Boo!

Uh Oh

I don't know for sure but my kids may be coming down with the piggy flu. Tinkerpot has the sniffles and Bugs woke up this morning with a cough and a frog in her throat. We have been so diligent in washing hands and using sanitizer. I've almost become a freak about it but with so many people that have it, I'm wouldn't be surprised if it made a pit stop at our house.

I actually think I got directly in its path on Saturday but it's strange that my kids would suffer symptoms before I do. In any case, I'm praying that either we actually don't end up getting it or that it just touches us lightly. I identified myself as a "high risk" case because of my asthma. Scary!

Weekly What's Up On My Etsy!!!

Wanted to share some of my latest cards I've listed on my Etsy shop. I'm so in love with some of these designs and I hope you are too!
I've been really caught up this week in doing graduation announcements too! I needed a model and my cute friend Krystal was so nice to sit for a few photos. She made a lovely subject for this very poor photographer. If they turned out at all it's because she's so beautiful!

Ramona the Pest

When I think "Beverly Cleary", I think of Margaret coming of age, and Ramona through the years. I had many personal moments entrenched between the covers of Beverly Cleary's chapter books when I was a child. Oh, the things I learned!

So we checked out Ramona the Pest awhile back on CD. It's about a kindergarten little girl and her experiences as a 5-6 year old. Now that I have a kindergartner, it's so interesting to hear what Beverly Clearly interprets going on in the head of a kid that age. She's probably right...I dumb Bugs down so much because clearly, she's still a baby and knows NOTHING. Boy, does she prove me wrong so many times.

Part of Ramona the Pest includes Ramona getting in trouble constantly at school while she waits in the morning for the teacher to come to the door. The other kids wait quietly in line while Ramona chases boys all over the schoolyard. As I listened to this, I was amused that she did that and thought, "oh, that little Ramona - such a funny little troublemaker".

Fast forward three weeks to our mornings standing in the kindergarten line. Collin is the little boy and Bugs (*sigh).....is Ramona.

It's So Awesome I Can't

even believe it! I am so going to pee my pants this makes me so happy. Just arrived today (I've been anxiously waiting for what seems like 3 months) and I immediately cleared my schedule to install it on my wall. I had no idea I had so much jewelry! I'm not in love with all of it anymore but it's nice to see it all in one place where I can be more objective. Isn't it freaking awesome?
Little early Merry Christmas to me.

Fascinating Dental Update

Yeah, I know. These details might be just too excruciating for you. But I'm going to write them anyway because hey, it's just a barrel of monkeys around here and that's just as exciting as it gets.

I had tooth pain. That's where it starts. Thought I had a cavity. Yipee.

I even thought I knew what tooth it was. My experience with self identification of a problem tooth has always proven to be lacking as was in this case. The supposed tooth in question already had a root canal. Moving on with other methods to determine tooth causing grief. It was the tooth next door. It had a silver cavity filling in which some "stuff" had slipped underneath and caused "decay". Ewww.

So, I thought I was going to escape having a filling, but no. I instead had to undergo the removal of the silver filling and the installation of the new white filling, a scenario that has not always gone successfully for me. During such an episode, a certain dentist gleaned the title "Quack" from me due to the faulty outcome which probably wasn't even his fault. I've heard of numerous bad reports from friends about this process.

So I'm still numb. And isn't that just so pretty when you smile at strangers and they think you must be a stroke survivor or something. And you try to explain but your tongue is huge so there, you confirmed it. I headed straight home where at least Sandra, my babysitter sent from God knows I'm not mentally disabled - at least she doesn't let on that she thinks that. Did I mention she's sent from God?

The good news is that I don't really have a cavity after all. And at my age, it would be unfortunate that I'm still getting cavities. I haven't negatively changed my oral hygiene habits in years - on the contrary I can now say I floss 95% of all mornings. And that my friends, is a miracle in my little world of personal challenges.

Individual Pie Dishes

I am so excited! Cutest thing I bought. It just shipped and should be to me in the next few days. Have you ever seen pie dishes like this? I'm totally into making individual pot pies and stuff but have never had the perfect way to do it. Now I can make everyone their own little serving - and they're okay for the oven too!

Why is it that this little purchase makes me feel like a little old lady and her trinkets?

The Way a Day Should Go

That was today...the way it should be when it's a day that can be chalked up to...well, good!

It's funny though because The Marshmallow thought I was grumpy all day. Perhaps I should work on my body language. Truth is, I was in a super happy mood all day. Things just flowed!

I got up at 8 am and felt well rested. The baby was up and The Marshmallow diapered her and brought her to me...in bed. So great. We played for a bit while dad and Bugs got breakfast. I got up finally and fed the baby. While I was waiting for her nap, I ran a bath for her and after she was in, Bugs decided she'd get in too. Yay - two baths in one. Can't beat it! So they were both dressed and ready for the day...on a Saturday, who knew it was possible?

When Tink was grumpy, she was off to bed and I hit the shower. Wonders never cease that we're all bathed and ready for the day before 10:30! We normally do baths at night for that very reason. If we don't, by the time we're out the door, I'm red in the face and holding back my pirate tongue.

I addressed the envelopes for the Halloween party and The Marshmallow volunteered to stay with Tink while we went out and delivered them, and stopped at Costco. Ah, so wonderful to run errands without the baby. She's good but she now wants to get out of the carseat and sit in the cart and that in/out, in/out of the carseat makes me want to slit my wrist after 3 stops. Think happy thoughts...

So we stopped at several homes of Bugs' friends and saw how other people spend their Saturday mornings. Many robes at 11am. I was feeling like maybe my normal Saturday routine isn't that abnormal. But the weather was nice and it felt good to be out.

We got pizza and a salad at Costco and came back and ate at the house. I reorganized Tink's drawers and changing table while Tink whined at my feet. The Marshmallow didn't even try to intervene and it felt nice that he understood that she needs to get over the "I need to be held" phase.

I played with her but then needed to start dinner, do some laundry and ironing and The Marshmallow watched the baby while I worked. He didn't seen agitated and I was grateful. Uninterrupted work time is a rare commodity.

Bugs had about 4 different friends in and out of the house today and it felt good to have the doors open to friends...chocolate chip cookies, bubbles, sand, coats and little girls' laughter all through the house.

We had dinner as a family at the table. It's how we typically do it but I've been introducing Tinkerpot to the dinner table and it went great. I actually got to eat too.

