Yes, the Standard American Diet really is SAD.
Tag told me yesterday that he knows that when you mix green and orange, you get pink.
Why? Because his AppleJacks made the milk turn pink.
I havn't bought cold cereal in a few weeks just because 1) it's gross, 2) it's expensive, 3) it uses a ton of (expensive) milk and, 4) they're always hungry an hour after breakfast. The Commissary had a really great deal on it though, and Man often recounts his feelings of gross deprivation as a young person when his mom only very rarely bought cold cereal. I'm starting to understand her reasons more as the budget is stretched and they experience gastrointestinal pyrotechnics (thank you, Emilie) mere hours after eating those food coloring pellets. I can buy a box of cereal for $2 or less or a couple of quarts of dried oatmeal for just over $1. Guess which one lasts longer. Add fresh fruit and maybe some yogurt and you have a meal that sticks around until lunch time.
Speaking of lunch time, Miss Princess is gone to school today! Time to dance like a lemur and get back to that schedule I was whining about.
You awesome homeschooling moms, I don't know how you do it. A friend just called and through the course of conversation talked about homeschooling her kid which brought up that niggling little urge I keep tightly caged, severely beaten, and stashed in a cellar in the back of my mind. K, wanna homeschool my kids, too, if the price is right? I can afford a handful of marbles and a jar of Nutella every week.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Remember those weekends?
Those weekends that we try to keep low-key?
Huh.
Lemme 'splain. No, there is too much. Lemme sum up.
I took the three olders out to the mud run over at the university. Apparently a lot of soldiers do the mud run so there were tons of people in their uniforms limping around with grins on their faces and absolutely caked with mud from head to toe in frigid wind. The kids spent a long while going through the inflatable obstacle courses. After a while I got jealous and joined them. Those things sure can be a workout. (the middle items under "new courses" were the ones we got to enjoy.)
Anyway, I got home to find that Man was developing a headache. I fed Frieda real quick and ran off to the store to get him some "headache meds" (Mountain Dew, which a friend of mine swears by for migraines) only to come home to find him twitching on our bedroom floor. He managed to get himself into bed but lay their writhing and clawing at his head. A quick phone call got us a babysitter and I took him to the ER. He asked me what for, I told him he needed a big ol' shot of morphine in his butt. Lo and behold, after the migraine shot didn't help, he got his shot of morphine and has spent the rest of the day in lala land. The dr asked what could have caused this sort of headache... was he experiencing any stress lately? -snort- You could say that.
Without going into details, school has been very taxing. He has attempted to convince them to give up on him and just send him on to a different job but they keep trying to do him a favor by keeping him here. This is the result.
After getting back from the ER I found that the lady who watched the kids cleaned my kitchen and living room!! She even wiped the top of the microwave. A secret, evil part of me wished Man would go to the hospital every day if that's the sort of treat I come home to.
So then I loaded up the kids and took them to Target so we could fill an Rx for Man. While there we found the movie Willow for $5 and lemon creme Hershey's kisses (75% off after Easter) that really don't taste all that great, and a huge ball for the kids to bounce around the backyard. I believe this is known as retail therapy.
Dinner was grilled burgers, tater tots, apple sauce, and a smoothie. It doesn't get much easier than that, folks. So we all watched Willow while I nursed Frieda, the kids got into bed an hour past their bedtime, and then I cleaned up from dinner in a silent house.
Man is finally awake and attempting to eat for the first time today (it's after 10 pm) and declares that he hates narcotic medicine, even if it means that his shoulder doesn't hurt for the first time in over a year.
-sigh- Hopefully tomorrow will be a day of rest.
Huh.
Lemme 'splain. No, there is too much. Lemme sum up.
I took the three olders out to the mud run over at the university. Apparently a lot of soldiers do the mud run so there were tons of people in their uniforms limping around with grins on their faces and absolutely caked with mud from head to toe in frigid wind. The kids spent a long while going through the inflatable obstacle courses. After a while I got jealous and joined them. Those things sure can be a workout. (the middle items under "new courses" were the ones we got to enjoy.)
Anyway, I got home to find that Man was developing a headache. I fed Frieda real quick and ran off to the store to get him some "headache meds" (Mountain Dew, which a friend of mine swears by for migraines) only to come home to find him twitching on our bedroom floor. He managed to get himself into bed but lay their writhing and clawing at his head. A quick phone call got us a babysitter and I took him to the ER. He asked me what for, I told him he needed a big ol' shot of morphine in his butt. Lo and behold, after the migraine shot didn't help, he got his shot of morphine and has spent the rest of the day in lala land. The dr asked what could have caused this sort of headache... was he experiencing any stress lately? -snort- You could say that.
Without going into details, school has been very taxing. He has attempted to convince them to give up on him and just send him on to a different job but they keep trying to do him a favor by keeping him here. This is the result.
After getting back from the ER I found that the lady who watched the kids cleaned my kitchen and living room!! She even wiped the top of the microwave. A secret, evil part of me wished Man would go to the hospital every day if that's the sort of treat I come home to.
So then I loaded up the kids and took them to Target so we could fill an Rx for Man. While there we found the movie Willow for $5 and lemon creme Hershey's kisses (75% off after Easter) that really don't taste all that great, and a huge ball for the kids to bounce around the backyard. I believe this is known as retail therapy.
Dinner was grilled burgers, tater tots, apple sauce, and a smoothie. It doesn't get much easier than that, folks. So we all watched Willow while I nursed Frieda, the kids got into bed an hour past their bedtime, and then I cleaned up from dinner in a silent house.
Man is finally awake and attempting to eat for the first time today (it's after 10 pm) and declares that he hates narcotic medicine, even if it means that his shoulder doesn't hurt for the first time in over a year.
-sigh- Hopefully tomorrow will be a day of rest.
Friday, March 28, 2008
wha-wha-what??
What am I supposed to do with myself? All four kids are resting at the same time, the house is clean (shocking), I have nothing to read, no new movies to watch...
yet I dare not say I'm bored for fear of the Universe eavesdropping.
yet I dare not say I'm bored for fear of the Universe eavesdropping.
Pics from the past week
We went to the park yesterday. I need to ask permission before posting pics of the other kids, since they're with a friend's child.
I never get tired of this face:
In an outfit M sent, and shoes Em sent. Yes, that sounds confusing over the phone.
Just a few pics from our walk on Sunday:
I never get tired of this face:
In an outfit M sent, and shoes Em sent. Yes, that sounds confusing over the phone.
Just a few pics from our walk on Sunday:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A gadget worth putting on the list NOW
Link
And yes, it is now officially on my list of marvelous inventions to acquire once they are available.
Yes, it would save me oodles in cookbooks. I don't buy any nowadays but I want to. Shouldn't such patience be rewarded?
And yes, it is now officially on my list of marvelous inventions to acquire once they are available.
Yes, it would save me oodles in cookbooks. I don't buy any nowadays but I want to. Shouldn't such patience be rewarded?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Gender roles
I'm the sort of person who believes that while men and women are equal, it's important to acknowledge and celebrate our differences. To this end I'm trying to figure out what exactly makes a man more than a boy. Take a moment with me and think about that.
What physical traits sets men apart from boys?
What attitudes change, evolve, or are acquired?
What behaviors are different?
What responsibilities does a man have that a boy can't/shouldn't have?
Ok, now, send me a comment or an email. I really do want to know your thoughts.
Here are a few interesting quotes a friend shared with me yesterday as we discussed this:
If by Rudyard Kipling
More thoughts as they develop.
What physical traits sets men apart from boys?
What attitudes change, evolve, or are acquired?
What behaviors are different?
What responsibilities does a man have that a boy can't/shouldn't have?
Ok, now, send me a comment or an email. I really do want to know your thoughts.
Here are a few interesting quotes a friend shared with me yesterday as we discussed this:
Attitude by Charles Swindoll [wikipedia.org]
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.
If by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about youAnd finally, a talk called Let Us Be Men by Elder D. Todd Christofferson (LDS general authority. General Conference Oct 2006, Priesthood session)
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Good men sometimes make mistakes. A man of integrity will honestly face and
correct his mistakes, and that is an example we can respect. Sometimes men try
but fail. Not all worthy objectives are realized despite one's honest and best
efforts. True manhood is not always measured by the fruits of one's labors but
by the labors themselves—by one's striving.
More thoughts as they develop.
Spring break
I was a fan of Spring Break when I was a kid. No school, sleep in, play with friends, you know the drill.
Now that I'm a mom, it really messes with my day. I love the extra time with Princess but holy cow my schedule takes a beating. I hadn't realized how dependent I was on some outer force directing my morning to be a productive, aware person.
Today I got up with Frieda at around 6 but by 8 was feeling breathlessly fatigued. So I took a gamble since PB and Pebbles were both still sleeping and Tag was happily munching on Cheerioes and crept back into bed for a catnap. Two hours later Tag came bounding into my room to ask if he could play with the neighbors, followed by two very wet girls still in their pajamas. My mind wouldn't focus on the fact that they were both soaking wet. There was something wrong with that but my Brain just wouldn't do the dirty work for me. I shooed Tag away to go play and stripped the girls out of their clothes since they were so soaked they couldn't do it themselves. Princess said something about a hose. Great. Send PB off in dry clothes to play, put little one in warm bath. Go investigate the damage.
Find that he had used the Kitchen Sink hose by standing on a chair and spraying it out the window. Ha!! Proud of him for remembering and being able to execute a prank I played on him a couple of weeks ago. Sort of upset at the mess he left and the girls tracked all over the stinking kitchen and hallway. But I had to smile and wish I had seen the girls' faces when he did it.
So today needs to be a working day. A solid three hours will put this place to perfection. I guess I just need to get dinner in the crockpot first.
Anyone know what the heck to do with short ribs? Someone moved and gave some to us but I don't know how to prepare them.
Now that I'm a mom, it really messes with my day. I love the extra time with Princess but holy cow my schedule takes a beating. I hadn't realized how dependent I was on some outer force directing my morning to be a productive, aware person.
Today I got up with Frieda at around 6 but by 8 was feeling breathlessly fatigued. So I took a gamble since PB and Pebbles were both still sleeping and Tag was happily munching on Cheerioes and crept back into bed for a catnap. Two hours later Tag came bounding into my room to ask if he could play with the neighbors, followed by two very wet girls still in their pajamas. My mind wouldn't focus on the fact that they were both soaking wet. There was something wrong with that but my Brain just wouldn't do the dirty work for me. I shooed Tag away to go play and stripped the girls out of their clothes since they were so soaked they couldn't do it themselves. Princess said something about a hose. Great. Send PB off in dry clothes to play, put little one in warm bath. Go investigate the damage.
