Remember Me?

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post.

((hanging head in shame))

It's not for a lack of content to share with you guys... things have been nothing short of INSANE lately! There's so much to talk about, from school volunteering (can you say new PTA website, Facebook page management/advertising, fall festival planning, computer lab volunteer, reading to the class... the list goes on!) to work to family activities to play dates to church to house improvement tasks... Whew! And of course we can't forget hubs' birthday this weekend and Chase's 3rd birthday (whaaaa?!) in 2 weeks. Lots to do around here!

I promise I'll try to post more frequently from here on out. There are some fun and exciting things happening in our little piece of the world and I look forward to sharing some of it with you all soon (still top secret as the kids don't know yet, but can you think of any fun places with the initials "DW"??). YIPPEE!!!!!

But for today, I want to share some thoughts that have been pretty heavy on my heart lately. It's something we're all guilty of, whether we want to admit it or not. Not sure how much of the Bible you guys have read, but there's a resounding theme regarding judging others, and it can be summed up in a single word: don't. It's that simple. Take a look at a few of the scriptures I've provided below that I've spent time praying and meditating over during the past couple of weeks.

Matthew 7:1-5: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." 

Luke 6:37: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;" 

John 7:24: "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” 

James 4:11-12: "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?" 

James 4:12: "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?" 

Romans 2:1-3: "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?" 

Ephesians 4:29: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

Hellooooooo!!!

Well howdy, folks! For those of you who thought I'd given up on blogging and r-u-n-n-o-f-t to Paris by boat, SURPRISE! I'm still here.
((insert gasps of shock & awe here))
It goes without saying that just like every other blogger out there, I've been staying quite busy this summer and haven't made the time to blog. Shame, right? Right.

Geez. I was totally planning an awesome, awe-inspiring, comprehensive catch-up post but I'm just not feeling it tonight (side note: this may or may not have something to do with my recent MacBook Pro and Apple TV purchases, or perhaps the fact that I'm in the middle of a rather atypical stretch of working 36 hours over a 5-day period). Regardless of my beautifully amazing distractions, I'm not leaving you empty-handed! As your reward for reading this totally lame post, I've shared a little clip of Chase (and LO) saying a blessing before dinner tonight. Seriously, Chase totally cracks me up!!
Enjoy!

Just Sayin'...

June 17th, 2011: Mishap of Epic Proportions. For those of you not interested in linking to that post so you understand what I'm talking about, here's the synopsis, along with a photo for evidence purposes:

I went to Trader Joe's. I dropped my iPhone. The screen cracked. Slightly. :o|

Earlier this week, just barely over one year later. June 27th, 2012:

I went to Trader Joe's. I dropped my iPhone. The screen cracked. Slightlyish. :o/

Obviously I cannot be trusted with the combination of Trader Joe's, an iPhone and a parking lot.

Grrrrrrrr!!!!!

That is all.

Four(ish) Things

First of all, this has been happening a lot lately and I cannot get enough of it!

Granted it's extremely temporary, and only happens when there is entertainment provided via television.

I swear they smiled right after I took that photo. I think the unexpected flash got their attention, causing the "Whaaa?" look on their faces.

Secondly, I went to see Lady Antebellum (as well as Thompson Square and Darius Rucker) and LOVED it. I can't remember the last time I went to an actual live concert at an actual venue somewhere, but this one was very memorable! Great seats, a great friend, and amazing live music! YAY!

Seriously, our seats were awesome.

Darius Rucker! I didn't realize he was the lead singer from Hootie and the Blowfish until after my friend told me, and then all I could hear when he sang was Hootie. It was pretty cool. He even did one or two numbers from his Hootie days. Sweet!

You totally can't tell, but this stage has Thompson Square, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum on it. They did an incredible number that included all of them. Wicked awesome!

Thirdly, I am on a mission. Well, I'm attempting to be on a mission. One that involves healthier eating. Let me break it down for ya.

My kids eat dessert every day after lunch AND dinner. This is NOT a great habit to get them into (heard of the childhood obesity epidemic in our country??). Furthermore, their meals involve a good 80-90% processed foods with every meal. I mean, I'll add some fresh fruit and/or raw veggies on the side, but the feature is typically a PB&J, pizza, macaroni & cheese, or chicken nuggets with fries.

Mommy of the Year, yes?

((sigh))

It makes matters worse that mommy is typically partaking of the same fare as the kiddos. Healthy? Notsomuch. I've been trying/wishing/hoping somehow I could get the motivation and commitment to eating healthy, but it's never really stuck. I'm really hoping this ends now.

Long story short, I've had miserable, non-stop stomach pains since Sunday. Like the never-going-away-constant-dull-to-significant-pain in my belly. I couldn't help but attribute it to my body finally saying, "Enough is ENOUGH!"

