Which Reindeer are you?

Thanks again to The Sassy Lime for this one.
I've lost the blogging touch and my creativity. So lately when I find something that won't take a lot of thought I go with it.

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you? Cupid Like Cupid you know how to spread love. You have a place in your heart for everyone and are always there with a hug or a kiss Find out which of Santa's Reindeer you are at Quizopolis.com

Christmas Meme

Christmas Meme

I got this one from The Sassy Lime

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? I like both, although I'm probably more in the mood for eggnog then hot chocolate and my mom has a good egg-less eggnog

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? They are wrapped

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? no preference

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no

5. When do you put your decorations up? after thanksgiving, usually by the first of the month, if we are going to be in town for Christmas

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? besides dessert? probably cheese ball, eggnog, I can't think of any other holiday food.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: someone doing a secret act of service

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? what's the truth? you mean he's not real?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? no

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? with as much help from the kids we can handle

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? depends on the time of year, it's nice to have it during the winter, but i don't care of it during the spring like when my oldest was born

12. Can you ice skate? sure, but that doesn't mean I'm great

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? maybe a cabbage patch kid

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? family and the true meaning of christmas, and now that I have kids, seeing it through their eyes

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? the merry cherry roll my mom makes

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? the 12 days of christmas

17. What tops your tree? a white snowflake

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? there are nice things about both sides of it

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? too many to choose from

20. Candy canes: what about them?

21. Favorite Christmas movie? good question

22. What do you leave for Santa? Cookies, and milk, and carrots for the reindeer

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Halloween

Well like I have told many of you, I decided to make my first attempted at sewing and make my kids costumes this year. They turned out pretty good, or so I think. Since many have asked to see pictures, here they are. Stir Fry was Peter Pan and Baluga was Tinkerbell. There is also just one of them playing. I hope you enjoy them.

Who's my care taker?

Well me and the kids are sick and it's no fun. My least favorite thing about motherhood. It's ok when the kids are sick but when you get sick too, that's no good. Full-time mom's don't have sick days like the hubby. The hubby gets to take a day off and you take care of him or let him take naps when he needs to. When you are mom you get none of that. You get a nap if the kids let you. You don't get to throw your fits because you are trying to get one of the kids to calm down from theirs. I guess lucky for me tomorrow is the weekend so I'll have help, that is if the hubby doesn't get as sick as us, and then in that case, I turn into the care taker of everyone again, even though I'm sick.
On a side note, Stir Fry doesn't act sick for the most part, just has the symptoms (cough and runny nose), while Baluga on the other hand is very tempermental besides the symptoms. Yesterday when the hubby or myself couldn't calm her down, she went to her brother and stopped crying and just cuddled. I guess she needed her big brother to love her and hold her and tell her it was going to be ok. That just melted my heart.

She's falling apart

Well I think Baluga didn't get a long enough nap, or good enough, not sure which. She woke up awnry. Nothing was good enough for her, and when I thought I had what she wanted figured out she just started crying. I couldn't make her happy. I was asking her if she was falling apart. Now here comes the funny part. Stir Fry then asks me where is Baluga breaking? He was obviously listening to our conversation and understood as best as a three and half year old can. He thought his sister was breaking!

A must have for all

Well I came across this must have on the Food Network Channel a while back, and bought a few months later and just recently bought my second one. It must be good if I bought two! Well shortly after my purchase, I converted someone to buying one that day. So what is it. It's a popcorn popper. My first one I took on vacation with my family with giving it to my dad in mind and that's what happened. I finally replaced the one I gave away and glad I finally have one back. It take on 3 or 4 minutes to pop popcorn, so just as long as the microwave stuff, but you have more options. Plus when you can buy a big 8 lbs. tub of popcorn kernals at costco for under $7 it's cheaper. Who doesn't like popcorn?

I don't even know what to say

So my family called me last night, just to check up and chat. I heard an interesting update about someone I grew up with. A guy my little brother's age, who I was pretty good friends with, just got married. That didn't surprise, since he was always a lady's man, I figured it would happen eventually, and kind of surprise it took so long. Well is still leaving me speechless is who he got married to. Now I don't know the person, so I can't make judgements about her. But this guy is 23 and he married a 52 year old woman! I found that crazy. This lady is older than his parents! She been married once before, so she could have children older than him. Their new step-daddy could be younger than them! I'm assuming they didn't get married because of a pregnancy, since she's mostly likely too old for that stuff anyway. How could you at such a young age decide you never want to be a father? To make things even more strange, weird, gross (I dont' know what word to use here) she was a teacher of an institute class (a religion class) he was taking! Talk about crossing the line a little bit. I'm a firm believer in not putting yourself in a situation that could turn out the way it shouldn't. Like spending time with a student after class, or a married lady without her husband (now I don't know if she was divorced or married when they first starting spending time together). This whole situation just boggles my mind. The parents were even invited to the wedding or have met the lady yet. I just don't know what to think. What do you think?

Recipe Monday

I know it's been awhile since I've done one of these, but I a made a pretty great recipe last night, if I don't say so myself, that deserves a post. I recently got quite a few free peaches, and not being a canner, I decided to freeze them. So I got one bag out and made this receipe.

Crunch Peach Cobbler

*1 can (29 oz.) or 2 cans (16 oz.) cling peach slices in syrup (I used about 7 peahces that had been cut and frozen, if you want to use fresh, use about that many and add sugar to them and let set for a while, maybe for a day in the fridge and let some of the juices come out since you need it)
*1/2 c. plus 1 Tbls. sugar, divided
*1 Tbls. cornstarch
*1/2 tsp. vanilla
* 2 c. flour, divided
*1/2 c. packed brown sugar
* 1/3 c. old-fashioned or quick oats
* 1/4 c. butter, metled
* 1/2 tps. cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I added this one myself, I feel you can't have peaches without nutmeg)
* 1/2 tsp. salt
*4-5 Tbls. cold water

Drain peaches and reserve 3/4 c. of syrup.
Combine 1/3 c. sugar and constarch in small saucepan. Slowly add in reserved syrup. Stir well. Add vanilla. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (doesn't thicken a lot, or not as much as I expected). Set aside.
Combine 1/2 c. flour, brown sugar, oats, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl; stir until mixture forms coars crumbs. Set aside.
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Combine remaining 1 1/2 c. flour, 1 Tbls. sugar, and salt in small bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture forms pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle water, 1 Tbls. at a time, over flout mixture. Toss lightly with fork until mixture hold together. Press together to form a ball.
Roll out dough into 10-inch square, 1/8 inch thick. Fold dough in half, then in half again. Carefull place folded dough in center of 8x8 baking dish. Unfold and press onto bottom and about 1 inch up sides of dish. Arrange peaches over crust. Pour sauce over peaches. Sprinkle with crumb topping.
Bake 45 minutes. Serve wamr or at room temperature with whipped cream, although last night we used ice cream, just as good if not better.

Enjoy

I'm going to have my hands full

Can you say DIVA? Well the other morning little miss Balugas hadn't been out of bed for more than an hour and was so awnry, like she needed to go back to bed, but that couldn't have been the case since she hadn't been up very long. The hubby finally asked her if she wanted to get dressed, and she nodded. I then took her upstairs to her room and got a shirt and asked her if she wanted to wear that, and she nodded, I then got a pair a pants and asked her about those and she said no, I then got another pair and she approved of those. We then got dressed and then she was fine, until something else popped up.
What am I getting myself into? I was never a girly girl, I hope I can handle this.

My new past time

Most everyone has seen them, and they have become so popular, those wooden boards that are painted with fun sayings on them. While on vacation at the Oregon Coast I saw them in almost every shop, selling for at least $35. My father-in-law works in the movie industry and has a big and smal vinyl cutter (which is used to cut out the saying on most of these boards). Prior to going on vacation I made several of these, by going over to the in-laws and using their machine, one for my self and several for other for wedding presents for fraction of the cost. (Side note, sorry Marie if you are reading this and see your wedding present before you actually get it. Congrats!!!!) After coming back from vacation I wanted to do more of these and wouldn't mind making some money off of it. Since the in-laws are currently working out of state and the machines are being used, they let us take the small one and all the vinyl we wanted to our house to be used. So now I have access to a machine to print off fun sayings and do whatever I want. They are fun to make and I consider myself lucky to access to a machine like this in my home, hopefully I can start getting the word out and make a little extra money. So here are some of the ones I have made. Most of them are samplers for a craft activity I might be doing, so the size of the boards might be a little off, but you can get the just.

