Scattered Musings

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

2011-11-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

You've probably made something like this before...I think we made them every year in Girl Scouts when I was a kid. They are totally just as yummy now as they were then.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

I should note that I also used a bottle cap as a donut cutter, I think it's just genius! I also used butter to dip the donuts and I liked them better with just the top dipped as I felt there was too much sugar if I dipped the whole donut (I followed the directions and dipped the whole donut the first batch I made *pictured* but made them the other way for a second batch and liked them MUCH better). Bug LOVED these and, as is normal, Punk wouldn't touch them because he distrusts ALL new food I try to introduce him to (but will eat just about anything offered to him by the sample ladies at Costco).

Brotherly "Tattoos"

2011-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently coloring himself blue wasn't enough for Punk...a couple months later he colored Bug orange...

Side note...isn't he just too adorable? Bobby and I both think he has the Mineer smile (the same one his Uncle Derrick and Bobby's cousin John-Mark have).

When night sleep goes bad...

2011-10-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

When no one gets a real good night's sleep this is what can happen around here:

The baby falls asleep at breakfast.

Punk climbs up onto the couch and passes out before lunch.

Now if only those things had happened in such a way that both boys were asleep at the same time so mommy could have caught a quick nap too, but that is NOT what happened. About 10 minutes after I carried Punk in to his bed, Bug was up screaming (hungry because he passed out at breakfast).

They are pretty dang cute though (especially when they are sleeping), aren't they?

Cinnamon Almonds

2011-10-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

You know what they are, you smell them before you see them and you are fishing out your wallet before you know it paying a small fortune for a cone of them at a fair or festival someplace. They are yummy almonds surrounded by a lovely sweet spicy cinnamon mixture. They are awesome to eat on the go because they really aren't messy and they are nuts so they are good for you, right? ;-)

I would never have guessed they were so easy to make (although, maybe I should have since they are made in tents all over the country), but they are super simple, can be made with any nut, and are impressive as a gift, in a bowl to munch when you have unexpected guests, or as an addition to your cookie or treat trays (Christmas is sneaking up fast!).

I found the instructions (via Pinterest, who'da guessed) here.

You probably have the ingredients sitting in your house right now!

Cinnamon Almonds (or any nut you like!)

3 cups nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)
1 cup sugar (the regular granulated kind)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Place water, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a saute pan and mix together over medium heat. When well combined (but not heated through or anything) add in nuts. Stir, keep stirring, DON'T STOP STIRRING. They should take you between 5-7 minutes and they are done when all the moisture is gone and the mixture crystallized and holding onto the nuts (not all of the mixture will hold on, that is okay, in fact I measured that I had 1/2 cup sugar/cinnamon mixture left over at the bottom of my nuts when all was done and the nuts were plenty coated). Spread them on a sheet pan immediately to cool. Store in a cool dry place for up to a month (these would be awesome for sending to military friends/family).

The picture IS actually of the nuts I made. I, personally, liked the walnuts even more than the almonds, and I think I'll try it with pecans when the holidays are a little closer.

Boston Cream Cupcakes

2011-10-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

My husband is a huge fan of the Boston Cream Donut. So much so that there are some little jokes about it at work and he has on occasion been sent into the office with the promise of said donut only to be laughed at a little when he finds out there are no Boston Creams available. I often send treats into work with Bobby (typically because I like to make treats, play with new things and try new things out and we can't eat them all for obvious reasons), so I thought it would be fun to send a "Boston Cream" something into work with him, I have been playing with cupcakes a little lately and I came up with these tonight. It's my own recipe, but it is a mash-up of things I have gotten from cookbooks (the cupcake itself is a mix up of the Death By Chocolate recipe in 101 Things To Do With a Cake Mix) and around the internet (the frosting is a change up of the recipe I got here).

Interested in making them yourself? Here you go:

Boston Cream Cupcakes:

Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Ready 24 cupcake liners in cupcake pans. Mix cake mix and dry pudding mix together in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 - 2/3 full (this should make exactly 24 cupcakes). Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees or JUST until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just a very few crumbs sticking to it. Leave cupcakes to cool.

Filling:
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
2 cups cold milk

Make pudding as directed on package with 2 cups milk. Let pudding set up 5-10 minutes in the fridge.

Fill a pastry bag with a #10 tip (large round tip) attached with the set pudding. Place tip into the top of cooled cupcake and pipe about 1 tablespoon of filling into each cupcake (you won't use all the pudding probably). This part just takes a little practice and patience. Make sure you get the tip well into the cupcake (about 3/4 of the way in for sure) and pipe slowly. They won't all have exactly the same amount of filling, NO ONE WILL CARE, so don't stress it.

Frosting (this is where it is at with this recipe, this frosting is ridiculous!):
8 oz dark chocolate (you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips here)
4 oz cream cheese (that's half a regular package)
1 cup heavy cream
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip (just use the Cool Whip and don't ask questions, okay?)

Place 8 oz of chopped chocolate or chips into a glass or metal mixing bowl with 4 oz of cream cheese broken up with your hands (I use the mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer). Put 1 cup of cream into a pan and set on the stove over medium low heat and place mixing bowl with chocolate and cream cheese over it (you are creating kind of a double boiler). You want your chocolate and cream cheese to start to melt, BUT you don't want to scorch your cream so watch them both closely. When the cream starts to boil pour it over your chocolate and cream cheese mixture (it won't be fully melted, but make sure you cover it) and let it set to cool for 20-30 minutes. When that time has passed add in your pudding mix and mix for two minutes with either the whisk attachment on your stand mixer or a hand mixer. Now mix in 1/2 of the tub of Cool Whip then fold the other 1/2 of the Cool Whip in until the frosting is uniform. Using your favorite tip pipe the frosting onto the top of the cupcakes (I like a giant tip like the 4B star tip I used for these today) and ENJOY!

Bobby and I have both tried them and they are pretty excellent...hopefully they get good reviews at his work tomorrow!

Party Part Two: The Favors and Some Thank Yous

2011-08-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know what possesed me...something over at Pinterest I think, but I decided to do not one, not two, but THREE handmade sewn party favors (well, two and a reversible cloth drawstring bag to put them in) along with a table full of handmade goodies at Sarge's for our party go-ers to take home with them.

I'm not sure I'll do it again, but I am sure that if I do the favors will have to be done and sitting in a box AT LEAST a month before the party happens...I just can't be finishing sewing at 03:00 on party morning ever again...

So here is what I made:

Crayon Rolls (I got the pattern from this blog here):

I changed her pattern just a smidge. I found after I did the first few that I needed another .25" on my fabric, so I cut everything 16.75" long instead of 16.5". I also did away with the button she applied in her final step and just used the elastic to wrap around the crayons. Honestly, I didn't have time for buttons, but I also felt like it was just one more thing for the parents of our youngest party go-ers to worry about them detaching and eating.

I also made these:

My mother and I had seen these (well, something like this) a couple of years ago and I bought the stuff to make them and then never really did. I decided now was the time. I took the pattern my mom and I had used (we did make a couple but never used all the supplies or made them for what we intended them for), this pattern from the same blog I got the cupcake recipe from, and some ideas I had rolling around in my head and mixed them all together to come up with this idea. The dimensions on my finished bag are 5"x7" the window is about 2.5" x 4.5".

They are traditionally called "I Spy Bags", but in going along with my theme, I made them "Mater's Fishin' Bags". I even added a Lightning McQueen to the list of things to find (as Mater is always fishing Lightning McQueen out of the brush), for my Lightning, I just printed a bunch of Lightnings out on photo paper, cut them out, laminated them and cut them out again. They aren't two sided though and I think if I do something like this in the future they will be.

If you are looking very closely at this list you will see it says "Golf Leaf"
what is actually in the bag is a GOLD leaf, but I didn't notice the typo
until all the bags were made, so they went out like that, and I'm okay with that.

Because I did have quite a few young guests (Punk is only 3 you know) and I knew i would have non-readers (like my own kids), I decided to add a picture of the things inside the bag. I just took a picture of all of the stuff in one of the bags and printed it out, I laminated it to the printed list of things to find so that the list is two sided, one side for readers and one side for non-readers. (The picture is not completely accurate for every bag as the colors of some of the items varies and the style of the army man varies, but I decided that was just okay).

There were a few other things in the drawstring favor bags as well. I picked up Cars pencils and erasers in a clearance section of Walmart and Cars notebooks in the $1 section at Joanns, I also picked up some super cute Cars stickers at Oriental Trading Company.

This is a picture of the bags (they were reversible so there is one showing each side) and what was in them:

I made the bags too...here is the link to the tutorial online.

After I handed out the bags the children were encouraged to take their parents over to visit "Sarge's Surplus of Sweets":

There were Dum-Dum suckers, individually wrapped Twizzlers, Fruit Gems and an array of things I made for the table.

Dipsticks: (Pringles makes honey butter flavored cracker sticks, I dipped them in chocolate and packaged them three to a package in cellophane pretzel bags).
Hubcaps: (round pretzels (mine are Rold Gold Butter Flavored Pretzel Checkers) with Hershey's kisses centered on them, then placed in a 275 degree oven for 3 minutes, when they come out immediately press an M&M into the center of them), I found the idea on Pinterest, but it links back to foodgawker and I couldn't find the original blog they came from so if anyone finds it let me know and I'll link it here).

Traffic Lights: Scotcheroos (with peanut butter chips substituted for the butterscotch chips, personal preference) with red, yellow and green M&M's pressed into the chocolate and cut into long rectangles.
Tires: Chocolate glazed mini donuts (I didn't make them, Hostess did), I melted the chocolate on the donuts a little by just touching them to a warmed saute pan to make them stick together. I didn't get a good picture of them, but there are four of them, three tires laying on top of each other and one standing on the stack of three, just like you see at Casa Della Tires in Radiator Springs.
Rocky Road Pops: I got the idea from this blog here, but I used two marshmallows and a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate to dip them in.

So, when all was said and done the guests left with a little bit of fun (the cars they "painted" at Ramone's), some of my handiwork (the Fishin' Bags, Crayon Rolls and Drawstring Bags), something useful and fun from the piñata, and a whole bunch of sugar (although there was a lot left at Sarge's when we were done and I sent it all to work with Bobby this morning).

I have to thank Bobby for being so patient with me through the planning and execution of this thing, my mom and April for sending crafty stuff from Phoenix so I didn't have to purchase it again, Pinterest (and my friends there) for so many awesome ideas, Casie who helped in the week before the party and was my kitchen helper at the party, Kristin who did an AWESOME job putting together the posters and banners I printed out but would never have gotten together otherwise, and Eric and Kristi for helping set up and clean up this mess. I also want to thank everyone who brought their kids and had a good time. That's really what it's about and I hope your kids remember us and the fun we've all had together for a long time to come.

The Party is OVER!!!

2011-08-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

And I couldn't be happier about that fact!

I had a blast planning and getting ready for the party, but by the end I was just kind of stressed out. I didn't get to do everything I thought I wanted and I didn't take the best pictures ever (in fact they are kind of awful). I'll tell you what I learned.

First off. If I am going to go all out on a party for my kids, I need to give myself a few months to get it together instead of a few weeks. Second, I need to take help when it is offered. If I would have taken a little sewing help on the favors I would have had them done a week before the party (instead of mere hours before) and I could have focused a little more on some of the other stuff. Third, I need to make a list of everything I want to get pictures of prior to the party, then I need to use that list. I only got about 5 pictures of Punk and none of Bug (going along with this, I need to have the party set up and ready to go at least an hour before so I can take before pictures of the party, then I need to take a minute or two to take after pics before clean up starts).

There were really four basic parts of this party: decorations, activities, food, and favors. I am going to post decorations, activities, and food in this blog and give favors it's very own post (although, I may get that post up tonight as well, since both my kids are in bed already).

