the running bag total: 21

box 12: books to goodwill.
box 13, 14, 15, and 16: holly's old clothes, sold them to a pregnant woman on craigslist - she bought the one  box i had advertised, that morning i cleaned out her closet and ended up with 4 that i needed to get rid of.  so, i took all 4 with me in hopes that she'd want it all and my black moby wrap and she bought them all!  she got a great deal considering one seasonal trip to gymboree i spend as much as she bought one whole years worth of clothes...  i also threw in:
bag 17: burp clothes, towels, wash cloths, blankets, etc. from holly's infantcy that were not stained
bag 18: burp clothes, towels, wash cloths, blankets, and a bunch of my clothes that didn't fit and/or that were stained - as well as a bunch of metal or plastic hangers, all went to goodwill.
crate 19: nathaniel cleaned it out and removed it from our closet.  it included him asking "hey, do you know anyone that collects old picture frames?" and me saying "no" and him saying "well ok" and i guess they went to the dump.  either way, they are out of our closet. 
bag 20: cleaned out the door of the fridge - almost everything went OUT!  glass got emptied, washed, and recycled... plastics the same.  yay!  no more fridge door clutter.  even had room for a soda liter!
bag 21: cleaned out under our bathroom sink.  got rid of all the expired meds or meds that i've tried through the past year that i'm not going to use, bath junk we don't use (smelly oils, sun blocks that aren't zinc oxide only, things like soap and shampoo that i'm sensitive to, and stuff like dental floss tape from the dentist, it doesn't work for me!  what ever happened to dental floss?  i just buy my own!  so anyway, that was a nicely packed bag in itself!)

up next - probably after vacation:  the LINEN CLOSET!!!!!  i bet this will get me to 25...

national anthem - circus style!

dizzy holly

holly's new favorite thing to do is play ring around the rosey.

however, she doesn't know when to stop!  she always does it until she is falling over drunk from spinning...

she also doesn't like to hold hands.
she is the funniest little thing...

anyway, here are two videos of her spinning.  i was trying to take pictures of her wearing this little dress but she wanted nothing to do with me and the camera, until mom started singing to her.

announcement!

i know this isn't a big deal for anyone else, but we have big news!  we're going to the circus!

i would've never known about it if it weren't for the playgroup we're in (that as of lately we've not been participating in anyway... just hasn't been working out unfortunately).  they're doing a group trip to the circus and i didn't want to do it - mainly because i didn't think i could handle both kids by myself.

well i mentioned that "the circus was comin' to town" to nathaniel and he asked me if i wanted to go and take the children.  i said "nah, not really" and that was it.

well, i've been stewing on that for about 2 weeks now.  i think i DO want to go.  and this morning i looked up ticket prices and on opening night they were surprisingly affordable.

though it is a "school" night (thankfully, we're not in school), we're going to the circus!  holly's seat is free since she is under 2, and i'm so excited to watch them enjoy it.  at first, kendal and i were just going to have a "date", but i ended up talking nathaniel into joining us because i think holly will like it too.  i know kendal will love it - the question is how will holly react! 

so, we'll see!  i can't wait!  tomorrow night - snow or no snow, el'phnts, here we come!

gag me with a ...

i was thinking tonight that i should start a list of foods that make kendal gag.  unlike that picture that i lifted off flickr, kendal needs no spoon to gag.

rice, for one, always makes him gag.  no matter if it is "hidden" in there - it gets him ever time.  and he tries it over and over, and EVERY time he gags.

tonight, eggplant made him gag.  he tried it, he didn't like it.  he gagged about 6 times before he finally spit it out in my hand.  (thank god he's finally learned how to spit stuff out... before i had to sweep his mouth with my finger.  that is grosser than the spit-out stuff.)

peaches make him gag.  not all the time, but most of the time.  enough that i don't even make him try them very often.

mangos also make him gag.  soft as they are, they must hit him just right in his mouth.

tuna salad made him gag when he was little, but i haven't made him eat it as of lately.  i'm pretty sure he won't like it since he doesn't like any fish.

he did try salmon again tonight.  no gagging, but he was fighting it.  he kept on chewing with the wide-jaws and his eyes would roll back in his head (he is not in control of that yet - if he was faking it, then he is well on his way to a career of acting).  i kept expecting the gag, but it never came.  and he did finally swallow it.  i didn't make him eat any more of it either, because i didn't want him to be totally turned off of it.

