Girly Pink Stuff

"ZeeZee Sleep Over!"

2008-07-21T14:22:00.002-05:00

We lost count of how many times she said that on Friday.

When Lissy was a tiny baby, I remember Kenzie saying, "I can't wait til she's old enough to walk and talk and really play with me." Well, the time has definitely come!
Kenzie spent the night this past Friday and those two cousins had SO much fun. They snuggled on the couch, watched Nick Jr., and Kenzie even taught Lissy how to play Ring Around the Rosie. Good times. I was able to capture quite a few of them on camera for your viewing pleasure. ;)

She is getting SO big. It is bittersweet. More sweet than bitter, though, I think. She is EXTREMELY interactive, has a massive vocabulary, and absolutely nothing gets by this kid. Smart as a whip. Still has a good appetite, too. I guess it's not too surprising that she LOVES black olives (just like Daddy) and is a major chocoholic (just like Mommy). That's our girl!

I cannot believe our baby is gonna be two in just two more months!!

At the Car Wash...At the Car Wash, Yeah!

2008-07-15T19:47:00.002-05:00

Daddy decided to wash the Charger on Saturday and guess who reeeeally wanted to help?

Comings and Goings

2008-06-07T14:20:00.003-05:00

That's what I've been doing lately - coming and going, coming and going. I like keeping busy. Not so busy that I don't have plenty of time to chillax (how do ya like that word?!), but busy enough that Liss and I don't get stir crazy on weekdays while Daddy's at work. Balance in all things, I say. Not big on astrology, but Libras are all about balance.

My laptop has been running pretty sluggishly, which is part of the reason it has once again been awhile since I wrote in this here blog. Getting pictures ready to post on here (editing and resizing them) takes half of forever, but today I finally took some time to do it. First, some pictures of Mom, me, and Liss. As you can tell, we had some fun with the distortion "lenses" of my webcam. Mom looks like John Goodman, doesn't she? And the one of me--that's what I would look like if I weighed 600 pounds. Suddenly I'm REALLY jonesing to go to the gym.

And the last two pics are....well, the first one is self explanatory. She IS spoiled rotten! And the last one is from last weekend when she and Daddy were sharing fishy crackers (the flavor-blasted kind, even!). Those two love to sit on the couch and eat.

Hopefully I'll write again soon!

Bubblllllles!

2008-05-25T16:53:00.006-05:00

It's a gorgeous day today. Finally feels like summer! Lissy loves bubbles!
I even planted some fl'ers out front today. I never plant fl'ers but I planted fl'ers! Now I want more fl'ers so I can plant some in the back, too!

Cutie

2008-05-15T20:06:00.002-05:00

I just had to post this picture of my girlie in the cute outfit she wore today. Isn't it so cute?! I love having a girl!

FINALLY!

2008-05-13T18:45:00.002-05:00

For days, I could not get into my blog! Blogger.com would not accept my user name and password, no matter what I tried, and when I tried to have them send my password to me via email that didn't work either! ARRRGGGGHH! Blogger.com is VERY confusing sometimes.

At any rate, here I am, FINALLY writing. I hope you haven't given up on me!

I have no clue why it's underlining everything.

So, what to write about? I'm going SHOPPING tomorrow with half of our stimulus money!!! I cannot wait!!! Tonight I'll probably dream about clothes and sandals and purses and Bath & Body Works stuff. I just cleaned out my closet and filled two huge bags with clothes for goodwill - stuff that I know I'll never wear again cuz it hasn't fit since I was 18. Seriously. It will feel GOOD to get rid of all that clothes that just took up space in my closet. And I even made a list of what I want to buy (summer shirts, jean shorts, khaki shorts, a pair of jeans, sandals, summer jammies, etc). Speaking of summer jammies -- I think my hubby will be pleasantly surprised when he notices that I finally PITCHED all my ugly, stained, misshapen pajamas! They are in the trash can as we speak. Tomorrow I plan to buy very cute summer jammies, which I plan to wear all summer. Just because I'm an old, married mom does not mean I have to look like a frump every night when I go to bed. Oh, tomorrow will be SO much fun!!

Liss has been doing GREAT. She's talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. I think she loves to hear her own voice. It's very entertaining and (usually) very adorable. She LOVES the kids' room at the gym now. She looks forward to going and as soon as I set her loose in there, she runs around and looks right at home. She even waves when I leave the room and says, "Bye bye, Mommy!" That is AWESOME, because I'm usually there for an hour and 15 minutes each time...and it's wonderful to know she's having fun with the kids and the toys in there while I whip my jiggly buns into shape. I love that place. Love it. Have I mentioned that I LOVE that place?

However, I tried on like twenty pairs of shorts tonight and the vast majority of them were tooooo small. Depressing. Very depressing, indeed. But, like I said, a lot of those clothes have been around since pretty much caveman days. Being a wife and having a baby do things to one's body. Gravity-type things. So I will be buying plenty of shorts tomorrow.

Okay, this entry is so boring I'm yawning. I guess things have been pretty same-old, same-old since my last entry. Either that or I'm too lazy to think hard about what else to write about. Transcription has been going great. I've done four projects so far. Baking is going well, too. I'm baking Charlie's birthday cake this weekend and three different kinds of biscotti next Monday. I baked cupcakes just for us this past weekend, and come Monday I threw several of them in the garbage. They were delicious, but the problem was - I was EATING them.

I am currently reading Debbie Macomber's newest novel, Twenty Wishes. Loving it. She is bar none my favorite author, followed closely by Karen Kingsbury and Robin Jones Gunn.

Well, I gotta rest up for tomorrow's spree, so without further ado, please enjoy these recent pictures of the love of my life.

I showed her how to put a crayon up her nose. Very mature. And very safe. Well, I'm still the crazy weirdo I've always been, so......

Took this one just a little while ago, cuz she just looks so stinkin' cute today.

And this is from this afternoon when her best buddy, Charlie was over. Two peas in a pod. A storage bin, rather.

Slacker, the Sequel

2008-04-20T16:22:00.003-05:00

So, I kinda go through phases where I don't feel like blogging and then phases where I do. Thus ends (hopefully) the phase where I don't.

Lissy got her first "real" owie yesterday. We were up in Green Bay at Betsy's wedding and Grandpa was playing with her in the church nursery. They were having a grand time, when all of the sudden the little thing she was riding in tipped over and sent her face first onto the floor. As you can see, she scraped her nose pretty good. It's also red and sore under her nose, due to the snot that has been running freakishly quickly out of said nose. I did not know it was possible for one small nose to produce such abundant quantities of snot. I don't think she has a cold. There are no other symptoms. But this poor girl has her Mommy chasing her around with a wad of Kleenex during her every waking minute. Hence, the red undernose. I've been calling her "Rudolph."

And in other news, Uncle Terry visited this past week from Michigan. This was the first time she met him and she took to him very quickly, as if she knew right away that he was family. He got bonus points for sharing his glass of ice water with her.

During that same visit, she wanted to walk in Grandpa's shoes and was surprisingly successful in doing so. What if her feet were really that big? She could make us millions by being a carnival sideshow.

Hmmm....what else? I've been working out at Cardinal Fitness 4 times a week and I just LOVE it! I haven't noticed any weight loss yet, but I'll keep plugging away! I think I have a love affair with the elliptical machine. And I'm extremely fond of the weight machines that work my abs. Hopefully the elliptical isn't jealous. I still think it is SO motivating to work out among several other people who are working out. As for the handful of guys who sound like they're trying to pass the world's largest turd while they lift hundreds of pounds of barbell weight, well - they're just weird.

Only one transcription assignment so far, but I hope to get at least one or two good ones this week!

OH! I got a new VACUUM today!!! FINALLY!! A Bissel. I am truly thrilled, because this house needs some SERIOUS work. It is a PIT. We gave Toskey to a new family so we are blissfully animal-free. Our poor house has smelled like a pet store for months - I am so serious. I cannot wait to get all the last traces of litter OFF of my laundry room floor and vacuum all the last traces of long cat hair!! Maybe someday when we have a bigger house and there's more room for air to circulate and a better place to keep the nasty litter boxes, we will have another cat. Maybe.

Bunco is fun.

Sandals

2008-04-04T12:08:00.002-05:00

Summer's coming, and that means it was about time to buy some wee little sandals. Aren't they cute?! She has the cutest little toes.
I love having a girl!!

And the title of this one is "I eat M&M's like I MEAN it."

Slacker

2008-04-02T18:48:00.004-05:00

So yeah, I've been a pretty huge slacker lately with my blog. But I haven't been slacking in other areas. I don't think I've written about Cardinal Fitness yet. It's a small gym in a strip mall
and they're popping up all over. I joined about three weeks ago and I tooootally dig it!! I go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and sometimes one more time during the weekend if I can fit it in. The staff is really friendly and Liss is even starting to really like the kids' room! That's one of the things I love most about this place - the kids' room is wonderful. It rocks to be able to let her play in there while I work out!
I usually warm up on either a bike or a treadmill, then jump onto an elliptical and then I spend about half an hour on the weight machines. I love, love, love it!! It feels beyond incredible to be getting back in shape again! There's one by my mom's house too, so I can go to that one when I'm down there. I can tell it's a popular place cuz when I go at 9:00 in the morning, it's packed. And ya know, I find it very motivating to be working out in a place where there are so many other people doing the same thing. HUGELY motivating. So mama's gettin' buff! : P

In other news: I got a work-from-home transcription job!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!! For months I've been wishing for a part-time job where I could work from home doing something that would bring in somewhat significant income. After testing for two different transcription companies and being offered positions at both, I chose the one I feel best about. And I am sooooo thrilled!! For those of you who aren't sure what transcription is - it's basically listening to audio and typing what you hear. Sounds simple, but it can be complicated. I did medical transcription for three years back when I worked for Dr. Stough in Winfield. The experience definitely helped me score this job. I'll be doing transcription work for DBS (Domenichelli Business Services) about 15 hours a week or so. I looooove to type, so this is truly perfect!!!

