2nd Birthday - Party #1

July 30th is Baby Girl's 2nd birthday however, we are having three parties! One now since Granny and Grandaddy are in town, one the weekend of the 30th with our friends and one more early August when Grandma and Geezer come into town.

I made the cake, with lots and lots of issues and saving help from Granny with perfection and it turned out beautiful.






Baby Girl didn't quite know what to think about blowing out the candles.

But she sure enjoyed eating the icing on the cake. She didn't like the cake part though, so we ate the rest of it ourselves! It was very yummy and super moist!

Onto the presents. Baby Girl had so much fun opening her gifts.

An easel and art supplies from Granny and Grandaddy.

An adorable PB Kids monogrammed towel from my good friend Laura and her family in Kentucky.

A new tricyle from Mommy and Daddy (she loved trying it out in the store!)

And a new Little Tikes dollhouse/playhouse from Mommy and Daddy. We had so much fun playing inside her house.

Daddy turned her upside down, look at that hair!

More pictures to come from our visit with Granny and Grandaddy!

My job and its tough days

Here I am, in jeans and a short sleeve shirt wondering why on earth I took a shower this morning. I have spent the last two hours on a commercial shopping center roof in the middle of summer. Now I'm back in the office, my bra is completely soaked through and my curly hair that I straighten every day is curly again and in a pony tail.

Why do I do this? Because I LOVE my job.

I am a commercial real estate shopping center and office building manager. I manage everything from construction, tenant improvements and re-roof projects to financiing, budgeting, landscaping, insuring, evicting, purchasing and selling. You name it, I do it. It's fun because there is never a monotonous day and I'm always forced to learn something new and problem solve. I am one that likes to be challenged.

However, it's days like today that get to me. I had to meet a new roofer, who had never met me (as he clearly discovered later). He played the, "oh, look, it's a dumb blonde card and I can take her in a heartbeat" card, which he later found out, that didn't work. In fact, it made his situation worse - I can tell you, he won't be getting the job for more reasons than just completely overbidding the project and having no clue what he was talking about. My point...you can't judge book by it's cover. Just because I'm a female doesn't mean I don't know about roofing. Anyways, it's just frustrating. Thankfully, I was able to put him in his place because I happened to know a little more about polyurethane foam roofs than he did, and then my boss agreed with me when he heard the story (one of our brokers was with me and was just astounded by the roofer's treatment of me - and the broker is a male too).

Anyways, I just had to vent a little. It's almost like a satisfying, yet not so satisfying day. I felt good that I could put him in his place, but felt awful that I had to justify myself to begin with. This doesn't happen very often these days. Most companies and people in general respect whoever comes their way, but every once in a while, you get the one lame duck!

Loveseat and Other News

I don't normally post about giveaways, but I want to win this one, so I'm trying to gain as many entries as possible!! There is a wonderful Teak Loveseat Giveaway over at Confessions of A Semi-Slacker Mom. It's an adorable adirondack double seat and I'm entering because I would love one for my back porch next to the pool. A great place to plop with hubby at the end of an evening and enjoy the cooloer summer night air.

In addition, I have to thank Mrs. Semi-Slacker Mom because we're looking for a futon for Baby Girl's playroom. Now, since it's her playroom, it will get destroyed over the years, so we don't need anything expensive. So, I have to search the website

csn Futons to see if they have anything worthy of our playroom. It seems that they have plenty of options.

In other news, I've been in a blog slump. Well, sort of. I've had plenty to talk about and post about, I just haven't had time! We've been cleaning fans and baseboards, ledges and curtains (well, I've been cleaning them while everyone else plays in the pool, but that's okay, I get the job done uninteruppted!) We're still arranging and re-arranging and learning the whereabouts of things we've already unpacked, so it's been crazy in the Trent household.

I'll get back to picture posting and craft displaying as soon as we get a little more settled. Until then, have a great day!

My ambition got the best of me

Baby Girl is in bed and Hubby is on his way back from Fort Lauderdale after picking up the parents at the airport, so I decided tonight would be a great night to start a sewing project. I successfully completed a simple red, pillow cover to match one of the guest bedroom's decor.



My lines are straight, the pillow fits and I'm ready to sew it up with a zipper. And then....I got scared and thought that maybe I should try this over the weekend, when I'm much more awake and alert.



