Oink Oink

F.A.T.

That's how I feel after a week and a half of nonstop eating. I've been traveling for the holidays and it seems whenever I'm away from home I can't control myself.

I am responsible for the consumption of two entire loaves of Swedish coffe bread as well as a whole bag of Lindt chocolate truffles and three maybe four pints of Brigham's vanilla ice cream. The sad thing about this is that I was not even remotely hungry when I ate any of this...none of it!

Lucikly I will be home tommorrow. and luckily it's the new year so I can get my eating back on track. I guess this little piggy will be starting 2008 with the resolution to loose weight...or at least to only eat when I'm hungry! Oink! Oink!

Happy New Year everyone!

Don't you hate it when....

you walk into the bathroom at Target to pee and all the stalls are full except for one. You then proceed into the one stall to do your business while trying not to breathe in because someone in one of the other stalls is really stinking up the joint. Then all the other people leave and you come out to wash your hands and a really old uptight lady walks in and looks at you in disgust because she thinks you are the one that caused the horrific smell?


I just hate it when that happens.

Pray for me people everywhere!

Forget praying for peace people, pray for me! I am at my in-laws house and they have... dial-up.

Gasp! The horrors!

I really consider myself lucky that they even have an Internet connection since they are in their late 80's. So I guess I shouldn't be complaining at all but, well, it's me, so I'm gonna complain...just a little.

I have forgotten how really, really, really s. l. o. w. a dial-up connection can be. There's no hopping around from blog to blog, site to site. And I definitely dare not open more than one Internet session at a time. Normally when I am blogging I can have as many as three or four open...but not with dial-up.

So, I am asking for a little patience over the next couple of days. I am still going to post but it's just going to take me


a

lot

long

er


to get the posts up so please bear with me. And while you are waiting, please say a tiny little prayer for me....patience is not my strong suit.

And I guess you can go ahead and pray for peace while you are at it.

I'm up to my eyeballs in...

wrapping paper and Christmas cookies and last minute trips to the store.


Just wanted to take a minute away from all of the holiday "fun" to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and to ask that you please remember why we go through all of this craziness every year. Because ultimately His arrival is all that should matter to us.


For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. -Luke 2:11

It's the little things that count.

A couple of evenings ago our doorbell rang. There was silence for a minute as the kids and I were shocked that someone might be at our door this late in the evening. (It was only 6:45 but it was dark and felt late.) After about two seconds the kids started screaming Is it Colton and Cheyanne? Are they here to play? and I started screaming Don't open the door! Remember, no one opens the door unless Mommy is standing there!

We all raced to the door. My heart started to pound a little because no one ever comes to our door in the evening. There has been a string of burglaries in our area and the perp's MO is that they ring the doorbell and if you are home they ask for directions and move on to the next house. If you aren't home, they proceed to break in and take all of your valuables. (Can you tell I like to watch CSI, Without a Trace and Cold Case? Where else would I learn terms such as perp and MO? O.k. maybe I picked those up on the Andy Griffith show and maybe they aren't as cool as I think.)

Anyway, I headed to the door with my heart pounding. I just knew I was going to find a big burly stranger there who wanted to know how to get to the highway. But what a sweet surprise I got. Standing on my front porch was "Miss Virginia".

Miss Virginia is a sweet little lady who attends the church I went to as a child. She is probably about 85 now, maybe older. She was dressed to the nines wearing tasteful earrings, lipstick, a dress and sensible heels. She was with her daughter who I could tell did not want to be standing there. Her daughter, I think, felt uncomfortable because they arrived unannounced.

I invited them in but they only came a few steps in the door. The house was a mess but I didn't care. I was just glad we all had our clothes on! Many times at this point in the evening, one or both of the kids are running around in various states of undress.

Miss Virginia wanted to thank me in person for sending her a Christmas card. The Christmas card we sent had our family photo on it and she wanted to let me know that she thought the card was lovely and that she truly appreciated the card. She even came bearing gifts! She brought four of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen and a box of delicious oatmeal cookies.

What a sweet treat! And what a true southern belle, Miss Virginia is. The whole thing made me wonder about the little things we do. I sent her a Christmas card without thinking twice about it. She was on a long list of people we send cards to every year. But for Miss Virginia, receiving the card was special. Maybe it even made her day. I know her visit certainly made mine. She went to the store and purchased treats for my family to thank us for sending her a Christmas card.

I am going to try to be more mindful in the new year of doing more little things for people. I think that will be a better resolution than trying to loose those same old 5 pounds...that I never seem to loose anyway. And after all, don't they say It's the little things that count?

Here are my kids getting ready to enjoy one of the little things...

The Festival of Lights

Last night we went to Tanglewood to see the Festival of Lights. Tanglewood has been putting on this display of lights for 16 years now and they claim it is one of the "most spectacular light shows in the southeast". Having never been to a light show I think I would have to agree!

As I've mentioned before I have been trying to institute some new family traditions this year now that the kids are a little older and might actually enjoy them. So we decided we were going to take them. But my husband has been really busy at work lately and we kept having to put it off and put it off. (We didn't want to go on the weekend because we heard the lines get really long.) Last night was our last chance to go before our Christmas travels and we finally made it!

The kids were in awe looking at all the beautiful light displays. Peter would say, "Cool! That's awesome!" and then Sarah would pipe in with "Yeah! That's the most awesomest!" We like to call them "Pete and Repeat" because she loves to imitate her older brother!

Since we got a late start we weren't able to stop at the hot chocolate stand or roast marshmallows but next year we are going to leave early enough to do that. Peter declared this is the best place ever! He even said he wanted to come back next year. And so a tradition is born...


I tried to take pictures of some of the light displays but my camera just doesn't have what it takes...






So, here is a picture I took of me and the kids as we were driving through the park. (We let them sit on my lap so they could have a better view of the lights. They may have enjoyed that just as much as the lights.)

If you would like to see some good pictures of the light display go here and click on the link at the bottom of the page. Most of the lights were animated (guess that's the right word to use...anyway...they moved) so it's hard to get a good idea even from these pictures of how cool the displays really were.)

Works For Me Wednesday

Today is Wednesday so of course, Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting Works for Me Wednesday. She is asking for tips that make Christmas easier.

Every year at Christmas, since my son's birth in 2002, we have travelled by car 15 hours away to spend time with my in-laws. And with kids, that 15 hours easily turns into 19, but we do it any way because we don't have the money to fly and how would we have gotten the Pack N Play and the swing and all the other baby necessities kids need while they are away from home, there, had we flown?

So every Christmas we pack up the car and spend two days travelling. When my son was first born I started to mull over my options about what I was going to do about Christmas gifts. There wasn't going to be any extra room in our mid-sized SUV to pack a lot of gifts and now that the kids are older we don't want to risk them seeing their gifts from Santa. We also weren't going to have time to go to the mall once we made it to our destination. So I turned to...online shopping.