And before I go, here are a couple recent pics of my precious one. The first one is her in her new "spring" jammies, and the second one was taken this afternoon. Grandma brought her a little table and we went to Menard's to get a couple little chairs, so now she can color at her own little table. She loves it!! Her newest thing right now is coloring.

We are so happy that spring is here and hope you are too!

Easter

2008-03-24T12:46:00.003-05:00

My girl had a fun Easter! We spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house and she was digging the Easter egg hunt. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

"Daddy, I found my very first Easter egg and it's LELLOW!! Will you help me open it?"

"Ooh, animal crackers! I'm gonna shove them ALL in my mouth at once!"

"Kenzie, help me put on these cute pink sunglasses!"

"I love Auntie Bop Bop!"

"I'm still on the hunt!"

"Yeah, I'm Somebunny Special, alright. And I already drooled chocolate on my new Easter bib!"

"Here's an Easter kiss for you, Papa."

"Grandma, I LOVE my new duckie chair!!!!"

"Oh my gosh, ZeeZee, it is really an ELMO PURSE?!?! Does life GET any better? I'm LOVING this Easter business!"

One for the Baby Book

2008-03-21T13:43:00.003-05:00

Her hair has just been OUT of control - I wet it and comb it and wet it and comb it and brush it and even put styling foam in it. But nothing helped - it still stuck straight out from her head!

So I bit the bullet and gave her her first haircut today. I didn't wanna do it myself - I was rather terrified. But hey, lookie here - I did an okay job, don'tcha think?? It's pretty short but it'll hopefully grow back out thicker and easier to manage!

Housebound Again

2008-03-18T12:56:00.003-05:00

So we had to take the Durango in for repairs AGAIN because they couldn't find the problem last time. We won't have it back til Thursday at the earliest. So, since I knew we couldn't go anywhere today AND it's a gloomy day outside - Liss and I decided to pull out the hide-a-bed in the family room. I put sheets and a quilt on it and it's so comfy! And Liss loves having a "bed" in the family room!

She holds my hand!!

2008-03-12T19:25:00.003-05:00

She's been walking for over six months now, but every time I'd try to hold her hand and have her walk with me she would push my hand away. :(

But today we were walking in the Wendy's parking lot and I put my hand down to her and she grabbed it and held it the whole time and we walked together! I about wet myself - it was SO SWEET!!!!!!!!! Then she held Grandma's hand the whole way back to the car.

Not that big of a deal, I know..... But it was by far the highlight of my day!!! No, it was the highlight of my week!! She is getting so big and is TOTALLY not a baby anymore. She is most definitely a little girl. My little girl. And she makes my world go 'round still! And I look forward to lots more holdin'-hands!

Cereal

2008-03-10T20:07:00.007-05:00

Do you love cereal? I do. I eat if for a snack almost every night around 9:00. Used to eat cold cereal for breakfast every morning but now I try to eat oatmeal every morning instead. But I just crave cereal so often. Yum. And if you eat the healthy kinds and not Froot Loops or Cookie Crisp, then it's actually a really nutritious snack.

Don't you sometimes wonder.....

2008-03-06T16:09:00.002-06:00

....how many people actually read your blog? I do! : P
I like to try and keep up with the ones that I have linked over on the top right of this page. And sometimes I read but don't have time to comment, and that makes me feel bad. Because I don't want any of my buds to think nobody reads their blogs! I do read them. I promise! And it is super fun.
The comments on this here blog have been pretty far and few between lately for some reason. I'm assuming a lot of people are like me - they read but don't always have time to comment. Comments are so fun. I hope you'll leave them once in awhile so I know you're reading! *smooch*

Tigerrrrrrs

2008-03-02T16:46:00.002-06:00

Those Target execs ain't no dum-dums. They have a little "Live Reading of Dr. Suess" event and afterwards the toy aisles end up packed with parents. It was so nice to get out and have some fun as a family today, though! Here is a little photo diary of our trip to Target:

Lissy's paternal grandma has some Irish in her, so I guess this kindof applies.

She actually sat and listened to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Oh, The Places You'll Go" all the way through. It helped that a lady gave her a little bag of fishy crackers as soon as we got there.

Then, as daddies will do, Scotty found two big stuffed tigers in the toy section and gave them to her. It was LOVE at first sight. She gave the white one a big smackeroo right on his plastic nose.

And she would NOT let go of them. She hugged 'em both during the ride home. Her little face is in there somewhere.....see it?

And as soon as we got home, they became her new favorite playmates.

Who is it?

2008-02-28T17:23:00.000-06:00

If you comment anonymously on my blog, pretty please say your name in your comments cuz a lot of times I have no idea who it is. Pretty please, with a big ol' cherry and rainbow sprinkles on top? : D

Being Martha

2008-02-25T20:46:00.004-06:00

"She feels it is her mission in life to make the world a more beautiful place."

That's a quote from the book. I'm learning a lot about Martha that I had never known, so I'm finding the book very fascinating. I'll be sad when I'm done reading it.

What stands out is the fact that she is such a perfectionist, and that she's always been that way. Flowers have to be cut perfectly from the garden and arranged just so in a vase...snap peas have to be trimmed just right...tart crusts have to be a very specific shade of brown before they come out of the oven.

Perfectionism can be annoying, but it isn't always a bad thing. I'm a perfectionist and I drive myself batty because of it. Another quote from the book, by Martha's brother George: "But the quest for perfection can lead to insanity -- I drive myself crazy trying to make things be a certain way. It eats at you, and if you've got fifty things going on all at once that all have to be perfect, you can go over the edge really easily."

At the same time, my perfectionism motivates me. And it comes through the most in anything that I make with my hands. When I'm baking a batch of cookies or a loaf of bread, it has to be perfect. Not only does it have to taste incredible, it has to look delicious. I want people to look at the things that I bake and say, "That looks amazing. I can't resist it."

Martha sucks the marrow out of the simple pleasures in life. That's another thing I have in common with her. She's interested and creative and extremely attentive to detail. Another quote: "One of her special abilities is to spot and appreciate talent and beauty and zest in everyday people and things. When Martha makes a great find, she wants to share it with the world." Is that why I love taking pictures of the things that I bake? I mean, if a cherry pie comes out looking beautiful, great. But eventually, all that will be left is a pan of crumbs. It's just a pie, after all. But in my mind, it's a work of art. It's something that I made out of flour and butter and sugar and cherries and I turned it into something lovely. And few things give me more pleasure than knowing something that I made has been enjoyed thoroughly by others. If someone takes a bite of that pie and it makes him close his eyes and grin, then I've accomplished a goal.

To me, the whole process of baking is photo-worthy. Not only for the sake of documentation, but even moreso for the sake of the earthy, rustic beauty. Put me in a Borders store and I'll beeline for the cooking section to find the book that has the most gorgeous baking photos in it. Every now and then I take my "Martha Stewart Baking Handbook" off its stand and just feast my eyes on the photos in its pages.

So, in reading "Being Martha," I am finding it interesting and eye-opening to discover that I am like her in many ways. I don't garden like she does. I don't host 100-guest dinner parties like she does. And I definitely don't function on three hours of sleep like she does. But she appreciates and relishes the simple beauty of timeworn practices like baking a pie. And that is splendid.

On that note, here are some photos of the biscotti-baking process that I thoroughly enjoyed this past weekend. To many, there is nothing alluring or noteworthy about these pictures. But to me, they're amazing.

Biscotti

2008-02-23T21:54:00.006-06:00

A chocoholic's dream. It's the best I've ever tasted. It really is.
....FYI - there is a much longer, new entry just below this one. :)

I have to post a couple new pics of my silly girl, too. I love her pretty eyes!

PINK!

2008-02-23T18:40:00.003-06:00

I got a new laptop today and it's PINK! It's so purty and I'm so excited!!! We were looking at laptops online this morning and then Scotty suggested we go to Best Buy and Circuit City to see if we could find a specific one that we picked out (I think it was an hp). So we get to Best Buy and the first one we see is the pink Sony Vaio - and it was like $400 less than it was online. So I got it!! Woohooooooooooooooooooeeeeee! It has a built-in webcam and a slot for my camera's memory card - two features that I know I'll love. My old laptop's been extremely flaky and unpredictible lately but I didn't think he'd let me get a new one already. I am just so psyched!! Now all I need is the Verizon Pink Pearl Blackberry and I'll be a really hip pink chick! That's not gonna happen til we renew our contract in December.....but a girl can dream. ;)

In other news, this afternoon I made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Biscotti for two friends and it turned out just perfect. I sugared the tops and drizzled them with chocolate. I hope they love them!! I'll post pics soon, so check back. I LOVE taking pictures of the baking process. Because I'm a nerd that way.

