NoName

I love our new stationary bike/elliptical.

It's been lovingly named NoName.

And it's received such a wonderful name because, well,

we bought it on EBay, it was super cheap and it wasn't a fancy name brand.

Living where we do, we are put in a challenging situation

every winter and summer, work out wise, because it gets

so stinkin' cold/hot here.

Being the fickle worker outer that I am, I just quit when the going, or weather,

gets tough(Zach on the other hand enjoys a good snow run...that is when he's not falling on ice...).

I'm slightly ashamed of that, but it's true.

So back to NoName.

Zach being the smart, savvy guy that he is,

had the brilliant idea that we should buy a bike thingy.

I was not game for the bike idea because I knew I'd never ride the thing.

He found this little diddy and we agreed that it would be perfect!

And it has been....most of the time...

It migggght have had a few bumps in the road....like bolts flying off...

and pedals braking off...

But nothing a little elbow grease and Super Glue

(annnnd the removal of a few parts to stop a horrible grinding noise)

couldn't fix.

Ol' NoName has been in tip top form for the last few months(not gonna lie,

after there was a horrible screeching coming from the wheels-post bolt flying off- I didn't think it would work again!) and has been used as such.

Now all I have to figure out is why I torture myself by watching cooking shows while working it??

Oddly, I do find that it motivates me to no end.

{I had a great weekend! We went apple picking to this amazing farm and I took a couple hundred pictures, but for some reason they are not showing up in my pictures section when I try to load them onto the blog...even though I've got them on the computer. Am I the only one who has these stupid problems?!?

I'm going to try and have them ready to post later tonight or tomorrow...wish me luck!}

The Latest.

So the roof is still not fixed, but they are finally

working on our section that is leaking.

To be fair, they guy upstairs had it way worse than us,

so I suppose he deserved to have his fixed first.

The crap thing was that it rained last night.

Rained HARD. Thunderstorm hard,

bazillion-mile-an-hour-winds

trees-falling-into-houses hard.

Ya, that hard.

The only good thing that came out of it was

that the roofers were still here and could

place tarps over the really leaky parts,

so it wasn't a disaster over all.

It was also good for them to see where the leaks were,

mind you, there are sludge colored streaks

down the walls where the rain came down.

Oh, it's a pretty sight alright.

If you haven't noticed before, well then you know now,

my place is classy.

BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING.

May sound like it, but I'm not.

Really.

Well... I'm trying not to, that counts right?

Side note: what is up with the format of yesterdays blog???

Not sure what happened there or how to fix it.

Aubrey's "Syeeeeep ober" Party

Marcy and Anna {My good friends and "aunt's" to Aubrey} came to

visit us here in NJ two weeks ago. Aubrey thought that they were here

purely to entertain her, and I suppose they kinda were:)

I'm old news now-a-days with Aubrey around,

I think I've finally come to grips with that....

I think....

Needless to say these three had a blast together.

Aubrey loving the constant attention, and me loving the built in babysitters....

I mean playmates... who am I kidding,

babysitters! It was so awesome having them here.

We had fun at the park, went to Hoboken,

to the shore(Ocean Grove again, LOVE that beach!) went shopping,

hit up Target and,

best of all,

the girls splurged and treated me to a night in the city for a girls night!

AMAZING!

I didn't really know how much I needed that!

I love Aubrey, but I spend all day every day with that kid and

with zero family around,

I don't ever get a break.

To be able to out for a late dinner and

Just hang out, shopping at our leisure and

not having to worry about changing diapers and feeding a

little person, HEAVEN!


Aubrey loved the constant attention and love these girls gave her!
While in the city we spent most of our time in SoHo,

such a different feel from the rest of the city, I love it.

We had Dean and Deluca coffee and treats, oh man...
And had dinner in Little Italy. Mmmmmm good!

I had mussels and they were fantastic, my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Aubrey yelling, "NO! No more pictures mama!"

Um sorry, Aubrey, thought you were used to it already:)

Did the touristy thing(Marcy always heads that up!)

and went to Carlo's Bake Shop.

And had the Best. Cannoli. Ever. Period.

Stopped here to take a picture to make the husbands jealous

{McSorley's is one of the oldest pubs/bars in the city}

Mmmmmmm Dean and Deluca's!

After the girls left, Aubrey and I both got sick...

might have over done it a bit!

we crammed A LOT in five days!

Drip Drip Drop Little September Showers....

So, where to start.....

I've mentioned before in a post that we had some leaks a few months back, but those were in our office(technically the sun room). Well, the leak of late is in our bedroom and it has been dripping on and off for the whole two and a half years that we've lived here.

We informed the landlord early on and were told that it was just the wind blowing the rain in weirdly

(to us this explanation did not make sense, but did give us a clear picture of our landlord, he was not going to be helpful to us...ever...and he's proven that over and over again).

