RazNoggle

So I’ve been busy lately and not. But I haven’t felt that “bloggin’ feelin’” which is why there haven’t been many new posts. Sorry.

Overheard between Myles and Qade:
M: I Buzz.
Q: I’m Woody.
M: Woody, we’re in Andy’s room.
(about 30 seconds later)
M: I not Buzz, I nothing.
Q: I’m nothing too, Myles.
M: I not Myles.
Q: What are you?
M: I just nothing.
Q: Oh, I’m nothing too.
(These guys crack me up!)

Ella has learned to climb up the boys bunk bed. However, she can’t get down without a thud. This is not good.

I gave all 3 of my men haircuts. I love to think about how much $$ we are saving by having me do it, but I admit that it still gives me butterflies! Not so much the boys, but I’m terrified of messing up Stuart’s hair. The lads were super easy this go round because Summertime means buzz cuts!! Love it! Easy to do and easy to maintain. Stuart, thus far, has not jumped on the buzz band wagon.

I ran over a small dog the other day. I’m still rather traumatized by the experience. Stuart was with me, and we were coming back from the prom at around 11:20pm. This little Rez dog just literally jumped out in front of me. There was no way to react, swerve or even break it was that fast. *sigh* The dog population out here is out of control, and the unwanted dogs just roam wild scrounging for food and surviving as they can. The ‘wise’ ones will stand to the side of the road and wait for cars to pass. This one didn’t ever make it to become wise. This was the second time I’ve hit a dog. The first time I ran over our silly dog on the dirt road because he LOVED to race cars. Fortunately for the sand he lived to learn his lesson.

Yesterday when I was outside playing with the kids I could NOT stop laughing at Ella! She can climb the play set like the little monkey she is, but still has a hard time getting down. She kept perching at the top of the slide, but not intending to slide. (Blame a traumatic learning experience from her Dad for that one. ) Anyway, I looked up just in time to see her “accidentally” slide down. She was lying on her back the whole way down and shot off the end like a little torpedo! It was hysterical! She fussed about it for like 2 seconds and then climbed the thing again. Later I went out with her and let her slide while I caught her half way down. She enjoyed doing that over and over.

I got to escape to Phoenix last weekend with Stu because of some school thing he had going. More on that in another post, but it was sure fun to get a way. Thanks for riding herd, Mom!

The fitness challenge is still going on. I haven’t been keeping up with those weekly posts, as you may have noticed, but I have still been working out. I’ll write more on that later too, but for now I’ll just say that the second month Insanity workouts KICK MY BOOTY! For real!

Ella has this persistent rash that won’t go away! Poor girly! It was on her neck and under her chin and then creeped up her face till her cheeks are all red and sad. Talking it through with some nurses and looking at stuff online, I think it may be Fifth Disease. Apparently the rash can last 1-3 weeks. Hoping we don’t have the 3 week version.

We had a blast for Qade’s birthday! I’ll post more on that, complete with photos sometime soon. He had some friends who were able to make it as well as cuz Aiden, so it was a great time. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate we had lots of fun!

Ella has found a new hobby. Dropping crayons down the heat vents. Not good!

Today I get to jump back into the fitness challenge. Last week I got a whopping 8 points. That was pathetic, but I only got one workout in, and then spent 3-4 days not wanting to eat anything at all, let alone my fruits and veggies. *sigh* But now that I’m on the up-n-up feeling better, I’ve got to jump back in. I’ll be a week behind the “group” because I’m going to repeat the “recovery week” workout before I jump into the “max” training part of the program. Pretty sure I’d just curl up and die if I tried to do the max workout after doing nothing for a week. We’ll see how it all goes.

The clock has become the ultimate authority in Myles life. Every time it’s time for something like bed or lunch, he’ll always ask, “Does the clock says it’s time for bed?” Guess mom and dad’s word isn’t quite enough. Eventually he’ll learn, but for now I don’t mind telling him that the clock DOES indeed say it’s time for bed.

