Friday, January 30, 2009

Random Bits

First off, some silliness from the homefront:

I swear our daughter is trying to make up her own language. She frequently asks me, "Mommy, do you know what -insert random string of sounds here- means?" and then reveals the definition. Some examples (bear with me on the spelling! :) ~
  • attoobo - playing video games in the living room
  • blurkfoha - walking on ice
  • kinnentraction - having to put all your toys away

Yesterday morning, while I was calmly drinking coffee and sorting paperwork, she took a break from playing Polly Pocket to enlighten me further. She asked me what fornicate meant. I choked on my coffee. And then she told me that's when a Mommy says to slow down. Yep, I'm all for slowing down on the fornicating! (insert eye roll here)

Speaking of our daughter, I haven't posted any gratuitous cuteness in awhile, so let me share these few I snapped yesterday. BTW, it's officially now been a year since her brother cut her hair. I've trimmed it several more times, but it really is getting quite long. I'm really disappointed that the curls have vanished, though.

In other news, a boy in our son's class at school recently broke his arm, and now D is constantly thinking he's broken. He slipped on some ice coming home yesterday, and he said his knee was broken. He caught his hand on the toybox lid - and yes, he broke his finger. The one that really cracked me up, though, is when he came to me crying just before dinner. He and his sister bumped heads, and he was quite convinced she'd broken his brain. Oh, the things these kids come up with!

In other son news, he's currently having his first "team sport" experience. We had talked about signing him up for t-ball this spring, but with the move on the horizon we decided to hold off (practice 2 nights a week plus games on the weekend? Nah, too much already squeezed into the schedule). We found out about a basketball program at Salvation Army that seemed pretty good, though: 6 Saturdays, 1 hour each, 30 minutes instruction then 30 minutes of game (although they don't keep score). He's halfway through, and he's enjoying it although I don't know how much he's actually "getting." He's in the 5-7 age bracket, so is the 2nd youngest on his team. The only kid who is younger hasn't actually played yet, as he prefers to sit in the corner and play with the orange cones. Anyway, he's having a hard time with the dribbling, and when he goes to shoot, he doesn't just bend his knees a bit to add a bit of power to his shot - no, he bends so far that his hiney is nearly touching the ground. The coach has been working on everyone keeping their hands up for defense, but D was so thoroughly confused that he was just running around the court looking as though he was being held up. It is so much fun to watch! I really need to post a few pics of him, too. Soon, soon...

One last kid story - as I headed upstairs to shower this morning, the kids were very nicely playing a game with "Word Girl" on in the background. When I came back down, they were sitting on the floor with big, red grins. Guilty grins. They'd eaten an entire container of strawberries (on sale this week at ShopRite 2/$4!) Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled but I did find it very hard not to start laughing at the looks on their faces.

Finally, I have a couple links that I thought I'd pass along (all of which happen to be from Blissfully Domestic): DIY Green Cleaning (using stuff you generally have on hand anyway!), making a very cool personalized playmat from a shower curtain (D is past this now, but he would've loved it!), online swap services, and Weekly Dinner menu plans (complete with linked recipes and shopping list).

Allrighty, I'm outta here!! Off to pack up more of our we-won't-need-this-for-a-couple-months stuff...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Catch-Up, and an attitude adjustment

So here we are again... Monday. Nearly done with the first month of '09. Holy shnikees! Where has the time gone?!

We've officially started packing. Granted, it's only a couple boxes, but the reality of moving is actually begining to sink in. The process is still slow and painful, with my hoarding nature rebelling at each item being passed along or discarded. There's so much I need to do so we can dig into the deep cleaning, painting, etc. Our new president has been sworn in, and the level of hero-worship is just mind-boggling (did you happen to see this?). I'm afraid our daughter is getting a cold (although her little alien frog voice does make me giggle), and I feel "off" as well. My weight loss has plateaud - probably a little something to do with the fact that I've been snacking incessantly (and then I feel lousy about my lack of self-control... think I'll console myself with half a bag of pretzels!) All in all, I've just been a grump.

So I opened my email today and learned I'd been given The Lemonade Award from my friend Shay: "The concept of the Lemonade Award is quite simple. It is all about finding people that display a great attitude and/or gratitude. In this day and time, that is very important to have."

Smack. Yep, that's the sound of conviction :)

Last week, Amy shared some great insights from a Beth Moore study she's doing. I starred it in google reader so I could go back and read it when I had a bit more time. Well, this morning I took the time, and these few sentences really jumped out at me:

I need to remember that God has me in a position way beyond my capability so that I will be at His absolute mercy, realizing that only He can succeed.....never me - especially in my own strength. Sincerity and sweat will never suffice! Good intentions will always result in failure.

So, so true. An excellent reminder that it's ALL ABOUT HIM. As I was thinking about all this, I puleld out my Bible (something I haven't done often enough lately) and read the last chapter of I Chronicles. David has gathered things for the temple (which he'd wanted to build himself) and the kingship is being transferred to his son Solomon. Frankly, there are some things he could really be whining about, but this time he gets it right:

David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you." (I Chronicles 29:10-18)

Wow. Now THAT'S the attitude I need to have!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Son Update



Our son's fever was still holding steady around 101.5 come Saturday (the third day straight), plus he was complaining that his ear hurt. I called the pediatrician, and he advised me to take him to the ER. Not the way I was planning to spend my Saturday evening, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?! I packed him up and headed out into the C-O-L-D and drove up to the "good" hospital. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long, and I found out that it was indeed a wise decision to bring him in. He had strep/scarlet fever (same bacteria causes it all - he'd said his throat hurt on Thursday, but he wasn't complaining nearly enough to make me think strep. And the full-body rash was just lovely!) plus a double ear infection. As we were waiting in the room for the results of the throat culture, he was looking around for words he knew, and then started writing down various things. This lovely phrase is courtesy of the needle disposal unit mounted on the wall... clearly a word every 5 YO should know!

