New Photo

Courtesy Kellie Anderson photography. :)

Just don't look too closely

Something very momentous happened for me just recently: I sewed something! Stockings, to be exact.

And...besides my neighbor having to come over and teach me how to thread the machine (she writes sheepishly), and Spencer (yeah, he's a man of many random talents) giving me a few pointers and advice here and there, I did it all by myself. :) Honestly, this is big for me! I feel so...accomplished--in the Jane Austen sense of the word, of course.

See, I haven't touched a sewing machine since my junior year of high school. And even then, if I remember right, I got stuck all the time and spent most of class time waiting with my hand waving pathetically in the air for the instructor. I was pretty helpless. Bobbins still intimidate me a bit.

Let's just be honest; I'm not creatively endowed. I've always wanted to be, but I just can't seem to do it. It secretly appeals to me, and I think there might be a latent artist hiding underneath my bookish exterior, but I just haven't found her yet. I've dabbled in scrap-booking, but I get too frustrated by what a mess it makes and how long it takes. I don't draw, paint, cross-stitch, quilt, make bread, knit, or sculpt at all, and let's not even get started on my pathetic wood-working skills. I'm not a very detail oriented or patient person, which I think creativity and artsiness requires. Though I very much enjoy enjoying other people's talents. :)

Sigh. I think I'm less of a joy-in-the-journey person and more of a joy-in-checking-it-off-the-to-do-list sort of person. I like things to be clear and defined. I got a little frustrated when the stockings took longer than expected. And, sadly, they only got worse as I continued. My ability to pay attention to the details and patiently make them look nice only deteriorated with time. I just like to "finish" things. Sigh again.

But...I really did have fun. It's such a wonderful feeling to know that I've created something, however imperfect that something may be. These materials didn't exist in their current form until I shaped them. :) That makes me feel very powerful.

So, without further ado, (and keeping in mind that my motto with these stockings is "just don't look too closely"), here are my Anna-made stocking originals:

I don't know; I think they're kind of cute. :)

"Their stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

And now put into context. :)

All in all, I'm pretty darn proud of them. And myself. :)

A Candy-less Halloween

For the first time in 25 years, I have let a Halloween pass by without allowing one Starburst, candy corn, or caramel to cross my lips. Okay, granted, I can't account for what happened on my first few Halloweens. But, if I know myself (and I think I do), as soon as I could eat candy, I did. :)

See, my sister Ellie and I started a "Biggest Loser" contest at the beginning of the month. The stipulations of this contest require much more controlled candy and snack eating than I have ever subjected myself to as well as an intense (for us... :) ) exercise regimen. Ellie and I came up with our own rules that correlated directly with our greatest weaknesses. Mine, of course, was candy consumption. It has gone surprisingly well. Well, except for the great Gusher mishap of a few days ago. But, Gushers are NOT candy. They are fruit snacks. And I will continue to comfort myself with that fact, even though Spencer heartily disagrees. :)

Anyway, I decided that I was only allowed to have dessert (candy, ice cream, cookies, etc.) three days a week. Also, I can only eat whatever amount constitutes the box-identified serving size. And, tragically, come Wednesday of this week, I had already met my quota. But, just so you know, this is perfectly explainable by the following picture:

Caramel Apple Sugar Babies are my new love. It was absolutely and totally worth it to use my three dessert days on these angels. The box dictated that 22 sugar babies was equal to one serving and I happily ate my 22 three days in a row. Oh, what joy! Surprisingly (seeing as their taste is absolutely out of this world...), these are ridiculously hard to find. I first found them in a grocery store in Moline, IL, but could never find them again after that until I found them here in Columbus. Needless to say, I was far more excited than anyone should be about a box of candy. :) But, does that really surprise anyone?

Anyway, so come Halloween weekend, I was out of indulgences. What a sad, sad day. I think I've taken it pretty well. There hasn't been too much crying. :) It has been especially hard, though, because Grace's goodie stash has been sitting decoratively on our dining room table since Thursday night. Sigh...the things I put myself through for the sake of vanity--I mean

healthiness. :)

However, let us move on to other things. This was Grace's first year of trick-or-treating and Spencer and I were beyond excited. We even gave up the chance to go to a Broadway show to be with her. We were looking forward to it that much. Oh, and just as an explanation, Columbus (I think it's actually all of Ohio) has an interesting Halloween system. They seem to feel that celebrating Halloween on the 31st is just a "suggestion," and not necessarily a mandate. So, we took Grace trick-or-treating on Thursday night during the city-designated hours of 6-8 p.m.

