Jeepers...

Where did the weekend go??? I feel like I just left the office, and now I'm back at work! Lots of little things have been happening lately, so this is going to be a jumbled post...

First, I got my work bonus last week! While NYIF did not have a great year last year, we did do well enough to meet some of our targets. So, I ended up getting about 50% of my bonus, which is great! (I wasn't expecting to get anything, so a few thousand dollars was most welcome!) Carey and I are using part of my bonus to pay for new insulation in our attic (Carey's idea) and a Wii (my idea). Whatever is left over will either be used to pay some bills or put in the bank.

Carey and I (okay, really just me) decided that the downstairs needs to be painted. It wasn't a huge priority since we don't really use that space much (we actually had the entire downstairs closed off for most of the winter to save on heating expenses), but I'd like to be able to use the downstairs now that Abby's toys are multiplying exponentially. Plus, the downstairs is carpeted, which I think will be easier on Abby's little knees when she decides to start crawling. Unfortunately, pretty much since we moved in, we've been using the downstairs for storage (i.e. if we don't know where to put it, we just throw it downstairs), so we had quite a bit of sorting/organizing to do. Carey spent Saturday morning cleaning out the garage, so we moved some lesser used items (like luggage and my maternity clothes) into the garage, which freed up a lot of space for other things. The downstairs now looks more like a living space and less like a storage facility, and I'm hoping to pick out paint colors this week.

Yesterday, Bart, Melissa, and the girls came over to celebrate St. Patrick's Day a bit early. Carey made potato soup, corned beef and cabbage, and a pork loin, and I made Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes (for the recipe, click here; I got the recipe from a blog by one of my friend's sister-in-law). Carey did a great job with the meats; I'm definitely looking forward to my leftovers for lunch today (potato soup and corned beef). In the words of Rachel Ray: Yum-o!

I had a great time with Abby this weekend. On Saturday, since it was pretty nice, Abby and I took a walk while Carey cleaned out the garage. Then, yesterday, we went grocery shopping while Carey crawled around in the attic. Abby loves it when I wander around the grocery store and point out all the things I'm going to buy. (Actually, she usually smiles when I ask her if we should spend all of daddy's money... Ha, ha!)

We got some great shots of Abby this weekend, but I have no clue where the camera cable is. In preparation for the insulation installation, we've cleared everything out of the office and piled it up in our bedroom. The camera cable is somewhere in the leaning tower of stuff currently residing in our room, so it will be a few days before I locate it. There are a few pictures of Abby and Otto the Orange that I'm going to post as soon as I can. She was so cute! :-)

Well, I hope everyone has a great week! Abby sends hugs and kisses!