he did eat mac and cheese tonight, which is a first.  he loved it, ate just about half the box.  good thing it was the "good" kind (whole wheat & organic - or at least the box said, but i always wonder when it is yellow colored since cheddar cheese naturally is white.)  none-the-less, he loved it and ate it up. 

i'll have to keep thinking about the gag stuff.  he has a really "easy" gag reflex, as i'm sure you can tell by this blog topic.

a conversation: the deer

("deer" meaning plural)

"look, kendal deer!"
"hi deer!  look, deer, kendal!  kendal in the window!"

the running bag total: 11

this weekend, i very sadly got rid of  3 bags to a girl who very gladly purchased them from me off craigslist.  turns out, she picked out the cotton tale paradise bedding for her upcoming first baby (boy) only to find it both "online only" and "out of stock".  that day, she also saw my new ad for all kendal's bedding and accessories, including the hamper and valences and all the crib stuff and even the odd and end decorations i had around the room to match - but not a part of the set - for sale.  

it was very hard to get rid of it because it meant i he was growing up and he wasn't a baby anymore.  i remember picking it out, i remember buying it (also online), i remember washing it for the first time, and i remember setting up his nursery and us playing his mobile just to "see what it'd sound like when he was here".  so, getting rid of those 3 bags of stuff (3 VERY LARGE BAGS i may add) was very hard.  probably the first time in my LIFE i've ever almost gotten teary eyed getting rid of anything.

but why in the world would i or should i hang on to it?  it was just taking up space, and it is just a thing.  i have the life i created in my house, and he doesn't recognize it as a part of his babyhood.  i even talked about it with him saturday night as i was packing it up - seeing if he had any attachment to any of it - and he didn't.  he didn't even want to play with the blanket or anything.  so, it was just me that loved it, not him.

anyway...  you can still see that i am getting "over" those 3 bags.

the next 3 bags were really boxes and they were 3 boxes of old stamping stuff that are not SU stuff (mainly paper and ribbon and stamps) that i have since replaced with SU brand stuff.  katelyn was the lucky recepient, and hopefully she'll find the time to make some thank you cards with them.  pretty soon she'll into "wedding season" and will have about 100 thank yous that will need to be out "yesterday" and so maybe she'll get started on making them ASAP.  ha!  right.  at least she has most of the tools now~

so, that adds 3 VERY large bags and 1 large box and 2 medium boxes to my total - which equals 11 "bags" thus far.  we're only on day 6 of lent (today is day 6) so i'm glad i'm ahead of the game.  when we go to florida, i'm not going to be able to get rid of anything...  

unfortunately, it's gonna get harder from here.  i need to get on the ball and take some pictures for EBAY... and start collecting some goodwill clothes!  

 

on a totally different note, carrots are my new favorite food.  carrots from whole foods, the kind with the plant attached.  i think i'm going to turn orange.  (yes, i cut the greens off, but the greens make them taste fresher i think! i've never had a bunch of carrots that taste this good! - they were $1.99 for about a 1.5 pound equivalent of carrots (after you cut off the tops).  YUM!  great dipped in that cream cheese stuff i made this weekend...)

a conversation

"so, what are you listening to?"
"90s music."
"so that is like oldies to you, right?"
"yes."
"i graduated high school in 1993."
"i was born in '97."

nuggets, apple jigglers, and dilly ricotta dip

i know that those of you who read my blog on a regular basis have heard me mention one of my favorite cookbooks: the petit appetit cookbook by lisa barnes

you also know about how kendal has sensory issues and just, all around, is a picky eater.  mainly due to textures (as well as flavors) but mostly his sensory issues (in his mouth) are texture.  (wonder where he got that from!)

holly does not have those same problems, however, since she started eating, she has really been the unfortunate little sister of a picky eating older brother.  we've decided that she's been very limited at home (she eats pretty much anything and everything when given the opportunity).  so, this week, i broke out the handy dandy petit appetit cookbook.

