Catching up

side note: All the photographs I took in this blog entry were taken with my new blackberry. Friggin' awesome!

Its been a while since my last post and its mostly attributed to lack of time on my part. I have been working so much lately, except for this week because of this nasty cold I caught. No one else at work has it so I assume Rob brought it home with him. Lots of the guys he works with have kids and such and just the other day Rob was sneezing up a storm and a bit on the sniffly side. Fortunately for him, his cold only lasted a day or two. Mine lingered from Saturday until yesterday. Last night was the first night I hadn't used NYQUIL in 4 days. It was a rough road because i wasnt quite feeling awful enough to stay in bed all day long, but I knew if went into work I would be miserable. SO I just stayed home. Actually the secretary in my office ordered me to ... "Don't spread your germs around here"! I totally get it.

Today, despite the weather, I am feeling 90% better. Not quite 100% yet, but we're getting there. I'm really trying to focus on NOT bogging myself down with events and
plans every weekend these days. Keep It Simple Stupid....thats what they say right? And with 6 weeks to go before the wedding, I like the sound of that plan the best.

Rob and I are working on our gardens (both flower and vegetable) at home on the weekends, pending weather of course. Last weekend it was so sunny and beautiful on Saturday that I couldnt help but head to the garden center for some pansies. There actually wasnt that much of a supply. Not sure if I am late in the game or early. But i picked up a couple of flats of purple and yellow pansies, plant food, an extra bag of soil to add some nutrients to the soil, and some sunflower seeds. I spent the WHOLE day planting and cleaning and raking. And when Rob got home from work around 11am he felt energized and ready to start cleaning out the garage. Yippie! He did quite a bit too. We can actually walk to the back of the garage without stepping over anything! Of course, there was incentive. My grandfather bought us a lawn mower as a wedding gift. He was like a kid in a candy shop pushing that thing around the yard on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, when my cold had suddenly hit every inch of me, I recieved a call from my best friend Christy. "HELP! We need help putting together Luke's new swingset". You remember Luke. He's that cute little three year old that has Rob and I pretty much wrapped around his little pinky. So off we went armed with our most powerful tools - me with my tissues and honking nose and Rob with his hammer and screw gun. I was never very good with a hammer anyway...and even worse with a knife in the kitchen. (Another story for another time.)

When we arrived the swingset was mostly already put together - with the parts requiring more than 1 man and a 6 month pregnant lady still yet to be tackled. That being the roof and the slide. Rob LOVES this stuff... he and my friend Christy are fairly compatible in that they LOVE to work with their hands and building things is their specialty. Christy built their 6 foot high corner TV stand with a pull out DVD rack that sits in their living room. Dumbfounded by the sight all I had to say was... 'WOW! YOU made this?". Me? I'm good at handing people wrenches, hammers, screws and the directions when become baffled, which is pretty often! LOL!


By mid afternoon, Luke was sliding down the slide saying "this my swingset, tasha?".

"yup kiddo, it sure is!"

Christy sprayed the slide with some pledge to make it a little more slippery for him and on his next trip down, he landed square on his behind. Everyone laughed, including Luke. Then he was off without a moment's notice to climb the ladder for another run.

He was so elated by this massive new "toy" in his backyard. Gosh, it even brought a smile to my sickly, stuffed up face. I kept snapping pictures whenever i got the opportunity. This was an icon in his life. It brought me back to when i was his age and just as excited about my new swingset, which was bought by my grandfather to subdue the slow torture i was about to recieve when my brother came into our family. It worked, for the most part. Not that I don't love my brother. He's awesome! But well you know ...sibling rivalry is fierce! Besides that I have happy memories swinging away and sliding down my slide. It was summer time then and I would stick the hose on the slide to make it go extra fast.

Speaking of children..... stay tuned for the next blog!