Life in the Slow Lane

....dollhouse that is! I got this house over 10 years ago in hopes to make it for a future little girl I'd have. Slowly I started putting the foundation together, reading 50 pages of directions, calling the company for extra pieces and help, and eventually after a few months, packing it away. Then when we moved to PA, I had the itch to have kids, and again started working on it. Each piece came unfinished, and had to be sanded and painted. I'd like to share my progress with you so far... Look at that gorgeous roof. Each shingle was sanded, stained, cut, and glued. I can't even count the amount of hours this took me, but I am beyond proud of it, and it's my favorite part of the whole house. The decking gave me many headaches and had me cursing like a truckdriver. Each spindle had to be just right and standing at a perfect angle for it to all come together as wonderfully as it did. The house has a wrap around porch on the first and second floor. The exterior of ...

My favorite part of my US Magazine weekly subscription is the section where one celebrity tells a bunch of random, random stuff about their life. Here's some things I would put in that section if they ever call to feature me:) 1. I hate Pillsbury pop containers, freak me out. 2. I unbuckle my seatbelt on bridges, some even require a window roll down. Never can be too prepared. 3. I love to read. When I do get the chance I can do a book in two nights maximum. 4. I'm so grateful to have a strong Italian family that helps each other through big and small. I can’t imagine life without them. 5. I don't like to cook anymore. I'll bake if the mood strikes, but I could eat cereal every night for dinner and be satisfied. 6. I can't stand when my boys get wild and start running around the house screaming. But then I think how just a few months ago they didn't even interact, so I just let them have at it. 7. I would still be a judgemental loud-mouth mom if it...

We are now exactly 30 days past Christmas. Is your tree down? Mine is. Decorations gone? Yup, me too. I'm sure you are already looking ahead to spring, as am I, yet I just thought I'd give an update on my Groundhog's Day life stuck in the Christmas season. The holiday still has a very strong presence here. The santa toys are all still out, and everything is still being turned into something Christmasy(ever see tinker toys be used as a sleigh? didn't think so). But Friday, while fighting the good 6:30am-time to go to school fight, little man put on his Santa hat and backpack. No Alex, put on your winter hat . Needless to say, with 2 minutes to spare I caved in, and he wore the hat. We went into town and grabbed breakfast and headed over to school. He got many comments thrown his way, and stares. Seriously grownups, who cares what hat he's wearing? My boy is clean, healthy, and has his head covered on a cold winter morning. Am I judging you for your dirty pants an...

My all-time favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz for many reasons. Thinking about a song line yesterday( If the Wizard is a Wizard who will serve, then I'm sure to get a brain, a heart, a home, the nerve ) got me thinking...as a mommy, what is one thing I'd like to ask the Wizard for? Not so much a super power, because that's a common question, just something in general I suppose. Know what I would choose strangely? An extra arm . I won't be greedy and ask for a set, just one will do. Can you imagine mommies, having an extra arm? Holding two babies at once AND stirring the pasta? Carrying ALL the bags of groceries in one shot? Holding hands with 2 kids while crossing the street AND your purse? Three kids, well bring it, I'm good to go with my third arm! I've noticed I've said this both under my breath and out loud countless times in my 7 years as a mom. Someone will kindly ask if I need help in a store, and after I tell them, 'sure, if you have a marga...

Thumbed through a pile of old cds today and came across one I made when my older son started really taking an interest in music. It's a pretty eclectic mix as usual, but one song in particular I've always loved, and when Chris and I heard it today we started singing. It was my best friend's wedding song, and if ever had a wedding song(that's right, never had a wedding song!) I would have chosen it too. Love the tune, love the lyrics. I hope it's in your rotation, and if not get to downloading.... Crazy Love - Van Morrison I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles And the heavens open every time she smiles And when I come to her that's where I belong Yet I'm running to her like a river's song Chorus: She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down And when I come to her when the sun goes down Take away my trouble, take away my grief Take a...

Oh boy did I stumble upon something super fun yesterday! Not even sure where I found it, but it's a little widget where you create your own little sticky notes. I made a few I thought I'd share, they are a great little addition to any blog or website:)

I’ve never really joined a blog network before, couldn’t really find one I enjoyed. But recently a friend linked me to The Crazy Hip Bloggers and I’m really digging it! They enjoy having members get involved with posting on certain topics, and have great advice and giveaways. So hop on over after reading here:) This week they are linking up with the cool and trendy website Loose Lips New York , and asking bloggers to talk about a subject that some of us may find difficult….ourselves! The topic is… what is the feature you like best about yourself? Hmmm…well, I have great hair. Big hair, but it’s great. Nah, no one cares about that. Well, I have a big, funny, contagious laugh. Eh, that’s a bit common. Oooh, I’ve got it. Something I have that I wish more women in the world had. What I love most about myself…. my strong sense of independence. Growing up I spent most of my time hanging out with my dad. I love my mom to death, but my dad worked nights so it just happened that way. I so...

