My Loves April

Lolly:
I hit the CALL button on the elevator by accident. When the operator came on, I told them: "Sorry, my daughter hit the button." When we got off the elevator she totally called me out on it.
Lolly: "Excuse me? 'I'm sorry, my daughter hit the button?' I didn't hit the button....SORRY, MY MOM HIT THE BUTTON!"

During Phoebe's violin lesson:

teacher: "please play your scale like this"-(demonstrates)
phoebe: plays something that is nothing like the demonstration

lolly: "That's NOT right"

her first words in 20 minutes of watching.
teacher busts out laughing

When you and Phoebz were playing Sound of Music, you kept calling her Weasle instead of Leisl

me: Lolly, don't you like having babies? Should we have a baby?
Lolly: We have dad and mom and Lolly and Phoebe and that's the family.
me: But, wouldn't you want to have a little brother or sister?
Lolly: Mom, can we please stop talking about babies?


Lolly: Mom, you going to sleep with me?
me: No, I want to sleep with DADDY.
Lolly: but Dad is stinky.
me: I like stinky
Lolly: you likestinky?
me: No, but I like Daddy's stinky.


Phoebe:
When I was feeling so sick, I asked you to read me Harry Potter outloud. I demanded accents too. You complied.

Later that night when I was asleep in bed you cleaned up dinner, saved the leftovers, brushed your teeth and Lolly's, and tucked yourselves in bed right. on. time.

Being so brave for all 4 of your fillings.

Going through New York City's Field Guide with me, and wanting to know every creature in our city, what they eat and where we can try to find them. Committing to going on some adventures to try to find some of them...in particular the only snake that inhabits our burroughs: GARTER.

Your relief at passing the scale test. Enjoying your cupcake reward.

DH:
Doing your best to both buy and wrap me a gift.
Helping to get the party going.
Caring enough to want to be involved in a celebration of my birthday!
Helping me "come from a place of YES" as Bethanny says on Real Housewives of New York City. YES, honey.
Helping me with the new crockpot.
Supporting my new extra work.
Getting the balloons for the party. Good job.
Switching to fish and seeing 3 pounds drop...like that.
I brought home my second maxi dress of the season. Jason stopped me and said:

I'm seeing a trend. This is the second of these dresses you have bought this spring. And I just want you to know that these dresses do not look flattering on you. You look small up here and really big down here.

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Third Person Thursday

Rollerblading is on the list of activities to avoid with epilepsy. But, since she has been seizure-free for over a year and she has permission to drive, she decided it was ok to try.

She started wearing a helmet a few years ago after knowing about too many people being hit by cars or having other cityish accidents. She also added knee pads to her gear.

She put on the helmet, knee pads and wrist guards and headed out. It was early enough that she could have full ownership of a nearby basketball court. The surface there is smooth and it's just the right size to make non-dizzying circles.

She knew that her ankles and shins would hurt because it had been 18 months since she had last rollerbladed. She knew her workout would need to be brief, so that she wouldn't be totally sore the next day.

Despite the cold, she enjoyed the feeling of being on the wheels. When she got to the court she started her circles. She had to concentrate hard to not hit the sides of the walls or the basketball hoops (side effects of the meds). She only hit the wall once and it wasn't that hard. After several times around she wondered if she could skate backwards, like the old days.

She began and everything went spinny. She couldn't see, control her feet, avoid bumping into things, and felt she would trip over her own feet. She tried doing it in a different direction. She tried a smaller circle (oh no....). She tried going slower. Nope. Not gonna happen. Maybe another day. She couldn't keep her head straight with an old favorite: skating backwards around the rink.

Oh well. At least she made it out on her blades, had a decent workout and didn't fall on her head.

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Wrangling for Eebee

Last week I went back into the studio to wrangle for a new eebee book. We had tons of cutie-pie babies. I loved the cuddly ones of course.

My favorite cuddly baby wouldn't take a single frame on set, but that's ok with me, I got tons of cuddles along the way....Hi baby Nala!