I buy almost all of our Christmas gifts online. To minimize my headaches and the shipping charges I try to get as many of the gifts as possible from as few stores as possible. This year I did almost all of our shopping from Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.com.

I used to decide on a gift item, check 5 or 6 stores online to compare prices and then put the item I chose in my shopping cart. This took forever and many times I would go back to my shopping cart only to find it had been deleted. I have also realized that the cost of most things aren't going to vary that much by store so it's not worth the hassle. Also, if you maximize the amount of money you spend at one store you will minimize your shipping charges. In many cases, if you purchase enough from one store you will get free shipping.

Over the last 5 years, I have realized that I shopping online is so much easier and more peaceful that fighting the crowds at Christmastime. And all I have to do when I get to my in-laws is wrap the gifts. And we have found that getting the presents home is a lot easier than we thought as well...It's much easier to pack a toy that has already been removed from the box!

I know this seems like a no-brainer but it works for us! Now head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday tips!

The Random Christmas Hoopla!

Jennifer has tagged me to play . . .The Random Christmas Hoopla!Here goes:

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas

2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word (which, for you bloggy newbies, is meme)

3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.

4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.


12 Random Christmas Things About Me...

1. I love Christmas and it really annoys me that everywhere I look I see Happy Holidays. I am a Christian and I will always proudly say Merry Christmas. According to a 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, 80% of Americans are Christians. If there are so many Christians in America then why are we all saying Seasons Greetings?

2. I must confess that I had to do something this Christmas that I am not proud of. We had to send out Christmas cards this year that said Seasons Greetings on them instead of Merry Christmas. Every year we use Portrait Innovations to get our Christmas picture taken and we have them print up our Christmas cards while we are there. There are about 25 backgrounds you can choose from for the cards and only TWO of them...TWO! said Merry Christmas. The two that said Merry Christmas were really ugly...one had a lime green background and the other was blue with a snowman (I think).



I know. I am a hypocrite. I caved and went with Season's Greetings because the background went really well with our picture. My husband was so distraught over this that we printed out stickers that said Merry Christmas and put those on the envelopes. Next year, I think we are just going to wear lime green so that our outfits will match the Merry Christmas background.

3. I was raised as a Moravian and one of my favorite memories as a little girl is the Christmas Eve Lovefeast and Candle Light service. It is a beautiful service and I highly recommend anyone living near a Moravian church to attend this year. I am a Catholic now and a little part of me will always miss the Moravian service.

4. When I was a preteen our church had a live outdoor Nativity pageant for maybe 4 years. It lasted for 5 nights each Christmas and we performed it 6 times each night. I loved participating in that. I was always an angel. I guess some things never change!


5. Opening the gifts in our stockings was always something that we did last in our house as a child. It was almost like an afterthought. My husband's family always opens them first and the presents in the stockings are almost as good as the "real" presents. His sister, especially, puts a lot of time and thought into picking out special little gifts for each stocking.


6. When I was little Santa always left our presents wrapped. I was horrified when I grew up and learned that in many households he leaves the unwrapped. My husband's gifts were always unwrapped and he is very annoyed when I insist on wrapping the kid's presents.

7. I love Christmas decorations. I love to look at them in the store and in magazines but I don't have a lot of them at home. We have a tree and the outside of our house is decorated but that's about it. It seems like sooooo much work and expense for just a few weeks out of the year to do much more than that. It 's because I'm so practical...or lazy....

8. I like to see snow on the ground on Christmas day but growing up in the south it never happened. But now that we visit my husband's family in Massachusetts there is always a good chance! Last year it actually snowed on Christmas day and right now they have at least a foot or more on the ground! I bought mittens and hats for the kids today because I know we will be playing in it!

9. I prefer gift wrapped presents to gift bags but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. And I would never turn a down a Christmas gift because it was in a gift bag. I just think it is more fun to unwrap something than to pull it out of a bag.


10. I always put money in the Salvation Army bucket every time I see one at Christmas.

11. My husband and I both love the smell and look of a real tree but for practical purposes have had a fake one for the last 7 years. My husband has said, at least 100 times this year, Geez, I sure wish we had a live tree. I've got a feeling we may be getting a live tree next year.

12. My favorite Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy. It gives me chills whenever I hear it.

I'm glad I'm at 12 because I can't think of another thing to say!

All right Honey , and Page you guys are next!

Be thankful they are there.

"Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way."

These words stopped me in my tracks and tears begin to form in my eyes. I was reading yet another poem I had received through email. I get them all the time. Usually I read them and delete them from my inbox as well as my mind. Their messages are always sweet but for me fleeting. Until this one.

This line comes right at a time when my daughter always seems to be under my feet. She always wants to help me and she always wants to be right by my side doing whatever I'm doing. Several times a day, it seems, I am turning around to get the laundry, prepare dinner, make a bed and she is underneath my feet causing me to stumble. And every time I curse silently and tell her to get out of the way. And every time I immediately feel sorry that I have just told her this and every time I silently pray to God to forgive me for being a bad mother and to please, please give me extra patience.

Since the day this line stopped me in my tracks, I have been trying to be more mindful of how lucky I am to have this little one underfoot. And every time I want to say get out of the way, instead I find myself reaching down to give her a hug and saying a prayer of thanks to God for her and asking him to please, please give me extra patience.





In case you are interested, here is the complete text of the poem. Maybe a line in it will touch you.

1 CORINTHIANS 13 - THE CHRISTMAS VERSION Author unknown

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,
but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies,preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,
but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity,
but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes,
attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata,
but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another ones home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust.
But giving the gift of love will endure.

Conversation with a 5 year old boy...

As he was getting ready for bed tonight, I noticed that Peter was holding himself. The following conversation followed:

Me: Go pee, Peter.

Peter: I don't have to go.

Me: Oh, ok.

30 seconds elapse and he begins to hold himself again.

Me: Go pee, Peter.

Peter: I don't have to go.

Me: You are holding yourself so it looks like you have to go pee.

Peter(in an exasperated tone): I don't have to pee Mom. I'm just holding myself because it's fun.

Me: Oh. Well, o.k. then.

I didn't really know what else to say.

Ham and cheese, please!

My husband is very cheap and he tends to prefer his own company to the company of anyone else. So on most days during his lunch hour, he drives to a nearby park, eats a lunch that I have packed for him and listens to Rush Limbaugh. This makes him very happy. My husband is a simple man. Thank goodness...

I dislike packing lunch for my husband. I haven't figured out why I dislike it so much but it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm lazy. But even though I don't like to do it, I love him so I do it anyway.

My poor husband gets the same thing for lunch every day...a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with mayonnaise and a can of Diet Mountain Dew. He eats this every day. Bleh. And as much as I hate packing this for him, I feel sorry that he has to eat it. But that's what he says he wants and I'm too lazy to figure out something else for him to eat so that's what he gets. Every. Day.

