Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and my husband...and me...but not the dog. His name is Dexter.

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Blah-gs

I have a serious case of the blah's which has ballooned into the blah-gs. I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe I can't think of interesting to write. Maybe I've never written anything all that interesting to begin with. I've even been less than devoted to reading blogs I love.

Blogging is good. It's a nice escape for when I need a little break from reality. But! Can you take too many breaks?! Can you become too neurotic about your blog?! (you don't have to actually answer that, I already know of my neurotic-ness) I find myself.......obsessing. Wondering how many comments I've gotten in the 20 minutes since I've been away from the computer. Wondering why people who used to comment no longer comment. Did I offend them? Or am I just incredible boring but too oblivious to realize it. Because I am lame. And I have been faced with much of my lameness over this whole situation. Maybe it's just me? (feel free to answer that one) I've been surprised by how much I enjoy writing. It's a good outlet. An outlet that I actually have the time and space to do. So, what's my problem?! Maybe I'm just having a mini-mid-life crises. Don't you get a shiny red car for that? I like shiny things.

The Blahs have extended to much of my life, but it is almost summer so I have hope. And the girls have a tiny, plastic swimming pool so I have entertainment. I have a fabulously wonderful new camera to play with. And the girls have goggles. Things are good.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Bab Stats

Two year well child check for my little Babby Baby.

Height: 31.5 inches
Weight: 22 pounds
Head Circumference: 19 inches

For a little perspective.....

Height: 5%
Weight: 5%
Head: 95%

I've got me some big headed babies! But they sure are cute!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Random May Update: Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Whew! What a weekend! Happy Memorial Day everyone!
We've been busy planting and being all organic and nature-y and stuff.
And hanging out with these little goof balls.
And playing with this cute little mutt. Hairy beast.
And we spoke in church on Sunday. There's just something so wrong about my Minnie Mouse voice being projected throughout a chapel. At least it was a holiday weekend.

And we got our veggie garden in....almost all the way. It was in all the way (on Saturday) until we bought a couple more plants yesterday.
Of course, there was the real point of this holiday.....the 50% off sale at Saver's. I got Lolly 5 outfits (she needs summer clothes), Babs 3 outfits (I think she'll grow eventually), me an outfit (because I can't go out naked) and 10 kids books. For just over $32. It's a skill.

Hey, I just realized that the girls are each wearing a new outfit in the above pictures....cute, huh?!

Oh, yeah, and this.....
came yesterday! Wahoo!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Friday Favorite-You Have Won The Contest!

A few weeks ago I entered a tiny little contest that was being held by The Meanest Mom. She was giving away several different fabulous prizes and I thought I'd enter even though I had a very slim chance of actually winning anything since over 1,400 people entered to win. 1,438 to be exact.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from Jana, of Meanest Mom fame, that I had actually won! And the prize that I won was fabulous. It was an adorable little name sign from Farm House Five Art 4 Kids. Here is where my dilemmas came in. My girls share a room so I couldn't exactly get a sign for one and not the other. Plus, they don't have all that much wall space and I'm weird about putting things over their beds because I'm paranoid about things falling off the wall during an earthquake. Yes, I know, I'm weird. I considered having a sign made with our last name but figured that there wasn't a piece of wood big enough to fit it. So, I did the only obvious thing there was to do.....I got if for Baby Fi's room.
It's a picture taken with the cell phone because my fabulous new camera hasn't come yet. But trust me when I tell you that it's absolutely adorable!

There are some seriously cute products on this site. I love the wallpaper letters and might use those in my girls' room since, even if they were to fall off the wall during an earthquake, it wouldn't hurt that much. I also loved the A to Z Wallpaper Cutouts. There is something there for just about everyones decorating tastes and children's styles. So if you've been looking for something to complete a room, head on over! And buy me something while you're at it!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Garden of Idiot

This past weekend was our first attempt this year at regaining control of our wayward yard. Looking at it, it's hard to believe that it really has gotten better since our purchase of this house seven years ago. Really, it has! Sadly, it still has far to go. This year we have decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and make some serious landscaping improvements.

As we all know, I'm a bit of a hippie. In a good way, though. So the concept of xeriscaping has an obvious appeal to one such as myself. But to say that gardening does not come naturally to me is like saying Super Dell is just a little bit quirky. A HUGE understatement. I don't have much of a green thumb, although I have managed to keep most of my house plants alive. My Dad grew up in East LA where they mostly grow cement and barbed wire and I think I inherited his natural ability to landscape. But things, they are a'changin' people!

Seeing as we live in a desert, I thought some drought tolerant landscaping would be a good idea and set off on my journey of discovery. But I should warn you that there is a lot, I mean A LOT, of information on the old Internet. And it was slightly overwhelming. Slowly and painfully I sorted through this information and found a program called Rip Your Strip. Now, when I first read that title I was a bit leery of going to that particular site. It sounds like some sort of waxing trend that I just was not interested. But it has actually provided me with the most helpful information when it comes to xeriscaping.

