Barracuda

Last night I had the amazing and seriously fun opportunity to sing next to famous guitarist Roger Fisher, who is best know as one of the founding members of Heart.

Even more exciting, I got to sing Barracuda (a Heart original) with him playing lead.

Pretty. stinkin'. rad.

Although I had only learned the song the night before, and it happens to be a REALLY incredibly hard song to pull off (Anne Wilson rocks) everyone seemed to really enjoy the experience.

Yes, I had to use my notes, and yes I blew many, many notes and lyrics. Lets be honest, I bombed the entire song. But, HELLO!? Roger Fisher is awesome. Not to mention a really nice guy.

So here we are with About Face singing Pat Benatar's"Hit me with your best shot!" and Heart's "Barracuda."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiT-iJl_BsA

My doctor visit

I went to the doctor on Monday with a list of concerns. It has been 2 years since I have been insured so we have been very lucky that there haven't been any emergencies.

First on the list was a lump that Matt found on the back of my leg 3 weeks ago. Not only has it not gone away, but it has turned black. Now, I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure black is never a good color to have on your body...

The doctor stated that she had no idea what it was and that she would do some blood tests to see if there was "an infection or something".

What does "or something" mean?

My CBC came back completely normal. Looks like we'll have to biopsy the ugly sucker. That should be really fun.

The second thing we discussed was the fact that I have been having little black outs every once and a while. Not to the extent of passing out, I just lose vision for a few seconds and my heart beats really frantically. One time I couldn't catch my breath or stand up my legs were so weak. (This is the event that pushed us to get me insured. It was really scary.)

The doctor ordered an EKG and that too came back totally normal. Good news? Yes. But I would love to know why I occasionally feel like I have just run a marathon.

The other concerns I had were minor. I have an appointment with a dermatologist to get some moles removed, a new allergy medication regimen (that is working!), a date to discuss the possibility of a future pregnancy with my Gyno and a glimmer of hope to rid myself of seasonal depression. (that so far has lasted 4 seasons. Thank you Washington.)

Overall, I feel a little better. Its good to know I don't have anything REALLY wrong with me and that I now have a little plastic card that allows me into hospitals when I am not feeling right.

I'm sure the stress from not having insurance played a small part in my bad health.

Now that's irony.

Outside

We went outside today to watch a storm come in.
We sat with the dogs.
One of them is ashamed after a minor scolding.
"Don't eat poop!" is what I had to yell.
Sam looks handsome in his new digs.

Sam makes this face after I ask him to show me a smile.
I show the image to him and he laughs.
I laugh too.
What a goofy kid.

I take pictures of Dotty to document her comb growth.
Our friend Colton thinks her gender should be questioned.
I hope that our pretty pullet is not a roo.
My dad says if she is a he, we should plump him up and name him "Dinner."
That will not happen.

We watch the clouds roll in and feed the chickens corn.
They devour most of the can.

Sam eats the leftovers and states, "My corn, nan-icks."
He can't say "chicken" yet.

We all head inside when the rain drops start to fall.

The Artist

I had this grand idea that I would give Sam an empty canvas and some selectively chosen paint colors so that he could create a masterpiece for a bare spot on one of our walls.

But it may have been too grand of an idea.

He started out loving the project. I had taped a few designs on the canvas and as he painted, I pulled off strips of it to give the painting a little "modern edge".

He carefully used his fingers to place paint blobs on the canvas and just as he was about to finish he noticed the mess that had been made on his hands and arms.

He was NOT too happy about that.

So I cleaned him up, cursed Matt for passing on the OCD cleanliness gene and prayed that this event wouldn't scare him away from ever painting again.

But you know what, I think it turned out pretty cool anyway. (Look at the little finger prints!)



Next time, to save ourselves from the drama,  we'll invest in some paintbrushes for our little Picasso.

Funny conversation

Matt just called the Drs office to make an appointment for me. (for those of you who know my situation, yes, I finally have coverage!)

This was how the conversation went down:

Matt- "I need to make an apt for my wife."
Receptionist- "What is the reason she is needing to be seen?"
Matt- "There are so many. She has lumps on her legs, moles all over her and she gets bad headaches."

Pretty sure the receptionist is envisioning me looking like this:

"Doots"

Please welcome, "Doots" the fish. 

When we were coming up with names we landed on the name "Bruce" after the shark in Finding Nemo (one of Sam's favorite movies). When we ran this idea by Sam, he smiled and proclaimed, "Yeah, DOOTS!"

And so he shall be known as just that.