One of our tiniest baby models came all the way from Baltimore, and his grandma sent me a photo of us:


Check out some of the other books I wrangled for:

Here to There.

and

Make it Happen.

Since all of our babies were tried and true eebee fans, I used the new plush hand puppet quite a bit while wrangling. I was surprised at how well it worked!

I'm happy to report that my new wrangling belt made it's debut on this shoot, and it ROCKED.

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Summer or Swine?

I'm not freaking out about Swine flu.

But.

This afternoon Lolly asked to go home from the park, after spending the entire morning planning our picnic at the purple playground. Then, after doing a little surgery on a blister in between her big toe and toe #2 (flip-flop season!), that was getting pretty funky and full of dirt, she couldn't "walk fast". I opted for taking the air-conditioned car to pick up Phoebe.

Phoebe was in good spirits, chatting up a storm. Then she sat down to do her homework just as Lolly had a tummy ache. I tried giving Lolly some coke, and she wasn't even interested in that, even though she always trys to take sips of mine at the movies/restaurants. She kept whining about her tummy and Phoebe just zoned at the kitchen counter.

Eventually Lolly fell asleep on the couch and Phoebe started crying.

I stared at them, I asked: Are you guys sick or something?

Swine Flu.

I felt foreheads. Cool.

I think it is just too much summer too fast. We will get a small reprieve tomorrow during a rainstorm and a 30-degree drop in temperature. I think a good night sleep will help too.

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Braid

It feels like we have been growing out the bangs for a while, but look....a braid works now!

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Earth Day Part 2

So hard to narrow it down...but here are a few more pix from our Earth Day celebration in CP!

I took a turn on the swings:


I recycled 6 MAC cosmetics containers to get a new lipglass. The girls of course had to try on one item, they both chose a different shade of pink lipstick, that reminds me a lot of what Grammy wore from 1980 to 1993:

Tree-hugger:

We spotted a lot of "LIPS!" in the park. No, those are Daffodils honey.


Swinging:

Climbing:


Hammering, she found a stick shaped as a hammer, so she made this bench while Phoebe was in the bathroom. (Shout out to the park district for finishing the bathrooms already!)

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Took a little trip down memory lane

Lolly and I found ourselves at the Union Square Babies R Us last week. We decided to stop in and say hi to Baby Lolly.





Time fuh-LIES!

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Earth Day

We finally celebrated by seeing earth at a nearby theatre. And then we adventured in Central Park. I think my girls are finally old enough to appreciate CP.....so I hope to spend my entire summer there!

More pix later. I was up doing extra work late last night. YAWN.

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Shopping List

My daughter is playing in a play-a-thon at our local bookstore.

On the day of the play-a-thon, if you purchase items with a voucher, a percentage goes towards the school's music program. This event happens every year, so in the spring I start collecting items that I want to purchase and save them for that voucher, on that day. My budget is 60 dollars. Here is my list, but I need to narrow it down or get more suggestions...so go:

Since I kindle now, I am mostly interested in our summer read-alloweds...

Here's the list:

Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Willoughbys
The Gathering Blue and The Messenger
The Yggyssey
My One Hundred Adventures
Elijah of Buxton
Hoot

And a few other ideas:
Off the beaten subway track
This American Life on DVD Season 1 or 2
A yoga mat

In addition to using the voucher, Phoebe is collecting pledges to benefit her school which recently lost 100K from a private donor. Hey, if you want to donate, email me...we could really use the help. If her class raises 1K, it will be matched by a different donor! So far Phoebz, on her own has raised 279...so I thought I would just check and see...email me for more info...

and THANKS.

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Third Person Thursday

She walked through Central Park holding her daughters hand.

She was carrying a few heavy bags. She had been outside in the pollen for hours that day. Her allergies didn't bother her at all. What? She pulled out her kleenex only a few times. She had just been surrounded by moms, friends, kids who cared enough about her daughter to come out and play for a few hours, and celebrate her mere existence.

She rested, conversed, took some photos, laughed. She felt engaged. Present. She was calm. Relaxed. She had fun.

