ROY-G-BIV

I love to draw. And color. And sketch. And doodle.

Today I shared that love with my son.

There is nothing like new box of crayons. Whether you're 5 or 26. You still appreciate the sharp tips and vibrant colors.

And you still hate when the tips dull. Or when one breaks. At least I do.

Baby B and I have many art projects to attack over the next many years. This summer we will start with crayons and chalk and finger paints.

Loves.

The rest is still unwritten...

Let's just get right to the point here and discuss what happened on The Hills this past season. The finale aired on Sunday, so your's truly didn't get to watch it until Tuesday on MTV online. For those of you judgmental of my sleazy reality TV ways, you may want to skip this post and come back tomorrow when I post my most recent thrifty find.

Let's begin.

I am sad that LC is done with The Hills and will now go on to bigger and better things. I will miss the awkward pauses and brutal honesty that she brings to the show. I mean, you have to have balls to fire one of your BFFs, ya know?

I could have told you from Day One that Stephanie wasn't going to work out at People's Revolution. While I like her and the mass amounts of drama she can stir up between each cast member, she has the work ethic of a log. That or ADD or both, I'm not sure. And how funny was the whole pouting bit about not being the maid-of-honor? FOR REAL. Holly wouldn't have been my ideal candidate either, but she's Heidi's sister for goodness sake.

So, I thought that Spence actually approached the whole Holly-throwing-food episode in a tactful manner, and then Holly just lost it. She was rude. I mean, you're 25, dear, and you're throwing food at your little brother across the table at a rehearsal dinner. You don't have to be eating with a king or queen to have good table manners, sister. Surely your parents afforded you some kind of etiquette school or Emily Post training or something when you were small.

The Pratts obviously went and made it legal, so I'm sure we're in for an exciting Season 6. That and the addition of a fellow Laguna Beacher, Kristin Cavallari. What was she doing at the wedding? That was just weird, and I'm pretty sure she was hired by MTV to make an appearance so that we could all be on the edge of our seats awaiting the next season. P.S. Was she wearing a bra? And was Justin Bobby's chest hair making an appearance too? Just sayin.'

I did, however, love LC's comment about making it to Heidi's second wedding. Tee hee hee. Clever. We all knew she'd show up at the church. Fitting that her and Kristin we in the same color dress. Again, totally orchestrated by MTV.

Other random thoughts...

• Not a fan of Heidi's wedding jewelry. Too much for me.
• Audrina is gorgeous, despite the massive tatoo on her neck.
• Justin Bobby did, in fact, shower for the wedding.
• I wish Whitney had been at the wedding. I love Whitney.
• Not a fan of Jade, though.
• Speidi is on I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of Here, and Heidi just said that the devil was responsible for their leaving the show. If she flips her hair one more time...
• Did you not love the conversation between Brody and Spencer? HA HA HA.

What are your thoughts?

Things I do not want to do today...

1) Straighten up my house. After months of preparation for our VFH (which went over swimmingly, btw), I don't want to pick up, wash, clean, or otherwise beautify my home. I'M OVER IT.

2) Pay bills. Blah blah blah blah blah.

3) Cook dinner. A gift card from one of my students will alleviate this problem.

4) Clip coupons. Seems daunting when you have 8 fliers to go through. And I'm feeling lazy.

5) Admit that LC is now an afterthought after 5 seasons of The Hills. I will dedicate another post to my thoughts on the finale.

6) Get out of my pajamas. I did, of course, dress nicely for school, but have since returned to gray sweatpants and a ratty old tank top.

7) Sweat in the 90 degree weather. It is soooo hot outside. Lovin' my new AC.

8) Eat another Wheat Thin Artisan Vermont White Cheddar Cracker.

9) LAUNDRY. There is a conspiracy in my house. People around here apparently wear clothes.

10) Throw away my wilting anniversary roses, which have since served as color inspiration. Decorating with yellow in our living room is now my newest obsession. In fact, as soon as Baby B gets up from his nap, we're going thrifting. I don't have a picture of the completed Mint Room yet, but check out the difference the new curtains and pillows make in this room...

And, because I'm sure you've missed seeing picture of Baby B, here he is defying all laws of cuteness to extend into the realm of super duper muper cuteness eating an apple. Love, love, love him.

Oh, and today was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. My first year of teaching is officially over, and I did tear up a little saying goodbye to them. They'll always hold a special place in my heart. Starting August 19th, I'll start all over again with a whole new bunch. Which I know will be here before I know it. Thank goodness I won't have 7 days to ready a classroom and lesson plans, but instead have three whole months to plan their arrival :)

Summer Break will officially begin on Thursday. Yippee!