OH my gosh - this morning sucked. I pulled our bedroom blinds up, glanced outside and noticed a handwritten note under one of the wipers on the Durango's windshield. I was way curious, so I put on my slippers and Scotty's big winter coat and headed out there to check it out. The note said - and I quote - "Be respectful of your neighbors and pick up your garbage and your kid's dirty diapers. Thanks." I immediately felt confused and very awful. Then I looked at the end of the driveway and sure enough - there by the curb were two diapers and a couple pieces of old junk mail. I so totally had NOT noticed any of that. Then I felt even MORE awful. Whoever wrote the note was SO right. I ran into the house, grabbed a piece of paper and a pink marker and wrote "To Whomever Wrote the Note: I am truly sorry and thank you for bringing the trash to my attention. We will pay closer attention from now on and will write a note to the garbagemen to please make sure ALL our trash gets into their truck!" Went back outside and put that note under the back windshield wiper so it was easily seen from the street, pried the frozen, rock-hard diapers and papers out of the ice and put them in our trash can. I wish I would have noticed that stuff out there before some poor neighbor had to leave us a note about it. I am mortified. Probably the reason I didn't notice it is twofold:
1. Wednesday is garbage pickup day, and I was at my mom's on Thursday and Friday so wasn't home.
2. There is still a mountain (quite literally) of snow piled up in our front yard so I couldn't have seen it from the house even if I'd tried.
Pretty horrible, eh? The thought of being known as the-people-who-leave-their-kid's-dirty-diapers-at-the-curb-for-the-whole-culdesac-to-see is just......so uncool!!

And on that note, I hope you're having a good weekend. Check back soon for baking pictures from the Baking Nerd!

Geek

2008-02-22T17:23:00.003-06:00

Does loving corny games like Super Mario Brothers and Tetris make me a video game geek? And another question: WHY have I been such a bottomless pit the last two days?!
But back to the video game question. I've loved Mario Bros. since my teenage Nintendo days. Then, two birthdays ago Scotty gave me a pink Nintendo DS. So I finished the DS version of Mario pretty quickly. I spent the last couple days down at Mom's and played Tetris on her DS during every free moment that I had (when I wasn't playing tug-o-war with Lissy for it - she thinks pressing the buttons is a great time)! I used to HATE Tetris back in the old Nintendo days but got very addicted to it on the DS. Now I'm trying to find a copy of it so I can play it on my own DS. Not much luck so far, but there are several for sale on ebay.

And yeah, my belly the last couple days has been insatiable! I suppose everybody has those phases where they just wanna eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat some more. Jeez. Girl Scout Tagalongs, Moose Tracks Ice Cream, Weight Watchers Lemon Cakes (hey, at least they were Weight Watchers....but that kinda doesn't matter when you eat five of them)......OINK. It's a good thing I'm planning to join Cardinal Fitness next week!

TGIF. Have a wonderful weekend!

Hm.

2008-02-19T19:55:00.004-06:00

I feel like blogging, but I don't know what to blog about. So I'll copy what I've seen some friends do on their blogs and list 100 random facts about myself. No. 100 is just too many. I'll try for 50.

1. My middle name is Sue. I hate it.
2. My husband's middle name is Arthur.
3. I ate four Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for dessert tonight.
4. I adore baking.
5. I like knitting and crocheting very much, but haven't been into it lately.
6. I use my iPod almost every day.
7. I have such severe floaters in my right eye that the vision in it is very impaired.
8. Right now I'm under a very soft, warm blanket that Kenzie made me for Christmas.
9. Lissy's in bed and I just heard her say, "BaBa" loudly.
10. I use Bare Minerals makeup and it has cleared my face up tremendously.
11. I stopped using Max Factor foundation because the first ingredient in it is mineral oil and that clogs your pores something awful.
12. Daisies are my favorite flower.
13. I am head-over-heels in love with my little daughter.
14. I am head-over-heels in love with her daddy.
15. I want to get rid of our stupid cat.
16. My favorite color is pink. Pink used to be my least favorite color.
17. I am fixin' to join Cardinal Fitness so I can work out at least four times a week.
18. I love watching Oprah and find Dr. Oz very fascinating.
19. I am homophobic and not ashamed of it. The concept grosses me out hugely.
20. I'm somehow related to Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the guy who played Zach on "Saved by the Bell."
21. I like Taco Bell very much.
22. My favorite time of the day is bedtime. I love snuggling under the covers and just letting my mind wander and get sleepy.
23. My laptop is on life support. It's not gonna last much longer.
24. I want a Pink Pearl Blackberry.
25. I would much rather email than talk on the phone most of the time, except to my mom.
26. I love bananas.
27. I loooooooooooooooove chocolate.
28. If my laptop spontaneously shuts down before I publish this blog entry, I WILL scream.
29. When asked "Who's your best friend?", Liss points to me and says, "Mommy." Dang, I love that kid.
30. I tried to watch "No Reservations" tonight on iTunes but my flippin' computer won't let me.
31. I love dill pickles.
32. I very, very rarely wear skirts or dresses. I avoid them as much as humanly possible because I despise pantyhose.
33. Paula Deen totally cracks me up.
34. I love having friends. They make my world go 'round.
35. There are several people I know from online forums who I would love to meet in person.
36. Andrea from Oregon made Lissy's favorite blanket. She's one of my online friends who I would totally love to meet someday.
37. I would like to drink coffee more often.
38. The Starbucks they're building in my neighborhood is almost done and I'm so glad it looks like it's gonna have a drive-thru!
39. I like soft jazz music and often listen to it while I bake.
40. Scott hates coffee, but he will drink caramel fraps.
41. I pluck my chin hairs daily.
42. If I could change one thing about my body, I would get veneers on my top front teeth.
43. I would rather have a dozen root canals at once than give birth again.
44. I love Altoids Smalls.
45. I think Lissy finally fell asleep. :)
46. Last night I had a dream that I was at a party and Justin Timberlake was there, only he was mini (like two feet tall). He was wearing tiny little jeans. He was having major trouble breathing and I was rubbing his back while we waited for an ambulance to show up.
47. My subconscious mind is extremely bizarre.
48. Thank goodness I only have two more to go.
49. I went to Dominick's tonight and somebody near the checkout stand farted. It wasn't me - honest. But all of the sudden it smelled terrible. My guess is that it was the checker.
50. I wonder what the checker would've said if I had asked her if she farted.

Beautiful

2008-02-15T11:14:00.003-06:00

Okay, that last entry was so depressing that I feel I need to write another one! So, two entries in one day. ZipadeedooDA! :P

So for the last two days when I went in Lissy's room in the morning to get her up, she raised her arms way up high and said, "MOMMY!" Oh my gosh. OH my gosh. There are no words.

We did a photo shoot with her this past Saturday and above are a few of the photos. Aren't they incredible? She is my beautiful girl!

I've been baking my buns off this week and am about to bake some more (layers for a birthday cake). Baked Valentine's cookies, a large cherry galette for my mom and Chocolate Truffle Crunch Bars for my sweet-toothed hubby. Pictures of all three are on my Sweet Lissy B's website!

Have a great weekend. I'm glad it's Friday!

WHAT?!?!

2008-02-15T07:23:00.002-06:00

I don't know if you've heard about these incidents, but they both happened in Illinois this past week. I can't believe these things can happen. What is WRONG with people?? WHY do they think they can kill completely innocent people randomly? Last weekend a guy walked into a Lane Bryant store and shot five women dead. Yesterday at Northern Illinois University some freak walked onto the stage of a lecture hall and shot more than twenty students. Six of them died. WHAT is WRONG with people??????????? It makes me want to keep Lissy locked up in the house forever. Come on, people. STOP taking your anger out on innocent people. STOP!

Big

2008-02-12T16:46:00.000-06:00

My girl is getting big. I can't believe what she can do already. Today she said, "Amul cacko peez" (animal cracker please), brushed her own teeth after lunch, and danced to the music while she was watching "Elmo". It goes by so fast, ya'll. In a flash, my tiny baby has become a little girl. I love her more every day.

My baking venture is going well. ....For those of you who don't know, Scott lost his job a couple of weeks ago and I got panicky and dropped my culinary class (figured we better get the tuition cost back). So unfortunately I am not taking the class currently but hope to take it next time it's offered. Scott got a new job a lot more quickly than we thought he would (thank you, faithful God!) so I could've stayed in the class but what's done is done. In the meantime, I've offered to bake for nearby friends, and have gotten several orders already. I am REALLY excited! This week alone I'm baking Valentine cookies, cherry galettes, a strawberry-banana layer cake, and strudel! I love, love, love it!! I made a little website if you care to take a peek: http://www.freewebs.com/sweetlissybs/

I'm looking forward to watching "Idol" tonight. It's finally Hollywood week!

The Big One

2008-02-06T14:23:00.000-06:00

We are SNOWED in today! We were planning to go down to Mom and Dad's for the day but as soon as I saw the News this morning and they showed how horrible the roads were, I thought better of it. (As a result of being housebound, tho, I have gotten MAJOR cleaning and organizing done today!!) We very much hope we can go tomorrow instead if things are cleared up by then. This is more snow than we've had in a loooong time.

As you can see, Liss and I got a bowl of snow and brought it into the kitchen. We added food coloring to it (our hands are still a mess!) and stirred and played with the snow. My friend Kate gave us that idea. It was fun. :)

And the other pictures are some views from our back windows. I sooooo LOVE having a forest preserve twenty feet from our back door! Hope you enjoy the snowy pictures!

Best Friend

2008-01-26T15:36:00.000-06:00

I am basking.

A little earlier today when the three of us were hanging out Scott asked Lissy, "Who's your best friend?" I had been looking the opposite direction of her but I felt a little finger-poke on my leg. I looked at her and he asked again, "Who's your best friend?" and this time I saw her reach out and tap my leg again.