in it i marked 8 recipes i wanted to make.  to start with, i made homemade chicken nuggets.  unlike the ones i've made before, this marinade was a little different (garlic, mustard, & lemonjuice) and the end result (baked after shaking in bread crumbs) tasted more like the chicken nuggets that kendal likes.  he ate them.  (YAY!)

both kids like applesauce but as most parents know, it can be very messy.  so, i made apple jigglers.  holly likes real apples, but kendal won't touch them.  i know how to make applesauce but in this recipe, i used the kind in the little cups.   (this recipe also comes from the cookbook) put 1/4 cup of water in a medium sized glass container, put it in the microwave and get it hot/boiling, pour 1 envelope of plain (unflavored) gelatin and mix it together with a rubber spatula, and then add 2 containers (1 cup) of applesauce.  i previously lined a brownie pan (8x8 square) with plastic wrap and poured the mixture on it - after about 2 hours it was hard and i cut it into bite sized pieces. it wasn't very sweet - and it held together pretty firm (maybe more water would make it more jello-like, this was definitely like jigglers).  this would be great for a "sick" food.

now the BEST thing i made was this morning.  it is called dilly ricotta dip (from the book) and supposedly is something that the romans served to royalty.  dill is supposed to bring good luck, too.  AND, i also happened to purchase a salmon filet to cook - this will go GREAT with it. (or on a sandwich or crackers!)

i doubled the recipe, so this is what i made (not what is listed in the book):
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta (i think that low fat or non-fat would be just as good), 2Tbs fresh minced dill (i buy "fresh" dill in the squirt tube in the deli section at lowes foods), 2 tsp fresh mint (i did have to buy this in the pack... this summer, though, i can pick it out of the yard..), and 4Tsp fresh squeezed lemonjuice (basically 2 small lemons worth).  i used a whisk to mix it all together until it was creamy and WOW it was amazing to the palate.

we decided that it tasted like summer and that we wished summer was here.  except for the hot part.  :) this was a nice, cool dip!

some others i will try this week: eggplant nuggets, pumpkin polenta,  meatloaf (which i know is good, i've tried it before...)

holly's sleeping arrangement...

 

well, i already know she's about the cutest thing in the world.  but, add this to the reasons why and it is like adding more sugar to bojangles sweet tea.

holly likes to have things... "things"... in her crib with her.  so does mommy.  she, frankly, can't sleep without something to hold onto.  kendal is the same way, he has about 6 or 7 stuffed animals plus two blankets on his little bed.  (oh, and a pillow too!)  holly has seven stuffed animals, one blanket, and covers - plus her and the bumper in her bed.  sometimes i take things out (like a couple of animals or the bumper) and she sleeps horribly.  she basically needs all those things.

and, that picture shows why.  she likes to be covered.  covered by animals.  she nested herself in those stuffed animals (and her blanket).  as a matter of a fact, when i lay her down, she is always facing the opposite direction.  she sits up, moves the animals around, lays down, pulls the covers up, arranges the animals, and then lays down and finishes setting them up.  then she goes to sleep.  

no kidding.

she is a nester!  kendal does it to, but after he is asleep he moves all around (he is a thrasher) and they all end up above his pillow and the cover is at the foot of the bed save one blanket and monk monk, which is usually underneath him.

anyway, i just thought this was too cute to share.  it is hard to find her in the bed! that is why i went in to check on her, i had heard a thump (which often i do, and it is the cats) but when i looked in the monitor, i didn't see her so i thought she might have climbed out!

 

(p.s. i like her having these things in her crib because when she wakes up after nap or in the morning, she plays with them for a good 30 - 45 minutes!  she eventually throws them all out of the crib - but, in a playful way!  they are after-nap entertainment as well as nap-time snugglies!)

the running bag total: 5

like i said before, i'm not catholic.  i don't participate in lent.  thus, i am considering my "lent" to be a "season" and it started 2 weeks ago for me. 

so to hold myself accountable, i'm going to keep a running total of my bags on here!  and, nathaniel, if you have any to add, feel free to be a "guest blogger" and add them on!!!  you are a part of the household, and it is 40 bags of household clutter!  (not just mine...)