Decorations, Food and Activities:

When you arrived you saw this:

You got your food from "Flo's V8 Cafe":

The food was fun (and I didn't get any great pictures of it). It consisted of "Wheelie PB&J" (PB&J cut and pressed with a Pampered Chef Cut N Seal), Chicken "Dipsticks" chicken sticks served in a cup so that BBQ sauce could just be added to the cup for easy carrying/dipping/eating, Veggie "Dipsticks" also served in a cup so that Ranch dipping sauce could be added the same way, "Rims and Cheese" wagon wheel shaped macaroni with Velveeta cheese sauce again, served in cups for easy portioning and eating and these:

I don't know if you can see them, but they are apple slices with grapes held in by toothpicks as wheels, I thought they were so stinkin' cute! I also had green chili burros for the adults, no cutesy anything to call them, just food for the grown ups to enjoy. I served the green chili with tortillas, chips, salsa, cheese and sour cream (nothing fancy, I didn't even make my own salsa).

You went over to this drink table to pick your drink:

You could pick from "Fillmore's Organic Fuel"

The favorite "Fillmore's Organic Coolant" (in your choice of Cherry or Tropical Punch flavor):

Or an array of other products all of them sponsors of Piston Cup Drivers. Here are the two favorites Dinoco Dr. Pepper and Rusteze Pepsi:

We also had Vitoline (Root Beer) and N2OCola (Sierra Mist, it reminded of "no 2 cola").

We had an early party (we stared at 10:30), but everyone seemed to be ready to eat, so we started with the food. When everyone was done eating we had a couple of activities for the kids.

They could head on over to Tractor Tipping:

Where they were encouraged to set up dominoes with tractor stickers on them and knock them down. The kids were slow to try this but really had a lot of fun with it once they got into it.

Or they could head on over to "Ramone's House of Art":

Where they could use the provided crayons to color their choice of Cars themed coloring pages (found online here) or where they could use markers to color their very own wooden cars (I had small ones purchased from Oriental Trading Company here and larger ones that I just lucked into at our local Goodwill for a steal). Even the grown ups really got into coloring and creating designs on their wooden cars (and I didn't get any pictures of the fun at all...my mother-in-law thinks she has a few and I'll share them when I get a hold of her camera).

We were going to break that piñata that I made a month or two back and I filled it full of these goodies:

Goldfish, Cars fruit snacks, and
YES that is Kleenex, who doesn't need Kleenex?

And we hung it up:

But when we went to move it so the kids could take a whack at it...it broke all on it's own. The kids still had fun picking the stuff out of it and they liked my sort of strange choices for piñata fillings.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and we ate cupcakes:

I used the cupcake and frosting recipe found here. They were fabulous, but I did have a hard time piping the frosting. Apparently my white chocolate did not melt all the way and I had very small chunks of white chocolate running through the frosting, not a problem for taste at all, but it made piping VERY frustrating. When I make these cupcakes next time (and I will they are fabulous) I will make some changes to the frosting recipe. I will melt the white chocolate over a double boiler then I will add the cream cheese and melt them together. I will then add the warmed cream and proceed from that point. I think this will keep any chunks of white chocolate or cream cheese from getting in the way of piping.

I actually took two not so great pics of the cupcakes so here they are again:

I made the cupcake toppers myself too. I just printed out pictures of a bunch of the Cars characters and punched them out with a 1.5" circle punch. Then I punched red and black 2" circles with another punch and glued the characters to a circle, I then attached the circle to a toothpick with double sided tape and added a second blank 2" circle to the other side (to hide the toothpick) they turned out really cute. I had some help putting them together and they aren't perfect, but we were slapping them together right before the party started (next time cupcake toppers is something I will have done WEEKS if not months in advance).

After we had cupcakes (and ice cream that I also served in those same clear cups we talked about earlier) then Punk opened his gifts. I do actually have a few (really bad) shots of him opening his presents, I am only showing you them in hopes that you can see the super cute shirt I bought him. It is navy blue and has a "3" appliqued onto it in Cars fabric, I picked it up from this Etsy shop here.

Then I passed out favor bags and the kids all went to visit Sarge's Surplus of Sweets....but that's another post.

Women - Tougher Than Ever

2011-08-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine on Facebook posted the following article today...and it made me think and it made me ANGRY.

Tough Gals Do They Still Exist?

Are women more "girly" than they have been in the last 30 years? Maybe. There does seem to be a resurgence of femininity in a lot of circles lately. Women who are proud to cook, bake, craft, sew, knit, be good homemakers, mothers, and/or wives. Women who wear makeup, pearls, high heels, and gasp PINK.

NOT ME!
Another supermom I know, links to her blog.

My question is this: does being feminine or taking pride in doing typically "domestic" things make us less tough? Um, hell no.

I would submit to you that it is even harder today in the face of "feminists", who want all things feminine eradicated from our world, to be strong, feminine and even domestic.

I carried two children inside my body. Almost ten months of my body not being my own with each one, followed by c-sections, the first after 18.5 hours of labor (including 7+ hours of a pitocin drip). Twenty-five hours after I had my second child (also via c-section) I was showered and dressed in my own clothes sitting cross legged on my hospital bed nursing my baby. The nurse who came in to check on me that morning said she didn't know how I did it, there were women all around me who were to be discharged in just a few hours who she couldn't even get out of bed to shower (I had very forcefully requested that my night nurse come in and take out my catheter the moment it had been in 24 hours so I could move around and shower on my own, my request was granted, because I didn't give them "no" as an option). I was home 56 hours after that second c-section taking care of my newborn and my not quite two year old (although I had help the first week). In five days I was at church (in nylons and a dress) with both kids and the next day I was taking care of the house and kids on my own. And my story is NOTHING. I have friends who have given birth without their husbands (who were deployed when the babies came) some of them after months of bed rest and complicated pregnancies while they took care of their toddlers and homes on their own. Not to mention friends of mine who have been unable to bear children and the heartache they have endured and come through to be wonderful mothers to children they did not give birth to but love no different than if they had.

I am not the world's best homemaker...in fact, I have never been a great fan of cleaning, but I'm getting better. I can get an amazing amount done in just a few short stolen minutes while my kids are napping or distracted by a game or movie. I can get just about any stain out of just about any fabric. I can unload and load a whole dishwasher in 10 minutes flat (including hand-washing anything too big or delicate to go into said dishwasher).

I can make dinner out of pantry staples in less than 30 minutes, or I can put together a totally elaborate spread for 15 when necessary. I can throw an amazing party for a three year old or for a military commissioning ceremony.

I can diagnose and fix simple computer issues. I can check my own oil and water in my car. I can recharge my ac, tighten an ac belt, diagnose simple car problems and I can change a tire (I don't always do those things, but I am perfectly capable of them all). I can take apart a vacuum cleaner and put it back together (and it will still work). I take out my own garbage (and since we live in the sticks and it's required right now I can and do my own burning). I can mow my own lawn. I can iron a dress, a child's shirt, a man's shirt, my shirt, slacks, or a military uniform to perfection. I can balance a budget. I can change two diapers in two minutes on a changing table in a dirty public bathroom without ever letting a child's bum touch the changer. I can change a diaper on my lap in a car or on a park bench. I can nurse in public without you or anyone else in the room even noticing. I can fix boo-boos with a kiss.

I craft and I sew and I'm even pretty good at some of it. I enjoy making things and I enjoy the joy those things can bring to others. It's FUN to make other people happy with something I have put time and effort into, and it makes people feel special to know that someone would put more effort than running to the store into a gift.

I keep a marriage alive and growing. My husband is away a lot, it's not always easy, but we do it together. We communicate via email about things most couples get to have face to face and heartfelt discussions about (like having a first baby, a second baby or how to know if your family is complete). I manage to make my husband feel as loved and appreciated as he is, even when I can't throw my arms around him every day to show him. I work hard to make sure that both my children know their daddy loves them and is thinking of them when he is gone often (not an easy task with toddlers). I teach them that their daddy's job is important, that he helps us and all of their friends be free and safe. And when my husband is home, I do all I can to show him just exactly how much he was missed and is loved everyday.

I teach my children to count, to color, to recognize shapes, letters, numbers and colors. As they grow I will teach them to read, to use a computer, to use a phone and to take care of themselves. I read to them, I play with them, I make sure they know they are loved, I discipline them. I teach them where they came from, why they are here and where they are going. I teach them to pray, I pray with them. I get them ready for church every Sunday and even when they are monsters at church they know that is where we belong and I will have it no other way.

I don't want to burn my bra (I need it, have you seen my boobs? we need all the help fighting gravity we can get), no corporate job could ever be as challenging or as rewarding for me as my 24/7/365 job as a wife, mother, and homemaker, I am a supermom and I am lucky to know a lot of other supermoms, I want exactly what I have...and I make a mean cupcake.

Punk Says

2011-08-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

So, the other day Punk was asking to go see his "Nana" (my Grandma Bessie). I was explaining the next year's moves to him, "We can't go see Nana right now, she lives far away in Phoenix. Right now we live close to Gramma Di and that is our grandma we see. In a few months we will move to Nana and Grandma Deb and we will live close to them, but we won't have Daddy, he'll be at "long work". Then in a few months we will move again and we will be with Daddy but you won't have any Grandmas or Nanas close." Punk considered this for a few moments and said to me, "No grannas or nanas or patas?" (pata is papa, or grandpa), I said "No, they won't be close by, but they will come visit and you can call them on the phone and they always love you" Punk thought another couple of seconds and said "AND no Bugs!" (after I stopped laughing) I said, "No, we will be taking Bug with us, we will always take Bug with us".

Fast forward to today...

Bug is napping (has been for about an hour), I am straightening my hair when I see Punk go past me towards his bedroom.
Me: "Punk, come here."
He sulks into the bathroom
Me: "Don't go in your room, Bug is napping in there"
Punk: "I need to wake him up"
Me: "No, DO NOT WAKE YOUR BROTHER"
Punk: "I NEED him"
Me: "I'll get him out when he wakes up"
Punk: "Mom, I need you to get him NOW, I need brother to PLAY!"

Green Smoothies

2011-08-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

Spinach in your morning smoothie? Yuck, right? I have always thought so.

Since my "after I put the kids to bed congratulatory (everyone lived through the day) snack" has been just about daily since Bobby is gone, I've been on a quest for easy snacks. Easy I found, this Nutella Mug Cake (that is enough for two-four people and I actually made in a bowl) is SCARY easy and delicious (and I make it with half the sugar it asks for), but seriously, if I eat that cake every night I'm gonna be 400lbs next month and I'm trying to drop a few not pack on a few.

Since I have a new addiction, Pinterest (you should have this addiction too, if you need an invite, let me know), I have seen a lot of pretty (read: gross) green smoothies popping up and today I thought...well, whatever, I'll give it a whirl. Besides, I own a Blendtec blender, and while it is one of my favorite things in my kitchen, it is woefully under utilized.

So I threw in:

About 3 oz or so frozen spinach (my frozen spinach probably has more nutrients than that bag you've had in your fridge for 3 days)

1 Frozen Banana (my kid only eats half per day, I throw the other half in the freezer, I have two bags full of frozen half bananas)

1/3 cup of Sunday's fruit salad (kiwi, pineapple, plums, nectarines, and cherries-it's gonna go bad like tomorrow if I don't use it)

Water to the 2 cup line on my blender

BLEND away.

It made about 3 cups of smoothie, I was sad I didn't have a straw because I was afraid to touch it with my lips. It was a PRETTY green, but it was still SPINACH in my drink. I took a deep breath and a big swig.

Note: Picture used is not my smoothie, just one I found
online that looks very similar to what I ended up with.

DELICIOUS...wait, delicious? Yep, delicious!

