... Made Progress on the Kitchen Remodel

I promise to post photos of our kitchen, but only when it it completely finished! I have vowed to finish it before April 1st. We moved back into our house on April 1, 2008 after living at Big Granny and Gramps house for two and a half months. Has it seriously taken us a year to put up the backslash, trim, lights and door? Yes, yes it has. Seems crazy because it only took Wade two and a half months to completely demo the entire room, put in new plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall and flooring. Insane.

Here are some shots of my men hard at work yesterday afternoon:



Finn likes to eat leftover waffles while using the circular saw.



How freaking cute is this? I mean seriously? How cute?!

...Reminisced With Waffles

We admit it. We've been having withdraws. Waffle withdraws. Big Granny and Gramps have been in Texas since the end of December which means we haven't enjoyed waffles for lunch for the past four Sundays! The weekends are just not the same. *sigh*

Along with the delicious waffles, we miss hearing the local gossip from Gramps as well as the occasional, "God Dammit!" heard coming from his easy chair. So sad. We also miss Big Granny's cookie jar that magically has 5 cookies in it every Sunday; two for Finnie, two for Ceci and one for Gramps. *double sigh*

Yesterday we decided to do something about our craving. We needed a taste... just a little bit to help us through this though time. Something to ease the pain in our tummies... so we borrowed Big Granny's waffle maker and attempted to recreate the feeling we once had on Sunday afternoons. The first few attempts were flops [not enough batter], but finally...FINALLY we had success!...



We even spiced it up a bit by making blueberry waffles. Yum.



Finn's face when told he had to wait for his next waffle.



Cecilia gave our waffle and fried eggs a thumbs up...but admitted they weren't as good as Big Granny's.



We will not be whole until they return in April and we are once again together for Waffle Sunday.

...Called It

Check it, my Cecilia called it back on March 4, 2008. Look!



What an amazing day. Our IT guy set up the conference room screen and had CNN streaming live during the Oath of Office and Obama's speech. We all got chills, shed some tears and broke into applause after his oath and his speech.
Several of us at CREW had a "Broccoli Celebration" lunch at the Yacht Club. Because of my story about Cecilia, "broccoli" became our code word during the election if we wanted to talk politics. Our CEO put the kibosh on water cooler discussions on the topic. I am pretty sure it is because she was in favor of the other guy and was sore that her side was losing. We were banned from wearing any buttons, shirts, etc. during the election. We totally enjoyed getting to wear our shirts today - you cannot ban patriotism baby!

...Dunked Donuts & Oreos

Recently Finnegan was introduced to two of my favorite things: Oreos and sprinkle donuts. He definitely approves of both.

Thanks to my father, Oreos are my favorite cookie. Cecilia and I sat down a few nights ago to show Mr. Finn how to dunk some Oreos. He caught on really fast and before I knew it, our Oreos were gone. Wait, let me rephrase that... our Oreos were at the bottom of Ceci and Finn's cups. Note to self, teach children to hold Oreo in milk for 3 seconds only. If left in milk for too long, cookie will break and fall into milk. Man I wish we had some right now. I could easily eat a whole package of those delicious little yummies. Most of you know this about me, but did you know there are rules that must be followed when eating them? Well, there are.

1. They have to be official Oreos. Do not even bring fake Always Save cookies into my house.

2. They cannot be the double stuffed ones. That is just too much of a good thing, plus it throws off the delicate balance of crisp cookie and smooshy middle.

3. I have to eat them with milk so I can dunk them. Yum.

4. I only eat Oreos at home or my at parent's house. They get all up in my teeth and that is so not attractive.


Last weekend Wade and I showed the kids what we used to do for fun on Saturday mornings before we were parents. We would go to Dunkin' Donuts for the coffee/donut combo and then walk over to Pet World to browse around. [Man we were so broke back then.] Ceci and Finn enjoyed the donuts, the animals and the experience. We walked out of the pet store empty handed, thank God. Wade and I bought three cats and several fish during our "hey-we're-bored-so-let's-walk-around-Pet World" adventures.

...Skipped the Black-eyed Peas

Fresh New Year's Day tradition in the Cottrell household - Old Fashioned Hot Dogs. Yum. Makes 'em just the way I like 'em...glistening. Thanks for the OFHD machine Nana Debbie and Papa Tom!