Update #1 - Kitchen Backsplash

As much as it stinks to have Matt out of work, its been nice to have him around the house to help with a few projects we have been wanting to tackle.
 First up, the kitchen. It was boring and very yellow. What to do....?
 I managed to work out a deal with a tile company and put everything together to place a back splash behind our oven. After choosing tile and grout color and watching a few youtube videos, I was ready.
 Materials and tools needed: Tile, grout (non-sanded for glass tile), back splash double sided tape, glass cutter, trow, sponge, cheesecloth and grout sealer.
 Here is the kitchen at the start. If you look closely you can see that I have started putting up some of the double sided tape. This product is much easier to use than grouting the tile to your wall.

 Next step is to place tile mosaics onto tape taking extra precaution that it is all level and spaced evenly. Leave area empty around the outlets, and cut single tile pieces to fit. Put outlet cover on after tile has been placed. The cover should sit on top of tile.

Grout tile. Use trow to even out material then sponge off excess. After grout has dried, use cheesecloth to "sand" off dust. I recommend using a grout that is either close to the tile color or darker. We were brave and decided to go with a tan color, but because its such a contrast, it kind of highlights our mistakes.

 The tile sealer that we used recommended waiting 30 days to seal grout. Make sure to follow instructions on the product that you use.

A few hours of cleaning up tile and grout mess and viola! Instant kitchen improvement!

 This project was super easy and makes such a big difference in the kitchen. Overall it took us about 5 hours (a lot of dry time) and approx $200 for our 17sq feet of space. (We used grout that was left here when our house was built, so that was not an expense for us.) The tile can be pricey so search around for the best deal.

Living with teenage chicks

Quite literally.

The girls have most definitely hit the awkward stage of life. They are decorated in half baby down and half adult feathers. It's kind of embarrassing.

If they were human girls they would have greasy hair and zitty skin.
And braces.
And wear small training bras.
And be unable to control the sweat in one armpit.
And have a nerdy boyfriend even skinnier and more awkward than they are.

I might be speaking from experience....

But, I am a biased mother and nothing could deter me from thinking my chickens are pretty darned adorable.

To prove to you their worth, here are 94 pictures of "The Girls".  (I'm only kind of exaggerating.)

Eating corn.

They love to look for bugs along the house, eat corn and grass and sleep in the garden.

Feets.

Daisy posing, and Daisy stating "no more pictures please."

A little rest.

Daisy has really started to be a sweet girl. I love this shot of her.

Their combs (the ridge on the top of the beak) are starting to come in. Dotty has the most perfect little comb.

Doris. She is a pig when it comes to eating and her size proves it. She's my chubby chicken.

I think she was curious about seeing the shutter in my lens. She was very interested in my camera.


I know. I'm kind of obsessed. I completely recognize it and accept it without any desire to change it.

On another note, we are so close to being finished with their coop, which will be aptly named the "Chick-Inn", so pictures are soon to come!

Loathing

I guess I'm not in the greatest of moods. Its probably the fact that its June and we still have NO SUN and NO HEAT. I hate it.

Here are some other things I loathe as well.

Flo from those Progressive commercials. How am I supposed to like her? She's annoying, stupid and has horrible hair and yellow teeth. Why would any of those things make me want to buy insurance?

Cilantro. The Thai word for this spice literally translates to "Piss weed."

Cottonwood "Snow". I am so allergic to these seeds and there is no hiding from them here in Washington. My red eyes and stuffy nose would love to rid the world of these trees.

Fish. Whitney Smith said it best when she asked "Why should we eat meat that when its done right doesn't taste like itself?" Explanation: If it tastes fishy, its bad. Therefore, fish is bad.

"Just freakin' say something already" movies. You know, the ones where everything would work out fine if the main character hadn't just spun a web of lies to cover something up? Movies like Meet the Parents, The Proposal, My Best Friend's Wedding and Hitch are just a few that came to mind.

Having my feet touched. I'm not foot-phobic, meaning I don't have a problem with other peoples feet, I just HATE having my feet rubbed, pedicured or even grazed. I will NEVER have my toe nails filed.

Mountain Dew. On top of being flat out gross its the color of something nuclear reactive. Its probably toxic.

Leopard Geckos and Cockroaches. For some odd reason they both really creep me out.

Nail snags. I go crazy if a nail chips and starts to snag on clothes or my hair. I will do whatever it takes to find a file asap.

Food TV shows. I don't want to watch people eat food. I want to eat food.

Public bathrooms. I am not normally a germaphobe (if thats even a word), but I don't do well with commonly used restrooms. I will do anything it takes to "hold it" until I get home.