Milestones

We have recently reached a few milestones around here in our family. Baluga turned one a little while ago, and has recently stared to attempt to walk. And Stir Fry is now fully potty trained, at least during the non-sleeping hours. Something finally clicked in his head after us trying EVERYTHING and now he does all his business in the toilet. With that said, this is for my kiddies.

10 things I love about my Baluga:
1) The way she says cheese for the camera, but only us, not when we take her to get her picture taken professionally, like Saturday (go figure)
2) How she smlies
3) The way she loves her big brother Stir Fry, and is always trying to be like him
4) When she is a daddy's girl (it melts my heart and I know melts his)
5) When she is a mama's girl (let's me still know I got the magic touch)
6) That despite of our thoughts, she actually weaned from breastfeeding and the pacifier better than we could have ever expect and is pretty good baby without them
7) Her hair, and the fact that she has some
8) Her cute little baby bum
9) When she signs and picks up new signs, the same goes for when she talks
10) That she is my baby and the cutest girl every

10 things I love about my Stir Fry:
1) His eyes, which he gets comments every where he goes about them (blue with LONG eye lashes, how can people not stop and say something)
2) The way he loves his baby sister Baluga
3) When he says I love you out of the blue
4) When he reads to his sister
5) The way he loves his dad
6) The little dimple by his ear
7) When he wants to help me or his dad (I know that won't last forever)
8) His love for books
9) The fact that he was a good baby, and for the most part a pretty good toddler/kid
10) That he loves music and dancing

In over my head

As a mother you learn that you need to start thinking of Halloween and what will your children will dress up as, months in advance, otherwise you are stuck with what is left and hope they have something in your child's size. So I have found myself thinking about October 31st and what my children will do. I've looked online and am shocked at the prices of costumes. Yesterday we went and looked at the fabric store and patterns they had. We've made a decision, one that Stir Fry is excited about and we are going with it. Stir Fry is going to be Peter Pan and Baluga is going to be Tinker Bell (which for this picture you need to click on the picture to see all the patterns. which will then show the Tinker Bell one). Now I haven't really sewn before, besides what we did in home ec and things like that. I have a sewing machine and want to learn, so what better way right, is to just dive in. I bought a Sewing for Dummies book which will hopefully help, and with the help of my mother-in-law when she is in town for a couple days and when I go home the beginning of October with the help of my mom, hopefully I'll learn some things, get more confindent, and have some decent Halloween costumes. So wish me luck on biting off more than I can probably chew. Good thing I have a big mouth.

My family's day view

For multiple reasons, I've never posted any pictures of family or anything for that matter. Some of the reasons....I can only download the pictures from the camera to the hubby's labtop, which he uses during the day at work, which is when I post of the most part. To keep some anonymity, to keep from judgment (try to let the reader put a face to the writing). And probably the reason that has stopped me from doing it thus far, don't laugh, I don' t know how to download the pictures from the camera, the hubby has always done it.
So here there are, in blog day view, my family. My cute kids, Stir Fry, 3, and Baluga, who just had her first birthday, me and the hubby. Most of these pictures are from our vacation to the Oregon Coast, and then others of just how cute the kiddies are.
So there you have it, you know have faces to put to the stories. I hope you like them.

My closet obsession

During my pre-teens I discovered a great love, dance. I started taking classes and I loved it, I found joy and happiness in it. Every time recital time came around, I envied the girls who were in mulitple routines and could take all different kinds of dance. But at the same time I knew I was luck to just be taking one class. My family struggled financially (but we were always happy and strong) and our extracurricular activities were limited. Unfortunately I was only able to take classes for a few years. The place I was taking classes at made a rule that in order to take anything besides ballet, you had to take ballet (for technique purposes). When I heard this, there wasn't even a decision to be made, I had to stop. I couldn't ask my parents to try to afford another class and all the expenses that come with that. So before I knew it, it was over. I didn't ever think it really bothered me, sure I would love to take clases if things worked out, but I was ok with it (or so I thought). Now here it is over 10 years later, and I find myself obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance and watching it religously. It helps that my kids like it and will dance along with the contestants, gives me a "good" excuse to watch it. "I watch it because my kids like it." Although anytime I try to use that excuse my husband will say otherwise. I realize now, that I miss dance, I wished I took more, I wish I was better, heck I wish I was confident in my abilities, I wish a lot of things. But unfortunately there isn't a lot that the dance world has to offer a mom in her mid-20's with little experience looking to rediscover dance. So my solution...Watch SYTYCD and think what might have been and cry and try to live through them. I hope that I can be blessed enough to let my kids experience the world and discover and do what they love. I also hope that I can seperate my love from their love, since there are a lot of parents try to live through their children, and make them love what they love.

Returning to my life and what it holds

There were reasons why I was looking forward to coming home from vacation and reasons why I never wanted to. I love being with my family, and I wished I lived closer and got to spend more time with them. I enjoyed. I like the added help of grandparents and an aunt and uncle. I enjoyed the help of my husband all the time. But I didn't like the lack of sleep I got because of my baby girl, although luckily she didn't disturb Stir Fry sleep. I looked forward to getting in my own bed, my own room, a routine again. But I didn't look forward to what awaited me, or should I say what didn't await me.
The last nine months I have worked very hard at enjoying where we are at at this point in our lives. Before last November I was very unhappy with where we were living, our lack of friends, and everything else that came with life outside of our family. It had been a little over three years since we had moved to this place and I had "tolerated" it long enough. I wasn't happy, and since moving wasn't and still isn't quite yet I finally decided to make due with what I had. We made a real conscious effort at meeting new people and making friends. After several months it started to pay off, we had met people we enjoyed doing stuff with and finally reciprecated our invitation to do things. I was content and would even say happy. I had friends, which everyone needs some, and my kids had friends. There were 3 or 4 ladies that I got along really well with. The day before we left on vacation one moved across the country to the east coast, where he husband got accepted to law school. The one that I'm closest to friendship wise, and location wise (she lives right next door) found out short before we left that he husband was to go to Iraq! She has a daughter that is 2 weeks younger than Baluga and another that is about a year older than Stir Fry, but she his best friend. Her family lives in Colorado, so she decided to move back there. I would do the same, I don't blame her. They left on vacation right before they did and we left right as they got back, so now that we are home we have until Friday and then she is gone. We returned home, and I found out he has not left yet, which he was suppose to leave the 9th. He isn't sure when he is leaving and might not even leave, but they are still moving! Why did the Lord do this to me? I feel I'm back where I started 9 months ago, although I know what I'll be missing. I just hope and pray we get good neighbors that we get along with and have kids to play with.
Sorry for the pitty party, I'm just bummed to be home. Any thoughts on how I can make the best of the situation?

Welcome Back

Well we returned home last night after a week of "vacation". We went to the Oregon Coast and rented a house with my parents and older brother and family. We had a good time, and always enjoy one anothers company. We had 6 adults, and 5 kids 3 and under in a three bedroom house. The only time it bothered me was sleeping. I had both of my kids in a room with the hubby and I, and of course little Baluga didn't sleep well, and I didn't want to let her cry it out and wake up the house, nor did I think she would calm down being able to see us. We played on the beach and just took it easy. I loved watching my kids play with their cousins and their grandparents. So we are home and I can try to get things back to normal and start on my new adventure of trying to wean Baluga from breastfeeding and her pacifier while trying to get her to sleep through the the night. Wish me luck.

I'm not a beverage bar!

Yesterday morning we were sitting down for breakfast. I had made a coffe cake and the hubby made OJ to drink. I decided I'd let Baluga try some for the first time. I wasn't sure if she was found of it or not. So I gave her milk instead to go with her breakfast and gave Stir Fry her sippy cup with OJ in it. When Stir Fry finally made his way to the table, since often times it's hard for us to get him to come and sit and eat with us, he asked if Baluga wanted juice. I told him I didn't think she wanted some. He them pointed to my tummy, I think meaning to point to my breast, and said Baluga wanted juice. (I am still nursing her and plan on weaning after we get back from vacation in about 2 weeks.) The hubby and I both thought it was pretty funny. Like I was some sort of beverage bar where she can choose her beverage of choice at the moment. Sorry folks, hate to break it to you, my body doesn't work that way, does yours?

Family File

After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, I felt so helpless. I watched the news and saw the destruction that had occurred, and I wanted to do something.

It was horrible to hear stories about those who were missing, and to see their families crying and holding a picture—if they still had one. I noticed so many of the pictures were extremely out of date—there were baby pictures for children who were five years old!