It wasn't a fight to crawl over the obstacles just to be able to stand there. She was open, free, there. She was there.

As she left the park, she thought: I think I might be a good mom again.

Her older daughter had talked with her lately about some of her feelings, her perceptions of what her mom thought of her. "Ever since Lolly turned 3..." She thought (1 month after I bumped my head...I dissappeared--I wasn't there for her).

Her younger daughter has been described as tough, spirited, strong-willed, a nut. She has acted out in her own unique challenging way.

She can now see how her deep, inner struggles have affected her daughters. She is choosing not to live in that guilt and shame, but to try to fix it. She wants healing. She wants progress, she wants to strengthen their relationships. This is how she can continue to be a good mom. She has hope. She thinks she might try to tuck away a few dollars for their therapy fund. Just in case.

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Happy Earth Day

photo credit

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Lunch

I first had this salad at Brick Cafe in Queens. Mixed greens, beets, potatoes, green beans, goat cheese. So good.


I'm not gonna lie, this is some good fiber too...ya know what I mean?

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What was in the box...

Want to know what was in the box?



Our first meal: Pulled pork sandwiches. It was good.

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A little bit more...

Remember that Target commercial of a few years ago, with the song A little bit more, a little bit more? I like that song. Listen to a sample here. Well, I could use a little bit more of this:

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CRentral Park Party

Lolly's birthday party was rescheduled for yesterday because of the rainy weather. The weather yesterday (and today for that matter), couldn't have been more perfect. All she wanted for her birthday was a party in CRentral Park. That's how she pronounces it, with an extra R.

We had 5 families make it with about a dozen kiddos. Here is Lolly saying: I'm 4!

Phoebe had her second set of fillings done in the morning...the first two done on Wednesday...so she was still a little wiped out from the novocaine...here we are waiting for our party guests:

One of our guests brought the family dog, Lolly was in heaven pulling Diamond around on her leash, for a LONG time...she made the party so great that we forgave her when she peed on our blanket.

One of her gifts was a "pockahbook" (as they pronounce and call it here in NYC). She loves it.

Balloons! Jason lost 3 while handing them out as our party favors...whoops! Lolly eventually lost hers too, after a fall that resulted in scrapies on her ankles and knees. Boo.



Dirty Fingers....summer has begun! You should have seen the dirt in the tub!

Frosting in the hair...that's so Phoebe...she has food everywhere all the time:

Being obstructed by what Lolly describes as a waterfall ponytail:

The tub water stung her boo-boos, and she decided against band-aids. These socks would do the trick in making her park wounds feel better. You betcha.

She had such a great time. So happy. So worth it! Is the celebrating over yet?

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It's over....sigh.

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Camera Phone

It's been a celeb-filled week. And my camera-phone pix are simply going to blow your mind.

My fave new show this season, Fringe, hired me to be background yesterday. Oh yeah. I had like 4 callbacks for this job.

(you can tell that I am not being serious now right?)

Anyway, here is Anna Torv who plays Olivia Dunham. She needlepoints in between takes. She looks exactly like herself in person as she does on tv. I have seen a lot of celebs in the flesh and this usually is not the case. Most often they are more stunning in person (Julia Roberts, Hilary Swank, Nate Berkus, Heidi Klum, Harry Connick Jr.--a few examples).

Here is the camera in the middle of the street. They are filming about 3 cars stunting. There was a cool stunt-double of Anna driving an SUV with big screeches. The PA's were trying to get the New Yorkers to not get in the shot, most of them were pretty upset about that. I would be too.

You can't tell that well, but here is the elevator at the hotel where we shot....it is gold in hue.

The crew changed it to look silver. They did an excellent job.

And here is Russell Crowe at the Today Show. I let him share the green room with me.

This is not from my camera phone, but you can see Jason and Phoebe in the background of the Today Show here...and Matthew Broderick of course:

It's been a long week. I'm tahred.

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Curly Sis

She's growing up. She wanted her hair curled, and she held still for the whole thing...no wiggles=no burns, just beauty!