Find that he had used the Kitchen Sink hose by standing on a chair and spraying it out the window. Ha!! Proud of him for remembering and being able to execute a prank I played on him a couple of weeks ago. Sort of upset at the mess he left and the girls tracked all over the stinking kitchen and hallway. But I had to smile and wish I had seen the girls' faces when he did it.
So today needs to be a working day. A solid three hours will put this place to perfection. I guess I just need to get dinner in the crockpot first.
Anyone know what the heck to do with short ribs? Someone moved and gave some to us but I don't know how to prepare them.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
pics
By the time we got home, all the kids were tired. Tag slept for about 3 hours. That's nail polish on the pillow.
Princess, showing her mischievous face.
Pebbles. I had taken this stroller apart so I could wash the cloth parts. It was reassembled this morning in the comfort of my living room whereupon Pebbles commandeered it as her personal throne with which to comfortably partake of the day's spoils and watch Mythbusters.
And now off to bed. This Thing has been asleep for a couple of hours.
What is it with weekends?
We always work so hard to see that our weekends involve as little work as possible. We generally go out and do something as a family either Friday evening or Saturday before vegging the rest of the weekend. Today... well. We decided to go to the Easter Egg Hunt over at one of the city buildings. I had my misgivings but the kids really wanted to do some egg hunting despite the eggs I hid last night and they spent most of the morning seeking. Our eggs even had way better candy than stinking City candy. But, oh well. So we trekked on over and arrived to find that various parts of the grounds were dedicated to different age groups. Cool, I thought, that's actually a really good idea.
Until we got to the K-2nd grade area. It seems that the heavily lopsided demographic, favoring kids 6 and younger, extends beyond our mostly-military ward. There were twice as many K-2nd graders as there were any older age group, and twice as many pre-schoolers as K-2nd's. What's more, each of these younger age groups had area dedicated to them in direct proportion to their age but inversely proportional to the number of children in said age group. Each area was roped off and, as soon as a countdown was completed, the whole flaming gaggle took off in a thick swarm, ducking and scooping like mini quarterbacks. Within 30 seconds, all visible eggs were gone. My poor Things 1 and 2 didn't get a single one. Thing 1 didn't even bother to try and stayed right next to me (adults weren't allowed on the grass). Thing 2 made a good effort but couldn't get past the crowd and wasn't aggressive enough to push through them. Let me repeat that: Tag wasn't aggressive enough... yeah, I was stunned too. Only imagine what the competition looked like. He was so sweet though, trying to be polite, his huge eyes shining at the sight of all those eggs he just couldn't quite get to in time. I watched him and saw the exact moment when he realized that all the eggs were gone and he wouldn't be getting any. Our worst misgivings were suddenly realized.
We ended up divided since Princess wanted to get in line for the bouncy houses but Tag wanted to get into the pony line. Princess got her 2 mins in the bouncy castle (the teeming throng didn't allow for much longer than that, and the lines were still staggering) and Tag got his 2 mins on the ponies. Pebbles loved looking at them but backed out of riding on one at the last minute. She loved petting the "doggies" and watching the "doggies" and saying hi to the "doggies". By the time we left she was finally calling them "ponies" but I could tell she thought we were nuts for giving them such a dumb name.
Princess was beside herself with grief over getting a mere 2 mins in the bouncy castle. She mourned all the way to the van that she didn't choose to stick around in line for what she was sure was her last chance to ever ride a pony but there was no way I was getting back into a 2 mile long line just so she could spend 2 mins on a Pony. Heartless mom? Perhaps. But my arms were ready to fall off after holding Pebbles for the first 2 mile long line. It also didn't help Princess' spirits that while in line a couple of kids gave Tag some eggs when they found out he hadn't gotten any. Thankfully he shared with Princess but nothing could heal her profoundly, unrelentingly, very noisily broken heart.
What didn't help even more was the seriously and distressingly creepy Easter Bunny who was making the rounds and scaring more adults than kids. I don't know what it is about Easter Bunnies... they're like clowns. There's something creepily pathetic and disturbed about them.
Oh well. Chipotle makes everything better so that's where we went for lunch. After that we sat in the sun and ate drippy Coldstone cones. Today was the first semi-hot day we've had a long while and the sun tasted almost as good as Cake Batter ice cream with Cookie Dough mix in. It's nice to walk around the outdoor mall with all the flowers in full bloom, no clouds, cool ocean breeze, and no one was there because they were all still standing in line to ride ponies a few miles away.
We did stumble across a Police Officer Bake Sale. It was the most bizarre bake sale I've ever seen though. They were selling all store-bought items. Sadly, Cold Stone was still weighing heavily on the stomach and lightly on the wallet so we let the kids sit on the Police Motorcycle and they each got those cool badge stickers but we didn't contribute to their Good Cause by buying a bakery croissant or Muffin of Unusual Size (Sorry, Adelheide). Princess felt better after sitting on the motorcycle. It wasn't quite as neat as a pony since the motorcycle wasn't actually moving (can you imagine? "ok kiddies, hold on with two hands while we walk you around the parking lot on this motor cycle... don't touch the siren button! or the gas! whoa! catch that kid!") but it was better than nothing.
Anyway, then we headed home where all the kids went down for rest time. Ahhhhh.. Rest time. It's a beautiful thing.
Pics forthcoming. Man is on the big computer tonight. :)
By the way, I'm just going to take a moment to set the entire world straight.
Chipotle.
Chip. ot. le.
Chip. Oat. Lay.
Now say it fast. Chip.Oat.Lay.
'Mkay?
It isn't Chip.Olt.Ay.
It isn't Chip.Olt.Ee.
It isn't Chip.Ott.Uhl.
It isn't That-Burrito-Place-I-Can't-Pronounce (even if I give you full credit for honesty).
Chip.Oat.Lay.
Chipotle.
Thank you.
Until we got to the K-2nd grade area. It seems that the heavily lopsided demographic, favoring kids 6 and younger, extends beyond our mostly-military ward. There were twice as many K-2nd graders as there were any older age group, and twice as many pre-schoolers as K-2nd's. What's more, each of these younger age groups had area dedicated to them in direct proportion to their age but inversely proportional to the number of children in said age group. Each area was roped off and, as soon as a countdown was completed, the whole flaming gaggle took off in a thick swarm, ducking and scooping like mini quarterbacks. Within 30 seconds, all visible eggs were gone. My poor Things 1 and 2 didn't get a single one. Thing 1 didn't even bother to try and stayed right next to me (adults weren't allowed on the grass). Thing 2 made a good effort but couldn't get past the crowd and wasn't aggressive enough to push through them. Let me repeat that: Tag wasn't aggressive enough... yeah, I was stunned too. Only imagine what the competition looked like. He was so sweet though, trying to be polite, his huge eyes shining at the sight of all those eggs he just couldn't quite get to in time. I watched him and saw the exact moment when he realized that all the eggs were gone and he wouldn't be getting any. Our worst misgivings were suddenly realized.
We ended up divided since Princess wanted to get in line for the bouncy houses but Tag wanted to get into the pony line. Princess got her 2 mins in the bouncy castle (the teeming throng didn't allow for much longer than that, and the lines were still staggering) and Tag got his 2 mins on the ponies. Pebbles loved looking at them but backed out of riding on one at the last minute. She loved petting the "doggies" and watching the "doggies" and saying hi to the "doggies". By the time we left she was finally calling them "ponies" but I could tell she thought we were nuts for giving them such a dumb name.
Princess was beside herself with grief over getting a mere 2 mins in the bouncy castle. She mourned all the way to the van that she didn't choose to stick around in line for what she was sure was her last chance to ever ride a pony but there was no way I was getting back into a 2 mile long line just so she could spend 2 mins on a Pony. Heartless mom? Perhaps. But my arms were ready to fall off after holding Pebbles for the first 2 mile long line. It also didn't help Princess' spirits that while in line a couple of kids gave Tag some eggs when they found out he hadn't gotten any. Thankfully he shared with Princess but nothing could heal her profoundly, unrelentingly, very noisily broken heart.
What didn't help even more was the seriously and distressingly creepy Easter Bunny who was making the rounds and scaring more adults than kids. I don't know what it is about Easter Bunnies... they're like clowns. There's something creepily pathetic and disturbed about them.
Oh well. Chipotle makes everything better so that's where we went for lunch. After that we sat in the sun and ate drippy Coldstone cones. Today was the first semi-hot day we've had a long while and the sun tasted almost as good as Cake Batter ice cream with Cookie Dough mix in. It's nice to walk around the outdoor mall with all the flowers in full bloom, no clouds, cool ocean breeze, and no one was there because they were all still standing in line to ride ponies a few miles away.
We did stumble across a Police Officer Bake Sale. It was the most bizarre bake sale I've ever seen though. They were selling all store-bought items. Sadly, Cold Stone was still weighing heavily on the stomach and lightly on the wallet so we let the kids sit on the Police Motorcycle and they each got those cool badge stickers but we didn't contribute to their Good Cause by buying a bakery croissant or Muffin of Unusual Size (Sorry, Adelheide). Princess felt better after sitting on the motorcycle. It wasn't quite as neat as a pony since the motorcycle wasn't actually moving (can you imagine? "ok kiddies, hold on with two hands while we walk you around the parking lot on this motor cycle... don't touch the siren button! or the gas! whoa! catch that kid!") but it was better than nothing.
Anyway, then we headed home where all the kids went down for rest time. Ahhhhh.. Rest time. It's a beautiful thing.
Pics forthcoming. Man is on the big computer tonight. :)
By the way, I'm just going to take a moment to set the entire world straight.
Chipotle.
Chip. ot. le.
Chip. Oat. Lay.
Now say it fast. Chip.Oat.Lay.
'Mkay?
It isn't Chip.Olt.Ay.
It isn't Chip.Olt.Ee.
It isn't Chip.Ott.Uhl.
It isn't That-Burrito-Place-I-Can't-Pronounce (even if I give you full credit for honesty).
Chip.Oat.Lay.
Chipotle.