Why was this? If I lost my child or my husband, which picture would I end up holding?

Everything these people owned had been destroyed and they went with the first picture they could find. They did the best they could with what they had, to try to bring their loved ones back.

And so the idea behind Family File was born. Family File is a free website that provides resources and tools to help protect and save lives. It provides a secure place to keep current pictures of loved ones and their vital information for use in case of an emergency.

This site, www.thefamilyfile.org, was created in the hope of saving lives. Family File offers parents the comforting assurance that if something were to happen, even as unexpected and disastrous as Hurricane Katrina, they would have everything they need in one place.

I invite you to visit the website. Check out the background and security information. Take a few seconds to create your own account, and insure your family’s preparation. And then, help us get the word out (post this on your blog, forward as a email, etc.)—the more people that know about and use it, the more children we can all help save. Please forward this letter to your family and friends.


Erin Maughan,

Founder of The Family File

www.thefamilyfile.org

(While Family File is free, donations are welcome for the site maintenance and growth.)

Gardening

A neighbor of ours was nice enough to let us use some of their gardeing space this summer to plant our own garden. It's been quite the experience. We have finally gotten to the point where our garden is getting the type of attention it should be getting. While we could be doing better, things are going well. Inspite and because of the lack of attention it got at the beginning some plants are doing well while others I'm not sure of. The green bean planter box is always the last to be weeded, and by that time the kids are running out of patience, so for this summer I don't know how much vegetables we'll see from them this season. On the other hand the zucchini and cherry tomatoes have done well, and we are starting to see our cantaloup and watermelon start to grow. We have learned a few things so hopefully next year will be a better success.
We have had probably 10 zucchini so far and more to come. With that I've done some looking around and experimenting on new ways to use it. So with that said, I'm going to share with you the new recipe I have found and we LOVE. I have done some tinkering with it, and have added some sausage to it, which is great, and also we love this served up with spaghetti with my homemade red sauce (which I will do later, it's good, it's easy and even turned a friend of mine that wasn't a red sauce fan into one, or at least of fan of this one).

Baked Stuffed Zucchini

A side dish for four, a vegetarian main dish for two. These can be made hours ahead of time, and just stored in the fridge until ready to bake.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Halve lengthwise:
2 medium zucchini
With a small spoon, carefully scrape out the pulp, leaving a 3/8 inch thick shell. Steam the shells cut side down for 5 minutes. Coasrsely chop the pulp. Heat in a small skillet until softened, about 3 minutes:
2 tsp olive oil or butter
3 TBS finely chopped onion
Meanwhile, squeeze the moisture out of the chopped zucchini, then add it to the pan along with:
1 clove garlic, minced
Cook for 2 minutes more. Turn into a bowl and compbine with:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp chopped marjoram, tarragon, basil, or thyme
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
salt and blake pepper to taste
Spoon the filling into the zucchini shells and set them in a baking dish. Drizzle the tops with:
olive oil
Add water to come 1/8 inch up the sides of the shells. Bake until zucchini is tenter and the top is browned, about 30 minutes. Let cook a few minutes before serving.

Unexpected Reactions

Awhile ago, the hubby got something in the mail from the Puget Sound Blood Center. We were kind of surprised and how no clue what it was, since we no longer live in that area. After opening it he was reminded of something he signed up for a LONG time ago. Years ago he signed up to be on the Bone Marrow Donor Registry when he gave blood up in Seattle. They contacted him to let him know there was a potential match of someone who needed a bone marrow transplant, and they needed to do further testing on his blood sample to see if he would be a match. So we needed to discuss it and see if that was something as a family we wanted to do. We decided that especially since he hadn't do anything on our end why not. They had a sample of his blood, they just needed his permission to test it further.
After he called and gave them the go ahead, we had a very serious discussion on what he would do if he ended up as a match. He would have to go up to Seattle for the transplant, and my parents are up there so he could stay at there house and have their help with whatever after transplant help he might need the day or two after. Was there really much of a decision to be made? If you had the opportunity to help save a life why wouldn't you, especially when it's not life threatening to you? Who we were (in a way) to tell a parent, sorry we choose not to help you out in such a tough time in your life and your child's? We decided he would do it, if all came back well with the tests. If we were in their shoes, we would EVERYONE to help us to do whatever it takes to help our child. We couldn't do that to a family if there was something so easy for him to do.
We got a letter back saying that the family decided to take different courses of action at this time, but they would keep the hubby's information on file for use later. It made me think, why aren't I on the list? So I did some research, and unfortunately there aren't a lot of places in the US to sign up, none near me. In order for me to do I'd have to pay some money, which at this time I can't really do. So I think the next time I'm in Seattle I'll see what I can do to put my name on the list.
So now to the title of this post. The hubby decided to talk to his work partners about this and the decision he had made, since he would have to take some time off, if he were to go up and donate bone marrow. I was shocked and baffold by their reactions. None of them really agreed with his decision, although they would support him. They said if they were in his shoes they woouldn't do it. Are you kidding me? Especially since most of them are parents, I thought they would look at the human side of it and think what we did, if it were my child I'd want someone to help, instead of saying sorry it's an inconvience for my and my life, too bad, better luck next time. If I was a potential match for their child, they'd probably ask me to help. Or even if their child needed blood, they probably ask me to donate, since I have O negative which all blood types can have. I was just amazed that they felt the way they did. Am I strange for feeling the way I do? Would you help someone out you didn't know, even if there was some recoop time?

Blog Surprises

Well there is a blog that I have been reading, one of another mommy and her woes. I think I found her because she found me first. Today I made a rather interesting and surprising realization. I think I know this girl!!!
It's funny how I read these different blogs, and I know you do to, you start to feel like you know these people on some level and can relate to them.
Today after reading her most current post, I was surprised that her parents live in the same town as mine. Things started to click. There were a couple of girls I knew by this name, one I knew of, the other I new well. I was racking my brain of last names, finding it hard to remember things from almost a decade ago. As I continued to read, I had it, I knew who she was and I even remembered her maidan name! It was a girl I went to high school with and was in our circle of friends. One of those that we both went to college and got married and just lost contact.
So needless to say I was pleasantly surprised and I won't ever read her blog in the same way again.

Recipe Monday

Raspberry Ice Cream

Dissolve 1 small package of raspberry jello inot 1 cup of boiling water.
Add 3 cups of sugar and stir.
Add 2 packages of frozen raspberries, thawed.
Pour into ice cream maker canister
Add 1 quart of half and half, 1 pint of whipping cream, 1 can of evaported milk, and enough regular mlik to fill 2 inches from the top of a 5 quart freezer
Then freeze according to the directions for you ice cream maker

Side note, this works for strawberry and peach too, you would just get that flavor or jello and frozen fruit.

Happy summer!

Surprise! Well not really

Well Friday was my b-day and the hubby tried to throw me a surprise party, which I appreciate the effort! First mistake, he went into my email accounts and email my contact one of which is a family list, which I'm included on. So I got a message from him with the subject of Erin's surprise party. I asked him if I should read it and he said no, so I was good and deleted it. So I knew something was coming, but not when or where. So Friday night we were eating dinner and then my neighbor was going to watch my kids so we could go b-day shopping. Well the doorbell rang and the hubby was eating but I was done and said I would get it, but he wouldn't let me! Well I saw who was there, and realized that after dinner was my party at my friends house who was going to watch the kids. So we weren't really going to go look for a present for my birthday, it was just the story to get me over there. Needless to say I wasn't surprised and hubby I'm sorry! I would've been if it weren't for the person ringing our doorbell. He put so much work into, and I just want to say thank you even though it didn't work out the way you wanted.

Your Birthdate: June 23

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem. You're good at so much - you never know what to do. Change is in your blood, and you don't stick to much for long. You are destined for a life of travel and fun. Your strength: Your likeability Your weakness: You never feel satisfied Your power color: Bright yellow Your power symbol: Asterisk Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I'm so smart!

