Today

Today I am 35 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

Today I woke up at 4 am feeling really well rested. That'll happen when I fall asleep before 9pm.

Today I have a lunch meeting for church. Woohoo, Chinese buffet!

Today I will clean the house as best I can. It will look like I did nothing, because right now all my best work is going into growing this baby. Seriously. I hurt if I bend down to the floor, and have to work entirely too hard to get up off the floor (where the bulk of our cleaning needs to happen today!). Maybe I can sweep everything into one big pile for people to grab their own crap to put away, then Andy can sweep all the rest into the trash.

Today we had a great morning. Even got to school a few minutes earlier than our usual just-on-time.

Today Lauren has her first dance class at her new dance studio. I am excited, and she is ridiculously excited.

Today Aubrey is planning ways to save the rainforest. That makes me ridiculously proud. I remember sending money to World Wildlife Fund when I was a kid.

Today Sasha came in from outside to tell me she had to poop, then proceeded to run to the toilet. Seriously big news, as this girl loves nature, and doing nature-like things out in nature.

Today

Today I am feeling very pregnant. And I hurt. And I am wishing it was November 10 instead of October 10.

Today there's no school, so we are a house full of laziness.

Today I want to make these. Thank you, pinterest. :-) Perfect timing, as last night Andy used the last dryer sheet.

Today is cloudy and muggy. And the yard is super muddy from all the rain this weekend. I've never been happier to have such a muddy backyard.

Today we are having baked cod for dinner. Whenever we have cod, I think about childhood Christmas Eve's - oyster stew (disgusting!), codfish gravy on baked potatoes (delicious - though it sounds disgusting!), hoska (our family Christmas bread), huge cans of black olives, pickled beets, enchilada casserole, and my Grandma Ruthie and Aunt Ibby.

Today

One of my friends posted what she did today, and since I'm in a bit of a blogging lull, I thought this might help me get back into things a bit. Thanks, Emily, for this idea that I stole. :-)

Today I stole this blog idea and re-posted my comment left at the scene of the crime as my very own post here.

Today I did NOT visit pinterest (this is news, I tell ya!).

Today I washed and hung one load of laundry out to dry.

Today the weather was gorgeous. GORGEOUS.

Today Sasha and I played in a park with friends.

Today the above-mentioned friends said I look noticeably bigger than a week ago AND that I am beautiful. (Seeing as I'm almost 33 weeks pregnant, both of these made me feel really good!)

Today I got annoyed with crappy grammar on facebook posts.

Today I baked chocolate-chocolate chip friendship bread.

Today I no-baked cookies.

Today dinner was cereal because the hour that I spend in the kitchen before dinner was taken up by emptying the dishwasher while arguing with the girls about helping to clean the living room. (The living room that would've taken about 5 minutes to pick up if we could've skipped the arguing.)

Today I looked at a pile of towels that needs to be folded.

Two birthdays, stitches, and a new school. And some randomness, too. Not in that order.

Sheesh, two birthdays in this house since I last blogged.... life must be busy! :-)

Aubrey turned 9! (Holy bleep, I do not feel old enough to have a 9 year old.) Poor thing wanted a slumber party birthday party, and so she invited only a handful of friends - only one rsvp'd (that she couldn't come). The other 3 didn't rsvp at all, and didn't show up. Aubrey was crushed. I had a feeling before it happened, so I tried to brace her as best I could. And we (Andy and I) had already decided that it was time to have a kitten in the house, and that a 9 year old is old enough for some responsibility in caring for it, so we let her pick HER kitten. She helped pay for it, she named it, she helps clean up the litterbox... Anyway, I took her looking at kittens the night she was supposed to be partying like a rockstar. And why? Whywhywhy do people not rsvp? Just a quick call. Or text. Or e-mail. Freakin' annoying people.

And also, we decided to switch elementary schools. The old school was okay*, but Aubrey was struggling in some areas, and they were not as helpful as she needed them to be. So when a flyer came about a charter school, we checked it out and decided a switch was necessary. She's having a tough time with homework, but is apparently doing well in class. So we are brainstorming ways to get her to concentrate and focus at home. Lauren is, well, Lauren. Didn't even want me to walk her into the building on her first day. I DID walk her in, but that's not what she wanted. Crazy girl.