Thank you.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Princess
I don't know where this girl got it from, but she's already really good at doing her own hair and makeup. Holy cow! She carefully combs and arranges her hair while it's still wet and uses her lipgloss on her lips and eyes to make herself as glittery pink as possible.
Here's my pretty girl after a brief photo shoot:
Here's my pretty girl after a brief photo shoot:
She started with that vacuous pose a lot of too-pretty-to-be-real models use in magazines.
Then she wanted a pic that shows off her makeup.
We finally got a nice smile.
Then we got to see a bit of the kindergartener. It's nice to know she isn't in high school yet, what with this hair and makeup stuff going on.
Disability
"Tag, please take your blanket into your room."
"I can't! My legs are soooo tired."
"Aw, poor legs. -kisses his knees- Let's go put your legs to bed so they can rest."
"No! The rest of me feels fine. I just. Can't. -groan- Move. My. -grunt, as he demonstrates how heavy and dead his legs are- Legs."
"Your legs are important though. If you don't rest them in bed they might fall off!"
"What? No they won't."
"Are you sure? They won't fall off?"
"Yeah, see -- [this is where he shakes his legs about and moves them but is sure to not let them touch the ground or bear weight]"
"Wow, I can see that your legs are not going to fall off, after all. That's ok. I'll put your blanket away."
"[here he gets all suspicious] Really?"
"Yep, the top of my closet looks a little cold. I've been wanting a nice warm blanket for it for a while."
"No!!"
"I'll race you! Whoever gets it first gets to put it away!"
[mad dash ensues wherein his legs experience a miraculous recovery, he beats me to his blanket and then to his room, but then his legs collapse again due to their overwhelming fatigue]
Fast forward to Pebbles and Mom in the bathroom, brushing teeth.
"Pebbles, do you want to go on the potty?"
"Pah-dee?"
"Yes, that thing over there. [points to pint-sized throne. Man bought it. It sings when you pee into it. Except, no one has peed into it but the kids like to wave their hands in front of the motion sensor to make it sing. Because it says funny words like "toilet" and "flush"] Potty. Do you want to pee in the potty?"
"[she points to the big toilet] Toy-it. [then points to me] Mom. Mom toy-it."
"Yes, that's the big toilet. Do you want to use the big toilet?"
"[she points to me again] Cow."
Uh-huh. Nice.
Fast forward again to Tag. He has just come back from the park and looks a bit sad.
"Mom, I'm defecating."
"What?? Erm, do you need to use the bathroom?"
"[looks confused] No. I'm defecating."
"[trying to think and not laugh] Ok, what does that mean?"
"[grunt of discontent] Moooo-ooom. It means that my sisters are being mean to me and making me not happy." [only a couple more years and he'll be saying "duh" after things like this.]
"Defecating, huh?"
"Yep."
I guess we need to quit using the longest words we can think of when trying to talk privately in front of them.
"I can't! My legs are soooo tired."
"Aw, poor legs. -kisses his knees- Let's go put your legs to bed so they can rest."
"No! The rest of me feels fine. I just. Can't. -groan- Move. My. -grunt, as he demonstrates how heavy and dead his legs are- Legs."
"Your legs are important though. If you don't rest them in bed they might fall off!"
"What? No they won't."
"Are you sure? They won't fall off?"
"Yeah, see -- [this is where he shakes his legs about and moves them but is sure to not let them touch the ground or bear weight]"
"Wow, I can see that your legs are not going to fall off, after all. That's ok. I'll put your blanket away."
"[here he gets all suspicious] Really?"
"Yep, the top of my closet looks a little cold. I've been wanting a nice warm blanket for it for a while."
"No!!"
"I'll race you! Whoever gets it first gets to put it away!"
[mad dash ensues wherein his legs experience a miraculous recovery, he beats me to his blanket and then to his room, but then his legs collapse again due to their overwhelming fatigue]
Fast forward to Pebbles and Mom in the bathroom, brushing teeth.
"Pebbles, do you want to go on the potty?"
"Pah-dee?"
"Yes, that thing over there. [points to pint-sized throne. Man bought it. It sings when you pee into it. Except, no one has peed into it but the kids like to wave their hands in front of the motion sensor to make it sing. Because it says funny words like "toilet" and "flush"] Potty. Do you want to pee in the potty?"
"[she points to the big toilet] Toy-it. [then points to me] Mom. Mom toy-it."
"Yes, that's the big toilet. Do you want to use the big toilet?"
"[she points to me again] Cow."
Uh-huh. Nice.
Fast forward again to Tag. He has just come back from the park and looks a bit sad.
"Mom, I'm defecating."
"What?? Erm, do you need to use the bathroom?"
"[looks confused] No. I'm defecating."
"[trying to think and not laugh] Ok, what does that mean?"
"[grunt of discontent] Moooo-ooom. It means that my sisters are being mean to me and making me not happy." [only a couple more years and he'll be saying "duh" after things like this.]
"Defecating, huh?"
"Yep."
I guess we need to quit using the longest words we can think of when trying to talk privately in front of them.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
pics
Once there was a cute little girl named Frieda. She had a happy existence, eating, sleeping, playing with her hands and keeping her giant servant, the Mother, busy. In fact, she had many servants smaller than the Mother who would jump to meet her every whim and fancy. Life was good. Her title as Biggest Baby in all the House was secure for no one would risk displeasing her and be the subject of the Cry of Air Raid Warning.
A fight ensued...
Until Pebbles was found out by the largest servant.
She tried to claim innocence...
A fight ensued...Until Pebbles was found out by the largest servant.
She tried to claim innocence...
But took it hard when her story was not to be believed.
After some interrogation, it was discovered that the nefarious Pirate Tag was behind the whole scheme. It was his idea to get Pebbles to teach Frieda how to highfive, knowing Frieda's disdain for paying any attention to such activities. His aim was to embarrass Pebbles so badly that she would attempt to overthrow Frieda and usurp her place as the Biggest Baby in all the House. She would reign as a puppet Baby so that Tag could act out as much as he desired but would always be able to frame Pebbles for his dastardly deeds.
You see, he had once attempted to woo Frieda herself, but was shunned. This scheme was his revenge.
Fortunately, the Chief of House Police tattled on Pebbles...
... invoking the wrath of the Mother against one and all for schemes, fights, and tattling. After all booboos had been kissed, all toes tickled, time-outs served, and peace generally restored, Frieda happily resumed her rightful place as Biggest Baby.
Over time, my dear ones, the contest for title of Biggest Baby will ebb and flow. Frieda's clear right to that position will fade in due course to be picked up and borne with bellowing and chest thumping by Man, each servant as they reach the Mysterious Puberty, and yea, even that Mother before whom all tremble when the hideous Aunt Flo disease seizes her mind.
Peace, for now, lulls our hearts into complacency.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thoughts on Monday
- Happy St. Patty's Day!
- Laundry. I finally broke downn and got myself two extra baskets for sorting. Now we have lights, darks, sanitize load, and delicates. Duh, right? Yeah. Why is this stuff so hard for me to make happen both in my head and in my life?
- Thank you, Renee, for introducing your readers to Kerflop. Today's post was much needed and appreciated. As a result I've made a decision about my morning routine. Instead of scheduling it to the gills and trying to make my whole day happen before 10 o'clock, I'm putting just a few, needful things first. Prayer, some scripture time, get ready all the way to my shoes for the day, and hug the family. That's a good, solid foundation for me.
- My 2 year old and my 2 month old wear the same size of diaper -- 3.
- A friend is offering to sell me her 3 seater stroller for a very good price. It's almost new with a wind/rain cover and it's a 3 seater JOGGING stroller with 5 point harness and recline so Frieda can even ride in it. For the price, it'd be worth it to me to buy it now and use it until Tag goes to kindergarten just so I can get out and WALK for Pete's sake. I don't quite have Man convinced but heck, we've impulsed this amount of money away on one single video game in the past. My health is so worth it.
- I finally buckled down and shopped for my first solid menu. We're going to do 4 weeks worth of rotation (buying for one week at a time) and I've finally found a system I can handle. It's just perfect enough that it does what I need it to do, but imperfect enough that I can mess with it at will. I'll be sure to let you know if it works out for me or if my head explodes.
- Man starts a new round of study this week. His orders changed so we're here for anywhere from 3 to 9 months. Ha! Don't you love the uncertainty? I find myself strangely at peace with it. We'll move when we move, and life will go on.
- I hear that my grandmother will be coming back next month after a very lengthy stay in Mexico. It'll be nice to have some family fairly close by again even if she stays only a few short weeks.
- Oddly, Man checked his orders for his next duty station and it has changed. There is no duty station listed as of yet. It's no longer Hawaii. He fiddled around with his CONUS (CONtinental US) and his OCONUS (Overseas CONtinental US) preferences and actually requested some interesting places. We'll have to see what comes through.
- Man took a klept test last week so he can default on a class for the training he's taken. After he passes his next test, he'll have a degree from a very prestigious school, renowned throughout the US. All of his current training actually counts as college credit, which brings his total attempted credits to greater than 300. Oy! That's the equivalent of 25 12 credit semesters, or 12.5 years' worth of study. After that, he has another school lined up where he'll compile all those lovely credits and finally land himself his first bachelor's degree. Won't that be cool. :)
- This past Sat we used some rain checks a friend gave us to go see Horton Hears a Who. The kids loved it and we enjoyed it as well. Good moral, beautiful movie. We may buy it when it comes out.
- Laundry. I finally broke downn and got myself two extra baskets for sorting. Now we have lights, darks, sanitize load, and delicates. Duh, right? Yeah. Why is this stuff so hard for me to make happen both in my head and in my life?
- Thank you, Renee, for introducing your readers to Kerflop. Today's post was much needed and appreciated. As a result I've made a decision about my morning routine. Instead of scheduling it to the gills and trying to make my whole day happen before 10 o'clock, I'm putting just a few, needful things first. Prayer, some scripture time, get ready all the way to my shoes for the day, and hug the family. That's a good, solid foundation for me.
- My 2 year old and my 2 month old wear the same size of diaper -- 3.
- A friend is offering to sell me her 3 seater stroller for a very good price. It's almost new with a wind/rain cover and it's a 3 seater JOGGING stroller with 5 point harness and recline so Frieda can even ride in it. For the price, it'd be worth it to me to buy it now and use it until Tag goes to kindergarten just so I can get out and WALK for Pete's sake. I don't quite have Man convinced but heck, we've impulsed this amount of money away on one single video game in the past. My health is so worth it.