Well this past week I finally broke down and accepted my fate of being here in Utah (more because I HAD to). I've put off getting a Utah drivers license, with the hope we'd move back home to Seattle. Well tomorrow is my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and my WA license expires! I had to got get my license, so I could drive and do it before it expired so I didn't have to take ALL of the tests. I tried to go last Friday, I brought eveything I needed, but turns out I needed to take a written test (are you kidding me!?!) I showed up at 4, since on the phone they said to show up at least an hour before they close, which I did. There was over an hour late, so they sent me home with a wonderful book to refresh my memory with and learn Utah laws. So I spent my weekend reading this book when I could find some time and underlining the major points. The test was open book, but I was still nervous, I don't know why (I guess tests have always done that to me, even though I did well in High School with out even really trying and did pretty well in college with one trying a little). I got through 2/3 of the book and went on my way Monday morning to face my fate in becoming more of a Utahan (if that's how you spell it). My number was called and I went up and gave the guy all my info and he checked my eyes. I was at the station right next to the one where all the testers got their tests and their test scores. Lets just say that made me more nervous because the 5 or so people that got their results before I got my test, were barely passing, while 1 didn't. How could this be? It was open book all the answers were before you, what was going on? And it shocked me when they gave me the test, a notebook with the questions and a scantron sheet. What was this high school? When I took my written test in WA over 10 years ago, I took it on a computer. What kind of state was I living in and how long am I going to have to be here? Someone help me. How old fashion can you be? Well I took the test, and of course I looked up every answer (thank goodness for an indext) to be on the safe side, I didn't want to fail and I didn't want to just barely pass. Although there were 2 or 3 questions I couldn't find in the book anywhere, even in the parts I didn't read, so I had to guess, which any person with normal intelligence could get rid of 2 of the anwers and be left with two. Well needless to say I passed, I got 100%. Hooray for me!!! Also weird thing, they give you temporary licenses, just pieces of paper, and send your real one in 2-3 weeks. Yet again what's up with this place. When I got my permit and my license and renewed it each time I got my license right then and there, well after waiting 10 plus minutes. So here I am just waiting for my real license to come, just like I'm waiting for life to change and to go home and be in the place and with the people that really make me happy.

I hate cookies!

I'll start this off by saying, I feel pretty confident my cooking abilites and have been told I'm a pretty good cook. This weekend on the other hand begs to differ.
A week ago several ladies at church were asked to make 12 - 5 inch chocolate chip cookies for all the men for Father's Day on sunday. I graciously volunteered, since from experience I've learned there is a lack of willingness to do so. I thought no big deal I make them Friday and drop them off at a friend's house, who was also making some cookies. We were to drop them off Saturday, but there was a big extended family reunion Saturday and I wouldn't be around. I decided to start bright and early about 8 AM with my baking adventures, and that's what it ended up being. I started off trying to make huge 5 inch cookies that ended up having to bake FOREVER, but still didn't turn out, so I thought I'd try my normal size cookies, and I'd just put two in package together. After about 6 hours of baking and 3 different recipes, I barely had the amount I needed. Things were going drastically wrong. When I called and told the hubby that I had thrown away so many cookies, he told me to save some for the guys at work. I'm usually pretty particular about stuff that I make that I give to people so he thought this was one of them, but when he came home he threw away all my cookies!!! What had happened to my cooking skills? Was I doing something wrong? I thought it was the recipe but then I made two more different ones. I probably should have stuck with recipes I had made before. I thought maybe it was my baking soda and it was working, since all my cookies ended up really flat, so i put some in the bowl of vinegar and it bubbled away, so I thought it must be fine. Who know, maybe I am a bad cook. Although I've been wondering for the last several months if my oven temperature is incorrect, because when I bake banana bread, I have to bake it longer and it still has a spot right in the middle top that is still a little gooey and the bottom still gets over done. Needless to say I was REALLY frustarted at the end of the day and questioned my skills in the kitchen. I think it will be a long time before I make cookies again, at least chocolate chip.

Happy Early Father's Day to my babies daddy

Two for Togetherness
Two things you compliment your husband on while in his presence:
1. How smart he is. The man can read something once, understand it, and remember it for the rest of his life.
2. How I lucked out in the husband department and have it better than my other friends.

Two compliments you make about your spouse to your friends:
1. He has only missed one doctor's appointment between my two pregnancies, and both of the kids, and that is because it was an unplanned appointment and he had a meeting already scheduled.
2. He is more than willing to cook, he does the dishes on a regular basis, and I have never cleaned a bathroom since we have been married!

Two traits you married him/her for:
1. His unconditional love for me
2. His spirituality

Two days you cherished the most with your husband being together:
1. The day we got married
2. The days our children were born

Two material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune:
1. A new mountain bike
2. an expensive digital slr camera with tons of lenses


Two things you would miss the most if she/he left for two weeks:
1. my sanity
2. his company

Two thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw your spouse:
since i really don't remember when we first met, we'll do what I thought when I do remember meeting him ;)
1. it's about time there is a boy that knows how to do some kind of dance besides bouncing to the music
2. I can't believe he opens doors for all girls!

Two favorite dates:
1. grand opening concert at the EMP (in Seattle)
2. anytime we get to go out without the kids

Two funny odd things you love:
1. the outfits he picks out sometimes for himself or the kids (makes me laugh, between being a guy and color blind he gets some interesting combos sometimes)
2. watching him play with the kids

Two places you have lived with your spouse:
we have only ever lived two places
1. Provo, UT
2. our current residence

Two favorite vacations:
1. Oregon Coast
2. Our honeymoon, Park City, UT

Recipe Monday

This is for all you moms out there or people who are just young at heart.

Bubbles
1 gallon distilled water (minus 1 cup)
1/2 cup concentrated dishwashing liquid (Joy or Dawn)
1/4 cup glycerin (I had to get this at the pharmacy)

Mix together gently as not to form too many suds. The longer it sits the stronger the bubbles get. Have fun!

For the ladies

Just a warning if you are guy you probably want to stop reading now, if you don't and get uncomfortable don't say I didn't warn you and it's your own flaut.
I just recently started my second "time of the month" since the birth of Boo 10 months ago. I'm still nursing, and was hoping that would wait until I stopped, like it did with Stir Fry. Well I had to go to the store yesterday and make some purchases of femine hygiene products. I haven't done this since before Stir Fry was born, so for about 4 years. I had enough stuff to cover me between pregnancy and post partum, but now was the time to restock since the lovely "friend" seems to be coming back on a some what regular basis. What an experience!!!! I had both the kids with me, which made it even funner. I felt like I was buying the stuff for the first time ever. It had been 4 years, packaging is different, new things are out, etc. I was there for probably about 30 minutes just looking and thinking what do I do, do I just go with the cheapest, do I go with the prettiest, do I go with the brand I went with before (which wasn't consistant), the questions were endless. Women came and went, got their supplies and left, with me still with and empty cart. I had no idea what do to. They are just going to be ruined anyway, so why not go with the cheapest, but then what if they don't "perform" as well? I was so confused, in ways I wish I had my mom there or an experienced friend to give me some advice to help me make such and "important" decision. Why must there be so many choices? Stir Fry had fun pushing all the boxes of the product as far back as they would go, which then made it harder for me to see my option (both good at bad, good I had fewer choice, bad because I might be missing out on the "best" stuff). Why must "they" make it so hard to be a girl?

I'd like your feedback!

I came up with this idea about a year ago, and with my husband’s help have been able to make it a reality.

The idea came about shortly after Hurricane Katrina. I was devastated watching the news and seeing what had happened, and how many people were missing. I felt so helpless and heartbroken and I wish I could do something. I started to notice while looking at the missing loved ones info, that most of the time the pictures were out of date that is if there was one. I started to think, “Why was that?” We hope to never be in that situation to have someone go missing, but if we do we would like to think that would have current information and pictures. We never think, what if I loose my house where I keep all that information, or what if I’m out of town when it happens and don’t have access to that? That is when the idea came that would hopefully help my family and others to be prepared.

I wanted to provide a place online where people can store their loved ones pictures and vital information, so no matter where they are they have access to it. We also wanted to provide links to places that would better inform all of us how to keep our kids safe and what to do if someone goes missing. We wanted one place for everything you needed in case of an emergency. I know for myself, if something were to happen to my kids I wouldn’t be able to think straight, and to know I had a place where all there information was located that I would need it could be a life saver. I’m blessed with a husband that has the talents to be able to make this idea become a reality and have more drive and determination about this project them me sometimes.

We did some research and so far have found one website who offers part of what we offer, but at a price per kid. We aren’t in this for the money! It’s a place to provide us with peace of mind that we are prepared for the worst. Once the site is up and running we would like donations, so we can cover the cost of up keep, hosting fees, servers, and development.

One of the hubby's biggest concerns, since there are going to be pictures on the site of children is keeping all the data secure. There are a lot of sexual preditors out there and wouldn't want the information on this site to get into anyones hands but yours. It is your information for you and you alone. Being a web developer he thought long and hard on how to keep it secrure besides just having user name and passwords. If people want specifics on that and understand code mumble gumble, I'll have him post a comment.