It starts snowing here in the Poconos around Halloween. This year we've been lucky and haven't been hit too bad. But right around this time each year, I get the same feeling... Ugh, it's snowing AGAIN? You wake up each morning, try to put your best foot forward and make it a great day. Then you peek out the window, and it's all over. Good grief. I have to go shovel for the dog(her legs are too short!). Gotta bundle the kids again. Do we have a delay? These silly things flood my mind before I even get to the coffeepot. All because of stupid snow. Then there's the realization at this time each year, that we still have about 10-11 weeks left of winter. That time is greater than or equal to the amount of time it will be until I go home for a weekend to visit family and friends. All because of the stupid snow. I don't like to say I have the Winter Blues, but I guess I do. I want spring. I want it bad. I want to have my new Japanese Maple tree planted and enjoy ...

Yupper, not a very useful photo to you at all I'm sure. But to me, it symbolizes so much. It's actually a picture I took at around 5am one morning in the fall. I thought of writing this post then, but got completely sidetracked. It's my favorite time of day here, and that's the best view in the house. Silence is something that doesn't really exist when you have a house with two small boys. They hardly sleep, they are always running, and fight plenty. So some days I will purposely get up early, make coffee, and just sit on the couch. I stare out the window, and over the mountain the sun is coming up. I'd love to be on my porch  enjoying the scenery, but it's too cold! So I sit wrapped in a blanket, coffee in hand, and soak in the beauty. The silence. Days get too hectic sometimes, and it's hard to take a step back and breathe. But having that sweet little hour to myself, to regroup and ready myself to be a great mom for the day, makes all the differe...

It's time to look ahead to spring! It's only 10 or 11 weeks away and will be here before you know it. And what's the most important part of the season change? Well your wardrobe of course! I've been browsing a bit today, deciding on a few new pieces to buy and ask for on my bday. Here's one outfit I'm definitely looking to put together. Maybe not all together at once, but I still like all the pieces on their own! The top is a strapless top with a crocheted upper part which I love. I also love the color! Shoes of course are Michael Kors. Wanted similar ones last year but didn't get them, so this year they are a must. The jeans are those weekender/boyfriend jeans, you know, not really capris, rolled up messy look. Cute.

...of course this is the motto for the NY lottery in case you didn't know. Today when winning a whopping $5 on a scratch-off, I thought back to a post from last year about winning Powerball  . I'm still here, so I haven't won yet, but I started to think yet again what would I do with some extra cash? Well right now, the thing I'd love to do most is open my cupcake shop. And when I looked back at the Powerball post, it's on that list too! Here's my dream shop: 50s theme design, lots of white, black, and hot pink. Retro stools at the counter, great music on a full-sized jukebox, and awesome coffee brewing at all times. But here's the extra spin I'd put on it. You know how there's Coyote Ugly with the gals that dance? Well, I want something like that. I want to have my cupcake girls dishing out the cupcakes, and dancing on the hour. Heck they do it down at Ellen's Stardust Diner in NYC, so why not here in the middle of nowhere? Not only is it ...

Hey, here's a wild fact you may not know about me. Brace yourselves, it's a doozy. I love coffee. No really, I LOVE coffee. I roll out of bed in the morning, slip into slippers, and head straight to the kitchen before anything else. I cannot wait to get the coffee brewing. Then by about 10am, I have a desire for more, then again after lunch, then usually by about 3 I'm tweaky again. I do have to cut myself off by 4 though, otherwise I'm bouncing my leg and up until 2am, which really isn't the most enjoyable side effect to my habit. We mostly drink Starbucks in our house, and this week our favorite flavor of the season is back on store shelves. Casi Cielo(means almost heaven), a Guatemalan blend of rich flavors that compliments any dish or dessert. A truly beautiful tasting cup of coffee. I wait all year for it to come back to the stores, then we drink it non-stop until they harshly take it away from us for another long year. If you love coffee, and don't m...