While my poor husband is eating the same pathetic sandwich I begrudgingly pack for him day after day after day, there is one lucky family out there who gets to eat like this every day. This wife and mom strives to make her family tasty and visually appealing lunches every day using the Bento method. She wants to do this for her family and she's doing it quite well. What a good wife!

Look back through her archives at all the gorgeous lunches she has packed for her family. If I weren't so lazy, I'm sure I could get some great ideas for my husband's lunch here. But knowing him, he would come home asking where his ham and cheese sandwich was.

Like I said, my husband is a simple man. Lucky me!

I'm finished...

...Christmas shopping that is! I think anyway. My goal was to be done with all my shopping by December 1st. I failed but at least I am finished now.

I cringe every time Peter or Sarah mention something that they are so sure they are getting from Santa Claus because of course, it's not something that I have bought for them.

Christmas morning could be grim around these parts. The kids better appreciate everything they get and they better not moan and groan about the things they didn't get or I may just take their toys and give them away. So there!

Next up? Christmas cards.

Will the fun ever end?

Bah-humbug!

But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all? It's Donder!

My husband and I have the same argument discussion every year right around this time. He will ask me if I can name all the reindeer. And every year, I rattle them off . And every year, I am kicking myself for not remembering that we have this same conversation. Every. Year.

Beth: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. And of course, Rudolph!

Dan: It's not Donner. It's Donder!

Beth: Donder?! That's ridiculous! It's Donner ! Everyone knows it Donner!

Dan: No! It's Donder!

This goes on for a while until I can take no more. My husband unfortunately is usually right when we have an argument discussion and he argues discusses things with such conviction, that I normally just end this like any cool teenager would..

Beth: Whatever.

I definitately was not on my high school debating team.

So this year, after we had our little argument discussion, I went to my friend Google and discovered that for a change...we are both right! Although, he would argue that he is more right than I am but again...whatever.

Apparently in Twas the Night Before Christmas the reindeer was named Dunder (or Donder) but it was changed in the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Donner. Also, according to this article Blitzen was originally Blixem in the story. Donder and Blixem were Dutch for thunder and lightening and then changed to Donner and Blitzen which are German for thunder and lightening. The reason for the change is unclear but wow! Who knew? And I am sure you are saying at this point who cares? Well, I care!

I can hardly wait until next Christmas. When my husband and I have this same argument discussion, I am going to enlighten him with this new found knowledge on Blixem/Blitzen and for once, I am going to be right!

It's the little things, people!

Sugarplum Drops

Karla over at Looking Towards Heaven is hosting a Holiday Party Recipe Exchange. I am all for holiday party recipes because usually that means "appetizers". I hope there will be lots of appetizer recipes because I can totally eat my weight in apps!

That being said, you would think I would be posting a delightful little holiday appetizer recipe. But no. I have decided to post a holiday cookie recipe. And before you start groaning and saying Oh no! Not another holiday cookie recipe! please take the time to check this one out.

I made these for the first time last week for a MOPS cookie exchange. I had to make three dozen cookies and the last thing I felt like doing was baking. I saw this recipe in the December issue of Family Fun Magazine and it sounded perfect for me. No baking, no kneading, no rolling out cookie dough. Just throwing some stuff in the food processor and then rolling it into balls. This was my kind of recipe. The cookies were quick to make and they looked very elegant in their little paper cups. These cookies would look very nice on the dessert table at your holiday party.

Please note... kids DO NOT like this cookie...must be all the fruit. It has a very grown up taste too it. I can't explain it. You will just have to make them for yourself.

Sugarplum Drops

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup pecans
1 cup blanched almonds
1/4 cup orange juice (no pulp)
1/2 cup granulated or sifted confectioners sugar

Combine the dried fruit and nuts in a food processor and pulse until you get a coarse mixture, about 1 minute. Add the orange juice and pulse again until the mixture sticks together, about 15 seconds.

Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls, then roll them in sugar for a sweet coating. For a nice presentation, place each ball into a mini-cupcake paper/wrapper. Refrigerate. Makes about 2 1/12 dozen. (Please note - I made mine a little bigger than 1 inch....they looked better in the paper cups this way.)

So, now that you've got plenty of free time because you won't be baking cookies, head on over to Karla's and post your own holiday party recipe or at least go check out all the great ones that others are posting!

I knew today had to be Monday.

Know how I knew? My pants were very tight this morning.

I ate way too much this weekend, as usual. But the real reason my pants were so tight this morning is that I did laundry on Saturday. So my jeans got their weekly tightening and shrinking in the washer and dryer.

But never fear. They should be loose enough and baggy enough by this weekend (when they will get their weekly washing) that I will think to myself, Ooohhh! I must be loosing weight!

This weight loss technique will work great...until next Monday...

I am sooooo immature.

My husband loves gingerbread cookies. He has been asking when I'm going to back a batch of them for several weeks now. When I told him I had no intention of baking any he started sniffing around the gingerbread house wondering out loud when and if he could eat that.

I decided at that point that I needed to be firm and tell him that in no uncertain terms was I baking gingerbread cookies. I've made them before and they didn't turn out very well and I hated every minute of making them. I do not like to roll out dough. In fact, I hate rolling out cookie dough and if I see a recipe that says, "flour your surface and roll out the dough", I run from it.

So my poor husband asked me to get the ingredients and said he would bake the cookies himself. I dutifully purchased all of the ingredients for him and since we had a free afternoon on Saturday, he and Sarah set out to baking gingerbread cookies. Peter was not interested in helping as he had computer games to play and Bionicles to build so it was just Daddy and Sarah in the kitchen.

They were absolutely adorable to watch. Dan took to baking like any good engineer would. He went through the recipe and gathered every single ingredient in front of him. Then he precisely measured each one before he let Sarah dump it into the bowl. And when I say precisely, I mean precisely. He used a knife to insure that each measuring spoon was exactly full of the exact measurement the recipe called for. And he poured wet ingredients so slowly you would have thought he was pouring liquid gold.

Now don't think I wasn't participating. I was sitting nearby reading my People magazine and offering up such helpful advice as, Geez, you don't have to be that exact when you are measuring and No, we do not have a marble rolling pin you'll just have to use the crappy one that we do have.

Many men out there are leg men or even boob men, but not my husband. He is a frosting man. He would eat any thing if it were covered in frosting. So he was not content just to use left over royal icing from the gingerbread house to put buttons and eyes on the cookies. He wanted to make frosting for them. So he also made a big ole batch of cupcake frosting for the cookies so that when he is eating them he can cover them with frosting.

He did not tell the kids about the frosting knowing that if he did it would get eaten up very quickly. I guess he should have hidden it from me because, while I do not like gingerbread cookies, I love me some frosting. He has caught me on several occasions with a spoon eating out of the frosting bowl. Hey...at least I wasn't using my finger!

