Drinking and Tweeting: and other Brandi Blunders by Brandi Glanville

i have a confession...

i am obsessed with the real housewives.  all of them.  every city.

whenever one of them writes a book, which has happened a few times, i always read them.

Brandi is one of my favorite housewives.  another confession is that i love celebrity gossip.  which means i followed her story of her husband cheating with LeAnn Rimes.  i wanted to find out what else she had to say about it.

although i was a little late to the game, i finally got a chance to read Brandi's book...

it only took me 2 or 3 days to get through it.  and she is hilarious!

i loved all of her funny stories about her ex and LeAnn.  but it wasn't all about that.  it was mostly about getting back on her feet after the divorce (like vaginal rejuvenation hahaha).

this a book for a good laugh.  and definitely a must read.

Vito (foster)

meet our newest foster, Vito...

he is such an awesome little guy.

we got him the day that our foster child left.  no one was able to foster him and Sue from WBTR thought he would be a good dog for us, because he is so good and would have no trouble getting adopted.

he fit right in with us from the start.  he is snorty and tiny and looks a lot like our Remi.

he, of course, loves Marley!  like every other boy dog that meets her.  he spends all morning playing with her, every morning.  they play like crazy and then he zonks out in the evening.

he loves to play tug with the girls, retrieve toys, and chew bones.  it took him awhile to open up, but now that he has, he is such a sweet dog.  he was so timid in the beginning that i felt sorry for him.  he will definitely be a good dog for any family because he is so sweet.

he's definitely more of a momma's boy.  he loves to snuggle with me.

he did have a rough time in the beginning.  he has double ear and double eye infections.  and we found out he will have to have double knee surgery.  poor guy.  but that just means he will be staying with us for a few months until he is ready for his forever home.

organized dogs

i love having a place for everything and everything in it's place.  really, who doesn't?!

when we built the house, i made sure to have cabinets put above the dogs kennels to store all of their things in the mudroom.  we have high maintenance dogs so they have a lot of things!

this is my favorite organized space in the house.  it came together exactly as i had picture it in my mind.

here is their space... (please ignore the mess on the counter, our foster came with a lot of extra things that i was trying to find a place for)

and here is how it is organized...

i bought these bins at Target in the kitchen section.  they fit in the cabinets really nicely.

starting from the top right is:

• foster clothes, misc extras (like extra leashes, booties, etc.)
• jackets, toys/treats
• medical, necessities (like their collars, doggy bags, etc.)

the other cabinet is used for random stuff for the house.  it holds the first aid container and a sewing kit.  the girls overnight/dog park bag.  Lily has a few things that also got a bin too.

makes me happy to be able to easily find things in the cabinet.  and it looks much nicer than having random things all shoved in a cabinet :)

five on friday: Easter weekend!

1. finally picked out some furniture and ordered it!  it will be here monday!!  i can't wait to get it!

2. can't wait to celebrate Easter with my family and Mark's mom's side!  always awesome to spend time with family.

3. we are going to the Soos's tonight to decorate eggs with the girls!!  can't wait to see them.

4. our newest foster is fitting in just fine around here :)

5. i decided to put my nose ring back in.  we will see how long that lasts...  so far i'm not loving it.

and a picture of Lily, just cause she is awesome! 

where'd you go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

link

Lauren Conrad has a book club through her website.  i have never been able to follow along with the book club because i've always had too much school or work or whatever.  i was so excited that this time i was able to keep up!

'where'd you go, Bernadette' was an interesting book.  it was written more as different forms of correspondence between people.  it was a book within a book as well.  most of the book were e-mails back and forth between character.  the daughter in the book did some narrating in parts to help the book along.  i think that's why this made the book such an easy and quick read.  it's almost like you are snooping on someone's e-mails ;)

the book is about a girl, Bee, who's mother goes missing.  the mom is very antisocial and she gets overwhelmed easily.  Bee decides she wants to take a trip to Antarctica, and so when Bernadette goes missing, they assume she is overwhelmed by the trip and some other things going on in their lives.  Bee is determined to find her mother, even though everyone thinks she has died.

it was a good book that kept me interested throughout.  it was a quick read, and i would definitely recommend it.  it was also fun to follow along with the book club and see what others had to say about the book as well.

home tour: guest bedroom

the guest bedroom, aka my sister's room, is almost exactly the same as it was in our previous home.  i used most of the same furniture and decor as in our previous home.