If you're not an app person, I apologize for boring you. But if you are and haven't found the wonder of Shazam you are truly missing out! It's a simple little app that allows you to hold the phone up to any music and it will tell you the artist, song, and album. I've been using it for almost 2 years now and it's still one of my favorite things about my iPhone. Just this morning alone I Shazamed two songs! So here's a few of my recent Shazams. Sometimes they are newer songs, sometimes just oldies that I love. The radio in the car does pick up the info, so I mostly use it to remember to download the songs or pull out the cds. In no particular order: 1. Chances by Five for Fighting This one I just did about 10 minutes ago. Never heard the song, always liked the group a bit but never gave them a fair shot. Love the lyrics. 2. I Want You by Weezer I'm not a Weezer fan, never was. But this song sounded different than their usual songs so it intrigues me...

Why is it that moms are only truly appreciated and recognized during the weeks surrounding Mother's Day? Is that the one time of year only that they do laundry, cook for everyone, clean up, taxi, listen, do homework, support, love, hug, encourage? Well obviously not. So today I want to recognize my own mom, she's a heck of a lady. The cool mom . Mom: Smart, hardworking, funny, pretty, adventurous, empathetic, comforting, supportive, strong. Cool . Growing up my mom was known as the 'cool mom'. She didn't yell, didn't stick completely to curfews, and was always there for not only us, but any of my friends that needed an extra mom too. Friends in college couldn't wait for my mom to come visit. She'd bring ice cream cone cupcakes then take us to the bar for wings and beer. Yup, told you, the cool mom . As I got older and moved away from home, I realized even more how much I needed my mom. Then when I had kids of my own it was a whole new story. Any ...

A dear, dear friend of mine lent me a book the other day. I was going to buy it for my Kindle(stay tuned for a review later in the week!) but I still love the feel of a book in hand. Anyway, it's A Simple Christmas by Mike Huckabee. Some may not know that before being a politician, Mr. H was a pastor! I generally don't read any books with a religious undertone anymore. That's a story for another day. But I did enjoy this book, it was a quick read with heartwarming stories. One passage stood out more than anything else in the book, and I just have to share. In this chapter(each 'chapter' is really a short story) Mr. H. shares a Christmas in which the best gift of all was life and the love between him and his wife after she was sick. They had lived through a 'crisis' and were stronger. It fit my life right this minute perfectly: "That Christmas we learned that God's greatest gift to us is not to remove us from crisis, but to walk through crisis ...

Requirements for Reading this post: - you should own a gaming system of some sort - must love music If you’ve answered yes to the above requirements, then by all means, read away! It is no great secret to anyone here that I loves me some Guitar Hero. Always loved me some music, but now with Guitar Hero it’s on a whole new level. Then the other day I finally tried Rock Band at a friend’s house. I had no negative feelings towards it, just didn’t know much of it. I’m here to say that I did enjoy it very much! I’m not here to recommend one or the other, but if you’re up for more of a challenge I would go with the GH only because of the difficulty of the drums as well as the ease of the guitar on RB, having two sets of colored keys. Personal preference. My preference goes along with song choices too, make sure you read set lists before picking one. Sadly the ‘instruments’ are not interchangeable, or I’d already have all available titles. I have all available GH titles ...

I don’t believe in making New Year’s Resolutions anymore. I think I did when I was younger, but then realized I never, ever, ever kept to them. What percentage of people really do anyway? The closest I can come to a resolution right now is to be sure to take my vitamins and calcium every day, and even that’s a tall order for me that I forget every 3 days or so. But, with a new year comes new hopes and expectations. I hope for many things this year, and unfortunately am hoping for a lot right out of the starting gate. A hope of good health of my family is up there as number one priority. This upcoming week will not only prove our worth as a cohesive family unit, but hopefully strengthen us and make us appreciate each other and life more. I hope for my career to finally take shape again after many years of uncertainty. I want this current endeavor to work out and remind me of why I loved teaching in the first place. I hope for my kids to continue to learn and grow into funny r...

I’ve wanted one of those fancy new brownie pans since the first time I saw the commercial. You know the one, put in the insert, pop out awesome pre-cut brownies, no muss no fuss. My mom got one for me for Christmas, and my sisters each got one too. This morning at 6am I woke up and the first thing I said as I stretched was ‘I’m making brownies now!’ I don’t have the as seen on television one, I have this one   Same difference, right? $19.99 and if you have a 20% off bed bath coupon it’s a mere $16! Washed the pan, mixed the brownie batter. I didn’t take a picture of the first part, but the bottom is just a regular brownie pan that has a big hole in the middle. Then you lay the insert with handles in there and spray with Pam. I’d prefer to use butter, but since it said ‘non stick cooking spray’ I followed the directions.    After I poured the batter in I couldn’t imagine how it wouldn’t leak down and around the insert, but I kept my faith and continued on. I put th...