a list. Go into your kitchen & look at every cabinet & take not what you do & don't have. Then make of list only of what you need. If you plan your meals for the week also this helps save $ & cuts out the unnecessary buying. I bought a membership to Sam's club for $40 this is good for Alyssa's school snacks & drinks & for Taylor's formula & diapers even electronics are cheaper there. If you calculate how much you spend a month on snacks & about how many of those snacks you buy you realize that this saves you a crap load, not to mention less trips to the store. http://www.craigslist.com/ is also a great website to find little odds & ends you may need for your home inexpensively, as is the back of TJ MAXX, Home Goods, & Target in the clearance section. It will go on sale at target it always does!!

Beauty products....

These were my biggest $ drainer. Pedicures, waxing, facials, makeup, hair cuts & color. Well, I realized the only reason I want a pedicure every 2 weeks is that I have really dry feet. Gross actually & the only thing that made them nice was a pedicure or so I thought until I sat down & realized it is the $4 callus eliminator treatment I get every time. So I went on the web, looked up the callus eliminator, price shopped & got 2 bottles for $10.95 on amazon with shipping. These two bottles will last me um, 2 years. Luckily I paid attention every time I got a pedicure & know how to do it. The polish lasts me up to 3 months beautifully so this saves alot of $.

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Facials.. as much I miss them they aren't necessary, I bought an exfoliator, a bar of perfume free facial soap & my dove moisturizer which I love love love! Honestly my skin looks better than it has in years & all these items last at least a month if not more totaling $ 19.

Makeup... I love love love bare minerals.. LOVE IT, but it is very pricey. So I found a decent alternative called raw minerals & so far I have gotten 3 free trial sets out of them for the cost of s&h $3.95 All you have to do is use a different name every time. Same address & cc is fine, but name has to be different. So, I am Ginette Munro, Elena Bloom, & La La Luni.. Seriously! The trial kit contains 2 over the facial powders one light & one for the summer, the bronze glow, & the mineral veil all in the normal size containers, along with a 4 brush set. 3 of them will last me almost a year seeing as how I hardly wear makeup & they tend to last for a while normally. So a years worth of facial make up which is the most expensive for $11.85 not bad. http://raw.glow.com/dms974/?gclid=CI3b0fDPqpkCFQpinAodymxWqA

My new colorist has become my brother.. Poor thing having only older sisters, this is what we taught him. He does great color from a box... He even helps me pick out my color!! So instead of $120 for color I now pay 9.99 for a nice box o' brown from CVS. I get it cut by my Nan's in Queens for $20 including the razor & flat iron. NICEEEEE!!!

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I even found a new way to get rid of the nasty old blackheads that I hate my skin for... Elmer's Glue... I am not even kidding. I saw it on the Ellen show one day & thought its worth a shot. Hell I have seriously like 20 bottles of glue in my house & the Biore strips are like $10 for what 6? Guess what .. it works!! Just put a coating on your nose & let it dry then peel it off.. You will see!!
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Even gym memberships are unnecessary if you have cable. I have the fit TV on demand that is free & dvr so I can either record the workouts I want to do or order them on demand for free. This convenient because I hate going to the gym, I always feel like everyone is staring at me knowing damn well I have no idea what I am doing there.. So this way I get to do it on my time schedule in the comfort of my own living room without the embarrassment. Also now that its nice out I can take Taylor for a walk in the carriage everyday to get some fresh air & sunlight. This is proven to be very good for you mental health as well.

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Teeth whitening... EXPENSIVE... but when you are a gross smoker like me.. It's much needed.