After I got over my giggles, I decided that this is actually a pretty good system. I imagine that controlling the day and the time enables the city to better patrol the goings on. So, things are probably a lot safer for the kiddos. I probably wouldn't have liked this as much as a kid; but as a parent, I think it's great. Maybe they actually do this everywhere. I've kind of been out of the trick-or-treating loop for a while. But, at any rate, it was new to me.

Grace loved trick-or-treating. It took her just a few houses to catch what was going on. However, she did make some silly first timer mistakes. :) She, of course, wanted to hold the candy in her hands instead of putting it in the bucket. We all know that not as much candy can be gathered that way. Also, at one house, she dropped the sucker she was holding into the bucket and pulled out a new one--as if she thought that this was a game of trading. Ah, such a candy novice. :) I think the evening was everything Spencer and I hoped it would be and I anxiously anticipate the next.

And...the pictures:

Though this picture would suggest otherwise, Grace liked to

take her time walking from house to house.

I only allowed Grace to eat one sucker that evening.

Come on now, we can't have her growing up like her mom now can we?

Nora, the vampire, and the rest of the gang.

Such a happy little flower.

A wilting flower--trick-or-treating requires so much work!

Grace, Nora, Stephen, and Andrew

Gleefully Coerced into Recycling

Of all the new adjustments I knew would come with our move to Ohio, I hardly would have imagined that garbage pick-up would be high on that list. But...so it was.

You see, the lovely town of Upper Arlington has an interesting garbage system. And by interesting I mean completely different from anything I've ever heard of or experienced. The garbage is collected every Tuesday morning. Okay, that's the normal part. Here's the catch: in order for your garbage to be taken by the garbage people, it has to weigh less than 50 pounds AND have a little garbage sticker on it--a little garbage sticker that you can buy from the local grocery store for $2.40. Should you fail to apply the radiant orange sticker to your trash can, it will be left sad, lonely and stinky by your curb until you repent and comply. Weird, huh?

Recyclables, on the other hand, are picked up at the same time at absolutely no charge! How great is that? And, even better, you don't even have to separate them! Paper bags, boxes, cans, and plastics are allowed to co-mingle freely and uninhibitedly. Meaning, no matter how recycling-challenged you may be, (and believe me, I was...) it can be done.

I was pretty intimidated by this system at first. Mostly because I wasn't sure what could and couldn't be recycled. I worried incessantly that I would incorrectly recycle something and be shunned from Upper Arlington society as I knew it. Meaning, my recycling wouldn't get picked up in a timely manner. :) For the first couple of days, Spencer and I felt awkward about throwing anything away. To the point that some "trash" like things were just left out on the counter or the table sheepishly in order to avoid deciding where their final resting place needed to be. :) Obviously, that couldn't continue.

However, with a little help from the recycling savvy Warnick family, I can now say that I am a confident and happy recycler. And I am proud to report that in the almost two months that we have lived here, we have only had to take our garbage can to the curb three times! I had no idea we could produce so little garbage and save so much money by doing so! This program has had the happy effects of allowing me to feel good about being a good steward and live a little more frugally. Fantastic.

I feel guilty, though, that it took the threat of an extra $10 or so per month to get me into recycling. For that, I can feel little moral victory in it. Plus, I think this entire situation begs the following question: When we move somewhere else once our Upper Arlington days are past, will we continue recycling once we actually have to put effort into it? I sure hope so.

But...at least I'm doing it now. The Bardsley family, little by little, is going green. :)

A Mom's Letter to Santa

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was wandering through the library looking for some good cook books and stumbled upon a title that caught my eye. Namely, "In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Dr. Laura, but I am a huge fan of a little vindication every now and again... It just helps the morale. :) So, like I sucker, I checked it out.

I've been pretty disappointed with the book for the most part. I find it horribly written (I'm half surprised anyone even published it--I guess a big name can get you pretty much anything you want...), and ridiculously unfair to working moms. Dr. Laura's logic is downright laughable most of the time. But, this post is not meant to be a book review at all. Really, I just wanted to post what I think is one of the best parts of the book: a letter Dr. Laura received from a mom containing her letter to Santa. It reads as follows:

Dear Santa:

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold 62 cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree in the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my Christmas list over several years, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows if I'll find any more free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color but purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the 7th month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big-ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint-resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy," to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three jean skirts that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your sister," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would also be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling my name, and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Yours always, Mom.

