Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Our new home! via photoshop.... plus a shameless plug for dough


Well here it is! the future household of the Allred legacy! (we hope) this house was just put on the market about a week ago. It's a bit of a fixer but its priced right, we still have a few months of saving left to do. (unless some one has about 5000 dollars to lend us... anyone? if we buy this house before june 30th we will get a tax credit for 7500 dollars so we'll be able to pay you back in a year. That's not bad, right? We will also except multiply loans from several people.. anyone! We are a little afraid that this house will be sold before we can save up the money. That would be really sad because after looking at houses for over a year now it's really the best deal out there, and its got unfinished space so we can grow into it! So search your hearts and send some money our way. think of all the good Karma you'll get!

Monday, November 17, 2008

The Boise blues

So recently my mom and I joined the 3rd annual Boise Holiday House boutique... in Boise. We only gave ourselves two weeks notice so our days were filled morning to night in crafts and sewing... (I crafted.. mom sewed) I made necklaces out of clay that, at first, I was quite proud of. But let me let you in on a little secret... if you make a hundred of anything you will undoubtedly be sick of them in the end. the one thing that kept me going was the dreams of other crafts I would fund with the profits I would surely make. I didn't want to sound braggy so I mostly told people that I would be happy to simply make back the money I spent and I was only doing it for the fun of it, blah blah blan... But in my heart, I had already bought myself a new Bernina sewing machine and a small jewerly kiln. Then I had to make a display! (this ended up being more costly then the necklaces themselves) My theory was that the display was what would attrack the moths (costumers) to the flame (necklace bounty). I figured the more shiney stuff and lights the better so that you could literally feel the heat of the bulbs like a welcoming camp fire. (I could have marketed my sign as a space heater). After days and nights, nights and days... and the other time in between, my mom and I finally had to drop what we were frantically trying to finish and make the trip to Boise. The first day of the boutique was a little slow for us. not a lot of merchandise was moved... correction.. none merchandise.... none. Emily encouraged us saying that the first day was always slow and surely the next day we would have more luck. That night the kiln was scratched off of my wish list. the next day went much like the day before.. except there were three more hours of rejection. and in the end I won't mention the profits except to say that they ended some where in the negatives. I did however convince some of the other ladies working the boutique to feel sad enough for me to trade with me. I'm sure their necklaces will end up somewhere in the bottom corner of a childs toy box. ... or in the trash. But I made out like a bandit! and got great stuff in exchange for blood sweat and/or tears. My mom, as it turned out, was equally successful!

On a lighter note I have begun taken orders for clay necklaces. So get your order in fast as these babies have a tendency to fly off the shelf! and stay tuned for next years boutique where I hope to spend more hundreds of dollars all in the persuit of driving myself insane.

p.s. you will notice that there are no pictures on this blog as I forgot to bring my camera. This may have turned out to be God's tender mercy as I will not be needing to hold on to and cherish this memory.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Grady's 1st haircut!

If you asked my husband to tell you five words that described me I bet you that "impulsive" would be somewhere near the top of his list. I like to think that, most of the time, I make well thought out decisions, but, I have to admit that, even I have my moments of spontaneity. So a few nights ago I decided that it was time to give Grady a real hair cut! luckily it worked out. I think he looks very handsome.

I thought I'd take a picture of his discarded hair to showcase how much was really cut off

On A side note, Redmond had a freak hailstorm today. (biggest hail I've ever seen in real life but I doubt the discovery channel will be down here to document it anytime soon) and I thought my family would enjoy some shots. It was a bit terrifying and really loud, but mostly exciting.


Look how huge those things are! I felt like I was in a life size snow globe.

Thursday, October 9, 2008


This week was Grady's first birthday! Yay! I have to admit that I felt a little guilty by the excess of presents. (this coming from a women who has been known to eat a whole batch of cookies in one sitting, and of course a gallon of milk. Mark that in your record books!.... ) Let me start off by saying that Chris took most of the pictures so you can blame their poor quality on him. Anyway, it seemed to be a hit.

Everyone whose anyone came and we all had a great time. Even the hats were tilted, a sure sign of good times!










Grady and his bounty! I've decided that we will be putting some of these away for Christmas. Like he cares. He would be happy with the wrapping paper.


My most anticipated moment on the day was the chocolate cup cakes. I was so excited to let Grady just go at it and spread it all of his face creating the perfect birthday ending photo op! Grady wasn't as into the idea as I was and in the end I had to smear the chocolate cake and frosting all over his face myself. Some times if you want the perfect memories you must fabricate them! He cried the whole time but he will thank me later.



On of Grady's favorite presents came from Grandma and Grandpa Allred. A delightful train that sings and makes animal noises. However, I noticed a twinge of regret in their eyes when I reminded them that we were moving in next month and the train was coming with us. "All aboard the animal train...." The things we endure to make the babies giggle!

Grady was lucky enough to have all his grandparents in attendance. This is really the best picture I could get out of these people. Believe me, I took several!
















Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Bright enough for you?

