Embrace the Camera Thursday

We were actually ready for the meeting early last Sunday so I had Geoff snap a picture of me with the kids before we left.  And about 5 minutes after this was taken my necklace fell apart.  I’m so upset…I’ve only worn it 3 times!!

I realized that I’m a few days late with Jasper’s 15 month update.  Here’s what he’s been into lately.

Throws all of his toys out of his play area.  All the time.
Licks the hinges on the outside door.  All the time.
Still loves the Duplo Lego.  Can fit pieces together now.
Never stops eating.  If he can see food he yells until he gets a piece.
Loves having stories read to him.  Hands me a book when I’m sitting on the floor with him and turns around and backs his bum onto my lap.
Starting to sing into Sage’s Hannah Montana microphone.
Still sleeps from 6pm to 7am.
Likes to be chased.
Runs like crazy in the opposite direction when he sees me coming to wipe his nose.
Desperately wants to try what is in our coffee cups!
Says Sage!
Loves playing in his crib.  Never wants to get out when he wakes up from his naps.  So I sit on the floor and we throw toys at each other for a bit.
Loves watching Handy Manny when Sage gets home from school.
Is a homebody.  Gets very out of sorts when we go away overnight or over to friends houses for a meal.
Loves dancing.
Sticks his finger up his nose when we ask him where it is.
Is getting better at giving kisses.  Is a stubborn little bugger.
Waves bye when he feels like it.

The Lego Motherlode

Our family has developed a huge interest in Lego over the last year or so.  I could say it’s just Sage but who am I kidding…Geoff and I get just as excited about new sets as she does.

We went to the Lego store in Somerset Mall on Saturday afternoon and picked up a new Creator house called Log Cabin Cottage. 

Super cute and a great price.  So Sunday afternoon Sage sat at the dining room table and put it together all on her own.  Maybe she’ll be an architect and build us a glass and steel home to retire in.  I can dream.

Geoff was sitting with her surfing kijiji on his netbook.  He found a just listed ad for tons and tons of Lego.  He made me call the number listed and when he found out we could go over right away he made us jump in the car quicker than we ever had before! 

The boy who the collection belonged to was now almost out of his teens and selling off everything…he was obviously some sort of Lego genius.  Cruise lines would pay him to build to-scale models of their ships to have on display.  His collection was unbelievable.  We ended up coming home with Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, Market Street, Service Station, Mail Van, 14 road and base plates and 2 huge bags full of trees and animals and people related accessories all for about what we would have paid retail for Green Grocer.

I am so tempted to go back and buy some more bags of random building pieces…and Geoff would love to buy the complete train setup that was there as well.  But I think we’ll refrain…as it is I’m pretty sure I’ve just lost my dining room table to becoming a base for a city setup!

Ali had a great post last week about her storage system for Lego’s.  I’m going to have to steal a few of these ideas as our collection seems to be taking on a life of it’s own.

We’ve started buying the plastic boxes that our local Lego store sells.  They’re not on the Lego website anywhere which they really should be cause they work great.  For $10 they each come with an extra green baseplate which is a great value because each baseplate on it’s own is $5.  The goal is to eventually have as many of the boxes as we have sets and then the instructions and extra pieces for each set will be stored in each box.  If we ever decide to break a set apart than it can go back into the box as well.

So now the work begins…we’re going to break apart each set and rebuild them ourselves!

Ego Boost

Once again…thanks for all the lovely comments from Thursday’s Embrace the Camera post.

My hat is from the San Diego Hat Company.  I saw it online ages and ages ago and loved it but there was no way I was spending $45 on a hat…my bargain shopper mentality just couldn’t comprehend that.  So to my extreme delight I walked into Winners about a month ago and saw it on the shelf…for the grand total of $16.99!  FYI…I’m pretty sure Winners is owned by T.J. Maxx.

And info on my glasses can be found in this post.

Lazy Girl’s Dinner

This is Geoff’s busy season at work so the kids and I have been eating a lot of dinners without him.  Since he works so late that he usually ends up grabbing something on his own there is no way I am making fancy dinners.

So last night I made a super quick and easy pasta salad.  Not something I would ever try to feed my husband for dinner…lunch sure.  And of course, 5 minutes before we’re about to eat he calls and says he’s on his way home!  Sorry honey…simple meals once in a while are good for you.