I am still a little bit in shock about it. The banana did what banana's do and took over a lot of the flavor. Bananas are also awesomely creamy when blended from frozen so it had an almost milkshake like consistency. The fruit I used was all just enough to add an awesome sweet/tart to the smoothie. AND, I'm not blowing smoke up your bum, I could not taste the spinach at all.

I will be making more green smoothies (in fact, I'll be using the end of my frozen spinach in the morning and getting more tomorrow). People brag on how good they can make you look (skin glow) and feel (energy), and there are lots of people who swear by them for weight loss. I'm not telling you that I believe they are the miracle cure that they are touted as being on some websites, but I am telling you that I'll be making more and I'll let you know if I see any changes (positive or negative) from this new staple in my diet.

Not a Good Blogger

2011-08-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

That's me, not a good blogger. Truth is that my life is pretty uninteresting and I don't really have that much to say, however, I'm working on it. I think I'm going to start trying to blog more recipes (even if they aren't that interesting or new to me), and I've decided I'm going to start reviewing things I use or try and places we go/things we do or see. No one cares, probably, but it is, at the very least, a way for me to write more and, even if no one is reading, it is good practice...I feel a little bit like I'm getting older and dumber everyday and I need to practice some skill that doesn't involve cleaning solutions or balancing children (although, I think I'll write more about those things too). Might take me a few weeks to get into it, but it's a goal, and I'm going to work towards it anyway...it can't hurt.

Party Prep

2011-07-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been wicked busy since Bobby left a couple weeks ago, Cori was here to visit (that was awesome) and I've been preparing for Punk's first birthday party (not his first birthday, he'll be three, but his first party none-the-less). I've got lots of fun things up my sleeve and I'm working like crazy to get it all figured out. There will be lots of party posts after, but I don't want to give too much away...stay tuned.

No Recipe - Pork Wanton Tostadas

2011-07-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Remember the Root Beer Pulled Pork? Well, I used the leftovers to make these:

It's a flat take on Applebee's Pork Wanton Tacos (which are our absolute favorite thing on the menu at Applebee's).

I fried up the wanton wrappers flat (because I didn't want to deal with the whole folding them while frying thing) so they are tostadas instead of tacos.

I made the coleslaw using about half a bagged coleslaw mix that I added about 1/2 a chopped red onion to and I made the dressing with mayo, rice wine vinegar, stir fry sauce, an Asian sesame salad dressing/marinade and a little sugar (honey would have been a better choice, but I didn't have any), I just played with the dressing until it tasted good and used it to moisten the slaw/onion mix.

I put a heaping tablespoon of the pulled pork on the fried wanton, added a some slaw on top, garnished the whole thing with cilantro and squeezed some lemon over the top.

They were pretty awesome (if I do say so myself), Bobby liked them so well that he found something else to order when we went to Applebees a few days later because "You can make those at home"...

Next time I make them I'll try to take some measurements and I'll write down the brands of the sauces I used AND I picked up some honey so that the sweetening will be more on.

Day Thirty - Your Favorite Song This Time of Year

2011-07-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is the birth month of both of my children...it's a song for them:

Day Twenty-Nine - A Song From Your Childhood

2011-07-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

From "Back to the Future":

Day Twenty-Eight - A Song From a Musical You Have Never Seen

2011-07-16T23:51:00.001-07:00

I've never seen it, but I'd like to:

Day Twenty-Seven - A Song You Wish You Could Play

2011-07-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Since I can't play anything past a CD player...I'm gonna go with all of them...

It's a cop out, I know, but I can't narrow what I'd like to be able to play down to one song...and I don't want to.

More Punk

2011-07-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

At dinner at Famous Dave's, I already ordered Punk's food:
Me, Bobby and Cori place our orders.
Server walks to next table.
Punk: "Excuse me, excuse me, I need macaroni, excuse me."
I explained I already ordered his...as I tried to control my laughter. We maybe eat out too often since my son not only knows how to order, but how to get the server's attention politely as well.

The World According to Punk...

2011-07-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, he's almost three with all the things that come with that...

We were driving into the parking lot at a Costco Punk had never been to the other day:
Cori: Where are we Punk?
Punk looks out one window: That's gas.
Cori: No, the store, look on the other side.
Punk: Oh, that's a Costco!
My baby can READ!

At dinner at Famous Daves:
Punk (pointing to my cornbread muffin): That's a pancake!
Me: No, Punk, it's not a pancake it's a muffin.
Punk: A muh-tin?
Me: Yes, a muFF-in.
Punk: Look at my mouth. A MUH-TIN.
He has trouble with consonants in the middle of words, they often come out like "t"s so I tell him to "look at my mouth" so he can see how to say the words...

Walked out of the bedroom yesterday after getting dressed:
Punk: Mommy! That's a red shirt...you are a RACECAR!

In the front room the other day:
Punk: Mommy, you are a princess. I need to slay the dragon and give the princess true love's first kiss!
Me: Who is the dragon?
Punk: DADDY is the dragon.
Epic battle ensues, Punk wins, the dragon is slain.
Punk: I have to give you true love's first kiss!
Jumps in my lap and kisses me.
He's been watching a lot of Shrek...

Day Twenty-Six - A Song From Your Favorite Movie Musical

2011-07-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, well, I have two favorite movie musicals.

Not animated:

Animated:

Side note: this live action version of After Today is the brainchild of a good friend of my brother and sister-in-law's by the name of Ted Sowards...he's a genius, I'm just sayin'.

Day Twenty-Five - A Song That Makes You Laugh

2011-07-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Ludacris on country stations is riotous to me...

Day Twenty-Four - A Song I Want Played At My Funeral

2011-07-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ugh, really? Okay...

How Firm A Foundation

Day Twenty-Three - Your Wedding Song

2011-07-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Bless the Broken Road:

Day Twenty-Two - A Song You Listen To When You Are Sad

2011-07-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm usually sad because Bobby is gone, so I often listen to songs that remind me of him, or of our relationship...lately I like this one quite a bit:

Day Twenty-One - A Song You Listen To When You Are Happy

2011-07-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

This song always makes me smile, as does pretty much everything from Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband:

Day Twenty - A Song You Listen To When You Are Angry

2011-07-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

Mad music? I don't have a lot of that right now (maybe I need more), there was a time when it was all Alanis all the time though...

Day Nineteen - A Song From Your Favorite Album

2011-07-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have several "favorite" albums...but here is a song from one of them...

Day Eighteen - A Song You Wish You Heard on the Radio

2011-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

As a Dyhard it would have to be either Spin or Collide from the, now defunct, Living Daylytes.

No Youtube on this one, they were never that big, but you can play a few of their songs on their MySpace page.

If you ever get your hands on a copy of their CD "Spin" check out the thank you's in the liner notes, I'm in there...

Day Seventeen - A Song You Hear Often on the Radio

2011-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been hearing this song A LOT, and I'm okay with that, because I kind of love this song (and so does Bobby, so when I hear it it makes me think of him, and that makes me happy):

Root Beer Pulled Pork

2011-07-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Made delicious Root Beer Pulled Pork tonight thanks to Gina.

We ate this with a side of steamed asparagus with a little butter, salt and pepper and some yummy seedless watermelon. Both me and Bobby really liked the flavor of the meat, because of the root beer I added to the sauce you do get a little root beer flavor, but if you didn't know what it was you would just interpret it as a different kind of sweetness coming from the sauce. I will make this again for sure although it could have used a little more heat for me, so I think next time I'll add some cracked black pepper to the sauce.

3lbs pork roast (I used two small tenderloin roasts)
20 oz root beer (I used Mug because that is what the little grocery store here carries, any brand will do)
18 oz prepared BBQ sauce (use your favorite, I used Sweet Baby Rays Original)
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
2-3 T Water

Place the roast in your slow cooker (if there is any fat on the meat make sure it is facing you so the fat can run down the meat and help keep it moist while it cooks) pour 2/3-3/4 of the root beer over the roast, cook until it shreds easily (probably about 6-8 hours on low). Remove meat from the juices/root beer in the slow cooker and discard juices from cooking. Just prior to serving pour remaining root beer in a large pan (I use this one in the "butter"color, because after all, it is Paula Deen cookware), cook over med-high heat 5-7 minutes or until reduced by half. Add the bottle of BBQ sauce to the pan. Put the water and Worcestershire Sauce into your BBQ sauce bottle and shake it up, add mix to the pan. Remove any residual fat from the meat and chop/shred meat to your preferred consistency, then add to the pan. Fold all together until the meat is covered in sauce. Serve on your favorite roll (Bobby picked our rolls, so they were, of course, potato bread).

There is a TON of this leftover, I'm thinking I might try my hand at a take on Applebee's wanton tacos with what we have left (and if I do, I'll post all about it).

Day Sixteen - A Song From Your Favorite Broadway Musical

2011-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

That musical would be Wicked, if you haven't seen it you are missing out in a BIG, BIG, BIG way, and you should run out and by tickets to it immediately.

Day Fifteen - A Song The Describes You

2011-07-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Thought this was today appropriate...

Happy Independence Day...remember how we got that way and how we stay that way.

Day Fourteen - A Song No One Would Expect You to Love

2011-07-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here it is...Eminem, you didn't know did you? I don't listen to his music regularly and we disagree on a lot of things, but I think the guy is kind of a genius.

Advisory: This is pretty clean for Em, but well...it's still Eminem.

Day Thirteen - A Song That is a Guilty Pleasure

2011-07-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

I have a guilty pleasure decade (the 80's) but I'd have to say that my all time fave's from that time come from the Bangles:

Smurfy

2011-07-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Day Twelve - A Song From a Band You Hate

2011-07-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

A band I hate? Wracked my brain on this one and really couldn't come up with anything...so how about the afore mentioned "Gold Digger" from Kanye West? This is the clean AND Glee version...

Day Eleven - A Song From Your Favorite Band

2011-06-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Right NOW, I'm a huge fan of the Zac Brown Band...

Every time I hear this song I think of Lance Cpl. David Raymond Baker who was killed in October 2009 in Afghanistan and this tribute to him.

Day Ten - A Song to Relax You

2011-06-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have a 182 item, 12.6 hour long "mellow" playlist...ONE song...ridiculous. I guess we'll go with the first one on that playlist...

Day Nine - A Song You Can Dance To

2011-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's a song I can dance to...

In fact, I once called my dad at 10:00p.m. from the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, AZ to come down and dance with me to this song. Roger Clyne commented afterwards how nice it was to see someone really waltz to the song.

Day Eight - A Song You Know All of the Words To

2011-06-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

So many to choose from...

This is one I've probably known the words to for the longest period of time. No, I don't know those kids (but they are cute aren't they?).

Day Seven - A Song The Reminds You of a Certain Event

2011-06-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Where were you?

As I was living in the west, I was sleeping...until the second tower was hit, then my phone started ringing. I watched the towers fall on live TV. I have never been to New York, I didn't know anyone personally living there, but I cried anyway. My country was under attack, innocent people were dying, my safety had been threatened for the first time in my life. There were bad people in the world before that, but they were "out there" somewhere, not on my airplanes, in my country, attacking civilians. I realized shortly after (like within hours of the attacks) that any change for the negative would be letting the bad guys win, so I made a decision that I would not be scared, I would just be strong, patriotic, and proud of my freedoms, I am that person today and I will be that person forever, consciously, because of that day.

What I did this week (okay, for the last two days)...

2011-06-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

So we are having a "Mexican Fiesta" at church tonight and one of the activities is a piñata contest. Last week when I found out about it I did some internet searching to find info on making a piñata in the shape of a car (because, after all, with two little boys in our house Cars is next to God) and I found this information. It wasn't a lot to go on, but I decided to go for it anyway.

So this is how it started...

You can see the bowl of paper maché gunk in the background of these pics. You want a 2 parts flour to 3 parts water mix. I did 4 cups flour, 6 cups water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Then you start dipping newspaper strips into the gunk and layering them onto the balloons. You want the newspaper to be wet, but not sloppy.

