You know...

...she's been hearing it a lot when she says to me, "Come, mama. Have a BIG time out. Go inna room." How do you not laugh?!?

It's here!

So I may have bought the cart before the horse, but I finally got my horse.... or sewing machine....the cart being the fabric (guess I should have said that in the first place and I would not have had to explain it all). I'm so excited to have it, but I'm waiting on my thread, etc. to get started. Zach's been working crazy hours and not getting home before 9pm so I haven't been able to get all I need. I've ordered a bunch more fabric on line and I'm so excited to get started sewing this weekend!

I picked the Singer Esteem II because it got the best reviews for the price range I was looking in and I'm hoping it doesn't let me down...

This is the fabric that I ordered before I got the sewing machine. I've been staring at it for over a week now and have a million ideas in my head of how to use it. But I'm torn because it's so pretty, I don't want to use/waste it! Maybe I'll become a fabric collector...

On another, unrelated, topic, this last Sunday I went into Manhattan with Lisa and we had an absolute blast! She suggested, last minute, that we try and get tickets to a show and we ended up getting half price tix to.....

Mamma Mia!!! It was an amazing show and we both loved it. It was my first Broadway show and I have to say, it didn't disappoint!

Afterward we spent a bunch of time wandering around trying to find this fabric/trimmings store I had once seen on my way back to Penn Station (it's massive and wonderful!) and I ended up leading us on a wild goose-chase and we never found it. I looked it up the next day and we were literally circling the store hitting every surrounding street but the right one. Not cool. Not to worry though, Zach and I are heading in this Saturday to spend the day for my birthday(without Aubrey, thank you Lisa!!) and I'll drag him there!

We also went to see Central Park in all it's spring glory, but we were a little late in the season(not to mention, the day)and most of the blossoms were gone...and so was the good lighting to take pictures.

I thought that Central Park in fall was my fav. but I'm pretty sure it's the spring now! It was beautiful!

Random poster that we saw and made us laugh! Can't believe that they are making a comeback....again...

Well I'll leave you with a cute picture of the Aub-meist. She finally let me put pigtails in her hair without ripping them out and I could not get enough of her with them! And check out her pose, so cute putting her hands in her pockets:) Love that kid!

So I changed the name of my blog and it's pretty much because I was bored with the old one and lately I've been trying to summon my old crafty side and get back into my old hobbies, one of them being sewing. The only problem is I don't have a sewing machine. Hmmm, minor detail. I'll have to do some begging(to Zach), but actually, mostly saving, to try and get one in the next little bit. I have all these potential projects floating around in my head and I need an outlet! I'm going to blame this resurfacing of my passion on some of the random crafty/artsy blogs I found recently, they've got me thinking and thinking tends to lead to pricey, out of our budget, things....hmmmm, another minor detail. Nothing that a month of scrimping and saving can't fix! Who needs to eat, and I can get Aubrey down to a diaper a day right?!? Done.

I do have a confession though~I may not have a sewing machine{yet!}, but I ordered some fabric online the other day. Now to try and find a way to explain that to Zach.... not so minor detail, and not really helpful in the saving department either. Ooops:)

Loosing Square Footage...

So these days the office/sunroom is officially off limits. Every time I go in there I hold my breath and spray unheard of amounts of lysol to make sure there is no mold. Next will be the bleach wash down of the century. But I'm going to wait on that for a bit so I know there will be no more rain for the next little while. All the contents of the sunroom have now been crammed into our dining room. This gives me heart palpitations because I'm a bit of a neat freak and I've always loved that I could close the door on Zach's office mess. Now it's in the open and well, I got to say, he's keeping pretty neat.... so far:) The new space has now become (not so) affectionately known as Command Center, or as Lisa calls it Mega Desk!

Aubrey is liking Mega Desk though and she's always asking to "email" Gammie! What other 23month old asks to do that?!? Too cute!

Anyway, here are a few random shots of her and all her cuteness! She's all about making faces these days, the "monkey" one being her favorite!

I came home with groceries one night and she always insists on helping me with them. But every time she complains that the bags are "too heby", so this particular night she gave up and decided that this would be a great place to hang out instead!

Aubrey's fell asleep again after a nap the other day. She never does this and I had to get a shot of it!

Well Aubrey is going to wake up from her nap soon so I better stop now bacause I'm pretty sure she's not going to fall asleep again:) She is feeling a little under the weather today so I guess anything is possible...

Monsoon Season Strikes Again....

So, you know how I was talking about all that rain we've been having and the little pitter-patter that I was hearing dripping from the ceiling?? Well that has officially turned into a giant whooshing and gushing sound in our sunroom! We are flooding like crazy and of course it has to hit it's worst point in the middle of the night. Last night Zach got up randomly to check on Aubrey and I casually asked him to check on the buckets in the sunroom because a HUGE amount of rain was forecasted and I did not have a good feeling about it. Sure enough I hear a very panicked "JEN!!!" and go running to find that EVERYTHING was soaked. Now this would be bad normally with random furniture, etc. but the sunroom just happens to be Zach's office....with all his papers.... and the laptop.... and printer.... needless to say he was NOT pleased and a little more than worried at this point. To make a long story, well, long it seems, we were up from 3am until 6 just trying to clean up, set up buckets(which we had to steal from the neighbors.... good thing they're friends) and figure out where to put all the wet stuff and the dry stuff to keep it safe. Not to mention trying to fall back asleep after that.