Pesto Pasta Tuna Salad

1 lb penne
1 jar President’s Choice basil pesto (any brand will do, this is just my fav)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cans tuna packed in water, drained
1 bunch green onions, green and white parts, chopped
box of grape tomatoes, halved
Cook pasta til al dente, drain and run under cold water to cool.  Mix together pesto and lemon juice.  Add tuna and break up.  Add all other ingredients and mix.  Then add pasta.

And to my great shock…Geoff liked it!  And no, I didn’t give the baby tuna…he had his pasta just with pesto.

Embrace the Camera Thursday

She is absolutely going to hate me when she’s a teenager for posting and making scrapbook pages about stuff like this.

Today’s Embrace the Camera picture…the reaction I get from Sage every time I tell her that she has to have a ponytail or pigtails in her hair.  The kid HATES having anyone but herself brush her hair.  Most mornings I find it entertaining how much of a drama queen she is.

CB2 I Love You

Finally!  CB2 now ships to Canada.  My wishlist for this place is huge.  I love that the pieces they make are modern and funky without a price tag that would make Geoff wish he was single again.
I’ve loved this Hopscotch Rug for ages.  Think it would be perfect for our mudroom entrance or in a playroom.

These Matryoshka dolls make my heart skip a beat.  I had a set when I was a kid and would love to have these super stylish ones now.

This acrylic tripod easel is so cool.  I’ve been on a bit of an acrylic kick lately…found a side table for our new living room that I’ll share later.

This abacus.  I just said to Geoff a few days ago that I had one when I was a kid and would love to find one again.  But come on…$169?  I could make it for $10!!

What can I say?  It’s acrylic.  It needs to come live with me.

Oh Boy

I just can’t get over how much of a boy this little guy is.  I used to think that all babies must play the same.  Nope. 

I am certain that one day I am going to end up with a concussion from one of the toys that he is constantly flinging as hard as he can out of the play area.  He thinks that doing this and climbing over whatever object is in his way are the greatest games ever.  As is evidenced by the constant bruises on his little forehead.

That was one of the offending blocks just before it was whipped at my head!

Everything Is Gonna Be All White

Another room I am really excited about decorating is our new living room.  We’ve known for a long time now that we wanted a change from the style we had before.
This was our old living room area…missing two of the chairs and the ottoman so that we could make room for the insane amount of giant plastic baby toys.  While I still do like it, it just wasn’t US.


I still love the old Danish teak style hutch we inherited from Geoff’s grandmother and our imitation Barcelona chairs.  But the wall colour has got to go!  This is actually something we were planning on doing before the house fell but never had the time.  Sure glad we didn’t now!
And these are the rooms that are inspiring me now.


Love the vaulted ceilings and the rafters.  Might possibly be doing this in the new place.  I just noticed that both these rooms have hanging chairs in them too.  We actually already own the chair from the bottom picture….bought it years ago when it was on clearance and never got around to finding a spot for it outside.  It’s this one from Ikea.

Love, love, love the white Eames Lounger.  Hoping to find a knockoff somewhere at a price that isn’t equivalent to a small car.

I’ve always loved this yellow sideboard from Ikea too.
I’m picturing a big white room with grey and yellow accents.  Light flooring…painted wood perhaps?  Can’t wait to start shopping!

Insurance Soap Opera

It really does feel like I should be on a soap.  The level of drama involved is just ridiculous.

I had a horrible phone conversation with our adjuster this morning so put together an email and sent it off to his boss.

Here’s the email I sent…I need your feedback.  Do I come across as a drama queen?  Too whiny?

Hi Boss,
My name is Sabrina Lawrence and my family and I have a claim with “Your Horrible Insurance Company” for our house that we lost in the tornado of June 6th 2010.  That claim # is *****.
I had an unsettling phone conversation with “Your Horrible Adjuster” this morning.  We received an advance payment of $**** towards the content that we lost.  I called him to let him know that we had spent that money and I had dropped the receipts off this morning at the “Local Broker’s” office since he does not have a location that I can drop them off directly for him or access to email.  I asked that he review the receipts when he had a chance and that if everything was in order we were requesting another advance cheque.  He actually got upset that I dared to ask this of him.