Last night the boys were in their jammies. Stu and I were working on some business stuff, so I suggested that they bounce on the trampoline in their jammies. It was a blast! They stayed out there till it was dark and bed time.

Qade got a couple new Jungle Jam stories for his birthday. He LOVES those programs! I don’t mind them myself. Some good humor in those, and no shrilly silly voices to deal with.

Ella’s Auntie Tiff got her an adorable little turquoise ring. I think rings on babies is so cute! Of course, Ella’s a little bigger than a ‘baby’ and she was a little disconcerted at this “thing” that was stuck to her finger. I’m determined to get her used to it though so this morning I put it on for her when I got her dressed. She actually didn’t complain about it at all and wore it for quite some time before she came to me to take it off. Progress!!

What’s for dinner?

Making no-bake energy bites again… double batch this time. I need LOTS of energy.

When I loaded the kids in the car to go to the PO this morning a wasp flew in while I was inside getting my purse. The lads informed me that there was a “bee” in the car. Since they usually call a fly “bee” I wasn’t too concerned. But when I got into the driver’s seat, Qade piped up in a very concerned voice, “Mom the bee will sting you!!” To which Myles added, “It’s not a bee, it’s a FLOSS!” LOL!! Eventually I saw the “floss” on the passenger window and let the beast out! Glad my boys were concerned for my safety!

The boys are playing outside sans clothes. I can’t seem to convince them that they NEED to wear clothing once it gets warm outside. They insist that they are “hot” and off it all comes… well, at least they are keeping their unders on. They look like little Mogli’s running around out there!

Home is the best feeling! Even though I don’t always “feel” like this place is really home, it’s still more homey than anywhere else.

We’ve been blessed to have kids with pretty strong stomaches. I think it must be because Stu and I don’t… at least when it comes to the smell and clean up of ickiness like that. But this week the plague has struck our kiddos and Ella and Myles have both had the up-chucks. Hoping that Qade won’t succumb… or Stu and me either for that matter, but Qade’s already opted to not eat his breakfast because “his tummy didn’t feel good.” Uh-oh!

Got some fun birthday stuff for Qade’s part this coming weekend. I don’t know why, but for some reason him turning 5 just seems like it’s the end of the “little guy” stage for real. At least to me. He has considered himself to be quite grown up for some time now. Looking forward to the celebration and hoping we are all well by then!

I’ve made it (more or less) through 4 weeks of INSANITY… more on that later.

We have purchased a new coffee pot off of Amazon. If you’re friends with me on FB you may have noticed the coffee pot saga over the weekend. Stu found an awesome one that has not only the regular coffee pot option, but also an option on the side to brew one cup at a time. You do realize that this means I will be drinking coffee ALL day now instead of just half.

Our Crocs FINALLY got here, no thanks to FedEx who finally just dumped the package at the PO for us to find “whenever.” Sadly the shoes I got for me are too small. SO I’ll be paying for shipping those back and ordering the larger size. SUCH a disappointment. I followed the instructions that said, “If you are a half size order the next size down” I should have known better though… my gut said to me, “Rach, you don’t like tight shoes, you should go with the next size UP.” But I said to my gut, “Hush, they obviously know better than you, and besides I like to think of my feet as being smaller.” *sigh* Gut was right. Good thing I had a coupon code that “saved” me $10.
It’s getting warm enough that I’m starting to crave iced coffee… and chicken salad. Not necessarily at the same time just… ya know, cause it’s warmer.

The kids spent the day loafing. They were either watching programs on the computer or playing games on the iDevices. I wanted to keep it low key to avoid any further spewing incidences. Now they are frisking about the house like cooped up puppies and while I tried to encourage them to frisk outside, they seem inclined to stay in. I suppose it’s for the best since they’re stripped down to their unders again.

Ella LOVES orange juice! Loves it! She’ll beg for seconds or even thirds. But while her mouth likes it, her bottom not so much, so I have to limit that beverage for her. TMI, I know.