I would really like your opinions and input to possibly help us improve this idea so we know what to do next. If only my family or close friends use it I’m happy with that, but if a lot of people are going to use it, we would like to start a non-profit corporation, so I need help knowing what actions I need to take. If you think this is a good idea please send this on to other people you know, because I would like their opinion and ideas too, the more the better.

To leave a comment on the blog, you don’t have to have one. Here’s how you do it…Type your comment in the leave your comment box, at the end of you comment type your name, since I am interested in who responds and what each of you have to say, then click “anonymous” and type the letters you see in the word verification box and then click on publish your comment. If you have a website you can click on “other” instead of “anonymous” and type in your name and web page. I look forward to hear what you have to say.

Out of the mouths of babes

Stir Fry has said some comical things lately.
He likes to prolong bed time as long as possible. Sometimes he'll ask where a specific toy is that he wants to take to bed with us, knowing exactly where it is but pretending he doesn't, so we have to go on a search for it. That usually last a few minutes and then he'll walk to the exactly location pretending to be surprised that he found it. The other night to do so, he said he wanted a toy out of his toy box. He probably wasn't sure which one, but new if he was able to go through it would get a coulple extra minutes, but the hubby said no. The hubby is the one that usually puts him to bed at night and helps him with his routine of going to the bathroom, brushing his teeth, saying his prayers, etc. So they were up in his room and time for prayer time, he still needs help saying it for the most part. This time he wanted to do it himself, in the prayer he said "please bless that I get my toy out of the toy box". Well his prayer came true and after him saying that in the prayer the hubby couldn't resist letting him get it.
The hubby often grows out his facial hair since it grows so fast. He had a little over a weeks worth a growth and this morning Stir Fry told him to "take it off".
Also this morning while I was gone walking with some friends, Boo was getting her diaper changed by daddy and Stir Fry asked if Boo had a penis, the hubby said no, then he asked if Big Bird had a penis, to which he responded he needed to ask mommy.

Recipe Monday

I love peanut butter so that is why I'm doing today's recipe.

Peanut Butter Cups

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
4 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. sticks of butter, melted (3/4 c.)
1 1/2 c. peanut butter
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 stick of butter (1/4 c.)

Mix together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Pour butter over top and mix together. Add in peanut butter and mix together, works best if you use your hands (get messy, but the nice thing is by the time you are mixing all the peanut butter is off your hands). Press into a 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips and butter together then pour over top and stick in the fridge until the chocolate is hard.

*I hate measuring so here are a few things if you are like me. It may not be exactly the right amount, but at least I don't have to measure and it turns out just as good. 1) graham crackers, just use one of the packages in the box for the amount you need 2) p.b. use an 18 oz jar (I'm usually really paticular about my p.b. and what brand I use, but for this recipe, the cheapo brand works well 3) chocolate chips, half a bag (that is if it's a 12 oz. bag I know some brands come in 10 oz., so be careful of that)

Name changes and skin problems

Well I've decided to change what I refer to my kids as on the blog to be a little bit more exciting. After thinking and eliminating one or two for reasons I won't go into you. The little man, S, will now be known as Stir Fry, a nickname my father gave him. And little B, will be known as Boo, one we have been calling her for awhile, but while we were home my mom started to call her that too, with out hearing us say it, because while up there I up her hair on top in little pigtales and my mom thought she looked like Boo from Monsters Inc. So there you go for the name changes.
As for skin problems, they are easily found around our house. Myself, I started suffering from ezcema shortly after Stir Fry was born. I've always had sensitive skin and kind of dry I guess, but when he was about 6 months out, it really started to get worse and my skin breaks out and cracks on my hands. As for Stir Fry it took us well over a year to get the "right" diagnosis on him. He would get small pimple like sores on his head, which would then ooze and then spread, and at times there would be a scab several inches in diameter on his head. It was diagnosed as impetigo, which is HIGHLY contagneous, but yet none of us ever got it. We eventually found a doctor that said it was psoriasis, and the meds he gave us actually keep it under control. It has calmed down over the last year or so. Now with Boo, she has the same problems as Stir Fry and at least we know how to treat it and didn't have to go through the heartache and frustration we did with her brother. Well for the past 2 months plus she has been breaking out in bumps all over her body, it'll go away and then come back a week or so later. Her pediatrician, who we love, thought it was a bacterial infection, yet again contageous, but none of us have problems with it. Well Wednesday we saw the only pediatric dermatologist in the state of Utah. So we made the trip to Salt Lake to Primary Children's, which was nice because Stir Fry at least was entertain during the wait. The doc suggested a topical cream to help it go away, but my fear was, what if it's like everything else we have tried where it works for a little bit but then comes back? She also suggested taking a biopsy of one of the spots, thank goodness she started breaking out just days before the appointment. So that is what we did. Stir Fry and I left the room for his sake and mine and the hubby stayed in and held her down and was brave for us. So my little baby has 2 stitches!!! We'll be going back the 5th of June to get the stitches out and hopefully find out some news. I pray that they can help us out on this and figure out what it is, otherwise I would feel REALLY bad for having have to go through all of that for nothing. But hopefully we'll this the next one won't have to go through what she did. Just like Stir Fry had to go through with his head so that Boo wouldn't have to. Wish us luck and that they can find something out with the biopsy.

How could you not know!

So when I was home a week or so ago my mom told me an interesting story. She went to get her hair cut by her regular lady, who informed her of the story. I know kind of hear-say. This is a story about the hairstylist who cuts hair next to my mom's hairstylist, if that makes sense. So one of my mom's hairstylist close co-workers. Well call this lady "Stacy" I guess to make things easy. Stacy is rather heavy-set and has a daughter who is about 16 years old. One day she was having some really bad pain and decided to go to the hospital, they ran test and did all the normal stuff to try to figure out what was causing her the discomfort. Turns out she was pregnant and in LABOR!!!! So the solution to her problem was pretty quick fix and just deliver the baby, and she got a nice little keep sake and momento of the occasion, a little baby boy.
Now I think most of us have heard story like this, but I've never heard one that was close enough to someone I know than this to actually make me believe this happens. I've had my hair cut by my mom's hairstylist tons of times, so I probably might have even seen this lady, been familiar with her. Stories like this just boggle my mind. It leaves me with TONS of questions and I wish I knew someone that this happened to so I could ask them. Me having really easy pregnancies can understand how you could not know you are pregnant until well into the second half of the pregnancy. I'll give "Stacy" the benefit of the doubt since she has some extra weight, that she didn't look pregnant (heck I don't think I ever look 9 months pregnant even when I am), and she probably might not even gained weight or enough to noticed, or it could be normal for her to go up and down, so she didn't even think twice about the body changes going on, and since her daugher is 16 she could be old enough to being going through those later in life changes and her cycle could be irregular or non-existant. But how can you not at 9 months pregnant not feel a baby move and wonder what in the world is going on inside you. I could be stupid but I don't think anyone gets heartburn bad enough to have it feel like a baby kicking you or jabbing you in the ribs. I guess that has to be a pretty easy pregnancy to not even know you are pregnant or in labor, but leave you no preparation time. Any way, I just thought it was interesting to hear another one of those stories and made me think and scratch my head. Maybe someday I'll have my questions answered or maybe someone who might read this knows the answers or has been in "Stacy's" shoes.

My guns are loaded

Ok, let me start off with a disclaimer. I'm not a gun owner, or a gun fan. There will probably never be a gun in our home, maybe a BB gun (but that's something that will have to be considered way down the line when my boy(s) are old enough and responsible enough, if that can even happen, I have brothers and know that as a male you are probably never responsible enough for that and will do stupid things with a BB gun no matter how old you are).
Growing up in a house full of boys (of course there were me and my mom, but that was it when it comes to females. 3 brothers and a dad), girly stuff was hard to come by. Which could be one of the reasons I'm not as girly as most of my female friends, don't come to me for advice on make-up or hair or anything else along those lines.
The wonderful visitor that comes once a month, was never a topic in our home because of all the boys and being out numbered, even though it happened. Maybe because of this or just because I'm lucky, that time has never been that big of a deal. No out of control cramps, not too moody, I was just about the same, besides the inconvience. So fortunately my pregnancies have been the same. No morning sickness, no crabiness, no weird middle of the night craving, etc. Besides not having a visitor come, the weight gain and eventually feeling the baby move, I would be clueless on the fact thatI was pregnant (Now I hope my husband agrees with this about the pregnancies and monthly visitor and it's not just a figment of my imagination, which I think he will.) After my first baby it was over a year before my visitor came back, and things just kind of feel back into place, the way they were and always have been. Now that my little B is 9 months old I wish I could say the same. About 2 months ago I had a guest for over a month. And this is when my title comes in. I've been more witchy than I ever have. It's like my body was making up for the past 14 years of luck and being enjoyable during her visits. My guns have definately been loaded and ready to fire at any moment. I've been short with every one, including the kids. I have no patience and I can't stand it. I know what I am doing when I'm doing and yet have a hard time controling it (which I think is how most women are on a monthly basis). The last few days I've felt it is getting slightly better, I hope yet again we'll see what the hubby says. I just don't know what to do with myself. It's driving me crazy being this out of control person and I don't know what to do. At 26 I'm having to learn how to deal with or control this issue, when most girls learn how to at about 12. Wish me luck. I hope my family still loves me when this is all over.