We covered the top (Bobby helped cause he's the best husband ever), then I had to wait till morning for it to dry before I could tackle the bottom. I made sure there were at least two layers all over, if you are making a piñata for an older child's/adult's party you will want it stronger than that so you will need to add additional layers (this is for the contest and possibly Punkin's birthday party in August).

Once all your layers are on and it is dry you are ready to start decorating.

I started with the wheels. I used approximately 4" strips of black crepe paper and (many) gluesticks to glue the paper to the wheels.

Then I covered the bottom of the piñata with silver tissue paper. You can still see the newsprint through the tissue paper in some places, but I.DON'T.CARE.

Next I glued red crepe paper into the crevices that were going to be hard to get into so that those places would be covered and I ran one strip of red crepe paper around the bottom part of the top of the car (like just above the bumper so that part of the newspaper would be covered. Then I glued on the eyes which I drew on a piece of white paper and cut to size for a "windshield". Bobby then helped glue the crepe paper strips all over the car, again, we used 4" crepe paper strips. When that was done I added tin foil "hubcaps" and "fenders" attaching them with a glue gun. I also added the smile (which I just drew on a piece of white paper and glued to the front of the car.

As you can see, he still needs a back window and side windows. I will probably add them before I take him to the contest (and I'll add a picture when I do), but when I finished him last night I was so tired of looking at him I just couldn't do any more.

ETA: Pics with windows (cut out of black paper and glued on with good old Elmer's.

Tips for making a piñata:

1. Seriously consider why you are making it. It takes a long time and can be wicked frustrating, so, if it isn't for a contest or self satisfaction you really need...think about just buying one.

2. Have A.LOT of gluesticks handy (it took us eight).

3. Have a plan and be willing to change it.

4. Give yourself a week to do it. I only gave myself two days and it was not really enough time.

5. Keep your sense of humor about you so when it looks silly (as mine does) you can still say you enjoyed yourself.

6. Blog about your experience, because it can be hard to find information on making piñatas and I didn't do a great job of taking pictures of the process so someone I know should do a better tutorial for the world!

One of the funniest things I've ever read

2011-06-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

I came upon this blog last night (I've only read the linked to post) and just about died laughing. May I just say that this is exactly the kind of thing that I can see me and the Bestie (Rachel) doing...I so need a Beyoncé.

***Disclaimer: The linked story (while wicked hysterical) does contain a couple instances of profanity, please do not read it if you are easily offended.

Day Six - A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere

2011-06-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (actually this song predates them to The Refreshments), Nada:

It reminds me of just what this video shows, the Arizona desert a place I dearly love. The desert, driving, an awesome RCPM concert in Sonoita in the fall of 2001. The world was upside down, but this song, the joy of the desert, the longing for more, for better, the feel of the rain. If you were there, you know. If you've ever just taken the time to FEEL this album, then you know. It is for me a memory of a time when I was younger, thinner, blonder, dumber and making memories I'm glad I have now attached to music I'm glad I'll always have.

Day Five - A Song That Reminds You of Someone

2011-06-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Katy Perry's Firework:

Bug was born on the 4th of July, he's my little Firework, this song was released shortly thereafter (or might have been out for a couple of weeks already, but I didn't notice it until after he was born). Bug is my little Firework, and I hope he always knows that.

Day Four - A Sad Song

2011-06-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

I turn the radio when this comes on and have been for a decade or more:

I just don't like to hear songs about tragic death. I know Pearl Jam did not do the original version of this song, it's been around haunting people since 1961, but they do the version that I have to change the radio to avoid, so that is the one I'm sharing.

Day Three - A Happy Song

2011-06-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

This is the song/performance that really got me hooked on Glee...and I'm a full on Gleek.

This show is sort of my guilty pleasure. I love the music in it so much.

And, as a side note, this is also our "Car Wash Song", Punk is wicked afraid of the car wash, so when we go through it we blast this song and we dance and sing along crazy...always gets him smiling, even in the car wash.

Day Two - Least Favorite Artist

2011-06-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

This post was supposed to be my least favorite song, but honestly, I couldn't come up with anything (at least not anything that didn't have all kinds of profanity in it and even in a "least favorite" post, that isn't something I want on my blog). So I changed the post to my least favorite artist (because it's my blog and I do what I want!).

I'm a Taylor Swift fan, I think she is amazing as a singer and songwriter, but more so even because she is business minded and so sure of herself and in control especially for a child. So on September 13, 2009, when she won the MTV award for Best Female Video and then was accosted on stage by Kanye West I became a real disliker of Kanye. I'd never really liked him anyway, most of his music is kind of awful (okay, I kind of love Gold Digger, but doesn't everyone?), and he's stupid in general. I mean, if President Obama (I'm not a fan) thinks you are a jackass (kind of like a slug saying you are icky), you must really be a mess, right?

This is the video of the President's "off the record" remark about Kanye:

Day One - Your Favorite Song

2011-06-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

FAVORITE SONG? I love music, so there are a lot of songs I love...I'm a big fan of pretty much all kinds of music but lately I've been listening to a lot of country music. I have a few favorites on the radio right now, I love Taylor Swift and I'm really loving her "Mean" right now. So, not because it's my all time favorite, but because I have so many favorites and it's in my favorites right now:

Taylor Swift - Mean

Enjoy.

30 Days of Music Anyone?

2011-06-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Got this list from Tumblring.net here.

30 Songs in 30 Days (modified to fit me better)

Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 – Your least favorite artist
Day 03 – A happy song
Day 04 – A sad song
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song to relax you
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song from your favorite Broadway musical
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – Your wedding song
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song from your favorite movie musical
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song from a musical you have never seen
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year

Thought it might be fun to do. I'll try to link all of my song choices to Youtube, but I reserve the right to link to someplace else if I find that someplace else seems more appropriate. Join me and let me learn about your music tastes too!

What age should you part ways with your inner nudist for propriety's sake?

2011-06-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

So, when I picked Punk up from Nursery class the nursery leader mentioned 3 things.

1. "Punk sure is a ladies man". Yep, yep he is. He comes by that honest, mom and dad were pretty big flirts in their younger days as were their dad's before them, plus, he's so cute he's just irresistible.

2. "Punk is quite a good dresser and he seems to like being dressed nice, he doesn't try to take off his clothes at all". Well...Punk doesn't dress himself and when he gets a choice he only gets a choice between outfits. Punk IS an excellent dresser, but it is because mommy is a great shopper (at least for children's clothes), because, really, how many not quite three year olds do you know who take themselves shopping? As far as taking off his clothes, he doesn't because he can't...he doesn't know that is an option...because mommy hasn't let him know that taking off his own clothes is an option yet (my life is easier that way).

3. "We had a hard time keeping Ashlyn's clothes on her today, she kept taking them off". Ashlyn is Punk's little "girlfriend" at church (and playgroup and she lives close so we have had a play date and I expect we'll have quite a few), right now I have no issue with Punk having a "girlfriend" that is in touch with her inner nudist, but I imagine there will come a time when I'm not so okay with that...I'm thinking probably when he's five or so...

Making Edna Proud

2011-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, I decided I wanted to get a movie at Redbox for this evening (we don't have a TV here and while we have about a million movies, some that have never been opened, well I wanted a new one).

I got out of the car and there was a lady getting a movie, I noticed that she had a note in her hand with a Redbox code on it, you know, the kind that gets you a free rental but can only be used once per person, well, I snooped just enough to get the code. My rental tonight was FREE! And, as a "pay it forward" kind of moment I passed the code on to the guy behind me in line as well.

I figured it was just the kind of thing that Edna would do...lol.

Update

2011-06-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on our family logistics...

We are all in WA. Not in Bremerton where we lived for the last 5 years, but in Arlington (north of Seattle and Everett). Bobby is no longer stationed on the USS John C Stennis, he is now on the USS Abraham Lincoln (which is currently stationed in Everett, WA). The ship will be leaving at the end of the year to move over to the Norfolk, VA area. During the move time I will be in AZ (for a few months) then I will meet Bobby and the ship in VA. We are looking forward to that time when we will be able to live together as a family for longer than six months at a time...

We are renting and living down the street from Bobby's mom and the kids are LOVING having "Gramma Di" so close, they love spending time with her and she has been great to take them and let Bobby and I have quite a few dates since we got here (something that has been in short supply for us since the kids came along).

I am working on being a better housekeeper (I'm still no good at it, but baby steps, you know?). We live a long way from town and I'm trying to save miles on my new Ford Flex, so me and the boys hang out here a lot. We don't have a TV, but we do have computers (although the internet can be tricky), the boys are getting acquainted with some of the great kids movies of my time (Punkin fell in love with Sesame Street's "Follow That Bird" just yesterday).

Our new ward (Arlington 2nd Ward) is great. The people have been very welcoming. Punk LOVES his nursery class and has a cute little blonde girlfriend there already. Bobby has been called to work with the young men, and while he feels a little overwhelmed by the calling at times I think it is awesome that he gets to work with the youth. The ward has an active weekly playgroup (that meets with two other wards in the area) and a monthly "ladies night" that is really NIGHT, we meet at 9:00p.m. for dinner/dessert and fun conversation. I have really felt welcomed by the women in the ward and already know I will be sad to leave here when the time comes.

Hoping to be a better blogger again. Not that a ton happens here, but the kids are growing fast, Bug will be walking soon, and Punkin says/does totally cute/funny things everyday and I am doing a lot of cooking and crafting, so maybe I'll get some pics, recipes, etc up at some point.

Been a busy girl...finishing the gratitude challenge in a hurry...

2011-03-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

My life got really busy since OCTOBER, when I last posted, but since my last post was about gratitude I want to at least list my 26 other people I'm grateful for. I have been trying to be more obvious about my gratitude for people and I hope that they know how much I love them and how grateful I am for them in my life.

1. Bobby (my amazing husband)
2. Punk (my oldest son, the light of my life and the wonder of my world)
3. Bug (my baby boy, the perfect example of second kid strength and courage, and he's only 8.5 months old)
4. Dad (my hero and the man who taught me to love reading)
5. Grandma Bessie, Grandpa Carl, Grandma Anona, Grandpa Sonny, Grandma Beverly, and Grandpa Morris (I have the greatest grandparents EVER, some here with me and some watching over me from the other side)
6. The women from the Manette Ward (amazing women who taught me so much about being a mom and about being a grown up)
7. Nadine Torres (a friend's friend, I know I can always talk to her and I know she will always have an ear for me, plus, she's an amazing example of service and she always has been)
8. Duane (what can I say, he's my brother, he's tested my patience and made me love him anyway)
9. Ryan (baby brother, who is the strongest person I have ever met, he knows who he is and he always has...it's amazing)
10. The Gospel (without which I'm not sure what kind of person I would be, or what kind of mom I would be)
11. Rachel (my bestie, who sees the world the same way I do, and reacts to it completely differently)
12. Jessica (she's crazy, in all the right ways)
13. April (my sister-in-law, she has patience for days and a knowledge and love of the gospel that I aspire to)
14. April P. (a friend I don't deserve and one that always seems to know when I need her)
15. The Curtis family (my first second family, one that has always loved me like their own)
16. Aunt Sandra (I wish I had half of her creativity, she loves without condition)
17. Bob and Bobbie (my in-laws, who love me more than I deserve and think better of me than they should)
18. Diane and John (my other in-laws, my mother-in-law is one of the sweetest women I know, she loves my children and is so sweet with Pumpkin)
19. Derrick, Diane and kids (my brother-in-law and his family who are awesome and who we are so grateful to have as part of our lives)
20. Eric and Christine (two of my cousins, who taught me so much growing up and who I love on a level they probably don't even know)
21. Andrea (a women of integrity and an amazing friend I couldn't love more)
22. Dan (so many fun times and so much love for such a wonderful friend)
23. Chuck and Jess (friends like everyone should have and everyone should be)
24. Monica (strange? maybe. but I'm grateful for her, she helped to shape my Bobby into what he is today, and truthfully, she shaped many of the rough edges away, maybe not on purpose, but I think he's better for what he learned with her)
25. Kenna and Christy (great friends-like-sisters who I have always loved and who I will always love, I think they know that)
26. Women of South Mountain Ward past and present (this includes the women who taught my primary classes, my young women's classes, my relief society classes and who helped to shape who I am and who I am trying to become)

Gratitude Challenge (borrowed from Sharon Cole)

2010-10-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

"We often take for granted the very people who most deserve our gratitude. Let us not wait until it's too late for us to express that gratitude...to express gratitude is gracious and honorable... to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

~President Thomas S. Monson

There are 27 days left in October. Can you list 27 people in your life that you are grateful for?