- I finally buckled down and shopped for my first solid menu. We're going to do 4 weeks worth of rotation (buying for one week at a time) and I've finally found a system I can handle. It's just perfect enough that it does what I need it to do, but imperfect enough that I can mess with it at will. I'll be sure to let you know if it works out for me or if my head explodes.
- Man starts a new round of study this week. His orders changed so we're here for anywhere from 3 to 9 months. Ha! Don't you love the uncertainty? I find myself strangely at peace with it. We'll move when we move, and life will go on.
- I hear that my grandmother will be coming back next month after a very lengthy stay in Mexico. It'll be nice to have some family fairly close by again even if she stays only a few short weeks.
- Oddly, Man checked his orders for his next duty station and it has changed. There is no duty station listed as of yet. It's no longer Hawaii. He fiddled around with his CONUS (CONtinental US) and his OCONUS (Overseas CONtinental US) preferences and actually requested some interesting places. We'll have to see what comes through.
- Man took a klept test last week so he can default on a class for the training he's taken. After he passes his next test, he'll have a degree from a very prestigious school, renowned throughout the US. All of his current training actually counts as college credit, which brings his total attempted credits to greater than 300. Oy! That's the equivalent of 25 12 credit semesters, or 12.5 years' worth of study. After that, he has another school lined up where he'll compile all those lovely credits and finally land himself his first bachelor's degree. Won't that be cool. :)
- This past Sat we used some rain checks a friend gave us to go see Horton Hears a Who. The kids loved it and we enjoyed it as well. Good moral, beautiful movie. We may buy it when it comes out.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta. | |
| The Midland | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| The Inland North | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The Northeast | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
Quiz found at link.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Stolen Moments - Gifted Moments
-- Corned beef on ciabatta. One of Man's creations and something we eat only once a year. We enjoyed this for dinner today, along with some frizzled cabbage. Not a low fat meal in any regard. I consider this moment a gift. He would have been leaving today. But the orders changed.
-- Frieda fussed in Sunday school, wanting to eat. But she calmed and wouldn't eat in the mother's room at church. That was a stolen moment during which I chatted with a lot of women I might not otherwise have connected with. It reminded me of how much I've missed the company of women during my time teaching Primary.
-- Babyhood, childhood both run by so quickly. I'm the mother of a 6 year old. I love to just drop everything and hug them all occasionally. I'm sure they think that those moments are stolen. I think they're gifts.
-- Spending an hour with the husband in the middle of the day while two kids sleep and another two kids magically play well together in another room. Quiet, calm, peaceful time together while the sun is still up. Very much a gift but still slightly stolen.
-- Blogging an hour after Frieda has fallen asleep... 100% stolen.
Isn't it funny how you get to a certain age where being sent to bed for poor behavior is actually a very desirable thing? Kids just don't understand how good they have it.
-- Frieda fussed in Sunday school, wanting to eat. But she calmed and wouldn't eat in the mother's room at church. That was a stolen moment during which I chatted with a lot of women I might not otherwise have connected with. It reminded me of how much I've missed the company of women during my time teaching Primary.
-- Babyhood, childhood both run by so quickly. I'm the mother of a 6 year old. I love to just drop everything and hug them all occasionally. I'm sure they think that those moments are stolen. I think they're gifts.
-- Spending an hour with the husband in the middle of the day while two kids sleep and another two kids magically play well together in another room. Quiet, calm, peaceful time together while the sun is still up. Very much a gift but still slightly stolen.
-- Blogging an hour after Frieda has fallen asleep... 100% stolen.
Isn't it funny how you get to a certain age where being sent to bed for poor behavior is actually a very desirable thing? Kids just don't understand how good they have it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Air -- breakfast of... tired people
I'm starting to see why this Daylight Saving Time garbage can make people crash their cars. Maybe even on purpose so they can go back to sleep.
The kids are all messed up from this including Frieda. Fortunately, our van has been in the shop (inhibitor switch, nothing major) so I've gotten rides for Princess and the Little Boy we take to school every morning so Princess can get a ride every afternoon with Little Boy's mom. After she walked up to her ride's house, I went back to sleep. Not so today. Pebbles is feeling better enough to be grumpy all the time instead of almost comatose. Frieda is going through a growth spurt, is old enough to want to be up and looking around (ie, held), and all of a sudden decided that she wanted to be one of the cool kids and stay up until midnight. Well, Man and I havn't been cool kids ever since Thing #1 was born and it's been downhill ever since. We'd happily fall into bed at 8pm if we possibly could. But then Thing #4 also wanted to wake at 0430 to eat a bit and smile, smile, smile. Now that she's figured it out she does it all the time -- when we pick her up, right in the middle of eating (drool) in between yelling while she's angry at me for trying her extraordinary patience, and through tears after getting her first shots. So I can't totally resent that 0430 wake up call if I have a sweet-voiced tiny lady grinning at me like I've got chocolate milk for the day.
The only thing she won't smile for? That evil box that blinds her. aka, the camera. Phooey.
Anyway, back to breakfast. Because of my fatigue this morning I caused my alarms to cease without actually getting up to them (multiple -- one of them I have to get out of bed for) and thus we were all late this morning. Well, on the latest edge of "on time" you can get. We got home from the drop off and then I saw the half a bagel I had toasted for Princess' breakfast, untouched on the kitchen counter. Forehead smack, moment of grief, then glad that I had remembered to pack her snack today, then wondered seriously if being on time is worth sacrificing breakfast for.
She's 6 years old and growing. I meaning, growing as in one more size up and we'll be shopping in the junior's section and praying that the tween sizes this year will be appropriate for my kindergartener. We were laying on the couch, watching a movie, and her head came to my chin while her feet touched the tops of mine. Folks, I'm 6 feet tall.
Ok, back to breakfast. Normally I'm up by 5:30 with Thing #4, after which I take a shower and get some hot cereal going. We ladle it onto plates so it cools faster and sometimes we'll put less sugar in and make a smiley face out of chocolate syrup (there's that chocolate syrup again) which always reminds me of Mulan. ("Here's your breakfast and it's happy to see you!" whereupon he magically uses chopsticks to stuff wads of porridge in Mulan's mouth; there's a reason they call it "pourage".) Then we get fresh or canned fruit out to go with it.
She always comes home ravenous saying that the portions they give people her age at school are tiny. So, we always have fresh fruit or some tortilla chips and salsa for a snack, after which she'll be ravenous yet again but then I bark at her to drink water until dinner time. Yes, she gets school lunch because we're military and we can. Healthy? Nope. Convenient? You bet your Aunt Bessie's Bloomers.
Speaking of military discounts, we went to that restaurant Man really liked the other day. They have Kids Eat Free on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wow, we thought, so they know that all the families with lots of kids are going to visit on those nights. So we packed up our platoon and headed out so I wouldn't have to do dishes (I guess complaining bitterly about it does get me places). The sign on the front said that we could get one free kids' meal with the purchase of an adult meal. Great, I thought. One free kids' meal. Urgh. So, each of the kids got a meal ($4.29! Pebbles got chicken tenders and that's all the meal came with! Three stinking chicken tenders without a single veggie.) as well as a side of fruit (because there were no veggies!) Man ordered their largest appetizer tray and a steak dinner, and I got a burger (the only thing that came with veggies except for the cobb salad). It was slightly disappointing. The burger wasn't bad (how can you go wrong with bacon and avocado?) and the kids were happy to eat their dinner and I groaned inwardly at the thought of a $50 tab and swore again that I would never take the family out to eat again. Our server brought the check, placed it face-side down on the table and smiled at Man. "Don't forget your military discount!" The hair is a dead giveaway every time (this morning his had grown out to a buzz which he now calls "shaggy". 'Tis once again shaved). When all was said and done, that huge meal was less than $30. As we were leaving, a family that looked like it had two sets of young twins and a rotundly pregnant matriarch was seated near our table. It was nice to see a family even bigger than ours venturing out into public. An older lady who sat close to us throughout the meal complimented our children on their good behavior. Ah, that warms my heart. On the way out Tag and Pebbles said and waved goodbye to everyone in the restaurant which got them a lot of smiles and "awwww!"s and "oh, I just want to squeeze her"s. It was like a cheesy movie.
Then we got home and Princess said she was hungry. Argh!!!
Anyone want to borrow a 6 year old teenager for a few years?
Just kidding.
The kids are all messed up from this including Frieda. Fortunately, our van has been in the shop (inhibitor switch, nothing major) so I've gotten rides for Princess and the Little Boy we take to school every morning so Princess can get a ride every afternoon with Little Boy's mom. After she walked up to her ride's house, I went back to sleep. Not so today. Pebbles is feeling better enough to be grumpy all the time instead of almost comatose. Frieda is going through a growth spurt, is old enough to want to be up and looking around (ie, held), and all of a sudden decided that she wanted to be one of the cool kids and stay up until midnight. Well, Man and I havn't been cool kids ever since Thing #1 was born and it's been downhill ever since. We'd happily fall into bed at 8pm if we possibly could. But then Thing #4 also wanted to wake at 0430 to eat a bit and smile, smile, smile. Now that she's figured it out she does it all the time -- when we pick her up, right in the middle of eating (drool) in between yelling while she's angry at me for trying her extraordinary patience, and through tears after getting her first shots. So I can't totally resent that 0430 wake up call if I have a sweet-voiced tiny lady grinning at me like I've got chocolate milk for the day.
The only thing she won't smile for? That evil box that blinds her. aka, the camera. Phooey.
Anyway, back to breakfast. Because of my fatigue this morning I caused my alarms to cease without actually getting up to them (multiple -- one of them I have to get out of bed for) and thus we were all late this morning. Well, on the latest edge of "on time" you can get. We got home from the drop off and then I saw the half a bagel I had toasted for Princess' breakfast, untouched on the kitchen counter. Forehead smack, moment of grief, then glad that I had remembered to pack her snack today, then wondered seriously if being on time is worth sacrificing breakfast for.
She's 6 years old and growing. I meaning, growing as in one more size up and we'll be shopping in the junior's section and praying that the tween sizes this year will be appropriate for my kindergartener. We were laying on the couch, watching a movie, and her head came to my chin while her feet touched the tops of mine. Folks, I'm 6 feet tall.