Let's just say I'm pretty sure my darkest moment came Saturday night when my sweet friend and I had dinner before the Lady A concert. Let's just say we shared a dessert (quite likely large enough to serve a small crowd) that consisted of the following:

• A warm banana, encrusted with potato chips and deep fried (yes, potato chips and yes, deep fried);
• Ice cream;
• Whipped cream;
• Chocolate sauce;
• Caramel sauce;
• Strawberries.

Just imagine.

Let me help. Here's a pic from the restaurant's website...

OMG, right??

I was sitting there thinking, I cannot believe I am literally eating a banana that's been rolled in crushed potato chips and deep fried. Tasty and delicious? Sure. Healthy? Not even close.

Anywho, since I've been feeling miserable for a few days, I figure today I would start anew and try to eat only whole foods. I've been very successful -- for a day. We'll see if it can continue.

I know I didn't eat enough today but it's only because my stomach is still pretty upset. But I ate an apple around 10AM, then for lunch it was a few green grapes and the roast beef from Chase's sandwich (Arby's Junior Roast Beef -- he only eats the bread). I ate another apple around 2PM.

For dinner tonight, I made something that we've had often, but tonight I sort of recreated it using only whole foods. We used to do "taco night" with refried beans, loads of cheese, a ton of chips, taco shells, flour tortillas, etc. Not so whole foody, right?

Tonight I made ground beef, black beans (with onion, garlic and cilantro), lettuce, tomato and a tiny bit of cheese, with a side of grapes.

I used a smaller plate to make the portion size seem a bit larger, and promised myself beforehand that I wouldn't allow seconds. This worked out well today, again, because of my poor, ailing tummy.

Yummy, fresh, whole food! What a concept!

I'm already prepared for my late night snack attack (after the kids go to bed, so after 9PM -- the worst time to eat/gorge on sweet foods). Tonight it will be a banana or a small bowl of plain popcorn.

I plan to try to stick to my whole food focus (not diet), but I'm thinking breakfast and lunch will be much harder for me. Besides eggs, turkey bacon and oatmeal, I don't know what other options I have for breakfast (any ideas?). And lunch used to be whatever was quick and easy to make, but now I'm thinking it will involve some thought/planning. I already know tomorrow's lunch will be leftovers from tonight, which I'm super happy about.

I'm also planning to eliminate the desserts and baked goods (insert GASP! here). I told the kids we'd only have dessert on the weekends (Sat. and Sun.) and only after dinner. I think going from 14 weekly desserts to 2 is a pretty good improvement, right?

I will also be upping my water intake tremendously.

I'm pretty picky about food, so I'm not sure how well I'll do expanding my horizons and trying new foods that I previously wouldn't have ever considered. Take, for example, the fact that earlier tonight I quite literally googled, "how to learn to like eating fish." I figure fish is pretty healthy, but oh how I can't stand fish! Have I ever actually tried fish? No. But I don't like the idea of scales and skin and bones. I think I'll make it my goal to purchase, cook and eat fish ONE TIME before the end of 2012. I'll keep ya posted on that one. ;)

How much of your diet is real food vs. processed food? Have you ever wanted to incorporate healthier foods and habits to benefit yourself and/or your family? I would definitely recommend visiting Lisa Leake's blog 100 Days of Real Food for excellent resources pertaining to eating healthy, whole foods. She's got a ton of meal ideas and recipes that I'm certain I'll be referring to often!

My goal is to eat healthier, feel better, and set a better example for my kids (and husband). I'm hopeful that a little bit of weight loss will accompany these lifestyle changes, but I'm NOT making that my focus right now. The name of the game is getting healthy!

((Please note I didn't mention the evil word "exercise" in this post. That was on purpose. Exercise sucks. More on that later.))

Lastly, I'm taking this entire week off from work. It's wonderful! It's like life-before-my-part-time-job-got-in-the-way FUN! LO was VERY pleased to know I'll be home EVERY night this week -- to be able to eat dinner together as a family, to read her bedtime story(ies), etc. She hates it when I go to work but HURRAY for a whole week of family togetherness like it used to be!

Okay, one last thing... Speaking of time off from work, I was off this past Saturday so hubs and I (okay, mostly hubs) FINALLY put another day of work into cleaning up and organizing our garage. I'm happy to announce that ((...drumroll please...)) we can now officially park BOTH of our cars in the garage! Yay! Happy days!!

Okay, that's it for now. No, really. I'm out.

((sorry for the super-long post))

Now I'm out.

What's in My Amazon Shopping Cart??