*and what I really mean is, I thought the old school was okay. Until I saw her struggling so much with some of the homework she was doing in the 2nd week at the new school - I'm pretty sure they should've held her back or something. Learned that old school doesn't teach phonetics. Isn't phonetics key in learning to read and comprehend? Also, watching Aubrey try to answer some of her homework questions, it appears that they worked really hard at teaching their 3rd graders how to pass the standardized tests last year, and neglected other things as a by-product.

Sasha turned 2 in the middle of all of this. She is an awesome 2 year old, I have to admit. Loves to sing and be sung to - 'You are my Sunshine' is a favorite, along with 'The Itsy-bitsy Spider' and, thanks to our summer camp program at the preschool, an annoying song about a princess sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. I can no longer sing to her about a twinkling star - she gets mad at me and insists I sing about the princess. Stupid summer camp. She loves to eat. Especially fruit. Pretty sure she'd attempt to eat her weight in bananas (all 19.4 pounds of her) everyday if I'd let her.

She loves playing with baby dolls, and likes to play "Squeezy Pie" - a game where we hug eachother again and again. But Not the Hippopotamus is a favorite book, along with Beautiful Oops (awesome book!!!) and Pat the Bunny.

Oh, and Sasha got stitches. In her chin. From falling from a standing position on the floor while playing with Lauren. This child climbs everything (she's gotten on top of the kitchen counter to turn on the microwave before) and she needs stitches from falling at ground level. Of course. Anyway, she was a trooper. Hated being papoose-d, but it was absolutely necessary to keep her still enough for the doc to stitch her up. She beat Lauren to needing stitches. But I figure Lauren's expensive, holey mouth makes up for it.

(Oh hey, about that expensive mouth... so when she was 3 we had to remove her two front teeth that had been capped when she was 18 months old. Grown up teeth are nowhere near to coming in. While in Colorado, a tooth next to her hole got knocked out. Another capped tooth. With no hopes of fixing it. She's got a 3-tooth wide hole. And, no joke, the most expensive mouth in the house.)

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant. Andy took a picture of me at 26 weeks. I am HUGE! Definitely looked bigger than I felt at that point. But now I kinda feel as big as I look. Bending over, squatting down to get something off the floor is really tough. Getting out of bed is a production. Enough of a production that when I wake up in the middle of the night needing to pee, I weigh how badly I need to pee against the effort necessary to get out of bed. Staying in bed is often the winner.

Today

It's cold here. Like, don't let the geriatric cat outside 'cause he might die cold. And it's still 40' colder in Wisconsin, so I'm not complaining. Scratch that. My teeth aren't chattering as I complain. ;-)

I'm feeling very write-a-letter-ish lately, so I'm sending Great Aunt Alyce a note, and my cousin Bernard a card, and my girlies are sending notes to some Wisconsin friends.

I'm thinking about starting a blog about things my girlies say and do, for our family and friends. Mostly Lauren, because, well, she gives us the most material to work with, but it wouldn't be exclusively Lauren. And I know I share lots about the girls *when I do blog*, but I'm thinking a place just for the girls. And I'd need to make some rules, like to update it weekly or daily. Hmm, thinking about it.

Hey, I'm working on cookbooks for my niece and nephew (16 and 14), any basic, simple, beginning-cook recipes you'd like to share?

Laundry day today, and turkey dinner tonight. Awesome turkey dinner because I'm not making it. Judy's doing all the cooking, and bringing dinner to us tonight. She and her girls are joining us. Pretty sweet deal.

Sasha's been fighting a fever for a few days now. The worst part of her day is about 1am, when she's almost waking up, crying, can't get comfortable. It lasts for less than 10 minutes, so I'm not medicating her. But also, this short burst in the middle of the night is messing with mama's sleep. I may be napping today.

whiskey

"Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky..."

Not only does Lauren sing along to this song, but it's her favorite song. With as often as we listen to it, I wouldn't be surprised if Sasha says 'whiskey' soon. ;-)

We are doing sign language with Sasha, and ohmy, it's awesome! I didn't do it with my other girls because, well, I just didn't. But we're doing it with Sasha, and an added bonus is that we are all learning sign language. Really, it's pretty amazing to watch your baby (she's 12 months old) tell you she wants to eat, or that she wants more of something, or that the cat is nearby. Cheese, milk/nurse, apple, banana. All words she's signing, plus some others.

And, on the preschool front, I am enjoying teaching preschool. The one year olds are tough, man. But they are cute, and fun. I'm enjoying this age more than I expected to. Mostly, I figure, because the one year olds, while they do need a schedule, need less of a curriculum than the older ones do, which fits in with my style pretty easily.

