Isn't she lovely?

On Saturday afternoon, Sarah and I went with my mom to the shop where I purchased my wedding gown to see if they had anything that might be suitable for Sarah's 1st Communion.

We headed back to the section where they kept the flower girl dresses and as soon as I laid my eyes on it, I knew!  This was it.  The one.

"I love it!"  I screeched as I reached for the dress closest to me.

"I know!  Isn't it gorgeous?" said my mom.  "That's my favorite too!  I came in here last week to see if they had any cute dresses and this is the one I picked out!"

Luckily Sarah loved it as much as we both did.

You can't really see it from these pictures but it has some bead work on the top and the reason Mom and I both loved it so much is that it reminds us both of my wedding dress.

We ordered the dress in white.  The sample dress below was ivory. 

Other than the necklines, very similar dresses!

Shiny new halos are the latest in fashion accessories!

Sarah made her First Confession on Saturday morning.  As I was driving her to the church, she said several times, "I'm nervous."

"That's okay, sweetie.  All the kids are probably nervous.  In fact, grown ups are usually a little nervous when they go to Confession as well."

"Telling me that doesn't make me any less nervous."

So we prayed that God would give her courage and that he would take away her fear.

"I only have two things to tell the priest!" she declared.

"Only two things?  Do you think you need to examine your conscience a little longer?  There will be some quiet time before we get started."

"No.  I think these two are perfect.  I'm a pretty good girl after all."

After she came out of the room with the priest she exclaimed, "That was easy and now I feel like I've been washed clean and I'm wearing a shiny new halo!"  

Washed clean and wearing a shiny new halo - that's exactly what it feels like when you know your sins are forgiven and the light of God's grace fills your soul.

A real whodunit.

I swept, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen floor on Wednesday afternoon.  By Thursday afternoon, I swept the floor again and look at the amount of dirt, dust, grime, and crumbs in the dust pan.

I have to sweep the kitchen floor daily or it looks like the floor of a barn.  Although, I believe there are a few horses and cows out there that might take exception to that as they would claim they don't live in filth like apparently we do.

I was highly annoyed and extremely frustrated that less than 24 hours after sweeping, vacuuming and mopping the floor it was dirty again so I set out to figure out who I should blame for this mess so that they could start cleaning it up from now on.

I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat, got out my notepad and began to solve this mystery.

There are 5 of us living in this house.

My husband has been out of town all week so he could not possible be the one tracking in all of this dirt and dropping all of these crumbs.  Scratch him off the list.

My 92-year-old father in law, although at home all day long, rarely goes outside so in all likelihood it is probably not him messing up my pristine floors.  Scratch him off the list.

My two kids, who are high at the top of the list of suspects, spend 8 hours or more away from the house at school and various other activities.  So chances are slim that it is them tracking dirt in the house all day long.  Darn it - scratch them off the list.  I was really hoping I could place them blame on them!

That just leaves one other culprit.

The person that stays at home all day long, going in and out of the dirty garage countless times per day, and up and down the stairs to the filthy basement a couple of times a day, and out the front door through the front yard to get the mail.

Yep.  You guessed it.

It must be me!

I must be the one making this huge mess on my floors. 

So I guess it's only fitting that I'm the one that has to clean it all up.

sigh

PSA - "We're basically bathed in feces as a society."

Lately, in fast food restaurants, I have been disgusted at the drink fountain. Why, you ask?  What is the cause of your disgust, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

Have you ever noticed that whenever you go for a plastic lid to cover your drink, you accidentally pick up 5 or 6 because they always stick together?  Seriously, can you honestly think of a time when they did not stick together?

This lid-sticking-together phenomenon  not only happens to you, who I am sure has just washed your hands or at least most definitely washed your hands the last time you used the restroom, but this also happens to everyone else when they pick up a lid.

And by everyone else, I mean all the people who did not wash their hands after using the toilet.
And by everyone else, I mean all the people who did not wash their hands after sneezing into them.
And by everyone else, I mean all the people who did not wash their hands after picking their noses.

Not to scare you or anything, but just think about all of the potential germs and general grossness on all of the other people's dirty hands (because you know your hands are perfectly clean!) that has been transferred to your drink lid!  

The very same drink lid that you will be touching right before you eat and the very same drink lid that will be coming close to your very own lips!