I should've stayed home

Well we are back from our trip. We got back last night after 14 hours on the road. And good news it's been 3 days since my last pain reliever, so hopefully it continutes that way.
I don't even want to know what else today has in store for me, or I guess us (the family). B is, I think getting her 2 top teeth, so hasn't been sleeping well, so she slept in our bed from about 3:30 on which I hate when kids are in my bed. S slept in til 8, which is a miracle! The hubby got up and ready to go, so so far so good. And then the usual happened, his ride is late, the joys of being a one car family. He's either on time or at least 30 minutes late, usually the later. I guess at least they are their own bosses, otherwise they would have been fired months ago. Today he called to see where his ride was and he was just getting out of bed at 8:30 when they should be arriving at work. Often times I'll offer to drive him, but usally he'll just wait, but today was different, since it was a lot later than normal and usually by this time the driver is out of the shower or on his way, but today he's just getting out of bed, the hubby takes me up on the offer. He drives there and I drive back. Well today started off ok, besides the fact I don't feel like unpacking, cleaning, doing laundry and everything else that needs to get done and now I don't think I will. We were 2 minutes away from his work, when we got in an accident! There were several cars in front of us and the light just turned red, but there were enough cars in front of us that at this point you are just paying attention to the car in front of you instead of the light. Well the car in front of us wasn't paying attention and hit the car in front of her (which she saw coming, so she tried to swerve out of the way, thought she still got hit) and then that car hit the car in front of it. I don't think the lady that caused the accident ever hit her breaks until after she hit the car. The hubby fortunately was paying enough attention to put on his breaks, the contact between the two cars were going to happen. So we ended up tapping her. We lucked out and only got a little mark on our bumper, which is a good thing, because since we hit her, even though it was her fault, if a report was filed it would be our fault. So they had it as two accidents, the first three cars and then us and the car in front of us. Nice for us that there wasn't really any damage to our car, or at least we can tell by looking.
Just when my life starts to get calm there is always something that gets thrown in there. Doesn't the Lord know I need some Re-coop time!!!! I would like some calm for a while. Well wish my luck in my day, I'm staying home and doing NOTHING, so hopefully nothing else goes wrong.

So Long

Lately I've been VERY run down and fatigued and getting headaches almost every day, so that's one of my reason for not posting a lot. But while I'm trying to get lot of other things done around the house, I'm going to give myself another one. I'm packing our bags and we are leaving. Tomorrow we get to make the fun 14 hour drive to Seattle to go visit my family and hopefully the kids do well and it won't take us much longer than 14 hours. Wish us luck and we'll be blogging later.

Fruit Snacks and Shots

Well yesterday both the kids had doctors appointments. S, had his 3 year old check up and B had her 9 month old check up. S screamed from the time we pulled into the parking lot up until the last 5 minutes. B only cried when she got pricked and had to lay on the table. Any way after the doctor had checked them out and told us all the normal make sure you are doing stuff, he asked us if we had any questions, and S piped up and said "Yeah. Um...um...can I have some fruit snacks?"

Why watch TV when you can....

I am one of the many or the few, I don't know which that wear glasses. I don't like to, but contacts seem to irratate my eyes and leave the dry. I've been through several different kinds of contacts and it's just easier and less bothersome (some of the time) to wear glasses (maybe someday we'll try the laser surgery if I can). Any way, recently, my 3 year old discovered that he can watch his favorite TV shows while looking at my glasses. When I am sitting next to him on the couch, I can look at the TV and he can in turn look at my glasses and see the reflection of the show on my glasses. How fun, or should I say funny?

I've made the big time!

Well the hubby informed me the other day that if you go to www.google.com and search for "uncultured swine" (the title of one of my posts) that my website is third on the list!!! Wooohoo! How he figured that out I have NO CLUE and who in their right mind is going to search for that? Oh well I made the top three!!! My hubby should be pretty impressed because they have been working on getting their company website ranked higher and I didn't even do anything.

Recipe "Monday"

Sushi Rolls

4 c. rice
4 c. water

1/3 c. vinegar
5 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs. salt
eggs, beaten with a little sugar

cucumber, peeled
carrots, steamed

sheets of seaweed

Cooke rice with 4 c. of water, meanwhile in a saucepan heat vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved, then cool. When rice is done pour the vinegar sauce over rice and fan and stir until rice is cooled. Cook eggs, like you would an omlet (so it’s done on one side then flip it so it cooks on the other side). Cut eggs, cucumber and carrots into long strips. Lay seaweed sheet shiny side down and then spread rice over top. Towards the end of the long side of the seaweed put a strip or two of egg, carrot and cucumber so there is some all the way across, then roll. Cut in bite size piece. You can use whatever ingredient you feel like for the middle, this one is for a vegetarian one.

I've seen it all

When it comes to stupid things people do to their cars, I thought that I've seen it all, but I was wrong. Some concepts I don't quiet get, and I myself don't think they look good, but can understand when they are done right why people think they do. One for example, fins on the back of your car. Now when it matches the color of your car and not feet above the trunk it's ok and I can see how people find it attractive. Big HUGE silver ones, I don't really understand why that looks good. But what my husband and I saw this weekend would make that look beautiful. Now where is your camera when you need, of coarse not on you. I wish I could have gotten a picture for you guys to see, but since I didn't you'll have to try to imagine it and I'll try my best to describe it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it! So this car next to us had a fin on it like I've NEVER seen before and probably never will see again. It was made out of 2x4's and plywood, that's right all constructed out of good old wood, heck he might have even used wood glue to attach it to her car! ;) It was probably at least 18 inches from the trunk of the car to the top if not 2 feet, so it was hard to miss. It wasn't painted, just all natural wood, no finish no nothing. So I hope you can get a good picture of how horrible this looked. What in the world was this person thinking when they put this on their car, let alone made it? Why would someone even think this looked good? I guess it could have been someone who wanted a fin on their car and couldn't afford the nice kind and thought, hey I can put one together with the extra wood I have laying around (mind you it didn't even look that good). You must want one pretty bad to have to put this crappy looking thing on your car for all to see. All I have to say is TACKY, enough said.

Recipe Monday

After finding this recipe I don't think I'll ever buy store bought garlic bread again! I was very impressed.

Garlic Bread

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (15 by 3 1/2-inch) loaf Italian bread (I just use a loaf of french bread, but then you have to make more. if you double the recipe it's probably enough for 1 and half loaves.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mince and mash garlic to a paste with salt using rounded end of a heavy knife. Stir together butter, oil, and garlic paste in a bowl until smooth, then stir in parsley.
Without cutting completely through bottom, cut bread diagonally into 1-inch thick slices with a serrated knife, then spread garlic butter between slices,
Wrap loaf in foil and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Open foil and bake 5 minutes more.
Cook's note: Bread can be spread with garlic butter 8 hours ahead and chilled, wrapped in foil. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.
For a brighter flavor, you can substitute 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil for 1 tablespoon of parsley.

Hooray!

The world is no longer against me, or at least last night it wasn't. Last night was the first time since I think about December that my little baby, B slept decent. She only got up ONCE! So I got up once with B and once with S because he was crying, which he does every once in awhile I don't know if it's bad dreams or a limb fall asleep, but all he needs is for us to go in and tuck him back in and he's good. Now only if I didn't toss and turn all night. Hopefully last night was the start of a new sleeping pattern for B. Her second tooth popped out today and hopefully she'll be feeling better. I think she's a horrible teething, at least compared to S who never showed any signs of it bothering him for the most part. So wish all of us luck tonight and pray that tonight is as good as last if not better.

