the easter bunny wuz here

whenever a holiday is coming up that involves picking up fun stuff at target to give to the girls, i usually try to shop for it as soon as it becomes available so i score all the best goodies before it gets picked over.  of course, that usually means i'm stashing it away several weeks ahead of time and then forgetting all about it until - oh, typically the night before.  or the morning of, as was the case for easter this year.  heh.

the old lady and her special friend were out in the desert, for weekend #2 of coachella.  in fact, they were already there that morning waiting for kanye's easter sunday service.

lucky for me, that meant not having to scramble to put something together for them too.  i had an extra day to figure that one out.  ha!

i'd made arrangements for some plastic easter eggs to be tossed onto the front yard via a fundraiser that didn't end up happening, which kind of sucked because i'd been relying on it to provide the bean with a fun easter morning activity.  i didn't even realize until it was pretty far into the morning that it wasn't actually going to happen, and without a backup plan i figured i'd better put some sort of easter basket together after all.  yeah, the bean is a little old for all that easter bunny brouhaha, but she still gets a kick out of it and we all know how much i love corny crap like that.  so i dragged my butt out of bed to pull out the stash of easter goodies and figure out a way to make it happen.

of course, i'd completely forgotten to pick up some sort of vessel to use as the "basket."  i didn't have any old ones from previous years, nor did i have a non-"happy birthday" or "merry christmas" gift bag to bust out.  dang it.  but as i looked around the sewing room, my gaze fell on the old liberty of london hatbox i use to store spools of ribbon and figured it would make a pretty decent substitute.

i started tossing all the stuff into it and then realized that it looked terrible.  it needed some sort of stuffing to make it look nicer, and without any of that fake grass to use i settled on crumpling up sheets of tissue paper.

and then i noticed that some of my pre-cut ribbons were green.  in they went.

i arranged all of the stuff i'd bought and took it out to the dining room table for the bean to find when she finally got up, and i think it turned out okay:

i knew i'd done good when she came out and saw what was waiting for her.  the "basket" was full of stuff she'd been eyeing, and she was pretty happy.

of course, the first thing she went for was the marshmallow-scented slime.  and inside were some mini rubber duckies, which was cute and a little creepy at the same time.

this was the one thing she'd specifically asked for, so she was super excited to find it in there.

and there were two more eggs filled with colored silly putty that she immediately swirled together.

when else is it okay to have a giant marshmallow peep on a stick for breakfast?

well, sort of.  we actually had reservations for brunch out in pasadena, at del frisco's grille.

the first thing we noticed on the menu was the cinnamon roll as a starter.  um, yes please.  and we were pretty startled when it was served and found that that thing was as big as our heads.

i went with the jumbo crabcake benedict, which was served with a cajun lobster sauce instead of the traditional hollandaise.  not my favorite, but that's okay.

the hub ordered steak and eggs, which he happily shared with us because the steak was gigantic.  and delicious.

as for the bean, she was brought the wrong entree at first - this was the short rib hash, which still looked really good but wasn't what she'd actually ordered.

the server and manager were full of apologies for the mixup, and put a rush on the braised short rib stroganoff for her.  it came to the table in record time.  this was also super delicious, so i guess i was the only one who apparently made a bad choice from the special easter brunch menu.  oh well.

didn't matter.  we still had a great time and enjoyed plenty of tasty food.  and we had half of that gigantic cinnamon roll boxed up to take home.  gotta love sunday brunch!

bonding with my granddoggy

while i was a little nervous about dogsitting the old lady's stevie, he actually made it really easy for us.  the old lady had brought his crate and all of his favorite toys, and since he's already pretty used to being at our house anyway it wasn't a totally new experience for him.  still, i've only ever spent a few hours watching him without either the old lady or her special friend in the house and this dog is seriously a stage 5 clinger.  he spent that whole time that they were gone crying and whimpering for them despite my efforts to keep him occupied and entertained.

after they left on thursday evening, he did spend a little time scampering back and forth from the door leading to the garage to the front door to his perch on the couch by the window, waiting and listening intently for the familiar sounds that would tell him they were home.  when a good amount of time went by and they didn't return, he finally resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck here with this weird lady who always tried to hug him and play with him.  heh.

i was most concerned about how the night would go, because the old lady had forgotten to pack his treats and that's the easiest way to get him to come into his crate for the night.  not to mention, at home he sleeps in the bed with his "mom and dad," so i was hoping he'd be okay because there was no way in hell the hub would let that happen here.  we never even slept with molly in the bed, and while stevie and the hub have come to an understanding where they're comfortable with each other - well, yeah.

happily, he was pretty tired by the time i decided it was bedtime and i did have a few of molly's leftover treats on hand that worked perfectly for getting him to trot into his crate.  phew.

the next morning, i got up a little earlier so i could let him out to go potty before i headed to barre class.  he was happy to see me and did his business quickly and then went back into his crate pretty easily.  he's used to that routine since the old lady does pretty much the same thing on the mornings we go work out together.  and when i got back home, the bean had gotten up and let him out and they were playing happily in the living room.  he came over to hang out with me while the bean made us some breakfast and sat quietly with me as i opened my laptop.

i may or may not have shared some of my scrambled egg with him, which further strengthened our bond.  haha!  but once the egg was gone and it was relaxing time, he went over to pester the bean as she tried her hardest to get through her book for a report that's due as soon as spring break is over.

he finally tired of that and settled for sitting above her head as he gazed out the window to make sure all was well outside.

he's such a handsome little boy.

later, he came into the kitchen as i got ready to make some cookies and ran out as soon as i started up the mixer.  he doesn't like noise.

