World Wide Rolves

Scrapbooking Humor

2009-11-10T12:58:00.004-06:00

Trust me that, after 8 or nine hours of scrap booking when your tush and lower back are aching from sitting in the same chair all day and you've had WAY too much sugar and caffeine, the following is funny.

Scrapper 1: "I don't know why I take so many pictures of the kids when they're naked."

Scrapper 2: "Oh, yeah. We've got all kinds of naked kid pictures at our house."

[silence]

"Of our own kids, of course."

Hysteria-induced-hilarity kind of funny, but still funny.

I got about half way through 2007 in E3's album on Saturday - woo!

Finished Before I Started

2009-11-03T19:48:00.004-06:00

Okay. So, not doing NaBloPoMo this year. I didn't even think of it until just past midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning. Ah, well.

Here's some Halloween pictures instead!

A witch and her kitten attack Hannah Montana!

Spooky Jack-o-lanterns!

Weekend Sports

2009-10-28T08:54:00.009-06:00

My sinuses have been invaded! It's sad, because while I don't think my nose is anything unusually fantastic I WAS accustomed to having it on my face...and now, it will have to be whacked off so the evil mucous can be suctioned out...tsk, tsk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday evening was the Fun Meet at gymnastics for E2 and E3 - a 'show off' event for family and friends. A good time was had by all, and E3 want to go to a Fun Meet every week.

E3 on the beam.

E2 on the floor.

Medals!

Flowers!

Oh, and there was that soccer game too.

E3 loves her coach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pass the tissues - I'm going to go curl up with the Neti Pot.

They Redefine 'Game Face'

2009-10-23T18:53:00.004-06:00

So...clearly I'm settling into a new routine but haven't figured out how to add blogging to the schedule. BAH!

Next week...I resolve to add it to my week...NaBloPoMo is right around the corner after all!

Soccer again tomorrow...in the COLD...it will look something like this:

or this:

Good Times, my friends.

Bullets Over Bloggville

2009-10-14T11:52:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I did something I've never done before. I sort of...matched-up two people...for FRIENDSHIP, but still. What if they don't like each other and blame me? They are both in my Facebook Friend List, and they are the only two that...in my mind know one another...but they don't know each other in real life. So, I told them both I was introducing them to reduce my mental confusion.
Shopping for greeting cards has become a miserable experience for me. In college,I used to love standing at the card racks reading all the funny cards, some of them wickedly funny. Too often, I would buy cards with no recipient intended...relying on the belief that the right person would come to mind. Now, all I can find are cards about politics, being OLD, or just offensive in general- there are seriously WAY too many fart related cards out there. Maybe I should be card shopping on a college campus...I miss Gary Larson's Far Side.
E3, my biggest dress-lover to date, was precariously close to joining her sister's in ditching dresses in Kindergarten. I tried to help her out buy setting aside three pair of shorts that would be easy to wear under a dress/skirt, and she has many skorts...but darn those Kg boys who STILL snicker "like they think it's my underwear". BUT! The weather turned cool and we've moved on to leggings and tights, and so her fashion integrity is still intact.
I am still, STILL, reading The Unhealthy Truth...for me, it's slow-going with the non-fiction stuff...and the information is overwhelming and alarming...and continually leaves me wonder why there hasn't been more news coverage on this. The most recent stunner I've read:

"As we've already seen, European countries have often acted before our own government to protect their citizens' health. In Norway, for example, Yellow 5, a.k.a. tartrazine, is banned.

As of this writing tartrazine is not federally banned in England. Nevertheless, a whole host of companies, including the U.K. branches of Wal-Mart, Kraft, Coca-Cola, and the Mars candy company (who make M&M's), have voluntarily removed artificial colors, the preservative sodium benzoate, and even Rumsfeld's* aspartame from their products.

When I read about this in the spring of 2007, I was stunned. Our American companies had removed these harmful ingredients from their products overseas - but not here?"