Ok, back to breakfast. Normally I'm up by 5:30 with Thing #4, after which I take a shower and get some hot cereal going. We ladle it onto plates so it cools faster and sometimes we'll put less sugar in and make a smiley face out of chocolate syrup (there's that chocolate syrup again) which always reminds me of Mulan. ("Here's your breakfast and it's happy to see you!" whereupon he magically uses chopsticks to stuff wads of porridge in Mulan's mouth; there's a reason they call it "pourage".) Then we get fresh or canned fruit out to go with it.
She always comes home ravenous saying that the portions they give people her age at school are tiny. So, we always have fresh fruit or some tortilla chips and salsa for a snack, after which she'll be ravenous yet again but then I bark at her to drink water until dinner time. Yes, she gets school lunch because we're military and we can. Healthy? Nope. Convenient? You bet your Aunt Bessie's Bloomers.
Speaking of military discounts, we went to that restaurant Man really liked the other day. They have Kids Eat Free on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wow, we thought, so they know that all the families with lots of kids are going to visit on those nights. So we packed up our platoon and headed out so I wouldn't have to do dishes (I guess complaining bitterly about it does get me places). The sign on the front said that we could get one free kids' meal with the purchase of an adult meal. Great, I thought. One free kids' meal. Urgh. So, each of the kids got a meal ($4.29! Pebbles got chicken tenders and that's all the meal came with! Three stinking chicken tenders without a single veggie.) as well as a side of fruit (because there were no veggies!) Man ordered their largest appetizer tray and a steak dinner, and I got a burger (the only thing that came with veggies except for the cobb salad). It was slightly disappointing. The burger wasn't bad (how can you go wrong with bacon and avocado?) and the kids were happy to eat their dinner and I groaned inwardly at the thought of a $50 tab and swore again that I would never take the family out to eat again. Our server brought the check, placed it face-side down on the table and smiled at Man. "Don't forget your military discount!" The hair is a dead giveaway every time (this morning his had grown out to a buzz which he now calls "shaggy". 'Tis once again shaved). When all was said and done, that huge meal was less than $30. As we were leaving, a family that looked like it had two sets of young twins and a rotundly pregnant matriarch was seated near our table. It was nice to see a family even bigger than ours venturing out into public. An older lady who sat close to us throughout the meal complimented our children on their good behavior. Ah, that warms my heart. On the way out Tag and Pebbles said and waved goodbye to everyone in the restaurant which got them a lot of smiles and "awwww!"s and "oh, I just want to squeeze her"s. It was like a cheesy movie.
Then we got home and Princess said she was hungry. Argh!!!
Anyone want to borrow a 6 year old teenager for a few years?
Just kidding.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The oddest one-upmanship
DISCLAIMER: the following is a humorous interpretation of several conversations I've overheard and a few I've managed to get sucked into as well. This is, in no way, a commentary on anyone's blog post or anything you've ever said to me. It's irony of the most anonymous sort.
How NOT to be a good listener.
1: Hi, how are you?
2: Not too bad. How are you?
1: I'm alright. How's Junior doing? You mentioned yesterday that he had a cold.
2: He's doing a little better. His fevers are down to 102°. It's just frustrating that he's got this milk allergy on top of it all.
1: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. My kid only has a peanut allergy. We can't buy a single thing from the store that has even fake peanuts in it. It's a nightmare!
2: Yeah, my kid was in speech therapy when the teacher gave out chocolate bars as a reward for doing so well, I thought I was going to die.
1: Oh, I know. I detest when the snack people bring trail mix to play group! Don't they know that could kill my kid?
2: How thoughtless! That's why I quit going to playgroups.
1: Yeah, I'm going to home school. I just can't trust anyone anymore. Not even Sarah's specialist.
2: I hate all 6 specialists who have been recommended to us. They just don't listen to me!
1: My whole family thinks I'm insane about this allergy. But my therapist listens to me.
2: I know what you mean. I'm glad we go to a therapist. Our marriage might not survive without it. [laughs]
1: We go twice a month. We just can't get by without it, especially with how hard I try to get Sarah through her music lessons. I swear, getting that child to do anything with herself is just so hard!
2: I've found that Tibetian meditation helps Junior, but his ADHD makes it hard for him to sit long enough to benefit from it. I'm sure that if he could just sit still he'd be fine.
1: Yeah, Sarah is so hyper that I just can't chase her everywhere. These bunions will be the death of me.
2: Bunions? I'm so glad I don't have those, especially with these darn flat feet. I've been walking 3 miles a day whenever my knees don't hurt and I can't seem to drop a single pound.
1: I do 2 hours of elliptical twice a day and have actually gained weight. I'm just so addicted to chocolate ever since my brother died.
2: And my addiction to soda has been horrible since we've had to put sweet Fifi down!
1: I'm allergic to dogs. Which is a good thing. I have enough vacuuming to do. [laughs]
2: Well, I should go. I have 10 loads of laundry to wash.
1: Me, too. I have 15 to fold and my dinner is burning!
2: Oh, I have to go because my house is on fire!
[sigh] I have to work on my communication skills. Because my communication skills are worse than yours!! Bwahahahaha!
How NOT to be a good listener.
1: Hi, how are you?
2: Not too bad. How are you?
1: I'm alright. How's Junior doing? You mentioned yesterday that he had a cold.
2: He's doing a little better. His fevers are down to 102°. It's just frustrating that he's got this milk allergy on top of it all.
1: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. My kid only has a peanut allergy. We can't buy a single thing from the store that has even fake peanuts in it. It's a nightmare!
2: Yeah, my kid was in speech therapy when the teacher gave out chocolate bars as a reward for doing so well, I thought I was going to die.
1: Oh, I know. I detest when the snack people bring trail mix to play group! Don't they know that could kill my kid?
2: How thoughtless! That's why I quit going to playgroups.
1: Yeah, I'm going to home school. I just can't trust anyone anymore. Not even Sarah's specialist.
2: I hate all 6 specialists who have been recommended to us. They just don't listen to me!
1: My whole family thinks I'm insane about this allergy. But my therapist listens to me.
2: I know what you mean. I'm glad we go to a therapist. Our marriage might not survive without it. [laughs]
1: We go twice a month. We just can't get by without it, especially with how hard I try to get Sarah through her music lessons. I swear, getting that child to do anything with herself is just so hard!
2: I've found that Tibetian meditation helps Junior, but his ADHD makes it hard for him to sit long enough to benefit from it. I'm sure that if he could just sit still he'd be fine.
1: Yeah, Sarah is so hyper that I just can't chase her everywhere. These bunions will be the death of me.
2: Bunions? I'm so glad I don't have those, especially with these darn flat feet. I've been walking 3 miles a day whenever my knees don't hurt and I can't seem to drop a single pound.
1: I do 2 hours of elliptical twice a day and have actually gained weight. I'm just so addicted to chocolate ever since my brother died.
2: And my addiction to soda has been horrible since we've had to put sweet Fifi down!
1: I'm allergic to dogs. Which is a good thing. I have enough vacuuming to do. [laughs]
2: Well, I should go. I have 10 loads of laundry to wash.
1: Me, too. I have 15 to fold and my dinner is burning!
2: Oh, I have to go because my house is on fire!
[sigh] I have to work on my communication skills. Because my communication skills are worse than yours!! Bwahahahaha!
How did she know?
Friend Marie posted Sharing Burdens just minutes ago.
She says it so very nicely.
I especially love the lyrics to the hymn she posted.
You know, things here really do go very well. The happy moments outweigh the stress. Tonight at dinner Man and I just laughed and laughed at what the kids had to say. Tag was telling us his version of the ABC's wherein he started the whole thing by spelling his own name, because the alphabet was all about spelling his name. We had breakfast dinner -- pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I get tired of making pancakes in the same old way so tonight I got out my largest skillet and cooked plate-sized ones. Man himself could only eat one.
Did you know that maple syrup and chocolate syrup have about the same amount of sugar and calories? So, we had chocolate syrup on our pancakes tonight which the kids loved. But then, when they cleared their plates, they asked if we were going to have a treat tonight. I scoffed and told them that chocolate pancakes for dinner is enough of a treat for anyone. They weren't totally convinced. It's so rare that Tag actually eats enough dinner to get dessert anyway that whenever we eat something he likes he is sure to ask if it's a treat night. We've been shrugging off his aversion to dinner and making it a non-issue. The dinner table should be a place where people are comfortable, in my opinion, and even if he doesn't eat I don't want that to disturb our precious family time. As a result, he's eating more. He still gags on salad ("vegetables choke me... they want to kill me.") but generally is more inclined to at least try everything on the table.
Man and Princess went on a date last night. I helped her get some nicer clothes on and she even wore tinted lip gloss. He said that as soon as they were seated at a restaurant she started to talk and didn't stop until we sent her to bed that night. That poor man. So many females who just want to take up his time with talking. He's such a good sport about it though. He said the food was the best he's had in a long while (exceedingly high praise) but what did Princess order? Mac&cheese. Hehe. It was the time with dad that mattered.
Pebbles and Frieda are both ill. Frieda has more conjunctivitis and an ear infection, where Pebbles has been having fevers of 104°+ since last night. Fortunately the antipyretics are working and she's keeping a pleasant if somewhat subdued demeanor. I feel so blessed to have such sweet, enjoyable kids.
The van is also ill, so I'm looking forward to a nice couple of days of being home bound. Time to do a bit of spring cleaning around here and maybe walk a place or two.
She says it so very nicely.
I especially love the lyrics to the hymn she posted.
You know, things here really do go very well. The happy moments outweigh the stress. Tonight at dinner Man and I just laughed and laughed at what the kids had to say. Tag was telling us his version of the ABC's wherein he started the whole thing by spelling his own name, because the alphabet was all about spelling his name. We had breakfast dinner -- pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I get tired of making pancakes in the same old way so tonight I got out my largest skillet and cooked plate-sized ones. Man himself could only eat one.
Did you know that maple syrup and chocolate syrup have about the same amount of sugar and calories? So, we had chocolate syrup on our pancakes tonight which the kids loved. But then, when they cleared their plates, they asked if we were going to have a treat tonight. I scoffed and told them that chocolate pancakes for dinner is enough of a treat for anyone. They weren't totally convinced. It's so rare that Tag actually eats enough dinner to get dessert anyway that whenever we eat something he likes he is sure to ask if it's a treat night. We've been shrugging off his aversion to dinner and making it a non-issue. The dinner table should be a place where people are comfortable, in my opinion, and even if he doesn't eat I don't want that to disturb our precious family time. As a result, he's eating more. He still gags on salad ("vegetables choke me... they want to kill me.") but generally is more inclined to at least try everything on the table.