But, I didn't stop there, oh no I didn't. I decided this would also be a great time to try making a pillowcase dress for Baby Girl. Have you seen these on etsy? They are adorable and inexpensive, you should check them out. However, I thought it would be more fun and satisfying if I made one myself. I looked on-line and printed out a pattern that looked simple enough. I had bought these purple and white polka dot (and very soft) pillow cases at TJ Maxx for $4.99 a while back with this project in mind and thought a dress would look cute with adorable purple ribbons.

So, I cut up the pillowcase (upside down, but that was an easy fix), I hemmed up the tops and then....uh oh. I forgot to hem the arm holes first. So now I have a neatly hemmed top but after I hem the arm holes, I won't have anywhere to string the ribbons through. Whoops! I should have stopped at the zipper on the red pillow.



Oh well, at least I have another pillow case (set of two) and have learned so far what not to do. I have also found that learning to sew, following a pattern, and being extremely sleepy, do not mix! I will not give up though, I shall prevail and Baby Girl will look adorable in her pillowcase dress!

Here come the crafts!

I spent the morning home waiting for the Direct TV guys to set up our satellite system and I actually found myself a little bored! Yes, the house is completely unpacked already (for those of you asking). Hubby and I worked our little hiney's off the last few days to get it done. Trust me, one does NOT want to deal with a Jennifer living it total chaos - it's not pretty!

But, I digress. I was bored and decided to pull out this:

Does anyone have any clue what this is? A sewing machine? Wow, what an interesting concept!

My mom actually got this for me as a Christmas gift one year. I've only used it a few times, but have always wanted to get crafty enough to make all sorts of dresses, curtains and pillows. With all the new decorating possibilities and the fact that hubby has hidden my debit card...I thought it was high time to become Suzy Homemaker.

It has been YEARS since I've sewn anything worth keeping. I made a few blankets for Baby Girl a couple years ago, but my job was quick, sloppy and simply a means to an end. Baby Girl was insistent on still being swaddled for sleep and nap at 6 months old, so in an effort to save my insanity, I QUICKLY machine sewed some new, larger blankets for her (as the stores only carried teeny tiny ones - she was just going to spit up and ruin the expensive ones).

Anyways, I pulled out this lovely brown/white fabric from a project several years back:

and I made these for the laundry room:

They are a little short in width, but they made a great practice project and they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! Brown is not the color I will use for this room, but again, it was for practice and they will do for now. Certainly better than the yellowed and stained curtains that were there before!

So, off to the store I went to buy some navy blue for guest bedroom curtains and red for some pillows. I have other sewing projects as well, but I already have the fabric at home (as Hubby mumbles "thank goodness" to himself). My mother-in-law is coming into town this week for 10 days, so in between cleaning fans and dusting blinds, I plan on getting in a lot of sewing while she helps watch Baby Girl. I'm excited and I can't wait to show off my finished projects!

Weekend Fun

Hi to all! I don't have a whole lot of time today, but I know you'd want to see pictures from our weekend and new house, well the pool anyways. We also had our best friends and their kids over on Sunday for swimming and ribs (Yummm!). They had a great time, especially the kiddos.


More to come soon of all my decorating plans and ideas. I LOVE having a house that is already painted and I can decorate around those colors. I don't like shopping for clothes, but I could shop all day for home decor (though Husband has taken away my debit card after this weekend - just kidding, but he did say "stop spending! LOL!). What can I say, there were some linens and things we needed to go along with our new paint colors in order to have a functional household. *shrugging shoulders*

I'm back....

Well, mostly anyways. We have been moving and getting our new house situated for the last several days (taking dips in the pool when we get too hot). We love our new home and are anxious to get it all set up. We did however have one tragedy. Mr. Beta Fish died. We were on well water before and yesterday I cleaned the fish bowl with our new chlorinated city water and Mr. Beta Fish did not like it....apparently. I am sad as I actually got kind of attached to him. He was the only one who would listen! LOL!! Oh, and my dining room table is a scratched up mess. I put a claim in with the moving company.

Anyways, we just got our internet back up and running yesterday, so I have TONS of blog reading to catch up on. In the meantime, have a fantabulous Fourth of July!!!