but he was pretty happy to come and cuddle with me on the couch after i was done.

and then again much later, after the bean had gone to bed and i was just hanging out watching tv.

i took him for a ride in the car the next morning.  because while he gets lots of running around time between chasing us through the house (or vice versa) and around the back yard, i thought maybe he might like to actually get out of the house for once.  he made himself very comfortable on my lap and even used my arm as a pillow (and don't worry, i was parked when i took this).

when we got home i thought it would be nice for him to take a quick walk around the neighborhood.  and while he seemed to enjoy it immensely, it was a little tough for me...it was the first time i'd ever done this with him and every time i looked down, all i saw was my molly.  sigh.

with the bean and the hub occupied in the garage working on a school project, i thought maybe i could get some sewing done.  except that as soon as i sat down in my chair he jumped right up into my lap and made himself at home.  no sewing for me.

we moved the party down to the floor, where he dozed off while i just kind of enjoyed laying there doing nothing.

the old lady had ordered some of his treats via amazon, which were delivered that day.  i think we were both equally relieved to see them arrive.

that evening went pretty much like the night before.  we both crashed hard on the couch in front of the tv before i let him out to potty and then into his crate he went for the night.

yesterday after brunch, we came home to hang out and as i crawled into the bed to take a quick nap he decided to jump up and join me.

and then his ears perked up as he heard the hub coming down the hallway.  he knew he was busted.

so we headed out to the back yard, where he was happy to bask in the sun and take in some vitamin D.

but when he spotted me sitting in the chair he decided my lap was a much better napping spot and jumped right up.  we must have spent an hour like this.

the bean and i headed off to disneyland for the evening, leaving stevie with the hub.  i knew the hub would take off and head to the lounge after awhile, but by the time we got home he'd only been crated for a couple of hours and was thrilled to see us walk in.  i let him out to give him some playtime for a little while before i took him out to potty and then crated him again for the night.

this morning, i treated him to a spoonful of peanut butter in his toy which kept him pretty occupied while i showered after my orangetheory class.

and then the little shit managed to get ahold of one of my socks.  one of my favorite socks, to boot.  yarg.

we spent a little time sitting in the sun, enjoying the warmth and giving me time to just pet him and hang out.  seems like a pattern for the weekend, huh?

his mom and dad are due home in a few hours, and i'm sure he's going to be super duper excited to see them walk in the door.  but i'm pretty sure that spending all this time together this weekend strengthened our bond, and he might even love me as much as i love him.  sweet stevie.

and now i won't be nervous about dogsitting him the next time.  yay!

easter = toga

the bean's spring break has finally begun!  yay!

while other schools in our area had their break weeks ago, ours was delayed because of how late easter is this year.  makes sense since it's a christian school, right?  and yesterday the kids put on a performance for us that was a reading of an essay they'd written from the perspective of someone who was around during the time of jesus.  the teachers asked for them to come to school dressed in a toga or tunic for the occasion, and i was amused at the notion of a toga party to celebrate easter.

of course, i had at least a couple of weeks to prepare for this and didn't actually get anything together until literally 6am yesterday morning.  oops.  i knew there were probably some who were expecting us to show up in some sort of fantastic handmade sewn creation, so i was snickering a bit as i sat in the sewing room looking at a white flat sheet and googling "how to tie a toga."  the bean dragged herself into the room a little while later, and after perusing a few different sites plus a couple of youtube videos, we got to work.

it ended up being a lot easier than i'd thought, and then we got to work on a half up/half down hairstyle with curls and a sparkly decorative piece to dress her up a little.  we added a rope belt and one of my old stella & necklaces and called it a day.

when we got to school, we headed into her classroom where a few of her fellow classmates were hanging out with the teachers, checking out each others' ensembles and chatting about what they were going to be doing for spring break.  there was quite a variety of outfits there, in different colors and all levels of effort ranging from full-on toga costumes to simple belted t-shirts.  my co-room parent and i were tasked with the duty of heading up to the music room where the kids would break up into groups and read their pieces, making sure that the parents who arrived didn't disturb the arrangement of chairs in the room.  the junior high kids occupy the upper floor where the music room is, and they were finishing up their annual testing so we had to make sure that parents didn't loiter in the hall and distract the students.

the bean seemed a little nervous about reading her essay in front of her group, but was excited when she walked in the room and saw both me and her dad waiting there for her.  she loves when i do stuff like this:

at least her friends think i'm funny.

the kids were split up into several groups, and then each kid took a turn standing up in front of their group to read their easter perspective essays.  it went pretty quickly, and while the bean whispered to me that she was nervous she did a perfectly fine job.

then we had time to take pictures of the kids before they headed back downstairs to their classrooms and get the rest of their schoolday going.  i had to tease her BFF's mom for sending her kid to the toga party dressed like the statue of liberty:

and then after they all got downstairs and changed back into their uniforms they got to have a donut that my co-room parent had brought in.  the bottles of water i brought in weren't quite as popular, but that's okay.  of course she went for the ultra giant chocolate donut:

the old lady and her special friend are heading to coachella for the second weekend of the music festival.  they were planning on boarding stevie for the weekend, but the hub said that was silly and we decided to babysit him ourselves.  he's a stage 5 clinger and cries when his parents aren't in view, so it's going to be interesting.

as soon as they made their exit he jumped up onto the couch and watched and listened for them, crying the whole time.  poor baby.

after awhile he finally calmed down and relaxed.  he kept a close watch on the door, but he eventually decided to just lay down and chill.

wish me luck.  he's got four days of just me, the bean and the hub.  survival of the fittest.