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I made it. 4 years.

Oh, the journey we've been on, since that day 4 years ago when I went through nothing I had ever experienced before to birth this whirlwind of a soul:

Here we are on day 1:

Lolly was the best baby. She woke to eat in the night and went right back to sleep without any pomp...just wrap her tight in her receiving blanket and she was out. She was so quiet, vocalized very little, laughed very little. She smiled occasionally, but mostly she was an observer that first year. Behind those eyes she was filing away oh so much information...for later.

Somewhere between year 1 and year 2, the real Lolly emerged. I remember being on the phone with my mom when she was around 18 months, near tears, not knowing how to tame the enchanting beast. My mom and I have had many similarly-themed conversations since then, and what I leave with every time, is that I birthed myself. You'd think I'd be able to figure it out then.....

Between year 2 and 3 we had about a year long fight over pee and poo. My friend Cassandra coined her this way: "Predicatably Unpredictable." Yup.

This past year Lolly has been through it with her mommy. She has oscillated right along with me, poor thing, but in the end, we're still friends, and as Lolly puts it, we're still partners. Thank goodness. I don't know what I would do without her:


Happy Birthday my dear, sweet beautiful girl.

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Lolly Antics

She explained that she had her sleeping glasses and her morning glasses. It was a long, detailed dissertation on her glasses. And she wasn't kidding:




In the morning, she'll be 4!

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Today Show

Here it is....our experience was fun, complete with Russell Crowe and Jean Chatzky sharing the green room with us, and a Matthew Broderick sighting.

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White House Eggroll 2009 in Pictures

1898:



1929:

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Easter Dresses

I bought these Crewcuts dresses on the sale rack last year. They were a GREAT steal. It was cold on Easter, but we weathered it anyway....

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White House Eggroll 2009.

Come to the Eggroll with me....you will have a good time. I promise.

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Today Show ~ Tuesday, Apr. 14th

*UPDATE*
The segment is supposed to air at 9:40 AM...

Set your Tivo....Lolly and I will be modeling rain gear on the Today show tomorrow. Check it.

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2009 Easter Parade

I have lived here for about 7 Easters now. Every other year I seem to remember the Easter Parade, and it's always when my church meets in the morning, that I remember, and so I don't go. This year I remembered and our church meets in the afternoon, so I thought it was the perfect time to stop by the parade in the morning and then come home and have a little lunch and make it to our 1 pm church meeting.

The girls of the posse got Easter Bonnets this year because of the White House Egg Roll, and so it was a good excuse to wear them to the parade too. Phoebe pictured us marching in a parade with throngs of other bonnet-wearers. She was dissappointed to find that we just meander about staring at people. Lolly had no idea what we were doing, and was completely overwhelmed by the crowds and proceeded to have a really solid Lolly meltdown. I think they were too short to really get a good look at everything.

I had seen photos of Easter Parades past, so I knew there would be some outrageous ensembles. Our little bonnets were meant to be tokens, not "floats" or anything photo-worthy. I did not expect the large numbers of photos that were taken of us. A few photographers even demanded that I tilt my head a certain way so that they could get the details of my hat with the red lipstick. I kind of wish I had put on the REST of my makeup...all I had on was that red lipstick!

The girls did not enjoy the photos at all. I didn't even stop to smile and look into the lens very much. In fact, the photos sort of got in the way of us looking at all the OTHER hats around. This is the excuse I will give for not getting the best composed photos...but it's just a taste of our experience.












Next year I would like it to be warmer out, and I would like to stay a bit longer, and not have a screaming, tantruming little one completely protesting. And maybe I won't wear a hat, so that I can be on the sidelines, observing.....but it was fun for our first Easter Parade...."on the avenue.....5th avenue...."...sing it Judy.

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Egg Dye

We dyed eggs. It was the first year we didn't have a lot of boisterous egg-dropping. We only had a few accidental cracks, so that was good. Lolly was a little grumpy, and Phoebz had to pee while I was trying to get a pic, so they are not the best, but oh well.

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Egg Hunt.