Ella is sitting on my lap right now because whenever I sit down to the computer she comes along and says “mup?” Which is her word for “up.” She really isn’t gaining many new words, but somehow has a way of making herself clear, and she understands VERY well what I ask her to do. At the moment she’s trying to ask me for something by humming (which is usual) but she has a mouth full of chocolate animal cracker, so her “hum” sounds even more hollow. Ha!

Better get going. Insanity calls…. and then bed!

P.S. Have you ever tried a green smoothie? You really must, Darling, they are quite delicious!

So two hours after sitting down to breakfast Myles finally finishes. Now he is getting dressed and ready to start the day at 10 o’clock. *sigh*

We are having to limit “angry birds” time on our iDevices since that seems to be the ONLY thing that Qade is interested in these days. What good are all the educational apps if they don’t get used?

I’ve begun to chat with Qade about “school” from time to time. I’m trying to psych both of us up for it! His initial reaction to the online video clip of Abeka K5 video was, “I don’t want to go there with those kids!” Ha ha! I told him that he wouldn’t have to “go” but that he would watch those kids on a video. I wish they’d update those grades though. It looks so incredibly 80’s. Blah!

Brewing an extra pot of Dunkin’ Donuts Strawberry Shortcake coffee today. I feel the need.

Someone tell me why I have to struggle to get food into my daughter, but yet she will go outside and eat the cat food. This makes no sense to me.

All of my attempts at 100% wheat bread have been pretty not-so-amazing. *sigh* I guess it’s nearly impossible to make a good wheat loaf without extra gluten. I’m going to try it again with a simple recipe I found and just sub out 1 1/4 c for AP flour and see if that’ll do it. I’d rather have the whole wheat… but I’d rather not have to try to eat bricks!

Lovely weather…. wretched allergies!! I’ve been snatching little bits of air and sunshine as I can since it’s SO nice, but if I spend even just a few minutes outside I end up miserable from my itchy eyes and schniffly nose. Ugh! I am taking allergy pills, but not so sure they’re working very well.

I got to do a finger paint session with Helen today! That was lots of fun!! The photos were awesome and I have a couple pretty amazing masterpieces from it as well.

All 3 kiddos have dentist appointments on Monday. I wonder what we will discover. If Ella will even let the dentist NEAR her teeth, I will say we had a successful visit. Qade has a disappearing, reappearing spot on one of his top front teeth. I think he may have “killed” that tooth somehow quite awhile back. It turned grayish for awhile, and then went white again. Then this weird purply “spot” showed up in it, and was there for some time, and vanished again just recently. I can’t figure out what in the world is going on there, but we will see. Since they all needed to get in and we have to drive 2.5 hours one way to see the dentist we decided to do it all in one chunk. I’m kinda not ecstatic about the experience though. Thinking happy thoughts…

I don’t know what to fix for dinner….

I like Fuji apples the best. Though Golden Delicious are pretty yum too! The boys like to have apples for their snack outside because, as Qade says, “Apples are a long snack.” Ha ha!

Ella is suddenly into accessorizing! Ha! Every morning now, after I get her dressed, she points to the box that has her headbands and bows in it and signs please. It cracks me up because the headband doesn’t last more than a few minutes, but she seems to think that her outfit isn’t complete without it. Ha ha!

Should I be concerned that Qade is cracking up at the naughty antics of Huey, Duey and Luey as they torment their uncle Donald?

I don’t give my “baby” enough credit. Just because she isn’t talking, doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand. Tonight after dinner, I handed her the empty bowl and asked her to put it in the sink which she did right away! I was so impressed! So were the boys. Myles was trying to tell me that “Ella can’t put it in the sink” as she was doing it. Ha ha!

Disappointment is feeling like you REALLY need another cup of coffee, but finding the pot empty. *sigh*

This morning Myles was chuckling to himself and saying, “It died, it died” so I asked him what died, and he answered with a grin, “My tummy!” Hmmmm???? I didn’t think breakfast was THAT bad!

