Bittersweet Move??

So, if you have ever talked to me for more than five minutes, you know that I hated, loathed, despised, and resented the duplex we lived in. When we moved to the 'burg, we had only one income and already had a mortgage so we moved into a duplex that was. . .awful because it was all we could afford. Everyday, I would look around that place in disgust. The old carpet, the bland walls, the unidentifiable smells, the refrigerator held together with tape, the cigarette burns on the bathroom counter, the loud neighbors on the other side of the wall. UGH!! My blood boils just thinking about it.

I was so excited to find this house. It is clean, we could paint, it had a backyard, no noisy neighbors. It is in a nice neighborhood. We came over and painted. We talked to Kerington about moving to the house. She would ask to go to, "house?" She would tell us she was "movin." I painted one of Kerington's walls pink (something I had been dreaming about since she was born). She liked "house."

Wednesday night, I went to dinner with a friend. When I got home Steve told me Kerington was moving her rugs and chairs and baby doll crib out of the room. He said he asked her what she was doing and she said she was, "movin." Poor baby was confused, I decided I would talk to her some more about this being where we lived now, etc.

Thursday, we went to check out of the smelly, old, nasty duplex. We arrived a little early to make sure everything was clean and I had not forgotten anything. Kerington walked into her old bedroom and said, "room mommy, my room" I nearly broke down right there. To her, it was not a gross, yucky, dirty duplex. It was her home. That is where she learned to crawl and learned to walk. It is where she took her first bite of cereal, ate her first bite of cake, it is where she first sat in time out. It is where we had her first Christmas, where she turned one and two, she got her first tooth, she first sat in a high chair, she first sat in a booster seat.

So while I loathed that smelly, old, nasty duplex, we had a lot of happy family memories while we lived there. I know we will make happy family memories here, and Kerington loves her pink wall (maybe not as much as me). I just did not anticipate that it might be an adjustment for her. So while I never thought I would say this, it was kind of a bittersweet move.

5 Bands I like and 5 Bands I don't

So this is Steve. Lori somehow conned me in to writing something for the blog. She asked me what I was going to write about and I didn't know so I made something up. I really like music so I decided to write about my 5 favorite bands and 5 that I don't care for. I will say that my dislike for a band or singer is sometimes purely arbitrary.

1. Weezer: Rivers Cuomo is a complete genius. I love the song writing, I love the guitars, I love the vocals. I really can't say anything bad about Weezer. "Buddy Holly" is still one of my favorite songs nearly 17 years after it was released. Let that sink in "Buddy Holly" "The Sweater Song" all were released almost 20 years ago, this is almost classic Rock. The band has the staying power of the Stones. I have every Weezer album and I think that "Pinkerton" was a great album.

2. Wheatus: I like quirky groups. They don't get much quirkier than this one. They have never sold out. Lori and I drove 180 miles once to see them play in a little coffee shop in Springfield, MO. I was the only person in the audience who knew all of their songs and at that time the show was an all request set. I got to sit and talk with the whole band and even had a part int eh show itself. I think I had a smile on my face for a month afterward. Check out the "Too Soon Monsoon" album if you haven't, it has a good sampling of what the band puts out there.

3. Foo Fighters/Nirvana: I list these together because I feel like if Nirvana hadn't ended Foo never would have happened. I think Nirvana is the most influential rock group of the past 30 years. I think Foo has been the most consistent group of the last 20 years. If you ever want to argue with me, tell me you disagree with Nirvana being on par with The Beatles for influence. I get paid to argue and I will seriously rip any other group apart.

4. Garth Brooks: This is easy, Garth is awesome. I love the early stuff, the Chris Gaines album was terrible, the other stuff is fantastic. My favorite Garth song is "The Cowboy Song," it is beautiful in my humble opinion. In the 4 years we lived in Oklahoma, I heard all kinds of people talk about seeing Garth at the Owasso Wal-Mart, we went there all the time and never saw him. This may be one of the biggest regrets of my life.