last tuesday, i took 2 bags of rocks and fossils and gave them to a bunch of cute little boys at boyscouts.  i'm helping them get their geology badge - and i think they like rocks as much as me (them AND their little sisters).  they were all precious (esp. the sisters!) and they loved them.  it was the best giving-away-of the rocks i think i've ever had.  (total:  2 bags)

in preparing for the boy scouts, i had to sort through my old, traveling rock collection and in doing so, i had a bunch of stuff that just needed to get dumped.  so, some of it went in the trash, some of it went outside (it went back "home" so to speak - it was rocks!)  (total: 3 bags)

monday, i took a box and a bag of stuff that sam couldn't wear to a girl that has a baby boy.  and, i guess from here on out i won't be passing kendal's stuff "down" to him since he's just about as big as kendal already.  sam is a big boy!  (total: 5 bags)

random comment

i always think its funny when i see a picture of myself and it looks like i have cleavage.  or any sort of significant boobage.

lol.  just sayin'.

what i want wednesday - clutter free house

i am not catholic but today i came across a blog post about what some people are doing for lent.  and though i won't be doing it for lent, i think i may do this anyway.  i'm constantly saving stuff to SELL on craigslist or ebay - and it is piling up in all corners of the house.  i have no time to photograph it - much less post it and take it to the mailbox.

so maybe what i need to do is to pass it along to someone who needs it.  you know, give it away.  i have no job, i have no prospects of a job, i need every penny i can earn, but maybe what i really need to do is give these things away and say a prayer that the Lord takes care of those less fortunate than me (and us).  because, truthfully, we have enough.  plenty enough.  (the lord is my shepherd, i shall not want!)

here is the blog where i found it.

here is the premise (copied and pasted from her blog):

Every day during Lent this year, empty one bag of 'stuff' that is no longer needed from your house, totaling a loss of forty bags of stuff!

1.) Taking a look at the size of your family and household, with an acknowledgment of how much 'stuff' is present, make a prudential choice on the size of bag to be employed during this challenge. Bag size should be small enough that the goal of 40 bags during the season of Lent is able to be accomplished, while not being too big that you are left with nothing. We must still live in the world, after all!

2.) If smaller children are a part of your family, a 'gauge' may be helpful to keep them engaged and help them keep track of progress. As part of your preparations, make a 'paper chain' of forty numbered links. As each new bag is started, place a new link in the bottom of the bag. This way, as the chain gets smaller, there is a greater sense of accomplishment.

3.) This challenge necessarily involves sacrifice. Each member of the family should be encouraged to give something to each bag, or there could be designated bags for each member of the family.

4.) Instead of just throwing things away, recycling is a great way to encourage good stewardship of the gifts we have been given, as it symbolizes that we are passing along our gifts to others. Families with children are encouraged to pass along clothes that no longer fit or toys that sit dormant in a closet to families in need instead of just throwing them away.

5.) Units of count need not necessarily be trash bags, either; however they should be equivalent. For example, a box of gently used toys or clothes could equate one bag off the chain. A stack of books donated to the parish library is another easy equivalent.

As the family accepts this challenge together, bonds will be created that will last a lifetime. Lessons are also learned not just by saying, but by putting it into practice. Here, the simple lesson will last throughout life that having fewer things can lead to a greater contentment in life.

(Credit due to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for this handout on vocations and family faith formation)

i don't even know when lent starts but i'm going to guess soon since easter is a little over a month away (and since it is 40 bags and 1 per day... that makes it sometime in Feb. when it would start...).

so i guess now the hard part is finding people to take the stuff i want to give away!?!?!  i wonder if that will be as hard as selling them!  anyone know someone in need of baby clothes? what about anyone that knows how to fix up sort-of broken bikes to be given away?  we have a couple that could be used except for flat tires and a chain that is "off the hook" so to speak.  ha!

well, anyone else want to do it?  who else is outgrowing their perfectly large house???

(p.s., i'm going to use small bags for my measurements!  i am pretty good at keeping stuff cleaned out!)

html problems

i saw this spherical tag cloud yesterday and ever since i've been trying to do the html code so i can have it on my blog.

i've tried at least 5 different blogs that "explain how" to do it - and none of them have worked yet.  they say it is SOOOO easy to do.  yet, none of them have worked.  (even one said "only three easy steps!" right!  for who, a computer programmer at IBM??)

so anyway, i still don't have the 3-d tag cloud.  but, keep checking because i'm not going to rest until i have it.
however, i do have to stop trying right now because i HAVE to get my stamping stuff finished.