I just hollered out the window at the boys, “Stop putting your trail mix in your nose!” And while part of me felt like laughing because I never imagined myself saying something like that, the other part of me was thinking, “I really do not need a trip to the ER today to dig a raisin out of someone’s nose!”

I’m making chili today. I’ve been looking at recipes online so I can add a little something more flavor-interesting. Well, I found several that looked good and taking bits of elements from a few I’ve thrown together ours in the crock-pot. It includes coco-powder, nutmeg, and Maple Syrup, which I never in my wildest dreams would have thought to put in chili. I’m a little frightened of what the result might be, but hoping that the people who say it wins “blue ribbons” weren’t lying. It could be some huge cosmic joke…. but I’ll keep you posted. Ha ha!

(a few days later)

Today is Friday, and I’m being all domestic. The laundry is laundering, the floors have been swept AND mopped, and the carpets have been vacuumed. The boys have done a great job helping me with their “strong muscles” to move chairs around and pick up toys! I still have some dusting to do, and the bathroom to clean, but right now I’m giving myself a break and going to have another cup of coffee. Housecleaning is not on my list of favorite things to do, but I prefer to get it done on Friday so that we can relax more and have fun on the weekend.

And the verdict on the chili was unanimously in favor of the flavor! Even the boys gobbled it up (except Qade picked out his tomatoes which he has decided to take issue with in EVERY dish they show up in) because it wasn’t really “hot” but it had a LOT of flavor. I think I might add a pinch if Cayenne next time just to give it a bit more kick, but I’m going to be using those flavors again! I’ll post it sometime for you guys too in case you wanna do something different with your chili next time.

Yesterday Ella happened to wipe her “yucky nose” on Myles special monkey, Ottis. When Myles saw the “yuck” he was completely disgusted and kept saying “Oh gross! Ella did to my Ottis!” I was laughing so hard, but told him to get a tissue to wipe it off and through the whole process he kept saying, “This is ‘skustin’” Ha ha ha!! He’s right, of course, it was disgusting, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the only time something ‘skustin’ has been on Ottis.

Have you ever taken a mop to your dining room walls? Ha ha! I did today. I was surprised at how well it worked actually. I need to do it more often! Especially since one little 3 yr old I know likes to fling his utensils around regardless of whether or not there is something on them.

I can’t read Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book without yawning. I’ve tried. Fail! Seriously, can anyone read about all those creatures yawing so wide you can see down their neck and not yawn themselves?? I’d like to meet that person if such a one exists and congratulate them on getting more sleep than anyone else I know.

I fed my daughter goldfish for breakfast. Does that put me on the top of the “worlds worst moms” list?

Any recipe that comes across my newsfeed with the word “tofu” in it gets deleted without a look and without delay. That stuff just should NOT have been invented….really!

I helped Stu haul in some wood that he cut today. Now I feel well prepared for the 2 days of snow and 50* weather the computer says we’re going to have. Somehow I don’t think the two are compatible.

Listening to my lads crunch and munch apple slices has GOT to be one of the most disgusting sounds in the world! It’s neck and neck with the sound of kids eating pizza though! Ha!

Something went a little funky with my last “batch” of yogurt, there was a surplus of whey. However I strained it for a long time and now it’s SO thick and creamy! Lovely with a dollop of maple syrup!

The puppies are still here. They have been being fed, so I guess that’s no surprise. They don’t, however, enjoy socializing with people other than as a food provider. Still not sure what we are going to do with them. One of them I like a lot, but the other is aggressive about her food, and I don’t like that at all. Either way, they are going to have to be seriously socialized in order to be anyone’s pet.

As soon as the white puffy flakes of snow start falling from the sky, the lads who earlier when it was sunny complained about being outside because it was, “too cold,” are begging to go outside! Go figure!