Best part is, they are forecasting ridiculous amounts of rain again and predicting some of the worst flooding in NJ history.... oh did I mention that the landlord didn't fix anything when he came this morning just cleaned out a drain and called it good........ awesome.

What the office looked like the morning after we did the quick clean out in the middle of the night.

Set up for night.

Aubrey insists on wearing my rain boots!

(isn't she the cutest?!)

Cleaning....ummmm, no thanks.

So I'm sitting here during Aubrey's nap, staring at four laundry(heaping, might I add) baskets of clothes that need folding, dusty...well...everything, floors that need vacuuming/washing and dishes in the sink and I have absolutely ZERO desire to do any of it! Why is it that when you have the most to do you have the least desire to do any of it? I decided that at this moment it was crucial that I do a blog entry even though I have nothing really to write about. Well, that's procrastination at it's finest, isn't it?!

It's raining outside, the kind of rain we normally get on the west coast and our wonderful (please note the sarcasm), generally forgetful, landlord decided that the leaks in our house(five of them in various places) are not something that he needs to come back and fix. So I sit amidst buckets, tupperware and pretty much anything that I can find to catch the drips. Did I mention that we live in a multi-family home and we have the MIDDLE apartment?!? How are there leaks you ask? Well, the place above us is vacant and given the super construction of this home and the quality roof fix(that was apparently "just fixed"), we are getting second hand leaks from the upstairs. I don't even what to know what it looks like up there. They joys of living in a place with "charm";) But to be honest, we shouldn't complain because a lot of other people in this area have homes under water or are with out power.

Zach doing another crazy rotation, commuting to Queens this time and well, that means he's MIA during the week. Just me and the Aub-meist.... it's fun, but draining at the same time. It's hard when Zach gets home at 8, on a good night, and he's tired and not pleased that he hasn't seen her and I'm tired from being at home all day....with no car either! It's just taking some adjusting(we have 6 more weeks of it). Luckily, before this random monsoon season set in, we had some amazing weather. Aubrey and I and our friends downstairs went out for walks and wanderings almost every day. Spring is here and I'm so pleased! This is the time of year when not having a second car doesn't bother me because we live a half hour walk from Montclair center. Did I mention that Montclair has an Anthropologie and an Urban Outfitters?!? Enough said!

I guess that will be all of my ramblings for now. I'll leave you with some shots of my helper that I'm thinking of enlisting after she gets up from her nap.....

Life lately...

So, I'm not going to even talk about how long it's been since I've posted. I'm just going to pretend that I've been keeping up with it and I'm not going to give any excuses(mainly because there aren't any;)).

Life's been moving along in our neck of the woods. We went to Canada for Christmas and Aubrey and I stayed on for two weeks after Zach left and I'm pretty sure that might have almost killed him! He and Aubrey are so close these days and that time apart was hard on both of them(and me too!). So I'm not sure if we can do a long stint apart like that again.

Zach just got back from a week in Grenada. He went because he and a few other guys won a research competition with the school and they got to go down during the faculty meetings and present their papers....all expenses paid! Not too shabby. I do actually wish that I could have gone(*gasp*!!! Who knew I'd want to go back already?? Not me), I'm ready for warmer weather(not to live in forever, but in a vacation situation) and would have loved the time with him. This winter has just seemed so long and I miss my perma-tan!

Aubrey is doing great these days, growing like crazy and slowly getting some hair;) She's talking a mile a minute and it's actually making sense. She's saying unassisted please and thank you's and it just warms my heart! She's on a kick where she is praying for everyone and everything and it is so cute. She shuts her eyes really tight, folds her hands and says, for example, "Pray, Dada, work, amen."! So cute, but most of the time her prayers consist of Barney, Calliou, Elmo and going on walks.... you know, the really important things in life! They always start with "pray" and end in "amen". She loves going for walks, playing with her dolls, and reading-mainly her Curious George books. She's become quite the ham and loves to make Zach and I laugh. She's just a great little kid who is so easy going(perfect for me when Zach is gone for a week!).

Well, here are some pictures from the last few months....

Aubrey and Asher were inseparable while we were in Canada!

Helping Grammie(as she calls her now) in the kitchen.

Playing with uncle Gord.

Astrid and I finally convinced my parents to go out for breakfast!

Kliewer family at my parents 40th wedding dinner! (Zach and Noah are missing in the picture...well Noah's feet are between mine and Taylor's, but that's a long story!)

All the grandkids together for Christmas!

14 in all(so far)!

Astrid and I went to Vancouver for a night with Aniya!

(left Aubrey with Grammie and Jacob and Asher with Oma and Opa)

Back in NJ and playing in the snow after a massive blizzard.

Just a cute shot!

Splashing in puddles while out on a walk with Dada

We had a warm day on Monday and decided to go for a walk. We didn't even have to bring our parkas!

Trying to carry a stick bigger than she is:)