One of my favorite food bloggers wrote a post today about what's in her Amazon shopping cart. I found it quite interesting to see what other foodies/moms/humans are pining for and decided to share a glimpse into my Amazon shopping cart (and/or Wish List) with you!

Here we go!

#1: Homes Styles Bordeaux Bakers Rack ($323.71) - This gorgeous bakers rack is the future home of my cookbook collection, a small lamp and maybe a little ivy plant of some sort, not to mention my tiny collection of "fancy glasses" and the wine bottles I use for cooking (not drinking). I'll stash some placemats and fabric napkins in those drawers, too. I have the perfect kitchen wall selected and have recently hung a family photo there so as to not stare at a blank wall that is screaming "Insert Bakers Rack Here!" every time I look at it. Patience, my dear self!

#2: Blumotion Hinge Adapter - 25 Pack ($77.49) - When we built the house, we didn't have the option to make any upgrades to the kitchen cabinets we selected. One of my must-haves (okay, so maybe "nice-to-haves") is these handy adapters that close your cabinet doors for you. ((Wow. I sound lazy.)) They just make it to where you can close the door and it won't ever slam -- it just closes with a soft, gentle close. Who wouldn't want such a thing?! And if we're being technical, we actually have 27 kitchen cabinets, but I'm thinking I can get by with this handy 25 pack. I rarely use the cabinets above the fridge anyway.

#3: Graviti Electric Salt & Pepper Mills ($39.95) - "Adding fresh-ground sea salt or pepper to food can be as effortless as a flip of the wrist. Invert these battery-operated mills over food, and their blades begin to whirl. Turn them upright, and the mechanisms shut off."

Such a fancy description (courtesy of Williams-Sonoma), but you get the gist. Me likey. And the fact that each one requires six (6) AAA batteries? Sort of astounding, huh?

#4: Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer with Storage Case ($71.33) - I don't always have the time nor the need to bust out my Kitchen-Aid for heavy-duty baking, so it'd be nice to have a high-power hand-held that I can rely on. I love how cute this one is (priorities, right?) and the ingenious storage case is a bonus, too! And of course we can all agree Cuisinart is a quality brand when it comes to kitchen appliances.

#5: All-Clad 3-Piece Canister Storage Set ($100.93) - Okay, I have to confess -- these kickin' canisters are no longer in my shopping cart. They're in a UPS box being Amazon Primed straight up to my door, arriving on Friday. I've been eyeing these for quite some time, and I finally decided to give in and pay a premium for pretty storage for my flour, sugar and brown sugar. I'd like to consider a second set for powdered sugar, chocolate chips and cocoa, but I don't think I could get hubs on board with that idea. I can't wait to see these beauties sitting on my kitchen counter! Now I'm thinking I ought to search for a set of All-Clad pots & pans to match!

#6: Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving ($19.77) - I think the crazy-long title says it all, right? If my passion involves a lot of baking (and sampling, of course!), it just makes sense to find "healthier" dessert recipes to try out. I'm a big fan of Nick Malgieri's work (his Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from this book are TASTY!) so I'm sure this cookbook would be a valuable addition to my collection.

#7: They're Real! Mascara ($22.00) - I'm always on the hunt for an amazing mascara, and this is one I have yet to try. The reviews are pretty mixed -- some say it's the best while others claim it's no better than some random drugstore brands. I'd like to see for myself!

For those of you who made it this far, let me just say that I am desperate to share some pics of our kitchen backsplash!! However, we just (finally) grouted it a few days ago, which means we just now (yesterday) caulked it and we still need to seal the grout and replace the outlet covers. Until those tiny little remaining tasks are complete, I'm not ready to share the big reveal. Just know that it is in fact GORGEOUS. And I do love it dearly. And I'm beyond stoked to share it with you!

700th Post!!!

Howdy, folks! I am BEYOND thrilled to share with you that yesterday, my post regarding the arrival of my precious, beautiful new GE Cafe' dual-fuel range, was in fact my 700th POST on this blog!

What the what-what??

Seriously! How crazy is that!? If you would've asked me almost 4 years ago when I was complaining about a waaaaay undercooked steak that this little online outlet o' mine would see it's 700th post, I would've called you crazy! And yet, here we are!

For the record, this is about how big LO was when I started this blog:

She was actually just under a year old when I started. The pic above is from her 1st birthday party, which was about a month or so after I wrote my first post here on Just Another Day...