He told me that Your Horrible Insurance Company was not our personal bank and was not here to fund our shopping.  I told him that I didn’t understand and asked how we were to replace our items then.  He went on to say that we had to take an Actual Cash Value settlement and then submit receipts to him for approval and we would be paid the difference after that.  This is in direct contradiction to a letter that we received from him dated September 30th that says we have only two options regarding our content claim submission as follows:

Option 1 – you can elect to replace each item and submit to my attention the replacement cost invoices for reimbursement accordingly.  We will pay up to the amounts submitted plus applicable taxes as per your Schedule of Loss submission.

Option 2 – you can elect a cash value settlement.  This settlement is a lump sum settlement.  Depreciation is applied to each item in accordance to the age and material construction of each item.

I received this letter on October 15th and called Your Horrible Adjuster that day and said that we would be going with Option 1 and that we would need some money to get started on buying items.  He said this was no problem and requested that day that a cheque be sent to us.  He and the letter he sent never once indicated that we would have to take an ACV settlement.  During our conversation today he questioned why I was in such a hurry to replace things.  I said to him that we have lived for 5 months with 2 small children without appliances, beds for our children, toys and winter clothing.  His response was that we’ve lived for 5 months without them so they shouldn’t be a priority now.  I asked why I wasn’t told about the ACV when I first requested a cheque and his response was “Fine Sabrina, I take full responsibility.  The situation you’re in and everything that has happened to you is all my fault.”

He is behaving like a spoiled child and I am extremely upset with his unprofessional behaviour.  Your Horrible Adjuster said today that it would be close to a month before we saw that ACV settlement and that by that time our 180 days to submit items against our claim would have run out but that he MIGHT be able to get us an extension.  We have also run out of living expenses money to pay our rent in our current house but I am afraid to ask Your Horrible Adjuster for another cheque.  Every time I dare to ask him a question he immediately gets on the defensive and does not provide any real answers.

I called you a couple months ago when we were having some other problems with Your Horrible Adjuster and you were very helpful.  When Your Horrible Adjuster found out about this he told me I should watch what I say and who I talk to because he could make this a difficult process for us.

So I have no idea what to do now.  Please advise me if you can help.  All we are looking for is the replacement of the items on our content list in a timely manner.

Regards,
Sabrina

Home Day

The buses were cancelled here this morning because of fog.  Since Geoff has to leave for work at 7:20 and Sage can’t get to school before 8:40 that means she got to stay home today!  Which she was not happy about.

I actually love the days when she’s home during the week now.  Jasper is thrilled to have someone to play with besides me!
He is down for his morning nap now and she is watching The Secret Garden for the first time.  Was one of my favourite books as a kid.  So now it’s coffee and blog time for Mommy!

Embrace the Camera Thursday

Grey blah morning here for Jasper and me.  But the wind has died down and we’re not expecting a tornado to hit at any moment so we’re feeling much calmer!

The Jazzy man and I in the temporary playroom.  Can’t wait til we can bring some colour into our lives (and walls) again!

Today

Jasper is 14 months.  Here’s a review of what month 13 was like for us!

Playing peek-a-boo.  He hides behind a chair and pops his head out and I have to say peekaboo…over and over and over.  Or he hides behind me when I’m sitting on the floor and I have to pretend I can’t find him.
The Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks and Incrediblock that were Sage’s.
The radio on the FP Laugh and Learn home.  Pushes the button for the music to play again as soon as it stops.
Sage’s tiny lego’s.  He stands at the barricade keeping him away and tries desperately to get out.

Head bumps! Leans in for a forehead bonk all the time.
Taking better naps now.  Up to almost 2 hours in the morning.  Still sleeping from 6pm to 7am at night.
Puffs out his chest when we tell him to stretch.
Had his first cold.  The runny nose may never stop!

Puts one foot on the carpet and the other foot on the laminate and tries to do the splits.
Walks!  Almost manages to run when he sees me coming with a kleenex to wipe his nose.
Favourite game is to put a small toy in his toy cup and shake it til the toy flies out.  Bursts out laughing everytime.

DIY Day

I came across this light fixture a few days ago and I knew instantly that I had to have it too.

I’m pretty sure she got her inspiration from a light that I just saw on an episode of 9 by Design. 
The DIY version couldn’t be simpler to make (though incredibly time consuming).  It’s made up of a round paper lantern like the ones Ikea sells by the thousands and then paper coffee filters are hot glued onto it.
Can’t wait for our next trip to Ikea so that I can pick up one of these for myself and get started!