On Friday the rain held out! We had our 7th Annual Egg Hunt yesterday.

First a flashback:
2003:

2006:




And now for 2009:


I was in charge of the bean bag toss. I recruited my talented friends to draw and cut-out this bunny that doubled as a PHOTO-OP!

Look, here we are! We're in our 30's now! Both of us.

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Easter Subway

In all my 7 + years of living in NYC, I have never seen a subway attendant decorate his or her booth. I do not recall even ever seeing Christmas lights. And lo...an Easter Window...love it!



Lolly is closing her eyes and smiling because that is my favorite thing to do in photos. I find it endlessly hilarious.

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Laughter and Tears

A perfect beginning of a new decade. I laughed, I cried, I sang. It's my party, I'll cry if I want to.

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Friends

Smile.

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3 to the 0

It's official. I'm 30.

I woke up this morning with two of my best friends from Cali sleeping on my couches. They are here! In the city! On my birthday!

Then my husband surprised me with a big box that was heavy. A new crockpot! I desperately needed one and I didn't even drop hints or tell him that's what I wanted, he just came UP with that! Awesome. It's like super high tech, sleek shape, nice design, and stainless steel. I HEART my new crockpot.

He also bought me my favorite cupcakes in the world. Chocolate with pink buttercream frosting from Buttercup. Breakfast-cupcakes! So thrilled. So yummy.

We sang, lit a candle, opened presents all before he went to work.

I got lots of cards and some generous checks from parents and grandparents, and I confess, after 30 years of birthdays, I had a feeling some of these checks were coming, so I did a little pre-shopping for my birthday dress!


I quite like it. I think it will help me to PARTY on this, my 30th birthday. Cutom-made, Etsy of course.

My mom made me an album of photos of just the two of us over these 30 years. I laughed and I cried as I read through these pages that she so thoughtfully put together. The last page is the best. I am going to scan it later and put it on the blog. My Dad wrote me a beautiful letter reminding me of all the blessings in my life, including HIM!

There is more in store for this day, it's only 9 AM after all. But, right now, while my girls are playing in their room with my friends' girls....I am going to stay in my bed and load up my kindle with the gift certificate my sister sent me! 30th birthday is going WAY good so far.

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Cake

A little friend came over today and we celebrated her birthday. I borrowed the cupcake cake mold from a friend, it turned out good and tasted even better.

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The impending day...

I made a video.

Unscripted.

1 Take

Edits, yes.

Surprise Ending.

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Party Week Prep

Finally went to Target:

In the cart:

Dr. Pepper
Homemade Popsicle Mold
Drakes Cherry Pies
Fruit Snacks
Mini Gatorades
Cinnamon Life
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Kashi Heart to Heart
Honey Nut Cheerios
22 boxes of Mac N Cheese (20 Whole Grain)
Simple Harvest Granola Bars
Kashi Granola Bars: Dark Cherry Chocolate, Pumpkin Spice
Funfetti Icing-2 cans
Chocolate Icing-1 can
2 cake mixes
Grandma's Casserole-Stouffers
Bread

My friends requested mostly cereal and junk. So, I delivered.

Did I mention my Cali girls are coming to town? It's PARTY HEARTY week....

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Easter Story Pick

An Easter Book we have read over and over again. Warning: It has a lot of words. However, I do like the vintage drawings, and the message is sort of decent:

Little girl dreams of being an Easter Bunny.
Little girl grows up and is surprised by having 21 kids.
She raises them, teaches them life skills, independence.
Through this process she has also honed stellar Easter Bunny skills.
She is picked as one of the 5 Easter Bunnies, and the only female to boot.

Pick up your copy of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes today.

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Kite Runner

There were a lot of parts of the novel that brought me to tears, but I had forgotten so much of it. I finally saw the film last night. It is on my list of excellent film adaptations.

I believe so strongly in the miracle of forgiveness. When these lyrics from the song Supplication by Sami Yusuf started playing near the end of the film, it was over, the tears welled up.