*Yes, THAT Rumsfeld. According to O'Brian's research he had a lot to do with aspartame being approved by the FDA...regardless of what the independent research committees recommended.

On a happier note, I *think* I may be settling into a daily routine that has me feeling less frantic...I don't want to say that too loudly though until I've got things down.

And, Girl Scout cookie sales are almost over...a reprieve until all those boxes arrive!

One Week

2009-10-09T20:31:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe that just one week ago we were up near Chicago for a family wedding...

Family weddings have their traditions...

Rob's female cousins treat each groom to a little music therapy...last weekend they had to recruit a few Aunts...and cousins from the groom's maternal side as well.

We were supposed to head back to Chicago this weekend for a work-related meeting of Rob's...since it was a long weekend for the girls, we were going to bring them to swim at the hotel and see some Chicago sights...and visit my college roomate. However, the work meeting was re-scheduled (for the same Saturday as the wedding) and instead we found ourselves available to work at the school carnival tonight.

Due to all the rain we've had in the last...48? 60? hours, all of our Saturday plans have been cancelled. We are free to sell Girl Scout cookies with wild abandon, all over town! Or, snuggle under blankets and watch tv all day...if only we'd thought to get firewood in before all the rain came we could have a nice roaring fire...ah well, we'll take the free day anyway-they don't come around too much.

Beyoncé Filtered By A Four Year-Old

2009-10-06T13:24:00.001-06:00

"All the single legs! All the single legs!
All the single legs! All the single legs!"

~nephew D, age 4, as quoted by his Mom.

Good For A Rainy Day

2009-10-01T12:48:00.002-06:00

I heard this on the radio today, a song I haven't heard in ages. It matches today's melancholy weather.

BLARGH

2009-09-29T09:29:00.006-06:00

The honeymoon phase of being home alone is over. I seriously can't remember feeling more scattered, frenzied, discombobulated, (insert your own word here), than I have in the last couple of weeks...at least not since having a newborn.

The first two weeks or so were great - I was going to get so many things DONE! I was MOTIVATED! Clutter was going to get it's collective ass KICKED!

Sigh...

I think it's a combination of things...like how after all my recipe organization I found another stack of recipes (a small stack, but still), and how I've still got some to weed out of my fill-in cookbook, and some keepers to add to my fill-in cookbook...like how I thought I was doing so well with taking on the tubs of clothing, but I just got a bag full returned that adds to the pile waiting for E2 to grow-into, so clearly I need to be even more ruthless on what stays here...and the people in my home continue to want clean clothes and food to eat-so demanding.

I'm floundering, and oddly enough I think it's due to lack of a schedule. I've yet to figure out a good time to go help in the school library...I used to go smack in the middle of the school day, but this year the library is in use as a classroom during that hour...the time that works best for my partner-in-fighting-library-disorganization is the last hour of the school day - traditionally the time I would grant myself some "free" time to read, watch TV, or 'meditate' (a.k.a. doze-off in an upright position). When I help in the library during that last hour and then walk home with the girls I have no time to decompress, which I really like to have.

Meanwhile, my list of things I'd like to get done continues to grow...which adds to an overall feeling of 'I'm not getting enough done! panic!' and causes me to forgo that hour of 'free time' to try and get one more thing accomplished.

The one change I implemented that I enjoy is taking a morning walk. I'm not speed walking in any sense, but I'm up to 3 miles in about 40 minutes...

'U' loop through the cemetery.

...the downsides are that soon I will need to start overlapping my path because I'm running out of streets,

Sidewalk through the park.

...and walking after I drop off E3 at school causes me to feel like I'm delaying the start of my day and my morning is gone before I've gotten anything accomplished.

So, I'm working on mapping out a schedule for myself...hopefully some loose designations of 'start' and 'stop' will allow me to think I've got a handle on things.

Flashback To Summer

2009-09-22T11:36:00.003-06:00

One day last summer we struck out to see the new Stingray exhibit.

Dude, I got to hand-feed them! It was way-smooshy-cool.