Here is a picture of my sweet daughter (who was a great helper, by the way) and her daddy making cookies. I did manage to put my magazine down long enough to snap this picture.

And here they are, so proud of this pan of cookies....(Aren't they cute all covered in flour? Did I mention that flour flying around is one of the reasons I hate making cookies that have to be rolled out?)

Sarah wanted to roll our her own little ball of dough so Dan gave her a little piece of it to work with. She rolled it with the little rolling pin her Aunt Cathy gave her last year at Christmas and when she got tired of using the rolling pin, she rolled it with her hands. Then Peter came in and gave it a few squeezes and then Sarah played with it some more. Dan wisely decided not to use the dough so it got discarded on the counter top. When I saw it laying around on the counter near one of the gingerbread men, I could not resist taking a picture of it.

Because I am a 13 year old boy.....

I am so immature like that.

Megan, this one is for you!

People find my blog every day by doing searches on Google.

For instance, just yesterday, several people Googled "pirate treasure hunt" and were taken here...

Many people have Googled "Popsicle drip catcher" and have found themselves here...

Lots of people have Googled "chocolate covered pretzel" and have landed here...

Yesterday, however, I found myself with a new Google search that landed someone here, which was the post I wrote wondering if anyone else's pee smelled like asparagus if they ate too much of the lovely vegetable.

The search they used to find my post was "If you eat a lot of fried okra will your pee stink?"

Hmmm. Seeing as how I don't eat okra, fried or otherwise, I'm not sure. Megan. I am going to have to leave this one to you to answer.

So.

Does it?

The Internet is waiting....


Editor's note - My blog is the number one result when Googling "If you eat a lot of fried okra will your pee stink?" Should I be pleased or not?

Works for Me Wednesday (Better Late than Never)!

I know that Wednesday is almost over so I'm a little late to the party on this Works for Me Wednesday post, but when I saw that Shannon wanted quick and easy recipes AND that her recipe contained Rotel AND that there were people out there who had never heard of Rotel, I knew I had to post this recipe.

I originally got this recipe off of a can of Hunt's diced tomatoes but the second time I made it, I substituted Rotel for the Hunt's tomatoes and have been making it this way ever since. My husband loves this recipe because it's tasty. I love it because it's easy and quick and I normally have all the ingredients for it on hand at any given time. So without any further rambling, here's the recipe:

Tomato Bacon Quesadillas

8 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 can Rotel with lime (any flavor works but we prefer the kind with lime for this recipe)
10 pieces of cooked bacon (I always use the microwave bacon...so much easier than frying!)
2 T vegetable oil

Combine cheese, Rotel and bacon.
Spread 1/8 of the mixture on half of a tortilla and fold in half to make a circle.
Cook each quesadilla over medium low heat until cheese has melted and tortillas are starting to turn brown...a couple minutes on each side.
Serve with sour cream.

It is really easy to whip these up and they are super yummy! And if you have never used Rotel tomatoes before you don't know what you are missing.

My favorite Rotel recipe is this yummy dip:

Brown a pound of sausage and drain the grease off.
Put a block of cream cheese in a pot over low heat.
Stir in a can of Rotel (drain the liquid off first).
Stir in the sausage.
Cook until warm (continuing to stir) and serve with corn chips or tortilla chips.

If you have never had this before, you are probably turning up your nose but let me tell you...this is some good eating! Take this to a party and you will come home with an empty bowl...I promise!

And with that, I am off to bed to dream of fattening dip...but hey it's got tomatoes in it so it can't be all bad. Can it?

I'm glad I got to hear this...

Dan and I overheard this conversation at bedtime last night:

Sarah: Good night, Peter.

Peter: Good night, Sarah.

Sarah: I love you, Peter.

Peter: I love you too, Sarah.

Dan and I just looked at one another and smiled. My heart melted and I wondered to myself, Are these the same two kids that just argued over who was going to get into and out of the bathtub first? Are these the same two kids that fought over whether they were going to watch Little Bill or Little Bear? Are these the same two kids who are constantly yelling, fighting and screaming at one another over every little thing?

I guess they truly are brother and sister because after all the petty bickering is put aside, at the end of the day, they really do love one another.

The house that Royal icing built...

Last year my aunt gave the kids a gingerbread house kit. We had lots of fun gluing candy and decorating the house. I had decided that we were going to do it again this year but had not gotten around to buying a kit yet when I noticed in our church bulletin that they were hosting a gingerbread house decorating workshop. I signed us up and off we went!

There were three sizes of houses to choose from. We opted for the smaller one since the kids are younger and we knew their attention spans would be short. We picked out our house...

And then we got to choose 6 bags of candy from this table...

There was every imaginable decorating candy available. There were gum drops, Mike and Ike's, Chicklets, peppermints, Necco wafers (which my husband reminded me several times stood for New England Candy Company),gum balls, M&Ms, Tootsie Rolls and Reese's cups.

There were also pretzels in multiple shapes and sizes, shredded wheat cereal and Wheat Thins. I could go on and on. Clearly, the people running this workshop had built a gingerbread house or two.

We paid for our little house and got our big bag of Royal icing and we started working...

And working...
And working...

Until our little house looked like this...

The kids had fun and when we left they had a little sugar buzz from sampling the roof "shingles" and the "bushes". I had fun because I was able to relax and let them make a mess because I didn't have to clean it up! And I think Dan had fun because he got to "build" something. (I am using the term "build" loosely because he was really decorating the house instead of building it but shhhhhhhhhhh we aren't going to tell him that!)

But the best part of the afternoon...we had fun as a family! We will definitely be doing this again next year!

And now for more pictures of our little house. Isn't it cute?

I'll just have to leave it to my writing....

For about three weeks or so, I used this picture in my header. But I finally had to take it down.

I would like to tell you I took it down because it was too big and too in your face and just too busy at the top of the page. And that's part of the reason but that's not the real reason. The real reason I took it down is because it was a lie and I don't want to misrepresent myself to you.

Let's examine the picture in detail and you will soon see what I'm talking about. Let's begin with the phone.

I rarely ever talk on the phone with anyone other than my mom. Mom and I usually talk first thing in the morning for about 5 minutes and then that's it for me and the phone unless some unsuspecting someone might happen to call.

When my kids see the phone attached to my ear they start to emit a loud high pitched whine that doesn't stop until I remove the phone from my ear. Even if I am trying to hide in another room while I'm on the phone, they will start this whine. It's like they have a super power that makes their skin tingle as soon as I touch the receiver. So talking on the phone is out for me. And a red phone? Not even sure they make red phones.

The second thing about this picture that would make it unreasonable for me to use as a representation of myself is the fact that this mom has pets. And not one pet but TWO! We have no pets in our house and the main reason is because of me. I have zero desire to feed, bathe, clean up after, and provide general upkeep for two more creatures...especially creatures that require boarding when we go on vacation! My poor kids are begging me for a pet...begging me...but I am standing firm on this one! No pets in this house...yet, anyway...I may be talked into a goldfish...someday.

