Mmm Mmmm Good!

Yesterday, Miss A and Miss E prepared breakfast for Super J and myself.

Miss A made my breakfast. It consisted of about an inch of water, some mandarin oranges and, within a Clementine orange's rind (aka: "cup"), Miss A's special blend of mashed banana, some applesauce and some Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup, garnished with a few segments of said Clementine. When I woke up, Miss A announced that they had been saving it for me "forever!" She was very excited to present it. Here's a different shot of it (please ignore the state of the cookie sheet that she chose to present said breakfast):


You can tell we watch lots of Food Network, no?

Miss E made Super J's.

Ironically, though mine had better presentation, there were more edible parts for Super J (he had a "Miss A Special" made up of Applesauce, some smashed banana and a touch of Mrs. B's syrup...heavy on the applesauce). And he had more water to, um, enjoy it with.

Room Service

Miss A has taken it upon herself to bring us Breakfast In Bed, and it's starting to be on a fairly regular basis. I think she views it as such a treat when she gets it (because I try to do it for their birthdays or if they are really sick, we set them up in "The Guest Room" and I'll bring up soothing breakfast foods that they can eat while watching t.v.), that she wants to return the favor. She loves it. Miss E loves it.

So, spearheaded by Miss A, they will often work together to bring up various delights for breakfast. Initially it started out as crackers and water. Sometimes with a side of raisins. These were all things that they knew they could get into without getting in trouble. Once, I got a pop-tart and some buttered Ritz Crackers. And a side of water. Well, a week or so ago, Miss A brought up about a fourth cup of raisin bran and milk, in a bowl, on a cookie sheet for myself AND Super J. She didn't get in any trouble (thus, precedent is set) even though she spilled milk on the upstairs carpet. She worked hard to "clean" up the spot and we told her how nice a surprise it was.

And so, it really shouldn't be any surprise when she brought up a bowl of cereal for Super J this morning. It was filled with a combo of Life Cereal, Raisin Bran with just a hint of Captain Crunch (or whatever the name of the knock-off cereal it is we are currently eating). It was very very full, milk already in the bowl, and he had a cup of water next to it.

The sad part (beside the combo of cereals...Super J is not so much a reveller in combo cereal) is that Super J was in the shower. He'd just jumped in, so the cereal sat and sat (because Super J enjoys a LONG shower. I don't understand this, because when I'm getting showered, I am IN and OUT. Probably because I have been trained by years of having babies roaming the house, unsupervised, I am used to the GET IT DONE AND GET OUT mentality, but Super J? It's like a special thinking room and he often sorts through work issues or project ideas and comes out not only clean but with renewed energy and vigor to get things done. I wish that worked for me). AHEM! CLEARLY I've digressed...now, back to our regularly scheduled topic...so, yeah, the cereal...it sat and sat and got INCREDIBLY soggy and, when I viewed it, you could barely make out what type of cereal was in it (the winner??? The Raisin Bran stuff).

She also brought me up some breakfast, too, this morning: a banana and some water, which I didn't eat because it was kinda on the...um...how to describe the banana wrested from its peel by a 5 and 4 year old? Well, let's just call it "tired."

Anyway, when I came downstairs, there were all sorts of cereal boxes on the table and the milk was still out. I asked Miss A if she'd eaten breakfast.

"No, I want waffles."

I guess I need to show her how to work the toaster! But who knows WHAT kind of treat we'll get then. lol.

The best-laid plans...

So. Tonight, Gentle Reader, I was going to make a fabulous cake in order to welcome Super J home. Much like the game of telephone, I almost love how I got the recipe as much as how great it sounds.

Here's the recipe, swiped from Cryptic Jennifer's friend Chloe's blog (who made it into cupcakes and took the recipe from one of her friends, Mel, from whence I copied and pasted word for Mel's word, but she took it from Food Network, though she added tweaks of her own. Soooooo...it's blatant copying and pasting at its finest):

"Here's the recipe, taken from the Food Network website, and altered with a few of the suggestions taken from the recipe reviews.

Put the Lime in the Coconut Cake:

Cake: (don't you dare use a coconut flavored box mix. The cake is A-MAZING and not too time consuming to make from scratch.)

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coconut milk

Lime Glaze

1 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 cup sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup shredded coconut

Icing: (if you're making an actual layer cake, you may need all of the icing this recipe calls for. If you're just going to frost the top of the cake, 1/2 or even 1/4 of this amount will be enough.)