After a very difficult and stressful two weeks with my girl, that was like a balm. No. It was much better than a balm. It was a cure. A very, very sweet cure. She is my best buddy too. And I hope she always will be.

I have a toddler.

2008-01-24T12:22:00.000-06:00

Ohhh boy, do I have a toddler.

If I were just getting over an intestinal virus, cutting my last molar and suffering from a relentless diaper rash, I would probably scream a lot too. But yeah, she is big on screaming lately! She screams because she wants more "num-num", she screams because I'm taking too long to get her baba ready, she screams because she can't get the lid on her toy cookie jar quite right. Sometimes I swear she screams...just because. And toddlers are LOUD when they scream. Ear-piercing loud. Mama feels like she's losing her sanity at times. My prayer is that she's going through the terrible two's early, and that by the time she's two she'll be a perfect little angel. Pray along with me, won't you? Please? PLEASE???!!!!

The Backstreet Boys are on "Sesame Street" right now. This amuses me.

Sick

2008-01-21T08:45:00.000-06:00

I haven't been blogging much. The picture below explains why better than words could. Thankfully, she's feeling better now!

(I also call this picture "I'm NOT a morning person.")

My first cooking class is tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be back soon to write about it!

"Idol!"

2008-01-16T20:37:00.001-06:00

So tonight I taught her how to say "Idol!" and then give me a high five. She's getting big way too fast. But WOW is she FUN!

Groceries

2008-01-14T20:25:00.000-06:00

I've always rather enjoyed grocery shopping. But I don't enjoy getting to the checkout counter and trying to keep my eyes in my head when the cashier gives me the total.

So I now use http://www.thegrocerygame.com/. I read about it in a recent issue of Woman's Day magazine and decided to check it out. I hope you'll go and explore the website, too, because everybody can greatly benefit from using it. I won't go into the details, but basically you wanna first make sure that you get your local Sunday paper so that you have access to all those weekly coupons. I subscribed to the Chicago Trib Sunday-only delivery. It's $1.25/week. That's five bucks a month and is sooooooo worth it. And it's wonderful having that paper at the end of the driveway every Sunday morning!

The creator of The Grocery Game has a database that tells you exactly what items in YOUR specific grocery store are on sale each week, and then corresponds those in-store sales to coupons. So you're getting 50-80% off a lot of items! I'm so serious - it is amazing how this works. Between last Monday's shopping trip and today's shopping trip, I saved $102.25. That's TWO shopping trips. And that, my friends, is going to add up!

Here's proof of last Monday's savings at Jewel, where I almost always shop:

I have allotted a couple of my laundry room shelves for "overflow items" that I stocked up on because I got them at rock bottom prices. Right now on that shelf I have cereal, pancake mix, syrup, slivered almonds, peanut butter, soup, pasta and several boxes of Ziploc bags. Things that don't go bad very quickly - or don't go bad at all. And I now plan meals (dinners, mostly) based on what's on sale and what I have coupons for instead of just blindly planning meals and paying full price for the ingredients I need.

This is SO awesome! Please check out the website. You can easily save your family a lot of money. And it's FUN, too!

And now, without further ado - here is a cute picture I took today of my girl sitting in her Bumbo chair watching Melmo. Doesn't she look comfy?

And here's what she looks like when Daddy shares his chocolate ice cream:

I hope you're having a good week and staying warm. TTFN! :)

School

2008-01-08T16:05:00.000-06:00

Today I bought a notebook and a pen. And a messenger's bag and three textbooks. I'm going to school. Trippy!

The class starts in two weeks and I absolutely cannot wait. After my visit to the college bookstore I went to get the oil changed in the Durango, and since I had to wait almost an hour I hauled in my twenty-pound book. (Slight exaggeration, but the puppy is HUGE. See picture below.) Perusing through it made me soooooo excited!!! I cannot wait for this class!

This is one of the other textbooks. The M-word. *shiver - tremble - shiver again*

And I have to say - the "chef's hat" does not look the way I thought it would. My, how things change.

Bring on the butter and the flour and the roux, baby! And let me cook for you!!!

Melmo

2008-01-06T21:08:00.000-06:00

She calls him "Melmo!" And she LOVES Melmo! I don't think I know any kid under four who doesn't love him, but.....
Yesterday we bought her a pair of new shoes that have him on them. They are SO cute. She has great big feet and long toes (definitely didn't get that from Mommy), so we had to buy her new shoes again already. Anyway, whenever she sees her new shoes she says, "Melmo! Melmo!" She is way too flippin' adorable!

Snuggle

2008-01-05T20:12:00.001-06:00

There is nothing on this earth I love more than snuggling with my baby.

Usually she's too busy to snuggle, so when I lift her onto my lap she stays for about five seconds and then is off to do the very important things that one-year-olds do: find another toy, chase the kitty or page through a book while pretending to read it. And that's okay. I'm glad she's a busy, curious, energetic little squirt!

But she's starting to snuggle more. YAY!! This morning she was sitting on the floor with her blankie watching "Sesame Street". I could tell she was very intent on the show. I couldn't resist. I scooped her up and put her on my lap and covered both of us with her blankie and she stayed. She stayed and laid her sweet little head on my arm and snuggled for almost twenty minutes!

I cherish these days when she's still so young and innocent and precious. I hold every snuggle and every hug and every sweet kiss on my cheek in my heart. I collect them there. And my heart overflows.

Wish

2007-12-31T11:19:00.000-06:00

I wish my whole house were as clean as my kitchen is right now. I spent three hours scrubbing and scraping and wiping and it is SO clean. I even rearranged some cupboard contents. Been wanting to work on the kitchen for days, so am happy I finally had the energy and time to do it!

Well, it's New Year's Eve. We're not doing much - just going to the grocery store to buy ingredients for homemade pizza so we can start a new NYE tradition. I can't wait to make the crust in my KitchenAid mixer!

So I went to the doctor on Saturday morning to tell him about my myriad digestive woes. He put me on Prevacid (which I think is already helping) for my reflux and Librax for my IBS. Haven't started the Librax yet but will soon. He wants me to have another panel of tests (colonoscopy, abdominal catscan......) but our insurance isn't great and we simply cannot afford those tests, so maybe later this year.

The other night, we had put Lissy to bed and over an hour later she was still babbling in her crib so Scotty and I went in to get her and brought her into our room. The three of us horsed around for about an hour on "the big bed" and it was so much fun! She was SO giggly and excited and adorable.

Speaking of giggly, here is a picture of Miss Giggles that I love:

And here she is with her Grandpa Conger on Saturday when they came to spend the afternoon with us:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pastry

2007-12-24T18:35:00.001-06:00

It is my greatest weakness. Actually, any baked good is my greatest weakness. (And if it's a chocolate baked good - I'm completely powerless.)

Today we had lunch at Panera. While I wasn't looking, Scotty bought a pastry. It was small and round and had a slice of apple in the middle. It tasted caramel-y. It was very good. But in a state of high self-confidence, I told him, "I could make something even better than this." He then challenged me to try.

I didn't know exactly what the pastry was. As soon as we got home I searched online and found some recipes for similar pastries to what we had eaten, but I wasn't satisified so I took my "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook" off the shelf. I found it! It's called a Tarte Tatin. Upon quickly scanning the ingredients, I realized I had everything I needed to bake it. So I hauled down the food processor and made the dough, which had to chill for at least an hour. A little bit of knitting and an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" later, I went back into the kitchen and finished baking my tarte tatin. It was a surprisingly easy pastry to make, and when the oven timer beeped and I turned the pan upside down on a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet I audibly gasped. It was so beauty-full, if I do say so myself. And I do say so myself! Another Martha recipe brought to perfect fulfillment. I *heart* Martha.

I tasted it. Buttery crust, tart apples and chewy caramel. Heaven.

Here's my tarte. It really is nice and round - the edges that you see are the caramel-y syrup melting onto the parchment paper.

......So my family Christmas party was wonderful, as usual! We all had a great time and we all received wonderful gifts. Some of my favorites are a large Vera Bradley bag to keep my knitting/crochet projects in, a cookbook called "Cake Batter Cookies", a set of three wooden spoons, two Golden Spiced Pear Yankee jar candles and a dozen Yankee votives, a Pancake Puff Pan (a la an infomercial I saw a few months ago), and a novel that I'm looking forward to reading, and an awesome thick fleece blanket from Kenzie, and some fleece jammies with snowflakes on them. It was a good, good Christmas, indeed!! Scotty got lots of clothes and a DVD and a Playstation 3 game. Lissy got MAJOR clothes (all SOOOO cute!) and toys. She had an absolute blast. She wore a very cute dress to Grandma's house. She's like her mama in that she doesn't wear dresses all that often, so when she does - it presents a rare and precious photo op.

And here she is today right before we left for lunch, modeling the scarf that I knitted for her. Doesn't she look warm and toasty?! I was surprised she didn't try to rip it right off, but she didn't. She kept it on and seemed proud to be wearing it!

Signing off for now. Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas

2007-12-21T20:58:00.001-06:00

I love most everything about it. I don't love the ridiculous commercialism and the even more ridiculous traffic, but those things aside - what isn't to love about Christmas?

I especially love my family's Christmas party. Usually it's on Christmas Eve but this year we're having it tomorrow (Saturday). Oh, I can't wait! It'll be Mom, Dad, Steph, Kenzie, Scott, Lissy and me. What I'm looking forward to the most: Watching my girl. I can just see her already -- running around touching every present under the tree with the tip of her little finger....helping Kenzie pass out the gifts....giggling with Auntie Steph...."helping" Grandma in the kitchen, wearing oven mitts that go up to her armpits....sitting on Grandpa's lap with her blankie and wide eyes as she listens to his deep voice. Christmas. It's way cooler when you have a kid!