So Over It

2009-09-17T15:37:00.005-06:00

Earlier this week as E3 was getting dressed for school, I tidied her bed.

"Mom, can we get rid of those blankets? They're kind of babyish."

Thinking she meant the three baby blankets piled between the sheets I said that we could indeed take those off the bed. However, when I went to remove them she stopped me.

"No, I mean those." Her bedsheets.

E3 has never been big into the princess thing. Oh, she has a princess backpack...but that was a gift and I think the fact that it's a backpack is the most important part. Nearly every princess shirt that comes out of the clothes bin gets turned away.

She never wears the play clothes dresses we have, and she never asks to watch the movies we have either. I guess she's balancing out all the viewings of Cinderella we sat through with E1.

So, I pulled out the spare set of sheets I have for her bed and offered them for her approval, mentioning that they were mine in college. She said she'd consider them.

While she was at school I washed them and made up her bed with the 'new' sheets. When she got home she said she loved them and was so glad she picked them...so much for thinking about it.

They're a nicer thread count than the princess sheets.

I'll worry she's growing up too fast when she asks to have those three baby blankets removed.

Nine Years

2009-09-14T13:38:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet E2!

She just realized the ear piercing was finished.

Small Town Discrimination

2009-09-08T13:33:00.001-06:00

Seen at our local meat market. Poor deers. (rim shot)

If You're Ticklish You'll Understand

2009-09-02T09:32:00.003-06:00

Because it's SO TRUE (But not work/child friendly). I've seen this enough times that I begin to laugh as the scene starts..."I told you to stop."

[EDIT] I removed the embedding because I didn't realize it would automatically start. The following link takes you there, and it autostarts.

Peter and Lois Tickle Fight - Family Guy

Stealing Recipes

2009-08-31T08:14:00.004-06:00

At what point does a recipe become your own? I'm not talking about something original you've created all mad scientist-like in your kitchen laBORatory. No, I mean in situations where you think, "Ooh, I'll try this", only to realize that you're missing some ingredients and you have to decide: Scrap It vs. Substitutions.

As part of my great recipe clean-up and creation of the 'Recipes to Try' binder, I've been making some new things and marking them up in the binder... x-ing them out if they're flops, or writing 'good' next to the ones we like. If I've made substitutions I note that as well.

One day, for an after school snack...(full disclosure here - I HATE the after school snack because it's a mighty pain in the ass. I'm usually like 'grab an apple' and the girls are all 'wait, you didn't make us a four-course spread of frosted deliciousness?')... SO! One day, I decided to make this recipe I'd put in the binder; a Pampered Chef recipe that came with their 'My Safe Cutter' called Butterscotch Dip.

Butterscotch Dip by Pampered Chef

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. butterscotch ice cream topping
1 T packed brown sugar
1 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in 1-Qt. Batter Bowl*; mix with Bamboo Spoon until smooth. Chill. Serve with apples, strawberries, pears, bananas, etc., sliced with My Safe Cutter.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups.

* I find it annoying that they've always got their products called out in a recipe.

Only, I realized too late that I didn't have butterscotch ice cream topping...but I DID have caramel and what's better with apples than caramel, right? Right. And THEN, since I was feeling the caramel apple thing, I thought PECANS! Chopped pecans would be great with this...AND pecans add protein, don't they? I chopped some pecans (direct from a tree, not purchased in a store, because the purchased ones have a peanut warning) and left them 'on the side' since E2 doesn't always like pecans in stuff.

Caramel Apple Dip by Nancy

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. caramel ice cream topping
1 T packed brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 C. chopped pecans

Combine first four ingredients in bowl; mix until smooth. Stir in pecans. Chill. Serve with apple slices.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups.

They LOVED it. The four of us ate three apples and there was dip left over...and since we all liked the pecans we finally tossed them into the dip and mixed it all together.

I made my version again Saturday night when we went over to a backyard party at a friend's house, and it got RAVE reviews.

So my question - is it now MY recipe, or is it a Pampered Chef recipe that I changed?