I just want to say that nothing thrills me more than constructive criticism. It means the world to me that the fans of my blog (no need to mention names here) take the time to help me improve my cite. As it turns out, I am not perfect. Surprised? I know, sometimes I even have to remind myself. I promise to constantly work on my blog for everyone's viewing pleasure. If anyone has anything else they'd like me to change, let's say for instance, you prefer I framed my candid photos differently or maybe have a new subject for change, please! let me know! I promise to take every suggestion into consideration!



Alternative subject matter



Monday, September 29, 2008

Grady the Dominator!

So my morning sprint lasted exactly one day. No surprise there. But it's a new week and maybe I'll pick it up again. The plans have been set in motion for a Birthday party for Grady! I can hardly believe that he is actually going to be one year old! We will be having the party on Saturday and all are invited, but please RSVP! I need to know how much cake to make! Mom and Dad have tentatively agreed to come, so I hope that works out! Carole and David will definitely be there since the party is at their house and they will have no where to hide. Also excitingly, Lindsay and Aaron are planning on moving here this week so they should be there too! And I don't think that I've asked them yet, but it's generally assumed that the Bateman's will be there. (Laurie, if you're reading this, I formally invite you and your family to Grady's birthday party on Saturday the forth). How fun to have such a full house. And if having a birthday party isn't enough to convince the rest of you to come, Issaquah is having its annual Salmon Days Festival... mmmm... come one come all (and buy an over priced home made nick nack)!

In other exciting news, Chris and I Decided to teach ourselves how to play Dominos. Yes, we were that desperate for entertainment. After trying to decipher the cryptic instructions we had to go to the internet were we found a lovely video tutorial. We got in one game before Grady woke up and that was pretty much the end of Dominos!

At least Grady will put the Dominos to good use!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sprint ahead!

So my new plan is to run every morning as fast as I can for as long as I want! It feels great to get my body going and I'm not stressing about running more than I want to! So this is day one. We'll see how long it lasts.

Up until my last trip to Costco, I was going to dress Grady up like a ventriloquist dummy for Halloween. But we found a very cute bumble be costume and Grady just loved it! (I was actually routing for the lady bug costume but Chris is very sensitive to Grady looking like a girl) By the time we got to the register the right antennae was completely soaked in baby nectar. I just could not wait for Halloween to try it on! Grady loved it so much he cried the whole time I was taking pictures.




Our little bumble bee!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

No more TV for me!

So, after yesterday's post, I decided that I was not going to watch any more TV while Chris was at work. I have to say, I am pretty impressed by myself. I made it all the way to 1:30. (What am I supposed to do while I eat? Stare at the walls?) We'll see how far I make it today but the withdrawals are killing me! So yesterday I did a lot of wandering around, picking random things up... putting them down. Oh! and I started writing a book, but after committing a couple of sentences to paper Grady started crying which was a major relief because writing a book is really hard and I'm pretty sure that if I kept at it much longer my brain would explode. (hardest part so far.. picking names! I'm sure once I'm over that hump the rest of the story will just naturally flow).

So I took my forth pregnancy test today and I am definitely not pregnant. What's wrong with these tests! I feel pregnant! If you look at me you could pretty much assume that I'm seven months along. And, I swear, I even smell pregnant. But, I figure, four test can't lie. So, I have come to terms that my lady parts are have nothing in them but spider webs. Ooh, speaking of spiders, can you think to the creepiest thing that can happen while you are on the toilet? How about a huge spider coming out of the sink next to you whilst you have you're pants around your ankles! eek! I have to shake it off just thinking about it! Let me tell you from experience, It's unsettling. I tried to drown the sucker and watched it's body curl up into a ball when the water hit him. He promptly went down the drain. I had a sigh of relief but, my relief was premature! There he came crawling out of the sink once more! I sent him down the drain again and let the water run for a good five minutes this time. He has yet to emerge again. I hope he's dead!



Grady pondering all life's problems

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Okay, Okay Em, I have a blog. Now, are you happy?

After much encouragement I have finally decided to start a blog. As, if it isn't hard enough to think about things to say about my life in regular conversation, I have now committed to write about them. So, don't be surprised if my blog goes something like this:

9:30 rolled out of bed (only because of crying baby)

10:00 finished third hour of the "Today" show and gearing up for hour number four

11:00 ooh Brad Pitt's on Ellen!

12:00 gotta have my E! entertainment news

1:00 there's never anything on at one but I'll sit here and watch the food network

1:30 Did Grady wake up from his nap already?

2:30 I suppose I should eat something... hmm, Bag of chocolate chips?

4:00 can't miss Dr. Oz on Oprah

4:35 oh crap! gotta clean something before Chris get's home!

4:40 I'll get up after the next commercial brake

5:20 Hey honey! sorry the house is a mess.... I just wasn't feeling good...

6:00 Watched TV with Chris (finally fall is here for the new shows!)

11:00 Went to bed and dreamed about how exciting tomorrow will be! maybe I'll mix it up and go shopping!... or not.. I think Oprah's doing her favorite things show tomorrow....zzzzzzzzz

So right about now (if you've made it this far into my blog) you're probably really glad I decided to start a blog. I'm sure you'll be really excited to check it everyday. I'll keep you updated on the lasted news about Britney Spears, maybe share something I learned from Rachel Ray. And if you have a rash, I'm sure Dr. Oz has covered it so I'm ready to diagnose!



My view for most of the day