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young

enough to always believe in Santa.

Since I only have one child at this point and she can't really talk yet, I can't relate to everything in the letter, but I think I can relate to the gist. :)

However, there are a couple of things I personally would have added to the list (under the miracle section...): a magical decoder that enables me to understand exactly what Grace is trying to communicate at any given time, and the ability to eat all the candy and goodies I want without gaining a pound or damaging my health. Thank you. :)

The Mayan Riviera: Bardsley Style

Spencer and I took our first real vacation together just a few weeks ago. By "real" I mean not our honeymoon (which was to St. George anyway...), and not one that included staying with family or having to adhere to any kind of schedule. :) It was marvelous. I highly recommend it. Thanks to my amazing sister Ellie, brother-in-law Bryan, and the rest of the wonderful Warnick clan, the vacation was also baby free. This worked out wonderfully well as I can't imagine that Grace would have found much joy in snorkeling. Or an airplane ride. Or tropical, blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Again, thank you guys--so much. It was such a blessing to be able to leave her with people that we knew we could trust completely.

We stayed at a resort along the Mayan Riviera just 45 minutes south of Cancun and five minutes north of Playa del Carmen. This was both Spencer's and my first time staying in a resort and it was quite the experience. I would say that staying in a resort on the beach is very like unto going on a cruise, but without the sea sickness. They are definitely both part of the same cultural genre. Free and fattening food were everywhere to be found (as well as all things alcoholic--I can't even count how many times we were offered tequila...) and there was some kind of show every night--generally of questionable content. The one show Spencer and I actually went to was so crude and ridiculous that we walked out after less than ten minutes.

But the food part...was great. :) All the ice cream cones and fresh salsa you can eat. What's not to like about that?

I do think, however, that we won't do the resort thing again. It's very restricting. After a few days, we kind of felt like we were prisoners of the resort. Prisoners in a tropical paradise, but prisoners all the same. We couldn't get out and see "real" Mexico without paying a lot of money. Now doesn't that sound a little bit like bail? :) But I'm glad we did it. And now we know. We like our vacations to be a little more...free, I guess.

But...there were some very wonderful aspects of the resort, besides just the food. They had snorkeling equipment, kayaks, and sailboats that were available for our recreational pleasure. And we definitely used them.

Pictured below are Spencer and our sailboat. We took the sailboat out three times. Thanks to the scouting program, we were able to go out by ourselves. Hooray for random sailing merit badges! Even though Spencer earned his sailing merit badge like ten years ago, he still did an amazing job remembering how to work the thing. But, alas, the second time we went out, the wind died immediately and we had to be rescued by a friendly wave runner. My wind dance, which Spencer openly mocked, was surprisingly unsuccessful. But our disappointment was completely forgotten after we saw a sea turtle on our third sailing excursion. We didn't get to ask him how old he was, but we're pretty sure he was at least 120.

However, I think snorkeling was my favorite activity. And we didn't even go to any fancy snorkeling spot. We just snorkeled along the hotel beaches. It was wonderful. To be able to swim through the water without plugging my nose (which I have to obsessively do...don't judge) or closing my eyes made me feel so free. Like I was flying. I loved it. And we saw an amazing number of fish. They were small for the most part, but pretty. We came across quite a few schools of fish that included hundreds, maybe thousands, of pupils. :) It was quite the sight and quite the experience. Spencer and I were both a little nervous about it at first and had to hold hands while swimming under the water. But that, of course, only added to the appeal. We had a blast pointing out each fish we saw and admired to each other. We did see one big fish that looked very shark-like. As we got closer, it didn't even budge or seem intimidated by us at all. So...we swam away quickly.

We went kayaking twice. Once in separate, single rider kayaks and once together. The first time was fun, but the waves were really big and made both of us seasick. The second time the ocean was much more calm which made things much more enjoyable. I think it's safe to say that if given the chance to kayak again, we'd take it. :)

The resort was covered with these amazingly carved melons. What can I say, I'm a sucker for decorative fruit.

We tried to play chess on this gigantic board twice. The first time, we were intimidated off the board and into our hotel room by a hoard of blood-thirsty Mexican mosquitoes. Spencer says he was about the win in two turns anyway, but...it's always easy to claim imminent victory without proof. :) I, however, did conquer the second time we played.