Food for Thought

I received this from my dad yesterday. I thought it was very thought provoking.

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Recipe Monday

I'm going to TRY, emphasisi on try to start a new tradition where I share a recipe every monday. I'm always looking for new recipes, so I'm sure I'm not the only one and figure the few of you that do read this, might want to try some new recipes. And if you have any you would like to share I'd love to add them to my collection.
On request of Emily I'm starting off with a Japanese recipe. This one is typically served at the beginning of a meal, or at least at my favorite Japanese place and at our home.

Miso Soup

1/2 tsp. Hon Doshi (a small pellet type ingredient to add a little fish flavor)
2 Tbls. Red Soy Bean Paste
3 Cups Water
Green onions, chopped
Tofu, chopped

Mix first three ingredient together in a pot and heat through (don't boil). Then add as much green onions and tofu.

Side notes if you like a strong fish flavor you add more Hon Doshi, I prefer mine more mild, also the Hon Doshi and Red Soy Bean Paste can be bought at Asian Markets

There you go really easy to make not much to it. The hardest part is going to a specialty store and getting half the ingredients. I hope you enjoy.

Sleep issues

I think almost every parent facing the issue of getting their child to fall asleep on their own at one point or another. With our first, S, it wasn't until after his first birthday we tried and eventually figured out what would work for him.
So what did we try...a pacifier to calm him, no luck. Talking to him or patty him and not picking him up, yeah right!!! (that never calmed him down) Crying, letting him cry 5 minutes then checking on him making sure he's ok, then adding 5 minutes to the time, so now 10 minutes, then another 5 after the next time you go in so 15, etc. etc. (that worked short term). What ended up working...laying him in bed, sitting in the room, but not interacting with him or looking at him and let him cry it out until he feel asleep.
Now with number 2, B, we are discussing it much earlier. She's teething and even harder to get to go to bed. It's not until at least 2 AM she's is down for good (except for a feeding here and there) until morning. Before that she'll be in a bed for an hour and then wake up screaming, that is if she doesn't wake up when we lay her down and start screaming immediately. Having it not be the first child also makes it tough because we worry about her crying/screaming waking up S and the last thing we want is to deal with 2 kids that aren't sleeping. After all how do you explain to a 3 year old why the baby gets to be up and watch TV with dad and not him.
So Wednesday I decided to start the process. How did it go? Nap one at 9:30 or I should say she was put in bed at that time. Less than 30 minutes later, asleep for 30 minutes (long enough for me to take a shower and get ready. Nap two put down at about 12:30ish, and yet again less than 30 minutes later asleep for at least 2 hours. And the crying was happening when S was trying to go down, nice to know that didn't affect him. Now bed time...another story. I've been in her room on the computer for at least 45 minutes and she's still going. This time she has learned to pull her self up so she is on her knees, so I have to keep on putting her down so she doesn't hurt herself by falling asleep like that or getting too tired if that were to happen. I'm on the verge of a headache, which my new glasses prescription isn't helping. There are moments of where I think she is going to calm down, but no not yet. I'm going to pull my hair out!!!
Yesterday she cried for less than 30 minutes for nap number one at 10:30, but only slept about 30 minutes and woke up, and of course as soon as I picked her up she was asleep again!!! So this time I hold her until I can lay her down. We went over to a friend's house and played games with several couples so we got home at about 10:30 WAY past the kids bed time, so we didn't try the whole falling asleep on your own. Last night I think was one of the toughest nights.
I know eventually it's going to pay off and I'll be able to lay my little angel down for bed awake and that is that, and she'll do the rest on her own with no crying. It's just a real struggle while you are in the process.
Wish me luck! Who knows how long this is going to take.

Uncultured Swine

Well let me start off by saying the title is joke, I in now way feel this way about the people I'm about to blog about.
For the last several months we have been having a recipe exchange, where we get together and bring a dish that goes with the theme for the month and bring the recipe along with it. As the people in "charge", we send out the invites, set the day and time, get the recipes together and type them up and have copies ready at the next get together. It's been fun, but haven't had the turn out I would like. Each time we have had 4-5 families show up, when at least 10 invites were handed out. I guess the good side of it is that is more intimate and we are able to sit at one table, the adults meaning, and mingle.
Our last get together was this past Saturday, the theme...."International". This meant main dish, appetizers, salad, dessert, basically anything goes. Needless to say I was rather disappointed, but I should have none better. In our area, besides good old American food the next most popular is Mexican. You can find Mexican restaurants everywhere. Everyone has had Mexican food. So I was hoping for it be more cultural and things most people haven't tried. It turned out to be...Mexican night for the most part. Enchiladas, empinadas, fruit salsa (forgive me on spelling) blah blah blah blah blah.
We did our part to add to the diversity. We made some sushi, with egg, cucumber, and carrot in the middle. I have my parents to thank for my know of this one. (Side note I was born and Japan and my parents lived there for close to 5 years, so we grew up on some traditional Japanese food, which I'm glad to be passing along to my little ones.) I didn't expect everyone to like it, but was surprised no one really did, except the hubby and me. There were several people who didn't like seafood, so that was there excuse, but heck I don't either. Besides I don't blame them, living in Utah and most of them growing up in Utah, it's not really the best place to get fresh seafood, which makes a world of difference.
A month or so ago we had a Japanese night with a couple of the people that came to the recipe exchange. We made Katsudon (I'm not going to try to explain, but I feel it's a rather "normal" Japanese dish) and Miso Soup (which isn't). Yet again most people didn't like the soup, it's an aquired taste, and for the most part they didn't hate the main dish. I happen to love Japanese food and one of our favorite restaurant is a quaint little Japanese place, that is always slow but never full, but has the best Japanese food and prices around.
I don't know why this surprised me that people didn't like my cooking, at least they tried it. As a parent I want to try to expose my children to different types of food so they are more diverse in what they like.
Sorry for the scattered thoughts but I dind't feel like organizing this and just wrote it as it came. English wasn't/isn't my best or favorite subjects. I'm sure one my friends is just rolling over in her grave every time she read my blog.

Cravings

So a friend and fellow blogger, blogged about cravings the other day, which made me think about pregnancy cravings. NO, I'm not pregnant!!!! But when I was, I NEVER had any weird cravings, like peanut butter and pickles, nothing I wouldn't eat normally when I wasn't pregnant. Now I've asked a few of my mother friends about this, and they haven't either. Are these unimaginable combination cravings a thing of the movies, just put in for laughs? Do they really exist in "normal" people? I say "normal", because the hubby's sister-in-law's little sister is pregnant and about "2 seconds" after she got pregnant she started having these weird cravings. Now let me tell you a little bit about her. Both the sister-in-law and sister grew up in a disfunctional family and in foster care, so everything for them is about drama and getting attention (not saying all turn out this way, but these girls did). So only know for a few weeks that she was pregnant she already started having these cravings, which for her, I think they are more imagined, because that is what pregnant women do is have weird craving, and so should I. So I want to know do they really exist. I know I don't have many readers, but maybe the ones who do read and have been pregnant can either go along with my conclusion that they don't exist, or prove me other wise (and make me happy that so far with 2 pregnancy I haven't had any), and have your other pregnant or have been pregnant friends leaves posts too, so we can find out. I'm curious, are you? So lets her your weird pregnancy cravings.

Days

Do you ever just have one of those days? I don't even know what to say about it, it's not like there is anything in particular that happened, but you are just in one of those moods, enough said. So when things happen on one of those days, it's just harder to handle. Like the TV breaking, or should I say the picutre only being about 2 inches tall right in the middle. So I can't even watch the dumb thing so I don't have to think about what ever it is that is making me feel this way. And then finding out that a good friend is moving and even though it's just 5 or so minutes away, and we say lets still get together and do things, I know that probably won't be the case, just like every one. And then the hubby is too busy at work geting an important project done that has be to finished by today. Why is it that that always happens, when you need to talk they aren't available and when you don't they of course aren't. I'm not blaming him, because he needs to work and I know that. I don't know even know why I'm blogging about this, no one is going to read it, no one is going to care, right now I'd just rather type about it than cry.