(is this just me procrasting???  wait, is my chair squeaking? let me get down there and check.  wow, i never noticed how much dirt is on the floor!  i think my carpet needs vacuuming.  oh, that reminds me, my shower is dirty too. i probably need to clean it before i can take a shower.  oh, and before i can step out of my clean shower with clean feet i most certainly need a clean floor to step onto, so maybe i should start with mopping my bathroom floor.  and i suppose i should wash the rug too.  oh wait, there is laundry in the washer and dryer.  i guess i need to put that up.  well, i can go ahead and iron the shirts that need to be ironed while the kids are occupied with the wonder pets.  on, and while i'm at it, i can take pictures of kendal's size 2 shirt for katelyn's wedding, i still haven't posted pictures of that for the other mom's... oh, and while i'm waiting for that to upload, i can try working on that HTML again...)

top ten things that naturally affect climate change

1, 2, and 3 is called the Milankovitch cycle  (when the "big bang" or whatever happened when the universe formed, it created a universe, including a solar system, that isn't uniform or static.  things do not happen on a human time scale.  orbits are not round and everything wobbles, kind of like the tires on your car - though they appear round, you need them balanced to not, well, bounce!  no one balanced our solar system!)

1.  eccentricity:  shape of the earth's orbit around the sun oscillates on a 100,000 year cycle.  any small increases in distance to the sun means a huge amount of increase in solar energy.

2. axial tilt:  the earth's axis is currently tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, but this doesn't always stay the same.  oscillations in the degree of earth's axial tilt occur on a periodicity of 41,000 years from 21.5 to 24.5 degrees.  the varying amounts of sunlight around the earth during the year creates the seasons.  the teetering of the earth's tilt creates more or less seasonality. 

3.  precession:  the earth's slow wobble on its axis, much like a top that is about to fall over (not that the earth would "fall over").  the precession of earth wobbles from pointing at the north star to pointing at the star vega.  this top-like wobble has a periodicity of 23,000 years and would cause greater seasonality.

4.  sun cycles:  just like the earth, the sun also has its own cycles.  we all have heard about the flares (which is a short cycles, like every 11 years or something, clearly not associated with warming or cooling), but i'm sure that the sun wobbles, oscillates, swells, shrinks, etc. just like the rest of the universe!

5. ocean currents:  the heating or cooling of the earth's surface can cause changes in ocean currents. the ocean currents play a significant role in distributing heat around the earth so changes in these currents can bring about significant changes in climate.  stronger and more frequent el nino/la nina cycles are a result of warmer ocean temperatures.  (el nino = cold, wet winter in the southeast US = the stronger the el nino = the colder and wetter!)

7. volcanoes:  not only do volcanoes emit greenhouse gasses such as co2 and water vapor, they also create landmass that can change the circulation of the ocean.  imagine our earth before costa rica and panama were formed.  the atlantic and pacific oceans were connected and freely flowed westward - when that island arc was formed, the ocean currents drastically changed and i bet the climate changed too!!!

8. changes in greenhouse gasses:   when global temperatures become warmer, carbon dioxide is released from the oceans. i.e., when changes in the earth's orbit trigger a warm period, increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide may amplify the warming by enhancing the greenhouse effect. when temperatures become cooler, co2 enters the ocean and contributes to additional cooling.

9. water vapor: i can't NOT talk about water vapor.  water vapor is such a green house gas, people don't talk about it though.  it isn't something that affects climate change on a large scale (probably) but it is a greenhouse gas.

10.  did i say anything about people?  no.  did i say anything about burning coal, clearing land, cow farts, car emissions, CFCs, or al gore?  no (well, i not until now, anyway...). 

manic monday: the nerve of global warming

i tell ya, there aren't too many things that get under my skin.  lately, though, all this snow has caused the stupid to come out in people:  "where is global warming now?",  "bring back global warming!",  or some such status updates like that have been all over facebook or blog sites that i like to read.  

i suppose i learned a while ago that you can't argue with stupid either.  so, i don't.  i just keep my mouth shut and shake my head.  (and keep a mental record of who is saying them because i know who is "stupid"!)