Last week I made blue jello (blue being the color of the unit, along with the shape being triangle, and the theme being Texas) that we played with. I plopped jello in front of each kid, and let them just do whatever. Sasha wasted no time in putting it to her mouth. Suffice it to say, Sasha ate more jello than her 6 other classmates combined. Anyway, one little boy did really get into smearing it around on the table, and the other kiddos poked at it, not really sure what to do. We'll be playing lots with different textures (great for brain development!) throughout the year - any ideas are welcome!

Oh, and I'm doing signs with them, too. Eat is the one that some of them have picked up on.

We're doing dance class again this year, and I'm so excited to see how the girls grow and change from last year. The owner of the studio is their teacher this year. They are in separate classes, back-to-back, and the owner teaches each one. I had no idea before we signed up, but I'm glad. I feel like we lucked out, because the owner has such a passion for teaching little ones to dance. I'm very curious to see how Aubrey does with her, as she's such a free spirit when it comes to dancing. Or, well, anything, actually, but with dance it's just more obvious.

Starting to make Thanksgiving travel plans, figuring out where we'll go (because it's always been Deming, and now that no one is in Deming, it's not the place anymore) and what we'll do, and who can come. Some folks aren't feeling up for a big family gathering, and while part of me understands it, another part of me is saddened. Dude, we're still family. Makes me feel like, for some of the family, the old folks were the glue, and now that they're gone, maybe some of my relatives think, 'What's the point in sticking together?" Really, it makes me sad.

Lauren Elizabeth has decided that maybe Lauren is not the name for her. So she's requested that we call her L.E. I love it, and if she really takes to being called L.E., would you have her write it as L.E. or as Ellie? But then, also, there's a girl in her class called Lizzie, and Lauren/L.E./Ellie now would like to be called Lizzie, too. Since her middle name is Elizabeth, it's not really a stretch, but she likes it because then 'There would be two Lizzies. Wouldn't that be great, mom?' Anyway, I'm cool with calling her L.E. Not too keen on Lizzie yet, because of the classmate. Eh, we'll see.

Oh, and one more thing, to make this post even more random, have you ever had kalbi? Man, on man, is that stuff good. Korean bbq short ribs. Judy got it all ready and brought it over for Andy to grill. Yum! If you are so inclined, I'm tagged in a note on facebook, the note being the recipe Judy used. I'd go copy it, except facebook isn't loading well tonight. Poop.

I smell trouble

I am about to gush over some food. Really, really unhealthy food, that should never be consumed. But it's just so dang good. Anyway, that's my warning, in case you need to just close this internet window and walk away. Go grab an apple or drink a glass of water. Because otherwise two things are likely to happen. First of all, you may hate me when the cravings kick in. And second, your keyboard may become sticky with all the drool.

Proceed at your own risk!!! ;-)









Back at Christmas time I got a cookbook. This cookbook. Because I read her blog. This blog. And she is funny. Freakin' hilarious.

Anyway, I had read rumors online about PW's cinnamon rolls. And I drooled all over the photos of them in her book. And then, for the sake of my thighs (and hips, and ass, and waist, and arms, and, well you get it) I blocked the recipe, and the fact that I had the recipe so close at hand, out of my mind. I was successful for 8 months.

But I was in the mood to bake something, and whined to Andy that I wanted to try these, but blahblahblah. And he said something to the effect of, "Well just do it. Just try it. Stop talking about it and decide that you'll do it." (I love to bake, but hesitate when recipes call for 9 cups of flour - you know it's gonna be a crapload of cinnamon rolls, and what if you screw up? Like really screw up and can't eat them at all? What a waste!)

So I halved the recipe. And right now, as I type, there are 23 sweet, cinnamon-y, perfectly delicious rolls sitting on my stove, waiting for breakfast. There should've been 24, but, for the sake of thorough research, I figured I should consume one hot. You know, it wouldn't be fair to not try one piping hot, with ooey, gooey frosting dripping off it. Because then I wouldn't know if they were suitable for serving warm, let alone serving at all. And, as it turns out, they aren't that good at all. Nope, not at all tasty. Not one of the most divine culinary creations I've ever enjoyed. Nope. Not at all. So I'll just make sure no one else in my house suffers through one of these tomorrow morning.