And many more...

Happy Birthday, Nanabiba!

Katie + Scott = Looooooove

...REHEARSAL DINNER...Me, Katie (The Bride), & Allison

Katie & Scott (The Groom)

( It would only be fitting that I'm the only one looking in at the camera in this picture... )

...PARTY BUS...

Back row - Mer, Me, & Al

Front Row - Leah, Meg, & Alex

...The Reception...

Me & The Hubs (doesn't he look dashing in suit?)

Our Little Lady ADPi - above

Fellow Blog Mamma Below

Leah (Maid of Honor), Katie, & Cassie

The Pi Girls - Pledge Class '01

Me & Kate...isn't she stunning?

Me and Katie K.
Again, dashing, no?
And, Lee, this one is for you. #1 Blog Buddies ;)

To Katie & Scott...

Congratulations. You are such a beautiful and wonderful couple and I love you both dearly. To a wonderful marriage and life together....

XXOO, Abz

This day, three years ago...

Oh, for heaven's sake. I am about to die of cleaning product intoxication, as a result of cleaning every square inch of this house in prep for our Very First Houseguests. Everything smells like Windex with Vinegar. Gag. I think I need to jump on the green cleaning bandwagon for fear that we're all going to die of Scrubbing Bubbles suffocation if I continue to chemically clean our home. I'll just put that on next week's to-do list because I can't go all being green and whatnot with less than 24 hours til the arrival of the VFH.

My to-do list keeps getting longer and longer as I continue to add to it the things that need to be done by 5pm tomorrow. Did I mention that I'm in a wedding this weekend and the last day of school is this coming Tuesday? Oh, yeah. That too. In addition to preparing for our VFH. Wait, then there's report cards that are also due on Tuesday. I think there's more. [Katie, quit reading at this point, I don't want to stress you out on my behalf.] But, I have yet to make 20 ADPi awareness pins that all present Pi girls will wear at the wedding to let others know that we're still the First and the Finest. Can I get a hoddy toddy please? (Not the alcoholic kind, but the fist-pumping, loud and obnoxious kind.) Not that we like to draw attention to ourselves or anything...

Baby B is recovering. Still running a fever occasionally, and looking less spotty every day. He turned 11 months old yesterday, but that's a whole 'nother post.

Oh, and through the haze of Endust I almost forget to tell you that it's mine and B's THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. Crazy. Insane. A dog, new car, house, and baby...oh and that stupid air conditioning unit - all in three blissful years :) The pic above is from our Bahamian honeymoon. I love you, B.

Don't know if I'll have time to post later, so this may be it until Tuesday. Bear with me. And say a little prayer that the VFH have an enjoyable stay...

RIP, Grandmother Air Conditioner...

An oldie, but a goodie...

And now the entire Babbling household can sleep sweat-free, since we bit the proverbial bullet and replaced one of our elderly appliances with its studly, gunmetal colored great-great-grandson. Ooh, la la...

Thank you for all of your well wishes for Baby B. He is still one sick puppy, covered in a red, splotchy rash and combating the most persistent fever ever. It's miserable. For both me and him. I took the day off to take him to the doctor, praying that it was an ear infection or some other treatable bug. But, no, it's one of those things you just have to wait out for three days. Three miserable days.

When he wasn't being all cuddly and sick puppy-ish today, he was pulling the diapers out of the diaper box. At one point he actually lay his head down inside the box. Hard work to disorganize, isn't it though?

Random, but I thought Leland could use some face time. She's pretty cute too. Not much else going on here, other than the crazy cleaning frenzy that I'm in to get ready for our Very First Houseguests due to arrive in t-minus 72 hours. Today I organized the pantry, just in case our Very First Houseguests need chips or spaghetti noodles or something during their weekend stay. Prior to today, a hand might have been lost in stale crackers or mostly empty boxes of cereal. But no more. Now it's all neatly stacked spices and alphabetically organized canned goods. [That might be a slight exaggeration, but it looks pretty darn good!]

I also scrubbed - and by scrubbed I mean removed caked on layers of hairspray and powdered blush - from our sink and tiled floors and walls. It was bad y'all. Horrific even. Borderline embarrassing. But now our Very First Houseguests can beautify in our pristine shower, sparkling walls, and unsticky tiled floor. And I won't be ashamed to let them.

Lastly, the Mint Room is almost ready. Promise.

Off to watch The Hills ...nothing like a little Speidi before bed :)