Now the kids are in bed and I've taken off my "Mom" hat and put on my "I am a lazy sloth" hat and it's snug and cozy and I wish I could wear it more.

I guess my day went so great because the fall weather put me in good spirits and The Marshmallow is a great dad. Life's good.

The Charming View

So I finally got to work and launched my new Etsy shop, The Charming View. I design custom photo holiday greeting cards, invitations, announcements...what have you. I do all of it...design, put in your custom photo, print and mail the envelopes.

I'm so excited! You know how much I love digital scrapbooking and this is just like it - and now perhaps I can make a little tiny bit of money while I'm at it!

I hope you like my designs! I'll be making new ones and posting them frequently so if you don't find something you like right now, check back in a few days!

So Excited For Halloween

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was going to attempt to take on a 5 year old's Halloween Party this year. And I've decided to do it. I'm so excited! I've got the whole thing planned and am now working on pulling together details like food, games, decorations etc. It's so fun. I've been collecting ideas for years...years!

And now I get to use them. But first things first. I made the invitation tonight and I'm literally peeing my pants it's so cute. I can't wait to put them in the mail!

What do you think? Am I like the coolest mom or what?

Our Anniversary

Yesterday was my 9 year anniversary. Go us!

I spent a lot of the day thinking of us on that day 9 years ago and what was going on at various times throughout the day.

The day I got married, I spent the night at my mom's so I wouldn't see The Marshmallow until the wedding date. We weren't living together yet but I did see him a lot since he was in the process of moving into the condo we'd rented. I'd moved in a few weeks before when my lease was up. He actually stayed at the condo that night with his brother and they spent a good portion of the morning installing the satellite dish. Go figure. Men and their TV's!

I had pancakes for breakfast, made for me by my Grandma at my special request. Then I lounged all morning taking my sweet time in the bath and just being calm. I'd spent the last 4 months frantically pulling loose ends together. It was so stressful as I'm sure many brides can attest to. I was going to take it easy!

There were a few errands left to run that day but I assigned them all to The Marshmallow and his brother since up to that day, he'd had virtually no responsibility for the Big Day. Those errands ended up actually making him late (maybe it was that satellite dish that made him late!) which in turn caused me to wonder if he was really going to show up!

I got to the church around 2 and spent about 2 hours getting ready. His mother did my hair. A good girlfriend did my make-up and listened as I became increasingly agitated. My sister, Renee did all of my running around making sure everything was in place and people where were they should be. Her daughter Brooke was my flower girl and she posed for pictures at my feet in that cute way little girls do.

At 4pm the music started...and I started hyperventilating... Yeah. I did. I have pictures. I almost didn't make it. My photographer followed me out of the brides' room, down the walk and stood with me on the stairs while I tried to calm myself, and catch my breath before I opened the doors to go down the aisle. She was clicking away which was pretty funny looking back. I've got pictures of all of this!

I took the hand of my brother-in-law who later, at the alter, told The Marshmallow that I was "shaking like a dog sh**ing peach pits". The Marshmallow just grinned. I was near tears. This was my 2nd marriage and I was so scared! The bishop needed to ask me twice if "I do" because he didn't hear me say it the first time because I sort of whispered it.

When it was over, I got so drunk I spilled red wine all down the front of my white gown. Yeah, I was relaxed now!

Looking back on that day, it's hard to believe it was 9 years ago. We've had bumps like most people. But we've had awesome times too. I'm so glad I went through with it. I'm glad I have those funny pictures. I'm glad he showed up. I'm not glad I got drunk though. I was so sick afterward that we had to wait two days to leave for our honeymoon. Duh.

The Marshmallow and I have a funny little life together. We're unique people who have miraculously found another weird person in the world to join up with. We're two little weirdos having a weird little life. And I love him. He loves me. Happy Anniversary, us!

Punishment

I've had a lot of sass from Bugs lately. And I was at my wit's end and that's the truth. Even The Marshmallow was sick of dealing with it and he can tolerate a lot more than I can. He sort of thinks it's funny and so then I want to rip both of their throats out.

And there are other "habits" that Bugs has gotten into that I just really wanted to nip in the bud but couldn't quite make a big deal about each on their very own. Like wiping out the sink after she spits out toothpaste. When she doesn't, I just couldn't bring myself to punish her but was getting absolutely exhausted of reminding her of things like that: turn out your light, close the door when you go in/out, don't leave the stair gate open when Tinkerpot is awake blah blah. Just a few things.

And so I took proactive measures that were supposedly designed to end all of the bad stuff. Haha, I'm such a smartie mom. *gag*

I made a chart. I'm a chart whore. It's got 20 boxes for frownie faces. Each time an undesired behavior occurred, I'd put a frownie face up there. She was aware of the consequence but knew she needed 20 in order for it to occur. After a couple of weeks, she filled up the boxes and today had to pay the piper.

She's been working since she got home from school. No playing...she's on my clock. And I have a few observations that I think are interesting:

1) she doesn't seem to mind doing all of the chores (crap)
2) I think I've underestimated what this kid is capable of so it's good to see what she can/can't do with respect to working around the house - no longer will she be able to get away with telling me she can't.
3) I'm doing more work than she is to prep so she can do some work
4) I'm getting a lot done!
5) This is more punishment for me than for her
6) It's been a really good time for me to train her how to do certain chores correctly. She's mopped the floor (did good job!), emptied trashcans and put bags in them, wiped baseboards, wiped cupboard doors... and now next time I can just tell her I want something done and know she theoretically knows how to do it.
7) This is more punishment for me than for her...

Not loving "work day". I'll be glad when it's done. What remains to be seen is if it is good enough incentive for her to quit sassing me and remembering to do a few little incidentals. I still have hope I can make it suck bad enough. Just give me a few more hours. It's only 3pm.

Dinnertime Organized

When there's a task I truly hate, I organize it and thus, love it more. That's true about dinnertime because what I hate the most about that dreaded hour is the hour prior while I try to think of what to cook. I know, we've been here before.

I've told many people about my system for organizing dinnertime and so many people have asked me for my files that I thought I'd just blog about it instead.

Everyone (let's just say women because we're being truthful) - every woman has about 10 - 15 meals that they fairly typically rotate. You might throw a few extras in there from time to time but you generally come back to the stand-by's.