1 cup butter
4 ounces cream cheese
1 pound box plus 1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.

In an electric mixer or using a hand beater, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add coconut extract and eggs 1 at a time. In a mixing bowl or on a sheet of parchment paper, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder. To mixer add coconut milk and flour to creamed mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes then unmold onto rack(s) over a sheet pan and allow to cool completely.

For Glaze: In a medium bowl combine sour cream or yogurt, sugar, lime zest and juice, coconut milk, shredded coconut. With a bamboo skewer, poke holes in cake and spread glaze on both sides of both cakes. Cover with plastic wrap, chill until ready to frost cake.

For Icing: In an electric mixer or using a hand mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar gradually at low speed. Beat in coconut milk and vanilla. Frost cake. Coat top and sides with shredded coconut.

Invite friends over to eat this cake with you, because if you don't, you may just end up eating the whole thing by yourself."

Here's my take on it so far:

The people at my local Price Chopper have no clue where coconut milk is kept. I was pointed in the direction for the baked goods, where they have condensed milk, dry milk, evaporated milk, goat milk and soy milk, but no coconut milk. Then, after asking in customer service land, they pointed me to (ready?) the MIXED DRINK aisle. And maybe the Organic foods section. Okay. Mixed Drink aisle had some concoction of "Coconut Creme". Hmmmmm. Nothing in Organics. *I* finally found it near the Asian Food area...two different brands of "coconut milk." Crazy.

Still, I love to try a new recipe, so once I get my kitchen cleaned and put away all my other groceries and the pizza that I got from Costco for dinner tonight, then we should be good to go. But first I need to get the girls their showers and then get them to bed (do you see where this is going?).

So, maybe if I have energy, tomorrow after Swim Lessons, I'll start making Super J's welcome home cake.

Life...continued.

Driving to swimming lessons (more on that later):

Miss A: "Mom! I saw some Queen's Ant's Lace!"

Miss E: "Yeah, Mom! We see some Queen Ant's Lace!!!"

Pause, pause.

Me: "You mean, Queen ANNE'S Lace?"

Both: "Who?"

"Queen Anne. That's was her name. Not as in the bugs, but her name is ANNE."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh."
***********************************

Update: Super J fixed the broom. And there was much rejoicing in Crumb Land ("hooray!").

I asked, are you sure you can fix it? He just looked at me like I'd asked him if he had two eyes. I'm sure, somewhere in the distance, theme music started. He went out to the garage and, using who knows what, he got the broken-off screw thingy out of the broom head and put a very green handle (from an old broom or mop, I dunno. It looked vaguely familiar, but I haven't used something with a green handle for quite some time) on the yellow broom head. It's not real pretty to look at, but it works. And it didn't cost a thing.
************************************

I have a fear that Miss O is currently enjoying an ear infection. There is no fever, but the child refuses to go down for bed tonight! It's 12:00ish, and I have finally succumbed to letting her just cry. She's been given ibruprofen, some ear drops and finally something to releave congestion (and hopefully some pressure in the ear). It's either ear infection or 2 year old molars are starting to come in. Either way, now we are both tired of each other and I am done. Argh. I hate getting to this point because I feel like a bad mommy. Oh well. I shall not dwell.

Instead, let me enthrall you with the fact that we went to our first Mommy & me swimming lesson today (Misses A & E had "real" lessons during the same time. Blessedly, they are all 30 minutes long, which truly is quite short when one is actually in the water). Initially, Miss O was JOYOUS to be there. She kicked like a pro--both on her tummy and on her back. She put her chin in the water. She kinda put her ear in the water. She did GREAT.

For 15 minutes.

And then she was done and wanted out of the pool and wanted NOTHING more to do with it...until the "lesson" was done and everyone else was getting out of the pool, and then she was DESPERATE to get back into the pool. Ugh. Very hard to pick up fit-pitching child who should not be quite so close to the pool when pitching said fit when one has swallowed a bowling ball which currently resides in el stomacho (you may not be able to tell by this word choice, but I don't know Spanish. Sorry). So, I don't know what's wrong with her. Swimmers ear? Ear infection? Molars? She's almost 2 (in a week! Holy Smokes (or smocks, as I just typed...that seems to kinda work, too).

