The College Mama

It's official...

I'm old. This morning instead of wearing the very pretty, sexy shoes that matched my outfit, I chose the comfortable, boring ones. I've been dreading this day.

Back in the blogging saddle

I have no idea where the past three (or was it four) weeks have gone. Sheesh. I thought once the kids were grown up life would slow down. Well, it hasn't. I'm happy about that. I much rather be busy than sitting home wishing the clock would start going backwards.

Both of the older boys were home on Spring Break recently. That was great! We took a few days and traveled to Clemson to take Jordan back to school. The trip was short but a lot of fun. I found out that neither Ben or Jordan are going to be home for the summer. They're going to spend the summer at Penn State working and taking classes. I understand why they want to do that but it's still hard to fathom them not coming home. After their breaks when they had both returned to school, Jacob asked me when we would all be together again. I couldn't answer him. That's sad. Very, very sad.

Let's see what else has been going on? Oh the play! It went very well and I loved doing it. I loved it so much that I auditioned this week for another one. I found out yesterday that I got the part. It's a much bigger part than the first play. There are only two characters in this one. I play the part of a very uptight, fuddy duddy who meets a man who is, well...rough around the edges. At one point he refers to me as "Miss Repressed Virgin 2008". In my attempt to convince him that I'm not worthy of that title, I stand in the middle of the stage and do a very loud and obnoxious chimpanzee imitation. Good times for sure!

Here's my new look:

I hope you like it.

*UPDATE - I can't believe I forgot to mention the new kitchen. That thing took MUCH more time and work (and of course money) than I thought it would. I'll post some pictures soon.

Hectic times

There's not much blogging going on for me this week. Life is a little hectic right now...hectic, but fun. We're in the middle of our kitchen makeover which is much more work than we ever thought it would be. I know...I should have realized. I'll post some pictures once it's done. I think it's going to look fantastic. Jeff and I are also in a play that's being produced by our local Community Theater group. We're having a great time but it's also very time consuming. The play is "The Outsiders". It's based on this novel,

In our spare time we're trying to work. I know work should probably come first. Don't tell anyone.

The look...

Just so you don't get the wrong impression and think I'm nice all the time...

This is perhaps the worst picture ever taken of me. It was taken recently and no, I was not drinking.  Now that you know what I wasn't doing, let's see who can figure out what I WAS doing. Leave a guess in the comments.

So much for a plan

Jeff and I woke up Saturday morning and decided to go shopping for a new refrigerator; something we had been planning for a while. You would think that would be a fairly simple task but we have a tendency to complicate things. By the time we left the store we had purchased:

This...

And this...

   

And this...

And last but not least this handy little microwave/convection oven to go above the range...

So much for having a plan. When we got home we began looking at our kitchen and decided that our cabinets would look much better with the new appliances if we painted them. So, we did a little research on colors and then headed to the paint store. We have a large kitchen with a lot of cabinets. Painting them is no small task. Once we started painting we realized that the color of the walls would look better if they were different. Again, we have a large kitchen with a lot of cabinets AND a lot of wall space which means this is also no small task. A couple of hours later the light bulbs started flashing again. In an effort to be brief let me say that the next bright idea is going to involve a carpenter moving this cabinet there and changing this and that portion of counter top. Hopefully he'll be able to do this task by the end of the week since the appliances are being delivered next week. All of these bright ideas have left our kitchen in a huge mess. I think I'll take a few pictures tonight to be able to compare the before and after. With any luck the after will look like the vision Jeff and I see in our minds. At least we're both seeing the same thing. At least I think we are. Who knows, maybe we'll end up with a line drawn down the middle of the kitchen with one side being mine and the other side his. As long as he ends up with the side that has both the sink and the dishwasher, I'll be happy.

No more complaining

I spend a lot of time complaining about winter. The cold, the snow, the lack of daylight hours. Here in the Northeast winter lasts a very long time. There are years when it arrives in October and doesn't depart until April. Ugh. I decided last year that it was time to stop whining and instead use my energy to start enjoying this very long season. Before the kids came along we used to ski. Jeff loved it. I tolerated it. When the kids were young we spent a lot of time sled riding. We all had such a great time and as an added bonus after a day of sledding everyone would be exhausted and fall asleep early. Any parent of young children knows what a blessing that is! Now that the kids are grown up we don't have anyone to take sled riding. Except for ourselves that is. Here's a short video clip of one of last year's sledding adventures:

 

This past weekend was the annual Winterfest event here where we live. We were able to grab out sleds and join in on the fun.

We had a great time but I did notice something. When the kids were little and we went sledding with them our focus at the end of the day was getting home, feeding them and putting them to bed. Now, when we're done sled riding, our focus is seeing who can be the first to grab this:

I'm not going to complain but my how times have changed.

So c-c-c-cold

It is SO cold here that my nostrils froze together when I walked outdoors this morning to head to work. Brrrr...