Now you have to list out the stand-by's. Name this "Page 1".
On Page 2 of your Word document, list out all the ingredients for each meal like this (add other ingredients if you regularly serve a certain side with it):

Spaghetti:
dried spaghetti noodles
spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese
french bread
salad (lettuce, mushrooms, cucs, tomatoes)

Put all of these lists into columns. I'll get to the reason in a minute. Next to each ingredient, insert a symbol of a small empty box so you can check it off once you buy it. This'll make more sense in a minute.Starting on page 3, make recipe cards for each of the meals. Pretend you're writing instructions for a 10 year old child with limited kitchen experience. That way, when your kids are ready to start cooking, it will be easy to teach them your stand-by's. Or if your husband wants to cook, he can just follow the instructions. Like for spaghetti, I actually wrote out the instructions to boil the water.

Now, you'll want to format the pages. Make the fonts small - like 10 or 11 pt, and the left and right margins tight. You'll want the first sheet to come off as a half page that you can tape into one of your inside cupboard doors for quick reference. The 2nd pages will need to be small enough to fit in your purse. I have several pages looped together with a ring. They're my grocery lists. I hang the pages on my fridge along with a dry erase marker and add to it whatever other things I need to buy then take the whole thing shopping with me when I go. Easy!

The last page I format as actual recipe cards for my recipe box.Now print and then take them all down to the UPS store and laminate them. This is an important step because you'll now be able to write on them and erase your writing. A useful tool especially for your grocery list!

So now you've got your quick reference meal list for when you're low on ideas. You've got a grocery list that you can go through and just highlight all of the ingredients you don't have on hand. When you shop, you just check off the things you bought. If you buy all the things that are on the list that you don't have, then you now will have all of the ingredients to make anything on your list and mealtime should be that much easier.

It's a no-brainer!

Happiness

The other day I brought the baby out and as she played, I lay on my back and stared up into the sky. It was a warm sunny day and I felt totally at ease. Happy.

I was happy because it was warm, the sun was on my face, the trees are green, the baby's not crying, I'm not in pain, my house wasn't too much of a mess, it wasn't a work day, and I was laying on a blanket in the sun.

I realized that happiness is a moment-by-moment event. You can possibly achieve happiness full time but then how would you appreciate moments of pure happiness? If in a person's day, one can achieve moments of delirious contentment, then those are the moments to live for.

My moment of happiness...

The cat wondering if her moment of pleasure is about to end...and how to escape.

Get A Better Start On Your Mornings

I don't profess to know all there is about how to get a kid out the door to school without too much chaos. After all, this is my first real year of doing it. What I do know is that I've never been a morning person and after 20 odd years of forcing myself out of bed at literally the last possible moment for school, I know a few things about pain-proofing the process as much as humanly possible.

Last year, when Bugs started preschool, I quickly learned that getting up at the last moment possible just wasn't going to cut it. The result was me yelling for her to hurry and her learning the lesson that being late is normal and okay. I wasn't alright with that. I started getting up earlier and streamlining the process.

I added something that worked fantastically for me while in college. In this respect I'm only organized because I'm lazy about mornings.

You guys, this really only takes about 10 minutes of your Sunday and is so worthwhile every single morning. Instead of trying to find a pair of socks that match the shirt, or where all the underpants went, why is this stupid shirt so wrinkly and oh my heck! I forgot to dry the load of jeans! All these catastrophes instantly solved...

Set out a week's worth of clothes including socks (tucked into pockets) and underpants. Trust me. I promise this is worth its weight in gold.

Sorry for the terrible picture - I've lost my camera's memory card adapter and my phone just doesn't take the best pics.

I Have Some Catching Up To Do

Haven't done much scrapbooking lately but I have tons to do. I've not done any for Tinkerpot yet so I've got to start at the beginning. This is the fun stuff, really...

Mom & Bug's Date

All I can say is that it's really easy to please a 5 year old if you give them attention. So easy.

Bugs requested a special night with mom where she could stay up as late as me and we could just be together. I mean, who else in the whole wide world wants to be with you THAT much. Hand me a hankie. I just luv that girl.

I took it a step further and included chocolate brownie sundaes, games and a midnight walk. The thing she doesn't know is that I don't necessarily go to bed at 9pm but what she doesn't know won't kill her. After all, it was a school night.

We did this last night and had to opt for a school night because my little sister and her 3 year old daughter are coming to visit for the weekend and Bugs and I had originally scheduled "Our Night" for Saturday.

I thought the midnight walk would be awesome because she doesn't know what the world looks like when it's dark due to her early kid friendly bedtime. Not to say she's never been out in the dark but it's rare. She was mesmerized by the stars, the street lights and our shadows that she said looked like ghosts. It was really only about 8:30 but she thought it was magic. See, free entertainment: a walk around the block at 8:30 pm. I'm a genius.

And that sundae - my first sugar since August 1. I didn't finish it.

Reminds Me of High School

that would be me. Reminding myself of high school. And we all know how much I hated high school.

So there I was minding my own business toodling around in the kitchen, the sounds of 5 year old girls whafting up the stairs. I'm busy contributing to Bugs's social life (more later on this) when I hear the doorbell ring. I have two doorbells in my house, one upstairs and one downstairs (because my house is soooo huge, lol). The former owners put the doorbell downstairs so that kids from the street behind could come through the catwalk and not have to go all the way 'round front.

So the doorbell rings. It didn't register for a moment that the sound I heard was the downstairs bell and in that moment, here's what I thought (crazy that I can have such a long thought in such a short moment).

I thought the doorbell might be for me. And that it might be a friend. Preferably one I haven't seen for a while and that we could catch up. I wasn't busy at the moment and I could give her cookies and we could sit and visit and I could be a fabulous "drop in" host. I hoped that my friend would have just dropped by because she was in the neighborhood and thought, "Hey, I just want to go see Amy for a few minutes, hope she's home!"

In the moment that followed I realized it was the downstairs bell. It was one of Bug's friend's sisters come to get her to take her home. So much for wishes, right?

Truth is, I rarely "drop in" on friends like that, as much as I like it when others do it to me. And most of my friends can't keep up with my work schedule so they don't have a clue as to when I might be home anyway.

And then I was sad...sort of lonely and pathetic and high school - like I don't have enough friends and I must not be popular or something because nobody wants to just drop in on me.

And then I laughed because I felt so 15! I have the greatest friends who all would welcome me with open arms, cookies and an hour long chat if I would just drop in on them and spare a moment of my precious time. And a lot has changed because in high school, I just couldn't say that.