So I wait for the crest white strips to go on sale.. & make sure I have coupons. These are good for maintaining. But I also found a website where again you get a free months trial of their whitening product for just the S&H which is 2.95... So of course I have about 6 months worth of that & it is good.. It is time consuming & tastes nasty but you see results immediately. http://micro.moviestarlook.net/s-gTWnonbrand_VPC_tw/lp?gclid=CIO8v_fQqpkCFQudnAodtC_cpQ

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So as I am typing this I have just done my own pedicure, tweezed my eyebrows (cause I don't really have any anyways so what is the point of paying $6 a month?) & have Elmer's glue hardening on my nose, once that is done, I am putting Little Miss in the carriage & we are out for some sunshine.... Yes it is beauty day today & it cost me a nap!!

Quickie...Well maybe not

Figured I would write while Pat is out getting dinner & Taylor is sleeping.. Lissi left me for the weekend to see her dad...

So I got my vacuum & all I can say is Ewwwwww.. My rugs were nasty. Even though I vacuumed the day before with my old crappy vac, I was shocked & disgusted by what the new one pulled out of my rugs. These emotions were immediately followed by guilt for letting the kids play on this floor with all this unseen nastiness. I literally gagged every time I emptied the dirt container. This was an AWESOME purchase & I am so glad I bought it. I vacuumed the whole house twice yesterday, I even edged the whole house with the extensions twice. Ech & ahhh. Now I am waiting till tomorrow to vacuum again. ( I don't want Pat & Lissi to think I am nuts completely, but if I could I would have done it all again today)


The car hunt is still on. We are aggravating ourselves with how picky we are being & are getting closer to just buying whatever than holding on to the dream of buying what we want in the color we want it in... So when a purchase is made you will know immediately.


Weekend of fun begins tomorrow. My sister, her fiance Scott & my brother Nick are coming up tomorrow for what they dubbed a few weeks ago as " The Weekend of Fun". Sounds like alot of pressure to me, I hope I can live up to it. So far for the "fun" we have dinner planned with my mom & Lil' Joey tomorrow, then Mommy is taking Taylor for the night & Lissi is already in LI, so no kids makes having adult fun easier. I am sure this adventure of "fun" will consist of a Wii battle, Cranium along with other games, a few bottles of wine & liquor mixed in, & lots of snacks... My families requirements to have fun are many. We are easy people to please, but labeling the weekend made it feel like pressure.


My cousin Mary... Aka Super Loser does not have proper phone conduct... While she believes she is listening to you intently you feel like she is ignoring you by her lack of oh yeahs & uh huhs on the phone. I told her I would write this.. cause she makes fun of the blogging action.


Oh, yes I wanted to quick mention how much I love http://www.freecycle.org/, some times its all crap, but other times its jackpot. I use this as a way to get rid of stuff I no longer want / need & give it to people who want / need it. You post it, they reply, they come pick it up, it's gone & you don't have to wait for your hubby to take it out to the garbage & Lissi has no idea when I get rid of toys she hasn't touched in years but insists on keeping cause "it's her favorite". I even put my crappy old vacuum on it & stated it as so, & some one is coming to get it tomorrow cause they think they can fix it. WONDERFUL!! I rarely take things people are offering, one cause I am too lazy to drive there & two I have enough crap. But today I got... 18" doll clothes & the hangers for them & for those who know 18" clothes fit American girl doll whose clothing is waayyyy over priced as well as their hangers. Alyssa has one & takes the creepy thing everywhere, so that was a nice surprise for her. I also got a whole tote of fabrics which I knew I would be giving to my mom cause she likes to make crap with that stuff. A crap load of clothes for Taylor for size 18-24 in really really good condition, which I if course will wash like 5 times in scolding hot water cause who knows who these people are, a sit & spin ride on zebra toy, a princess ride on toy that she may be able to use this summer, & a brand new diaper genie... All in perfect condition & really clean.. of course they will meet Mr. Bleach & Mrs. Lysol Wipes, cause again, you never know. But that saved me $.

One last thing...Update on the little Monkey. I don't blog about her too much cause I don't want to be one of those mom's that goes on & on about the kids... But she is changing so much I have to...