Our menu always includes a large, very untraditional variety of foods:

Meatballs

Potato skins

Cheese and crackers

Tortilla chips with taco dip

Cranberry jello

Fruit salad

Pumpkin bread

Pumpkin pie

Fudge (with nuts and without)

Peppermint ice cream

Eggnog (BLECH!)

....Quite the mish-mosh, eh? It's one of the best meals of the year! My stomach's growling just thinking about it. I made the fudge today and I'm bringing the canned fruit to Mom's so I can make it when we get there.

And yeah, the presents are pretty fun too! It's so fun to see what we all got each other.

But, on to other topics - like plumber crack. Lissy's pink jeans were just a little too loose today. Need I say more?

Her Great-Grandma and -Grandpa Conger sent her this way cool toy - an old-fashioned top. She absolutely loves it!

And here she is sporting the very stylishly pink Calvin shirt that Auntie Rachel sent. Yep, my little prep!

I'll be back soon to write about the neat-o presents we get! ;)

Bombardment

2007-12-16T15:53:00.000-06:00

This entry will probably raise some disagreeing eyebrows but so be it. I have to vent somewhere!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO TIRED of girlymen on TV!!!! It seems like almost every show on every channel bombards us with them. Martha has them on her show a lot, offering fashion tips or explaining how to style your hair. That blonde, ultra-femmy Carson guy comes on during holiday movies on Lifetime and giggles after he makes subtle funnies about his extreme gayness. Right now I'm watching TLC and there's a little guy who's flitting around acting and sounding more girly than a girly-girl. Correction: I'm not watching it. I just turned it off.
That's what makes me sick to my stomach: when they act so disgustingly feminine - exaggerating their S's and clucking their tongues and sticking their pinky fingers out. Come ON. You're a MAN, for crying out loud! You were born a male. Deal with it.
From what I have observed, it seems like there are two types - those who you would not know were gay unless you asked, and those who just scream "I'm sooo gay." Though I do not support the lifestyle at all, I feel that the first type are much less offensive. I'm sorry, but it is downright offensive to me when a man flaunts his homosexuality by flitting around and giggling and making their voices sound as high-pitched as they possibly can. It's just.....not the way it's supposed to be.
I have met some homosexuals who are some of THE nicest people I have ever known. I firmly believe in "hate the sin, not the sinner." (And yes, I also firmly believe that it's a sin. You believe what you believe. I'll continue to believe what I believe. My mind will not be changed.) ...But back to my original point: Why do we have to be inundated with femmy men every time we change the channel?? Will it ever go away??

Life....

2007-12-15T11:56:00.000-06:00

....has been busy and fun this past week! I haven't blogged as much as I would have liked to. Guess I'm on the naughty list now. SHOOT!

This morning we took Liss to meet the big guy himself. At first it looked like she might freak, but she didn't. The clubhouse in our townhome development had a "Breakfast with Santa". It was SO nice because we wanted to get her picture with him but didn't really want to fight the crowds and stand in a long line at the mall. We just had to drive a block from our house and there he was, just waitin' for her! :)

And I had to show you this picture. She was playing in a "fort" with Daddy the other night and her hair was soooo staticky!! Look how it's sticking straight up! This picture just cracks me up, and it's DEFINITELY going to be shown for all to see at her wedding reception!

It's gonna be another pretty busy week. Some friends are coming for lunch on Monday...Liss goes to daycare on Tuesday and an electrician is coming to do a couple odd jobs...I have lots of Christmas gifts to wrap...
And of course the endless trips to the grocery store and laundry and everything else that keeps the home fires burnin'.

But I'll try to be back soon! Have a blessed week as you get ready for the big day!

SBD

2007-12-12T11:05:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not referring to soundless farts.

I started phase one of the South Beach Diet today and I'm less than enthusiastic about it. But I have to do it. Waaaay too much sugar goes into this body and it's gotta stop. My sweet tooth is outta control! Also, if I don't have a turning point now, I'll end up fat and that would suck. I don't ever want to be fat. Far too many health problems go along with it and that is just not happening for me.

Scott's sister and her husband told me about the South Beach Diet on Thanksgiving and they got me curious enough to go buy the book. After reading it, I decided to just do it. So last night we went grocery shopping and spent an outrageous amount of time in the produce section. I felt like a rabbit! I also felt very health-conscious while putting armloads and armloads of vegetables on the checkout counter. Peppers of every color, cabbage, baby spinach, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers......Like I said - RABBIT!

Phase one lasts two weeks and consists of very, very few carbs and zero sugar. By the end of these two weeks my sugar cravings are supposed to be "virtually eradicated." Phase two reintroduces some fruit, nuts, whole grain breads, yogurt and even a little chocolate (THANK YOU, LORD!). In phase three (i.e. lifelong eating) you're kinda on your own and by then you know what to eat and drink and what not to eat and drink. You are also allowed sweets in moderation. That is my ultimate goal. I want to enjoy sweets (especially since I love to taste-test my baked creations) but not in the ridiculous amounts that I usually do. A bite or two here and there will suffice.

I think I can do it.

So you, my loyal blog reader, may look forward to periodic updates on how this SBD thing is going.

I'm hungry.

Precious

2007-12-11T10:10:00.001-06:00

Last night when I laid her in her crib she said "Nigh-nigh, Mama". I thought about it all night long.

VACATION!

2007-12-10T15:05:00.000-06:00

San Diego is way cool.

On our second day there I walked to Borders and bought a notebook and a pen:

When I bought this notebook just now I thought the pages were lined. They're not. It's a good thing I'm gonna transfer this to my blog when we get home. Me and unlined paper aren't great together.

I'm sitting at Borders in San Diego. I'm in California. I'm in California. I couldn't stop saying it during our plane trip here: "We're going to CALIFORNIA!"

I like it. San Diego is very hip. Pretty much the hippest city I've ever been to.

......Okay, it's three hours later and I'm back at the hotel. I had the coolest time! From Borders I cabbed it to Seaport Village, a touristy area right on the water. Got some great pictures, sat by the water, walked through some shops and ate lunch (chicken tacos with beans and rice). My dining companion was a pigeon. There were pigeons and sparrows all over the place and they even sat on the tops of the tables. Annoying little buggers, but cute all the same.

A big coastal storm is rolling in as I write this. There's supposed to be major rain and wind as well as flash flooding and ocean debris on some roads. Lovely. I just pray that it'll be okay on Saturday when our plane's ready to take off. OH my gosh, speaking of planes -- I think we flew right over the Grand Canyon on our way here! It was rocky and cliff-y and mountain-y and unspeakably beautiful. Looking down at the land from 37,000 feet in the air is so, so awesome and it always reminds me of how powerful and beautiful our Creator is!!

This has been a fabulous trip so far. I miss my sweet baby girl something fierce, as I knew I would. It will be sooooo wonderful to see here when we get home. But this has been a super break (for her too, not just for us!). She's doing GREAT with Grandma and Grandpa and it sounds like they're having a blast with her. When I talked to Mom this morning she said that Lissy is truly "one in a million" and that it is clear that we're doing a great job with her. I'm sure I was literally glowing just then. What a rockin' compliment - one of the best I've ever received.
We have had our share of minor frustrations on this trip. Last night our hotel room smelled like rotten eggs. Sulfur in the water, especially the toilet. It was nasty. And I have a bionic nose, so eew. Finally they moved us to a different room on the tenth floor. Then this morning Scott discovered that our toilet would not flush. Thinking that it would be neat-o to avoid our new room smelling like an outhouse, I called the front desk and a dude came up and fixed the potty right quick. Phew. So now I raise a glass of sparkling water on the rocks to NO more bathroom malfunctions.

California is so way cool. I hope to visit here again, maybe next time closer to Hollywood so I can do some star-searching. How fun would that be?! I would also LOVE to go to New York City someday.

I'll write more about the trip soon. Obeedoobee.

So that's the gist. We went to the San Diego Zoo on Wednesday and had a great time. The day was perfect - sunny and about 70 degrees. It was an extra-special treat to see the panda. He looked SO chubby and CUDDLY!! I wished SO badly that I could give him a huge hug!!

Friday was rainy, windy and chilly so I stayed in the room most of the day reading books and magazines and watching "Grey's Anatomy" on my iPod, and lounging on the bed. Bliss.

Then Saturday we flew home. The flight home seemed to go really quickly, which was great. I was really anxious to get home by Saturday! The American Airlines plane seemed like a glorified tin can, but it got us home in one piece so I won't complain too much!

Sunday morning we went down to Mom and Dad's to pick up our girl. When we first walked in, she looked at us with a completely stoic look on her face for a long time. Then Daddy picked her up and she smiled and said, "Dada!" and eventually she came to me and patted my shoulder and said "Mama!" Other than the couple of times she spontaneously broke into I-miss-Grandma-and-Grandpa tears today, she seems very happy to be home. We've had a nice, relaxing day together at home - with the fireplace on and candles lit and everything. It is SO good to be with my girl again!

Tarts

2007-12-03T13:59:00.000-06:00

So my friend Bekah and I went to a one-time class at Kendall College downtown on Saturday. It was called "Pies and Tarts" and oh my gosh - it was SO much fun!!! The two instructors were great. We made three things:

Blueberry Crumble Tarts
Apple Galettes
Savory Goat Cheese and Onion Tart

We learned that the difference between a pie and a galette is that with galettes, the crust folds over the filling (like the picture above - that's one that we made). I am gonna make more of these because they are easy and so much fun and they turn out so cool-looking. Like a "rustic" pie, the instructor said, We used an egg wash on the crust, then sprinkled them with coarse sugar and brushed on an apricot glaze. Stinkin' COOL!!

