Friday, October 31, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

It's impossible

to stay mad at this girl. *sigh* She just squished cooked carrots into my carpet. Not that my carpet isn't filthy already....that's beside the point. Orange mush?? Come on, man! *don't ask what I was doing at the time. Obviously, I was not paying attention ok?* Back to not getting mad...How can I? Look at this face!


And then, no matter how loud I shout, "Mommy is NOT happy about this! Mommy does not like orange carpet!" She just looks at me and says this:



And I say "No, it's not alright! The carpet is orange!" So she promptly follows up with this:



gah! Seriously, she is irrisistable. It's sickening. *********************************************
Megan's thoughts on potty training: This girl is just too much!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Dear Lord, please help me.

Help me to be a good mom. Help me to teach my children that being stupid is not cool. Please help me to not allow my teenage son to buy/drive a sports car....and then peel out and drive obnoxiously fast in neighborhood streets where there are 7 or 8 5-8 year old kids are playing. And then help me to teach them not to flip the mom's off who are yelling at the teenage boys to "SLOW DOWN!". And please forgive me now for flipping them off back in front of aforementioned 5-8 year olds.
*sigh*
Sometimes I have no self control. I'm a red head. It's like in my genes or something.
Yep, I totally flipped off the idiot 17 year old boys driving like maniacs through my neighborhood. But holy heck! They scared the crap out of me. I'm sitting here in my living room and all of a sudden I hear screeching tires. And then followed by blood curdling screams from a bunch of boys (mine included) playing outside. What would your first reaction be? And it wasn't just once. No. It was like 3 or 4 times. They sped up the street and then slammed on their breaks. And then peeled out and sped down the street again and did it again. All while these little kids are playing outside. Um yeah. Scared me. So I yelled. And a little birdie flew off my middle finger. I'm a mom, it's what I'm supposed to do right?
I sound so old right now...but really, I've never understood why that is so cool, or whatever.
Yep, my house is totally getting egged Friday night.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Week in the life 100% complete

Here's a preview of my album. Each day has three pages and all are formatted like these here. It was easy, fast, and I actually like the way it turned out. I'm usually more inclined to make things more difficult. But this time I found it so much more satisfying to know that I got it done and it didn't need all the bells and whistles to look good too. I didn't use all the pictures I took each day, but I think that's ok. I also didn't use a lot of words either. Just mostly bullet points of what went on during the day. I think the pictures are kind of stories in and of themselves and don't necessarily need the words. Anyway, this sure was a fun experiment/project and I definitely plan on doing this again.



Sunday, October 19, 2008

The one about the food.

Because I've had several people ask what I've been cooking....here's some of my favorite stuff lately. I get a lot of the new stuff I try from blogs. (I'm totally adicted to blogs and I keep adding more and more to my bloglines list!) If you click on the links it will take you directly to the recipe, but if you're in the mood most of these gals/guys have lots of really good food and pretty pictures, so take a look.

I'll start with dessert. :D

sweets:


Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Oh my gosh, these are good. Like seriously. I took these to a friends house last week and they were a hit. They were gone in 10 minutes. I made them again this week. :D They're not too sweet, not overly pumpkiny. Just perfect. Because they're super duper moist, they don't last long. So ya gotta eat em quick. But really, once you taste them, I'm sure you won't have a problem.

Oreo brownies I made those a few weeks ago. Super sweet. But good.

My favorite chocolate chip cookies If you like soft gooey cookies, try this recipe.

Sour cream apple pie Because my cousin asked me too, and because Pete loves apple pie. I'm not a huge apple pie fan so I can't really say if this SO good or not. But I did eat a small piece and it tasted pretty good to me.





Dinner:

If I'm lost for what to make, and if I'm looking for something really, really good, I can usually find something I want on The Pionner Woman's blog. The lady just cooks what I like to eat.

PW's enchilada's. I have made these every week since she posted this recipe. My family has made enchiladas exactly like this all my life. Except for the sauce. Make the sauce just as PW suggests. It is key. I'll never go back to the old way. The recipe looks like a lot of work, but it's really not. It takes a total of maybe 30 minutes to get it all together and then you just throw it in the oven. Easy.

Pastor Ryan's Mexican lasagna. This one also looks complicated, but it's not. I've made it several times. Everybody, even the kids love it.

This Chicken Chili is really, really yummy.

Can you tell we like mexican/spicy food? :)

Tonight I'm making this. It's not spicy or Mexican. I've got mine in the slow cooker. And it already smells really, really good. Mmmmmm....comfort food. I can't wait.