Last Friday night I was finally able to come up with a landscaping plan that we could actually accomplish and hopefully have some success at. Saturday morning dawned bright and early and with a soccer game that needed coaching. But after that, there was nothing standing in our way of gardening bliss. I mowed the lawn and CG edged. We had a little pow wow and decided that while he cleaned up the clippings, I would get the flower bed "prepped" for planting so that when we bought the plants they could go straight in and not die waiting for us. Great!

And then I stood in front of the flower bed trying to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do to "prep" it. Hmmm......? It's not easy being an idiot, I tell you. So, first I started with a tiny shovel to remove weeds, which didn't really work. Then I switched to a rake and raked stuff out. It was lovely, but still not prepped to my liking. Then I switched to a shovel. That helped a bit. Except our flower bed was rock hard. I ended up going back and forth between the rake and the shovel and made slow and painful progress. Until I broke with rake with my awesome powerfulness. But, hey, I got my grapes planted at least. After CG took pity on me and dug the holes because I don't know how to use a shovel.

Yes, indeedy. This summer is sure to be full of gardening adventures. Wish me luck. I will need it.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sgt. Mama

Monday, May 18, 2009

I'm Giddy!


This is on it's way to my house right now!!! Wahooooooo!!!!!!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday Favorite-Baby Drink

Yesterday, when it came time for Babs to take a nap, she really wasn't all that interested. But I desperately needed her to take a nap seeing as I am a bit under the weather and needed a nap myself. Plus, not wanting to take a nap and not needing to take a nap are two very different things.

So I loved her up and put her in her crib and covered her up with all four blankets and even humored her when she kept changing the order that she wanted the blankets applied. I walked out of her room and a minute later she started crying. I decided to be brave and see what she needed because I really don't like letting her cry it out. It turns out that she needed her baby (that she just got for her birthday) that was laying on her bedroom floor so I handed it to her. Easy fix. Then left the room again. Again she started crying and again I went in to ask what she needed. She looked at me and tearfully asked for the "baby drink". She needed her baby's bottle. I looked around her room and told her I couldn't find it. She said, "it's in the front room". It never ceases to amaze me how much she talks! In sentences! So, I trudged to the front room and found the exact baby bottle needed for the situation. As I handed it to her she said "thank you" and happily napped for two hours. And I attempted to nap for two hours.

Babs started sleeping through the night this past February (at 22 months) and, let me tell you, it was something to be celebrated! And continued! I'll do just about anything to keep this child sleeping through the night. If she wants to sleep with her new baby doll, no problem. Wants to take an empty sippy to bed, sure! Heck, if she wants chocolate and promises to sleep, I'm all for it.

Last night, around midnight-thirty, my sweet little Babs woke up crying. She occasionally does this, but usually goes right back to sleep. But last night she just couldn't seem to go back to sleep and kept saying "mama", which gets me every time, and "baby" which is just adorable. So, after a couple of minutes, I went in to her room to see if I could help her. When I went in I asked her if what she needed. She looked up at me and sleepily asked "baby drink?". She had her baby but needed the baby bottle for her. When I had checked on her earlier in the night I had seen the bottle and put it where it wouldn't fall behind the crib so I knew just where it was and handed it to her. In her sleepy daze she said "thank you mama" and laid right back down to go to sleep with her baby doll and baby drink beside her.

She takes her mama responsibilities very seriously and she is a great Baby Mama. She's better at it than me! I just need to pay attention to what she's doing and learn from her.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Elegant Dinner Conversation

A part of our dinner conversation last night went a little like this:

Babs: loudly tooting for the second or third time

CG: "What do you say?" (expecting her to say "scue me")

Babs: "Daddy tootie!"


Lovely

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Power To The Pink

I'm the real biggest loser and was up until midnight last night watching the finale of The Biggest Loser so we wouldn't accidentally find out today who won before we watched it. Isn't it ironic that watching that show always makes me feel like eating junk food from a ziploc bag and chewing gum?!

Some other random, self absorbed updates to share.....I think I'm getting sick. Yesterday I put the girls in our double wide and went for a walk. While we were out my asthma started bothering me so I figured it had something to do with all the beautiful foliage and was no big deal. Turns out, may not be allergies. But of course I went to enrichment last night before figuring that out. My apologies to anyone who happened to sit near me. My stupidity is my greatest enemy.

We have a soccer game today. And I can't pick up Babs without getting out of breath. Yay asthma! Yay whining!

After some significant internet research, it's looking like our old camera isn't fixable and we're in the market for a new one. I looked at cameras online yesterday and was totally overwhelmed. If anyone has some tips or suggestions about a new camera please feel free to share.

I need to do some spring cleaning. I even printed off a handy dandy checklist. Now I just need to find the time and energy to actually accomplish the things on that list. And with all the wonderful things on that list to do, here I sit......blogging......

Monday, May 11, 2009

I Really Do Heart Art

This week the lovely ladies at 3 Bay B Chicks are doing a "We Heart Art" thing and I was totally excited to participate. I was going to post lots of artsy fartsy things and make it an official We Heart Art Week in my tiny corner of the blogosphere. I was so super excited that there are no words to accurately express my excitement.