Man and Princess went on a date last night. I helped her get some nicer clothes on and she even wore tinted lip gloss. He said that as soon as they were seated at a restaurant she started to talk and didn't stop until we sent her to bed that night. That poor man. So many females who just want to take up his time with talking. He's such a good sport about it though. He said the food was the best he's had in a long while (exceedingly high praise) but what did Princess order? Mac&cheese. Hehe. It was the time with dad that mattered.
Pebbles and Frieda are both ill. Frieda has more conjunctivitis and an ear infection, where Pebbles has been having fevers of 104°+ since last night. Fortunately the antipyretics are working and she's keeping a pleasant if somewhat subdued demeanor. I feel so blessed to have such sweet, enjoyable kids.
The van is also ill, so I'm looking forward to a nice couple of days of being home bound. Time to do a bit of spring cleaning around here and maybe walk a place or two.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Holy Shrinking Tag, Batman!
Man is constantly on a quest for the largest tortillas he can find. We love chipotle style burritos and he dislikes having to make two of them with normal tortillas. I found these monsters at Smart and Final. No, Tag isn't shrinking. These things barely fit on my extra-large Pampered Chef pizza stone. I plan to make a family-sized chicken quesadilla on the pizza stone for dinner tomorrow. Triple stacked with cheese, beans, chicken and salsa, I'm sure to have leftovers.
California Rolls - by request
We made California Rolls while my mother was visiting. These things are so versatile, can be made in the morning or even the day before and are fairly easy but extremely impressive.
This recipe is written out as a process. Your final ingredient list will depend on your preferences but for convenience, the default ingredients are listed here.
3 cups rice
6 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon mirin
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cucumber
2 avodacos
1 carrot
1 pound imitation crab legs
10 sheets nori
Rice:
2 cups rice (I use basmati, no I'm not crazy. Bear with me)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Toss all three ingredients above into a rice cooker. Cook. For those of you without a rice cooker, go buy one. They're marvelous.
After your rice is done cooking, dump it into a large bowl. I use metal.
Sprinkle on the following:
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 Tablespoon mirin (rice wine, or to taste)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Use a large wooden spoon to fold ingredients in. Taste. Correct the taste if desired. Then start stirring and mashing the rice until it wants to be sort of a ball. I like to let the rice cool a bit and then use my hands. Fun.
Take a sheet of nori and place it shiny side down on a piece of plastic wrap with the lines running vertical from you. Take about 1/2 cup rice (depending on how "fluffy" you want your rolls) and spread it out in a thin layer, leaving about two inches of naked nori sheet along the edge away from you. To help with this, wet your hands and use wet hands to shmoosh the rice into the nori. This helps it stick better. Lay your filling about 1 1/2" from the edge closest to you. Don't overfill. If you do, it will fall apart and you will cry.
Filling:
1 cucumber. Peel, cut in half, deseed, hold it up to a sheet of nori and trim off the ends so that it's just as long as the nori or slightly longer. Slice it into thin sticks.
2 avocados. Cut in half around the pit, remove pit, cut into thin sticks. I've had some decent luck with mashing it a bit, too. Depends on your texture preferences.
1 carrot. Get a large carrot that's fairly uniform in girth for its entire length. Peel and make long sticks like cucumber.
Imitation crab. The leg kind is best, but if you have to get pieces then take it out of the packaging in a brick and slice into sticks.
Alternative fillings:
Egg filling
Using peanuts
With tofu
Seafood and spinach
And one I really liked a lot, mushroom and sweet potato.
You can also get a can of white albacore tuna, drain thoroughly, add a bit of mayo and salt, and spread this very thinly along the rice before adding other veggies.
Anyway, once you have your fillings of choice lined up, roll the roll. Make sure it's nice and tight along the length of the nori. You can use the plastic wrap to help you pick up that first edge. Once it's rolled, you can wet the clean edge of nori so it sticks but I never do. The moisture of the ingredients will glue it together for you when you roll it up in the plastic wrap, twist the ends, and keep them in the fridge.
This recipe makes about 10 sushi rolls. Cut each roll into 8 pieces and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with gingered soy sauce, plenty of wasabi, and either a Jane Austen or Zhang Yimou movie.
This recipe is written out as a process. Your final ingredient list will depend on your preferences but for convenience, the default ingredients are listed here.
3 cups rice
6 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon mirin
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cucumber
2 avodacos
1 carrot
1 pound imitation crab legs
10 sheets nori
Rice:
2 cups rice (I use basmati, no I'm not crazy. Bear with me)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Toss all three ingredients above into a rice cooker. Cook. For those of you without a rice cooker, go buy one. They're marvelous.
After your rice is done cooking, dump it into a large bowl. I use metal.
Sprinkle on the following:
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 Tablespoon mirin (rice wine, or to taste)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Use a large wooden spoon to fold ingredients in. Taste. Correct the taste if desired. Then start stirring and mashing the rice until it wants to be sort of a ball. I like to let the rice cool a bit and then use my hands. Fun.
Take a sheet of nori and place it shiny side down on a piece of plastic wrap with the lines running vertical from you. Take about 1/2 cup rice (depending on how "fluffy" you want your rolls) and spread it out in a thin layer, leaving about two inches of naked nori sheet along the edge away from you. To help with this, wet your hands and use wet hands to shmoosh the rice into the nori. This helps it stick better. Lay your filling about 1 1/2" from the edge closest to you. Don't overfill. If you do, it will fall apart and you will cry.
Filling:
1 cucumber. Peel, cut in half, deseed, hold it up to a sheet of nori and trim off the ends so that it's just as long as the nori or slightly longer. Slice it into thin sticks.
2 avocados. Cut in half around the pit, remove pit, cut into thin sticks. I've had some decent luck with mashing it a bit, too. Depends on your texture preferences.
1 carrot. Get a large carrot that's fairly uniform in girth for its entire length. Peel and make long sticks like cucumber.
Imitation crab. The leg kind is best, but if you have to get pieces then take it out of the packaging in a brick and slice into sticks.
Alternative fillings:
Egg filling
Using peanuts
With tofu
Seafood and spinach
And one I really liked a lot, mushroom and sweet potato.
You can also get a can of white albacore tuna, drain thoroughly, add a bit of mayo and salt, and spread this very thinly along the rice before adding other veggies.
Anyway, once you have your fillings of choice lined up, roll the roll. Make sure it's nice and tight along the length of the nori. You can use the plastic wrap to help you pick up that first edge. Once it's rolled, you can wet the clean edge of nori so it sticks but I never do. The moisture of the ingredients will glue it together for you when you roll it up in the plastic wrap, twist the ends, and keep them in the fridge.
This recipe makes about 10 sushi rolls. Cut each roll into 8 pieces and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with gingered soy sauce, plenty of wasabi, and either a Jane Austen or Zhang Yimou movie.
Shorthand
My Butterfly Princess is learning how to write and read. Watching her go through hundreds of pages and activities that teach her correct form has brought up a lot of memories of all the times throughout my academic career when people tried to elevate my handwriting to something more than legible. Hey, legible is fine with me. Soon will be the day when our kindergarteners will have typing lessons instead of handwriting lessons. At least, if I have anything to do with it.
My biggest complaint is how cramped my hand gets while taking notes. In debate they teach us how to "flow" or take notes in a linear fashion where each argument marches across a page with each subpoint arranged in descending order and likewise flowing across the length of a legal-sized piece of white paper. In this manner it's possible to see, at a glance, the evolution of a very fast paced, complex, multi-subject debate. The only problem? My handwriting.
The way I write driving directions is to indicate an action by circling a letter that begins with the desired action. For instance, (R) would be a right hand turn. (X) is a stop sign. Each action is followed by a description of where it should be done.
(R) Reservation Rd.
(L) (X) S. Davis Rd.
And always write the full address of your destination.
The only problem? My handwriting.
So why am I taking a peek at shorthand? First of all because it's cool-looking Second, it appears to be delightfully practical. Third, it's quirky which makes it automatically endearing.
Link to video of a short... well, shorthand lesson.
There are lots of different ways to write shorthand.
Observe this one that looks like a different language.
The above video looks marvelous. It looks like she would have superior normal handwriting. She makes it look so easy! It looks like a complicated version of Arabic.
But what would I use it for? In this age of phones and emails, I guess I could write up shopping lists. But then there's Recipezaar that prints them for me (complete with a little chart telling me which recipe each item is for) and, when I'm too busy to do it myself all I have to do is ask Man to go shopping for me. "Oh, just buy stuff for whatever dinners you feel like eating this week." Haha!
Here's his favorite Hoisin Chicken recipe:
The most important part of this recipe is a GOOD QUALITY hoisin sauce. I use Koon Chun which I've been able to find in both Kansas and California at Japanese or Asian markets.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into one inch pieces
For sauce
5 fluid ounces hoisin sauce
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon dried ginger
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce(use the good stuff)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
For serving with
6 cups steamed rice
Directions
1Heat olive oil in a large skillet.
2Add chicken and brown on one side. Stir briefly and then...
3Add sauce ingredients all at once. Cook at a high boil until sauce is reduced and thicker but not sticky. This can take upwards of 10 minutes. It can get insanely rich by the time it gets sticky so saucy tends to be best.
4Serve over basmati rice, with a side of sauteed stir fry veggies.
Apparently leftovers are pretty good the next day. I wouldn't know, I've never had any before. We have to make tons of this in order to have leftovers for Man's lunch.
My biggest complaint is how cramped my hand gets while taking notes. In debate they teach us how to "flow" or take notes in a linear fashion where each argument marches across a page with each subpoint arranged in descending order and likewise flowing across the length of a legal-sized piece of white paper. In this manner it's possible to see, at a glance, the evolution of a very fast paced, complex, multi-subject debate. The only problem? My handwriting.
The way I write driving directions is to indicate an action by circling a letter that begins with the desired action. For instance, (R) would be a right hand turn. (X) is a stop sign. Each action is followed by a description of where it should be done.
(R) Reservation Rd.
(L) (X) S. Davis Rd.
And always write the full address of your destination.
The only problem? My handwriting.
So why am I taking a peek at shorthand? First of all because it's cool-looking Second, it appears to be delightfully practical. Third, it's quirky which makes it automatically endearing.