Monday, October 13, 2008

All kinds of random

*It's been dang near 2 years since I started this here blogity blog. I have over 200 posts. And I've met some of the coolest people ever. Seriously. People who I wouldn't hesitate to call my closest friends. Aw. *sniff, sniff* Thanks guys. Thanks for stickin' with me.
*Pete is gone on a little mini hunting trip with his boss. He left yesterday and should be back tomorrow. Now usually, when Pete is gone, I take every chance to be a lazy/cool mom. Lazy meaning I don't cook, and cool because hello-what kid doesn't like to go to McDonald's? Oh and to Hollywood Video to pick up a bunch of mind numbing crap to watch?! But this time has been slightly different. Slightly. We did still go pick up a bunch of mindless crap to watch. But here's the real surprise...I've actually cooked. Like real food. Like not mac-n-cheese either.
Before I go on, let me tell you that it's been quite a while since Pete has been gone for more than just a weekend at the ranch. I might be wrong, but I think the last time he was actually on a real hunting trip was when I was still working. So the laziness then was mostly because I was so incredibly worn out. I almost looked forward to him being gone (I know, that sounds bad) because I wouldn't have to rush home and cook dinner. That whole sentence sounds so @$$ backwards. I should want to cook healthy meals for my kids, right? Right? Well I didn't. McDonald's, microwaved pizza's and PB&J were usual menu items when daddy was out of town and I couldn't have been happier. (or so I thought) So anyway, I'm kind of blathering on here, but my point is I've come to the realization that by me actually doing some real cooking these last few days, I'm either #1: getting used to this whole stay at home mom thing, #2: really starting to enjoy actually cooking things that didn't start from a box, or #3 a combination of both. I'm going with #3.
*Funniest song lyrics I've heard in a long time:
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet her? That no good white trash ho...
Of course I hear it when both my 2 and 5 year old children are in the back seat and I have the radio blaring. I'd never heard this song before and at first I didn't even realize what it said. I thought it was just one of your typical Country songs about liein' and cheatin'. It seriously has a real catchy tune. I look back and Megan is car dancing and by the 2nd chorus (right as I go 'oh crap, i better turn this off!) Jake is belting out "NO GOOD WHITE TRASH HO!" Nice.
Here's the video if you want to hear the whole song.
*My 5 year old kid told me that all old people have to stand on corners with signs and ask for money. That's their job, he says. How sad is that? It's unfortunate, we live in a pretty small town and on any given day, there is at least one person standing with a sign "need work" "need food for family" and "Please help, God Bless" on every corner to every major shopping center in our town. We see them so much that Jake will even notice if one of them has moved to a "new corner". He'll say "look mommy, that guy is over here today!" I don't even know what else to say about this. I'm not sure he really understands the concept of "homeless", and I'm not sure I want to break down his glittery world anymore than every day life already does.
Does that even make sense?
*I looked up my street today and realized that I'm the only "homeowner" left on our side of the street. We and our neighbors bought these houses 4 years ago and watched them be built from the ground up. We all shared a common bond. Not only being neighbors, but because these houses where brand new....it was like we were all starting this new adventure together. We all became friends and our children grew together and we trusted each other as good neighbors do. And now it seems as if it is crumbling all around us. When I looked up the street, I realized we are the only original people left. Even my neighbors next door. They both have jobs in the city and decided that they were going to rent an apartment in the city M-F and then come back "home" here on the weekends. Well, I don't blame them....but that didn't last long. There is a giant storage bin in their driveway. They're packing up. They're leaving. Out of 19 houses on my street and the street we share an ally with, there are 10 that are completely empty. On my street, we are the only homeowners, the rest are renters. It's not that I care that they rent (I'm not like that), but it's scary to know that every single one of them is a product of the foreclosure crisis. Yep. They all are renting because they all lost their homes due to bad loans or job losses. And we're trying to sell our house before we're in the same boat. Crazy, crazy times.
* on a lighter note....I found some pretty funny quotes today from a friend:
You're a great friend....but if zombies chase us, I'm totally tripping you.
I didn't slap you!....................I just high fived your face.
Call me ASAP! I was watching the news just now and I heard the short bus flipped over and I know you don't like to wear your helmet and all, so are you ok?
Come on it's all in good fun. I won't tell anyone you laughed.

I guess that's all I got for now. I think that was more than I originally intended. But it was random none the less. You can always count on me for randomness. :D
Oh wait! I forgot.....I'm 98% DONE with my week in the life album. Yeah, you read that right. All I got left is my title page and journaling. yee-haw!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

You know what they need at the laundromat?