Ella was trying to “trade” me her little block for my phone. She is obsessed with electronics already, and LOVES to carry around a phone and pretend to talk on it. It sounds like she has great conversations with it as well if the inflections in her “hum” are any indication. Once she actually did call someone though, so I try to pacify her with a “phone” which is a remote for my Bose, but she’s too smart to be fooled for long, ha ha!

I made a crock pot potato soup variation this week. It was supposed to be “baked potato” soup, but I got a little carried away with my immersion blender and it ended up more like “mashed potato” soup. I admit I liked it, but our 2 lads, and their cousin gave it 6 thumbs down if the fact that they had to sit at the dinner table for 45 minutes to finish it was an indication. Oh well… you can’t win them all.

My Valentine gave me a lovely rose, AND another 2 year Flicr-pro account! What fun!! He also left 32 little ‘spy’ valentines all around the house for me to find, and gave me the “ruby decoder” to read the secret messages as I found them. It was a lot of fun! He’s such a thoughtful man!! Oh… and I got chocolate too! Can’t top all of that! I bought him a hand-crafted leather iPhone wallet for his special Christmas gift from moi! It’s not here yet though because handcrafting takes longer. But he’ll love it when it comes, I know!

Laundry…. all day… basically that’s it.

I really like Steve Green’s ‘Hide em In Your Heart’ Scripture songs for kids. It’s not annoying kid songs like so many are. Plus it’s straight scripture!

Ella is obsessed with my coffee cups. She knows that it’s “hot” and she’s not supposed to touch. She thinks it’s a huge game and whenever she sees my cup she’ll open her mouth as wide as it will go and say, “HA” her version of hot. Ha ha! If I leave my cup unattended she will snag it by the handle and carry it around of course dumping the contents all over the table or the floor in the process. Maybe I should get her her own mug to carry around.

This evening as I was running water for her bath, Ella piddled on the floor. It was hilarious because she looked down with this, “What in the world is happening?!” expression. She also started to stomp in the puddle, but I quickly put an end to that!

I was wadding up a plastic shopping bag and suddenly something STABBED my finger! OUCH!! Rather than rushing to the sink to wash it off and get a bandaid, I instead had to unwad the bag to figure out what had stuck me. Turns out it was a good sized sliver of glass that unbeknownst to me broke off of a NEW glass bake/storage dish with a snap on lid when I was trying out the “snap off” part of it. Grrr!! I solved the mystery of where it came from, but my finger still hurts!

Qade totally cracked me up the other day when he was commenting on something and said, “That’s funny, right there!” just like Mater from the Cars movie! Ha ha ha!!

I saw 3 big coyotes this morning teasing our dog out in front of the house. I say large because they can often be scraggly and skinny, but these looked quite filled out. Almost like someone was “taking care” of them. So when the boys wanted to go out and play this afternoon I told them about it and how they needed to stay in our yard. Qade asked a million questions of course, but finally agreed that staying in the yard was a good idea, and even asked me to close the gate so the coyotes couldn’t get in.

Memo to me: Do not feed the dog when Ella is prowling around outside. You will end up digging dog food out of her mouth! Gross!!

I’m beyond ready for spring now! Any ol’ day it can be nice and warm and sunny and springy! Yep! Actually… I think it’s summer I’m ready for. Can we just skip the allergy and windy season and go straight to summer? Thanks!

I’ve been working on some prop hats that are inspired by my favorite Easter time snack, Peeps! I made a little yellow one with button eyes and a little tuft on top and an orange beak. Last night I finished the pistachio-green one and Qade, who has taken a fancy to those hats for some reason, spied it this morning. He picked it up and said, “Good job on the green Eagle hat, Mom!” Ha ha ha ha ha!! I think I’ll be getting him some green peeps for Easter!

I’m sore! The kettlebell is to blame!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It warmed up so nicely in the afternoon that the lads were able to play outside sans coats! They were thrilled with that! I sat outside for some time watching Ella and her “sea legs” on the uneven terrain. She tends to be like water when she’s walking outside, her legs just automatically follow the flow of the land, ha ha!