I challenge you to express your gratitude to them. You do not have to blog about it.

You can call them, email them, text them, etc...just tell them you how much you appreciate them.

So as to not complete rip off Sharon's post I won't talk about Bobby first...today I'll talk about my mom.

If you have known me since I was a kid/teenager/young adult, you probably know that from the time I was about 15 until I was about 25 my mom and I could not hardly be in the same room together without biting each other's heads off...then something changed. I'm not sure what it was, maybe my mom suddenly got smarter, maybe we finally learned each other's language...probably it has to do with the reasoning/thinking parts of the adolescent brain not being fully developed until the mid-twenties...which means I got smarter, but suddenly my mom knew more than ever before and I respected that. My mom and I started hanging out together, we took a Love and Logic class together, we shopped together, we cooked together and we talked together. She became my best friend when I wasn't even looking.

The next year, I would become reacquainted with and marry the love of my life and his career would take us away from my family. I miss my mom every day that we are apart.

She is an amazing woman. A pillar of strength in our family. She is a wonderful mother. My perfect friend, the kind that loves me no matter what, and isn't afraid to call me out on my weaknesses in a loving way. She is the kind of grandmother that every kid wants to have, the kind that is fast and loose with the cookies, loves to spoil with presents big and small, gets down on the ground to play, and disciplines with love when necessary. I am grateful for her in my life and in the lives of my children.

Fair Winds and Following Seas...

2010-09-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

This morning Capt(Ret) Bradley Eugene Johanson was taken from this earth. His battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) began shortly after his retirement from the US Navy in 2008 and he succumbed to pneumonia and ALS today. Captain Johanson was the Commanding Officer of the USS John C. Stennis when Bobby reported to the ship in 2006 and performed Bobby's re-enlistment ceremony on the bridge of the USS John C Stennis is 2007 while the ship was on deployment in the Persian Gulf. I was lucky to serve as an ombudsman under Captain Johanson's leadership for twenty-two months.

Captain Johanson was a true leader, a man who believed in his mission and lead by example, he was honest with his sailors, he trusted them and they trusted him. He ended his 30 year career with the Navy after a very successful 2007 deployment with the USS John C Stennis, a deployment spent mostly in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Persian Gulf (the Stennis did not loose a single sailor during that deployment), and a docking planned incremental availability period which was completed EARLY and UNDER BUDGET in the early part of 2008, a pretty much unheard of feat in any government agency.

In a Navy where no less than fifteen CO's have been relieved of duty this year, many for inappropriate personal conduct, loss of confidence in the ability to command, or problems with their temperament and demeanor, Captain Johanson had been a ray of light in our Naval adventure. He was a man who was fair, honest, and judicious when he was put in a situation where it was necessary to discipline his sailors. He believed in the good in people. Captain Johanson was an amazing sailor, he believed in the Navy, in their mission and purpose, and he worked hard to bring out the best in the sailors around him.

I knew Captain Johanson as a sweet natured man, one who always greeted us with a winning smile and a firm handshake and always left us with a hug when we met with him, whether that was on board the ship or in his home. Captain Johanson wanted to know that the families of his sailors were well taken care of, he wanted those families to have all of the information they could regarding the whereabouts and well being of their sailors and he was honest with his sailors and with their families, something I am finding is scarce in today's Navy leadership. Under Captain Johanson's wing mediocre sailors became good sailors and good sailors became great sailors, his people wanted to be better for him (I am reminded of a quote from A Knight's Tale, when Prince Edward says to William Thatcher (speaking of his knightly qualities), "Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you that would be enough"). Captain Johanson's sailors loved him, if I knew nothing else about him, that would be enough.

Captain Johanson was married to an amazing woman, Junay, a woman he met in the Navy and who stood next to him, tall, proud, and an amazing example to all the spouses she mentored, throughout his Naval career. She, too, believed in the job that her husband had to do, she cared about the sailors doing that job with him, and she was an amazing example to the spouses who were lucky enough to make her acquaintance. Today is a sad day, indeed, and through my personal sadness, my prayers have been with his family, I hope that Junay is lifted up by the thoughts and prayers of all those who were lucky enough to know them.

The Navy is better for having employed him, the sailors who knew him are better for having known him, I am better for having had the wonderful opportunity to work with him. Fair winds and following seas Captain Brad Johanson, you will be sorely missed.

I have made a donation in his memory to the MDA for ALS research, and you can too.

The Kitsap Sun article regarding Captain Johanson's passing, it includes information on the public services for Captain Johanson.

Picture Me This...

2010-09-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

So, in another life, in a different me, when I was MUCH younger, I used to really enjoy photography. My mom was a wedding photographer for a while, I took some photography in high school, I even worked for Duke, a very well known studio in Phoenix, although I was not a photographer for them, I worked in sales, but I did get to learn a lot about photography there, the creative side, the technology, and the business side. I really enjoyed photography, and I was pretty good at it.

Now, fast forward...um, about 15 years, and I don't remember much of anything about photography, aperture? f-stop?, nope, don't remember what they do...I can still focus a camera and I remember some things about composition, but not much. I used to love to play with pictures in the darkroom, but photography now tends to mean mostly digital, which opens up a whole world of photo manipulating software, software that does the same types of things to pictures that I used to do in the darkroom, but requires a different sort of education.

Why all this talk of photography, you ask? Well, because with my impending birthday, my Sweetie bought me a new camera. A Cadillac of cameras if you ask me. A Nikon D90 with all the bells and whistles, two lenses and a flash. He probably thought he was just getting me a camera, you know, something to take pictures of Punk and Bug with. He knew he was getting an AWESOME camera, but I don't think he realized he also bought me a project! I have ordered a book specifically about my camera and some books on the ins and outs of digital photography, I'll need to read them all before I can do much more than take amazing snapshots with my camera. I'm even thinking about taking a digital photography class when I get to Phoenix. And when I finally figure out my camera, I will have to figure out our new age "darkroom", photo manipulation software, which will require purchasing software, more books and probably a class for that too.

Hopefully I'll have figured out this year's birthday present in time to photograph next years birthday celebrations!

Day Twenty-Five - My Day in Detail

2010-09-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Good thing this topic landed on today...as we actually DID something today.

Got up this morning, got Punk out of his crib and put him at the table with a bowl or yogurt and a "circle toast" (Eggo waffle), put "Yighting Keen" (Cars) on the TV, got Bug and nursed him, put Bug in the swing. Put a load of laundry from the washer into the dryer (a good Oxyclean soak does amazing things to small children's clothes), started a load of colors (so we would have something to wear. I took a shower then put this new product on my hair, got Bug out of the swing, got Punk out of his chair to let him play, moved the laundry. Got back in the shower to rinse out my hair, put part two of the product on my hair and then blowdried it. Put Punk in the shower, checked on Bug, then straight ironed my hair. Bobby got home. Dressed Punk, dressed Bug, dressed me. Left for the Naval Hospital. (Oh, FYI the hair product worked okay so far).

Got to the hospital, parked, went up to the seventh floor. Checked Punk in. Waited in the waiting room to be called (pleasantly surprised that they now have a well baby waiting room at the hospital) while I filled out the.longest.survey.ever about my big kid's development. We were called, Punk was weighed and measured (26lbs, 2'11.75", 24th percentile for weight, 78th percentile for height). Doctor came in, checked Punk out, talked to us about his development, declared him practically perfect (apparently I need to work on his fine motor skills, we've never had him stack blocks or string macaroni and these are apparently important developmental tasks, who knew?).

Went down to the second floor, checked Bug in for his well baby appointment, checked Punk and me into immunizations. Punk got his MMR shot, I got a Tdap (pertussis [whooping cough] booster).

Were called back for Bug's appointment. Bug was weighed and measured (10lbs 13oz, 22", again, tall and thin). Doctor came in and checked him out, he's perfect.

Back to immunizations for Bug's turn. The second he got the first shot he turned red and screamed forgetting to breathe (no worries, I'm a mean mommy and blew in his face to make the breathing resume). Nursed Bug in the waiting room while we waited out the required 10 minutes post shots.

Visit to the Naval Hospital, two well baby appointments and six immunizations between three people, about 3 hours.

Back out to the car, and back home...

Punk was asleep when we got home and is exhausted, but still up because we are going for an early bedtime tonight rather than dealing with the aftermath of a late nap. Bug is a miserable little monster, so he got his first Tylenol and is FINALLY sleeping in the swing as I type.

Oh, we ordered Papa Johns for dinner (because Bobby said, "It's been a long day for us all, let's order pizza so you don't have to make dinner").

Tonight is the premier of Biggest Loser (which I will probably watch from my couch with chocolate ice cream), and (not the premier of) Parenthood. Should be a nice relaxing evening from here.

Day Twenty-Four - Where I Live

2010-09-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well...vaguely here...

View Larger Map

Bremerton, Washington...for now.

Interesting facts about Bremerton, WA:

Sir Mix A Lot (of Baby Got Back fame) sings a song about the special class of women here in Bremerton occasionally referred to as Bremelos.

MXPX (a punk indy rock group from Bremerton who had some sucesses a couple of years ago) sings a song called "Move to Bremerton"

There are four "mothballed" aircraft carriers here at Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton...it's a very strange sight to see them all parked together and eerily empty...I don't have a picture though...hmmm...I should take one before we leave.

Bremerton is a small town with BIG Navy influences. When the carrier that is stationed here is gone the traffic is lighter and there are a lot more women alone in WalMart at two in the morning (huh, Rachel?).

I haven't always loved living here (and as such have spent much of our time here in Phoenix when the ship is gone), but if I'm honest, it is a beautiful place. The people in the Manette Ward (the ward we attend) are amazing people and have had an amazing influence on my life (and I'd be willing to bet they have NO IDEA the influence they have had), and if we found ourselves here again...that would be okay.

Day Twenty-Three - A YouTube Video

2010-09-20T01:28:00.001-07:00

Some of you know that my Jetta likes trouble...this YouTube video is a bit of trouble my Jetta (okay, it's now Ryan's Jetta) narrowly avoided in my driveway while I was in Massachusetts visiting the BFF in August of 2007. That is Jackson's (he's a friend of Duane's) car in flames, the Jetta suffered only some soot marks and one flat tire from the incident.

Day Twenty-Two - A Website

2010-09-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Do you know etsy? It is an awesome online marketplace (kinda like ebay) for handmade and vintage items.

They have an AWESOME variety of stuff from different crafters/sellers, and if YOU are crafty it is an awesome place to get ideas and to purchase patterns.

I purchased my awesome placemats there, I have also purchased diaper covers, baby wraps, tag blankies, and even hot chocolate!

Thanks to my BFF Rachel, I have spent a lot of time looking at the huge assortment of felt food that can be found on etsy lately. This stuff is SO freaking cute and a lot of the pieces are stuff that would be super easy to replicate (and there are a bunch of patterns for sell to make the stuff yourself too)!

And I can't even wait to place my first order for matching infant/toddler ties from this seller...I just can't decide which one(s) I like best (and Bobby would probably kill me if I bought them all). How freaking cute are my Punk and Bug going to look in those?!?