Taylor with the tongue, too funny... Sunday we went to see my family for the family pic from hell & Taylor kept sticking her tongue out, so of course everyone thought this was hilarious & encouraged her to do it the whole time. So she did it the whole day cause everyone would laugh & clap.. She is a ham already!! But it hung out of her mouth till Weds cause I of course could not stop smiling & laughing & taking pictures every time she did it. I even got one of her & Lissi looking at each other with their tongues out. (If you double click on the pictures it makes them larger) I was getting worried that it may never go back in, but she is over it now. It made for some funny pics though.

My mom got Taylor a walker.. Well a lady from her job who I adore, gave it to my mom, it was her grandsons... It is a little boyish, it is a Jeep Liberty.. So at least someone got a new truck.. LOL. But she LOVES it!! She will sit in it for like a hour straight without getting bored. I pile her toys on the tray & she sits & kicks her little legs & one by one throws her toys across the room. I love this because I get a break & she may learn to play on her own instead of always needing to be entertained. Between this & the bouncy thing I now have that is exactly like my mother-in-laws (not the one in the pics.. that has been passed on to Alyssa's sister through her dad as of today, confusing I know).. She is a happy vertical baby... Bouncy thing was another free cycle find brand new in box. She giggles in these which I love to hear her giggle. Today we gave her plastic cups today to chomp on, chomping is our word cause she is teething, she chomps everything. Alyssa's grandfather Ed ( her dad's father, I told you it was confusing) was here & was like give her plastic cups, teething babies love those, & so Pat got her one & you would think it was baby crack, she loved that she could get her hand inside it & just went to town, so of course we gave her one for each hand... I love this kid too much, everything she does is precious to me. Pat is the same way. She has that man wrapped around each of her 10 little fingers. I love how you can see the love in his eyes when he looks at her. Anyways so that is my monkey (my nickname for her, Lissi is my mush) update.

Spring is coming.. time for spring cleaning!!

So, I am getting stir crazy & the more I am in my house the more I am disgusted by it. I clean EVERYDAY but it just never looks like it & I think I see things that other people cant.

Now that the wood stove is over I can re manage the dust. That thing made the whole house so dusty no matter what you did & I can wax the wood floor in the front room cause without the heat pumping out of it, it will hold the shine & not dry out now. If I could just get Pat to take the damn thing out so I can hang my curtains & reclaim my front room I would be ecstatic!!

My vacuum, no matter how many times I would vacuum it still looked dirty. I was stupid & cheap & bought some piece of crap thing from wal-mart when we first moved here & it has never worked properly. Pat fixes it all the time but it just does not work, whatever I vacuumed up shoots out the back. So I had given up.. It was gross & making me ill. So I finally talked Pat into letting me buy a more pricey one that may actually work... I wanted to stay in the $250.00 range though I would LOVE to own an Oreck, but back to reality. So I searched & after reading tons & tons of reviews on every store sight possible, then checking all the research sites for vacuums, I picked one... The Bissell Healthy Home. So then it was time to price shop. I found it the cheapest at Sears & then found a discount code online for an additional 10% off. So this 250.00 vacuum ended up cost me with shipping $219.00... Now according to the ups tracking it should be here today. I am so excited to vacuum my rugs, walls, moldings, curtains, heck I may even do the ceiling... I cant wait.. I said this to Alyssa last night & she was like oh mom, do you know what it means when you get excited over a vacuum? & I responded with a no, even though I kinda knew where this was going.. She said... drum roll, followed by knife in the stomach... You are getting OLD.. Yeah, I guess she was right but who cares I will have my new vacuum today & will be a cleaning maniac!!

So here is a picture of my new love... I will let everyone know how she works.. I have already named her Betty blue...