The next detail that doesn't go unnoticed in this picture is the fact that this woman is breastfeeding. That right there should be a big clue to anyone that knows me that this picture is not supposed to be me. I breastfed my kids for a total of two seconds. Well, o.k. It was longer than that.

I breastfeed Peter for two miserable months. I had a C-section and I had to pump to get my milk to come in and when it finally did, it was mostly fore milk according to the lactation consultant that we consulted TWICE. At a cost of ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Each time.

I finally gave up, gave my son a bottle, he finally seemed full and I finally stopped crying. Enough about my breastfeeding failures...that's another post for another day. Let's just move on...

That brings me right to the number one reason the poor lady in this picture will never accurately represent me...She is...IRONING!

gasp

I will do a lot of things for my family but I ain't ironing! That's why we have a clothes dryer. It's not just for drying but also for wrinkle removing. Most clothes can be hung up right out of the dryer and look practically wrinkle free! I mean you are going to be hanging them up anyway so you might as well hang them while they are warm and avoid the dreaded iron. And if you happen to own a pesky item that's 100% cotton that really requires some wrinkle removing assistance, then do what I do and take it to the dry cleaners.

When my husband saw this picture on my header he started to give me a hard time. She's IRONING. You never IRON. Look! She's IRONING while BREASTFEEDING. You didn't really breastfeed and you certainly don't IRON.

O.k., o.k. I get it. So my husband was giving me a hard time and I was starting to feel guilty anyway. I mean, I don't want you guys to think I'm breastfeeding while ironing and talking on the phone all day long so I took it down.

I guess I was looking for a blog header that summed up in one picture the busyness and craziness of "A Mom's Life". I couldn't find a picture that accurately portrayed this mom's life so I guess I'm going to have to leave that to my writing.

Compliments are nice, but Godiva is nicer!

Sarah has her first little crush and I say this none to proudly because it didn't take much to turn her head. At Peter's birthday party, his friend Thomas said Sarah is pretty. Sarah giggled and batted her eyelashes and I think even blushed a little.

Is it even possible for a 3 year old to blush?

After the boys left the next day, Sarah said several times very emphatically I miss Thomas. She even said Thomas is nice and batted her eyelashes a few more times.

I've got to explain to her that compliments are nice...but she should at least hold out for chocolate!

No one is going to steal this stollen!

Magazines always have articles this time of year that ask people what they like best about Thanksgiving or what they wouldn't miss about Christmas. The answers are always, "It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my mom's yeast rolls." or "I have to get home at Christmas for a bowl of my Grandma's bread pudding."

Now, I fancy myself a decent cook. I enjoy cooking and most of the time whatever I cook turns out o.k. But I always get envious reading statements like these because nothing I cook is going to make anyone change their plans just to make sure they are at my house at Christmas .

I decided to change that this Christmas. I decided that I wanted a signature dish that would signal the holidays are here to my kids and when they were in college would have them declaring to their whole dorm that I am the greatest cook ever and that they have to go home for Thanksgving to get a big batch of my....

And that's where the dream ends. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be known for. I make good spaghetti, but who doesn't? Plus since we have that every week I didn't think that would mean anything to the kids other than, it must be Friday since we are having spaghetti. Again.

I thought that I would like to be known for baking something. That seems very festive and holiday-ish. My sister-in-law Cathy makes a wonderful Swedish Coffee Bread. She got the recipe from my in-law's next door neighbor, Jeannette. She makes loaves upon loaves of this bread around the holidays and it is just yummy. They both tell me it is so easy to make but as I read the recipe, I knew it wasn't the one for me. It requires lots of dough kneading and dough resting. And it contains cardamon. Cardamon, people! How many people have a jar of cardamon in their spice rack?

This bread is so good, though, that I actually thought about purchasing some cardamon and giving it a shot. But I have never had any luck kneading anything and the only decent bread I have ever made has been in the bread maker. So I even checked the internet for Swedish Coffee Bread recipes that could be made in the breadmaker. There were none so I gave up on that idea.

As I was flipping through the December issue of Good Housekeeping, I saw a page with the headline HOLIDAY BREAD. The article said the bread was a "simple stollen, a quick version of the traditional sweet bread." It met all of my requirements. Simiple, quick and sweet. That's the bread for me! Sarah and I would make stollen!

It contained ricotta cheese, dried cheries, and lemon zest. It sounded yummy and best of all there was no yeast so I only had to knead it a couple of times before I rolled it out and shaped it up. The prep time on the recipe said "10 minutes". Great! Sarah and I could whip this out in no time! My family would think I was the greatest cook ever and the kids would be sure to come home every Christmas for my famous holiday stollen!

Well, let me just say, when including a 3 year old in the cooking, the prep time should always be tripled, if not quadrupled. And I remembered as I was trying to knead the dough, why I hated to knead dough...I stink at it! It was warm in my little kitchen and my dough was sticky and it seemed to eat up all the flour on my "rolling surface". At one point, I was panicking because the dough was stuck to my hands and my "rolling surface" and Sarah was throwing flour everywhere. I called my husband to "help me! help me!" He came running, calmed me down and got lots and lots of flour on the "rolling surface". We quickly got it kneaded and rolled out and shaped up and onto the pan. I knew based on all the extra flour (and there was a lot of extra flour) that got in the dough that the bread would be very dense...and I was right.

The bread was pretty with the dried cherries but it wasn't something that would make the kids choose coming home for the holidays over going to spend it with their roomate's mom who makes a to-die-for mince meat pie. I was sad but I haven't given up. I am still searching for that special signature recipe and if nothing else, Sarah and I had lots of fun baking together. Well, she had lots of fun. I was trying to have lots of fun. I was trying to relax and just enjoy the moment and not worry about how much cleaning up there would be afterwards.

I had a hard time relaxing while watching flour and salt and sugar fly all over the place while she stirred. But my heart melted when Sarah used the lemon zester for the first time. She screamed "I did it! I did it!" and pumped both arms up and down over her head as if she had just won Olympic gold. So, in the end, I guess my bread wasn't very sweet but spending time in the kitchen with my daughter was more delicious than any stollen could ever be!

Here she is after the stollen was in the oven. Looking at this picture makes me want to go bake something else with her. Look how happy she is!

Here we are the next morning at breafast eating the stollen. My son said it was good and even ate two pieces. Sarah had one piece. My husband said it wasn't bad but he didn't like the cherries. No one asked for it after the first morning so I knew the recipe definitely wasn't a keeper. I'm gonna keep trying though. Suggestions are always welcome.

Things we are thankful for.

My kids are old enough now that I feel that we should be starting traditions during the holidays. One that I established this Thanksgiving was “The Thanksgiving Tree”. I was inspired by my friend Jennifer. She is braver than I am. My version does not involve any paint!

