Baby chef cooks semlor

Baby Chef





Fat Tuesday Buns (semlor)

I got it maid

Emma loves to help out around the house. Here she is washing dishes, or "bubbling the dishes" as she calls it.



Her and Eden will usually fight over who gets to do this. In fact, they compete almost daily over who does more cleaning for mom so they can climb their ladder faster.



I made this paper ladder with velcro on the rungs. Each child has a picture with velcro on the back. When they do a chore, they get to climb the ladder. Once they are at the top, they get their allowance (which is a set amount that we agreed on). When we first implemented this, we thought we were going to go broke paying those two little girls! We joked about not having enough money to pay the bills and Eden said, "Well, I'll pay them then." HA! She's so sweet. I was actually begging them to STOP cleaning because I didn't want them to take all the money I had in my purse!

We used to use the bead method. Each girl had a jar and every time they did a chore or something nice to deserve a reward, I would put a bead in their jar. Once the entire jar was full they got $20. But that quickly lost it's luster. Even though they could see their progress and how much more they would have to do before they got their money, it took too long. Kids need quicker gratification. The ladder method rewards them much faster and they can count how many more chores they need to do instead of just an eyeball guess.

Here's a picture of my baby girl, all dressed up to go have sushi with mom, gram and the aunties.



A bit washed out soc, but no time to edit.

Journal Junkie

This is my bedside table



And yes, that is 8 notebooks/journals sitting on top of it. I noticed the large pile last night and decided I should take a picture of it

I am obsessed or addicted or whatever you want to call it, to journals. I write EVERYTHING down. The problem with that is, I can NEVER find what I'm looking for, when I need it, because I have too many important notebooks that I write in on a daily basis. Everything from recipes, to exercises routines, to shopping lists, to to-do lists, nutrition information, "diary" style entries, ideas, photography notes, you name it. I wish I was more organized about it. One notebook for each category maybe?

It's fun to write stuff down. I like the mental sort of release it gives me - like I'm emptying my brain onto paper so I don't have to try and remember it all. But still, I will inevitably forget what I've written and where I've written it. I even like the feel of a pen gliding on paper. It's relaxing.

Here's another funny thing. When I get a pretty new journal, I almost hate to write in it. I don't want to make it less pretty. Or I'm afraid I'll use it up, have no more paper to write in, and will never find another one as cool. As if it matters. I'm starting to realize that I may be a little more of a headcase than I originally thought. (mad laughter)

Lizzy Bear underwear

Yes, Lizzy is wearing underwear. Poor dog is in heat. And my floors....you don't even want to know. She was honestly bleeding so bad that we had to keep her in her room/my laundry room. And we felt so bad for her having to be locked away from the rest of the family that we came up with a solution.

Underwear. And a maxi pad. Don't laugh. It's actually working. It looks ridiculous and it's disgusting, but we have to do what we have to do I guess.

I was dreading (seriously dreading) the day when she would go through her first heat. I knew it would be a giant pain in the YOU KNOW WHERE. But, as per our contract with the breeder, we had to let her go through one before we got her fixed.

I wonder if they sell dog diapers at PetSmart?

You better believe that as soon as this is over, I am sprinting to the vet with Lizzy and screaming "FIX HER! FIX HER NOW!"

quit watching tv

I totally want to redo our foyer to look like this. It's possible. I mean, with the layout of our house, it could totally work. Of course the only drawback I see is that we'd have to completely overhaul our ENTIRE house to match. Because it would look a little odd to have this marvelous, open, polished foyer walk through to the grand, bright, window area....and then everything else in 90's decor. Oh and the fact that it would probably cost as much as buying a house.

But wouldn't it be lovely? Isn't the thought of redoing, redecorating and remodeling your home such an exciting thought?

Man I hate it when I watch HGTV.

Great blog

I just found an AWESOME, and I mean AWESOME, blog post today.

It's about Valentine's Day. And this is EXACTLY what I would have said if I had the brains and talent of this young woman.

Click to read

I agree with every word.

Lizzy is 1 today!

