Pet Peeve of the Week

I know this will probably not be a popular viewpoint, but I HATE electric fences.  I know they keep  your yard looking bigger, open, blah, blah, blah.  I am frightened by them.  Every time I am out walking/jogging and I hear a dog charge down a driveway or start barking and running toward me.  I always hold my breath and hope that me (and sometimes my dogs) aren't incentive enough to make the dog bust through the fence.  I am so scared of them b/c about 7 years ago I was walking Cosmo in Kirkwood, and we were chased by a dog that busted through an electric fence.  It was so scary b/c we were in a quiet neighborhood w/o anyone around.  Luckily a truck happened to drive by while we were being chased and blocked the dog, and stopped to make sure we could get away.  Cosmo and I were running as fast as we could. 

I also hate when people walk their dogs off lead in a neighborhood.  I'm sure your dog is lovely and all, but it makes me nervous that a: your dog will be hit by a car or will dart off toward me and my dog (who is on a leash).  I had a dog charge us 2 weeks ago when I was out with the 2 dogs and pushing C in the stroller.  It was a nightmare.  C's stroller almost got tipped over.  It took forever for the owner of the dog to react and come physically pull her dog away.  I wasn't particularly scared b/c I could tell the dogs weren't really going to fight, but there was nipping and barking and circling aplenty.  Luckily none of the dogs were mean, but it felt like the longest minute.  This dog was on a leash, but one of those extendables, and he just pulled it right out of his owners hand to charge us. 

True Suburbia

We live in stereotypical suburbia.  Seriously.  You think of the definition of suburbs and we are in it.  I'm not saying that's necessarily a good or bad thing, but it's the truth. 

A little background: I was pretty much raised in suburbia of some form my entire life.  I've never lived in a town smaller than 30,000, and I've always been within 45-60 min of a bigger town (except in college I guess we were more like 90 min). Anyway, I'm comfortable with suburbs.  It is my wheelhouse, but Chesterfield wrote the book on them--especially upper end suburbs--not super high end, just upperish end.

Here's my "proof". 

We see as many luxury cars as American cars out here.  It is no thing to be at a stoplight less than 2 miles from my house and see a Mercedes, an Audi, a beat up Chevy truck, a BMW, a Honda, and a Jaguar all together. 

If you can think of a chain restaurant, we've got it.  Especially mall chain restaurants.  Now we have a lot of great independant places, too, so no worries.  If you can think of most middle-of-the-road stores, we've got it.  I feel like I can get to most anything if I drive 10 minutes--seriously to anything (more culturally inspired) in 20 min. 

We drive everywhere.  I have been racking up the miled on my car b/c so many things are just 20 minutes away--zoo, science center, upscale shopping, small town shopping, museums, etc.

There are awesome bike, running, horse riding trails.  Yep, horse riding.  We live in a suburb that still has tons of horse farms on the outskirts.

When I took C to  YMCA camp, I was dropping off with moms in Range Rovers, Suburban Hybrids, Tahoe, regular Suburbans, fancy mini-vans etc.  Let's just say my 2005 Pilot wasn't turning any heads, at least not in a good way.  All the moms wore their stay-at-home mom uniform of stylish workout clothes (lululemon of course) at drop off.  By pickup most were showered and fancied up in sundresses. 

We live 1.3 miles from a high school C will not attend (our neighborhood practically dumps out across from it, but only a portion of our neighborhood is in that school district). Yet we live 3 miles from where he will attend.  The way these towns and school districts are drawn out here boggles my mind.  You really can't tell where one town or the next begins and the same goes for school districts. 

I'm starting to think the "Joneses" might have hailed from Chesterfield. 

But in all seriousness I do love our new 'hood.  It is a great place for outdoor activities.  We have a huge art community, tons of live music opportunities, great library programs, great schools and so much more.  I find people in St. Louis to be very friendly as well, so it really is a great place to raise a family. 

Crazy sayings

C has been saying some extra hilarious things lately that I think are blog worthy.

Tonight: "I want to poke Jesus" referring to how high he wanted to send a rocket toy. I had to turn my head and giggle silently.  Scott mildly corrected him saying, I know what you mean, but that's not the nicest way to say it.
Tonight referring to the rocket shooting again: "I want it to touch heaven."
At a party today: "Those kids are always up to something...they keep getting weirder and weirder."
With his grandparents: "This four-year-old needs a power nap."
Tonight at bedtime, "Can you move this shield (that he'd brought to bed with him)? It's mostly annoying me."

These are just in the last 12 hours.  He is a riot so much of the time with his crazy sayings.  We never know what will come out of his mouth. 

House painting "after" shots

I realized I'd never uploaded photos of our kitchen and family room painting. 

Here's a fuzzy shot of the two-tone in our eat-in kitchen.  It's the same darker gray that's in our dining room bottom and the alternating walls in our living room.

a slightly better shot with a different angle

it's hard to get a photo that shows the color of this room. it is a gray blue

our white-washed fireplace. we need new fp doors, but for now we have to wait and just show off that cool Thomas bridge C got for his bday and our dogs.

the dreaded toy area.  it really just doesn't look nice, but that's the way it is with kids i guess. 

our new rug. i guess it's not very new anymore.

any ideas on what to put in that tray on the coffee table?  I feel like we have so much brown i the room even though it's broken up by the white walls and fireplace on the one side.

House: Living Room and Dining Room After painting

Dresser: Final shots

Here's the big reveal.  I opted to not spray paint the hardware, but keep the natural antiqued bronze look.

Avengers Party Part 5: Guests/Candids cont.

A few last photos. I somehow misplaced the Hawkeye mask sometime after Colin was playing with it earlier in the week. I'm puzzled.

I had these cute little signs for the food that I didn't get a photo of, so I will try to get one of that, too.

Cupcakes! Still not the best photo...oh well.

Enjoying his new sprinkler from Aunt Laura and Uncle Dave.

Avengers Party Part 4: Guests/ Candids

Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man.  We just needed a Thor!

S.H.I.E.L.D agents Maria Hill and Black Widow

Capt America was trying out Thor's helmet for size

The Hulk and Wasp-- we were committed!

Laura trying out the Hulk hands

Avengers Party Part 3: Cake and gifts

We headed inside b/c it was soooo hot for cake and presents to let the kids cool down from destroying Loki.

Not a great photo, but we had a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.  C and I sprinkled the arc reactor on it.  The cupcakes turned out really well, and looked good. I will try to get a better photo with what I have left.  I had made cupcake trays to look like the arc reactor and Captain America's shield.  We also had bomb pops, too for people that didn't want cake. 

He blew out his candles in one try.  I was impressed.

licking the icing from his iron man pick

mitch giving his cupcake what for

Colin got some really cool gifts!  We, along with my parents gave him the swingset.

He also got a cool fire hydrant sprinkler attachment from Dave and Laura.  He totally enjoyed it after everyone left.  Most friends know that C gets a bit anti-social when lots of people are here.

He also got some nifty Avengers undies from Aunt Laura and Uncle Dave

Examining his new Avengers Squinkies from AJ and Elise.  He had never seen them before, but was smitten. He's been carrying them around He also got money for the movies and a new glider for his playset from grandma and grandpa; a CEC gift card from Jack and Brody; and a bags game from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mitch. He is pumped!