And here's my big, almost-5-year-old girl at a play date with one of her friends from school last week:

And, of course, we have also added this little miracle munchkin to the family since the blog's inception:

And let's not forget our newest addition, which will be official in just 11 short days:

What a journey it's been over these past 4 years! Thanks to all of you who hung in there with me, laughed with me through the highs and encouraged me through the lows. You readers rock! Both of you! ;)

Just Some Stuff

Just a little heads-up, folks. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, which, I guess is really just the tiny percentage of those of you who actually know me in "real life," I deactivated my Facebook account last week for an undetermined length of time. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I've always hated the way that Facebook takes the place of face-to-face relationships, and I guess I'm just to the point where I don't care about it anymore. I'm never really on there anyway, and honestly it really just duplicates utilizing a Twitter feed in my opinion. I love to check Twitter, but I rarely check Facebook. I like the daunting task of putting all of your thoughts or activities into 140 characters or less. It keeps things interesting. ;)

So anywho, if you want to know what I'm up to, please feel free to jump on Twitter and follow me!

((check out the link over there on the right ----------->))

I'm also wasting spending time on Pinterest, too, so you can follow me there if you'd like, too.

---

The correct microwave was installed at the house today. See?

Yay! Unfortunately, the beautiful range I can't wait to finally see in my new kitchen has not yet arrived. :( I believe it should be in this week, and I'm dying to see how it looks!

---

One other random thing to share... Last week, hubs and I went to a cooking demonstration at a local kitchen store. It was our first time doing such a thing, and it was on a wonderful subject: homemade pasta and sauces. Perfect! I was looking forward to learning a lot and enjoying some tasty dishes!

Unfortunately, the chef spent more time talking about his recently published romance novel than he did about the correct technique for rolling out pasta dough. But that wasn't the worst of it. He made NO/ZERO/ZILCH/NADA references whatsoever to any form of cleanliness/sanitation/hand-washing. He had bunches of basil leaves in bowls on each table, and asked the class to pull the leaves off for the pesto. There were at least a dozen people doing this and NONE of them washed their hands first. Then, the basil was tossed into the pesto without so much as a quick rinse!

As if that weren't enough, the chef also invited folks in the class to come up one at a time to assist him with rolling out the dough and preparing the filled pastas, with ZERO hand washing. My stomach kept turning with every person who approached the counter and started (quite literally) pulling pasta over their heads with their unwashed hands.

What topped it off for me was seeing this "professional" chef take his glass of red wine, which he had been drinking from, and toss the half-empty glass into the tomato sauce.

Seriously. Gross.

Please tell me at least some of you have some level of disgust at this so I know I'm not alone in Crazyville. OMG. It was awful. Of course I tried to overlook it and not think about it, and tried each of the pasta dishes and sauces. But they weren't even that good! Ugh. It wasn't the most helpful class, and honestly I'd have better luck pulling a recipe from Pinterest than using any of his recipes.

In true ((mom2lo)) fashion, I sent an email to the kitchen store's owner with some feedback from our experience at the cooking demonstration. She was VERY grateful for my feedback and said she had already heard similar complaints from her staff that worked with the guest chef that evening. She was so incredibly generous to refund our class tuition (almost $100 bucks!) AND offer a gift card to use towards a future class or to shop in her store. How unexpected and very thoughtful! It made me feel better to know that I wasn't the only one with the "issues" and that it sounded like she wouldn't be bringing that particular chef back to lead cooking demonstrations in her store any longer.

Tell me... would you have been thinking the same things throughout a cooking class if you witnessed the same disregard for food handling and sanitation by a "professional" chef?? Eeew.

Yay, March!

Yay for March! We're moving this month! Woot!!!

Not much exciting to report though. Kind of like I'm sitting still watching paint dry. I guess figuratively that's about right, though. Touch up painting is about all that's left for the crew to do to the new house. Well, and install the correct appliances, which should be done on Monday.

Everything else at the house is pretty much DONE! Now the sitting and waiting begins. HAHA! As if there is any sitting going on right now. I'm in high-gear packing mode now, and our house is finally starting to look like we're preparing for a move. All of the packed boxes are being placed in the garage and the house is slowly getting sparse. I'm loving this opportunity to go through our things to donate items we don't use anymore and throw out old, broken junk that somehow managed to accumulate over the years.

I'm still trying to finalize window treatments for the new house. Blinds only? Maybe some Roman shades? Ugh. I love the look of Roman shades but I've never owned or operated one, and I'm worried about whether or not they'd stand up to the wear and tear of use. For instance, I think I'd love to put them in the morning room where we have 3 windows side-by-side, but I know I'm going to want to let a lot of that natural light in fairly often, and I don't know how well a Roman shade would handle that versus just tilting the slats on some blinds. I'm pretty sure I'll do these 2" Faux Wood Privacy Blinds throughout the majority of the house, but probably these 1" Faux Wood Blinds on the french doors in the morning room. You truly can't beat a deal that includes Buy 3 Get 1 Free PLUS 30% off the entire order AND free shipping.