Decorating Dreams

If our insurance company ever gets their butts in gear we will one day very soon have a new house to decorate.  The spaces I am most excited about being able to start from scratch are the kid spaces…I can indulge my love of colour and quirky to my heart’s content!
I’m going to have a 6 year old girl’s room to do…she has already informed me that she wants a Paris Princess room.  Oy.  A 1 year old boy’s room and possibly a shared scrapbooking room / playroom.

I love everything about this room.  We had a wall in our old house that we covered in maps just like this one.  And I have recently developed an obsession with collecting globes.  What a great way to display them!  I could so picture this setup on one side of the room with my scrapbooking area on the other.

There is no way we could ever make this happen but I can dream.  How cool would it be to say your house had a fireman’s pole from one floor to another?

Same goes for this pic.  Our rooms aren’t going to have the height to make this happen but I just love it.  What an amazing play space this would be.

I am absolutely going to incorporate this into Sage’s room.  A simple nightstand wearing a tutu!  Super easy project to do.

This is probably more along the lines of what Sage actually wants me to do.  Lots of pink and sparkle!  I am loving the dressmaker’s form with the nightgown on it.  I picked one of these up at a flea market just a few weeks ago.  And the Jackson Pollock style art behind the bed.  Love that.

I also have a current obsession with pom poms.  Along with everyone else in blog land!  I’m thinking that these will be incorporated into my scrapbook room decor though.
Not really any boy themed rooms were there?  I’m having a horrible time finding rooms that I love that aren’t too themey.  I’ve loved these decals for a couple years now though…would love them in Jasper’s room.

Now I would just love to get started on all these projects already!

Glasses Love

Yesterday's post resulted in the best ego boost I have had in years.  Thanks ladies!  Since my glasses proved to be so popular I thought I'd share a link.

They are the Dolce & Gabbana 3056-B style and can be found here.  They are the green spotted style but I'm not sure why because the frames are brown and the sides are much more gold with some leopard and zebra thrown in than green.

Moving On

I realized today that I haven't taken a single picture in 2 weeks.  I've been spending so much time lately just being frustrated by the lack of progress with our insurance company that I haven't been doing much of anything else.  So today that changes!

I'm going to start the challenge that Emily runs over at The Anderson Crew.  Otherwise poor Jasper is going to grow up thinking he was raised by an invisible parent!

So here we are.  No makeup, hair not done and in ratty, I don't care if he wipes his snotty nose all over me clothes.  Lovely!

2 Months Late

Well I'm 2 months late on this but here is my update on Jasper at age 1!

Loves:

Potato Heads
Duplo Lego
Anything Sage has
Being cuddled
Mommy
Vanilla soy milk
Food - any and all.  Bring it on
Paul Frank pillow in his crib
Car rides
Being outside...but not touching the grass!
Putting things in his mouth
Peek-a-boo
Off to London, off to Lynn, off to Salem and we all fall in
Escaping from the playroom
Looking out the window
Sage!
Dancing

Hates:

Being left alone.  Unless it's in bed...put him in there and he's happy as can be

I love the way that he pulls himself up to my chair and leans his soft little cheek on my leg.  Which he always follows up my licking my knee and laughing cause he thinks he's hilarious.

I love how he licks his finger and then rubs in on Daddy.  It's like he's marking his territory.

Insurance Woes

4 Months after the storm.  The house is still standing and our contents have been removed but not processed yet.

We had thought all along that the quote was too low from the contractor that our adjuster had decided was going to build our new house.  I mentioned this to our adjuster who said that it was accurate and if i didn't like it than we should take out a bigger mortgage, give the money to the contractor and get him to build us a bigger house.  I responded by telling the adjuster that I wanted to see the detailed quotes from all 4 contractors that he had submit quotes.

So i finally get receive those on Monday.  Our adjuster says that he does not have a computer, a printer, email or internet access.  If this is true and our insurance company never provided him with those I am in complete shock.  This is 2010…not the dark ages!

As I was reviewing them I realized that all of them had forgotten to include the square footage of our upstairs!

So I called the adjuster to tell him this but his voicemail says he's on vacation...not such a big deal until you consider that this is the 4th time this month he's been on vacation!