It's Been Almost Two Weeks

2009-08-28T13:44:00.004-06:00

And I'm finally posting first day of school pictures.

The End Of An Era

2009-08-26T10:00:00.002-06:00

Rob heard a rumor that our local pool would be taking their high-dive down after this summer, so we took advantage of a night free of activities the last week the pool was open to get in a few last jumps. And of course, by 'we' I mean the girls.

E3's first time...well, one of them...I had camera issues and she jumped off three times.

E2 Dives

The word is that they'll be doing some major repairs and improvements in the off-season which will require removing the dives...and since the high-dive was grandfathered-in when regulations changed years ago, once it comes down it can't be put back.

Rob thinks it will go to that place in the sky where all the metal playground equipment from our youth has gone.

They Say It's My Birthday

2009-08-24T08:17:00.004-06:00

It would be a true gift to me if you would leave Julia a comment; words of support, or just a friendly hello.

Armed

2009-08-21T10:00:00.001-06:00

Monday morning found me at school, schooling the staff in the art of emergency Epi-pen usage; I taught them how to stab my peanut-free girl using my collection of expired Epi-pens and a couple of oranges. They've been truly great and accommodating regarding changes they've had to make to become "peanut safe" for us, asking for my input at every turn.

Peanut-related issues have been a part of our lives for so long now, I don't always think of new things we should be doing, talking about, or adding to our already 'in place' routines. Like teaching E3 to recognize the word 'peanut'...five is plenty old enough for her to know that so she can help us read labels, but it didn't occur to me do that until a few weeks ago.

I read the two peanut story books we have again last week. When you add that with a new shirt for her Build-A-Bear you get some serious inspiration:

Teddy is ready for school.

She's wearing her allergy bracelet...

and carrying her Hello Kitty! bag.

This is E3's old Hello Kitty! bag:

So sad, but it's had a nice long life.

We picked that up for her back in...2006, while in Savannah, GA, for Rob's annual work conference. It was the perfect size for a diaper, a travel-pack of wipes, E3's Epi-pens, and a few other odds and ends like a mini box of raisins and some small books. It went EVERYWHERE with her - literally.

For school, we needed another bag and decided to upgrade from the Hello Kitty! Now we have a simple black bag from Allergykids.com for home use, and a screaming neon green bag for school use...

Check One Off The List

2009-08-19T14:10:00.001-06:00

The approach of the school year triggered some latent over-achiever personality trait in me... behold the following scenes from my recipe sorting process:

This was after eliminating about half of the stack...

See why I'm hiring a personal chef when I win the lottery? There are so many things someone could cook for me! And then, there were the already-tried recipes that needed a permanent home, and recipes with a permanent home that really aren't seeing any action and have been flagged because they may need to be booted from the property...

But it's all better now...

I'm reading The Unhealthy Truth, a book I stumbled across during my most recent round of peanut allergy research. It's written by the founder of Allergykids.com.

They're all bindered-up category-like, just waiting to be tried. Will they be kept? Will they be eliminated? It's anybodies guess!

She'll Be Driving Next Week

2009-08-17T15:13:00.002-06:00

Where Does One Buy Some Common Sense?

2009-08-14T15:17:00.004-06:00

Today I had a meeting at school...a meeting with the K teachers, cafeteria workers, and Superintendent...regarding the peanut policies at school. My girls agreed to walk along and play on the school playground. As they walked away from me toward the playground, the custodian (who was power-washing the front walk, etc) informed me the front door was locked and I would have to use "that door over there"...and I mistakenly understood 'that door' to be the one by the cafeteria. So that is what I called to the girls as they were walking away, "The front door is locked - you'll need to use the door by the cafeteria." Then I headed that way, only to realize that Mr. W the custodian meant the door by the music room - there was an "Enter building here." sign and everything. I did not go and tell the girls - confident that on their way to the cafeteria door they'd see the sign.

E2, tired of the playground, entered the building the same way I did.