*sigh*

I'll go back to contributing to Bugs's social life and forget about mine. Mine's perfect.

Superstitions

The other day as I was driving around, I happened to notice, high in sky, not too far in front of me about 30 large dark birds flying in a large but compact circle. I've only ever seen birds like that circling in old western movies, and it's usually buzzards and they're used to imply that there's something dead below. We were in a neighborhood. What's that saying?

While I watched, a few of the birds headed off toward the west and before long, one by one they would follow the first birds. I thought they'd fly off but they created another circle probably about 400 yards to the east of where the first circle was. And then they circled there for about 10 minutes.

I got down the road quite a ways and when I turned the corner, I looked back to ascertain if I could still see them. I could so I stopped to watch. They were still circling in that same spot. But now, a few birds were flying off again to the east. One by one again, the others followed and this time they did not re-circle.

I was so intrigued. I've never seen anything like it before and I could tell I wasn't the only one interested as there were a lot of swerving cars on the road.

I'm not a superstitious person by nature, but at various times in history, there have been people that take occurrences like these and make predictions or call them omens or whatever. And even with a strong belief system of my own, sometimes I see things like these weird circling birds (hawks? crows?) and it spooks me a little. If I were the type of person to look for "signs" or "omens" in things, I would have had one that day.

Weird.

Wicked

I just finished reading Wicked. The book was really good and I loved it. But then I'm a total lover of The Wizard of Oz.

This post is a spoiler so if you've not read it or seen the broadway show, you probably shouldn't read more.

I was disappointed that the events didn't necessarily adhere to the movie. It aligned closely enough but in my humble opinion, the movie IS GOSPEL. And it was really weird to see things on the other side of the fence. Like the WWW was actually a person who perhaps wasn't as "wicked" as she appeared in the movie. And let's just admit it - she came off as REALLY wicked! I watched the parts of the movie with her in it and she really outdid herself. She was awesome (the actress, I mean) - absolutely incredible as a wicked witch. I just love her. Just look at that body language people. A true work of art!

There were a lot of political agendas in this book and lots of back and forth banter about good vs. evil. I think those discussions were necessary to justify the Witch's progression from essentially a good/neutral persona into what she became, which in my opinion wasn't as wicked as crazy/insane.

I enjoyed the recharacterizations and depth of character of figures we've "known" for a long time such as Glinda, the Good Witch, and the Wicked Witch of the East whom we never really did get to see any of besides her shriveled toes. Also the Wizard of Oz had a lot of face time and what he was up to for years before Dorothy entered the scene.

All in all, I could have done without the political posturing, some of the meaningless filth and the endless good vs. evil rhetoric but the story was entertaining. What I mean to say is that I like a story...plain and simple. I don't like to have to delve too much into the deeper meanings. They usually are way over my head. I'm shallow. True story.

Oh, by the way - I mentioned to my do-gooder sister that I was reading Wicked and how much I was enjoying it. Her reaction was that it was filth...pretty bad stuff. Um, I get that there were parts that weren't you know, awesome and "of good worth" but .... yeah, I got over it.

Can't wait to see the Broadway musical.

Looth Tooth

Bugs came home from school today so excited. Her hands were over her mouth and she couldn't contain herself. She has her first loose tooth!

Turning 5 has been an extremely big deal for her and she waited so impatiently for her turn, ticking off a list as each of her friends turned 5 before she did. And after they all turned 5, they started losing teeth. But not Bugs. I didn't expect her teeth to fall out for many more months. But I'm glad for her that they are because she can sort of feel like she's caught up with the ones who turned 5 so long before she did.

And while Bugs was so excited, my reaction was so unexpected I had to catch my breath. As I stared down into that little mouth at that tiny tooth that soon would no longer be part of her cute face, I actually started to cry. I remember when that tiny tooth made its first appearance and how proud I was of her. Because this loose tooth was the very first to come in. All of these little signs that my first baby is not a baby.

I cried the first day of Kindergarten but strangely, I cried more with that looth tooth.

A Real Conversation

Kid: "Mom, get me some water", stated as she is going to bed.

Mom: "I don't take orders from a kid."

Kid: "Why not?"

Mom: "Because I'm not your slave."

Kid: "Yes you are!"

Mom: "No. I'm not." Rolling my eyes. We've been here before...obviously.

Kid: "Yes you are! Moms are SLAVES!" she practically screams, indignant at my ignorance!

Well, I stand corrected!

I Don't Recognize Me...

Who would have thought that I could go without sugar for as long as I have? Me, the Oreo, cookie dough, chocolate fiend? Don't misunderstand...I miss it. I do. I really do. I miss the taste; that heavenly sweetness. Mmm.

But.....

I actually bought organic peanut butter yesterday because it has no sugar. I'm the type of person who can eat peanut butter spoonful after spoonful right from the jar. It's so delicious, but that's the Jif brand or Skippy...not organic no salt, no sugar ...no taste. That was before. I opened this peanut butter open yesterday and stirred it up. It said "some separation of oils is normal". Blech. I took a lick off my knife. Hmm. Another lick (bigger). Mmm. I got a spoon this time. I put a few craisins on the top of the peanut butter. Oh my. It actually tasted like peanuts - and some sweet with the craisins. It was so delicious. I was amazed! I've had this stuff before and hated it! But you know what? I love it now and I'm switching. No more Jif or Skippy in my house. Bugs is young enough not to know the difference yet and the less sugar for kids the better too. They get enough, and please - I'll still put jam on her sandwich. I'm not that brutal.

But another thing I did today that I never saw myself doing. I made my own mayo...on purpose. I have mayo in the fridge, but it has sugar in it too! Does everything have sugar in it? Yes! Why? Who knows? It's frustrating - I have to watch every single thing I put in my mouth and be very present in the kitchen. No mind wandering licking the spoon during cooking anymore. So I got a recipe from my friend Josey. It has eggs, lemon juice, salt, mustard and olive oil. And again, I've had this stuff before and never really liked it. This time...I was so pleased that I couldn't stop licking my finger! Not having mayo has been hard because I love it. And now I don't have to worry about sugar crashing my party.

It could be you think I'm going overboard with the whole sugar thing. But you don't realize how long I've had those mid-afternoon hardcore slumps. I've always wondered what was wrong with me! I've tried a lot of different things to get rid of them because they are a huge downer. I'm full of energy and drive all day but 3pm rolls around and I am down for the count and it's a terrible time to have a slump. I could set my clock by it. And to not have that horrible fatigue every day has been amazing! I just don't want to go back there. I will eat sugar again no doubt. I love Oreos too much. But I want to choose when I have it, not have it in everything I eat just because some manufacturer decided balsamic vinegar is better with sugar. I will control it...and I will feel better because of it.