Spencer participated in a pick-up beach soccer game one afternoon. I politely declined and spent the time lounging on a beach chair instead. Spencer found beach soccer surprisingly frustrating (he kicked a lot of sand...) but fun. :)

Now, tell me, how can one truly say they've been to Mexico without wearing a get-up like this at some point? We wandered into a beach shop one day, and the very attentive owner suggested we take this picture and provided the ensemble. Pretty sure he was just trying to get a sale...it worked. :)

A view of the beach at our resort.

A stormier view. Isn't the Caribbean amazing?

For one of our days there, we decided to rent a car for the day (and got a great price, if you ask me...), and go see as many ruins as we could. I am so glad we did. Refer to the above paragraph discussing "paradise imprisonment." :) And our little car was so cute! I want one.

This picture was taken on a hike to some of the ruins in Coba. Tarzan makes so much more sense now.

The ruins at Coba weren't as well preserved as those at Tulum...we thought. Or maybe they were just older. Sadly, we couldn't afford a tour guide so we just made up stories about what went on there. We really liked the jungle atmosphere, though, and were happy we were able to climb on and explore these ruins more.

More Coba.

Before Coba, we headed to Tulum. Tulum contains the only Mayan ruins (that we know about, I suppose...) that are situated along the ocean. My oh my, was it beautiful there. And HOT. They are also the only ruins to be completely enclosed by a wall. And I'm not making that up. :) I read that in the tour book. But once again, no money for a tour guide. Sad. However, an LDS guide smelled us out and approached us, trying to interest us in a Book of Mormon tour of the ruins. We told him we had practically nothing to offer him, but he wanted to help us anyway. He asked what we had and ended up giving us the two dollar, or 50 peso, version of the tour. So, that was nice.

Spencer, of course, found a cave and needed to explore it. But he had to scare out a plethora of iguanas first. Man, those iguanas are everywhere!

When we first got to Tulum, we took a picture of every iguana that we saw. We stopped that practice quickly. We saw at least 100. Probably more. Iguanas are to the Mayan Riviera as squirrels are to the midwest. EVERYWHERE.

While everyone else was living it up with their tequila, we decided to do a little sand artwork.

Yeah, this is our turtle. A Spencer and Anna creation. We were quite proud of it. We also made a sand castle, but the turtle was definitely our crowning masterpiece. In fact, we're certain that this is why we were able to see the sea turtle while sailing. It had heard of our work and wanted to meet us. :) As we walked away from our turtle after finishing, we saw a couple stop by it and begin to take pictures with it. It cracked us up. And made our heads grow nice and big as far as our sand art skills are concerned. :)

A shot of the inside of the resort.

And...the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. I had no idea that beaches could really look like this. And the water was warm! Actually warm! It was fun to swim in instead of painful! The Caribbean totally changed my schema of oceans and beaches.

Our room. Every night when we got back, there was a cute little towel animal waiting for us. I would've expected no less. :)

Our gigantic tub. It took up most of the room.

Eating at a Chinese restaurant inside the resort. Bad idea. Who goes to Mexico to eat Chinese food anyway? That should have been our first clue.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. There were some bumps along the way, but we're glad we did it. I got to speak lots of Spanish and we were able to make some really wonderful memories together. In the end, we'll always have Mexico. :)

Two things I'm not ready to give up...

At almost fourteen months, Grace (in my eyes...I don't know about the technical definition) is hovering between babyhood and toddlerhood. I am hovering between whole-heartedly allowing her to enter this new stage and clinging to the little cuddly baby I love. She's been walking for a while now and seems to think that other kinds of independence should come along with that. Hmph.

I just don't know.

Firstly, she seems to have decided that one nap a day is plenty. Ha! What a joke! Doesn't she realize just how lucky she is? I'd sing karaoke for two naps a day! :) (saying "I'd kill for two naps a day" seems far too violent, so I decided to come up with something equally terrifying and horrible to me...) And this two nap schedule has been working so well for us. Why mix things up now? I mean, really?

And then there's the issue of the bottle. Okay, this is much more my issue than hers. I know that she should be using a sippy cup or some kind of equivalent these days. I even bought one a few months ago to encourage myself to encourage her. But...it just tends to sit unloved, unnoticed, and unused in the cupboard. I bring it out to let her drink water and the occasional sip of juice every now and again, but that's about it. No milk. No main staple of her liquid diet.

Sigh.

See, I love the bottle. :) She seems okay either way, but I love the bottle. When I stopped nursing her, I missed the closeness so much and worried that it was gone forever. But then I discovered that Grace is perfectly content to sit or lay with me while drinking her milk. It's one of the few times that she is truly cuddly. And I love it! I look forward to that time every day.