Bekah and I had a blast. It was snowing and sleeting our whole way home and it took us FOUR hours to get from Evanston back home (a trip that should take just over an hour). Driving in that was so terrifiying. I think I'm still tense from that trip!

But the class was worth it. And it made me even MORE excited to start the Food Preparation class this January!!!!

.....So we leave for San Diego tomorrow afternoon. I'm not taking my laptop so I probably won't be blogging at all until we get back. No doubt, I will have LOTS of pictures and stories to share from our trip! I am sooo excited. But ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh am I gonna miss my baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya when I'm back! :)

CAKE!!

2007-11-30T16:17:00.000-06:00

Don't you hate it when you try a new recipe and it totally BOMBS? It happened to me twice this week. Twice. *insert very dramatic sigh here*

Monday: I made Molasses Sandwich Cookies. The filling was grainy and the cookies were nasty. I chucked 'em.

Wednesday: I made Turtle Pumpkin Pie. It was a no-bake recipe but had to be refrigerated for "one hour". Yeah. The next morning, the thing was still total soup. I chucked it.

But I was NOT to be defeated. This girl does not make two failed recipes only to quit in utter disillusionment. Nay, she saw it as a delicious challenge and would be appeased only by a culinary victory.

Thursday Afternoon: Grocery store baking aisle.... I zipped through the store and picked up semi-sweet baking chocolate and peppermint extract, as well as buttermilk, heavy cream, unsalted butter and peppermint candies.

I was going to bake a Chocolate Peppermint Cake and, so help me, it was GOING to be heaven on a platter.

Friday Morning: The kitchen is prepped and the ingredients are measured out. The chocolate and butter are melted in a heat-safe bowl over a pan of hot water. This looks good. The chocolate is melting beautifully and it looks like dark brown silk.

The other ingredients are added and I whisk while in a state of confectionery bliss.

The batter is poured into the pan and I have all I can do not to dive head-first into it and slurp down every last scrumptious-smelling drop.

Fifty minutes later, my house smells like chocolate euphoria and I take the cake out of the oven. It cools in the pan for five minutes and then I turn the pan upside down on the cooling rack in the hopes of the cake being released in one piece. Oh my gosh, look at that - it worked!! God bless parchment paper.

I take in a huge whiff of the warm deliciousness and then make the icing and spread it on the cake.

Wow. This looks amazing. It's definitely time to sample a piece!

Hey, it looks just like the picture in the cookbook - only better, because they used chocolate shavings to garnish the whipped cream and I used crushed peppermint candies!

I take a forkful. SOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! .....Not one to be too self-indulgent, I share my piece of cake with my girl. I suppose this picture speaks for itself.

I decide that if I keep this cake in the house, I will devour it within twenty-four hours, so I pack up the cake and the whipped cream and my girl and we head to Daddy's work. His co-workers loved it. One of them even said to him, "Was your wife raised by Betty Crocker or something?" Coooooool!

Oh and hey, I think I thought of a name for my future cafe: "Sweet Lissy B's." You like?

Nerd

2007-11-28T15:52:00.000-06:00

I am a blog nerd today. Huge blog nerd. Three entries in one day constitutes a blog nerd.

I love my camera. I love taking pictures of random stuff like my Starbucks cup. A little while ago I went to Dominicks to buy my sick hubby some chicken noodle soup and crackers. There just happens to be a Starbucks in Dominicks so I treated myself to a Decaf House Blend. Took it home and put some vanilla Coffeemate in it and it was ever so deeeeelightful. I don't get regular ol' coffee from there very often. I even got Scotty a little stuffed Starbucks penguin with a scarf on to cheer him up a little. I think he likes it.

Oh, and while I was drinking my coffee, somebody wanted a drink of her own. She's such a little copycat. :)

Circles

2007-11-28T12:57:00.001-06:00

I'm back. I HAD to blog about this cuz it is the best idea!

I was reading "American Baby" magazine last night and a mom said that she uses an apple corer to cut sandwiches into bite-size pieces for her 16-month-old. So I tried it today and OH my gosh - it is the GREATEST!! I never thought of doing that! You can also use the apple corer to cut cheese and plain deli meat and stuff. SO COOL!

And as you can see, Liss loved it!

Funnyface

2007-11-28T10:56:00.000-06:00

Grandpa was feeding her mini M&M's the other day and I, of course, was taking pictures. As soon as she saw me point the camera at her, she made this face:

She is definitely a ham!

*** OH my gosh. I am SUCH a hairbrain! I just realized that I already posted this picture a few days ago. JEEEEEZ. Sorry for the repeat, and please do me the kindness of excusing my ditziness! ***

So now Scotty has a cold. He got my sore throat and Lissy's runny nose. Poor dude. He's working from home today because he feels too miserable to go in. I don't blame him. Colds suck. I hope we're all fine by next Tuesday!!

TV

2007-11-27T11:42:00.001-06:00

So last night I put channel 7 on at 8:30 cuz I didn't want to miss "Notes From the Underbelly." It was kinda lame. But the show that came on after that was really good. I had never even heard of it before last night. It's called "October Road." Have you seen it at all? Then a friend of mine said that this is the second season of it. Woah! Radar UP. That means there's a season one DVD for sale! I just ordered it from Amazon. Sa-weet!
Okay, this entry is gonna have to be short. I hear my little squirt banging around in her crib up there and she's probably hungry for lunch. I'll be back........!

Snot

2007-11-24T20:23:00.001-06:00

My poor little bug has a very runny nose. I think she might be coming down with a cold. Suck. I gave her some Tylenol Cold tonight before bed and she said, "Mmm!" If she does have a cold, this will be the first time she's ever been sick since she was born. Suck.

So here's some news: I'm goin' back to school! Taking a culinary class that goes from January through May. Check out this description - doesn't it sound so fun?!!

"Studies of the principles of food preparation with emphasis on skill development for the production of bread and pastry, salad, and international cuisine. Includes the principles of purchasing, pricing, scheduling, and catering management."

The class will meet every Tuesday from 11-5:00. Two hours of lecture, three hours of lab (kitchen work). Sweetness!!!!!! I am so psyched!!

So we were watching Food Network yesterday and that guy with blonde, spikey hair (Guy Something-or-other) was at a restaurant where they made "inside-out cheeseburgers" and he's eating the thing going "Oh MAN, this is the BEST burger...." *rave, rave, rave*.... Scott noticed that he said this restaurant (Hackney's) was north of Chicago so we looked it up online and found out the place is only fifteen minutes from us. So guess where we went for dinner last night with Mom and Dad? And yeah, the burgers were awesome. So was the block of onion rings. With LOTS of ketchup. So naughty, but sooooooo nice. And guess where we took our friends for lunch today? Yep, twice within less than 24 hours. It was cool to see this place on Food Network and then be able to go there for dinner a couple hours later!

And without further ado....you know I've got new pictures! The first is one is her playing with her cousin Emily in Green Bay on Thanksgiving. She really likes Emily! The other two are from yesterday when Grandpa was feeding her mini M&M's (or as she says, "Enin-M's"). She loves them so much that she drools in technicolor.

Later!

Tree

2007-11-23T22:29:00.000-06:00

...or no tree? I still can't decide, although I'm still leaning towards "no tree". Our little sweetcheeks would be all over it and might even try to climb it, and might even be successful in that attempt. Girl can climb! She'd have the strings of lights off that tree quicker than you could say "NO! Don't touch the lights!" She'd grab the end of the garland and turn in circles until it was wrapped around her instead of the tree. Then she'd try to eat it.
But you should SEE the look of complete wonder she gets on her face when she sees a tree full of lights. I know she'd love having one in her house!
What to do, what to do......?

I've got plenty more to write about but it's getting late and my "Gilmore Girls" DVDs are calling my name ever so appealingly. I'll check in tomorrow!

In the meantime, I hope your turkey and cranberry sauce have digested comfortably and that you listened to Christmas music all day. :)

Love

2007-11-20T15:15:00.000-06:00

It can only be young love, right? Lissy getting a great big bear hug from fellow blondie and favorite play date, Charlie:

So I got my hair trimmed today cuz I want it to look cute for the holidays. I love the holidays! I had her "stack" it a bit more in the back. Aren't I stylish? I feel like I should have a French poodle and stilettos. Kidding.

So I might not post again til after we get home from GB, so if I don't -- I wish you and your family and buddies a very, very blessed Thanksgiving!! And let's remember Who all our blessings come from. Thank you, Lord!!!

Happy...

2007-11-19T11:04:00.001-06:00

...birthday again, Denise!
I'm treating Denise to lucnh at Steak 'n Shake in a little while. She picked the restaurant. And I'm very happy with her choice - they have THE best burgers! After lunch we're gonna go hang out at her house so we can chat and Liss and Charlie-guy can play. They're good buds! Denise and I have visions of them attending prom together someday. Lol!

Oh my gosh, I was sooooooo happy to see my girl when Grandma and Grandpa brought her home yesterday!! When I answered the door, she looked at me with a confused expression on her little face, but then I could see the moment of recognition and she put her arms out to me. Too funny! She slept in Grandma and Grandpa's bed (inbetween them) for THREE HOURS yesterday morning!! Whuuuut?! She NEVER falls asleep on our bed - I wish she would cuz I love snuggling with her! When I picture her snoozing away all cozy-like on my mom and dad's big bed, it makes me smile.