So we gave up, put a bucket under the leak and vowed to do everything in our power to not have to call this man if we could help it.

Over the years other things have leaked, broken etc. and we've called him. But it was always to the same end, nothing was really done (slapping a band aid fix over it that eventually failed, if anything.).

So fast forward to the night before last, our bedroom ceiling caved in and we decided against calling our helpful landlord and ended up doing a quick fix ourselves to get us though.

We've had roofers here for the last few weeks and we figured that we'd talk to them in the morning and bypass the landlord. We did and the roofer looked mortified at our situation and said he'd talk to the landlord for us. Victory!

To make a long story, not as long; last night a huge thunder storm came and our "fix" didn't work and there was an avalanche of water in our bedroom....and then in Aubrey's room...then in the dining room....and in the living room...you get the picture!!

It kept coming(again I want to point out, as I did in the last post, we live on the MIDDLE floor!!! I can't imagine what is going on upstairs!).

So we spent the better part of two hours cleaning up that mess(while Aubrey was at our feet "helping") and praying that it would stop raining. We did, and it did.

I'm happy/mortified that I called the landlord(even after Zach had. I felt I needed to have my say as well) and let him have it. It was a long time coming, and I wasn't being mean, just letting him know that we are GREAT tenants who deserve to have this mess cleaned up in a timely fashion and we were frustrated that the roofers were not doing anything(I'm assuming said "helpful" landlord is not paying them, and that was kinda confirmed when I talked to the roofer myself and he looked as mad as I was....thus explaining why they've been here for two and some weeks on and off and the roof STILL isn't done.)

The landlord was trying to make it all seem like everyone else's fault and that he felt so bad for us....but he never showed up to help.

One day I will have a house.... and we will own it.... and we won't have to deal with a landlord... hmmm, but we might still have leaks... but we will fix them in a timely fashion.... and I'll be so much happier when it rains.... and I won't get drips on my head by random sketchy water drops that will cause me to become a monster.

I have a dream......

wow.

There you have it.

Whether you wanted it have it or not.

Probably 'not'.

But after ALL that, Zach and I pulled ourselves out of the funk and ended up having a great date night in watching random House Hunter episodes(why do we torture ourselves so??) and the Jets game!

At least this leak business didn't happen at 4am like it did the first time. We kept chanting that to ourselves to make us feel somewhat better:)

Random burst of inspiration

So I remembered that a good friend's birthday was coming up

and I decided that I'd make her a card. My random burst of inspiration,

a desire to make a card with fabric and a fascination with sewing things to paper,

I came up with this little diddy!

I'm so happy with how it turned out!

I felt like super crafter afterwards and it didn't take that long to make

(once my crazy indecisive mind came up with a design).

My friend is into poppys so I decided to go with a poppy-esque design.

Kind of a crap shot, but I wanted to show the pleated design.

Pretty sure I should have switched needles to sew on paper, but I'm just not that savvy.

Ponytails and "Crash-a-tower"

Figured I was due for an Aubrey post, it's been a while! She's getting so old I can hardly stand it. This girl has some serious personality and ideas of her own. And boy can she ever talk...never stops!

She is all about her horse and it goes with her everywhere! At this time she also had a particular fondness for her gumboots:) Made for some interesting outfits!

These two love each other so much. She always vibrates with excitement when she hears the front door opening and as soon as Zach's up the stairs and in our apartment, Aubrey yells "welcome my house Dada!" and proceeds to tackle him! Too cute! (side note, I realize that I just made her sound like a dog, but she really does vibrate with excitement. No other way to describe it!)


I finally convinced her to let me put a ponytail in her hair....it lasted approximately two seconds there.

Right before she ripped it out... but it's so cute isn't it?!? I wish she'd let me do it more often...

Two August Outings....

So I'm trying to play catch up and I even have grand plans of posting from my trips to Canada and England....a girl can dream right?

Aubrey and I hung out with some friends we met at VBS earlier this summer.

Aubrey and their youngest boy are only a day apart in age, crazy!

They are so cute together, playing and fighting like only two year olds can!

We first went peach picking and then to this awesome beach here on the shore in Ocean Grove(two seperate days).

It was where the movie According To Greta was filmed, kinda weird driving around and having everthing feel familiar until I made the connection!

Picnic lunch!

Playing peek-a-boo with B.

We had just got there and Aubrey promptly bit it and was devastated that I had no wipes to clean her off! I have no idea who she could've gotten this trait from....

Random gopher holes that the kids almost fell in!

At the beach in Ocean Grove... Aubrey stopped being whiny right before we left and finally played nice with B.

Sharing a popsicle with N:)

So old!

Getting her second popsicle of the day.... Mom fail.

correction...

Not sure why the last post says August 30th... I wrote it today....
Maybe because I loaded the pictures for it on the 30th?? Interesting...