I asked them to tell me things they were thankful for and I wrote them down. I copied the things they were thankful for on to leaves and then we, er, I mean I, glued them on to the tree. I thought they would want to glue them on but they were not interested. Not sure what the problem was because I can always get Sarah to go wild with glue but not this time.

This was the result:

Bananas, butterflies, Legos and pretty flowers are just as important as family and friends. Oh, yeah...and cookies. Don't forget the cookies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah and I had fun making these turkeys while my husband and my son were building something with Legos. After we finished them and were proudly showing them off, Dan said something along the lines of, "Ohh! I can't wait to see Friends and Seinfeld tonight!"

Ahhhh, the good ole days of Must See TV on NBC and the subtle humor of my dear sweet husband. Although I really must agree with him...they do resemble peacocks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

What do all these things have in common?

An M&M, a piece of broken glass, a plastic child-size coat hanger, a green magic marker, some plastic beads, some dried up shredded cheddar cheese, a Chuck E. Cheese token, a magnet shaped like a duck and a few giant dust bunnies. What do all these things have in common?

They were all found under my oven when my husband was trying to retrieve my watch which has a loose clasp. Apparently I was making some wild motions while trying to make a sandwich for his lunch this morning and my watch flew underneath the oven. (I really need to get that clasp fixed!)

What's under your oven?

I got an award!

I got a blog award! Yippee! I love to win things, especially nice shiny things I can put on my side bar. Because I say, the more things you have on your side bar, the cooler you are!

Jennifer, over at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman has bestowed the "You Rock the Crib" award on me. How cool is that? And if you ask my kids, I am sure they would toooootaly agree that I rock the crib. Hump....well, maybe they wouldn't agree, but Jennifer agrees and that's what's important...especially since she is the one handing out the award...

And as with all blog awards, it is my right and my duty to pass it on to some other deserving candidates...

And now, without further ado, the "You Rock the Crib" award goes to...

Megan from Fried Okra - I love reading Megan's blog every day. She is a southern girl currently living in the Midwest and she is trying to get everyone west of the Mason Dixon to speak Southern, ya'll. I hear she's even trying to get them to eat...grits!....gasp!

And...

Katie from Rosies are Red, Violets are Violet - I just recently started reading Katie's blog. She has an adopted son who is 5 years old and she is in the process of adopting another baby. You go Katie! I can't wait to read all about it!

Thanks again to Jennwa for the award. I love me some blog awards!

Pirate Treasure Hunt

As you all know by now, my son just turned 5 and we had a pirate themed party for him. You have all seen the cool invitations we made for him and the cake but what is a pirate party without a treasure hunt? (I promise, no more pirate posts after this one. I promise, I swear!)

My plan was to have little written clues around the house that would lead to a pirate map and then the kids would have to look at the map to figure out where the treasure chest was hidden.

I was starting to get pretty stressed out about the clues because I wanted them to rhyme like I'm sure real treasure map clues did back in the day. I don't really have any rhyming skills and I was running out of time so I decided to ditch the rhyming clues and just take pictures of places around the house and have each picture lead the kids to another place/picture until they came to the treasure map.

My husband, who is a real traditionalist, felt very strongly that the clues should rhyme so he took it upon himself to write them. In less than 15 minutes, this is what he came up with...

If you’re reading this you’re on the path
To findin’ me hidden treasure at last
I hid it near here many long years ago
When without my booty I had to go

The British, they chased me, never cutting me slack
But the treasure I robbed they’ll never get back
It’s yours for the taking, no doubt about that
But to find it you’ll be needing my pirate treasure map

The map also is hidden near here
If you follow the clues it soon will appear

Here’s your 1st clue – look where you eat
Under a painting you’ll find there’s a seat
Under that seat, I’m happy to say,
You’ll find clue #2 to point out the way

Here’s clue number 2 – go climb a stair
Walk down a long hall, that is, if you dare,
You’ll find a blue chair that moves when you sit
You’ll find clue number three when you sit down in it

You’ve found clue number three, you’re proving quite clever
But you’ll need clue four if you’re looking for treasure
On a small porch there is a small table
You’ll find it there, if find it you're able

Aha, you are smart ones, you’ve found number four
Now look for some gravel and a white basement door
Walk up to that door and give it a slap
By the time you have done so you will be holding the MAP!

15 minutes, people! That's all it took him to whip these out! My husband has so many talents, but who knew!

I printed the clues out on paper with spooky skull clip art around the text and then we dipped them in tea for an aged look. My husband dried them with a hair dryer to get a parchment effect and then he rolled them up and tied them with ribbon so they looked like really official scrolls. On the night of the party he hid them in the appropriate spots and he read them the clues.

We had so much fun watching them run through the house to find each clue and then finally out through the basement and into my parent's yard to find the treasure chest! I'm not sure who had more fun, us or the kids!

I bought pirate hats and swords for everyone at the dollar store because you aren't a real pirate unless you have a sword! I also bought little flashlights so the kids could see as they were running through the dark searching for the treasure.

Here are the kids gathered around listening to another clue.

Here is a picture of the kids after they found the treasure chest. My husband spray painted a shoebox black and I embellished it with skulls and crossbones and filled it will beaded necklaces, jeweled rings, gold coins, plastic snakes and spiders, eye ball bouncey balls and lots of spooky
candy that I got 75-80% off at after Halloween sales. It was a really cool treasure chest but the picture doesn't do it justice.

And here they are dividing up all the loot!


I think the kids had fun. I know my husband and I did! I would have never thought I would go to this much trouble for a kids birthday party but it was cool working on a theme and carrying it out. We have always just had family birthday parties for the kids and I have always said that I wasn't going to have a friend birthday party until my kids asked for one. Well, Peter asked for one this year and I guess now, there's now turning back!

Pirate Ship Birthday Cake!

The theme for my son's fifth birthday party is PIRATES! In honor of this them I (with lots of help from my mom!) made a pirate ship birthday cake. I followed the recipe/instructions from Family Fun magazine and I have to say, while mine doesn't look quite as good as theirs, I am very pleased with the results!

Here is the cake right after I made it...

Those are candles coming out of the "cannons" and the cannon balls are Milk duds!

Here is the cake after I put some of Peter's pirate stuff around it. I wish I had thought to put the cake on blue paper so it would look like water.

Peter was pretty happy with it!

Not bad for a theme cake on my very first try!

It took me two hours, but I did it!

Last spring, my mom got Peter several toys in the Mega Blocks Pyrates series. Peter had just entered his pirate phase and fell in love with these toys. However, these toys were for kids seven and older which meant that mommy had to attempt to put them together. The toy Peter loved the most was the Pyrates Lighthouse. It was a large lighthouse with a light that worked and lots of little islands and ships and men that circled the it.

The concept of this lighthouse was really cool but the execution was greatly lacking. The pieces Would. Not. Stay. Together. I spent many hours quietly cussing under my breath while trying to get them together. Even my brother and my husband who grew up on (and loved) Legos didn't have much success. And since they both had jobs and didn't have hours and hours to spend working on it, the onus of putting this $%^$% lighthouse together fell on to me.