I’m making yogurt again today. I can’t wait to have some tomorrow with Maple Syrup on it! YUUUUUUUM!

Stuart bought me a houseplant a couple weeks ago, and so far I haven’t killed it! I’d like to have several around the house, since that’s the best way to “filter” your inside air. (Did you know that?) I just have a hard time keeping them alive…. probably something to do with forgetting to water them or something. Maybe I’ll have better luck this time around.

My iPod Nano (1st generation) that Stuart got for me on our first married Christmas has been recalled. I was a little sad to let it go actually, even though I’ll be getting a new one, because he’d had it engraved on the back to say “Merry Christmas Darling! Love Your Stu” and the new one won’t have that. *sigh* Yes, I can be sentimental, I know. Anyway, right now I’m somewhat musicless because I don’t have any play lists on my other iPod. I think it might need to be a weekend project for me.

So the headache that was kind of lurking on the fringe of things for awhile has decided to move in and stay for awhile. I think I’m on day 4 or something with it. It hasn’t been a doozy the whole time, but it sure has been annoying. And since it’s been at least that long since I’ve had a really good night’s sleep, I imagine good ol’ headache thinks it’s his prerogative to stick around. Humbug!

Guess who SAT in a pile of goatheads while watching the kids play outside? Yep, it was me! I didn’t sit there for long, I’ll tell ya what! Usually I’m the lucky one who finds those nasty things with my feet in the carpet, but discovering them THIS way was an entirely new, and need I add unpleasant, experience. (BTW, if you’re still in the dark about what a goat-head is, it’s a very hard, very sharp 3 pointed (hence goat head) sticker that likes to grow in these here parts. I detest them greatly since they often hitch a ride inside on people’s shoes, turn loose in the carpet and then my poor lil unshod feet usually find them.)

Had a little mini-session with Ella today to model her Christmas tutu set that her Auntie Tiff made. I didn’t get any big grins, mostly because she was busy stuffing goldfish in her mouth, but I still got some cute photos!

It’s snowing outside, right now, and that wasn’t supposed to happen till Tuesday! The power out here is SO finicky in any kind of “weather” so it keeps blipping in and out. Twill be an interesting night with my noise-maker randomly shutting off. That wakes me up faster than anything.

Qade enlightened Myels this morning by telling him, “Nutella means chocolate.” I’m happy I’m brining them up right!

P.S. This post was written over the course of several days, as most of my this n that posts are, so the “yesterdays” and “todays” will be off slightly…. just to clear that all up for ya! Because yesterday we actually had snow, not lovely weather, gotta be honest, you know!

If anyone wonders why Myles has oatmeal on his BACK, it’s because he had his shirt on backwards for breakfast and later fixed it.

There is a perfect little greasy hand impression in the carpet from when Ella had her adventure in petroleum jelly.

I spent a large part of the morning, cutting up, seasoning, portioning and freezing a bunch of steak that I found on sale at Safeway this week. If you know my “issues” with raw meat, you realize that this was quite an undertaking. It’s done though, and I have quite a few meals ready to unthaw and fix up in the future. I have steak for Stroganoff (which is also simmering away in the crock-pot as I write, I can’t wait for dinner!!) thin cut steak, seasoned with spicy rub for fajitas, and a host of other packages, ready for stew or stir-fry or just tossing in the slow cooker to see what happens. It makes me feel good to have meat in the freezer. One of my goals for Feb is to only buy milk and perishable items for groceries. I’ll be “shopping” in our pantry and freezer for the rest! I got 9 different meat meal portions out of my $30 something purchase of meat, and several of those will likely do for more than one meal. Seems good to me!

The boys have a bunk bed in their room now. Thanks to my MIL and craigslist! It was a great find. They love it!! I had a bit of a hard time taking out their little toddler beds though. These little ones are growing too fast! I’m happy that they have bigger beds though, and their room looks better than ever!