OK so another very exciting cleaning moment happened to me during my insomniac night last night... My couch, the much hated by me, kick myself in the ass for buying cream colored couch. Now, I had a white living room set in my old apartment in LI, I also had a 6 year old, I also never had a spot on the damn thing ever.... So this leaves me to believe, it is Pat & his dirty work clothes, the baby & her bottles, & I have even seen Alyssa slip up lately. Never me. NEVER. Anyways, so I couldn't take it anymore, last night I was sitting on the couch watching a movie & out the corner of my eye I kept seeing this stain. It got me so annoyed that I got up & googled how to clean microfiber. After reading numerous websites, I found one that was pretty consistent with its suggestions, so I went with that, figuring this will either be really good or we will need a new couch, either way I wouldn't have to look at the stain anymore. So I wrestled with the cushions at 2am trying to get the covers off, this was in fact a pain in the ass & almost caused me to give up but I was determined, I washed the cushions in cold water on gentle with a clear detergent. Then I put them in the dryer on the air dry / delicate setting for 30 minutes. It suggested on the website to leave them damp cause they would stretch & were easier to get on & they were. But the fantastic part is stains that I thought would NEVER came out did, every single spot on the damn thing came out. Now the chaise lounge part the cushion is sewn to it, so I had to spot treat that, so I made a mixture of one small loads worth of detergent & 4 cups of warm water, took a washcloth & scrubbed the crap out of them. I let them dry a little to see where & if I needed to re scrub & did so & now my couch looks pretty much how it did when I bought it!! I was so excited over this I immediately emailed it to my sister in law Meg cause she has a couch from the same store of the same material... I will even go do it for her cause it is so amazing!!

I cant wait to be able to open all the windows & air out the damn house, have the smell of fresh air in every room.. I even cant wait to get outside & clean up the yard & plant.. cause once that is done it means it's time to BBQ & means visits from all my friends & family!!

We may be moving so I might be doing all of this in a new house. Not buying one just yet, but after the poop in the tub incident we want out of here. So I am going to look at a house in Cuddebackville today... I will let everyone know how it goes.

* Remember when we used to get excited over shoes, or a new bag, or sunglasses, especially clothes?? I mean I still do, but not the high I get about appliances, furniture, stain removal & dishes... Ugh**

Picky, Picky, Picky.. Leaves you with no new car.

So who knew spending an amount well over 5 grand would be so hard. Pat & I, as everyone knows want /NEED a truck. Our family is larger, which of course means hauling 15 million things for each kid anytime we go somewhere. Pat wants & I kinda do too, the man's man SUV, a Ford Expedition, which is HUGE but I dont really go anywhere so it works on gas. I would be totally happy with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, since my father was a technician for Jeep for like um I dont know my whole life, or even a van like my mother in laws... Thanks to the Jetta dying I fell in love with her van once I drove it.... Pat however, is against anything except the Expedition, ok the expedition in either white or black but mostly the white one.. We both LOVE the white one.

So we searched all day saturday, we left Taylor with Grandma & Grandpa Bloom, took Lissi & Tori with us. (taking 2 kids under the age of um 20 to look for cars is not a smart idea) We started in middletown & went to Newburgh We found one, but they were asking wayyy too much for it (we have done our homework for MONTHS!!) So exhausted, aggravated, & feeling defeated we returned home in, yes, unfortunately, the beater. Return to the hunt tomorrow in the city.

Sunday....
I wake up at what I thought was 5:30 to get a drink thinking the whole time ... Yessss Taylor is still sleeping & I have an hour of sleep left before we have to get moving... WRONG.. I forgot to put the clock in the bedroom ahead. Crap... Mad woman mode.. But we made it into the car & on the road by 7:45.. Not bad, not great, but not bad. So onto the city we go..

I had to take my family picture of all Nanny's grand & great grandchildren that morning... Our appt was for 11. At 11 somehow we managed to get all 11 of us there.. the kids were in great moods, everyone was happy... By the time they actually took us in to have our picture taken around 11:50 was a TOTALLY different story. The store was hot, the kids were cranky & hungry, certain ones needed diapers changed, not Taylor, so the lady who was lucky enough to have all of us looked like she was ready to quit. All the adults were pissy & trying rush the lady to take the damn picture, Jesse would hide his head everytime she counted one two, & on three his head went in his lap, Riley developed a sudden case of ADD & felt the need to turn around to look at everyone but the camera, Taylor was having a meltdown... It was fun, but we finally got through it, shot of all of us for Nanny, shot of Aunty's clan, shot of us for my mom, throw Jesse in & shot for my dad. I was ready to call it a day by then.