O My Lord,
My sins are like
The highest mountain;
My good deeds
Are very few
They’re like a small pebble.
I turn to You
My heart full of shame,
My eyes full of tears.
Bestow Your
Forgiveness and Mercy
Upon me.

I downloaded the song, and though I am not Muslim, the message speaks to me. Maybe it will to you too.

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Bonnet Peek

The girls and I read this book around this time of year. We love the birds, critters and forest's version of NYC's 5th Avenue.



I have plans to attend this year's Easter Parade on the avenue, 5th Avenue.

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Birthday Present

A package arrived on my counter top last night. It's rectangular, heavy and impeccably wrapped:


Thanks honey, I can't wait to open it next week.

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New Equipment

My friend Chloe rocked me out a new piece of equipment for my baby wrangling kit.

CHECK out my new belt:

Pockets, loops, adjustable waist band.

Colors are spot on.


THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love my new belt. It's going through it's trial run in a few weeks!

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Third Person Thursday

She was having dreams of doing the Easter shopping at Target...walking don the aisles, gazing at the pastels and brights, the chocolate!

She had a feeling that Target would become the trap it always is: buy me! buy me! you HAVE to have me! She's on a budget, you know.

She took the girls to her casting near the East Village, and was taped for the hands-only commercial. After a stop at Chipotle (free sodas for the girls), and the bakery (free cookies for the girls-it pays to be cute), it was time to go home. They were sitting waiting for the 6 train for a while. She recognized a hand model sitting on their bench with her signature purple hand-protector gloves on...she must have gone to the audition too. She finds that girl, with her gloves a little obnoxious, but hey, if her hands were her bread and butter, she might wear the gloves everywhere too.

They waited and waited, and then she spotted the basement of Kmart on the other side of the platform.

Kmart!

Hey! Isn't Kmart more affordable than Target? She thought it was, so the Posse bailed and went to Kmart.

Of course Lolly wanted the life-size stuffed bunny rabbit, and when she asked: Can I have this?

Her reply: What do you think?

She honed in on the deals. She is bringing 4 girls to an Easter Egg Hunt where admission for the hunt is bringing a dozen stuffed eggs. She found a pack of 40 multi-sized eggs. She knew she had some plastic eggs from last year (tried to go green with those plastic eggs!), but she also needed some eggs for the BUNNY visit. She found 6 more eggs made of chalk, she thought that was a fun way to mix up the egg offerings at the hunt...into the basket they went.

She then sneaked in a few more BUNNY items-grass, and some clear eggs that she could put some goodies in.

She lined up and suddenly all 4 registers that were open, with about 6 people in line, each, FROZE. She took a look around and and tried to assess the situation. She expected the impatient New Yorkers to give up and leave their purchases, but apparently everyone needed a deal, including her. She saw that the girls had found a display filled with probably 150 animatronic plush bunnies and duckies, that all played a different song when pushed on the hand, foot, tummy, whatever. Some of their ears lifted up and down, some danced, some played the guitar, some had sunglasses go up and down. All were loud. VERY loud.

The girls circled the display and made sure that every single plush toy was playing. They did this the entire time the registers were down. She glanced around, a little on guard, ready to say: "If you don't like it, go stand in a different line." Frankly, she was relieved that she picked the line next to the push-button display. She knew she could wait in that line for as long as it took.

Eventually the lines were rolling again. She had several items, sneaked in the BUNNY stuff and only spent $12.50. And yesterday, at Target, she spent way less then she expected as she took a breath and breezed through that Easter aisle of temptation. Whoosh. Danger averted.

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Calling all Do-It-Yourselfers

I can't stop thinking about Nie's Kitchen Wall.

I first saw it in Cookie Mag.

Here are a few more pix from her blog:
The kitchen wall.

Seen here too.

I have a spot in mind. I tacked up a few photos today, just to get a feel for the possibility.



I don't know.

Questions:
1. How do I get it on the wall? Make copies on a special paper? Use wallpaper glue OVER it?

2. And if I do the project, how would I restore the walls when it's time to make a change?

Please share.

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