No school today. The med is definitely working, and he's going a bit stir crazy. We did have a moment of excitement this morning when he finally lost his first tooth. He'd noticed it was loose a couple weeks ago, and he's been alternately excited and terrified. It finally fell victim to an English muffin today, and he was excitedly running around the house, waving it like a big ol' trophy. The one next to it is barely hanging on, so he looks rather funny as he has one crooked tooth in the middle of the gap (and the new ones are already breaking through). And now he wants it to "change into money" :)

Friday, January 16, 2009

Food Talk

Since I've been cooped up in the house, I concocted a pan of crazy cabbage stoup (is it stew or soup?) last night, and baked up a batch of pumpkin muffins this morning. Yum! Thought I'd share some of the foodie love...

1 lb ground pork
1 med onion, chopped
1 can creamed corn (14.75 oz)
2 c V-8 juice
2 c chicken broth (or 1 can broth, with water added to get to 2 c)
2 c water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can fat free-beef gravy (10.5 oz)
4 tsp cumin
4 tsp chili powder
1 med head cabbage, chopped
2 can pink beans, drained and rinsed (15.5 oz each)

In large stock pot, brown pork and drain off excess fat. When meat is mostly browned, add the onion and cook until it becomes a bit translucent. Add all remaining ingredients, and simmer for at least an hour. Add additional water if it seems too thick. (I know some of these ingreds may seem a bit odd, but I promise it really is tasty. My kids even asked for seconds!) 8 servings, 5 WW points each

I found a simple pumpkin muffin recipe over here (lots of other good stuff there - definitely worth checking out!) and tweaked it a bit to create these:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
3/4 c mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients, and pour into prepared muffin pan (batter will be quite thick). Bake at 350 for 18 minutes. 24 muffins, 3 WW points each

BTW, for anyone else doing WW or just trying to eat healthier in general, have you checked out SparkPeople? I have pre-paid for the next couple weeks with WW, but have set up a SP profile and plan to check out their various forums and just get more familiar with the site. It's free, so obviously that's a HUGE advantage over WW, plus getting to meetings has become something of an issue. We'll see what happens... They also have a very cool Recipe Calculator tool if you want to figure out points on something you make; also lots of great recipes on this sister site!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

COOOOLD and yuckiness

We're being affected by that enormous "arctic air mass" (can you tell I've been watching too many weather forecasts?) and while I know that lots of people are much colder than we are, I'm still awfully chilly. And very, VERY thankful for a warm house, fuzzy socks, and hot food.

On another note, it seems I caught some sort of stomach bug earlier this week. I'm feeling better today, but our son is now down for the count. He went to bed complaining that his throat hurt - then slept until 8 this morning. Trust me when I say that is not normal! He said his head hurt, plus his temp was over 100, so no school for him today... And if I'm honest, I must admit that I didn't feel too badly about staying in the aforementioned warm house :)

Now D is generally a rather cuddly kid, but when he's not feeling well it goes to another level. As I was described it to my hubby earlier today, "He's glued to my armpit!" Anyhoo, I detached for a few moments by promising to provide lunch, and this is the scene I found a couple minutes later. How adorable is that?!? Gotta treasure these fleeting moments...

Monday, January 12, 2009

"Big Girl"

Our daughter grew attached to "blankie" before she was a year old. These were the burp rags that I used with both kids (a cheapie pack of 12 cloth diapers), and for some reason she really latched onto them. She also sucks her thumb - but only when she has blankie.

She toddled around with them, and I was thankful to have multiples so that I could at least launder them and rotate the stash :) Somewhere around 2 1/2, blankie was limited to the bed. A few months ago, we began preparing her for the next milestone: when she turned 4, the blankie would go away.

I took this picture on Saturday - the last night she slept as a 3 YO. Yesterday she turned all the blankies over to us. She went to sleep OK, but woke up in the middle of the night crying. We talked about it this morning. She said she was still a little sad not to have her blankie, but very proud that she's a "big 4 girl" now.

Yep, my "baby" is definitely growing up...

Friday, January 9, 2009

Friday Funny



Gotta love Weird Al - and who doesn't enjoy a good palindrome?!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Overheard this morning...

Our son announced to his sister: "I don't like girls. Except for mommy. Oh, and you."

I'm OK with that :)

Monday, January 5, 2009

We now return to our regularly scheduled lives...

We had a wonderful time over Christmas, but I must admit I was sort of glad to send hubby off to work and our son to school today. The house is much quieter (our daughter is up in her room playing, so I have this level all to myself!) and I can beging to get back into a routine. Our son was ready to get back, too; on Saturday, he came to me and very sadly announced that he missed his friends, and ended up sitting on my lap crying. I felt so bad for him, and at the same time I couldn't help but think I needed to savor the moment as he'd sought me out... Anyway, after he was deposited at school, A and I ran a couple errands, and now we're home. I'm washing ALL the bedding today, plus continuing on my my quest to purge and organize. I have the back of our station wagon loaded with garbage bags full of clothes (which I'm taking to MOPS tomorrow), and will also be stopping by Salvation Army before Weight Watchers on Wednesday. Whew! And my reward for being a good girl? Well, I get to go to a 12 hour crop on Saturday. Paper playtime = Trish bliss :)