Too bad the house smells so heavenly, I don't think they'll buy it when I try to tell them the cinnamon rolls were a flop. ;-)

(and, for the sake of your hips, thighs, ass, waist and arms, I am intentionally NOT giving you a link to the recipe. I'm already toast, but I figure maybe I can save you from my destiny. But if you insist on checking it out, "pioneer woman cinnamon rolls" might be a good start on google.

tripping down memory lane

I've been tripping down memory lane this past few days. It all started when I happened upon a random stack of old photos. Like, high school and college old. So, not that old, but old.

There, in the middle of the stack, was my senior prom photo. I went with Jodie, a junior who attended del Norte hs. We were dating at the time, and though we were friends before and after, our 'dating phase' was just about two months long. But Jodie's the boy I think of as my high school boyfriend. The other boys I dated, I don't think of them as fondly. Not that I don't think of them fondly, but Jodie was extra awesome.

Anyway, I saw the photo, remembered how fun prom had been, and moved on with my day, not giving it a second thought. I didn't quite start tripping until the next day. When I got an e-mail from facebook that I had a friend request from Jodie. I had to laugh at the timing, because it had been years since I'd last seen that prom photo, and there was Jodie, wanting to be facebook friends.

So, now I keep remembering random adventures and crazy fun times. Oh, and as it turns out, Jodie is a talented, hilarious singer. Check out his music video if you want to laugh. And say, "eww!" at times. ;-)

all changed up

a new title for my blog, even! the title is inspired by the way Aubrey signed her last letter to my sister, "love us chicks" - I love that, so I'm using it. Don't worry, she's been compensated for her creative inspiration. :-)

I couldn't crop my big old flower photo just right, so I'm living with the white border at the bottom and right.

maybe I wish it wasn't the weekend

aren't weekends supposed to be when you relax? they should be. but when 2 little girls have a dance recital on Saturday, and company comes next weekend, and there's end-of-the-school-year goings on, and I'm subbing both Tuesday and Thursday next week (that I need to prep for), we'll be lucky to get a load of diapers washed, let alone sit and relax for a few hours.

oh, and I suppose the recital could be a bit relaxing, except I have helium hand syndrome. Ever heard of it? It's where, whenever some group needs a volunteer, those that suffer from hhs cannot keep from raising that hand. So I am stage mama for both of my daughter's classes. Not just one class, but both. Because the girls are in different recitals. The powers that be think it's good for siblings to watch siblings perform. They work really hard to make sure that big sis can watch little sis, and vice versa. so, we will be at the college auditorium at 9:45, for Lauren's 10am recital, ready for Aubrey's 2pm recital. and, if they pass out surveys about the recitals, you can bet I'll be letting them know that ONE recital would be less stressful for those parents (grandparents, doting aunts) that have more then one child performing. fortunately, there's no cost to watch the recital. unfortunately, they sell dvd's. $36 a pop. $72 if I want each of their recitals. ha. hahaha.

blogging cut short... whining 4 year old is having a meltdown....

in response

April asked a question on her blog, and while she posed the question on her blog, I felt like I could better articulate my answer here, instead of as a comment, so here goes. (Her question is here, the brief version is "What makes you, you?" - but deep down, not on the surface.)

***** the short answer *****

Luck, determination, and awareness - or a lack of any of the above - make people who they are.

***** the long answer *****

So, jumping in, feet first... recently I ran across an article (can't find it, sorry!) that said, pretty much, so long as your child knows she is loved, your parenting style is not going to make (or break) her... as a very conscientious parent, I let out a big ol' breath when I read that. Because there's always a little voice, "Could you have handled that differently?" (that's the little voice on a nice day - my little voice has said worse at times!)

I had a conversation with my sister a month ago, and we really became aware of how 'normal' we are. Not just her and I, but some of our cousins. And we talked about the biggest factor seemed to be that we all knew we were really, really loved. Not just by mama. Not just by mom and dad. But also by our extended family of aunts and uncles, grand parents, great aunts and uncles. No matter the crap life has thrown at us, there's always been this group of allies/defenders/protectors (By no means is that the cure-all, but, to us, it seems like one possibility).