Several times I got it together only to have the thing crumble in my hands at even the slightest amount of pressure. It was more than I or my son could take so eventually he and his friends began just trying to come up with other creations that, while still pirate oriented, had nothing to do with the &^*%$ lighthouse.

So, imagine the concern I felt when all my son wanted for his birthday were Legos Bionicles. Most of these Bionicles were for ages 7 or 8 and up. I told him that he would have to put these things together with the help of his older friend Cody or his Dad or even by himself because I did not want to have anything to do with them. The first morning after his birthday he started working on one himself and decided he better wait until Cody came over. Cody, who is 8, was able to put three of them together in one afternoon! Peter (and I) were beside ourselves!

This morning however, Peter decided that he wanted to put the Bionicle set his Aunt Cathy gave him together. I could not convince him to wait until we saw Cody later so I decided to try to put it together with him. We started right after he got up at 8:15. He didn't want to stop for breakfast so we kept going. We were making good progress until Sarah came down at 9:15. She was enjoying hiding the instructions and sitting on the parts. There was a lot of yelling but finally, FINALLY at 10:15 we were finished!

I am so proud of me! But I better be careful because you know what they say about pride. It goeth before a fall and I have a feeling I could be falling on this thing as we now have many different Bionicles in all stages of completeness all over the house. But Peter is happy and I must say I did feel a great sense of accomplishment this morning. Perhaps the package should read...Ages 38 and up!



Peter was quite pleased with the finished result!

It may not look like it but there were over 200 pieces in this set!

Sarah wanted her picture taken too!

And just for the record....Lego's are MUCH,MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier to work with than Mega Blocks! I didn't feel the slightest need to mutter obscenities while working with these Legos. Peter can even do a lot of the work on these and he can even complete the sets marked for ages 5 or 6 and up and he can complete the ones that are marked 7 and up with less than 50 pieces. He feels very proud of himself and I am excited that he can do them alone.

Happy Birthday, Take TWO!

I don't use my video camera very often. It usually comes out at birthdays and Christmas. I always like to make sure I get the kids blowing out the candles on their cake and I like to get them unwrapping their gifts on Christmas morning. Other than that, I will occasionally get the camera out if the kids are doing something really cute (although usually by the time I get it out and turned on they have moved on to fighting or nose-picking or something equally unfilmable) or sometimes I just get it out when I remember that I haven't had it out in a while.

I was in charge of filming my son blowing out his candles on Tuesday night and my husband was in charge of taking the pictures. In all the excitement of the singing and the candles and the cake, I accidentally turned the camera to STANDBY right as we started singing "Happy Birthday".

Imagine my dismay when I realized that I didn't have this important life moment captured on film. But wait! You don't have to imagine my dismay and sadness because my husband took a picture of me sulking and feeling like a big ole retard. Here I am in all my glory. Note the Bedazzled shirt...

My mom, in her infinite Grandma wisdom suggested that we redo it and film the second time around. So, that's exactly what we did! Peter was very excited to get to blow out his candles again and I redeemed myself by hitting RECORD and keeping it turned on. It was a win-win for everyone involved!

Happy Birthday, Peter...again!

turkey cookie

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Tuesday was my son's fifth birthday. On Monday, we went to a birthday party for two of our neighbors at one of those inflatable bouncy places. This particular place is not a chain so it is a little more, shall we say "homey" than most of these types of places. And there are lots and lots and lots of mirrors on the wall because when it is not being used as an inflatable bounce place for kids birthday parties it is used as a gym where competitive cheerleading squads practice. Thanks to these mirrors, I got a nice 2 hour long head to toe view of myself and if that doesn't make you want to go on a diet, I don't know what will. I even turned down the birthday cake...which I would never normally do.

Since this isn't a chain they play whatever kind of music they want to play. Normally, they play high- energy songs like "Who Let the Dogs Out" and "YMCA". But on Monday, Miss Deborah decided to mellow it out a little with some kiddie tunes. Right as she switched CDs, Peter ran and jumped into my arms and then "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" came on. Instinctively I started swaying to the music and singing it aloud to him.

As I was holding him and singing, memories of Gymboree Play class came flooding into my head. Instantly I was taken back to Peter at age 9 months sitting on my lap during one of the classes. I can remember tapping his head, shoulders, knees and toes to the beat of the music. Tears welled up in my eyes when I realized he was five years old now and that the time had passed in what has seemed like just a moment.

I am not a very nostalgic person. My husband likes to tell me that I have no soul. Usually he tells me this as I am throwing away junk souvenirs like ticket stubs, baseball programs, boarding passes from businesses trips, brochures picked up from rest stops, etc, My husband thinks that if anything has been in our house for more than two weeks it has a history with us and we should not destroy it. (Which probably means that he wants me to hang on to that old tuna salad in the back of the fridge.)

So even though I am not the least bit nostalgic, as soon as that song came on, I felt his life flash before my eyes in an instant. I could not believe that the same little baby that used to sit on my lap and try to pop the Gymboree bubbles as they floated past his face, could suddenly feel so long and lanky in my arms. And how could it be that the same baby that used to want nothing more than to be held by me and never wanted to be more than a few feet away from me could suddenly say, "Put me down Mom. I want to go play with my friends."

I've been humming "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" all day and am always teary-eyed by the time I get to "eyes and ears, a mouth and a nose". Maybe it's PMS or maybe I'm turning into a softy in my old age. Or maybe, just maybe, I have a soul after all. (And Dan, no this does not mean we are keeping the holey socks in your dresser drawer. I've seen them and it's time they go!)

Happy Birthday, Peter.

This is Peter holding a Bionicle he received for his birthday. He was a very happy boy!

Evidence of my uncraftiness

I have mentioned before how crafty my friend Jennwa is and how my son always wants to go live with her. That doesn't hurt my feelings at all because I figure, hey, she's got 4 kids, she probably wouldn't notice one more. And if he's over there that would leave me lots of free time to surf the web, eat bonbons, have my nails done, etc. And I'm not too upset because her son said that I was the most beautiful girl in the world. Oh wait....he said that about her.

Oh, well.

This afternoon the kids were particularly whiny. Sarah decided not to bring a balloon home from the birthday party we attended and she was regretting the decision. And to make matters worse, Peter was taunting her with his. Then he decided he wanted to go play with some toys that my parents keep at their house. They aren't home so I told him no. So he began to whine and taunt her even more with the balloon which lead her to whine even more and, well, you get the picture.

I had to get them to stop whining before my ears started to bleed so I made them put their shoes on and out the door we went. I decided that we should collect some leaves and make a craft with them! I figured the fresh air would stop the whining and the craft would help me to overcome my feelings of inferiority to Jennwa. If you've never visited her blog, you really should. She has 2,147 Halloween crafts in the October folder and she has made at least that many turkeys this month. Can't wait to see all the Christmas crafts she puts together!