Dear Lizzy,

Happy birthday! And congratulations for making it to 1 year....haha. I honestly don't think that I could say my life is better with you in it, but I do love you. You are sweet. It's just that you add a lot of extra stress to my life that I wasn't too eager to take on.

You've chewed up my rugs, my stairs, my couch, my sunglasses....many more items, too numerous to count. You've peed and pooped and bled all over my floors and carpet. You are smelly, you shed too much, your fur is all over everything, you steal food, you make it impossible to cook without a dog sitter nearby. I can't even go to the bathroom without locking you up for fear that something might be destroyed.

We have scratches and holes in our clothes. We trip over toys and slip on your drool. I need to conjure up super human strength to be able to hold you when we go for walks so you don't lunge at passing joggers.

I've heard that having a pet is shown to decrease stress. I'd like to challenge that study! LOL

I know I complain about you a lot. And I'm sorry. A mom's life is stressful sometimes. I will try to be better. I will try to show you more love. I will try to be more patient. But I can't promise anything. It's hard to change who you really are. And I'm more of a cat person ;)

meltdown

I've been having a lot of meltdowns lately. I'm not sure what is going on with me but I think that my stress level is unusually high for some reason.

I'm scared to walk into my kitchen. The thought of it scares me. Being in it makes me want to cry. It's such a dump hole of a mess right now.

Our giant dog is in heat and there are blood drips on the floor at all times. Watch where you step!

One of my girls has a make up dance class tomorrow so I get to make 3 trips to dance practice this week. Yay.

My mom has two dr. appointments this week, which I am taking her to. Yesterday we barely made it home in time from one of them to get lunch in my girl's tummy before we had to rush off to preschool. I normally workout in the morning and I didn't get a chance to squeeze it in yesterday. You don't want to get between me and my workouts. Trust me. It's what helps me keep what little sanity I have left. This is why I never schedule appointments in the morning. (are you paying attention to this mama?)

Hanna is bugging me about ice skating lessons. She wants to quit volleyball. She wants to switch from clarinet to french horn. The girl never sticks with anything. The second it stops being exciting and new and becomes something that needs a slight amount of effort, she wants to quit. We fight about this constantly. She brings it up daily and we fight.

The kitchen is making me want to cry (or did I mention that already?). Not to mention the rest of the house, because no one feels the need to pick up after themselves. And why should they when they've always had me to do it for them. The laundry baskets are full AGAIN. And instead of just tackling it all and getting it done, I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. Hide away from everyone and everything that seems to need MY attention all. the. time.

I mean, what is my incentive to clean this place when I know that within half a day it will look as it did before I cleaned it? Wouldn't it be nice to hear a "thanks" every now and then. Mom will clean it. Mom will put it away. Mom will do it. It's just expected of me. It's just my job. No big thing.

Sigh.....

I'm just feeling stretched a little thin these days. It doesn't help much that I can't seem to get quality sleep at night. Last night I went upstairs to take a bath at 6:30 and didn't come back down. I just needed to relax and de-stress. I think I dozed off and on until 9:00 and then fell asleep once the girls went to bed and all was quiet. Oh how I needed it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, I survived Valentine's Day without gorging on sweets (like I did last year, and probably every year before that too). I have made cupcakes, cake, chocolate fondue, bought chocolate and treats of all kinds for my sweet children and husband. Yet, I haven't had a nibble. I am SO proud of kicking my sugar addiction!

I didn't go without a treat though, I made some chocolate protein brownies (no sugar of course) and they were amazing! I'm so glad that I have been able to find tasty alternatives to the real deal. I'm not sure I could do it otherwise.

My girls LOVED their Valentine's goody bags. Emma was so sweet, she kept saying over and over "I love you SO much mom!" I love to make every little "holiday" special for them. What's next? St. Patrick's Day? I guess I've never really done anything for that one. Maybe there will be some chocolate coins in their future?

We took a vote last night and homemade heart shaped pizza was the winner. So we each had our own little pizzas made to our liking. While we ate pizza, the chocolate was melting in the fondue pot and they dunked strawberries for dessert. Followed by chocolate cake. Followed by candy....hey, it's a special day. They can splurge a little.

