My Favorite Cora Photos! 7-8 Months Old, Part 1

Cora time!

That smiley little baby is the queen of wearing t-shirts from the 80s!

This photo cracks me up. Scott looks like he is intent on bowling Cora forward. 

Just taking a walk in my diaper, NBD (no big deal).

Cora and her cousin. Cora is CRAZY about her. She talks about her constantly! 

Hey! What's happening over there? 

Sneaky face! 

Big eyes is in town!

Happy birthday sign for Grandmama! 

The love she has for that walke = insanity.

She loved it so much she would push it around and try her best to get in it. 

Big smiles when she made it in! And, as always, huge eyes.

Silly girl! 

Lunch at Panera- Mom forgot to bring a toy. So, she got a spoon and a mustard packet (while we kept a very good watch on her).

Easter dress! 

Another happy birthday sign and a wave for Grandad! 

Easter with Boo and Pop! 

3 generations. 

One more family shot for you. 

Here she is after her Easter egg hunt. And, let me tell you those eggs were hidden in the trickiest of places (like 3 feet in front of her or on her foot). 

Schhhhhweeeeety Baby! 

Grandmama came with way too many Easter goodies. 

Here she is checking out the Easter goods, which included a fancy new headband and, Grandmama's favorite, a Vera Bradley purse. 

More Cora time:

month 0-1, month 1-2, month 2-3, month 3-4a, month 3-4b, month 4-5a, month 4-5b, month 5-6a, month 5-6b, month 6-7a, month 6-7b, month 7-8a, month 7-8b

An Easy Upgrade: Changing Outside Lights

Well not super duper easy but easy enough that I could watch a few YouTube videos, read a few tutorials and put on my electrician's hat to get it done. Maybe that hat would be one of those cool hats that you could buy at King's Dominion (a theme park in Virginia). The hat had a great purpose- keeping the sun off your neck. In 1993 a hat like the one below with "Anaconda" airbrushed on it was one of the coolest things you could own. 

Photo of the awesome "flap cap" from here

If I were to become an electrician or go back to King's Dominion I would invest in such a hat.


Back to my easy (but not super duper easy upgrade).

The outside of my house had two random light fixtures.  The only thing that matched was that they were both an ugly, gold color.  So, I bought two matching outdoor light fixtures online for $35 each.  Then I used these instructions that detail how to change them out.  It was pretty simple.  The first step and hopefully most obvious step is to turn off the power at the breaker box. 

Also, please realize that this job is best suited for an electrician.  Since, like me, you are probably not an electrician if you decide to change light fixtures on your own, use a ridiculous amount of caution. It would probably help to wear your electrician's hat too.



Number One Switcheroo: I changed this light on the back deck:

to this one:

Number Two Switcheroo: Here is the old light that was on the side of the house:

 The light is also seen in the background here where I am playing hop-scotch on the deck boards back in '07.

 Here is the new light!

Voila! I am an electrician (but once again... I am really not, even when I wear my cool hat). 

There is a theme park just outside of Charlotte, called Carowinds. It is EXACTLY the same as King's Dominion but they call all of the rides the wrong names. Also, King's Dominion has a miniature Eiffel Tower and Carowinds does not. If Carowinds had it they would probably call it something stupid like the The French Shorty. 

A list of my favorite rides at King's Dominion and what they call them at Carowinds:

• Shockwave (Vortex)

Photo of The Shock Wave- the first standing roller coaster at King's Dominion from here

• Anaconda (Carolina Cyclone)
• Rebel Yell (Thunder Road)
• The Hurler (The Hurler). I guess this Wayne's World themed ride was hip enough to keep its name at Carowinds

photo of Wayne and Garth's party time, excellent roller coaster, The Hurler from here

Thank you mom and dad for all of the King's Dominion season passes! Thank you, mom, for driving my friends and I there all the time and then waiting out in the parking lot reading a book.

Getting Up Before The Sun (Way Before The Sun)

Good morning goooooood morning!

It is 6am and I have been up for about 30 minutes already. Surprisingly, it is not because my sweetie pie, little baby is up. She is still snoozing and that makes me very happy! I am up because I go to bed at 9pm. I like to act like I live with Dorothy, Blanch, and the girls (Yes, I figured that every other post needs a Golden Girls reference. Here was my last reference). And here is a photo of the gang because it makes me smile.

photo borrowed from here

Why do I go to bed at 9pm? It is not because I enjoying being a member of the Golden Girl Squad. Although, if that were an actual squad that I could join I would be all in. I go to bed at 9pm because my little, sweetie pie baby goes to bed at 7pm. Scott likes to make sure he gets some good, quality time with that little baby. He leaves for work by 5:30am in order to get home by 3 or 4. That way he gets a couple hours with Cora where she can do some of her favorite afternoon things.