this room is mostly used by my sister or the kids when they visit, so that's why i call it my sister's room. the bed in the room is the same bed she had when we were growing up.  i added a few touches of things that she likes throughout the room.

the guest bedroom is located towards the back of the house, because we wanted our guests to have a nice view of the backyard.

for now it has a full size bed, but eventually when we get a new bed for the master, the guest bedroom will have a queen.

the bedding is from Target.  i got it on clearance a long time ago.  it works well for now, but isn't my favorite look anymore.

at our previous home, the bedroom was lavender.  this time we kept it more neutral with the same gray as in our living room and kitchen area.

on the nightstand is a photo of my little grams.  we miss her a lot and i wanted a picture of her somewhere in the house.

we moved the TV that was in our bedroom into this room and added a different TV stand than was in our old house.

the flowers next to the TV are light up.  my sister has some in her home, so i thought they would be a good addition to the guest bedroom.

the closet doors just got installed recently.  they ended up being a bit small for the opening but we are going to just try to make it work.  they still have to be painted and need knobs to be able to open them!

things that still need to be done:

• paint doors and trim
• add knobs to closet doors
• shorten blinds
• headboard
• dimmer for lights
• art
• new bedding and curtains
• eventually queen sized bed

foster to adopt

we thought we would give it one try.

we got the call about 2 weeks ago that there was a child that fit our criteria.  she had the perfect name and was a "ham" and had quite the personality.  what could be wrong with any of that?!

we had no idea what we were getting into.

things have been...difficult.

based on her history, i'm not surprised that she isn't the easiest child.  any child who has had a rough start from the beginning could be difficult.

but we thought with love and attention, things would get better.  if we gave it some time, her mood would change.  she would understand boundaries, and not to be naughty for attention.  she would stop crying uncontrollably.  she would play with us and spend quality time with us.

maybe that was too much to expect in 2 weeks, and maybe it was too much to expect from a toddler.

all i know is that it's too much for me.

i've nannied and been through the ups and downs with children before.  i've been around many kids her age and they all loved me.  i just don't know what else to do...

and now i feel guilt.  unbelievable guilt that she has to find a new home.  that she has to move again.

and i feel like a failure for not being able to make it work.  for not helping her.

week with my loves

i am beyond happy when i get to see my sis and the kids.  and this last week was the best ever, because they decided to spend their spring vacation with me!!  i'm so lucky!

i'm super sad to say that i didn't get many pictures :(  along with this being one of the most stressful times ever (which is a totally different story), i was just trying to soak up every second i had with them.

they got here on wed and stayed until sat.  wed night the kids stayed at doms (aka grams; their favorite thing to do!).  we had some take-out chinese before they headed to doms.

thurs morning, we made a stop at the new Hobby Lobby.  then, we had lunch at Panera and made a stop at Trader Joe's.  my sister doesn't have a trader's by her so we try to stop there if we can.  it worked out well because i desperately needed to go grocery shopping anyways.

my mom asked us to go to "Art in Bloom" at the milwaukee art museum thurs night.  i have gone for the past 2 years, but sara had never been.  i thought it was a GREAT idea to go because you don't truly appreciate the designs unless you see them in person.  she completely agreed and we really enjoyed it.  we even made a stop for ice cream on the way home.

basically the idea behind "art in bloom" is the designers are given an art piece at the museum that they sort of interpret and replicate in flower form.  here's mom's...

mom's design (which was also featured on the news!)

friday we headed to woodman's for more grocery shopping and a stop at target.  can you tell what me and my sister like to do when we are together?!  shopping is our favorite pastime.  haha.

she went to visit a friend in the evening, so it was game night for us and the kids!  we played monopoly, which was kind of a dud.  then we got to see the kid's favorite movie "Frozen"!  it was really cute.

saturday morning, mark made everyone breakfast and then it was game time again.  this time we played "heads up" and "spot it".  such a fun morning!

and before they headed out, i requested that the kids put a new design on my chalkboard!  wyatt drew a "love tornado" and adalai drew a flower with a message that said she loves me.  they fill my heart with so much joy!  i love those kids so much!

it was an amazing time to spend with my family, and i'm so bummed that they had to leave!  i wish they lived here so we could spend even more time together.  so happy that they will be coming back in just two weeks!!