folks, global warming isn't a hoax.  you can listen to rush or fox news all you want, but if you really want to learn something, you need to open a climate book and READ.  don't take their word for it.  educate yourself.  learn about the Milankovich cycles, the way the earth wobbles on its axis, the way the plates move and land is created and how that affects the ocean currents - how the oceans disperse the temperature around the globe and how those land masses affect the global climate.  learn how the climate record is studied (what are indicators) and what "has been" in the past, so maybe YOU can better understand what is happening now and in the past 100 years.

hey, maybe you can even learn about el nino and understand why we are having a cold, wet winter, and why that IS a sign of a warming ocean (which causes a strong el nino)!

people.  please.  don't be that person.

just as a disclaimer, this blog isn't stating my opinion whether or not humans are to blame for the current rate of global warming - global warming is a natural process as shown through the geological record, however the past 70 or so years has had a rapid increase in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide - some scientist attribute that to humans and the industrial revolution.

not a chicken cooker

i wish my camera was handy so i could take a picture of the bone-in split chicken breasts i made for dinner.

i used my little thermometer in the thickest part of the largest breast to make sure they were cooked enough.  my oven is horrible, it cooks very uneven.  the thermometer said it was done and the first one i cut (which was not the largest one) had a raw spot in the middle. so, i put them all back in there for an undetermined amount of time.  oh yea, they were quite a dark color when they came out (which they'd still probably be in there if nathaniel didn't say "do you think the chicken is done?).

it was so dry that i actually tried to get the kids to eat it by putting water on it "to put some moisture back in it" (nathaniel got a good laugh when i said that).  ha.  needless to say it took them about 5 minutes to chew one piece.  and that is all they would eat (wonder why).  nathaniel ate one piece, which looked like something worse than something willow would have brought up and LEFT, and it crunched.  he ate it over the sink "to catch the dust."


so i never claimed to be a good cook.  especially when it comes to meat.

10 random facts

1. i HATE the way bananas feel on my hand.  the fruit part.  it is slimy and sticky.  i equate it to the way my mom thinks a snake feels.  but, snakes don't feel like that.

2. i think i have [a mild case of] PTSD from hurricane fran.  wind = anxiety that almost sends me over the edge.  i can't focus on anything today except the wind.  my day is practically useless.  (at least it isn't raining and storming and/or dark, though.  that would be even worse.  i'd need a sleeping pill to get me through the night!!!)

3. holly likes grapes and apples.  a lot.  she saw grapes on the counter and cried for 30 minutes until i gave her one (it took me that long to figure out what she was crying about - i told you i was useless today!).  of coarse, one turned into 10.  (10 grapes really means 40 pieces since i cut them into 4 pieces each.)  i also got a couple of pink lady apples and gave her some of that - she LOVED it.

4. i forced kendal to try the apples and grapes and, well, lets just say he doesn't like them.  i also forced him to try mango and pineapple at lunch and he didn't gag.  he didn't want more either.

5. kendal can eat almost a whole can of garden peas at lunch.  maybe 12 will hit the floor.  around holly's chair, though, is like a pea-land-mine zone.  there isn't anything more unpleasant than a cold pea squished underneath your toe.  amy, it feels a lot like if you were to be "surprised" by a hairball underfoot in the middle of the night.  YUCK!!!

6. holly learned how to make the elephant sound today.  it is very spitty.

7. holly and kendal are both cutting teeth:  both upper molars too!  this is holly's first one (explains the neediness today).  kendal only has one left to cut (on the bottom) for a while!!!  yay!

8. their favorite toys this week (and last) have been the alphabet stacking blocks that melissa gave holly for her birthday (in lieu of the one she forgot to bring) and the slinky given to them both from grammy and grandpa. (to holly, the slink = a BIG bracelet! to kendal, i showed him how to hold it with one hand and throw it with the other when he fake sneezes - so he uses it as a prank.)  funny how the favorites change each week just about.

9. kendal is into movies now.  whole movies.  he watched harry and the hendersons with mom while the superbowl was on (gave granddaddy and nathaniel "peace and quiet" for the game) and this week he watched the popeye musical with nathaniel.  it is weird his attention can last that long (almost).  he really liked harry.  and the music on popeye.  holly danced to it a lot.