She's Crawling

It's true.

The Marshmallow is spending the day making a permanent gate for the top of our stairs because one side is a wood banister and the store bought gates just aren't secure enough. It's a freak of nature to see this little tiny girl crawling across the floor. She's even pulling herself up to her knees on things. Holy terror...it's coming.

Child Food Challenges

Bugs: picky from the start...

Like many, I have a very picky eater. At 5 years old, if it even looks like grown-up food, she hates it. This can be very discouraging. So many wonderful foods don't really look like they're delicious and so to get her to try anything is pulling teeth.

It's gotten to the point where I make very simple dishes and The Marshmallow just has to eat it too. That's my main problem. I don't mind cooking Mac 'n Cheese and plain old chicken (no sauces or seasonings please!) but I'm sure my husband would rather have grown-up food. I'd really like to try Deceptively Delicious because I've heard those are "real" foods that have good stuff in them too. I'm not above misleading my children for health. Believe it.

Along these same lines, I've been getting that Kraft Food & Family magazine, a monthly freebie magazine with lots of recipes that look wonderful. Now not all of them are that fabulous but they look great anyway. It's an advertising ploy because most of the recipes use...can you guess...Kraft food items. No biggie - I can easily replace Kraft ranch with no-name Ranch and call it good. Back to the story...I was leafing through the newest issue that came in the mail today - a ritual I'm trying to get used to - go through the magazine the day it comes, clip out whatever you want and throw the magazine away the same day ... buuuut anyway... there was a little insert in there about kid's lunches. It gave lots of ideas that I'd never thought of. Stuff she'd probably really eat! Like this...

1) tiny bagel sandwiches with turkey and cheese
2) whole wheat tortilla roll-ups with deli meat and cheese
3) layered salad with cheese, deli turkey (chopped), lettuce and ranch
4) reduced fat cream cheese and jam sandwich (coupled with healthy side dishes this is good!)
5) egg sandwich (scrambled with cheese on toast)

I always add a fruit and milk to the side of any meal mainly because it just makes me feel like a good mom doing good things for my kids.

I'm tired of the same olds: nuggets, pizza, pb&j. She needs variety in her diet and I need variety in what I make. I got some good ideas. Hope these gave you some too.

Words of Inspiration

Taken from this month's issue of the Ensign:

"Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel."

I felt the Spirit when I read this and I hope you do too because no matter what our trials are in this life, we can get our strength from the Lord. I truly believe that.

The Dreaded Job and Why I'm Never Bored

Do you have a particular job that when you walk past "it" you close your eyes, hum a little tune and just pretend it doesn't exist? Well, I have several but the main one is

DESKWORK

The main reason is that a large part of it usually involves spending more money (bills, stuff I need to buy...etc) and filing. And it's boring...so it piles up and becomes this obscenely huge pile of crap that I have to eventually slog through.

I don't remember a time when it's been more backed up. A couple of months ago, we were having house guests so I bought a couple of nice looking boxes and stuffed all my piles into them so it looked like I was organized. Haha. If you'd have opened the boxes, it would have all been revealed - endless piles of miscellaneous who-knows-what! Shhh, most people (of course that doesn't include you, dear reader) shouldn't know my tips and tricks for appearing to be what I am not always ... scrupulously organized.

Today...I tackled it. I got a few bins and went through all, that's right...all of the stacks. I sorted them into more manageable piles. Haha, more piles. Yes but now they aren't overwhelming. I have one small stack of papers that need further inspection, projects I want to do, places I want to go, things I want to do with my kids etc. And that leads me to .... (rachel, pay attention here)

WHY I'M NEVER BORED....

I'm a collector. I collect magazines and then studiously go through them cutting out all sorts of things from recipes, projects, decorating tips, internet sites to go to, gardening tips, and on and on and on. I have tons of these slips of paper of things to do! And it makes my life fun.

Just a random sampling of the items in that stack are:

1) Ideas for Family Home Evenings
2) New ideas for my occupational therapy treatment sessions
3) Decorating cheat sheet when you're on a tight budget
4) Some vinyl lettering I want to decorate an old window I have in the garage
5) Some life insurance information I need to wrap my head around
6) All of Tinkerpot's ultrasound pictures and thank you cards so I can make her a scrapbook
7) Ideas for things you can make out of your food storage (yay!)
8) 2 books of crafts to do with kids ages 2-6
9) article "Great Money-Saving Websites"
10) article "Smart Snacks Your Kids Will Love" like peanut butter sushi ...yum!
11) a subscription card to Highlights and Family Fun magazines - gonna get these!

That's only a little bit of what's going to be taking up my time in the next month or so. But so you can see, I'm a person that can definitely keep myself busy. I love being me. But I wish I didn't accumulate so much paper!

The Fog Has Lifted & Other Life Thoughts

Now that Tink is a little older and not necessarily what I consider an infant, I have my body at least back to pre-prego form, Bugs is in school, and enough time has passed to let me somewhat forget my pregnancy, I am really feeling awesome about life. Things are just coming together again and I feel soo good about where I am and what's going on.

Aside from finally feeling like my family is 100% on the Earth, I just have a peaceful feeling about where I've been spending my time. I wish I didn't have to work but I am so blessed with an occupation that allows me to make a suitable living in a short time, and I can be back home with my kids and not feel like I've neglected them by placing money as a priority over their welfare. Because if I seriously were to work ANY more than what I work, it would be just gravy. I could see myself getting selfish very quickly if I were to allow myself a few more hours here and there.

I've virtually spent all week in the kitchen doing something practically each day toward food preservation. But I've also been cleaning out cupboards and getting rid of things we don't need/use anymore, and basically getting things in there back in order.

I've been monumentally low on funds this week so I've not gone shopping at all nor spent any money on things that I don't absolutely need. It's been refreshing to just say "no" when I think of going to a store. I love to shop but it's really silly when I buy things that are great at the moment but just end up as clutter I have to clean later. The more loads I take to donate crap I don't need anymore, the better I feel - so why do I constantly bring more stuff into my house that will inevitably take the trip to D.I. (our salvation army in Utah) anyway? It's stupid.