E3 and E1 remained outside until E3 complained that it was too hot and she wanted a drink of water and then they began their trek to enter the building...they bypassed the music room door with the sign and continued to the cafeteria door, which was locked without anyone nearby (the cafeteria ladies were in the meeting with me). So, knowing E3 was thirsty, E1 set off on a 5-6 block walk to the park where she knew there is a water fountain and then walked back again.

Nice survival skills at least, right?

Sure, except that in addition to completely missing the 'Enter building here' sign, she didn't even try any of the other doors of the building - the building where she's been attending school for six years so she knows where all the entrances are...not to mention she could have turned left after the first block of their walk to the park, to walk the half of a block to HOME where we also have WATER...or at the very least walked a block to the hardware store and asked them to charge a bottle of water to our account.

She complained about having to carry E3 half of the way back...and she still needed E2's guidance from inside the building so they could enter upon their return.

They're both smart girls, E1 and E2 (so is E3, but in this case she was following E1's lead so I consider her exempt)...so...what? how? who? why? huh?

The Looming Giant

2009-08-10T14:51:00.008-06:00

Catsup Bottle, Collinsville, IL

My To-Do list - that's the looming giant. As in - so giant I haven't even created it yet...or, well, not completed it anyway. Beyond my daily 'to-do', or even weekly 'to-do', I want to create a GRAND 'TO-DO". Not necessarily a Mighty Life List, but more of a I'm tired of ___ and I'm not going to take it any more kicking butt and taking names kind of 'to-do' list. Because I've decided if nothing else, what I want to do with myself this year is to end all the procrastination projects I've got going on around here.

Right now:

! I cleaned out (off?) the cookbook shelf the other day...while I don't actually have a lot of cookbooks, I had all sorts of clipped and printed recipes tucked every which where in books, in between books, under books. So, I pulled out every one of those fly-away recipes - about a 6" stack - and I'm sorting through them a little at a time. I need a better system of trying recipes as I come across them so I can decide if they're keepers or not.

Next up:

! Bins of stored clothing will be ruthlessly sorted because we literally have more girl clothing stored than my girls can wear and they love it all and can't bear the thought of leaving that clothing growing lonely...or something. So, during school hours I will be eliminating the stuff I don't like and don't want to see them wearing...and any polyester I can...which will serve the dual purpose of avoiding clothing arguments in the future. I always wonder why I leave the stuff I don't like in the bins... My goal is to have 4 bins total of clothing waiting to be grown-into: one for E1, one for E3, and two for E2 (because E1 outgrows quicker than E2 grows-into).

The list is still growing...T'will be The Year of Accomplishment...well, school year anyway.

But Was It Educational?

2009-08-07T15:52:00.001-06:00

I left E1 and E2 watching Animal Planet while I went to take a shower.

I returned and was greeted with, "Herring communicate by farting."
And a lot of giggling, of course.

Because It Feels Like A Monday

2009-08-04T11:01:00.004-06:00

Some inspiration to get the week going: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3ku2QArT0&feature=fvw (sorry, embedding is disabled on this one).

I seriously need to make some suggestions to my grocer -drums in the refrigerated section may distract my kids from how COLD they claim to be.

A storm front is approaching, and it's mostly overcast with teasing peeks of sunshine. I am completely unmotivated to clean out the arts and crafts drawer (s) ...visions of kids deciding that today is a fine day to make crafts and a chorus of "WE NEED THAT! DON'T THROW IT AWAY!" is helping me rationalize my desire to just sit and read my book.

E3 woke with a sharp bruise line along her cheek bone. It wasn't there yesterday, but I asked the other kids if they remembered her whacking herself just the same - the don't, which is completely believable as I am surprised she did something to achieve that bruise without crying...and we would have remembered the crying! My only conclusion is that she fell out of bed or did something in her sleep...sleepwalking? Still, I can't believe it didn't make her cry.

I'm trying to feel busy by copying all the recipes I've ear-marked in cooking magazines...is it odd to feel slightly embarrassed to read Apricot Glazed Chicken Thighs? Do you think the chicken is embarrassed?