It just feels like the sippy cup would steal that away. Every day when I'm getting milk for Grace, I think about how I should let her learn to drink her milk exclusively from a cup. But...I just don't. I find some perfectly logical excuse that makes it quite necessary for me to continue with the bottle. You know, like the weather being a certain way that day that makes it impossible to effectively drink from a sippy cup. Perfectly logical. :)

So my line between babyhood and toddlerhood has been drawn. The line is illustrated with a bottle and a second nap. I wonder what Grace's line would be?

And...just a couple recent pictures.

This is Grace's new favorite reading spot. Our decorative (a euphemism for "fake") fireplace. She sits down in front of it and then scoots right in. It's quite adorable.

Grace has become quite the little traveler.

This picture was taken at the Como Zoo gardens in Minnesota.

A fuller view of Grace and the fireplace.

At the bunny fountains in Ohio with her cousin, Stephen.

A Slightly Unconventional First Birthday

The last day of July, we celebrated Grace's first year of life. Now, since her birth, I had pictured throwing a lovely party for her with adoring family members mesmerized by her every move. But, we live four hours away from the closest family member on Spencer's side and nine hours away from the closest one on my side. So, that just wasn't going to happen. I guess it could have, but it didn't. Instead, the primary attendees of Grace's party were these gentlemen:

The salesman of the Linx Cedar Rapids office.

So, yes, Grace had her first boy/girl party at age one. :)

Honestly, I don't think I could've asked for a more obliging bunch. They really were the next best thing to family, even if I don't even know all their names... They gave me everything I needed in party guests: warm bodies to feel chairs and eat pizza and cake, and a large group to sufficiently "ooh" and "ahh" over Grace. I thought they would start to get bored when she took forever to eat her cake and open her presents, but they didn't! They were all so much more into it than I ever could have hoped! I guess some of this might come from the fact that they're not around babies much... Grace is a cute little novelty. :) At any rate, the party was really fun.

As was the day.

We started the day by going in to get Grace together in the morning when she woke up and singing to her. She didn't get the purpose of the song, of course, but she was happy to see the both of us all the same. :) She spent the next little while eating and playing with the decorative balloons we had strewn about the house.

She really liked the balloons. :)

Then, we let her open one of her gifts which turned out to be

a little birthday dress, courtesy of me.

Next, we took her to the park for some pictures...and some play time, of course. I mean, it was her birthday. I guess it shouldn't be all about mommy and daddy getting the photos and memories that they want. :)

After the park, we came home and she took a nap.

Naps are non-negotiable, even on your birthday.

After naptime, it was party time. Jerrica helped me decorate a couple cakes and Spencer ordered the pizza. As a sidenote, having our Linx friends James and Jerrica at Grace's party was like having family there. Grace LOVES them. They are definitely her surrogate aunt and uncle.

So...pictured below is the cake for everyone. And me with my "I-probably-shouldn't-have-dropped-out-of-that-cake-decorating-class" face.

And this was Grace's own personal pan cake.

The cake unveiling...

And...the beginning of the cake massacre.

At first, she tentatively picked off the little pink balls of frosting and ate them.

Then, she really started to get a hang of what was going on.

And...the final messy product! Grace has a silly habit of playing with her hair while she eats. She habitually twirls her hair while drinking her bottle, but also tends to reach to her head for comfort while eating solids. The cake was no different.

The cake story has kind of a sad ending. The more chocolate that got onto her face, the more it bothered Grace and the more she tried to rub it off. Hence, the ridiculous mess of the picture. However, it started getting into her eyes and up her nose and that's when happy, cake-eating Grace disappeared and angry, crying Grace took her place. She was thrown into the bathtub, sobbing, not too long after this picture was taken. But...in the end, I still think it was worth it. It was pretty hilarious watching her get to this point. :)

And now, onto to the presents! This actually happened before the cake, but it'll take too much effort to switch it all. :)

Below are the presents from Grandma and Grandpa Merkley. Grandma Bardsley also sent some very thoughtful gifts, but we opened them before Grace's birthday, because I am too impatient when it comes to presents. :)

Here's the thoughtful present from Uncle James and Aunt Jerr. :)

And James putting it together.

And the big present from mom and dad...

We were pretty excited about this find!

We didn't even have to steal it from a dentist's office. :)

Grace's first exposure to bubbles.

And, lastly, her new books. Yeah, she was pretty spoiled.

Happy Birthday, baby!