But that's another thing - more has been going out of here than coming in and that's awesome. With my limited funds, I'm also trying to be more creative with meals, with my wants/desires, and how I'm getting around buying the things I feel the need to go get right this minute! It's good practice.

Mainly, the fog has lifted off of me. I no longer am out of it. I am on the "other side". Ugh, the whole time I was considering having another baby, I knew that the pregnancy and first 6 months would be the hardest part but if I could just get on the "other side" of it, life would just get better and better. And now I'm here and I can't believe it. I'm not going to ever have to go through that again because I'm at peace with not having any more children and now my family can just continue on with our life. That really just feels so good.

My Very First Applesauce

and no, I'm not talking about Tinkerpot. I'm talking about me! Canning my first applesauce! It was awesome!

My mom came over and picked about 1/2 a bucket of apples from the apple tree across the street. It didn't take long to transform them into this...And ohhhh, it was so delicious! I added some sugar and cinnamon and then just water packed it. This amount (1/2 bucket) made 4 quarts and a small container for the fridge. But that tree is just loaded still and another tree will be ripe in a few weeks so this is only the beginning.

Am I boring you with my canning posts? I'm certainly not bored doing the canning - it's been way fun.

We're Booked...

The Marshmallow and I have been waiting until we felt that Bugs was old enough to even mildly appreciate Disneyland for the first time. And the time has finally come!

I just booked our first Disneyland trip with our girls yesterday. We'll be leaving just after Tinkerpot's first birthday and we'll be in Anaheim for a week. We'll be staying at our timeshare, a 2 bedroom condo less than a mile from Disneyland.

This will honestly be my first trip to Disneyland as a true "tourist" since I spent much of my youth either living in Southern California or visiting my grandma who lived there for most of her life. So I went to Disneyland what felt like several times a year. And it was always just a day trip. Sadly, the last time I was there was when I was 15 - about a week before we pulled up roots forever and moved to Denver. They had barely opened the new ride "Star Tours". Do you remember that? I've been to California many times since then but only once to Southern California and it wasn't the time of life where I'd go to Disneyland - it was more clubbing that was on my mind .... single and free.....

I say all this because I know there are books written for tourists on how to make the most of your Disneyland trip. And although I really don't want to have to buy one of them because I will never really feel like a true visitor to Southern California, I'm afraid I'll have to so we can make the most of the time we have and avoid mistakes that other families have made out of ignorance. I'll swallow my pride.

I just hope Tink will be old enough not to be a complete nightmare. But...if she is, then it's all part of taking a kids' trip, I suppose.

I'm so excited!

Six Months in Pictures

I think a mother's mantra should be..."I just don't know where the time has gone..." because more mothers say this phrase than any other ...okay, that's not true. I think it's "turn off the lights" or "get back in bed" or "would you please just eat?"

But seriously, we mothers literally don't know where the time goes. Somewhere between diapers, stories, laundry, dishes, picking up toys and paying bills, these little creatures grow up before our eyes and we unfortunately can't keep them little for very long. How come the time doesn't go that quickly when we're dieting (and obsessing about Oreos?) - now that's a question for Socrates.

So now my little Tinkerpot is 6 months old (and now 2 weeks). I've diligently photographed her at each monthly birthday to get a year's worth of changes. Here's her over the past 6 months. The bottom three are all 6 month pics.

The first picture credit goes to Kelly, of course.

2 weeks

One month

Two months
Three months
Four monthsFive months

Six months

Fruit Season

My dining room table is about 80% covered with fruit right now! It's all laid out by the sliding glass door so that it can ripen up a little bit more in preparation for "processing" which really just means "preserving".

My friend Kelly invited me to go pick pears and plums from some fruit trees that are at her studio. The fruit's falling all over the ground and she says she wants it gone. I picked a large box of pears and half a bucket of plums. The plums are small but very ripe and sweet. The pears are not quite ripe, still a little green but will ripen well on my table within a week and then be ready to be made into pearsauce.

My mother and grandma went to Brigham City yesterday and brought me back a case of peaches also. And while they are perfect for eating right now, they need a few days of ripening to be great for canning. If they're not almost over-ripe, the skins won't peel well after blanching - something I became acutely familiar with last year when I did the peaches on my tree. Do you remember my grousing about it? It was awful and it took me forever to get those peaches canned.

So I guess you know what I'll be doing for the next week or so between the peaches, pears and plums. And not in the too distant future, there will be apples galore to collect. I can't wait!

By the way, I know that if you weren't raised in a household where canning was done frequently, it may seem like an overwhelming task. But it's really not - especially fruit and some light vegetables like pumpkin and tomatoes. You don't even need a pressure cooker. If anyone would like some very easy directions on how to can fruit like apricots, peaches, and pears - I'd be glad to post a tutorial on it. You want to feel like June Cleaver? Then learn how to can/bottle/preserve - you'll be domesticated in no time!

Good Neighbors I've Never Met

There's a house I look at all day long as I'm in and out of my house, as I wander through my living room and pull out of my driveway each time I leave. It's the house across the street. I have lived in my house for 4 years now (this month) and not once have I bothered to cross the busy street and go say "hello neighbor!"

Until today...

And I am ashamed to say that I wanted something. The lady was SOOO nice and was so cute when I apologized for the reason that got me to cross the street. She was kind and said I could have whatever I wanted. Such graciousness I could take lessons from.

Until this year, it never dawned on me the literal orchard they have in their front yard. They have two pear trees, three apple trees and a cherry tree. The pears are very near harvest time and they caught my eye the other day as I was pulling out. I have two peach trees and an apricot tree but no apples or pears but would love to bottle pearsauce and applesauce this year. I'm DYING to do it actually. So I ventured over there.

She said they never do a thing with the fruit and I am welcome to have as much of it as I want! I am so excited! With the amount of fruit on those trees, I could have pears and apples to do anything I want! A few years ago, I even bottled apple pie filling and it was so easy. Perhaps I'll have enough apples to do that again!

Her name is Pat and her husband is Stewart. I write it down here so I won't forget it later. Because I'm like that. I wish I'd met them before - it would have been nice to know such good neighbors before now. Shame on me.

Did You Know You Can Make Your Own "Rhodes" dough?

Well you can! And it's easy!

I'm sure you have a decent bread or rolls dough recipe. If you don't, and you'd like a good one, I have a few I'd be willing to share. I love to make bread and have gotten decent at it. You might remember I had a little contest with myself to see if I could find the best roll recipe a couple of years ago.