From the outside looking in, my childhood seemed pretty great. And it was good, but it definately looked better than it was. The way my parents communicated (or didn't communicate) was all I knew. Looking back, I think it was an unhappy marraige painted over to look happy. Though there was (and is) obviously love there. And you could argue that with dad being a cop, working crazy shifts, communication was hard. Understood. One parent was very quick to find fault in whatever the other parent did or didn't do, treating the other like they were incompetent. Luckily I began to recognize this, and early in my relationship with Andy, told him about this pattern that I was afraid I might inadvertantly copy. Didn't realize this before it kinda became habit to treat 'incompetent parent' the way other parent had. Broke that habit, fortunately, but it was tough. As for Andy and I, well this habit creeped in periodically, and since Andy and I were woth aware of it, nipped it in the bud quickly. Oh, and for the record, my parents seemed to have figured out their patterns and habits, and things are much better balanced then when I was a kid.

Kids are resiliant. Really, really resiliant. I'm sure some of my habits and quirks just happened, but others, I know, I got from my dad (a serious concern for others well-being, to the point of doing whatever I can to get involved) or my mom (a big ol' case of wallflower syndrome). That's fun, btw, the internal battle between wanting to jump right in and *invite a stranger to dinner because I know they need a meal* versus *smile and walk away, and maybe I won't have to figure out what to talk about with this stranger - it might get uncomfortable.*

And, a whole 'nother set of my habits and quirks are because I saw the way someone (usually a parent, sometimes a grandparent or aunt/uncle) in my life was and I either liked that trait or didn't like it, and chose (rather subconsciously, I think) to act accordingly.

So, what makes a good person, good?

As for friends who's home life was less than good, one friend comes to mind, and she turned out good, overcame some potentially big barriers. But guess what. She had love. A crazy mom, crazier grandma, physically absent dad, a whole host of aunts and uncles. And for all the craziness, she knew she was loved, and protected, and wanted. A healthy dose of self esteem, some close friendships were also thrown in the mix.

On the flip side, what makes a bad person, bad?

I'm speculating here, that someone not realizing they are loved (because Lord knows there are bad people whose parents did the best they could and really, really love their children) might be enticed to do bad things, as would, more obviously, someone who really wasn't loved as they should have been. Abused, neglected, forgotten - how easy to fall into patterns of selfish, distructive behavior if you know no other way.

So, I guess the short answer is, luck, determination, and awareness - or a lack of any of the above - make people who they are.

**** and, for the heck of it, the fun, not so deep answer ****

My mom's patience and brains (passed down from both her parents), my dad's compassion and generosity (passed down from his mother), my Papa Ross's case of the always right, never wrongs, Grandpa John's silliness and constant desire to learn about things, Grandma Marg's faith, Grandma Ruthie's crazy craftiness, Great-Grandma Susie's craftiness, Great-Aunt Ibby's Sure, use more glitter! attitude, Great-Aunt Alyce's grace and love of letters, Great-Aunt Mary Jane's love of books, Tio's desire to take care of the world, and the joy of baking, which cannot be credited to any one person. Those are just some of the things that make me, me :-)

My internet conection is having a bad day. Crappiness. Hopefully it's worked the kinks out, it's annoying to have to reconnect every few minutes.

I've been slipping into crappy mood, by the way. Nothing to do with internet connectivity. I'm pretty sure it has to do with human connectivity. I don't have many friends here yet, and the ones I do have are not very close friends. Yet. I'm working on it. In the mean time, I've been the crappy, snippy version of myself lately. Deep breaths. It will get better.

And, I really, really miss my Wisconsin friends (in part, for sure, due to the lack of close friendships here). So the girls and I will spend a week or two up there this summer. I am very excited. I have a mental list of who we'll see, what we'll do. Need to make sure the most important folks will be around, and coordinate where to sleep when. :-) This completely scraps my plans for a west coast-ish wild and crazy roadtrip. And I'm cool with that. Wisconsin is the place both Aubrey and Lauren remember as home, so I want to keep them connected to that place and 'our people' there.

And, on the Sashafront, that girl is crawling everywhere. Everywhere. But she doesn't really like being on her knees, so it's an interesting scootish crawl, using her feet almost as much as her knees. She finally likes food, but it took over 8 months. And Cheerios. I delayed and delayed introducing a grain, for health reasons, but as soon as I gave in and gave her a Cheerio, now she's much more intrigued by food of any kind.

Oh, and the peaches. Millions of peaches. Peaches for me. Millions of peaches. Peaches for free. (Sorry, couldn't resist) The drive up into Aubrey's school parking lot is lined on one side with peach trees. We picked some of the yummiest, juiciest peaches I've ever had Saturday, and may go pick more again.