10.  can't get enough of this dal bukhara!  holly loves it too!  and all that tumeric turns her poop yellow! (wait, is that tmi?)

no nap today!

 

unrelated cartoon, but TRUE, SO TRUE!

i'm not saying that because i didn't have the opportunity, but, i just can't sleep!  i even put the kids down for nap early so i'd have MORE time to doze.  but, i got sidetracked making sure i packed everything for tonight's trip to washington.

no, i didn't pack any clothes, i packed stamping stuff!  i have a workshop tonight with emily, allison, leslie, and carrie.  yay!  my old washington friends... it is always great to see them.  especially when it is over crafts.

so recently i had a nightmare about this workshop, that it ended up being not just them, and it was about 50 people and they all wanted to stamp.  i didn't have the paper or the supplies (not even enough order forms) and it ended up being a bust.  i was so embarrassed.  it was similar to one of those type dreams where you find yourself naked in front of a bunch of people.  except i wasn't naked, but it was a similar type of humilation.

but, that won't happen tonight.  worst case is i forget something like a punch or something, which they probably have anyway.  we'll get by.  completely dressed.  :)

top ten : day two

this morning as soon as i got up, my brain started with things that were different today than yesterday.  so, here is a top five list of things i DID say (in my head) today.  (these are almost in order of the way they were said too!)

5.  great. no coffee.
4. i wonder if 3 m&ms are the same as 2 eggs and 2 pieces of bacon?
3. so i wonder just how far it is to dortchess?
2. i wonder if i'll get to shower today.
1. oh man.  i wish our water was hot like mamaws!

(incidentally, the red and white in dortchess does not have a website, but when i searched for it i found "sausage that would convert a vegetarian" (and i agree) - i'll tell you, until i lived in washington and ate sausage from acre station, i never liked the stuff.  when i moved back here, i haven't found any that compared:  until this stuff.  YUM.  my dad says you have to buy it in the bucket so it isn't compressed.  the flavor is great, but the texture is what is so tasty.  same with acre station in pinetown:  the texture is what makes that sausage SOOOOO good!)

 

acre station meat farm

Indestructibles

For Christmas, one of the gifts Holly got from her Aunt Katelyn were these books called "Indestructibles" - obviously they have them at Tookie's Toys.  She gave them two, but they prefer one of the two - the one titled "Wiggle!  March!" about animals on the farm.  (Holly actually likes them both, but Kendal likes this one, thus creating a tug-of-war for this one which provides me with a method of testing durability for these books as you will soon see.)

"Wiggle!  March!"
Indestructibles by Kaaren Pixton

I had never heard of such books.  Kendal wasn't a chewer or a tearer, so he never even needed anything like it.  We could trust him with paper books.

Has your child chewed off 
the corners of his/her books?

 

what about tearing the pages?

Holly, on the other hand, she's ruined more "expensive" books than I'd like to even acknowledge.  And when I say expensive books, I mean hard-back, non-board  (paper) books that generally cost more than a few dollars.  (I realize also that board books do cost more than a few dollars too, but, they are MADE for kids to chew on - and they aren't tear-able.)

Anyway, to my point.  These Indestructible books are awesome.  They claim to be "chew proof, rip proof, tear proof, grab-able, pull-able, bendable, and 100% washable."  I'm here to say that they are 100% accurate.  They are made of some sort of fibrous type material (more of a coated fabric than a paper, though it feels like paper more than like fabric, thus thin and holding its shape like a book) - sort of like paper money (except waxy feeling).  Holly and Kendal have walked on it, skated with it, chewed on it, fought over it (pulled it), sat on it and tried to grab at it, shut the door on it, etc. and i've also washed it (in the sink with dishwashing liquid just because of the whole hand foot and mouth thing...).

I don't know if you can see it, 
but the center seam is sewed in place.
Very sturdy.  
Even I can't pull the pages out.

 
Also, this book is just pictures.  No words.  This seems weird at first, but, really, how many babies can read?  Words in a baby book are just for the grown-up reading it to them.  I like the lack of words because it allows me to make up my own words.  Kendal and I just like to talk about the animals - Which one says moo?  (He flips through and finds the cow.)  Can you find the animal that eats hay? (He'll find the horse.)  What does the goat say? (He'll find the goat and then we'll talk about the goat.)  The colors are vibrant and the the discussions we've had over it have been spectacular.