5. Cake: I regularly tell Lori that if I had any musical ability of my own I would start a band and it would be just like Cake. I am crazy about Cake. I like that they don't change the way they make music to sell more records, they are who they are and that is all.

Honorable Mention: The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, George Strait, and any Rock group with a female lead singer. (Side Note: I want Kerington to grow up to be in a rock band, someone please teach her to be musical, because Lord knows I can't.

Bands I don't like

1. The Eagles: Hate is a strong word, however, it is the correct word to describe my feelings toward The Eagles. There used to be a commercial calling them the greatest American Rock Band. I almost threw up any time I saw the commercial. The Eagles did nothing to advance the state of music, they did nothing to test boundaries. All they did was suck and sell a bunch of records which brings me to;

2. Nickleback: If you could make one song and repackage it again and again and again, and somehow make more money everytime, you would have Nickleback's keys to Rock for Dummies. While I have a lot of respect for Carson Dailey, I think he should still be doing TRL, I do not think Nickleback should be allowed to pollute the airwaves our children occupy.

3. Lady Gaga: I just can't stand her. That is all I have to say about that.

4. 80's hair bands not named Poison: Wow, that was a worthless break from decent music, right?

5. Rotates to whoever is making really horrible music in my opinion. Right now Ke$ha, and Miley Cyrus are running neck and neck. Oddly, I kind of like Katy Perry, don't tell.

These opinions are mine and don;t reflect anything except my personal feelings.

We're Moving!!

A couple of housekeeping issues before I get to the topic at hand. . . first, I did not really write 4 blogs today. I write them and keep them a couple of days before I post them to see if I still like them or sometimes, I have to wait until I can get pictures downloaded to the computer. It had been a few weeks since I had posted anything so I went in and cleaned out my draft folder.

Second, and MOST EXCITING, Condron Family blog is going to have a guest writer!! That is right ladies and gentlemen, Steve will be guest writing in the near future!! Get excited!! Disclaimer: Views expressed by the guest writer are not necessarily the views of Condron Family blog. :)

NOW on to today's topic . . . WE ARE MOVING . . . next weekend . . . to a house . . . AND I have not packed ONE box, cleaned out ONE closet, organized ONE drawer. Am I stressed? Not really BECAUSE, we have moved 6 (yes SIX) times in 7 (yes SEVEN) years of marriage. What I have done is arranged 5 guys, 2 pick ups, and 1 dolly to arrive at our duplex at 10 o'clock next Saturday. In my opinion, the most important part of a successful move is having a dolly and many strong men, you don't want to wear out your help.

Now, I will say each time we move Steve and I have a huge blow up. Steve is a no nonsense mover and I get caught up in the senimentality of all the little hidden treasures I find. But each time it gets finished, each time we get settled into our new place, and each time I am grateful that Steve kept me on track. I am also so grateful for all of our helpers!! It makes the move so much easier.

We are moving less than a half of a mile away, and it is NOT our shortest move. In Tulsa, we moved 2 city blocks from an apartment to our house. I am excited to move out of our duplex into a house. Duplex living has served its purpose, but I am ready to be back in a house, with a yard where K bear can have a swing set and Zeke can roam.

Ker Bear is TWO!!!

So it happened, my sweet little girl turned two!! I knew it would come, I thought the more I talked about it the better prepared I would be. I wasn't, it is sad. She is no longer a baby. She is a running, laughing, talking, cuddling, opinionated LITTLE GIRL. I think that the only thing that makes it bearable that she is not a baby anymore is the little girl that she is becoming. She is sweet, considerate, and sensitive (oh we have our battles, she is two). But each day she brings a smile to my face. She gives the best hugs and kisses. She has stellar dance moves. She says the funniest things (I hunky- I hungry, I do it, I dancin mommy, I two monkey, I jumpin, are you?, No Zekie). Maybe they aren't funny to everyone, but they bring a smile to my face. She is sharp as a tack, not much gets by her. She is a "watcher," she watches everything; people, animals, cars, airplanes, TV, etc and remembers EVERYTHING!!