This weekend I'll be getting my composting worms. I'm very excited. Am I crazy to be excited about getting worms? Don't answer that. Anyway, they'll live in a big rubbermaid bin on the patio, and will be well fed, eating almost all our kitchen scraps. I heare they also like junk mail... so we'll try that, too. :-)

fill in the blanks

i want a maid.
i can't get enough plum walnut yogurt.
i think batteries are a very wasteful necessity.
i think it's annoying to be asked "why" 6 times in a row, when I can no longer elaborate the answer.
i'm not sure i like swiss chard, but I'm gonna try it.
i'm hungry for some girlfriend time.
for cinco de mayo I looked at the calender, and said, "Oh, that's today, huh?"
i'm mad at the dog that thinks treats are buried in the litter box.
i'm glad that we've been able to camp so much recently (another trip this weekend!).
i'm nervous about sharing my blog with too many people.
i have long hair.
i need to find a yoga class.
i wish I could sit outside with my Wisconsin friends, talking about noyhing.
i'm excited to be making friends here in Texas.
i'm happy that the crafty bug hit me in time to make gifts for the grandmas and grandma figures this mothers day.

now you fill in the blanks. unless you already have. :-)

trying to find my groove

I want to be back to blogging, but I'm still drawing blanks as to what to blog about. So I'll try, and it may be a bunch of ramblings, but I want to get back into blogging somewhat frequently.

Our garden is going strong. It's small, but it's going strong. 3 whiskey barrels, plus a handful of medium pots, and one spot actually on the ground.

What's growing:

1 yellow bell pepper
1 yellow pear tomato
1 large red tomato
1 unidentified tomato
2 strawberries
1 watermelon hill (with 2 watermelon hills not sprouting at all - arg!)
3 cucumbers
5 green beans
lemon balm
sage
rosemary
dill

And, in recent weeks I've also planted:

2 petunias - sugar daddy petunias that Lauren just calls sugar daddies :-)
1 red geranium
1 lavender (not the herbal variety, just a plant called lavender)
1 jasmine
1 lobelia
1 rose bush
1 pecan tree

I'm having lots of fun in the dirt, and I hope that my thumb is somewhat green - right now it's too early to tell. But there are actual tomatoes growing on the vines now - good sign. :-)

One of our favorite foods here recently has been bean salad. It makes my heart swell when the girls want to take bean salad in their lunches. And, I am a dork. But I've worked really hard to make sure our kids like a variety of healthy foods, so it makes me feel good. Oh, and this batch of bean salad - all made from dried beans. I normally open up cans, but I had the dry beans in the pantry so I went for it. Is it silly that I was feeling intimidated by cooking dry beans?

Oh crap, I keep forgetting to get or do something for Aubrey's teacher for teacher appreciation week. crap crap crap.

But, we did do some crafting for Mother's Day. :-) Two super cute, easy-peasy projects that I'm hoping the grandmas will love. Painted towels and clay thumbprint pendants (only, instead of making pendants, we made window charms). Unfortunately, in my haste to get them mailed off, I forgot to take pictures. For the towels - some were floral, very similar to the example shown, and others had Aubrey's handprints, Lauren's handprints and Sasha's footprints. LOVE those! I need to make some of those for me. :-)

random-random-random

the 3 cleanest girls around.... for about 5 minutes. :-)

Awhile back I mentioned the sweet little boy we met at the park, who chatted and chatted and chatted to me. Upon learning that we both visit Deming, he asked if I knew Louisa. Yup. It's for sure now. I know his Louisa. Or he knows my Louisa. Whatever. It's a small world.

Louisa is a very dear friend to Tio, my great uncle. The last remaining siblilng of my Grandma Marg's. Tio is in the hospital right now. Dehydration, pneumonia, congestive heart failure. I'm preparing myself to go out there, but not loading up the car just yet. We'll see how he's doing over the next few days.

Our next camping trip is this weekend. I'm excited. Our goal is to camp every other weekend until it's too hot. We're gonna be expert campers, I tell ya! Or maybe not. It might get too dang hot here in Central Texas mid-May. ;-)

I'm going to be a preschool teacher next year. At Lauren's school. There's a room with one year olds - looks like I'll be in that room with Sasha.

Our new cat has been tough to name. So we've had him almost 2 months, and this week he's Frankie. But last week he wasn't. Sheesh. It shouldn't be this hard. At least the cat doesn't care what we call him.