So, what, you may be asking, could have possible burst my bubble on this little project? My camera is BROKEN. I've spent all day trying to figure out how to fix it and the Internet is telling me that this happens a lot to this particular model and there is no way to fix it.

Sharing all those fun art projects with you won't be as fun without pictures so you can actually see what I'm talking about. ***sigh***pout***

I'm really bummed.

Race For The Cure Recap

On Saturday we did the Race For The Cure for the first of what I hope will be many years. It was a great experience and I'm glad that my little family did it all together.

I had been soooo worried that with my pathetic athletic ability I wouldn't be able to keep up. I shouldn't have worried. There were so many people that it wouldn't have been possible to go much faster than we were. I read online that over 17,000 people participated this year. We seemed to be right in the middle so there was a sea of people for several blocks ahead and behind of us. I don't know how anyone was actually able to run this race.

As we walked I couldn't help but read the signs and shirts of those around us. People walked to honor survivors, loved ones they had lost and themselves. It was a shocking reminder of how many people this terrible disease affects. So, of course, throughout the race I was crying off and on. Because I'm a big boob. It was a fitting place for me. This wasn't all that shocking since I am the one who started crying when we donated to Toys For Tots this past Christmas. There I was, bawling like a baby, standing by the front door of Walmart waiting for CG. It wasn't pretty. Sadly, I'm not a pretty crier.

There were people of all shapes and sizes participating. Adults and kids and babies. People in wheel chairs. People with walkers and canes and crutches. People with hair and a few without. Most people were wearing the official shirt, but some had team shirts and I greatly enjoyed reading all the team names. Our team was Busting Butts for Busts. There were the Breast Jordan Buddies, 3 B's fighting for DD's, lots of Save The Ta Ta's shirts and many many more. My personal favorite.......Save Second Base.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Friday Favorite-My New Best Friend

For those of you who have never heard of it, there is a lovely site call Woot. This site offers a new techie deal each day. Be careful who you tell....it can be addicting!

CG loves this site and he's not a big shopper...online or in store. But last week he called to confess. He had made a purchase. A significant purchase. Without consulting his other half. Now, normally, it's not a big deal. Neither of us shop enough to make it a big deal. Although, as a side note, I don't really recommend online bra shopping after taking sleeping medication. Not that I would know, but I'll let you know if there's anything funny after it gets here.

This was a BIG DEAL. It was a Roomba!!! Wahoo!
I'm thinking I want to decorate it with stickers and glitter and give it a name because of its wonderfulness. Lolly now thinks that a vacuum is something that wanders around the house cleaning up after you. So I guess we should name it Mommy.

iRobot=iLovit

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Mexican Wedding Cookies

I haven't done one of these in a long time. So, here goes!

Mexican Wedding Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup pecans, finely chopped (I used cashews yesterday because it was what I had)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt (I didn't add this)
1 cups butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a small bowl combine flour, pecans (or whatever nut you choose), cinnamon and salt; mix well and set aside.
In another bowl cream together butter and sugars. Add vanilla.
Gradually add dry ingredients until well mixed.
Roll dough into small tablespoon size balls and place in cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until cookies are set, but not brown.
After cooling for approximately 5 minutes, roll each cookie in powdered sugar to coat.
Cool completely if possible. ;o)

And Rychelle, I'll make sure we have these at our book club meetings. As long as peewee approves, being the menu coordinator and all.


**Edited To Add**
For another super yummy dessert recipe (Eclair Cake) head on over here.
There's also a fruit dip recipe in the comments that looks fabulous! Thanks Becky!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cinco de Mayo

Two posts in one day?!?! What on earth is going on? Well, you didn't actually think that a holiday took place without the Chaos Family celebrating the heck out of it, did ya?! Of course not.
Our Cinco de Mayo celebration mostly consisted of Mexican food for dinner. Okay, it consisted entirely of Mexican food for dinner.

Black bean quesadillas, spanish rice (from a plastic packet) and corn (from a can). I slaved over this meal I tell ya.
And for dessert.......Mexican Wedding Cookies. Baked this afternoon by yours truly with help from Lolly.

The First Book of The IBC

We now have a fabulous new book club that is sure to be uplifting and enlightening for us all. Kristina P. has been nominated president about 20 times so she can be our fearless leader! I'll be the official snack master or some other important role like that. Francesca and Rychelle will be our official out of town guests, although I think if they really tried and loved us enough they could make it to each meeting. So can Peewee, wherever she's been lately. But now comes the important part...what shall our first book be? I'm currently reading Coaching Soccer for Dummies and that's far too appropriate for our club. Suggestions, anyone?! Jo?

Monday, May 4, 2009

IBC

So, I'm thinking about starting a book club. It will be called Inappropriate Book Club. IBC for short. We will read only inappropriate books. And we can have IBC Root Beer at every meeting.
I wonder how successful my latest social endeavor will be? Probably about as successful as all the others......
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