And seriously....why has no one thought of this before?
Treadmills. Or elliptical machines. Or stationary bikes. It would be perfect!
I had to go to the laundromat today. This is probably going to sound a little funny....but I have never been to a laundromat in my adult life. Not even at my first apartment. I was lucky enough to have an in-unit machine and dryer. I know!
So we went to the ranch on Sunday and Pete brought home 3 ginormous sleeping bags that needed to be washed. Enter: laundromat.
I really take my own washer and dryer for granted. What a complete waist of time the laundromat is. You stick your load in, pay almost 10 dollars to wash just 2 of the 3 sleeping bags you need to wash, and you sit, and you wait.
And you wait some more.
And you can't leave. I mean...what if that shifty looking guy over there steals your panties out of the dryer while you're gone? (not that I had any panties in the dryer, but you know what I mean)
Then you desperately shove your sopping wet sleeping bags into a dryer. Put another dollar in. And wait some more. Why is it so cheap to dry, and so expensive to wash? It only cost me about 75 cents to dry 2 ginormous sleeping bags.
They need treadmills at the laundromat. Seriously. I would totally hop on one of those if I had to use the laundromat on a regular basis. Might as well do something rather than just sit there and watch Montell. (which we couldn't even hear over the noise of the washers and dryers)
Laundromat owners: dudes, you could totally cash in on my idea. Send me an email and we'll work out the details :D
Enough about that.
Well, one more thing.... A laundromat would make an awesome place for a photo shoot. Seriously. Picture girls in fluffy petticoated dresses sitting barefoot on top of a row of washers? Or sitting inside of one with their feet hanging out! No?
Who knew one could write so much about a laundromat?

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Just a quick note

I did order my pictures for the week in the life project. But I didn't fuss over them too much. During the week I uploaded the days pictures every night. Then in the morning I would sift through them and just do minor editing on the ones that looked really bad. (too dark usually)
So I had the hard part already done.
I also came up with a bit of a plan for my layouts last week too. I sketched four 8.5 x 11 landscape layouts just to look at as a guide. I planned on 4 layouts for each day.
Yesterday I just uploaded the entire weeks worth of pictures and ordered 1 copy of each. I didn't spend any time thinking about it. That was sort of a good thing, sort of a bad thing. The thing I hate is that so many times, even though I choose "auto edit OFF", my pictures come back from the printer just a little lack-luster from what I see on my computer screen. It's a little disappointing. But I went with it anyway.
Last night I sifted through them all, putting them in groups by day. Then I sifted through those and picked out the ones I liked best. I ended up with about 15-20 per day. Then today, I sifted through those and chose 4 I liked from each day and could easily be cropped into 2x2 squares.
And tonight....I have 6 layouts completed (one for each day) with pictures and patterned paper. Still need title/words and then they'll be done. So I'm like 1/8th completed with my album! LOL.
So anyway, I'm hopping sticking with this plan I can get it done. I'm taking advice from my friends and going with super simple.
I'm not intending to turn this into a scrapbooking blog....back to our regular scheduled programing shortly.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Sunday Favorites

Week in the life project:
So here marks the last day of the Week in the life project. I have to say that though I'm kind of glad it's over, I really enjoyed the process. I learned that ordinary life, isn't necessarily so ordinary. I think I've learned to see things just a little differently. And, I've learned that there are many beautiful things all around us, and in our every day lives if we just take a second to stop and look.
Sounds so cliche, I know. But I think it's true. Otherwise I wouldn't have written it. :)
I just placed my order for 235 prints at Costco to be picked up this afternoon. I'm looking forward to getting this album put together, but admittedly I'm a little intimidated. It seems like such a daunting task with an average of 35-50 pictures a day.

Sunday Favorites:









*edited to add: Pete is NOT in his undies in this last picture (as my mother thought!) But he IS in some funky old plaid shorts. He's had those since as long as I've known him (probably longer) and thank goodness he only wears them around the house!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Saturday Favorites

Week in the life project

Rain this morning

Enjoying the quiet

Much cleaning :(


Pumpkin patch!

Above the corn maze

Friday, October 03, 2008

Thursday and Friday Favorites

Week in the Life

Thursday Favorites:





Friday Favorites: (I had my ISO set WAY high today so these ones are kinda grainy)





Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Day in the life

First-Thanks for all your words of support regarding Jake and the situation at school. Still not sure exactly what was going on there. Today was a good day at and that's all we can do..take it one day at at time. I do think I may have slightly overreacted. I mean really aside from really hurting someones feelings, it seems basically just like normal 5 year old boy stuff. He's not cussing anyone out, he's not really fighting per say....he's just fluffing out his wings....Like a turkey. ( I know all about turkeys :) So we'll see how it goes and I'm going to keep in good contact with the teacher to make sure I know what's going on.
Get ready for picture palooza!

Favorites from the weekend:







Favorites from Tuesday:






Favorites from Wednesday:






I bought a new album for this Week In The Life project. It's a Martha Stewart 8.5x11 landscape album. It was on sale at Michael's. I hoping it will work out the way I want it too. I think this will be such a neat album to look back at through the years. For everyone else doing this project what kind of "stuff" are you keeping for the album? I collected all my receipts today and the grocery list. I wish I got the newspaper, but I don't so I don't have anything like that. What else? Just looking for suggestions because I do want to have some "stuff" in there. I think that's part of the neatness in looking back. Kind of like a time capsule. Let me know your suggestions if you have any. THX!

Happy Thursday :)