Besides, since the book is only 2 months old  and has had a tough work out still looks like new.

The next time you go to a baby shower and don't know what to get:  I whole-heartedly recommend picking up one or two of the "Indestructibles" books for the baby-to-be.  The mother will thank you.  These WILL be a favorite!

A  note from the author:  
"Dear Babies:  
These books were made for YOU!"

Top Ten Things My Mom Or Dad Will Say Within Twenty-Four Hours of Us Leaving

For the snow, we went to my parent's house and spent Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and we came home today after nap.  Needless to say, my mom got "cabin fever" about midday Saturday.  We all had a blast, though, playing in the snow.  Since there were four adults (sometimes six since Mark and Kate visited on Sunday), we had plenty of people to keep the kids while we went out and played in the snow.  However, we always had one child with us. It seemed to work better taking one at a time.

Anyway, we are very grateful to my parents for allowing us to stay with them this long weekend.  We know how imposing two more adults plus two noisy kids can be to a normally quiet lifestyle, even if they are your own family.  I know they enjoyed the visit, but that doesn't mean that somewhere deep inside they were a little glad we were able to go home!!!  When we were leaving, Kendal loudly proclaimed "NOOOO!" when we told him we were going home.  I guess he would have just stayed there forever, but he did enjoy his toys at home once we got back.  Nathaniel stayed outside and, with our neighbor, shoveled our drive and the road out front at our house and at our neighbor's house.  That means he'll go to work tomorrow.

Anyway, as our show of thanks for wonderful hospitatily, we thought we'd make a top ten list of things my parents may say in the 24 hours after we left.  We mean them all in good spirits.  And, we really thing they may say them.  :)  (FYI, I like my eggs hard scrambled, or "dry," or "burnt."  Whatever you call it.  My dad, who cooks breakfast every morning - and it is better than any breakfast that you can buy at a country kitchen - likes his soft scrambled and he'll even eat them "runny" when fried.  Not me.  I can't even watch!  That will explain #9.)

Top Ten Things My Mom Or Dad Will Say Within Twenty-Four Hours of Us Leaving

10.  I only have to cook two pieces of bacon today.  That doesn't even make enough grease to cook eggs!

9. I sure am glad I don't have to "burn the eggs!"

8. I forgot how to make only a half a pot of coffee!

7. The trash can sure does smell better without poopy diapers in it.

6. It sure is nice getting to read my newspaper - one page at a time from cover to cover - without the interruption of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?"

5. I sure am glad I don't have to copy the suduko before I do it today.

4. It sure is easy to walk through the living room without any wedgits or Noah or a giraffe underfoot!

3. "Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! We're on our way to help a baby penguin and save the day!"

2. "NOT IT!" [to Maggie barking at the back door.]

\_/     \_/      \_/     \_/      \_/      \_/    [drumroll]

1. It sure is quiet in here!

snow pictures from this past weekend!

we had a great time playing in the snow.  the kids LOVED LOVED LOVED sledding.  kendal would say "again" at the bottom of the hill and holly would clap on the way down it.  kendal, however, had no interest in touching or tasting the white stuff while holly would pull her gloves off as soon as we got outside so she could dip her hands (or her gloves) in it and eat it.  she has no sense of cold!

kendal also is tall enough now (with the help of a stool, of course) to help mamaw cook.  she made cinnamon rolls and he "helped" her with the last one (the one for him that holly ate).  he still has sensory issues, so the fact he had to dip his hands in the flour started to freak him out, and then punching the dough and rolling it just about sent him over the edge.  i think he sort of liked it, or, just "helping" her anyway.  he did like washing his hands when it was over. 

ok, so here are the pictures.  we had so much fun!  (and, yes, i was wearing coveralls - not feminine at all, but very very warm!!!)
(FYI, caption comes AFTER the photo for the ones that have them...)

the assembly area at the top of the hill

long shadows!

kendal's first snow angel!

kendal's first four-wheeler ride.  he did like it, but here you can see he put his mama face back on.  some of the other photos i took from a far i zoomed in and he was smiling.

 

holly found kate's old sunglasses!  she LOVED wearing them!