Anyway, so here's all there is to it...

All bread dough recipes follow a certain pattern. Mix yeast with sugar and water and dissolve - mix that with all the other ingredients, add flour and knead. After the kneading comes the first rising. Go ahead and "rise" your dough.

Something I do that cuts the rising time in half is to preheat my oven to 170 degrees while I'm making the dough. I leave the dough in my mixing bowl, cover it with a damp towel and place it into the very warm oven. I turn off the oven now. Place about 5 cups of boiling water in a metal bowl into the oven next to the bowl of dough and close the door. Between the heat and humidity, your dough will rise in about 15 minutes - guaranteed!

So when your dough has risen to twice its size, remove it from the oven. Spray a large cookie sheet or pan with non-stick spray and form your dough into small balls - about the size of a ball of cookie dough, perhaps 2". Make sure no dough balls are touching each other.

Immediately place the sheet of dough balls in the freezer and flash freeze them, which just means let them quickly freeze as-is. It will take several hours. Remove them, and throw them all into a gallon sized zippie bag. Label the bag with the following information:

1) defrost by laying them however you want the rolls to bake (i.e. in muffin tins, close together in a pan, or individual rolls) covered loosely with a piece of saran wrap that you've sprayed with non-stick

2) let rise in a warm place until double in size

3) include the baking time and temp from your dough recipe

That's it! Happy freezer dough!

p.s. this also works great for cookies too! Pre-form and freeze for easy cookies later!

I Have to Apologize

Uggh! I think that advertisements on my blog may be more trouble than they're worth!

At least when there are none, I can be in 100% control of what is being displayed on my blog.

I had a comment a few weeks ago about one of the advertisements that was displayed and the person said that it was inappropriate especially in context to the nature of my posts. I looked into it and thought it was an isolated occurance.

However today while I was posting, I noticed that the Blogher ads that usually run on the right hand column were so heniously inappropriate that I immediately removed the ad and complained to the company.

For those of you who have been subjected to inappropriate content on my blog, I profusely apologize and promise it won't happen again even if I have to abolish all advertisements. The internet is a scary place anyway and you shouldn't worry about what you'll see when you're coming to my blog anyway.

Getting Ahead of the Game

Remember a few months ago how I said I just wish I could get ahead of the game. Plan for the next event just a hair of a week before it's supposed to happen? And I specifically mentioned Halloween? Well, the old Amy is almost all the way back.

Bugs has requested to be a giraffe for Halloween this year. I knew I'd have to be on top of it this year because if I couldn't find a costume to buy, I'd have to make it and that would test every one of my sewing skills, of which I have few.

The internet was not much help because it doesn't appear that many children over the age of 4 are interested in being a giraffe. Not only that but I'm not ready to part with forty hard earned dollars for a costume - I know, it's a fairly typical price but I'm cheap. It's just who I am.

I'm glad I had been checking though because at Costco, I found a costume sized 2-4 for $10! What a total steal! And because Bugs is a little girl for her age, the costume, while a few inches short in the legs actually fit well enough to get by - and she's happy. She's happy...I'm happy.

As for Tink, I have a darling little pumpkin costume for a 9 month old that I've had for a long time. Coincidentally Tink will be about 9 months at Halloween, problem solved.

And now that costumes are solved, I can move onto more fun things like perhaps a kids' Halloween party! How fun would that be? I have so many fun food things for a little party, lots of fun decorations and lots of great ideas. Hmmm. I've gotta think on that one!

You know what? I'm feeling so much more myself lately that I've nearly gotten through each one of the rooms in my house and put it back the way it should be...organized and precise, just the way I like it. Ahhhh...has it really been 6 months since I was pregnant and wallowing in self pity? The Marshmallow asked me if I would be willing to do it again - I'll bet you can guess what I said.

Now That Came Fast...

Several months ago, I was visiting my sister and her family in Idaho. She has a daughter who is about 6 months older than Tinkerpot. We'll call her Babyface. Well, at the time, Babyface spent a lot of time on the ground pulling herself around in that commando crawl and genuinely having a barrel of monkeys with the other kids. But it didn't occur to me until I left that she wasn't sitting up on her own yet. I mentioned it to my sister and she seemed sort of shocked and taken off guard, sort of like, "Wow, I just didn't even think of trying that out yet!"

At the time, I thought it was so funny and even a little odd! Fast forward to my experiences with Tinkerpot and I am totally understanding. And today is a great example.

With Bugs, each milestone was anticipated for WEEKS and I was always ready to try the next thing even if it was way beyond her. Take for instance the huge trike I bought for her at her first birthday.

For the past couple of weeks, Tinker has been sleeping all the way through the night, not consistently but there have been several nights a week that I've woken up and been a little nervous because she never wanted fed in the night. So I finally decided to look it up and see if there was something wrong or what. I just couldn't remember when Bugs started sleeping all the way through the night.

So in the book, it said that a 6 month old should be able to "fast for up to 10-12 hours"...and there it was. I was shocked! I literally would have willing to get up in the night with her for many more months and never even questioned it! I'm even a little saddened that those sweet middle-of-the-night feedings are likely over. I didn't LOVE them, but I did LOVE to hold that squishy little body, for once so not moving, and so serene. I'm sure I can still get up and feed her in the night and may a few times more...but I simply can't believe that the time has come so soon!

I've learned that when you're trying to hold onto a baby, the milestones come and you can very easily overlook them because you don't want to see them. By the way, it wasn't even 3 days, and my sister called me and told me that Babyface was sitting up all by herself. My sister just had to encourage her. I guess I know what it's like now. She just wanted her baby to be a baby a bit longer!

Just Had To Share This...

I've officially not had sugar nor diet soda for three weeks this coming Sunday. For the first 3 or 4 days, I had astronomical headaches and I was fatigued - just dead on my feet.

But after that passed, I started to feel a lot better. Since then I've noticed that although my craving for sugar hasn't diminished much (it's still going strong), I just feel so much better off of it. No headaches and better than that, none of the late afternoon dips of energy where I'd usually head for the soda or a snack.

I'm truly amazed that sugar can have that much of an impact on a person! And while I'd love to stay off of sugar forever, I don't think I'll be able to. At this very moment, I am craving cookie dough and oreos. I love those guys! And incidentally I haven't had any junk food (no fast food), no chips, no crap - nothing but whole foods, protein, veggies and fruit for 3 weeks.