I took my car in for an oil change today, and had the mechanic check on a few things. $400 later, my oil's been changed, and some problems that should have been noticed a year ago (when I dropped a crap load of cash at our Wisconsin mechanic's feet) were that much worse and have now been fixed. Ah well. Such is life.

Aubrey slammed a stuck bathroom door into her foot, breaking her pinky toe. Ouch. The brusing and swelling has been impressive.

Sasha thinks it's hilarious when Lauren runs screaming at her. Laurens loves running and screaming, so it works out.

The Easter Bunny was very generous to us this year. Maybe a twinge of sadness (when realizing that EVERY Easter of Aubrey's life, and Lauren's, had been spent with our WI family) prompted the shopping spree at the candy store. But chocolate covered gummy bears, candy legos and "Indoor Truffles," along with half the rest of the candy store, have been enjoyed.

I just read Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman. It's been on my bookshelf for years. I have no idea how it came to live on my bookshelf, and I finally read it. It was really good.

We've been working on the garden lately. Most of it is in whiskey barrels. I have 3 barrels. It's a modest garden. But, it's a garden. Now I need to work up the courage to start vermicomposting.

fog

I'm in a fog. Ugh, no me gusta!


This week we made a menu, and stuck with it really well. Got next week's menu made today. I love that. So much less stress that way. Now if I could somehow convince myself to do something similar with housework (Mondays = clean the floors, Tuesdays = launder the bedding, etc.).


Oh, and I answered sonic's call this afternoon, and am enjoying a Route 44 strawberry limeade as I type. If I'm going to eco-sin, might as well super-size it, right? ;-)


Have you read the children's book, Flat Stanley? I have not, but we want to now. Our friend Sydney in Wisconsin read it in school, and she and her classmates each made a Flat Stanley to mail to a friend with an assignment: take Flat Stanley on an adventure (take pictures, collect brochures, etc.) and return Flat Stanley with notes of his adventure. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice and sunny so that we can have some outdoor adventures.


It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..... and I want the sunshine, dangit!


One other thing - did I tell you Aubrey's Christmas Tree adventure? At my folks' house, my girls were sleeping on the living room floor with my sister. All in a row - Aubrey, Ali, Lauren. In the middle of the night Ali awakes to a crash. The Christmas Tree had fallen over. On top of Aubrey. Aubrey never woke up. When Ali hollered, "Mommy (we each still call our mom Mommy at times)! The tree fell on Aubrey!" my mom kept right on sleeping, while I bolted out of bed. The tree shifted in the stand just enough that it was never going to stand again, so we rotated the heaviest Christmas Tree ever* so that it would lean into the wall, not onto my oldest. After we got the tree situated, and confirmed that Aubrey was in fact still breathing (how can you sleep through that? she was buried by tree!), we discovered the ornaments that had found their way underneath Aubrey. So weird. No explanation for the falling tree.


*well maybe not the heaviest, but it was really, really heavy.


anyway, happy Friday. I hope your weekend is grand.

What the?

That's what I say, an awful lot. "What the?" or sometimes it's "What the hay?"

I didn't realized I said it so much until Lauren said, "What the?" At least I don't add assorted naughty words at the end. :-)

~~~

I love Conan. I'm kinda lukewarm on Jay. This whole mess makes me love Conan even more. Like Jay even less. And maybe that isn't fair, because maybe Jay is as much at the mercy of the Powers That Be as Conan is. But I can't help it.

~~~

I've been watching very little coverage on the earthquake, because I've got little eyes all around, and I don't want them to see too much. Also, I cry every time I think about the tragedy. I'm praying that everyone that is hurting may find comfort and peace, and that aid is quick and overflowing.

~~~

Tomorrow I may venture down to Austin. I 'm dying to find a true health food store, not a GNC-like vitamin store. As much as I LOVE small town life, there are some serious drawbacks.

~~~

I just started reading The Jungle Effect. So far, so good. I'm very intrigued.

~~~

Tonight we had eggs benedict for dinner. Followed up by lava cake for dessert. Mistake-o-rama, let me tell you. Too much richness, I have a belly ache. But atleast there's no lava cake left to make me sick tomorrow. :-) (We also had green beans and cantaloupe - some healthy food!)

~~~

I gave Andy so much grieve about him wanting to buy The Hangover, but I love that movie. It's hilarious. Not as vulgar as I expected. On a related note, one of Andy's long time friends said, "When I watched that movie, I kept thinking about Andy." Andy did not take that as a compliment. I laughed. And said a little prayer of thanks that he's grown up a lot.

wassup?