Lately, in an effort to get a clean lid, I have been picking up a large stack of lids and using the one at the bottom of the stack.  In doing this, I hope I am eliminating a large part of the GAGG (germs and general grossness) that might potentially be on my lid.  Of course, my hands are clean so this is perfectly okay.

But I guess I really shouldn't be too worried about this because according to this study, the soda machines are actually dispensing fecal bacteria.

But take heart:

"Wherever man is there will be representation of feces," said Philip Tierno, director of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center.

"We're basically bathed in feces as a society," he said. 

Well, that makes me feel better.

 I'm off to shower now.

And to get a new bottle of hand sanitizer for my purse.

Well, I am older than she is!

Sarah:  Mommy, you look just like Mrs. Jennwa

Me:  A lot of people say that.

Sarah:  Well, you look just like her except you have way more wrinkles than she does.

ahem

In my defense, I am 4 years older than her.  That counts for a few of the wrinkles, right?  I mean she's still in her 30's for Pete's sake!

You've seen one pile, you've seen them all!

Still on Monday's quick-cleaning high, yesterday I decided to tackle my dresser.  Once again, 20 minutes was all it took to get rid of all of the old clothes and to refold everything.  I tossed just as much as I kept.  It is amazing how I like to hold on to old things just because I might want to wear it again.  After looking at the toss pile, I realized most of the items hadn't been worn in 2 or 3 years, much less the recommended toss-after-1 year-if-you-don't-wear-it limit.

Pleased with how quickly I got through my dresser, I decided there was no stopping me!  I headed into the master bathroom. I tossed lots of items from under the sink and then straightened the rest.  My husband has worn his hair very, very short for the last two year so why do we still have that half-empty bottle of hair gel? And that bottle of Excedrin. It expired 5 years ago.  5 YEARS AGO!  Yikes!

After that, I headed into the kids bathroom and purged most of the things under their sinks.  Nothing major but just a bunch of bath toys that I hadn't previously wanted to throw away because they reminded me of my sweet little babies.  But all those rubber duckies were taking up too much space. Bedsides, I have videos I can watch when I want to see my little ones when they were actually little.

So with less than 40 minutes of "work", I had cleaned out and straightened 3 different spaces.  They still aren't perfect - I don't have lots of pretty little, matching, color-coordinated baskets under my cabinets or precisely folded clothes in my dresser, but there is much less stuff and things do look much better. 

And also, one of the major projects I have been putting off is finishing since last year is my 2011 picture book.  I am only half way through the year and really hate hate hate hate hate working on it.  But I forced myself to work on it for only 20 minutes and I got through a good portion of July.

I'm pretty excited with this new 20 minute mindset.  I figure I can work on anything for 20 minutes.  If I get done, great.  If not, at least I will have made a little progress. 

And there are no pictures to go along with this post because really, if you've seen one pile of neatly folded underwear, you've seen them all!

20 minutes? That's it?

Yesterday after running a couple of miles, getting groceries, and doing 3 load of laundry, I tackled something that really needed to be done.

I cleaned out my husband's armoire.  Every time I put away a pair of his socks or a pair of his boxers I would think to myself, I really should straighten out these drawers.  And every time I folded up a sweatshirt or a sweater, I would think to myself, What a mess!

This weekend, my husband asked if I knew where a certain shirt was.   "Um, I think it's in there," I cautiously replied as I pointed toward the armoire.

"Oh," he sullenly respond, "I'll never find it then."

"Well, if you had a wife that didn't have a job and stayed home so she could take care of the kids and the house, then maybe she would clean it out."

I got a good laugh at myself as I said that because, ha! That wife is me!

So, yesterday, with nowhere else to be and no reason not to do it, I cleaned out my husband's armoire.

And you know what?  It took me less than 20 minutes.

20 minutes!  Why had I not done this before?

Well, other than I am extremely lazy, but really. Why had I been putting this off for so long?  I guess I thought it would take a lot more time than 20 minutes.

I would love to show you a before photo, but I wasn't planning to do this, I just sort of jumped in after putting away the laundry.

So here's the best before I can show you.  I'm funny, aren't I?

Here is the top of the armoire after I took out a lot of unworn items and refolded everything.  I am not a good folder so don't take off points for that.  If only I had worked at the Gap in college instead of a copy shop I might know how to fold like a pro.  I can make a mean double-sided copy though!

Here's the sock drawer. I even arranged the socks by color - athletic, grays, blacks, browns!

And here's the underwear drawer - boxers on one side, tee shirts on the other.