Like I said, nothing too exciting to report here. Just trying to get all my lists organized, the boxes packed and somehow keep the kids entertained while I'm at it. I'm glad the weekend is here, because I'm really looking forward to enjoying it now that I'm FINALLY over the strep and other viruses that have plagued me for almost an entire month! Apparently the third antibiotic was the charm and I'm so back to myself again -- it's great! Tonight hubs and I have a super-awesome date night planned, complete with dinner for two downtown and a play at our local theatre! I've got to work Saturday but only until 4pm, so I'll have the evening free to spend with my family. Then Sunday we've got hubs' parents and sister, BIL and the cutest niece EVER coming to our (wreck of a) house to celebrate my FIL's birthday. LO wrapped his present tonight (omg -- the Type A obsessive in me about DIED but I wanted to let HER do it all by herself... so wow.) and put it with the card she had made for him a few days ago. I'm so looking forward to it!

Next week it'll be time to buckle down and get serious about this move. Only 2 weeks and 3 days left!

Project Paci: Night #1

Chase has two pacis. An orange one and a blue one. He only gets them at nap time and at bedtime. And at any doctor's appointments that involve echos or vaccines. Lately he's been wanting to keep the paci after nap time and wander around the house with it in his mouth, or he'll ask for it mid-morning when he'd not even due for a nap. I had previously planned to rid him of the paci in December, but didn't quite get around to it with the other things on our plate at that time. Fast-forward to yesterday: I was ready to give it a go!

It was about time for bed, and Chase was sitting on my lap on the couch. My mom (aka "Mona") was leaving after dropping off some soup for her sickly daughter when I gave Chase his orange paci, complete with the very tip of it snipped off (thus causing it to lose suction).

Here's his take on his first experience with his "new" paci (pardon all the chatter in the background):



Just a few seconds later... (again, please pardon the background discussion with LO and trying to get her to listen to her daddy and not get in the way of my filming, etc.). ;)



Tell me, don't you just love the way he keeps chewing on the paci, taking it out, looking it over, sticking his finger in it, and overall being puzzled by the events? And I about DIED laughing when he gave it back to me and asked for his "blue paci" -- which had already been snipped as well. Haha!

We put him to bed as usual, and he kept the paci in during story time (mostly by chomping his teeth down on it instead of sucking on it), and he was of course over by his door, talking/whining/crying under the door within 2 minutes of turning out the light and closing his door. We pretty much ignored him and -- believe it or not -- he was totally quiet after a mere 5-10 minutes.

Unbelievable!!!

I'm so proud of him! The best part is that he slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT without getting up or crying once, and he slept in this morning until after 8AM! WOOT!!!!!

So proud of my little guy! Can't wait to see how he handles nap time this afternoon, and whether or not tonight will be as easy as last night was. Overall I'm extremely impressed! This boy NEVER ceases to amaze me!!!

Way to go, Chase!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. On a completely unrelated note... I think potty training is just around the corner! Of course I'll wait until we're comfortably settled into our new home before starting, but I expect we'll give it a go over the summer. Yay!!!

An Admission...

Okay, folks. It's time I come clean here.

I have a bit of a crush on all things Top Chef.

This includes, but is not limited to, the great Tom Colicchio.

As a Top Chef junkie, I find myself intrigued by making simple food from a few good, quality ingredients. Tom has a like mind, which he emphasized in my latest Amazon purchase:

I loved reading about Tom's early days in the kitchen, from helping the family as a young boy, to running restaurants throughout New Jersey and New York. His thoughts on cooking are simple and easily translate to the home cook. I look forward to trying out some of his recipes and techniques. He inspires me to want to take some cooking classes to hone my skills even further. I've always loved baking but now I'm feeling the itch to develop my cooking skills. I mean, there's only so much you can do with a can of cream of mushroom soup, right people? I've been amazed at the flavors that develop when you cook from scratch, too. I'm so addicted!

I would like to clarify, however, that I am NOT a fan of a certain Top Chef judge's unsightly unibrow...

Here's hoping "Hugh's $100,000 Eyebrow Challenge" is a success and they raise enough money to rid the world of The Hughnibrow's distracting mess! Haha!

Laundry Soap

As long as I can remember, I've been a fan of using either Fab or Gain laundry detergent along with Downy fabric softener. It's just been the winning combination that has worked best for my family. Recently, however, I've considered the idea of making my own laundry soap! Gasp!! And yes, there's a good chance that Pinterest has been a very strong influence in said decision. Regardless, I found a super easy and very cheap "recipe" for laundry soap and decided to give it a go.

Oh my word! It was SO easy! And I was able to find all of the ingredients at Walmart... for a total of about $20 bucks.