Link to video of a short... well, shorthand lesson.
There are lots of different ways to write shorthand.
Observe this one that looks like a different language.
The above video looks marvelous. It looks like she would have superior normal handwriting. She makes it look so easy! It looks like a complicated version of Arabic.
But what would I use it for? In this age of phones and emails, I guess I could write up shopping lists. But then there's Recipezaar that prints them for me (complete with a little chart telling me which recipe each item is for) and, when I'm too busy to do it myself all I have to do is ask Man to go shopping for me. "Oh, just buy stuff for whatever dinners you feel like eating this week." Haha!
Here's his favorite Hoisin Chicken recipe:
The most important part of this recipe is a GOOD QUALITY hoisin sauce. I use Koon Chun which I've been able to find in both Kansas and California at Japanese or Asian markets.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into one inch pieces
For sauce
5 fluid ounces hoisin sauce
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon dried ginger
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce(use the good stuff)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
For serving with
6 cups steamed rice
Directions
1Heat olive oil in a large skillet.
2Add chicken and brown on one side. Stir briefly and then...
3Add sauce ingredients all at once. Cook at a high boil until sauce is reduced and thicker but not sticky. This can take upwards of 10 minutes. It can get insanely rich by the time it gets sticky so saucy tends to be best.
4Serve over basmati rice, with a side of sauteed stir fry veggies.
Apparently leftovers are pretty good the next day. I wouldn't know, I've never had any before. We have to make tons of this in order to have leftovers for Man's lunch.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Frieda
2 month visit brough her first round of shots. Ack! She handled it like the sweet trooper she is. She more complained than anything, uttering a battle cry rather than crying. (Anyone seen The Tick? Battle cry = Spoon!)
She's also weighing in at 14 pounds 13 ounces. I knew she was getting heavy but holy cow! She's up 5 pounds in just over a month, and 3 inches of length. For someone who started out at 21 inches, that's not too shabby. It never ceases to amaze me how very much babies change in those first couple of months.
She's also weighing in at 14 pounds 13 ounces. I knew she was getting heavy but holy cow! She's up 5 pounds in just over a month, and 3 inches of length. For someone who started out at 21 inches, that's not too shabby. It never ceases to amaze me how very much babies change in those first couple of months.
You know what's sad?
You know what's sad?
I have a bunch of half-typed blog entries that give the world a real piece of my mind (since there's only a piece left here and there anyway) or some story about baby poop that I havn't finished and posted because I know that I have some readers who don't appreciate that sort of thing.
Is it honest to omit in such a manner? For many of you, this is the best you've known me for the whole time you've known me, and yet I don't put it all on the table even in this place where I can say anything I want without getting argued with (much) or glared at for being crude. ;)
For instance, did I mention that I sprained my back three weeks ago? Nope. Why not? Well, it felt like complaining. It was so painful I couldn't walk, crawl, lift my baby or even look down. A visit to the chiropractor helped tremendously, I don't care what orthopedic surgeons want to tell me about that quackery.
What about mentioning that Frieda is the sort of baby who only poops every 2-3 days and when she does, boy, I just have to hose that child down and dump about a quart of Shout on her clothes. She becomes explosive and haz-mat whilst staring up at me with that mesmerizingly adorable little face and those blue, long-lashed eyes.
Also, I didn't mention that I had surgery two weeks ago. Why not? Because I don't have the time or patience to deflect questions and I'm simply not interested in the gajillion phone calls from people asking me to justify myself concerning an elective surgery. Decision made. All is well. Post op was great, things went perfectly. In fact, upon actually getting in there, the dr congratulated me on my wise choice based on what he found.
Ok, I'll just say it. I had a tubal ligation and an endometrial ablation. Why? Because I'm tired of hemorrhaging every month. It's fatiguing, massively painful, embarrassing when I stain my clothes every 30 mins for 3 days straight every 14-35 days, makes me anemic, and I'm really not interested in being on hormonal birth control until I hit menopause in 20 years. I have four beautiful contributions to the gene pool and I'm up to my gills in trying to care for them in the best way I know how while fixing my own messed up self and nurturing and enjoying my relationship with Husband. So, after much prayer and study, we decided to be done with having more babies and start focusing on building the home we desire.
I'll level with you: I'm a terrible homemaker. I know how to keep things clean but I'm awful at organizing, maximizing my resources, and personalizing my environment. I want better for my children but when I get pregnant I get angry, irritated, incapacitatingly tired, and from the second trimester end up in daily pain from which I can find no relief. The result is that we're all at each other's throats and we all, at one time or another, just have to walk away for a while. Why keep making a bigger family if I want to walk away from the one I have while in the process of adding to it? Why nourish a fetus if I can't bring myself to cook for the kids I've got for 8 months?
If life had been different perhaps we could have kept having kids until my child bearing years came to a natural conclusion. The reality is... we feel that our little family is complete. And we feel that we have God's blessing in this decision. And it has been done. :)
So, on to what was found. It turns out that my uterus is an over functioning little thing and, not only does like to quickly mass-produce offspring, it also produces an exceptionally thick lining. The better to nourish and cushion the offspring. But bad for me. Apparently I'm lucky to have been able to conceive and bear at all, let alone as easily as we did. And it's a good thing we got that D&C when we did to resolve a polyp that was from tissue left over from that last delivery.
The last delivery.
My last baby.
I asked lots of women how they knew when they were done having children.
"We just knew."
"It felt right."
"God said so."
"We're bad parents."
"What, you think we should have had more than 12?"
All real answers from real moms. Some stopped at 2, others... well, people from one town I lived in know who the lady with 12 kids is. Her name starts with K. ;)
And they were right. We knew, we prayed, and what, you think we should have had more than 4? Psh!! If we have more it will be because we adopt. My factory is closed!!
It didn't hurt either that right before I went in for the surgery I was talking to my chiropractor (who also happens to be my bishop) and mentioned the procedure I was going in for. After evaluating my warped and weak body, his professional assessment was that it was a decision that came not one birth too soon. I'm so crooked that I'm 18 pounds heavier on one side, with a twisted spine and a neck that bears to the right. My back is so weak that I can't sit up straight for longer than 3 mins.
My poor broken body. It's time to be free to do whatever I need to in order to fix it and enjoy it. It's time to love and savor the kids I have which I should have been doing all along.
As a bonus for reading this far I have a short video in which I try to get Frieda to smile. Doesn't work as she is too intent upon watching my camera. Oh, well. Baby yawns just slay me.
I have a bunch of half-typed blog entries that give the world a real piece of my mind (since there's only a piece left here and there anyway) or some story about baby poop that I havn't finished and posted because I know that I have some readers who don't appreciate that sort of thing.
Is it honest to omit in such a manner? For many of you, this is the best you've known me for the whole time you've known me, and yet I don't put it all on the table even in this place where I can say anything I want without getting argued with (much) or glared at for being crude. ;)
For instance, did I mention that I sprained my back three weeks ago? Nope. Why not? Well, it felt like complaining. It was so painful I couldn't walk, crawl, lift my baby or even look down. A visit to the chiropractor helped tremendously, I don't care what orthopedic surgeons want to tell me about that quackery.
What about mentioning that Frieda is the sort of baby who only poops every 2-3 days and when she does, boy, I just have to hose that child down and dump about a quart of Shout on her clothes. She becomes explosive and haz-mat whilst staring up at me with that mesmerizingly adorable little face and those blue, long-lashed eyes.
Also, I didn't mention that I had surgery two weeks ago. Why not? Because I don't have the time or patience to deflect questions and I'm simply not interested in the gajillion phone calls from people asking me to justify myself concerning an elective surgery. Decision made. All is well. Post op was great, things went perfectly. In fact, upon actually getting in there, the dr congratulated me on my wise choice based on what he found.
Ok, I'll just say it. I had a tubal ligation and an endometrial ablation. Why? Because I'm tired of hemorrhaging every month. It's fatiguing, massively painful, embarrassing when I stain my clothes every 30 mins for 3 days straight every 14-35 days, makes me anemic, and I'm really not interested in being on hormonal birth control until I hit menopause in 20 years. I have four beautiful contributions to the gene pool and I'm up to my gills in trying to care for them in the best way I know how while fixing my own messed up self and nurturing and enjoying my relationship with Husband. So, after much prayer and study, we decided to be done with having more babies and start focusing on building the home we desire.
I'll level with you: I'm a terrible homemaker. I know how to keep things clean but I'm awful at organizing, maximizing my resources, and personalizing my environment. I want better for my children but when I get pregnant I get angry, irritated, incapacitatingly tired, and from the second trimester end up in daily pain from which I can find no relief. The result is that we're all at each other's throats and we all, at one time or another, just have to walk away for a while. Why keep making a bigger family if I want to walk away from the one I have while in the process of adding to it? Why nourish a fetus if I can't bring myself to cook for the kids I've got for 8 months?
If life had been different perhaps we could have kept having kids until my child bearing years came to a natural conclusion. The reality is... we feel that our little family is complete. And we feel that we have God's blessing in this decision. And it has been done. :)
So, on to what was found. It turns out that my uterus is an over functioning little thing and, not only does like to quickly mass-produce offspring, it also produces an exceptionally thick lining. The better to nourish and cushion the offspring. But bad for me. Apparently I'm lucky to have been able to conceive and bear at all, let alone as easily as we did. And it's a good thing we got that D&C when we did to resolve a polyp that was from tissue left over from that last delivery.
The last delivery.
My last baby.
I asked lots of women how they knew when they were done having children.
"We just knew."
"It felt right."
"God said so."
"We're bad parents."
"What, you think we should have had more than 12?"
All real answers from real moms. Some stopped at 2, others... well, people from one town I lived in know who the lady with 12 kids is. Her name starts with K. ;)
And they were right. We knew, we prayed, and what, you think we should have had more than 4? Psh!! If we have more it will be because we adopt. My factory is closed!!
It didn't hurt either that right before I went in for the surgery I was talking to my chiropractor (who also happens to be my bishop) and mentioned the procedure I was going in for. After evaluating my warped and weak body, his professional assessment was that it was a decision that came not one birth too soon. I'm so crooked that I'm 18 pounds heavier on one side, with a twisted spine and a neck that bears to the right. My back is so weak that I can't sit up straight for longer than 3 mins.
My poor broken body. It's time to be free to do whatever I need to in order to fix it and enjoy it. It's time to love and savor the kids I have which I should have been doing all along.
