Colin's Coupe

Following a recent posting of Colin smiling from ear to ear while playing in an outdoor toy car, I went on a mission to find him one for our back patio. I refused to be shamed into paying $60 at the store, as my garage sale, bargain hunting friend, Crystal, swore she found one for $5. So it wasn't $5, but it was super cheap, AND it has a push handle for me, making it all the better! While we were at it we found a tricycle for next year.

I just love Craigslist! I also found another posting where the items were FREE! I got an Ikea kids table and 2 chairs (will need a coat of paint), 2 baby gates, a porta potty, AND a Little Tikes slide. Did I mention this was all free? It was purge day for one family's house, and they just wanted it gone and fast! Lucky us, they were just a few miles away, so it cost maybe $1 in gas to make the trip.

OK, so I know I'm sounding really cheap, but I just love the thrill of a good deal on kids items. They are just going to get played with really hard, and paying full price is just money down the drain!

Nirvana For My Inner Marketing Geek

And now a break from singing "The Wheels on the Bus," and reading, "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb:"

During all of my years in doing professional services marketing, one of the biggest things I always pushed my consultants to do for marketing (and that I could never do for them) was to pursue speaking engagements at the annual conferences for key associations. It's one of the best ways to set yourself apart from the competition with a very captive target audience. (Did I miss any buzz words?)

Seriously, though, Matt must have been listening, because his will be a speaker for a session at the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) Annual Conference (See page 19 of the final conference brochure for details.) The conference is in DC in early October. This makes my inner marketing geek very happy!

Hot!

Today the mercury neared the 100 degree mark, and for those of you non-Seattleites, note that no one around here has AC in their homes! We spent the day out -- we hit the outlet (time for a bigger pair of shoes for the lil guy) and then we had dinner at Crossroads Mall. This is NOT a day to cook indoors! I'll bet pizza delivery was a big hit tonight!

Fortunately we bought window units for our bedrooms last year, so we will sleep OK tonight. There is no way we could sleep without them. At 7 pm tonight, the den was 86 degrees (as captured in the picture), and the upstairs was around 91 -- whew!

Kick-it!

So I finally did it -- I drug my tail out of bed yesterday morning for a 5:30 am Kickboxing-Aerobic Class. I ran into the class instructor, and a friend of mine (Michelle), the night before at a BBQ event -- and it helped that she conviced me to go as I was woofing down a hamburger and chips!

Michelle is so inspiring to me, as her dedicaton to transforming the physical health of women at church started with her very own transformation. Her energy is amazing!

I woke up completely sore this morning, but got up and did it again...the class is 5 days a week at our church and it's free! Not sure I'll be hitting the ground running 5 days a week, but it feels great to get moving, all while Colin and Dad are still at home in bed.

Cat Acne

So I took Mr. hot and furry to the vet yesterday, and after a thorough skin check, the vet determined that the places on his chin were most likely just kitty acne (and not cancerous tumors like he had in April -- yeah!) So she sent us packing with a topical gel of benzoyl peroxide to treat his chin. So he's now a metrosexual kitty, who has topical gel for his chin -- too funny!

* For once, we are thankful for acne...it means it's not a skin tumor instead!

Happy 4th of July!

Colin Has Fun Driving his Friend's Car

What a gorgeous day and not a cloud in the sky! Summer here reaally DOES start on the 4th of July! We enjoyed an afternoon stroll through downtown Kirkland, where the parade had just ended. There were booths with various vendors -- and we were on the prowl for a really good chocolate chip cookie. At one booth we overheard the lady saying something about an ingredient that would clean out your colon -- next! Then the next booth had wheat-free, all vegetarian, everything else-free ingredients. What's the fun in those cookies? So we settled for a cold drink from our friends at Starbucks.

We then headed over to a BBQ with some friends, and Colin loved the kiddie swimming pool and kiddie toys/cars in their backyard! He was fairly tolerant of one of the toddlers pouring a cup of cold water on his head in the pool. Guess it felt good in all that heat! Our little firecracker enjoyed playing with his friends, but at 7:00 pm on the dot he was like, "Put me to bed NOW!"

So that brings me to our "other"child, Elliot. It's been SOO hot in the house lately (no AC and no trees for shade during the day), so the cat is practically begging me to shave him! Or so I imagine based on his lethargic looks at me all day long. We have been letting him come to bed with us at night, as our room has an AC unit. He happily cuddles up at my feet for 6-8 hours and then BAM...4 am hits and he says, "MEOWWUT! Let me-owut of the room!"

And of course he know who sleeps by the monitor and who is the most likely to meet his cat needs. Yes, our other child, the cat! So after several licks on the face and a few cries in the ear while sitting on the steps by our mammoth bed, I get up to let him out of the room. But he runs back under the bed. Ugh! I walk down stars and get some cat food to jingle in his bowl to manipulate him into thinking I'll feed him. Too bad Colin's Goldfish crackers don't make the same noise in the cat's food dish -- it's dark, and I just wanted something to get his attention. Always a sucker for food, Elliot runs to his dish, and I chase after him to capture him and put him in the utility room for the remainder of the morning.

I come back to bed, after my cat aerobics workout, and I am wide awake. The baby is asleep -- the husband is asleep -- the cat is hungry because I didn't really feed him Colin's goldfish, and now all I can think about is that I forgot to put the salad in a ziploc bag before coming to bed last night.

Tonight the cat sleeps in his room. But I've said that every night for a week.

* We are thankful for our freedom and for celebrating with our friends.

Peek-a-Blue Berries!

Colin @ Blueberry U-Pick

Today marks the open of the U-Pick Blueberries here in Bellevue. We have a quaint little urban farm just about a mile from our house, and we picked berries until our blue hearts were content (or until Colin decided we were moving too slow, whichever came first...) We picked enough to fill a half gallon container, and it cost a whopping $2.17! What a deal!

Though Colin didn't really pick berries, I couldn't resist this shot. You will note he has one shoe off and one shoe on. I had to go hunting for the sock he pulled off -- we lost another sock in Target for this very same reason yesterday. It's just so fun to undo the velcro on your shoes and pull your socks off down to your piggies! Fortunately no lost shoes...yet!

In typical Sunday fashion (Colin's big day of rest), he napped from 9:30am until 1:30pm today, and he's currently on nap # 2. He must be growing. Just today he grabbed onto the fridge door to indicate he was hungry. I made the mistake of feeding him watermelon with his breakfast and that was all he wanted after that. He knew the watermelon was in the fridge, and thus why he grabbed the door.

* I am thankful that Colin is sleeping so much and is beginning to use some of his signs so I know what he wants

* I am thankful for a fun weekend -- we enjoyed berry picking today and yesterday we enjoyed a day at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island. Colin loved watching the dogs chase after a ball into Lake Washington in the off-leash area.