Seven Quick Takes- Saturday, Aug. 17

1. I seem to be not able to get to Quick Takes until Saturday this month, but here I am with them. I usually write them during naptime, but yesterday I was running some errands while M held down the fort. I was out at a thrift store looking for some good deals, but it seemed like everything that I liked was the same price that I would pay for a new item in store. I suppose I should be doing my thrifting on their discount days. I also could ask M for a "mom morning" once his class is finished and run out to a store for which I have a gift card.

2.  I need to find some time to update the kids clothes as well. I am pretty sure G will freeze in a few months if I don't find some new winter clothes for her. We are at the end of the toddler sizes for her (5T) and I am approaching a new sizing variety as in "girl sizes." How does size 4 girls compare to 4T? Or size 5 to 5T? And I am happily accepting anyone's unneeded clothing for girls, because that will save me the effort of finding time and shopping...

3. We had the long awaited visit of my sister (+unborn baby), her husband, and their three girls. This is the first time we have lived in a place big enough for them to visit and stay with us. The original plan was for them to sleep in the basement family room, but since that was not available they all squeezed into the nursery and F roomed with M and me. It was a fun visit with lots of playing by the cousins, many books read (including some by my oldest niece!), a girl's only visit to IKEA, double family outing to the zoo, and pizza. Our house was deemed "fun" and we hope to have many more visits.

4. On Monday evening we had an interesting event. L (2.5) was declared to me that she saw "gooses" walking up the street. When I looked out the window, this is what I saw:

Gobble, Gobble!

 There seem to be wild turkeys living in the neighborhood. We will have to hunt for them come November. It was pretty exciting to have turkeys running around in the neighbors yard. Clearly we are city folk...

5. House Update: The Saga of the Leaky Pipe continues. The asbestos has been removed and our basement continues in the hated ugly basement state. I really do not like unfinished basements. But there will be an end to this that we will be happy with. We are going to have the whole basement re-carpeted and what is called a "storage room" walled in on one end of the large family room. We hope to put in an egress window in the next few years and have an additional bedroom in the basement. So, in the end this whole crazy leaky pipe ordeal may turn out for the best, and all work will be covered by the claim money!

Ugly basement floor... :(

6. The baby (9 months) now says "ma, ma, ma, ma." She said "ahh-da!" first, but that is okay since that happened only a week before Mama. :)

7. It is supposed to be in the 80s and maybe the 90s this week, and I am glad. I am not really looking forward to our first frost in a few weeks, so another week with REAL SUMMER WEATHER is quite welcome to me. I am really starting to miss high 90s and 100% humidity from June 1-Sept 1 like I grew up with. We are going to end our summer with a visit to St. Louis, so hopefully I will get more of my fill of it while eating Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.

P.S. We are going to be visiting Buffalo at the end of September... M is going for a professional obligation so we are tagging along. :)

Head on over to Jen's Conversion Diary to read more Quick Takes.