Anyway, we all got some leaves and the whining miraculously stopped...thank you God..and then we headed back inside to....

Uh. Did I tell the kids we were going to make a craft with these leaves? Crap! I guess I didn't think this all the way through.

On the fly, I decided not to get too crafty and just go with some basic leaf crafts. I told them that we could glue the leaves to paper and make a collage or we could do leaf rubbings. Sarah is all about glue so she decided to make a collage. Peter wanted to just trace the leaves so I decided to try my hand at leaf rubbings.

3 minutes later this is what we had...

Peter decided tracing leaves was "stupid" so he split...

Sarah decided to dump a bottle of Elmer's glue onto her "collage". See her proud smile? See the ENTIRE bottle of glue on the paper?

And just so you know that I'm not entirely uncrafty and incapable of completing a craft, here's a picture of my beautiful rubbing.
I think I'll leave the crafting to Jennwa. Or send my kids to her house. They can craft with her while I'm eating bonbons!

We must be doing something right after all.

Saturday night was one of those nights that a mother dreads. I was home alone with the kids and they were sleeping soundly in their beds. At 11:30pm I decided I should probably head to bed myself and around 12:10am I was finally beginning to drift off. At 12:13am Peter started to scream. I ran into his room and he told me through tears that his head hurt right above his ear.

Did he just say ear? I got weak in the knees and I started to tremble. Here we go. Sarah suffered an ear infection two weeks earlier. We didn't get much sleep the night it presented itself and I knew we were in for it again. (Why do these things only happen at night?)

"Is the pain in your ear or in is it in your head?" I wasn't trying to be funny. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, all he had was a headache. Silly me.

"It's in my head at my ear," he cried. Hmmm. That didn't really narrow it down for me so I ran to get get him some cough medicine. He's had a bad cough for a couple of weeks and I was hoping that maybe that would calm him down so he could sleep.

I gave him the cough medicine and crawled back in my bed and about 2 minutes later the crying started up again. We discussed the pain again and I decided that it was indeed the dreaded ear infection. I trudged to the medicine box and got out the Ibuprofen. He was crying the whole time and complaining about the ear pain. After I gave him the medicine he said, "Mommy? Can you pray to God for me?"

"Of course I can pray to God for you sweetheart. Actually, I already have been," I said.

I smiled as I thought to myself, we must be doing something right after all.

I guess I really need to start working out.

This morning my sweet daughter asked me, "Mommy, why are your butt cheeks so big?"

Hmmm...could it be excessive consumption of ranch dip, meatballs and spinach and artichoke dip? Or perhaps my need to eat all of the Halloween candy before the kids do, my love of TV and my DVR or perhaps my disdain for exercise? There are just too many reasons to pinpoint the exact cause.....

Please don't comment on the size of my side saddles!

My husband and I have dined at Texas Ranch and Cattle several times. If you've never been I think you should try it out. It's your typical steak house with wooden floors, dark paneling, paintings of wildlife and dead animal heads hanging on the wall. You get the drift. Their signature dish is a smoked sirloin and it's delish.

The first time we went, we placed our order for the smoke sirloin and the waitress said, "What side saddle would you like with that?" Dan and I looked at one another and snickered.

Dan said, "Side saddle? Um what's um a ....side saddle?" He had a hard time getting it out. Of course a side saddle would be a side item like baked potato, mashed potato, french fries, etc. We hate it when restaurants try to get cutesy with their menus. It's so unnecessary.

We made sure to give our waitress a little extra in the tip for having to say such a silly thing.
Side saddle...puh-lease!

Anyway, we continue to snicker and joke about the side saddles and even several months later are still laughing about it. Dan looked at me last weekend and said, "Your side saddles are getting pretty big."

We won't be talking about side saddles any more.

Note - If you ever go to Texas Land and Cattle, don't get the fried pickles. I love me some fried pickles but theirs were no good. They used spears and I prefer chips when frying pickles. Why do you think I purchased a Fry Daddy in the first place?

I have a problem.

I am an addict and I am ready to admit that I have a problem.

Many of you are probably already aware of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. If you have never been there, you should visit. It is a wonderful blog and I highly recommend it. She has hundreds of commenters a day from which I can only conclude that she has thousands of readers.

She also has another blog, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. This blog too, is wonderful. She posts pictures of each step of each recipe. And her pictures of the food are gorgeous. At times, I find myself wanting to lick my computer screen. I said I had a problem but believe it or not, that isn't it.

The Pioneer Woman has a recipe for Buffalo Wings which I have never actually made but I will. Some day. I can actually taste these wings when I look at the pictures. But alas, I am very lazy and the thought of getting out the frying pan, and heating up a bunch of oil just seems like soooooo much work to me. (I am now kicking myself for selling my Fry Daddy at a yard sale. And I'm sure if my husband is reading this he is thinking I told you so, I told you so, nah, nah, nah, boo, boo! )

While I was salivating over her wings, I saw her recipe for ranch wing dip. Ahhh, now this is a recipe for me...no frying involved....just a little bit of mixing. That's something I can handle. And handle I did! Let's just say that after a mere two weeks, I am now on my fourth batch of this ranch dip.

I love ranch dressing. I'm not exactly sure when I first had it. The dressings I remember from my childhood are Thousand Island, Green Goddess, Roquefort and Miracle Whip...yes, we actually used Miracle Whip as a salad dressing...I shudder at the mere thought of that now. Once I had ranch dressing I never looked back. Every now and then I will try some newfangled fancy dressing but I always go back to ranch. Always. So I decided that if I was too lazy to make the Pioneer Woman's Buffalo Wings I could at least make her ranch dip.

And make it I did! I started out dipping broccoli. Delicious. And then carrot sticks. Delicious, too. This dip made raw vegetables taste delectable. And I even felt good about myself, because after all, I was dipping vegetables.

Then one night, while watching TV, this dip called to me from the refrigerator. At the same time some tortilla chips called to me from the pantry.

Rescue us. We need to be together. Save us. You neeeeeeed us. Help........

I paused The Office, threw down the remote control, jumped off the couch and ran to them. I had to free them from their prisons. They deserved to be together. Why hadn't I thought of that before?

After I had rescued them, I situated myself back on the couch with the bag of chips in one hand and the bowl of dip in the other and began dipping and eating and dipping and eating and I have not stopped. Why had I been wasting this wonderful dip on vegetables? I wouldn't be making that mistake again.

Four batches of dip and many bags of tortilla chips later, I am wondering why my jeans are too tight and why my muffin top is even fluffier than normal. And is that back fat hanging over my bra? It must be all the dip and chips. Sigh.

They say the first step to beating an addiction is admitting you have a problem. So, I am here today, admitting to the world that I a problem.

Hello. My name is Beth. I am a ranchoholic.