If you don't know etsy you should definitely get acquainted!

Day Twenty-One - A Recipe

2010-09-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Ashley posted about an Eclair Cake that she made here, and while her cake certainly looks good, it made me think of one of my favorite desserts that I make (and since I knew this topic was creeping up, I thought I would share it here), it is a Cream Puff Cake that can easily be turned into an amazing Eclair Cake (I've done it before by adding a layer of chocolate fudge sauce between the pudding mix and the whipped cream topping).

The Cream Puff Cake is one of my favorites because it is SO good AND it is easily adaptable to different people's tastes AND it is easily adaptable for diabetics (so it can be Pops and Grandpa friendly and still taste good enough to be served to a crowd). The basic recipe is:

1 cup water
½ cup butter
1 cup sifted flour
4 eggs
3 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. cream cheese
3 ½ cups milk
1 tub Cool Whip

Heat water and butter to a rolling boil. Add in flour all at once, stir vigorously over low heat until mixture leaves the pan and forms a ball (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and let set for 10 minutes.

Beat eggs in thoroughly one at a time. Beat until mixture is smooth and velvety. Pour mixture into a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let cool (when this bakes it rises high and gets puffy, it will settle as it cools).

Combine pudding, softened cream cheese and milk (this works best if you whip the room temperature cream cheese and add the milk in SUPER slowly making sure it is incorporated without clumping then add the pudding). Pour over the crust in the dish. Top with Cool Whip and garnish with grated chocolate or bananas.

* Don’t be afraid to mix this one up, use different pudding/fruit/chocolate mixtures to make it your own!

To make this recipe diabetic friendly use sugar free pudding, and use Cool Whip Free, Cool Whip Lite, or Cool Whip Sugar Free.

ENJOY!

Day Twenty - A Hobby

2010-09-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

As totally old lady as it sounds (of course...the older I get the less weird it gets I guess), I love to cross stitch. I love to take a blank piece of cloth, spend a few days putting some stitches in it and have a beautiful picture come out on the other side, and I love to give the pieces I make away...which means that the most complex and most beautiful things I have ever done belong to other people. I have always loved to cross stitch, when I was in my late teens and early twenties I carried a cross stitch project with me pretty much everywhere I went (it wasn't uncommon to find me sitting in the corner at a party stitching)...now that I have children it is much more difficult to get time to play with needles and thread...but I still try to get some cross stitch time in occasionally.

Day Nineteen - A Talent

2010-09-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ummm...I have no talent!

Okay, that might not be completely true, but I don't really have any of the "normal" talents that you think of when you think of "talents".

I'm not a great chanteuse, I don't have a green thumb (more like gray), I don't play any musical instruments, and, while I can dance, I'm not an excellent dancer or anything. I'm a pretty good cook. I am a pretty decent friend. I'm the best sister my brothers will ever have. My husband says I'm a good wife, and I keep three people alive everyday (Bobby's on his own). So, while I don't have the "normal" talents, I'll take the ones I have and keep trying to improve on them.

Day Eighteen - My Wedding

2010-09-13T13:39:00.001-07:00

I don't know exactly what this wants me to talk about but I'll tell you how it went (since you probably weren't one of the 20ish people who were there)...

Bobby and I were engaged for 17 days and were married on August 6, 2005. That morning I got up, a friend of mine came over and did my hair, I did my makeup...about 11:30 or so Bobby showed up at my mom's house (looking spectacular in his blues), I put my beautiful off white babydoll floor length dress on, my mom took some pictures of the two of us (yes *gasp* BEFORE our wedding). Then me and Bobby jumped in his car and went to the church where we set up the chairs in the Relief Society Room for the ceremony. People got to the church about 2, we started the ceremony soon after. Elizabeth Sheffer played the piano for the wedding (she played our song, "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts), and Bishop Doug Cole officiated at the wedding. Our vows were based on The Family: A Proclamation to the World, they were appropriate, they were simple, they were true, and they were short...our ceremony lasted eleven minutes, it was perfect. We signed the marriage certificate, our fathers were our witnesses and we were married, for time.

Last year, on November 21, 2009, I woke up in the morning, I did my hair and makeup, I put on a black skirt with purple flowers and a black shirt, dressed my Punk in his Sunday best and straightened Bobby's tie, we got in the car and drove to the LDS Temple in Mesa, Arizona. We went in and changed into white clothes. Then we went to the sealing room, Bobby and I were sealed as husband and wife, we had friends and family there with us, again, words from The Family: A Proclamation to the World were referenced, then Punk came in and was sealed to us as well...that day we became a family, for eternity.

Day Seventeen - A Piece of Art

2010-09-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

I have a favorite painting, it's called "Something More Than Color" it looks like this:

It was done by my cousin, Eric Hudspeth, who is an amazing artist (check out other paintings, sketches, and sculptures on his website) and the original hangs in my grandparent's home in MO. I hope to someday find a way to get my hands on it, but if I don't end up with it, that will be okay too, I'll make due with the digital replica saved on my computer.

Day Sixteen - A Song That Makes You Cry (or Almost)

2010-09-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

I thought this was fitting for today (and it still makes me teary to this day, it used to make me sob)...

Nine years ago today our world changed...and in a lot of ways that is too bad, because any negative change spurred on by the catalyst of that day is a victory for the enemy. Because I never want the enemy to be buoyed up by a change I make, I try to make sure that the changes in my life spurred on by the tragedies of September 11, 2001 are only positive ones.

Day Fifteen - My Dream House

2010-09-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

In light of the fact that we just put our first home on the market, this seems fitting.

It's funny, this house isn't perfect, we need more than one bathroom, we need at least one more bedroom, I hate my "hallway kitchen", and there is pretty much no storage...BUT...it's the first home Bobby and I owned together. We have spent most of our marriage (at least the parts of our marriage when he was home) here in this house, we made two babies here, and we brought them home from the hospital to THIS home, and the fact is that I'll miss living here in this place that has so many wonderful memories for our family.

Someday, though, I hope that we will have our dream home. In Phoenix, near our families, with more than one bathroom, at least four bedrooms, a huge kitchen open to the living area, plenty of storage, and a large yard. More than what the house looks like I hope that it is a place that our boys LOVE to be, a place they can bring their friends and that everyone feels comfortable. I hope that when we move into that house, the one that will be our last, that we have made the decisions that allow us to enjoy the home and each other with minimal stressors from the world for the rest of our lives.

Day Fourteen - A Non-Fiction Book

2010-09-07T15:27:00.001-07:00

I talked all about it here.

Day Thirteen - A Fiction Book

2010-09-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

I'd be remiss if I didn't go with Ender's Game, after all, my brand new nephew is named after the title character (yep, Ender Scott H.).

It's a FABULOUS sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card in which children are trained as soldiers in the event of a repeat alien attack. It's sci-fi for people who HATE sci-fi. If you haven't read it you should pick it up (you can pretty much find it at every used book store on the planet, or you can borrow one of the 5-10 copies my parents always have), you'll love it, everyone does.

Day Twelve - Something You are OCD About

2010-09-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not really OCD about anything...really. I am particular about how my children are dressed when they leave the house...but even with that, I let Bobby take Punk to the store yesterday in his pajamas because we put on pajamas early and Bobby had an errand to run and I needed the break that him taking Punk would provide...so even that, which is probably the thing I'm the most particular about, is something that can have exceptions I don't mind.

Day Eleven - A Recent Photo of You

2010-09-07T11:54:00.001-07:00

Okay, well, it's almost a year old, but this is the most recent decent picture of me (we took these last October).

Day Ten - A Photo of Me Taken Over Ten Years Ago

2010-08-31T00:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I was fat then...I was so wrong. This was taken at the Renaissance Festival in Arizona. I'm pretty sure that Dan Phoenix took the picture and those two lovely ladies with me are Zoë Chandler and Andrea Matthews. You would never catch me in a getup like that now!

Day Nine - A Photo I Took

2010-08-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

Punk, with his first real illness (a cold), my mom was holding him comforting him and you can see his sad little runny nose.

Day Eight - My Testimony

2010-08-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Day eight is supposed to be a picture that makes me sad/angry, I'm not in the kind of mood where it is a good idea to focus on anything that makes me sad or angry, I am instead really trying to focus on things that make me happy or inspire me...

Yesterday we learned about Job in Sunday School. I missed the first half of the lesson because I was nursing Bug, but I learned something I didn't know before when I finally did get to join the lesson.

We often focus on all the bad things that happened to Job, acting as if those things all happened to him in a week. While we don't know exactly how much time passed between the bad things that happened to Job, we do know that Job lived to be 140 years old and that all of the bad things happened to him in his first 70 years of life. It is possible (probable in fact) that all of the bad things that happened to Job were scattered through his first 70 years. We all have bad things that happen to us throughout our lives, we loose family members, we deal with confusion, we suffer losses of jobs, we deal with people who mock us, we all go through the same things that Job did, and while those things might not happen to us all in a week, we will probably face most of the same trials that Job did in our first 70 years of life. Through all of his trials, Job still managed this proclamation of testimony "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God:..." (Job 19:25-26).

As I face trials, some so large that I feel as though I will never overcome them, I will be remembering Job and his testimony and I will hold onto my testimony; That I know that my Redeemer lives, I know that he knows me, I know that he already suffered all the pains and discomforts that I sometimes feel overwhelmed by and that when I lean on him, when I apply the healing power of the atonement in my life I can let go of the pain and discomfort, my trials can seem light to me because of the strength of the Lord. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the same gospel, the same teachings, that Jesus Christ himself put into place when he walked the earth in his mortal body. I know that the priesthood we have access to in the Church is the same priesthood by which Jesus and his apostles performed the miracles of old, and I know that that priesthood power to perform miracles exists on the earth today. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today who presides over the church in righteousness and that by following the teachings of the prophet and the gospel of the church we can draw close to the Lord. I know that the Book of Mormon is true scripture, that the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon saw our day and that the instruction given is specifically for us, I know that Jesus Christ appeared to the ancient Americans, he loved them and wanted them to know him, I know he loves me and wants me to know him as well. I know that I can be made whole in Christ, if I can just remember to lean on him and trust in him, if I can just remember the example of Job. I seal my testimony, in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Day Seven - A Photo That Makes Me Happy

2010-08-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm risking redundancy, but here it is, this is the first picture ever taken of my two boys together. When Punk looked at Bug you could SEE in his eyes the look of "It's about time, brother, I've been waiting for you".

Day Six - 20 Of My Favorite Things

2010-08-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

One: Bobby

Two and Three: Punk and Bug

Four: Ryan

Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven: Mom, Dad, Grandpa Carl, Grandma Bessie, Duane, April and Calla

Twelve: Ender

Thirteen: The Soares

Fourteen: Chocolate Ice Cream

Fifteen: Phineas and Ferb

Sixteen: Food Competition Shows

Seventeen: Ronald Reagan (we'll add political conservatism in here too)

Eighteen: Good Music (i.e., but not limited to): Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty
...and a million more, I don't have time or desire to list right now.

Nineteen: Old Disney Movies (i.e., but not limited to):

Twenty: And, though there is no picture for it, every single minute I get to spend with my family. As a Navy wife those minutes seem to be very few and far between and I am learning to be more proactive in savoring them when they come.

Day Five - Favorite Quote

2010-08-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

"We are up against people with absolutely no conscience, no regard for life - people with an entirely different vision of the future than the one we embrace. They are not just our enemies, but the enemies of all who cherish freedom and liberty. Theirs is a small world, let by small-minded men."

~Admiral Mike Mullen (Currently Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but said when he was CNO of the United States Navy)

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-08-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

Moms: Take a minute, watch this video, and remember even when it is all so overwhelming that you are doing a sacred eternal work and you are never alone in your endeavors.