Un-toasted bread. Its all moist and gets stuck in your teeth and on the roof of your mouth...yuck. Toast it.

And I guess that's about it for my negative rant.

What do you hate? And if you say that its people who hate Mountain Dew or leopard geckos, I may have to add you to my list.

New Videos

Sam rockin' out to Bub's band "Wings n Things". Check out these moves!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m00yyo4YD9E

Does he like them or hate them? We don't know. Here is Sam's first experience with Pop Rocks candy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujI1iOJSFjU

Olympic Game Farm. We thought it would be a good idea to keep the windows rolled up through the Bison encounter...not such a great idea after all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv5iDe8kqnQ

The bink

Hi, my name is Sam and I am a bink-a-holic.

We are struggling to ween Sammy off of the pacifier, or "nee ney" as he calls it.  He is not allowed to have it at all during the day (except for nap time) and binkies are not supposed to leave the crib. This has actually been working out great but occasionally Sam will walk into the room with a blanket over his head or his hands over his mouth. A clear indicator that he is breaking the rules, and knows he is. Little stinker.

We haven't tried anything in regards to night time weening because he is such an amazing sleeper and we like our sleep here in the Aprecio household.

Here's to hoping he grows out of binkies on his own...before he's 19...

Some sun

The nice weather finally arrived here in Seattle. We had the coldest April/May in record history and the depression that it caused was experienced by all of us. We were sick and tired of being stuck inside!

When it was finally warm enough to get out, we soaked up every moment of it.

Sam was thrilled. I put some water in his kiddie pool and he had a blast while Matt and I worked on the chicken coop and the garden.





We also got to bring the chickens outside for some "yard work." They are really great at finding bugs, digging up moss and fertilizing the grass.

By the way, they are big. They look like totally different birds every morning we go into the bathroom to check on them. Not only are they changing in size, but their adult feathers are coming in.

 Its been fun to watch them. They each have such different personalities.



Mrs. Dot. Her feathers are so pretty already. She is still a baby. She cries and cries until she gets attention from either Doris or Daisy. Sam stepped on her foot the other day and she limped around crying for a while. We couldn't tell if she was really hurt or just being dramatic. She's fine now.

Daisy. She has started to like me a little more and loves to steal food from her sisters. Even though she is quickly becoming the littlest of the 3, she is still in charge.

Its funny to me when little "tiffs" or "Chick fights" if you will, break out between these three. The point of the fight is to see who can get the tallest. It ends when one of them flies onto the others back. Its good entertainment.

The rain has come back today which is actually a good thing. Matt and I have tons of work to catch up on and we are forced to do it by the cold weather. But, we would love some more sun soon!

Our first garden-fresh meal

It wasn't much, but it was good. I loved walking outside, gathering leaves and then taking them in the kitchen to prepare dinner.

I used my romaine lettuce for a nice salad.

followed by a cheese filled pasta covered with a freshly chopped basil pesto.

Yum! I cant wait for more of my garden to start maturing! 

The side yard

I pretty much get whatever I want. So it should be no surprise to me that Matt was more than willing to build me the garden beds and the chicken coop that I asked for.

Still, I am super excited about these almost finished products.

Our side yard has been a wasted space up until last week.

Out of sight, out of mind.

But now I have a fun garden to care for and I will have even more responsibility when the "Chick-Inn" is completed.  

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We planted all of the things that we most eat/use most around our home. Tomatoes (2 different varieties), lettuce, spinach, string beans, garlic, onions, cucumbers, dill, strawberries, basil, rosemary, broccoli and carrots. (Blueberry bushes will be added this week as well. ) Its so exciting to go out there every day and see how mature it is becoming.

There are still a few more projects to tackle in regards to the garden (stain the outside wood and add some slug-b-gone to the dirt mix) but I am loving any excuse these days to get outside. Rain or shine...even though its been mostly rain.

Yesterday, Matt started building the chicken coop. Did I mention that the girls are LIVING IN OUR BATHROOM?! Yes, its a disaster. Even though they are contained in a plastic tub, they are taking over. Not only are they huge, but they are curious birds with no fear. When I go in there to change their water or food, they immediately fly onto me to be able to stretch their wings a little. I love the attention, but I cant wait to introduce them to the outdoors, where they belong.

How white trash is this situation: Constructing A CHICKEN COOP with a toddler in CHRISTMAS PAJAMAS and hand-me down RAIN BOOTS in the recently thatched and seeded DIRT LAWN. Oh, and Sam is pretending that the broken screw he found is a gun. Sweet. Should I take a trip to Walmart in my flannels now?