Back at Nan's, Nanny had made breakfast for all of us, even though it was now 1pm, Danny came & picked up Alyssa, then Pat went on the computer to write down the names of the dealers with the WHITE expedition. So my dad took us to the few in the area, then handed us the TomTom & wished us well as we headed to brooklyn. Nothing, not one. Well one, but it was beat up. So discouraged, aggravated from driving in Brooklyn & now bickering with one another.. cause you know we blame each other for the lack of white expeditions, we head back to Nanny's.

I have to go pick Lissi up in LI, so I drop Pat at Uncle Jims... Then off to Massapequa. That took forever. Alyssa had a meltdown & didnt want to leave which then took me an hour or so to get her out of there & luckily Dan was cooperative & not caving to her tears. Pick Pat back up, of course having to stop in & see Aunty for a bit, it's now like 8:45. Get back to Nan's load up the car & leave. The ride from hell going home, there was traffic at like 10 pm at night of course, I got pulled over for speeding & that took forever asking me if they were my kids, where I was, why I was in the city, where I was going, then they questioned Pat it was ridicuous, but we didnt get a ticket just a 40 minute delay in the ride home & we arrive back around oh 12:30.

So here we are without a new shiny car... Still loving the beater... But I am determined.. I will get my truck, I have to, I am itching for it now. As soon as it is in my possesion you will know...Trust me!!

My Dear John Note to the Beater....

To my beautiful blue beater...

Oh how I loved you, you came into my life unexpectedly & with resistance on my part but you did get me from point A to point B, all the while you had me staring at the temp gage praying you didn't overheat of course, but you served your purpose. You were a good little old car. You took me to the stores, to get the mail, formula, to pick Alyssa up from school when she was sick, Taylor to all her doctor's appointments in Middletown, mine in Milford, you even got me up our hellish driveway when it wasn't plowed. You made sure I made it to Christmas with my family, the city for 4 weekends in a row to plan & throw Taylor's baptism, to welcome the whore home from Iraq, you were easy to parallel park for you don't take up much room, you took me to my mom's, my in-laws, you have had your trunk packed to the max, you have been stuck in a ditch, dirty, put to your limits, laughed at & ridiculed but you still came through. You aren't the prettiest thing to look at but you are loved. You are silent for your radio doesn't work & the speakers are blown making the CD player unusable, your music was your elderly purr ,the heat blasting out of your vents, the air blowing through your rolled down window cause you always needed to have the heat blasting so that we never reached that dreaded H on the temp gauge... But we made it, we had a wonderful few months together but I now hand you off to Patrick, my dear beater... He will love you now, he drives slow & never cleans out the garbage, leaves the blinker on well after he should have shut it off, but he wont curse at you & hide his face in shame when driving you. He will drive you with pride which is what you deserve after all your years on this earth. You are a good little car.. I wish I could say I will miss you but I wont.

Love your former daily driver,
Elena

** I get my new truck this weekend.. Woot Woot!! Pics to come soon**

The house search is on....

So we decided that we no longer want to be where we are... This brings us to buying a new house. Something I sooo don't want to do. I am from the city & could rent forever, allowing it to be someone else's headache.. but it kills Pat to give away his money every month, which I agree make sense. So since he has been off all week so far thanks to the weather down in NYC & them not knowing how to deal with SNOW.. (I laugh at this now, but I was one of them) we have had the past few days to look up properties & today we drove around most of the day looking at them. We of course are buying a house that needs work done to it, because Pat can & he wants something he "can make into what I want". Which to me make sense too.