I got a beautiful bouquet of roses from my sweet man (even though I told him not to get me anything). He is so good to me. It was a great day.

secret obsession

I've had a major obsession with Louboutins for a while now. There is just something HOT about a black shoe with a red sole, don't you think?

I always thought that since they are almost $1000 all hope was lost. But I happen to "stumble" on a website that sells them for $159.99. Hmmmm......maybe there IS hope afterall?

Don't worry, honey. I'm not buying these shoes.....yet. ;) But you can't deny how delicious they are! The only problem I see, is which ones to get!!!!!!

See what I mean?! Delicious!

My favorite pic of the night

Chelsea has been living with Grandma since she left my place after surgery. Bless her heart. She has her own apartment, yet she stays with Gram. Helps her around the apartment, takes her places, helps her shower. Gram likes her there. But they can get a little....owly.

For instance, I'll be on the phone with Gram and she and Chelsea will be bickering about something or another. Throwing pillows at each other, etc. It's all in fun, of course. Last night they were bickering over something and Bill said, "How long have you two been married?". It was super funny. They do act like an old married couple though...haha.

Anyway, I think when Chelsea finally does go back to her own apartment, it will feel pretty empty at Gram's place.

Totally unrelated: what is with the obscure facebook status updates some people seem to do all the time? Like, "I'm so totally pissed right now". This is not one I've seen recently, but it has the same effect. It's letting everyone know they are pissed, so that everyone can ask "why" "what's going on" "tell us tell us tell us". And the best part, 99% of the time, these same people won't ever elaborate on it. Why post it? If you want to tell the world that your pissed, why don't you just tell the world why your pissed?

I think it's a way of fishing for attention or empathy. I want to say that I think my husband and his coworkers have a term for people who do this. I'll have to ask him what it is and get back to you. Until then, I'm so glad I've finally let the "cat" out of the "bag" and the "mouse" didn't get the "cheese" because I totally wanted to "do the monkey dance". [you don't know what I'm talking about, but feel free to ask so that I can leave you hanging when I don't explain it...ever]

WOW!

I don't know what has happened to my blogging habits, but they SUCK! Perhaps it's because I rarely do anything blogworthy. And the reason for that is because right now, the average high around here is like minus 50 billion degrees. Oh ok, so I'm exaggerating slightly. But yesterday's projected high was -5. It did get up to 0 though. Um....yay?

But today, I have something to blog about. Today a beautiful, kind, sharing, caring, talented, crafty, smart and wonderful woman, my sister, turns 50! I can't even describe how awesome this chic is, I love her so very much.

I can't even believe she is 50. You would never know it by looking at her. But she's a mother to 3 grown children and grandma to 2 (soon to be 3). I hope that when I'm 50 I look as awesome as her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOOZAPALOOZA! Today is a day to celebrate 50 wonderful years of your life! The world is a better place with you in it.

Another treat idea

Sorry if you are getting sick of healthy food posts but when I think I have hit on an awesome idea, I can't help but want to share it.

I like chocolate. Cakes, cookies, bars, in any form basically. But I don't want to eat it every time I get the urge because, well, I probably wouldn't fit into any of my clothes if I did.

I'm always up for a new and interesting healthy snack. Here's a yummy version of chocolate "mousse". I don't technically know what qualifies as mousse but that is what I call it. Maybe the consistency is more like pudding. But whatever.

Take some plain, unflavored yogurt (I like 0% fat Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt because it has 23 grams of protein in 1 cup) and mix in unsweetened cocoa powder and a sugar substitute like Truvia or Steviva. Quantities depend on how much you make. I use about 1/2 a cup of yogurt, 1-2 tsp cocoa powder and 1 tbsp steviva.

This sweet chocolate yogurt tastes great and the best part - it's GOOD for you! Cocoa powder has more antioxidants than any other forms of chocolate because it's processesd the least. And I've already explained why I use sugar substitutes from the Stevia plant here.

So there you have it. Another tasty favorite of mine for you to try.