Day Four - Favorite Book

2010-08-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

I love to read, unfortunately with two small children I don't get to do much of it...like really any at all. Luckily I did a lot of reading pre-babies.

My favorite book as an adult, one I read regularly, is "How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life" by Peter Robinson. Mr. Robinson was a speech writer for Reagan and gives amazing insight into the Reagan years. I am struck often that the influence that President Reagan had on me, through his presidency and his public persona, is not really that different from the influence that President Reagan had on Mr. Robinson who knew him personally. That, to me, speaks to President Reagan's ability to be genuine in his public persona. When we lost President Reagan, I mourned, when I read Mr. Robinson's words regarding President Reagan, I rejoice in knowing that we were blessed to have Ronald Reagan as a part of our history and that so many of us were able to be shaped by his influence.

As a child my favorite book was "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton. I could read it in just a couple of hours and I read it at least once a year from the time I was about 10 until I was probably about 22...I should find a copy of it...I think I could get through it during a good nap from the boys...

Day Three - Favorite TV Program

2010-08-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is a super hard one for me. If you know me, you know I love just about everything cooking competition...that means that I am currently DVRing Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen (season just ended), Master Chef, and Next Food Network Star, I also try to catch Chopped regularly.

My love of food means that I also watch Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on a regular basis and I try to eat at the restaurants featured on the show whenever possible.

One of my favorite shows of all time was the short lived Firefly. The series was masterfully written by Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame) and artfully acted by an amazing cast headed by Nathan Fillion.

Nathan Fillion is currently in an amazing crime drama called Castle (so well written you would think Joss Whedon had a hand in writing the dialogue), you will also find it in my DVR list (crime drama's were HUGE on my list of favorite TV until I had children).

Probably my favorite thing on TV right now is actually found on the Disney Channel. Phineas and Ferb is an animated masterpiece showcasing two step brothers in their quest to have "the best day ever" and to fill the "104 days of summer vacation" while their sister Candace tries to bust them and their pet platypus Perry runs off to fight the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz as his alter ego Agent P. Sounds totally hokey right? Well, it is, in the most endearing way! The show is well written, appropriate for children and still peppered with great jokes that only the parents will really get and new catchy tunes every episode (when my phone rings you will hear either Squirrels in my Pants or Little Brothers and there is a whole library of other musical gems). The characters are endearing, from the silent Perry, to the verbose Candace, and from the mostly silent Ferb (a very "Silent Bob" type of character), to the lovable and incredibly intelligent Phineas. I think there is something for everyone in Phineas and Ferb, it's a totally enjoyable experience from two to ninety-two!

Day Two - Favorite Movie

2010-08-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Favorite movie of all time? Gotta go with "With Honors". It was released in 1994 while I was in high school. I saw it at Scottsdale Fashion Square with Monica Randall-Esteve and Sarah Christian. We were in the International Baccalaureate program and everyone I knew spent a good deal of time worrying about graduating with honors. I saw a lot of myself in Monty Kessler.

It's funny how much I have changed and how much my outlook on life has changed in these past 16 years. I finished the International Baccalaureate program, I have that diploma someplace...but I never graduated from college, heck, I hardly attended college when I was there (thus the never graduating). I never had a great career, I never cured a disease, and I haven't run for office (probably never will). My life didn't take the path I planned even a little bit.

All of that said, I am a wife and a mother. I have the most amazing husband, a man who loves me, who loves the Lord and who loves our children. He works hard so that I can stay at home and raise our children and he supports me in all that I do...he believes in me and my abilities and potential more than I do most of the time. I have been blessed with two beautiful little boys. Punk is smart, caring, and has a wonderful sweetness about him, he learns something new everyday and it is such a joy to be his mother. Bug is such a good baby and I am so looking forward to being there as he grows and we get to learn his personality. I may never do anything the world would consider significant, but I know that if I work to be a good wife and to raise smart, responsible, loving children, I will graduate this life with honors for eternity.

Day One - Favorite Song

2010-08-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of favorite songs. I've got songs that make me happy because they bring back memories, I've got songs that make me happy because my son sings them, songs that remind me of my family, songs that just make me want to jump around and dance, and songs that inspire me. On my wall in my home I have quotes, one of those quotes is the chorus from this song:

This song, "Dream Big" by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, does several things for me, it brings back memories (the first time I saw Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband was when I was attending college in Provo, UT) but most importantly this song inspires me and reminds me that my dreams CAN come true, a lesson I am trying to teach not only to myself but my two growing sons as well. I hope they always feel like they live in a home in a place where they can "Dream Big" and that their dreams can and will come true with the help of their parents and the Lord.

Special Recognition in the "Favorite Song" category has to go to my favorite hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" (which is hymn number 85 in the LDS Hymnal). "How Firm a Foundation" speaks directly to me and to my family situation, and reminds me that the Lord is with us no matter where we are and He will buoy us up in any time, place, or situation we may find ourselves in as long as we have faith and lean on Him.

Stolen Blog Journal Ideas from Kenna...

2010-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

So, I totally stole this stuff from Kenna, but I am really trying to blog more and I think that this will help motivate me...so maybe there will be something new here to read about me and mine everyday for the next 30 or so days...it's worth a shot! THANKS KENNA!

Day 1 – your favorite song
Day 2 – your favorite movie
Day 3 – your favorite television program
Day 4 – your favorite book
Day 5 – your favorite quote
Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad (decided against this post and went with a post including my testimony instead)
Day 9 – a photo you took
Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 – a photo of you recently
Day 12 – something you are OCD about
Day 13 – a fictional book
Day 14 – a non-fictional book
Day 15 – your dream house
Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 – my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 – a talent of yours
Day 20 – a hobby of yours
Day 21 – a recipe
Day 22 – a website
Day 23 – a youtube video
Day 24 – where I live
Day 25 – your day, in great detail
Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Day 27 – my worst habit
Day 28 – whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 – hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 – a dream for the future

Back in Bremerton - A Grocery Question

2010-08-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

We are back in Bremerton after an amazing trip to Phoenix to greet Ryan as he returned home from his mission to Bolivia. I've got to go grocery shopping...after 10 days of being gone it seems like I'm pretty well "starting over" with the grocery situation, what are your grocery shopping "staples"?

Things I Want - Edited 8/9/10

2010-08-04T19:39:00.001-07:00

In no particular order and for no particular reason...

This headache to pass. It did.

The Baby Jogger City Select. Decided against it for right now (but might change my mind later).

Someone to tell what the best decision for our family is going to be for the next two years of our lives, so I don't have to have mommy/wife guilt about whatever decision we make. That is what prayer is for...so, we keep praying.

A time machine, to tell the 2005 me that buying a house right then is a VERY bad idea... Still wish I could have done this, but will make it through okay anyhow.

More of these...there are never enough. I have 19...I'm probably good for now (besides, they don't make many more than I have in boy/neutrals).

A Ford Flex. Again, decided against it for now, but reserve the right to roll up in one in a couple of years.

A new baby that sleeps...I know, pipe dream. He's actually not a bad sleeper...in the swing.

New clothes (preferably without having to shop for them). I picked up a few things to get me through until I can fit into my pre-pregnancy stuff, but still get me out of maternity clothes and I feel better now.

An aircraft carrier stationed in Phoenix (no more far fetched than a sleeping newborn, I suppose). Really, just a pipe dream.

An In&Out Burger, Filibertos, Cucina Tagliani, Chick-Fil-A, and a Cool Cuts for Kids in Kitsap county. But then what would I do when I visit Phoenix?

More friends who live within 500 miles. I have good friends in WA, I should probably spend more time appreciating them and less time lamenting the distance between here and Phoenix...besides, the distance shrinks with Facebook, blogging, email, Skype and phones...I really shouldn't complain.

Okay, I think I'm done whining for today...maybe.

Our New Addition

2010-07-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

On July 4, 2010 at 5:52a.m. our new addition, Alexander (Xander) Carl, joined our family. Bug weighed in at 7lbs 14oz and 19" long (almost two pounds smaller than Punk!, Bug is our "peanut").

Punk is a happy, excited, loving brother. Here are the first pictures of the boys together.

AZ SB1070

2010-05-05T18:10:00.001-07:00

I'm sure you've heard the hoopla, I'll bet you even have an opinion, my question is: Have you actually read the bill?

Have you read it?

If you haven't read it and would like to have, not just an opinion but an informed one, you can find it here and it's really not very long...

Sling Recall...

2010-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

You have probably seen this information regarding the Infantino Sling Recall.

If you know me you know that I am a babywearer. I think it is a great way to get more done, keep baby close and to get more exercise (after all, walking with a 10-20lbs weight on your front has to be better than walking without it). I am glad that Infantino has recalled their "bag carrier" and I wish that more companies would recall theirs as well. The truth is that MANY commercial carriers do not allow you to carry your baby in a proper safe position.

Lots of well meaning people have been running up to babywearers and letting them know that their carriers are unsafe (in all cases I have heard of this has been with people wearing their babies in ring slings, mei tais and wraps which are not unsafe). I found this information posted online that explains WHY bag carriers are inherently unsafe, please be nice to your babywearing friends the odds are that they already knew bag carriers are unsafe and would never use one. Their carriers are probably very different and hold the baby in a totally different and safe position. But, by all means, if you know someone who has the Infantino or another bag carrier, pass along this information to let them know that their carrier is potentially VERY unsafe.

Babywearing is near and dear to me, I want all of my friends to wear safely because I want all babies to BE safe.

RANT

2010-02-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, Navy bases still require that vehicles have DoD tags in order to be driven on base...fine, stupid, but fine (Air Force Bases no longer require this and it's a stupid thing to require, I mean they require that the driver have military ID, do we authorize PEOPLE to have access to Navy bases or to be authorize vehicles, but I digress). If you are driving your vehicle you have to take your registration, insurance and driver's license in to get a DoD tag, if you are driving a rental they only need the rental agreement and your driver's license, if you are driving a borrowed vehicle (as I will be when I go to San Diego next week) they need some mysterious form, no one seems to be able to give me the number of the form so that I can try to find it online, so I call the phone number on the Naval Base Coronado website for Pass and Decal...it goes straight to voicemail for the supervisor (what are the odds that guy is really going to call me back), so I call the general information line...they give me a number for pass and decal, that number is not pass and decal BUT they know what I'm talking about, they give me a number for pass and decal, no one answers that number the first 10 times I call it (and there is no voicemail) when I finally get someone they are NOT pass and decal either and they have NO IDEA what I am talking about (in fact they tell me that I cannot get a temporary pass for ANY vehicle unless I am the military member, even though I am a dependent with a valid ID, but whatever) she does give me ANOTHER FREAKING NUMBER for pass and decal...which I call and I get a guy who knows what I'm talking about and has access to the form but acts like I am asking for him to email me his arm when I ask him to fax me the form so I can get it filled out and notarized before I get there...hopefully he faxed it (it's going to my mom's work and I don't have any idea if he actually got it to her yet or not)...ETA: The form was actually received by my mom...yay.

I swear, if I get to San Diego and they give me a hard time about getting a pass for the stupid truck after all the crap I went through to get their stupid form (why isn't this form just available on the website???) I am probably going to loose any semblance of cool I ever had and get banned from Navy bases forever...

Oh, and in case you ever need to talk to an actual person at Naval Base Coronado Pass and Decal...save yourself the telephone runaround and call them here: 619-545-7413!

An Answer to Prayer

2010-01-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

So, we had a big difficult wonderful change happen in our family this week...Sirius has found a new home! I know there are plenty of people who think that rehoming a dog FOR ANY REASON is just evil, but with the amount of travel that we have been doing the past year and half and how little time we have for Sirius even when we are home we decided last July it was time to start to look for a new home for our "little" Sirius. I have been scanning craigslist pets wanted adds, checking into programs through our vet, local rescues and even the humane society through which we originally adopted Sirius...I just haven't been able to find the perfect fit for Sirius until this week.