Photo by beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com

Now I have this massive container of laundry soap that literally takes about 1 Tbsp. per load. I can see this soap lasting for a very long time! The blogger who posted this recipe said it took NINE (9) MONTHS to go through ONE BATCH of this stuff! You do the math! ;)

I've been pleasantly surprised by this soap. It cleans really well, both in warm and cold water. It has a very mild scent that combines nicely with my Downy fabric softener. And it really was so easy to make! Literally you just shred the Fels-Naptha soap (I used my food processor -- it was quick and easy, and cleaned right up!) and dump all the items into a large container. I gave it a bit of a stir and voilà! Fabulously awesome laundry soap that'll probably last me close to a year. How exciting! And thrifty!!

Let me know if you decide to give it a try. It's so economical and it's also nice to know that there aren't any weird additives or funky needless perfumes/dyes in my laundry soap. :)

Flashback!

Hahahahahaha!!!!

Last night at bedtime I decided to switch things up for LO a bit. Before reading her a book (technically, she's usually the one reading to me now), I told her we were going to enjoy a video book! She was super excited, as was I. Thanks to the power of YouTube, I busted out a blast from MY past...

She-Ra, Princess of Power

It's an audio book of "Glimmer of Hope" -- one of my favorite She-Ra books from my childhood. I was a serious She-Ra fan. I'd draw She-Ra and her rockin' white and gold mini-dress and gold ear-wings, I'd pretend the arm of the couch was Swift Wind and would hold my foil-covered cardboard sword aloft and say,

"For the honor of Grayskull, I am She-Ra!"

LO and I watched the short video together, and she even asked questions about Princess Adora and the Glitterbugs. It was so freakin' entertaining and hilarious and cool at the same time!

Here's the video for your viewing/flashbacking pleasure... :)

Where's the Post?

Okay, so it's 10:29 PM on Sunday, January 1, 2012, and I just started feeling guilty about not having a fresh, new post ready to hit the blog Monday morning. So I thought I'd share a cool YouTube video with you guys. Only I logged into my YouTube account, and it doesn't seem I've uploaded anything exciting recently. And no new video gems on my iPhone, either.

Poo.

Then I thought I should maybe do a fantastic recap post of 2011, sharing about what we experienced over the past 12 months. But did I mention it's 10:29 PM already? And I'm tired. So apparently no really awesome 2011 recap post will be happening after all.

Poo.

Oooh! Then I figured I'd just post some amazing new pictures of my kids! Everyone loves pictures of my kids, right? Haha! Only, too bad. I don't have any awesome new pictures to share, either.

Poo.

I guess I'll just wish everyone a Happy 2012 and raise my imaginary glass of sparkling white grape juice to both of my blog readers and wish you all a happy, healthy and love-filled year! Thanks for sticking with me and for joining us on our journey. You guys rock.

Oh, and P.S. My resolution (along with 80 million other people) is to lose weight this year. Ya'll will help me with that, right???

Breeze

I SO love the fact that we can cruise with the windows down in December. I love living in the south! Obviously the kids were loving the breeze, too! :)

LO's face especially cracks me up...

And I love Chase's new hairdo in this one...

Happy December, y'all!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

This is what 9:40 PM on Christmas Eve Eve looks like for me:




Workin' 'til midnight, then back in tomorrow morning at 6:45 AM on Christmas Eve. Realized earlier when I left for work that it'd be 24 hours before I'd see my kids again. But I'm looking forward to squeezing every ounce of Christmas cheer for the weekend starting tomorrow at 4pm! Woot!

Merry early Christmas! Hug those loved ones of yours extra tight!!!


Posted from my iPhone

Shots n' Stuff

Today is Chase's 2nd round of Synagis for the season. Poor fella gets a shot in each leg once a month through March to help protect him from a nasty virus called RSV. Typically kids with a special heart like Chase get these injections until they're 2. However, as those of you who know us well may agree, we've never been ones to follow protocol and do things "just because they tell us to." So we inquired about it and got approval from our insurance company to complete another round. So this will be Round 3 for our little guy. His cardiologist basically said IF you can get it, go for it! Haha! I'm not sure there's anything we CAN'T do when it comes to caring for our son. We are his only advocates and we take our job very seriously. Especially since he ended up with RSV back in March of this year and it seriously was just a temp and a yucky cough. It didn't require hospitalization, breathing treatments, or anything more serious than some Tylenol, lots of rest and a very patient mommy to get through it!