Here is the pile of clothes that will be going to Goodwill after my husband goes through them.  I learned a long time ago not to send anything of his to the GW without his approval. 

I'm so pleased with this quick clean-up that I am going to go find another drawer or cabinet that needs organizing or some other task that I've been ignoring.

Let's see what else I can accomplish in 20 minutes!

Pioneer Woman's Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries - A Review

I recently made a recipe from the Pioneer Woman and wanted to give an honest review from a cook that has a lot to learn but still wants to make good food. Sometimes I even want to make fancy food so that's what prompted me to try Pioneer Woman's Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries.  I'm sure Ree would say that these aren't fancy but around this house, any vegetable that didn't come from the freezer is considered fancy.

I've made it twice now and here's what I've learned. 

The first time I made it, I did not have the cranberries so I just left those out.  Instead, I added bacon because I was afraid the sprouts were going to be a little too sweet.

I think the bacon added a nice bit of saltiness and helped me to coax my meat loving people that they should eat some of the little cabbage looking things I had placed lovingly on their plates.  Telling them that there was a sugary glaze coating them also made it easier to try.

I should mention here that I goofed on the balsamic sugar reduction.  I let it cook too long and by them time I got the reduction on the Brussels sprouts, it was starting to harden.  Half the Brussels spouts had a hard candied glaze on them making them hard to chew.  The glaze on the other half had not hardened and was delicious.

Even with my goof on the glaze, I thought these were really, really good.  My father-in-law had several helpings and my husband even managed to get down a serving and commented "not bad". (My husband is a meat and potatoes and don't expect me to eat a lot of green things kind of guy.) The kids barely managed to get down one Brussels sprout.  But they did try them.

I thought they were great and couldn't wait to make them again.  The next time I made them though, I was going to use the cranberries just like PW calls for AND I was going to get the reduction right this time.

I made them on Saturday night.  I still added the bacon and I added the cranberries.

But, once again, I had trouble with the reduction.  This time I didn't let it cook long enough and it didn't thicken up.  And because it didn't cook long enough, the balsamic flavor overpowered the Brussels sprouts (Does anyone else find it annoying that it's Brussels and not Brussel?  It's driving me crazy while typing this post.) and was too tangy.  And the cranberries?  They didn't add a thing!

I will make these again even though my husband and kids won't be thrilled.  Next time I make them, I will add the bacon, leave out the cranberries and make sure that I get the glaze done properly.  I have the hardest time getting all of the dinner components on the table at the same time without something being undercooked, overcooked, or just plain cold.

Aren't they pretty?

Check out PW's site for really pretty pictures and step-by-step instructions.

Pioneer Woman's Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Balsamic Glaze.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Brussels Sprouts
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• Salt And Pepper
• 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Dried Cranberries

Preparation Instructions

Trim/clean Brussels sprouts, then cut them in half if desired (or you can leave them whole). Arrange on two baking sheets and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper and roast at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until brown.
Combine balsamic vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and reduce until very thick, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the roasted sprouts, then sprinkle on dried cranberries. Toss and serve immediately.

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She dribbles. She shoots. Luckily, she misses.

The little girl dribbled the ball. She took a shot.  It bounced off the rim.

Sarah was right underneath the basket and grabbed the rebound.  Sarah took a shot.  It bounced off the rim.

Thank goodness it didn't go in because Sarah was playing defense.

Oh, sweet Sarah. 

After weeks of telling her she needed to be more aggressive and go after the ball, she finally did it.  In her excitement, she forgot she was on defense and should have held the ball and passed it off to the point guard.

She was annoyed when I tried to talk to her about it after the game, but on Sunday afternoon Dan and I worked with her.  We practiced getting the rebound and holding it.  Hopefully that will help her in the next game.

I took a ton of pictures from Saturday's game.  In almost every picture, you can see swarms of girls from both teams going after the ball, trying to get their hands on it, trying to be a part of the game.  And in almost every picture, Sarah is in the background watching the activity - doing everything in her power to keep from touching that ball.

I can't decide if it's disinterest in the game or if she is just nervous because she's afraid if she actually gets the ball she won't know what to do with it. 

I guess all we can do is continue to work with her and hope with more practice she understands better what she's supposed to do.

What's everyone doing over there??

Is mom still taking pictures?

She loves to run up and down the court.

Her sweet coaches giving her a five and a good job for trying to take a shot!

On a positive note - she did score a point during her half time shot! And it counts so she did contribute to the final score!