Ever want to blog, but just not know what to blog about? That's me. So, here's a jumble of crap. I mean, here are some wonderful insights and stories. Yeah, insights and stories.

Sasha spent the last week raspberry-ing all the time. It's so cute and fun. I love it. But tonight she entered the scream at an ungodly high pitch phase. NOT cute and fun, especially when she's cuddled up next to your ear.

Lauren is watching Star Wars, at her request. Return of the Jedi. She's loving it. Oh, and her new favorite song to sing is Yankee Doodle. THAT is cute. Much cuter than screaming "Buttman" all around the house. Thank you, Bart Simpson.

Aubrey is spending the night at a friend's house. Ahh, the quiet.... :-)

I want another feline. I need another feline. Not necessarily a kitten, but a shelter cat. I'm browsing craigslist (though really, I want a shelter cat). And, today at the bank, in the middle of shopping malls galore - not a residential area, there was a cat, sitting in the sun. I approached him very carefully, but he ran into the storm drain. Really, though, I know we can afford another pet, and there are so many cats (and dogs and other animals, I know) that need loving homes. Now I just need to convince Andy that he needs another cat.

I pulled my sewing machine out and made some cloth wipes. Just in time, 'cause, you know, Sasha is almost 5 months old. I have loads of excuses, by the way, for why it's taken me this long. Of course, I think I'm the only one really concerned, so I'll apologize to myself for the procrastination, and I'm sure myself will forgive me. I think so, at least.

All our Christmas decorations are still up. Maybe tomorrow they'll come down. Maybe not.

I recently got a blackberry. One of the cool features is that if you hold down the 'a' button, it capitalizes. Know what happens when I try that on the computer? 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.' I think I've been spending too much time on my blackberry lately!

Andy just bought the winning lottery ticket. I know it's the winner because I told him he could only buy it if it was the winner. So we're golden. ;-)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my pressure cooker. Tonight we did short ribs, in beef broth. Freakishly tender. Mmmmm. Andy said that any food we eat tomorrow will be a letdown. I can't disagree.

Kettlecorn is some tasty stuff. Sam's Club sells Popcorn, Indiana brand kettlecorn. Popcorn, Indiana is based in New Jersey. And I might complain about the misleading name, but ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, this stuff is too tasty to care where it is made.

Hey, did you read this article about HM Clothing and Wal-Mart destroying and tossing clothes that didn't sell? So many people could benefit from those ruined-and-tossed-away clothes. Not to mention the waste. It kinda makes me sick. And sad.

Now, to keep my hand from finding it's way into the bag of kettlecorn again, I'm off to make a cup of decaf Lady Grey. My current favorite tea. Oh how I love hot tea weather.

toodles,
Rachel

PS - Lauren grew tired of Star Wars, now it's Tom & Jerry.

Christmas Movies

THAT is why I miss having cable. More than anything else, I miss having the Hallmark channel and the Lifetime Movie Network channel during December. I could put my tv on LMN and leave it there all day, every day. I love love LOVE cheesy, made-for-tv Christmas movies.

I don't miss nick jr or noggin, though I know the girls do. I don't miss the history channel, discovery or anything educational and informative like that. MTV and VH1, not a chance. Nope. I just miss 24/7 access to cheesy, made-for-tv Christmas movies.

Really, I know we don't need cable. Life is too full and busy to justify having cable. But dude, I miss my Christmas movies.

bawk-bawk-bagawk

I'm a chicken.

Yesterday was our church picnic. As we were packing our sandwiches and the side we were taking to share, I almost grabbed plates. Real, wash-and-use-again plates. But I decided not to. I didn't want to stand out. So we used the disposble plates that were there. And I was ignoring my guilt (I am way too good at ignoring my guilt, btw) until I saw my cool new friend Charlotte pull 3 real plates out of her bag - one for each of her family members. Argh. No more ignoring the guilt.

But, talking with her about her efforts that day led to talking about what the church could be doing for the environment, and I hope that she and I will be able to help our church grow greener.

~~~

In other green news, Sasha fusses like crazy when I put her in cloth diapers. WTH??? Cloth is notoriously much bulkier than disposable, so I'm hoping that as she grows more, and the bulk is comparably less, she'll be cool with cloth. In the meantime, the disposables that claim to be better for the environment wrap her bum, and the cloth diapers adorn her shelf.