My poor boy... he has no idea what he's in for today! ;)

Other than some shots for my boy, I'm hoping to finish up some homemade Christmas gifts and wrap my last few gifts today. All this before working 5p-12a tonight! Sheesh! Same shift tomorrow night, too. I wanna know who's great idea it was to keep the mall open so late the week before Christmas? Are you guys seriously waiting until the very last minute to do your shopping? Are you seriously planning to head to the mall at 11pm to finish buying those last few gifts? Procrastinators always make me smile. :)

Anywho, enough randomness for one morning. I hope all of you are getting things done and are all kinds of prepared for your Christmas festivities with your family and friends!

Hi!

Can anyone tell me how in the world it can possibly be mid-December already?? Geez! I don't know where the time has gone! I guess now that I'm working part-time, I've lost all sense of time and honestly never have a clue what day of the week it is. Life is based on days LO is in school and days she is not. Happiness these days is actually finding time for ME to take a nap during the day.

There's a lot going on around here -- plenty of stuff to keep us busy! I'm sure that's the case with most people this time of year, but we've got a little extra added onto our plate that I'm not going to share just yet. In due time (NO, we're NOT expecting)...

LO is almost 4 1/2. How?? My goodness. It's like she's 14 already. She's reading like nobody's business these days. I've found some preschool books that were Level 1s, which are waaaay behind her skill level. So now we're on Level 2 books and she's tearing through 'em. I swear she'll be reading on a 2nd grade level before starting K5 next fall. Weird. But this girl's biggest issue these days is listening, or more accurately, NOT listening. It drives me crazy. I don't get it! Why do we have to repeat ourselves 12 times and even then she doesn't do (or stop doing) what we've asked. Man, does she ever love to irritate the crap out of Chase. I'm guessing that's normal? Being the youngest of 4 girls, I at least can recognize the fact that older siblings pick on younger siblings. I think that's just a part of nature. But I feel like there's an added bonus that Chase is a boy that LO gets a bigger kick out of it. I dunno. It's really annoying, though!

But she can sure look so sweet and innocent sometimes, right?

Chase is a handful of lovey goodness! Hubs and I absolutely LOVE this age. He just turned 2 in October and has started talking up a storm! I knew it was only a matter of time before his speech came around. Honestly I think he's been choosing to hold back to annoy us -- haha! He can say just about anything and will repeat everything he hears. He is the cutest! I'm so hoping he doesn't go from the sweet and lovely 2s into an obnoxious 3 year old like his sister did. I remember she was sweet and lovely... once upon a time. Hubs and I are enjoying every second with Chase and are trying to squeeze the sweetness out since I'm sure he'll be a wild and rambunctious boy within the next year or two... ((sigh))

I pretty much melt when I see this face.

So Christmas shopping went fabulously for me this year (I *heart* Amazon) and I'm about 98% done. The presents are already wrapped and under the tree (minus the ones from the Big Guy himself, which are wrapped and stowed away in a secret hiding spot). We're looking forward to spending time with my family on Christmas Eve and hubs' family on Christmas Day. I'm also looking forward to our Christmas morning service at church because it will be the last time I play the piano. Not that I'm excited about that being over (because I'm NOT), but excited about what God has in store for my family in the months and years ahead.

I've been doing quite a bit of baking lately, but I'm really interested in trying out some new recipes. Anyone have anything special they make during the holidays? I'd love some cookie recipes, but also some yummy meal ideas would be swell. Me and my crockpot are **tight** these days so if you have any to-die-for crockpot recipes, send 'em my way!!

I hope your holiday plans and activities are going well! I'm grateful for those of you who take the time to check in on us every once in a while. I have to say my favorite thing is not having a reason to HAVE to blog (i.e. doctor visit updates, surgeries, etc.). It's such a blessing to have a healthy 2-year-old, and even though I know that Fontan is looming in 2012 (most likely), I can't help but focus on NOW. It's my favorite time of the year! Time with my family during the holidays... the best gift of all!

I'll be back soon -- I promise! ;)

Blog Overhaul

My blog is in major need of a fresh look for Fall. Anyone interested in busting out a free Fall blog overhaul? Haha! I think I know the answer to that! Grrr... I'll add this to my To Do list and hope it happens... eventually. ;)

Little Things

It's the little things that make me happy. I finally ditched my massive Otterbox iPhone case for a fun, cute lil new one:


Now, this case really isn't "me," but my girl likes pink/purple and my boy is all about monkeys. So from that perspective, ya, I guess this case really IS "me."

Told ya -- it's the little things! ;)


Posted from my iPhone

Whaa? A Blog Update? Finally!

Okay, so here I am again posting another "update" blog post because I've just been too darn busy to post here more regularly. I'm so sorry! But as it probably is with your busy life, too, things have been non-stop for us lately! I can barely catch my breath! I'm squeezing in a few spare moments to put up this post while also doing laundry, creating a new website, fielding calls about an event I'm planning this weekend for 250 people in Charleston, and 1,200 other things I can't begin to describe at this very moment. My brain cells are running on empty so I'll keep this short n' sweet.