I just dread packing & moving again. I have in my 27 years done this um 9 times already since I was 15.. After this that's it, I am leaving everything & buying new.. LMAO. I mean it. I am going to pull an Aunty Barb the next time I move.

Its hard to find something though because I range is so small, we have to be in the HBE elementary school area, cause I refuse to change Alyssa's school again, Pat has to like the property which is almost impossible. I don't care as long as there is room for a bbq, patio set, swing set & trampoline. Those are MY requirements but he wants acres... It has to have at least 3 bedrooms, I would prefer 2 baths so he can have his own, a garage of course for him, I really have no need for one except a place to throw all his crap that he brings in the house.

Anyways, today we packed Taylor in the car, & spent the day driving to all the houses we have found so far.. It was nice day together, we haven't spent quiet alone time in a while & we saw a few today that met the requirements, plus Pat is all into foreclosures & bank owned, so we have a few auctions we are going to in the next few weeks. We aren't looking to spend a fortune cause we both want me to stay home with Taylor till she starts school. Thank god Pat is handy & hyper... That makes for a good combo when it comes to buying a fixer upper.

Pat is actually out looking at a foreclosure we found now before picking up the pizza for dinner. I will keep you posted.

It's good to be home...

After almost a week in the city, stressed to my max, wearing heels, cleaning, shopping, hosting, my beautiful daughter is baptised, the party went well, Aunty is woman of the year & I am exhausted & happy to be home, till Friday when I have to go down again. Ugh

Aunty's ceremony was nice, everyone was there. I love seeing everyone dressed up. Pat looked handsome, I feel like a human being among society for a change being dressed up with makeup & hair done. We saw bagpipers, Aunty mentioned Pat & I in her speech basically cause it was an Irish organization & I was "smart enough to marry an Irishman & become Mrs. Paddy Bloom, as she calls him. I have to say though no matter how old the bunch of us get we still act like 5 year old together. During Aunty's speech, I had Jay sitting behind me constantly throwing these little shamrocks & hearts that they had spread on the tables down my dress, I looked like I was shitting shamrocks the whole time. Even the next 2 days I was still finding these stupid things everywhere. Pats arrival to the party was stressful, I thought it was going to cause me to have a nervous break down but he made it & everything was fine.

Sunday morning....
Running around like crazy people is not the phrase to accurately describe it. Those who know me know I do not deal well with stress related to family functions, I freak out & get very anxiety ridden. Today was no exception & that fact that it was for my daughter made it worse. Anyways, eventually everyone was dressed & presentable, & we were at the church on time, the whole family was there including my Mommy & Joey which was nice. My mommy looked very pretty. My in laws made it safely & I was very happy to see them. Luckily Taylor fell asleep for about 10 minutes in Pat's arms during the service before she was baptised so when her moment came, she was happy & attentive & smiling. I was so proud, I wanted to cry. I was so happy to see the whole family together in my grandparents church, with my beautiful daughters & husband there, all my girlfriends, my cousin Jay home.. It was alot of emotions all at once, plus my feet were killing me & I was extremely overtired, but I caught myself having to hold back tears at one point. During the service, my father who was sitting behind me & Pat was like the puppet master, very aware that we were completely unaware of when to sit, stand, kneel, etc. & being in the front row does not help. so every time, he would pull at my dress or Par's shirt, tap us, smack me, it was funny, but we made it through. I think the Pastor was onto us though.

Back at the house, everyone arrived, fit in the house, helped me to realize I ordered wayyyy too much food, but I think everyone had a good time. I did. The wine went over well, out of 12 bottles we only had 3 left. Which I of course brought home with me, so now we have 2 & after tonight maybe 1. LOL.

We got snowed in in the city Sunday night which I think is hilarious & ended up staying down till Tuesday. By Tues, even I was ready to come home. so we left early & got home by noon. Then Pat & I immediately started looking at houses. & That is where we are at now.