We're leaving for Green Bay on Wednesday afternoon. I'm looking forward to our little trip. I think Liss will have fun with everybody there on Thursday! And she'll LOVE Thanksgiving food!!! Last Thanksgiving she dined on breastmilk all day. This year's gonna be so fun!

My tummy just growled and at first I thought it was my cell ringing. *snort* I'm hungry.

Oh, I made a RR recipe Friday night - Turkey Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie. (Did I mention that already in another entry? I think I did. Oh well.) Anyway, here's a pic of the finished product. It was really good. I use Rachael's "garbage bowl" concept when I'm cooking a meal that has lots of ingredients. It's handy-dandy.

And here's a picture of my happy girl, and a picture of her piggy. They are the only piggies in the whole world that I love!!

Wow

2007-11-17T23:21:00.000-06:00

Have you ever sat down to watch a movie - a movie that you settled on because there wasn't anything else you really wanted to see?
Scotty and I watched "Reign Over Me" tonight. It didn't look very interesting to me; in fact, I had never heard of it. Adam Sandler was phenomenal. I have a whole new respect for his acting ability. And Don Cheadle was amazing, as well. It was a fantastic movie. Just fantastic. The kind of movie that, when it ends, leaves you just sitting there going, "Wow."

Bake

2007-11-16T21:36:00.000-06:00

Mo - the Sleep Snug things DID work!! My covers stayed in place beautifully last night - yay!!

For dinner tonight I made a RR recipe: Turkey Sweet-Potato Shepherd's Pie. She lies. It didn't take thirty minutes. It took almost an hour, what with all the chopping and dicing and getting three different pans out and all. But it was really tasty! Can you believe the recipe uses half of a banana? Random! We had cranberry sauce with it. I love cranberry sauce. Apparently, so does the small one - she gobbled it up quicker than I could put it on her high chair tray!

So anyway....right now I'm laying on my bed with two candles lit and Christmas music playing on my radio. Relaxation rocks.

I've got this new little pipedream. I wanna bake. I mean, not just for Scott and me - but for lots of people. I wish I could open up a cozy little bakery/cafe. There's nothing like that around here. There are plenty of Starbucks and Borders Cafes and everything, but there's nowhere you can just go and order a bowl of soup, a freshly-baked muffin and some really good coffee and relax. I wanna do it. I really do! If it ever happens - and that's a huge "IF!" - it won't be til Liss is in school, so I've got some time to figure out if it's something I'm capable of pulling off. There's a lot involved in something like opening a bakery. I just wanna make basic things like muffins, cupcakes, cookies, pies, pastries. Not birthday cakes or wedding cakes.....I don't wanna get into cake decorating at all. I would want it to be a perfect place for people to come and get really good baked goods and just hang out. I don't know enough about coffee at this point to even think about that part of it, but I can learn. And I'm even looking into taking some culinary classes. Oh my gosh, that would be SO cool!!!!! And heck, those will come in handy whether I open up a place or not! Who knows if it'll ever happen? But it sure is fun to dream about!

Tomorrow Liss is spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. This will be the first time I've ever been away from her overnight! It's kindof a "practice session" for our San Diego trip, when she'll be staying with them for five days. I miss her already. Gosh, she is the best.

Bed

2007-11-15T20:47:00.000-06:00

I honestly can't really think of anything else to blog about tonight, so here's my boring entry:

Every morning I wake up to all my covers pretty much on the floor. I don't know how I manage to make that happen every night, but I do. I'm a pretty major thrasher while I sleep so I guess it's not all that surprising. But it's getting annoying cuz during the night I've been waking up a dozen times and try to adjust the covers but it's doesn't help. WOW this is a boring entry.

Anyway, so like two years ago I bought these things called "Sleep Snug". Here's what they look like:

I really hope these crazy things help!

I don't mean to be a broken record but - my baby girl is so stinkin' awesome! Lol! She is THE best little hugger! I say, "Can Mommy have a hug?" And she cruises on over from wherever she is and just throws herself into my arms and nuzzles her precious little head against my belly. It is sweetness personified. And I squeeze her sooooooo tight! There is no feeling like it in the world and I feel incredibly blessed to experience it.

She got a flu shot today (the second in a round of two). The very moment we got into that doctor's office, she SCREAMED and had big ol' crocodile tears streaming down her red cheeks. I felt so bad for her!! The shot itself happened VERY quickly and as soon as I picked her back up off the table, she calmed down. She knew it was done and that everything would be fine. A handful of fishy crackers and her baba, and she was a very happy girl on the way home. Poor little peanut. Shots blow for little kids who have no idea what the heck is going on.

Tomorrow we're planning to meet some moms and kids at McDonald's playland for lunch. Can you say "chaos?" Lol! I'll keep ya posted.

Potty

2007-11-14T20:48:00.000-06:00

She's fourteen months old. She's not ready to use the potty. But nevertheless, today I bought her a potty chair because, well, someday soon she'll use it - and a little ridiculous optimism never hurt anybody. Lesson number one took place this evening. Upon seeing the new potty chair for the first time, she stepped ever-so-gingerly into it - one piggy at a time - and was standing like a fountain statue in the center of the potty. After that, I demonstrated how to sit on it (don't worry - I hovered above it. I'd rather not break the thing before she even uses it.). Then Pooh Bear demonstrated how to sit on it (while Mommy made small farting sounds to enhance the experience). This seemed effective. Then daddy hovered above the potty chair as his daughter watched with obvious amusement. I said, "When you need to poop, come and sit on this potty chair." Yeah. THAT'S gonna happen. OH - and she is an expert at very succinctly saying the word "potty." Another new word to add to her rapidly-increasing vocabulary. Go, Lissy, go! Pun fully intended. As you can see from the photo, she quickly grew bored of sitting on the potty and raced off to play with the box said potty came in. I gave her a B+ on lesson one. Not bad for a fourteen-month old.

Today she began sucking her pointer finger. Not her thumb, her pointer finger. When she wants her baba the finger goes in the mouth. It's kinda cute, really.

Now here's a little story for ya: We planned to meet Scotty on his lunch hour today and hit a good restaurant near where he works. As I always do, I called his cell when we left the house to let him know we were on our way. Voicemail. A few minutes later, I called his cell again. Voicemail. Again. Voicemail. So I called his direct work number. Voicemail. Called it again. Voicemail. Got there and sat in the Durango outside his office window - like I always do - so he could see that we had arrived. Waited. Waited. Dug around in the diaper bag and handed Lissy some goldfish crackers cuz the poor kid was starving. Waited. Waited. Handed Lissy some more fishies. *crunch crunch* Waited. Called his cell. Voicemail. Call his direct line. Voicemail. WHAT THE HECK?!! This is highly unusual. At this point I started to worry. Did work stress finally do him in? Did he have cardiac arrest, pass out cold on the office floor, and get carted away in an ambulance? Was his cell phone on the floor of the hospital hallway?

So finally I parked and Lissy and I went into the building. We walk into the office and spot him standing in the conference room holding a plate full of BOSTON MARKET, for crying in the night!! As soon as he saw Liss and I standing there staring at him blankly, he looked surprised and then ashamed. Yep, he completely forgot we were supposed to do lunch today.

He apologized, said he'd still go to lunch with us, and when asked where I wanted to go I said - without missing a beat - "The mall." After a quick, lukewarm lunch in the food court I headed to the Yankee Candle shop and picked out sixty bucks worth of candles and, like the smart boy he is, he handed me his credit card. It was a good day.

Nap

2007-11-13T16:41:00.000-06:00

My little stinker is taking a loooong nap right now. That's one of the best things about playgroups - the kids get so exhausted and they just crash afterwards! ;)
The big toe on my right foot hurts. I got a little overzealous during toenail-trimming the other night and dug too deep. Ow.
I should buy stock in Yankees. If a jeanie popped out of a jar right now, my three wishes would be "Yankee candles, Yankee candles, and Yankee candles." My sister gave me a pumpkin pie jar one for my birthday and it's almost gone already. I've burned four pumpkin pie votives, too. The way those Yankees make the house smell is just sooooo WONDERFUL! I wish they were a little cheaper - I'd buy a bunch for myself. The food/baking scents are my favorite by far. I'm a candle freak and in the fall and winter I burn them pretty much every day and into the evenings. Anybody know where you can buy Yankees for like wholesale or something?
Hey, I walked 30 minutes on the treadmill a little while ago! Yep. And I'm gonna keep it up. We have a perfectly good treadmill - we may as well use it, right? I'm gonna drag Scotty onto it tonight and if he protests I'll make him feel reeeeeally guilty.
Okay, time to think about dinner. I think it's gonna be chicken chow mein from a frozen meal kit I have. Exciting. Not. But after I grocery shop in a couple days, I'll be hitting the Rachael Ray recipes pretty hard. Yum-o.

Thanks!

2007-11-12T19:57:00.001-06:00

I love the comments you've been leaving, and I want to thank you so much for them! *smooch!!*
I don't have a whole lot to say tonight....it was just a pretty ordinary day. Liss and I went to Dominick's to do some grocery shopping (spent twice as much as I'd planned, as usual). She got a kick out of a couple of little boys who were shopping with their mom. We were in the cleaning products aisle and they were being all obnoxious and silly and stuff, and Liss was watching them and giggling. The boys' mom thought it was cute. Ya know - these days, anything that can help entertain her is OKAY by this mama!! :)
Tomorrow I'm having some moms and kids over for an afternoon playgroup. I love playgroups!