Yesterday we were at Lowe's and saw our friends the Eatons, Kerington and Riley ran up and down the aisle while we chatted for a couple of minutes. Today we were back at Lowe's (we stalk all of our Lowe's purchases at least three times before actually buying anything) and when we were in the aisle where we saw the Eatons yesterday, Kerington asked, "Are you, Iley, are you?" She remembers EVERYTHING!!

Anyway, I digress . . . so to celebrate Kerington's birthday, we had a small party at the park (one of Kerington's favorite places). Very simple, very relaxed. . . cupcakes, ice cream, singing, and presents. A lot of family and some friends were there to help Kerington celebrate. It was hot, but short and sweet. Kerington had a great time, I know, because she slept for a long time afterward. That is how you can gage a good party, by how long the sweet girl sleeps afterward.

Aging is part of life so I guess, I just have to accept that sweet little 6 lb bundle we brought home from the hospital is now a beautiful, lovely, active two year-old full of life and brings joy to us everyday!!

Summer reading program

Our new adventure is the local library. Now we have used the library on and off before, I just get out of the habit of going or I misplace a book and can't go. Currently, all of my books are returned, Kerington is really into reading so we have started going to the library again. Kerington thinks the library is the most exciting place we have ever been. They have puzzles, blocks, a house, bean bag chairs, and of course books. . .

This summer the library is doing a summer reading program so I, of course, being an advocate of reading and contests signed Kerington up to read 20 library books during the month of July. We checked out 5 books for her while we there (and 2 for me), I did not know if there was a block on my account, I really do have a sketchy return record :/ That night, she read 4 of the 5 books we checked out for her. I was feeling really good!! I should have signed her up for 40 or 50 books, this is going to be easy. The next day, I took the four books she read back to the library (yay for me) and checked out 8 (a little more ambitious). I brought the books home to Kerington and she does not want to read any of them. She wants me to read "Ladybug Girl" and "Thomas Breaks a Promise" Two books I could recite without looking and commonly hide under the couch when K is not looking (don't judge). She begrudgingly let me read a couple of her library books . . . but not at the pace we started. I will . . . I mean SHE will win this contest!!

Cooking with Kerington

So, I decided I want Kerington to help me in the kitchen. She is interested when I make dinner and I usually pull up a chair so she can see. She will watch for a while, but inevitably, she will want to help!! Now, it may be my personality or my aversion to unnecessary messes, but I have a hard time letting her help. Recently though, I have found a few jobs that she loves:

Side note: Don't worry about clean hands, hand washing is our new pastime. She will wash her hands for hours if allowed with A LOT of soap.

1. Washing green beans, I snapped the green beans and put them in a strainer, she washed the green beans for 15 minutes and even asked for soap (I do not give it to her). Those are the cleanest green beans around and were quite tasty. I think because they were washed with love.

2. Putting strawberries in the bowl. As I was washing and cutting the tops off of some strawberries, I would hand them to her and she would put them in a bowl for me. The problem with this is I can't cut them fast enough.

3. Eating cantaloupe. The other day while cutting up a cantaloupe, Kerington wanted to "help." Her idea of "helping" was eating the cantaloupe as I cut it up.

4. Finally my personal favorite. . . Pizza making!! I made homemade pizza the other day. Kerington helped pat out the dough and put the pepperoni on the pizza. She did a nice job, but did not like her fingers touching the sauce as she laid the pepperoni on there. Then it came time for the cheese . . . I reached in and got a hand full of cheese and showed her how to sprinkle it over the top of the pizza. She reached in, got a handful of cheese and shoved it in her mouth. . . the girl loves cheese, what can I say?? Our pizza turned out really good and it was good to have Kerington help me in the kitchen!!

Stay tuned for more cooking adventures with Kerington!!