As a bonus for reading this far I have a short video in which I try to get Frieda to smile. Doesn't work as she is too intent upon watching my camera. Oh, well. Baby yawns just slay me.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
ABCs
Yes, I'm on the computer a lot today. Lil' Sweet Pea is nursing a lot today. I'm getting fairly good at typing one-handed. This was lifted from Anne Marie's blog.
A: Attached or single? Attached
B: Best friend? Man (see above)
C: Cake or pie? Brownies.
D: Day? Yes
E: Essential Item? Hair clip.
F: Favorite Color? green, blue, purple, tan, deep rose...
G: Gum or mints? Gum
H: Home Town? Classified
I: Indulgences? Blogging when I should be doing laundry or dishes. (answer stolen from Anne Marie
J: January or July? Hm.... both. And everything in between.
K: Kids? Yep. This blog is littered with photographic evidence.
L: Life is incomplete without? time to oneself
M: Mexican or Italian food? Mexican. The authentic stuff.
N: Number of siblings? One brother (Romeo) and 2 sisters (Lima and Echo)
O: One word that describes you? Student
P: Phobia? Losing keys. I locked them in the van once and ever since have always checked twice to make sure they are about my person before closing the last door.
Q: Quote?
R: Reason to smile? Every time my Man walks through a door to where I am.
S: Season? Spring and Fall. Colors, smells, change, no extremes... love it.
T: Tag? I don't believe in tagging. Do it if you want.
U: Unknown fact about you? Um... I hate purses. I use pockets if at all possible. Otherwise, I have a waist-pouch or a backpack.
V: Vegetable you love? a really good stir-fry mix, or artichokes well-prepared.
W: Worst habit? Inconsistency.
X: X-ray or Ultrasound? Depends on what sort of either and for what reason. So far, ultrasound.
Y: Your favorite food? Good grief. Well, chocolate, I guess. But I love a good bowl of beans and rice, and fresh homemade bread and chicken soup, and fajitas with grilled veggies, oh and grilled chicken, and grilled vegetable dinner (mushrooms, peppers, onions, squash, eggplant, pineapple, zucchini and crookneck), and pulled pork and sushi... This is just as dumb as asking my favorite song.
Z: Zodiac Sign? Cancer. And every time someone asks I think of a diseased crab coming to get me!
A: Attached or single? Attached
B: Best friend? Man (see above)
C: Cake or pie? Brownies.
D: Day? Yes
E: Essential Item? Hair clip.
F: Favorite Color? green, blue, purple, tan, deep rose...
G: Gum or mints? Gum
H: Home Town? Classified
I: Indulgences? Blogging when I should be doing laundry or dishes. (answer stolen from Anne Marie
J: January or July? Hm.... both. And everything in between.
K: Kids? Yep. This blog is littered with photographic evidence.
L: Life is incomplete without? time to oneself
M: Mexican or Italian food? Mexican. The authentic stuff.
N: Number of siblings? One brother (Romeo) and 2 sisters (Lima and Echo)
O: One word that describes you? Student
P: Phobia? Losing keys. I locked them in the van once and ever since have always checked twice to make sure they are about my person before closing the last door.
Q: Quote?
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some
blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to
be encumbered with your old nonsense.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
R: Reason to smile? Every time my Man walks through a door to where I am.
S: Season? Spring and Fall. Colors, smells, change, no extremes... love it.
T: Tag? I don't believe in tagging. Do it if you want.
U: Unknown fact about you? Um... I hate purses. I use pockets if at all possible. Otherwise, I have a waist-pouch or a backpack.
V: Vegetable you love? a really good stir-fry mix, or artichokes well-prepared.
W: Worst habit? Inconsistency.
X: X-ray or Ultrasound? Depends on what sort of either and for what reason. So far, ultrasound.
Y: Your favorite food? Good grief. Well, chocolate, I guess. But I love a good bowl of beans and rice, and fresh homemade bread and chicken soup, and fajitas with grilled veggies, oh and grilled chicken, and grilled vegetable dinner (mushrooms, peppers, onions, squash, eggplant, pineapple, zucchini and crookneck), and pulled pork and sushi... This is just as dumb as asking my favorite song.
Z: Zodiac Sign? Cancer. And every time someone asks I think of a diseased crab coming to get me!
Vegetarian meatloaf
In an effort to put more whole grains, legumes, and a greater variety of veggies on the table, I've started poking around in vegetarian cooking to fluff the offerings on the table.
As a side note, you know the stupidest thing that has gotten me to start having more variety on the table?
Right. These plates were at Target for $1. So, each meal we just put something in each space. There are so many easy grain, vegetable, and legume dishes that can either be put together from fresh or frozen that I really don't have any excuse (laziness? the same absent mindedness that let Pebbles eat ALL-BRAN? yeah, I'm still shaking my head over that one.) to have a rounded meal on the table.
Here's my latest discovery:
Really Good Vegetarian Meatloaf (really!)
Ingredients
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lentils
1 small onion , diced
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)
1 egg , beaten
4 1/2 ounces spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
As a side note, you know the stupidest thing that has gotten me to start having more variety on the table?
Right. These plates were at Target for $1. So, each meal we just put something in each space. There are so many easy grain, vegetable, and legume dishes that can either be put together from fresh or frozen that I really don't have any excuse (laziness? the same absent mindedness that let Pebbles eat ALL-BRAN? yeah, I'm still shaking my head over that one.) to have a rounded meal on the table.
Here's my latest discovery:
Really Good Vegetarian Meatloaf (really!)
Ingredients
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lentils
1 small onion , diced
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)
1 egg , beaten
4 1/2 ounces spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
1Add salt to water and boil in a saucepan.
2Add lentils and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of water is evaporated.
3Remove from fire.
4Drain and partially mash lentils.
5Scrape into mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly.
6Stir in onion, oats and cheese until mixed.
7Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt and pepper.
8Mix well.
9Spoon into loaf pan that has been generously sprayed with Pam (non-stick cooking spray) or well-greased.
10Smooth top with back of spoon.
11Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown.
12Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes.
13Run a sharp knife around edges of pan then turn out loaf onto serving platter.
I used mild cheddar and Prego spaghetti sauce (left overs from using it as pizza sauce). Served with a dollop of hummus, it's absolutely delicious. If I weren't nursing I might try salsa or chipotle sauce instead of the spaghetti sauce. It's helpful to chop the onion very fine and give it a bit of a sautee before mixing it in. I'm also told that blackbeans do well in this recipe as well.
Just.... try not to think of it as a meatloaf. There's nothing wrong with Lentil Lump.
Muffins
A warning on the muffins: use fresh stawberries! I used frozen and they turned out extremely moist.
But tasty!! Of course we used almonds (walnut and pecan allergy in this home) and the strawberry butter really makes the whole concoction. Man liked it and I think would like it more when we use fresh berries.
Also, the recipe doesn't list salt. I'd add at least 1/2 teaspoon.
But tasty!! Of course we used almonds (walnut and pecan allergy in this home) and the strawberry butter really makes the whole concoction. Man liked it and I think would like it more when we use fresh berries.
Also, the recipe doesn't list salt. I'd add at least 1/2 teaspoon.
Sleepy pics
Every wonder what our morning look like?
This marvelous little person slept for 10 hours last night!!!! Mama's so proud.
This kid actually gets up at 0630 every single day. This is a posed shot.
This child is just like her mother -- no matter how much sleep she gets, the covers are ever delicious.
Nice morning hair!
Did you just take a picture of my morning hair? Dude, you're weird.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Strawberry muffins
Found another muffin recipe to try!
Strawberry Sweetheart Streusel Muffins
Strawberry Sweetheart Streusel Muffins
Of course almonds will take over for the pecans in this house. Yum!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Bad snack ideas - Or, how do our young survive to adulthood?
Yesterday Pebbles had a serving of cereal for breakfast. Then we sort of left the cereal out and she snacked on it bit by bit all day long. Then for dinner we had some very yummy red beans and rice.
This morning? She was in bed, laying on her back with her pj's unzipped, staring in horror at what snacking all day on ALL-BRAN had wrought upon her clothing. What kind of deadbeat mom looks at ALL-BRAN and thinks "hm, well, that's better than chips or candy" and absent-mindedly turns back to her laundry without even considering the repercussions?
If you've ever wondered if it helps you lose weight, I can tell you now that it certainly trimmed down my poor, skinny, little toddler's already diminutive waist. Today she's eaten with a certain caution inflamed only slightly by her body's desire to restock.
Anyway, a friend came over today and we headed for Costco to try out their digital photo printing. Can I tell you how cool this service is? You take in a memory card or a cd, plug it into thier little computers, tell it which ones to print, edit them for red eye and cropping, and one hour later it's done. Just the good ones, as many of each as you desire, and enlargement. Each 8x10" is $1.?? and great quality (4 of them, after tax, came to about $6.30). What an easy way to put my kids on the wall! You can even send them in online and go pick them up whenever you're ready. Forget school pictures (which actually got lost which was mightily upsetting), I'm going to drape some sheets and take a few pics here and call it good. Oooooh, a new hobby! :)
This morning? She was in bed, laying on her back with her pj's unzipped, staring in horror at what snacking all day on ALL-BRAN had wrought upon her clothing. What kind of deadbeat mom looks at ALL-BRAN and thinks "hm, well, that's better than chips or candy" and absent-mindedly turns back to her laundry without even considering the repercussions?
If you've ever wondered if it helps you lose weight, I can tell you now that it certainly trimmed down my poor, skinny, little toddler's already diminutive waist. Today she's eaten with a certain caution inflamed only slightly by her body's desire to restock.
Anyway, a friend came over today and we headed for Costco to try out their digital photo printing. Can I tell you how cool this service is? You take in a memory card or a cd, plug it into thier little computers, tell it which ones to print, edit them for red eye and cropping, and one hour later it's done. Just the good ones, as many of each as you desire, and enlargement. Each 8x10" is $1.?? and great quality (4 of them, after tax, came to about $6.30). What an easy way to put my kids on the wall! You can even send them in online and go pick them up whenever you're ready. Forget school pictures (which actually got lost which was mightily upsetting), I'm going to drape some sheets and take a few pics here and call it good. Oooooh, a new hobby! :)
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Tag, yet again
"Mom, we dont' have to say a prayer for snack today. I still have prayers in my stomach from breakfast."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