Tonight

2007-11-11T20:11:00.000-06:00

Okay Miss Devon - here's my blog entry for today! Hee!

I loved tonight. We had a really yummy "breakfast pizza" for dinner with some toast and jam. Lissy loved tonight's dinner too! I'm so thankful she's not a picky eater. Anyway, then we were all in the family room watching cheesy Disney shows. Scotty and I were cuddled up on the couch and Bug was lying on the floor drinking her baba. It was just a really nice moment. :)

Thank you, God, for the really nice moments.

Oh - and she has added a new word to her vocab today: "Cool"! She brings us her little pink sunglasses so we'll put them on her and then she smiles and says, "Cool!" It is soooooo impossibly cute!! I'm amazed at the things she picks up lately. She's like a sponge!! Yesterday we were driving down to the mall and for some reason I said, "SSSSUCK!" cuz I was bummed about something, and we hear a little voice from the back seat: "suck". So yeah, it's time to start being really careful what we say when those little ears are close-by!

...I am still totally loving audio books. I checked a bunch out from the library this past week and put them onto my iPod. The two things I love best about them are:

-- I can listen to a book while I'm doing other things (like tonight I listened while I folded and put away laundry). I'm looking forward to working on crochet projects while I listen - gonna do that soon.

-- And it's just soooo relaxing!!

At the rate I'm going, I finish about two books a week. Right now I'm listening to "Light on Snow" by Anita Shreve. It's very intriguing and I can't wait to see how it ends. I really, really like this story.

Oh and ya know what I did last night? I went to a movie by myself. It was blissful. Saw "Dan in Real Life" and cried my eyes out. It is not a sad movie. It's happy and so very sweet and incredibly touching. I guess there are some "bittersweet" parts to it but in general it's a happy movie. I'm glad I was there by myself cuz I don't like people to see me cry. However, I was talking to my sister on the phone on my way home and could barely talk because of the crying. What a doofis, eh?! I want to buy that movie when it comes out on DVD. I can't wait to see it again. If you're reading this and haven't seen it yet, I hope you'll see it. I recommend it very highly!

Ouch

2007-11-10T22:30:00.000-06:00

I'm in the kitchen too much. I have a perpetual cramp in my right thumb from manipulating the sprayer on the sink faucet.

Mall

2007-11-10T15:34:00.000-06:00

This afternoon we took Liss to the mall down in Vernon Hills. We very rarely go to a mall cuz there isn't one close to us. We either have to drive 30 minutes to Gurnee or 35-40 minutes to Vernon Hills. I have a dream of someday living very close to a mall. *wendy gets a wistful look in her eye*
But I digress. So the three of us went today because I heard that Curious George was gonna be there. The one, the only -- George. Liss doesn't even like that show yet but she sure loves his books. So we find him and we take her out of her stroller and put her down. She beelines for the monkey - walks right up to him and waves. He waves back. Then she walks around him in a circle a couple times, checking him out real good, and finally pokes his monkey butt. It was really cute. And her doofis mom forgot the camera - again!
Then she proceeded to attempt Elmo theft at a toy store, climb into another kid's stroller, and leave with somebody else's red balloon. Ah, adventures at the mall.
It was fun though. She and I needed a change of scenery something FIERCE. I am so tired of sitting in this family room!!!!!!

James

2007-11-09T14:49:00.000-06:00

This morning I met my friend Sherri for breakfast at the Whistle Stop Cafe. I love that place. The food is always really good (especially their breakfast food) and it's just kindof a fun place. Our waiter was James and I think he's probably as gay as the day is long, but he is SO great. I got there a few minutes before Sherri and he said, "How 'bout some coffee, Love?" Then a little later he asked, "How about a little cup of fruit for the little one?" And he brought it out for her before the rest of our order was ready. Somehow, he must know how kids are! And when he brought it to her, he unfolded a napkin and dramatically set it on her lap. Lol! And when we were getting ready to leave, I was trying to grab my purse, her jacket and the diaper bag while holding my very squirmy, fussy girl...and he picked her up and held her until I had everything together. And she was happy as a clam by him. He even tried to teach her how to say "Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, and Coach." ....Gosh, if every waiter or waitress was that intuitive and accomodating the world would be a better place!
James is cool.

Zapped

2007-11-08T20:15:00.000-06:00

Every once in awhile I have a day where, by the time Bugga goes to bed, I am absolutely ZAPPED. Just bone-weary from the diapers and the whining and the meals and the cleaning up and the clothes-changing and the vacuuming and the garbage-emptying and the playing and the trying to be cheerful when all I wanna do is crawl in bed for several hundred hours. Today is one of those days.

Words

2007-11-07T19:57:00.000-06:00

My girl says some new words, as of the last week or so!
"Girl"
"Guy"
"Hey"
"Charlie"
"Button"

We've got a baby genius here. Lol!

Daddy

2007-11-07T10:31:00.000-06:00

This girl absolutely ADORES her daddy. When he gets home from work she runs to him with her arms out and virtually melts when he picks her up. It is so awesome seeing the two most important people in my life so in love with each other.

And today she looks like a little prep. Kind-of a mini college girl - lol!

And I call this picture "Whatever Works"!

Starbucks

2007-11-05T11:25:00.001-06:00

"I love my Starbucks. I love my joe. I love my Starbucks. Barista, let it flow."

It's a song that's on my iPod.

I don't really know why I'm on such a Starbucks kick lately. I'm not even a big coffee drinker. I drink coffee about once every couple weeks on average.

It may have started when I found out that they're building a new Starbucks about two blocks from us. Oh, and it's really cool that right now they're giving away a free iTunes song per day. You just go in, buy a coffee, and pick up a card; there's a code on the back that you enter into iTunes and your free song downloads. Love that!

Oh, and Toskey's in the doghouse today. I was drinking a peppermint frap this morning and left it on the table for a minute or two. When I went back to get it, it was lying sideways on the floor and he was helping himself. A cat that likes fraps. Maybe I'll take him to Starbucks next time I go and we can chat over pumpkin spice mochas.

I started a new audio book last night - "The Christmas Letters" by Debbie Macomber. Loving it so far. Her novels are sweet.

Our friends Jim and Jill were here last night and left this morning. It was a short visit, but a nice one. Liss really took to Jim and kept wanting him to pick her up and stuff. It was adorable. He kept saying, "She's SO cute!" Yep, she is!

Today Lissy and I are going to the bank to deposit a buttload of loose change that has accumulated in our change jar. I'm real curious as to how much it is. We're putting it towards Christmas gifts. Anyway...then we're going to Super Target cuz we have a gift card to use. Gift cards are neat.

Have a good day!

Laugh

2007-11-02T22:17:00.000-05:00

Is there anything better than hearing your baby laugh? It's one of the best sounds in the world! She's starting to get this great giggle and when she does it, her shoulders even go up and down! Priceless.

Earlier tonight Scott was dangling a cloth "banana" (that we used to use as a kitty toy) from the loft and she was laughing at Toskey trying to catch it. If it works, I'm gonna post the link to the video here. Please excuse the fact that she's not wearing a shirt...I took her shirt off after dinner cuz she had gotten pasta sauce all over it and it needed some serious SHOUT action right away! :P
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a145/Wenzee/?action=view&current=Laughin007.flv

By the way....what would we do without Shout?!

OH - and guess what? Would you believe I FINALLY got into my "Lissy B" blog tonight?!!! I discovered that the "username" they needed all this time was simply my email address. OH my gosh. So here I start this new blog and the very next day I figure out how to sign in to the one I've been trying to sign into for months now. UUUGGGGHHH!! .....Oh well, I like this new one anyhow, and I'll probably talk mostly about Miss Liss here so it's all good!

Pots and iPods and My Little Girl

2007-10-31T21:21:00.000-05:00

I LOVE my new cast iron pot!!! Mom gave it to me for my birthday. It's a Martha Stewart pot from her new line at Macy's. The sucker is huge (7 quarts) and REALLY heavy. I've used it a dozen times already since I got it. Tonight I made "oven beef stew" in it and it was out of this world. I love my pot.

And my iPod - oh my. How did I live without one?!! It's causing me to have an interest in music again and oh how I love audio books!! Listening to them before I drift off to sleep at night is about the most relaxing thing ever. Last night I sat in the recliner and knitted while listening to Starbucks-y music on it. Life is sweet.

And I saved the best for last for tonight's entry: My little girl. Alyssa makes my whole world go around. It's hard to not get sappy when I write about this kid. She is the most amazing little human being I've ever known. Today Grandma and Grandpa came to spend most of the day with us and she was in her glory! She bee-lined for Grandpa with her little arms out to him as soon as he walked in the door. He didn't like that at all (please note MAJOR sarcasm here). Whenever trick-or-treaters rang the bell, she screeched and high-tailed it to the front door. She got quite a kick out of seeing princesses and lions and puppies and ghosts when we opened the door. OH - and I hid my fart machine under a bush and pressed the button on the remote control to make it fart right as the kids were walking back down the sidewalk. That was entertaining! Wish I had a video camera on those kids when they heard the first fart. Gonna do that next year, too. Halloween is cool.

Anyway....so yeah, life has been a lot of fun lately! God is good. Really, really good.

Oh, and as for the title of my new blog -- Up until about a year ago, I hated pink and wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. Now, it's one of my favorite colors. What gives? It is it because I have a girl and love dressing her in cutesy pink stuff? Is her mere girly-ness rubbing off on her Mama? Methinks it is! But that's okay. Change is good. And kinda fun.