I did warn you that Cora was going to get some serious post time.

A List Of Cora's Favorite Things To Do In The Afternoon:

• Jump on Big Bear. We have an ENORMOUS bear stuffed animal that we have cleverly named Big Bear. Cora thinks it is hilarious to run over and jump on him.

• Slap her belly. I'm not sure how she learned this trick but now when you say, "Cora, slap your belly" she will slap away and laugh and smile like it might be the funniest thing she has ever done.

• Find something just close enough to the counter's edge that she can grab and carry around the kitchen while acting very proud of her accomplishment. This usually means that Cora carries around a dish towel for most of the evening. She likes to put them on her head and walk around like she is hiding under it.

• Offer up her food while she is having dinner. Cora likes to try to feed me when I am giving her dinner  but she really likes to hold food out to people who are far away. She even likes to offer food to people on the phone or animals outside. 

• Take every single book out of her basket of books, examine each one for about 5 seconds then throw it on the floor.

• Zoom around in her "DJ Walker." She used to loveeeee that thing but now that she is a walking machine there is no longer any need for it. 

• Help me with the laundry. When she hears the dryer door open she comes a-running. Mainly because she is looking for a dish towel that she can grab and run around with for a while.

• Another sound that she goes wild for is the freezer door opening. Our freezer is on the bottom so it is just Cora's height. Exploring the freezer for the 5 seconds that the door is open is possibly Cora's favorite thing to do.

• Find some tupperware and take the lid on and off and see what she can fit in it.

• Put Kangy on our swivel chair and spin him around. Kangy is another cleverly named stuffed animal. I bet you couldn't guess... he is a kangaroo.

• Point to a glass of water on the table and clap (meaning she wants some). When she sees a smoothie on the table she goes wild. It becomes Clap City USA at the Ross-Spencer household. She does not take her eyes off it.

• Skype with Aunt Kelly or Grandmama. She doesn't get to do it all that often but when she does she is thrilled!!! We have found that the best time to Skype is while Cora is in her high chair. That way she cannot play "open and close" with the computer. She likes to blow nonstop kisses to them and they always get offered between one and a hundred peas.

• Head for bed. As I have said before sleeping is not Cora's favorite thing but for some reason when you say, "Cora, it is time for bed" she will stop what she's doing and go straight for the stairs. She does love to climb the stairs so that could be part of the fun. She also likes to take a quick detour to give Big Bear a little jump on before bed.

There is a little taste of Cora in the afternoon. Can you imagine if Scott missed out on all of that fun stuff. 

So, that is why we go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 5am (OK maybe one of us wakes up half an hour later at 5:30am claiming she is still trying to catch up from lots of night wakings when Cora was 6 months old and younger).

Art In Animals

I'm talking about funky animal skin patterns that look like awesome geometrical patterns.

It was not an easy task to come up with a post title here. They all made me sound like I paint with animal parts.

My sister sent me this photo of a rooster from a county fair that she went to in Ohio. She thought that he had an awesome pattern on his feathers. I totally agree. Isn't this guy cool?!?!

I guarantee he will inspire my art sometime soon. And guess what will happen when he does... IT WILL BE BLOG POST CITY AT NEVERLISTLESS.


This owl already inspired me. Actually, it was my mom's idea that he should be my inspiration.

Here's the fella I'm talking about:

Here's the art that this hip dude inspired:

The white petal-looking shapes were inspired by his feathers.



After the rooster, this zebra is lined up to make a celebrity appearance in my art.

You may have noticed that my sister gets some serious time on this blog. Let's make a list of the reasons:

• She is awesome!

• She is 1 of 2 people who read this blog. To be fair, I have only told 2 people about the blog. I'm sure when I open the floodgates the whole internet scene will probably go down for a couple of days because of all the traffic to my blog.

• She actually pays attention to what I post about. She asks me lots of questions about it, gives me advice, and a sweet compliment here and there. 

• She is awesome! That's right- I said it again.

• She is a pretty lady and I can impress people by telling them she is related to me!

• Back to impressing people- she is definitely the smartest lady in the world. Actually, she is the smartest person in the world. I instantly get 3,000 smart points by coming from the same gene pool as her.

Let's just start with those reasons. There are heaps more though!


So, to summarize:

1. I do not paint with animal parts! I will never use that sentence again. It is grossing me out.
2. Animal prints can inspire some neat art.
3. My sister is awesome.