I've lost a substantial amount of weight and within only about 3 lbs. of my pre-prego weight. Yay me! I'm finally wearing my old clothes but don't plan to stop. I hope to keep dropping lbs until I can get into my pre-Bugs-prego clothes which pathetically, yes - I still own in the sliver of hope that someday I'd be able to wear them again. Not like I wouldn't mind going shopping again for that smaller size - that would be awesome if I could afford it!

Homemade Chili - It's a Personal Thing

When The Marshmallow requested that I figure out a good chili recipe, I went to the Internet and found an award winning recipe that didn't call for beans. I made the recipe, added beans to it, made a few adjustments and ta-da, I had what we think is excellent chili. (we being the operative word).

Fast forward to several years later (which was actually about 2 years ago) at our ward chili cook-off. Ask anyone - I was CERTAIN people would love it! I prepped myself for accolades aplenty. Boy did I feel like a jerk - when not only did I not win...I didn't even PLACE!

That's the day I realized that chili's a personal project. My family loves my chili and that's good since I'm the one with the recipe. But every family at that cook-off had their own fabulous recipe that I'm sure they thought would win. Some were downright terrible! Perhaps people thought that of mine. Now, it doesn't help that I accidentally added cinnamon instead of chili powder but honestly, I actually thought it was a delightful change - really, it was pretty good!

So I don't force my chili recipe on anyone anymore. The Marshmallow and I both believe it's sent directly from God but it's probably just average stuff. I don't care - I drool whenever it's in the crockpot and The Marshmallow can't get to the table fast enough. Who am I here to please if I can't please a Marshmallow?

But making my chili is an arduous affair which takes a good while and so much to The Marshmallow's chagrin, I don't make it nearly enough. Girl meets Pressure Cooker. I hefted out both of my crockpots yesterday and stirred up a huge double batch of the goop. When I measured it into quart jars today, there were 8 of them...8 delightful nights of chili that I don't have to slave over the crockpot. 90 minutes in the pressure cooker and *poof* ready to eat meals. I'm a genius!

I've always wanted to try canning my chili and it wasn't that difficult. So if you're game to put your pressure cooker to work and make eight meals out of a single afternoon, by all means - pull out your very personal chili recipe, double it up and can it. You won't be sorry!

Can Your Own Marinara

It's easy to guess that because my favorite meal of all time is spaghetti, that I am a huge lover of marinara sauce. No meat...just the basics. I could drink it (and in the past couple of days have been found to be doing just that over my stove as it simmered!)

I'm going to give you my recipe but keep in mind this takes A LOT of tomatoes because I like the consistency to be thicker than a thick soup - more like what you can buy in the store. And to do so, you have to simmer it a long time and what's left is tomatoes. If you don't have the right amount of tomatoes, mostly what you have of course, is water.

Ingredients:
about 100 medium tomatoes
6 medium onions
3/4 cup of Italian herbs (or your preferred combination of basil, oregano, thyme, marjoramm)
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup olive oil

See, there's just not a lot to this.

So first off, blanch and peel all of your tomatoes. You'd have to do this to can them anyway so it's not extra work. At this point, I throw them in the food processor and chop them all up. It's pretty soupy now, so dump them in a colander with small enough holes that most of the seeds don't go down the drain. You're getting rid of extra water/juice. Believe me, there's still plenty left. If you like your sauce lumpy then omit this next step but if you like it smooth the way you can buy it in stores or served at restaurants, then now process all of it in the blender, a few cups at a time. This is important.

Meanwhile, heat your oil in a very large non-stick pot. You'll regret the non-stick during simmer when it starts to burn. I've done this and it sucks to burn a whole batch. Chop your onions (again, I love my food processor for this because they can get diced really small without the tears) and put them into the hot oil. Add the Italian herbs mix and mix them all together and turn down to low/medium heat. They will sweat it out and the onions will turn translucent. Leave them to intermingle flavors for about an hour on simmer after the onions are done.

After this, add your tomatoes to the onion mixture. Bring to a slow boil on medium/high heat and then immediately down to low/simmer. Now comes the long haul. My last batch simmered for 29 hours to reach the right consistency. It won't take you this long because you drained the tomatoes. I forgot that step this time and paid for it. You may have to simmer for 12 though - don't worry. You'll taste it after about 6 hours and you'll start to recognize the flavor. At first it'll taste just like tomatoes and onions but slowly it'll take on the marinara flavor that is so delicious.

Once the desired consistency is achieved, water process it for 30 minutes in either pint or quart jars.

Note that some people might add 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of sugar to their sauce prior to processing to add some acidity for the canning process. I don't do this because we will eat the sauce probably within 6-8 months which is too soon to worry about weird problems occurring. But if you plan to store yours for longer, you might want to do this unless you decide your variety of tomatoes contain enough acidity that vinegar won't be necessary (check the extension office if you're in Utah or online if you're not). But the sugar will combat the acidity of the vinegar and probably won't be too noticeable.

Anyway, this recipe should make about 8 quarts of sauce. I'm sure there are way easier recipes out there that turn out way better - but I like mine. I like the process and the feeling afterward. Simmering something on the stove makes me feel...wholesome. Call me weird.

Gotta Stay With It!!

Didn't want to disrupt my what, 2 day run of posting now, would I? I had to jot something down even if it was something trivial.

What's going on today....

The Marshmallow will return home tomorrow. After being gone for exactly a week, I'm ready for him to be here. If not just for the workload being cut down by what I used to think was a fraction - it's actually a larger percentage than I imagined. But don't tell him I said that :)

Today I started on the sun-dried tomatoes. I sliced them all up and they're dehydrating right now. I looked it up on the Internet (God bless the Internet) and got all sorts of good ideas.

Also, right now I'm simmering a huge pot of marinara sauce that I will bottle tomorrow. It's been simmering for about 5 hours right now and it's starting to taste so yummy. It'll be good to have bottled marinara sauce - we really go through that stuff! And I picked another bushel of tomatoes so here we go again...

And now folks, I'm off to a movie. It's 9:30 PM - yeah, so what. My kids are in bed, the babysitter's on the way, as is my good buddy Renee - and we're going to Gateway for a little down time. I'm excited. Normally wouldn't do a late show because I need all the sleep I can get but I have SO needed this. Perhaps The Marshmallow would be interested in date-night next weekend. Sushi, alone with him, would be like a vacation to the Bahamas.

TTFN