I showed Ella her reflection on the back of a spoon, and it was hilarious to watch her making faces at herself on the little spoon! Ha ha ha!! That girl just cracks me up!

Ella has added the dining room table to her mountaineering skills. But she’s not content to sit on top, she has to stand and walk around. This is not good!

Can’t stand lies! I called a company recently about why it took so long to get a package that I had paid 2 day shipping on. Their response was that Fed-ex did try to deliver the package 2 times. HOWEVER, I happen to know that I was at home on both of those “supposed” delivery attempt days, and never heard or saw a fed-ex truck neither did I get a “failed delivery” notice. That irks me to no end!

Qade can whistle now. Have I mentioned that before? He’s very pleased with this new talent, and I’m pretty proud of him for figuring it all out at the age of 4! I’ve never been a good whistler, and I’m pretty sure I was older than 4 before I ever figured it out. However, this amazingness has it’s downside, as he likes to “practice” whistling all the time. Whistling in the house or in cars and such drives me crazy because it kills my ears! So we’ve come to an understanding that he can whistle outside as much as he likes, but shouldn’t in the house. I still have to remind him, but he’s usually good about it.

I’m trying not to think of the ick factor of the boys choosing the dog house as a place to relax while they eat their snacks outside. Ugh, ugh, ugh! It’s not working!!

This is what happens when I’m not on Facebook. I write all of my would be status messages in one long blog post. Oh well, I can’t say it isn’t better off this way. The only thing is that these posts tend to get pretty long, especially when I have to wait to publish them. We’ve been on internet rations for most of January since we blew through a lot of our bandwidth early on in the month. Silly electronics! So it’s been easier to keep off of FB like I’m supposed to, but I have missed posting to my blog. I have several post that I’ve been writing over my “exile” that I will schedule to publish over the next few days. Enjoy!

My boys request bed time songs each night. I’m just wondering how to make “Jingle Bells” sound like a lullaby!

I find it interesting that in this small town of 1500-ish people and about 7 churches, the only ones who have made their way out to ‘visit’ our house have been Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have braved the muddy road twice actually. Hmmmm…

Ella conquered the couch and the overstuffed chair yesterday! She’s been trying to scramble up them since the day she started cruising on them. Yesterday she was just as pleased as punch and you could totally tell that she was very proud of herself for getting up all on her own! The boys now have no safe space.

I accidentally misread the recipe and added a tablespoon of garlic instead of a teaspoon. I guess we’ll all be safe from vampires tonight! Hopefully it’s still swallowable!

Happiness is finding the very last piece of dark chocolate in the freezer, just when you need it the most!

I have always associated bananas and spiders in my mind. So I guess it’s not surprising that I jumped back in alarm when I was reaching for a banana and “thought” I saw a black thing scuttle away. There was actually nothing there, yay! See, what happened was that when I was in K5 at a little Christian school in Colorado, we were all sitting round the lunch table when one kid said something about spiders “hiding” in the end of bananas. I’m not sure what he was referring to or where he got his information, but from that day I could never eat the very tippy end of a banana. Ya know, the last part at the end of the peel, I always break the banana off right before that last bite. I know NOW that there are no spiders hiding in the ends of bananas, but the damage has been done, and I think it’s irreversible. I shall always be a last bite banana waster, and anything that even remotely looks like a spider, imaginary or not, around my bananas will be met with the same reaction.

While I was shopping for steak, that was on sale, at our “local” Safeway, someone approached me and asked if I wanted to buy his food stamps. I’m somewhat curious what he wanted to buy with the cash that he’d get for his food stamps, and sad at the same time that people put more stock in whatever else instead of food for their family.

I’m doing pretty good on my facebook fast. Especially since we’ve pretty much burned through our allotment of internet bandwidth for the month. It always helps when you simply “cant” do the thing you’re not supposed to be doing. Ha! I do miss it though, but I’m finding it surprisingly easier than I expected.