Here's what my lovely kiddos have been up to recently.

Chase and I went to a park to play while LO was at school. It was an epic fail though, because it was about 30 minutes away from our house and, lo and behold, CLOSED for remodeling when we got there. I was totally bummed. But Chase and I wandered the baseball fields and Frisbee golf course for a while so it didn't feel like such a loss. He's so cute. :)

LO starting playing her first ever "organized" team sport: SOCCER! She's super excited about it, and I'm really glad she'll have a chance to run off the overwhelming excess amount of energy she somehow stores up each day. Here she is trying on her soccer stuff.

She had her first practice Monday night. As you can see, Chase wasn't to be left out of the spotlight. He showed us he has some mad soccer skills as well. See?

Now for the fun stuff -- the videos!!! Here's a short clip of LO practicing with her team. If you ask me, she's got a little bit of an athelete in her!



This one is hilarious! You gotta watch it full screen and keep your eye on LO. The whole team has to run to the pile of balls on the opposite end of their field and bring them back to the coach. The first one back gets to be the "helper" at Wednesday's practice. LO got a late start (she's almost NEVER paying attention), but seems to be making up ground. She grabs her ball, turns to run back and <> she gets knocked down by another avid ball-seeker. But she picks herself up and gallops runs back as instructed. Precious!



I was at our local Costco today picking up some bottled water for our big Palmetto Hearts reunion event this weekend. I had to bring my momma with me because she's a current Costco member. I, however, am a former Costco member. I realized after our 2 hours in Costco why my husband didn't want to renew our membership. That durn store is DANGEROUS! Let's just say a vat o' goldfish, more gummy vitamins than any human should require, a toy storage/organizer, jumbo Mr. Potato Head, 2 books and a 2T monkey outfit later, we were finally ready to leave the store. I now understand that it wasn't the $50 annual membership fee that hubs wasn't wanting to keep paying... it was the minimum $150 Costco shopping sprees he was wanting to eliminate. Ooops!

But let me at least attest to the fact that I didn't go crazy-overboard. Case in point? The most adorable, BIGGEST stuffed Mickey Mouse I've ever seen! Even LO was in love with it at first sight.

In the meantime, Chase was sporting around on a Lightening McQueen ride-on toy.

That is, until he saw his glorious, larger-than-life friend, Mickey Mouse. OhMyWord! This child for whatever reason has fallen head over heels in love with Mickey Mouse! So much, in fact, that I'm 99.9% sure his 2nd birthday next month will have a Mickey Mouse theme. He hugged Mickey. He kissed Mickey. It was unbearably sweet! But did I purchase the almost $40 stuffed animal? Nooooooo! As much as it killed me, I left Mickey there with his other Clubhouse friends... vowing to somehow figure out a way to get that guy to show up at Chase's birthday party in his gift stash!  ((ahem... family? friends? anyone?))  :)

 

Last weekend we surprised the kids with a trip to see Sesame Street Live. We took LO when she was about 1 1/2, so we thought Chase would really enjoy it, too. He LOVES "cookie" and "melmo" so off we went for a fun morning out with the kids!

As you can see, Chase wasn't too sure about those larger-than-life furry monsters.

But he quickly found the show to be quite enjoyable!

LO was having a great time, too1

We were in the 2nd row on the floor in front of the stage, so the view was awesome!

Our Sesame Street friends!

Life is much better with a little Elmo to chew on during the performance...

Yay!

Big Bird!

Wow! This show is even MORE fun when there's FOOD involved! Yum!

Our new friends!

Confetti and streamers after the big finale. LO loved it!

So there. That's a tiny glimpse into what we've been up to over the past few weeks. Of course LO's started K4 a few weeks ago, and I'm the Room Coordinator for her class. Lots of volunteer stuff to organize. And I'm apparently her soccer team's Manager, which really just means the organized person who sends email reminders to parents about games and jersey colors. And I'm working on a new website for Palmetto Hearts. And I'm coordinating our Palmetto Hearts Pediatric Cardiology Reunion in Charleston this weekend. And I started my part-time job a few weeks ago. And I've got Chase's 2nd birthday party to start putting together. And did I mention I'm also forming a CHD Support Group for the families in my area? And somebody is still supposed to do the laundry, cleaning and cooking around the house. Oh, was that supposed to be me? ((sigh)) Our cupboards are so bare it's not even funny. Guess I'd better get back to work!

Thanks for your patience and continued blog support! Sorry I've been so lame lately, but I hope I'll do better soon! :)