Playing Catch-up

What does a mother get with 3 teenage boys and an incredibly independent 2 1/2 year old???

Behind!!!

Behind on housework, behind on laundry, behind on shopping, behind on schoolwork, and of course behind on blogging!

This is probably one of the most special pieces of clothing that Abigail has ever worn! Any guesses why??

Sweet Princess Abigail in her "new" pajamas...a nightgown! We decided to 'accommodate' Abigail's bedtime routine and give her the option of no pants. Seriously, as I posted before when we would put her to bed with pajamas on she would take them off. She cannot stand pants on her legs (and not just for bed either). We would pin her footy one piece ones so she could not take them off, but anytime she was wearing top/bottom, we would find the bottom on the floor by the time we went to bed.

Having a little snack...we love the popcorn

Okay so, there's a short little story that goes with these next few pictures. Back in October when our house flooded, it was early on in the remodel process and my contractor had instructed me to go to the carpet store one day and pick out a carpet for the house. He basically told me to not come back until I had picked one out and purchased it (the installer would pick it up later).
So off we went (took a friend along for moral support - thanks Patty) to the outlet flooring store to select carpet.
A) Have any of you been into an outlet (or any for that matter) flooring store? If so then you would understand the 'overwhelm' factor of picking.

B) When you only can spend $xx.xx of dollars per square foot, you kind of figure out that the decision will be easy right???
Literally it was the hardest decision I have had to make in a long, long, long time. I first had to decide if I wanted a carpet that didn't show wear and tear or one that was stain resistant? So, Patty so intelligently asked me what I didn't like about the carpet in my house that had been ruined. I told her that it was riddled with stains, afterall I did have children. Thus I had my answer - looking for a stain resistant carpet.

There I stood in this big warehouse with hundreds of rolls of carpet, vinyl, etc around me and I was left with 2 decisions - which color - light or darker! Simple right?!?
I will actually admit that I had an easier time making a decision on toilets when I stood in the aisle at the hardware store with a choice of 50 different types of toilets in front of me. BUT when I am faced with 1 choice I sort of fell apart.

So...feeling like I really didn't have a decision I chose the lighter version. I was told in the showroom that I had made a GREAT choice as this kind of carpet was stain-proof. Ummm, Yeah right!!! No, seriously they told me that the carpet company did an experiment where they carpeted the entire stall of a rhino for 1 month with this carpet brand and after a month of it 'doing its business' they pulled it out and had it professionally clean. Low and behold, the stains ALL came out ~ now I didn't say anything about the smell. Literally all the stains came out. Okay, I said and chalked it up to selling techniques.
Do you wonder where I am going with all this???

Exhibit A: Evidence!!! One said ink pad

Exhibit B: carpet behind computer desk in the living room where an ink pad (magenta at that) had fallen behind unnoticed for weeks. (I actually cannot believe I was smart enough to grab the camera and shoot before and after)

Exhibit C: rag used to clean up ink stain (literally only used a rag and warm water - no cleaner)

Exhibit D: carpet after cleaning...can I just say I'm sold!!!

So, last week we had some really funky weather! We had a few incredible days of hail storms. This one covered the deck - you might even be able to see it falling in the picture.

No Joke...this picture was taken within 30-45 minutes later, which we went onto enjoy a beautiful sunny day.