Big flirt

Well this past week has been pretty crazy. Last Wednesday my parents and older brother arrived in town and stayed at our house for several days. My younger brother got married almost a week ago, which left us running around from one place to another every day that my family was in town. Needless to say it's nice to have naptime at the appointed scheduled time (for me and the kids). And nice not to be in the car or at some activity every waking moment of the day. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my family and were glad that they could come. But since we don't see each as often as we would like, our schedules become more packed than normal.
So back to the topic of this email. Friday night was the reception for the newly weds. The new sister-in-law teaches piano lesson, and she had some of her younger students of the female gender help with clearing the tables and what not. Well they were pretty cute, dressed in the colors of the wedding and wearing little aprons that were filled with flower petals. I think S has gotten a trait that runs in my family, at least for some of the boys, being a flirt, a ladies man, comfortable around the opposite sex and knows how to make them smile. He's at least the 3rd generation of this type, and sadly or proudly (I don't know which), I have to admit it comes from my side of the family. My little brother, the one who just got married was that way, I'm sure it's calmed down a bit since the girl came around, and then my mother's father (so my grandpa) is that way too. So back to the story...We were trying to keep our almost 3 year old under control and not running around out of control, so the first thing we did after pictures and as the reception was starting we took advantage of the treats being served. So we sat down, and people started to show up, and that meant the piano students. While S was playing with the fancy chocolate covered strawberries, he noticed the group of little girls (probably ranging from 9-11 years old). He then told his dad "I want to go talk to the ladies!" So dad gave him permission and S asked him to come with him. Well the two of them walked over to the group of girls talking amongst themsevles, and dad told him to say "excuse me" to get their attention which did, but they didn't hear him, so dad told him to say it louder, which he did. Dad ended up clearing his throat to get their attention and S then said excuse me, and the girls turned and said oh sorry, because they thought they were in his way. And dad then said oh he just wanted to say hi. So S says hi, and gets them all to smile.
Needless to say I'm a little concerned if this behavior is starting at such a young age, and I'll let you know that this isn't the first of this kind of behavior. I think it started as an infant where he knew he could get ladies to smile. So hopefully he is like his uncle and not let it be his demise, just a way to get dates, and he is polite and respect about it.

OCD

I haven't been writing as much as I normally do because I feel my life is plain, boring, and not exciting. So write about nothing, which no one is going to want to read about, for the few of you that do read this. So last night the hubby gave me an idea to blog about OCD.
I think all of us have a little OCD in us. We have we like to do things, or certain places that things need to go, but it doesn't interfere with our lives, and if we didn't admit it other people wouldn't notice. (Or at least that is what I like to think)
S, at almost 3 has some of these traits (what I described above, not things that interfere with his life). He has certain toys he likes to sleep with, usually it's the newest one he has. He has to sleep with 3 blanket, in a certain order (right now 4, because daddy let him use his because he was suppose to be leaving on a business trip, and S was to take care of it). He is a smart kid, does things that amazes me and remembers things that I don't. I think sometimes he hides his stuff on purpose to prolong bedtime. For example nap time today... We got in his room and his new Finding Nemo playset, he got from the Valentines Man, was missing. Of course he sleep with all 9 of them and only one is to be found. I asked him where they were and he said they were lost! I didn't believe that for one minute I knew he knew where they were, but wasn't telling. As I'm looking under the bed and on the floor I step on a construction hat, he got with some tools. So I decide to look under there. What do I find, 7 toys, so we know have 8, and I don't think he will notice. I put them on the bed and said ok, let's go to bed. And he said, Oh no shark. He was missing Bruce the shark. I did eventually find it. It was under the pair of pants he wore yesterday that were still laying on his floor. My son has learned how to use the system and get more time out of us.
So I guess now it's fess up time. My OCD
1) I always have to fix tags on shirts, which S will complain about if it's sticking out, I guess I've rubbed off on him. This also goes with S's pants pockets, for some reason on his jeans they always poke out.
2) Never touch my hair when it is wet. I guess also never play with my hair when it is curly, which is almost all the time.
3) I asked the hubby and this is what he said, I don't ask for help, with even small stuff that he would be more than willing to help me with.
4) Don't touch me while I'm sleeping. I like to cuddle, don't get me wrong, but when I'm sleeping it's my time and don't intrude on my space.
Ok well I guess that is enough for now, I shouldn't spill all the beans at once. So what are some of your OCD traits, things you have to have a certain way, and don't say you don't have any!

Last minute shopping

Word to the wise, never go last minute shopping for holidays, even minor ones like Valentines. I went the day before to see if I could find some goodies for S, was I successful? No. Good thing he is little and won't care if it's not heart oriented. Good thing I had ordered some fun stuff for him online a couple weeks ago (also not heart oriented). I didn't think I'd have a great selection but I thought I would have one at least. I went to the local dollar store and all they had was easter stuff!!! So mental note to self, don't do that again.
As for Valentines day, ours was pretty uneventful. It started off great, with B barely sleeping the night before, so we both woke up EXHAUSTED. Having kids makes it tough too. We aren't going to ask our friends, who are all couples to skip out on their v-day so we can do something romantic. So we stayed at home, had dinner, watched some of the olympcs, and the Valentines Man came. The Valentines man? You are probably wondering what that is. I didn't realize until after I got married that people didn't know who he was. I thought he was like Santa and people who celebrated V-day had him visit. As a kid, the Valentines Man was much like the jolly man himself. We never saw him, he just left things mysteriously. But unlike Santa he came while we were awake. He would ring the door bell and leave something for us. Or a treasure hunt of something. So this year was the first year the Valentines Man visited, now that S is old enough to enjoy.
Well I hope every one enjoyed their Valentines Day!

Sleep

Wouldn't it be nice to get the kind of sleep you got when you were single, or just before you had kids? I sure think so! The hubby asked me what I wanted for the big V-day, you know what I said, I good nights rest, how romantic of me!!! B has been sick and I think starting the whole teething thing, so the last month or so she's been getting up at least once or twice, when she used to sleep throug the night, and the last week or so (it's just all a blur) she hasn't been sleeping well and needs to be held and doesn't really sleep well until 4. I have a hard time listening to childless people complain about being tired. For the most part I think most of them don't know true meaning of the word. They get to control their sleep patterns and when they go to sleep they get to sleep and usually can do so unterrupted. As a parent you wake up when your child does, that usually means for most of us parents, no sleeping in, even on the weekends! Remember the days? Well maybe in 20 plus years or when my youngest becomes a teenager and I have a hard getting them out of bed, I'll be able to enjoy sleep again and not be in a constant state of tiredness, which you get used you. But it's tough, at least for me, if I don't keep myself busy, I'd want to go to bed at 7, which is no good because I know even if the heavens were smiling down on me and both of my kids slept through the night, I woudln't. I guess this way, being a parent of young children, I finally appreciate the sleep I get, most days, find myself lucky if I get a nap. So all you single people out there, get your sleep and be happy you can, and get a few extra hours of sleep for me!

It's madness, I tell you, MADNESS!!!

Well that is what it was at our house last night. We had b-day party number 2 for the hubby. We had a couple families over for dinner and pie, since the hubby doesn't like cake. I made a Japanese dish, and then mac and cheese for the kids, since they probably wouldn't eat what I made, although S would. Well there wasn't enough mac and cheese, fortunately they were ok eating rice afterwards. There were 10 kids under the age of 5 at my house, and let me tell you it was crazy. Before everyone came we shut all the door upstairs to the bedrooms, that had childproof handles on them, to keep them out. I was glad I did that, because otherwise it would've have been worse, who knows what kind of damage they could have done in S's room with all the toys. I did something stupid and decided to clean the house before they came, I mopped the floor even, which I shouldn't have because I did it all again this morning. there were countless number of cups of pop spilt, and noodles from mac and cheese, which was all cleaned up first thing this morning. Although I'm happy to report that none of them by S!!!! Let's just say it was madness, too much to try to go into detail. One of the families that were there, are done having kids, while the other 3 aren't, well maybe after last night we are. Talk about a good form of birth control. Makes me think that 3 years between B and the next isn't so bad. So the night ended, not soon enough (because of the kids not the adults, it would have been fun if it could have been just adults, but oh well. The kids went down for bed pretty easy, so I thought it would be a good night. Boy was I wrong. B is sick, finally got we S and I had. We gave her some medicine before bed, and I thought it would be fine and hoped it would knock her out. Did it? Of course not. So needless to say I only got a few hours of sleep last night. The hubby offered to help, but how could I let him help with it being his b-day and then having to get up to leave for work at 6:30? And lucky me when I got up with B at about 6:30 I got a headache and is off and on, depending on what I'm doing. So I'm hoping that the kids are easy today and take good naps for my sake. Wish me luck.