I had the phone number for his boss and called him to say how disappointed we are in the level of service provided by his company.  I also want to get some resolution on how on earth and entire floor could have been missed by 4 contractors!

His boss is so rude to me on the phone before I've even explained why I'm calling that i burst into tears and sobbed the whole way through our conversation.  He gets nicer after I start crying.  I should have thought of this months ago!

It eventually comes down to him telling me to put all my concerns in writing and go over it with the contractor.  I did this and sent him an email yesterday.  I personally think that the email is very polite and even says that we don't blame him for this oversight but instead the contracting company that did the original scope of work but we would like the quote revised. 

He never replies but instead calls me at 7:30am today saying that he wants to meet me at our house at 10am.  Knows full well that I don't have a car and can't do this.  So I get Geoff to call him back and arrange to get him the key.  When the contractor shows up at Geoff's shop to pick it up he won't even speak to him...sticks out his hand for the key and leaves.  Does the same thing when he returns it.  Hands it to the guy in the passenger seat of his truck who throws it in Geoff’s hand and speeds off.  And I still have to suck up to him because he is in possession of all of our contents and we want them all to be written off because they sat for 3.5 months in a house that was full of black mold.

I still haven't started drinking before dinner time which I think shows an amazing amount of restraint.
In other news I’ve spent the last 3 days re-building Sage’s Lego city.  Pics coming soon!

3.5 Months Later

Well the quote is in from our insurance company to rebuild our house.  And it's bad.  Really bad.  We have the best type of policy that there is to have - Guaranteed Replacement Cost.  Means that they at least have to build for us exactly what we had before.  But with what the quote came in at, which we then have to subtract 13% taxes off of and the 20% overhead fee from their preferred contractor we are left with not enough money to even get us back to what we had before.  So today we are confused and anxious and exhausted because we both laid awake most of the night.

We're going to meet with the restoration company tonight to see what he can come up with but I don't have high hopes.  They don't have a good reputation in the industry around here and we are adament that we don't end up with a cheaply built knocked together builder quality house.

So I guess my dreams of a house that looks like this are probably out the window.  :(

Back to School

I never did share Sage's back to school photos here.  It's a big change in our routine this year.  Adding a baby brother to the morning mix, going everyday instead of every other day and living a lot further out of town in this rental house of ours.  Poor girl is on the bus for almost an hour each way :(

Doesn't make her any less excited about going back though!  I have no idea how Geoff and I ended up with a kid that loves school as much as she does....she's upset when vacation time rolls around!

Here she is in her head to toe H&M outfit..she insisted on the hat!

Some Friday Etsy Love

Isn't this Amy Butler clutch just gorgeous?



And these headbands?

And this clutch with hidden diaper wipes pocket?

I am seriously lusting after all of them.  Check them out at the wonderful Foster Kade Designs.  All proceeds from her sales go towards bringing their adopted baby girl home from China.  Look pretty and feel great about doing it!  Also check out Ashley Ann today who is sponsoring a giveaway for Foster Kade's etsy shop.

Why I Love Him

When most men run into town to pick a few things up from the grocery store and drug store what do they come home with that wasn't on the list?

A GQ magazine perhaps?  Maybe some junk food?  Probably.  This is what my husband brought home last night.

A zebra print pie lifter in the shape of a shoe.  I married exactly the right man.

A Comedy of Errors

That really is the only way that I can describe what this whole process has been like.  Without getting all worked up and put in danger of losing my mind that is.  We FINALLY get the list of our damaged contents from the restoration company and I start to notice something odd as I'm reviewing it.  I look it over again.  Nope, not just me.  All of our appliances, all of the furniture from upstairs and all of the kid's toys weren't on the list.  How on earth did they manage to forget those??  Yet one more hassle to get straightened out.  Nevermind the fact that the house was supposed to be torn down last week and when I called the insurance adjuster to find out what was going on his voicemail said he was off on vacation all week!  Needless to say we will be switching companies the second this mess is done with.  A shame really because my husband has used them for all of his needs for almost 20 years now.

And totally unrelated but too cute not to share.  She was so excited to wear skinny jeans for the first time.  She kept asking me what they were called cause they're more like a legging than a jean so I told her all the big girl's were calling them jeggings now.  Didn't believe me.