This week I got an email from Troy. A longtime dog owner who recently got out of the Navy and was looking for a large breed adult dog to be his first pet since he got out of the Navy. He is single, lives on 4.5 acres in a house that he rents from his parents (also dog owners), he was looking for a dog to take on hikes and runs with him and to spoil rotten. Troy and I "talked" via email for a couple of days, he told me about himself, I told him about us and Sirius and we agreed to have Bobby go out and check out Troy's place and bring Sirius along for an introduction. The introduction went well, Bobby showed Tory all of Sirius' commands and Sirius sniffed out Troy's house and helped himself to a spot on the lawn. Troy LOVED Sirius and Sirius loved Troy. It went so well that they decided to do a one night trial run and see how things went. The next day I got an email from Troy where he sang Sirius' praises ("he is such a lovable good dog!"). That day Bobby also got a call saying Troy would love to keep Sirius and asking if Bobby could bring over Sirius' toys. Bobby got all of Sirius' toys, food and treats together and took them over to Troy. The first thing Troy said to Bobby when he got there was "So, Sirius snores," Bobby said, "Oh, yeah?", to which Troy replied, "Yeah, he slept in the bed with me last night". Troy is loving having Sirius, we are loving knowing that Sirius is in a happy loving home with someone who has all the time and energy that Sirius needs.

Bobby will take Sirius' igloo and inside bed over to Troy on Sunday and Troy is happy to have us check in with Sirius via email every month or so. It's just been such an answer to our prayers and I am so glad to say that I think this placement is going to be an exception to all of those that say rehoming NEVER works...

Thank you so much Troy!

Are you kidding me?

2009-12-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

I belong to a webgroup, a community of military wives and girlfriends mostly, lately we've been talking a lot about homeless people and giving to charity. I'm going to quote a post made their today and a couple of the responses...

If you are going to come up to me asking for money...do it sober!

This lady was walking around the King Soopers parking lot asking for money. I could tell she was on her way to me, and I got out all of the change I had (didn't have any bills) to give to her.

Then she gets within speaking/smelling distance.

She proceeded to tell me how hungry she is because she has been homeless for 2 months and hasn't eaten in days. Slurring her words. She reaked of booze. Obviously toasted. I put the money back in my pocket.

I'm not sure where this new trend is coming from, but the recent public
judgements of the homeless turns my stomach. Of course we all have the
right to do what we please with our money. But the direction and
implications of posting about it makes me uncomfortable, "but for the grace
of God go I," and all that.
WOW! What a way to bring that holiday spirit of giving and being judgemental!!

The thread goes on for two pages, and it's mostly people talking about how judgemental the original poster is and how she should have just given this drunk lady her change (or how she should have gone out of her way to get her a meal or something).

I don't get it. I just don't get it. We pay tithing and we give fast offerings. I don't often (like almost never) give money to people on the street corner and I never give to anyone who is smoking a cigarette or reaks of alcohol.

I honestly think that with the current state of the economy that more people are trying to be better stewards of their own money. I think that people know, now maybe more than they ever have before, how easily they could be on the other side and I think that people are doing the best they can to handle their money in the best possible way. If that means not enabling another person's addiction, then so be it. I don't think that anyone should tell another person how they aught to handle their own money. I mean, if YOU want to buy a drink for every beggar you see, that's okay, it's your money, but I don't understand faulting someone for being a good steward of their own family's money. I guess I just feel like charitable giving is a personal decision and that no one should feel obligated to give, especially in a situation that makes you uncomfortable.

Through with it Thursday...a day late.

2009-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you get your news from the internet you've probably seen this story already about a JOP in LA who refused to be the one to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple.

Here goes my unpopular opinion...

The law says they can be married, the JOP does not dispute that, he just has personal beliefs that don't allow him to be the one to issue the license. He didn't ruin their marriage by refusing to marry them, they had plenty of time to contact the JOP he refered them to who WOULD give them a license. I don't think this guy is entirely wrong and here is why; I don't think the law should force people to do something they do not believe in as long as their refusal does not cause physical harm. This JOP is allowed to think that interracial marriages are harmful to the potentially resulting children, it is his right to think what he does (the same way it is your right to believe in gay marriage, or a woman's right to choose or a right to universal healthcare or whatever the ridiculous liberal cause of the week is). I don't have an issue with interracial marriage (let's get that straight RIGHT NOW!), I have an issue with laws forcing people to do things that are against their ideals in the name of "tolerance".

The fact is, that at some point, I believe that the law in the United States is going to ALLOW gay marriage, but I don't think that ministers or JOPs who don't believe in it should be forced to perform marriages they don't believe in in the name of "tolerance". This is the same thing, this guy should not be forced to perform a marriage he doesn't believe in in the name of "tolerance" and really, if you are this couple would you WANT someone to perform your marriage that didn't believe you SHOULD be married? I wouldn't. Forcing people to support you doesn't create genuine support, it just creates ire and I don't now why anyone would want to do that...

Why do I always feel like I should keep my opinions to myself?

2009-10-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

I'm really tired of keeping my opinions to myself. At the risk of sounding a little bit hypocritical, I really don't begrudge anyone their right to make their own choices, but I somehow feel like often my decisions are not good enough and I rarely discuss my choices and the reasoning behind them with, well, anyone. I'm pretty sure I'm done doing that. I'm thinking that I'm going to try doing a weekly unapologetic blog. Maybe "Through With it Thursday"...I think that's it, we'll call it "Through With it Thursday" and if you don't want to hear about my decisions, why I make them and why I think they are right, you might want to stay away from here on Thursdays...Maybe I'll start tonight, maybe not till next week, we'll see how the day goes.

About Our Children - Townhall on Education

2009-09-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

"About Our Children" a townhall with Bill Cosby at Howard University will be re-airing on Sunday. I think it is something that every parent should see, it is a call for revolution in the way our school systems are handled and the way that our children our educated. Set your DVR!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32676326/

Motherhood Guilt and Devisiveness...

2009-09-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

Ever noticed how there are a million ways to inflict guilt upon yourself as a mother? I was reading Facebook the other day and one of my friends posted about how she didn't understand why some parents will pick up a package of cookies in the grocery store and give it to their children to quiet them without paying for the product until they get to the checkstand, those that do that sort of thing defended, those that don't insisted that it's stealing and a bad example to your kids.

I belong to several mommy webgroups, I have seen contentious discussion between moms on every subject you can imagine. All out virtual wars about carseats, vacinations, breast vs. bottle feeding, down to whether a c-section makes you a non-believer in God (because if God is in control and you have a medical intervention then you are thwarting his plan for you and/or your child to die).

I don't understand the need to fight about everything. I honestly believe that MOST mothers love their children and they really are making the decisions that they believe are best for their children. We all have opinions. I breast feed...I love nursing my little Pumpkin and I have loved it since the begining (that didn't make it any easier when he split my nipple at 3 weeks old, but it did make me stick with it), I think that extended rear facing in the carseat is a good idea (but my kid HATES to be rear facing and does much better forward facing, so we are in the process of turning him at just 14 months, when I really wanted to go to at least 18 months rear facing), we are on a delayed vax schedule because that is what makes me comfortable and I'm his mommy! I have what I believe, I have done the best I can do, but I don't begrudge anyone else their choices either. As long as a parent is doing the best they can and their child is being fed, clothed and loved, I just don't understand why we can't be respectful of choices that are different than our own. The devisiveness in motherhood just makes me sad...I mean if it takes a village shouldn't we all be trying our best to help each other instead of tearing each other down? There is enough guilt in motherhood...do we have to pass it on?

I often think of a Michael McLean song I knew and loved growing up called Gentle (you can hear it here: http://www.ilike.com/artist/Michael+McLean):

Like a gentle wind can blow the clouds from the sky,

Like a gentle touch can ease the pain of goodbye,

Like a gentle smile embraces empty souls in lonely places,

We should be more gentle with ourselves.

Like the friend who gently builds us up when we're down,

Like a gentle kiss can turn our world all around,

We've been hurt by others often,

We've forgiven and forgotten,
We should be more gentle with ourselves.

Life can be hard but we need not be so hard on ourselves,

If we will see

Like the Shepherd leads his flock with gentle commands.

With his gentle voice that only hearts understand.

One thing we can know for certain,

He has borne the awful burdens so we can be more gentle with ourselves.
One thing that I know for certain:

He will bear my every burden,

So I can be gentle with myself.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just be more gentle with each other and with ourselves? Our Heavenly Father knows that parenting is hard, there are a lot of choices that just don't have a right answer for everyone, when we can learn to respect that we can have differences in parenting and still all be good parents, when we can be more gentle with each other and with ourselves, then maybe we can start to assuage some of the guilt that comes with being Mommy.

So excited...

2009-09-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Last year a mid-season replacement made a big splash in my heart. If you haven't seen ABC's Castle, you should check out the season two premier on Monday September 21 (that's tomorrow people)! Then, because you WILL be hooked, you should pick up season one on Tuesday when it is released on DVD! If you liked the short lived (but much loved cult favorite) Fox series Firefly and/or the movie Serenity, you will love Castle too, Nathan Fillion brings the same dry wonderful sense of humor that he brought to Mal to Castle (and the cute little sly smile too)!

Check it out, I will just be too sad if this show doesn't make it.

ETC(SW) Robert Eastman...yummy.

2009-09-18T23:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe just yummy for me.

It's been a long road. I'm sad I missed the ceremony (the ship is currently underway), but I am so glad that it is over and my Bobby is now officially a Chief...those of you that are not military would be surprised how excited I am to see him in that silly khaki uniform, those of you that know me well will not be surprised at how excited I am to get him out of it ;-p

I should really do this more often...

2009-09-18T12:39:00.001-07:00

So, I apparently suck at keeping up with a blog...I think it might be the microblogging on FB and Twitter (incidentally, I have put some recipes up in the past few weeks on FB because it's easier to put them up there than it is here)...

Bobby and I have lived through the induction season and he is officially a Chief now. I haven't seen him in his uniform yet (for those that don't know the uniforms change in the Navy when you make Chief, and it's kind of a big deal), they did the pinning ceremony underway and will not be home for a few days...I can't wait to see him.

I have a lot of things rolling around in my head that I want to blog about...some of them are just things I need to rant about, some of them are controversial...so I'm torn, can't decide if I want to put my thoughts out there or not. I think maybe I just need to let myself go and put it all out there...we'll see.

Been working on sleep training with Punk. All is going amazingly well at this point (it took a few weeks), he still fights naptime a bit, but he now goes to bed at night without so much as a whimper. I can tell that Punk is getting closer to weaning. He still enjoys nursing and LOVES his morning nurse, but during the rest of the day he is typically just too busy to be bothered. He does still nurse it's just struggle sometimes. He is growing SO fast, it makes me sad everyday to see my precious little baby slip away, but I have joy that comes with seeing my precocious little toddler emerging.

Bobby and I are preparing to go to the Temple this fall to be sealed together as a family. We had a date set and had everything scheduled, but it looks like the Navy may have stepped in the way of that plan, so we are trying to move it up to make it still happen this fall as opposed to having to put it off until next year. More details to come as we firm up plans.

Congratulations, I'm sorry.

2009-08-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's pretty much the way my life feels right now. Congratulations = Bobby made Chief, I'm sorry = the whole process of Chief induction. I sort of just hate the whole thing.

Plus, my mother-in-law is coming on Friday...there is just no way that this house is going to ready by then, but that is not stopping Friday from coming, nor is it stopping my mother-in-law from coming....grrr...

I just really need a break from EVERTHING today. I wish that I could get away with running off to get a massage, but I can't even schedule one because there is NO telling when Bobby will get home to watch Punk.

Luckily Punk is sleeping and I can get some laundry folded and a load of dishes in, if I get off the computer right now...so off I go.