In the meantime, Miss A & E were very very good, both behaviorally and at their swim lessons. They do want to stay and play in the little adjoining water park, that is right next to the pools where the swim lessons take place. I, honestly, don't know if I have that in me. I was EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. It takes about an hour to prep for swim lessons and get everyone fed, pottied, dressed, buckled in the car and then readied for the lesson, then it takes 20 minutes to get back to the car AFTER swim lessons and then you come home, get everyone changed and snacked (but not too much snack because lunch is just around the corner). Yep. Tired.

And on that happy note, I cannot believe we are going to swim lessons for the next 7 weekdays. What was I thinking??? Oh yeah. I don't want my kids to drown when they go to our local, un-life-guarded pool because they have a false sense that they "can swim" because they use one of those blow-up tube thingies.

True story: The other day, I was reminding Miss E that she was starting swimming classes and she happily chirped, "Can I be the teacher?"

"Ummmm, no honey. They are lessons for you to take."

"But I already know how to swim" (with the inner tube thingy).

"And that's why you are taking more lessons, hon."
*****************************************

So, Super J left town this afternoon (after fixing the broom...Ta Da!) for a business trip.

In honor of that, I took the liberty of going to Panera Bread for a little something for Momma and then took the kids to McDonald's for some Happy Meals and Playland playtime (and, honestly, a Redbox Chick flick for me).

Here's the quick and dirty review of the evenings events:

Panera Bread: a little slice of the hot place when one has 3 kiddos and Miss O decides she is going to do her impression of a legless sack of potatoes (I know, I know, potato sacks often do NOT have legs and if they did, they'd be very scary indeed, but let's just say she went boneless practically the entire time we were there because she DID NOT WANT TO HOLD MY HAND and was OFFENDED that I was making her. Ugh). AND, on top of that...where do they get the help these days. No, wait. That's not fair. But let's call a spade a spade and say that the highschoolers at Panera on this particular evening were about as helpful as...rotted basil. And as filled with energy and happiness to be working at Panera, I might add, as that rotted basil. Not impressed.

Walking out to the car from Panera Bread: HUGE slice of the hot place because some idiot older man driver in a little sporty coupe decided he was going to speed through the parking lot, give me and my little ducklings the right of way to cross the street, only to then turn into the lane at a quick speed trying to get the empty parking spot that was right next to where we were walking. Miss O TRIPS (of course), luckily NOT in the path of the car, but parallel to it, successfully freaking me, Misses A & E, and I hope with any good fortune, that asinine driver completely OUT. Seriously, she totally could have been hit because of this #$%@*&(^% speedy driving.

I mean, if it was AT ALL busy, I might have understood his rush to Get. That. Spot. But there was no other car coming or going near us. AND there was another empty spot two cars down from this particular spot. AND there were 3 empty car spots open from that second option spot. I must admit, I was NOT thinking kind Christian thoughts about this gentleman (clearly). Instead, I wanted to really light into him for his Total Display of Stupidity. I was hashed. But I was still freaked from my child almost being hit and so I just got us all in the Red Rocket and took a big drag from my beverage (diet caffine free Pepsi with a shot of Pepsi. Very nice. I like it better than Coke products, as stated before...somewhere), and, true confessions, horked down my half turkey sandwich.

McDonald's: Thus in my stellar mood, we drive around the outdoor mall and arrive at McDonald's. We go in, order the food, and I get a beverage (they have Light Minute Maid Lemonade at this McDonald's. Also very nice and refreshing). I realize after I paid that I should have gotten a large because then I'd get a free redbox DVD rental. Argh. I ask the cashier, "Is it too late to upgrade my drink to a large?"

"Nope," she says, and starts swapping the cups.

"How much?" I ask, digging through my wallet and getting some change ready.

Get this: "No charge."

I could have reached over and kissed her. I mean, how nice was that. And she even gave me one of the free DVD rental cups.

I also wanted to say, "Panera Bread has NOTHING on you tonight, friendly helpful people at McDonald's!"

AND to make things, seriously, even better...there were hardly any people in the Playland. I hesitate to say this, but it was almost soothing to be there. The kids played...used the bathroom facilities (Alot...ohholycow, they must have been saving up for a trip to use public restrooms!)...and had a nice, low key time.

Holy Smocks! It's after 1:00am. Okay, tomorrow, I shall continue this enthralling tale of my Monday evening, with a riviting story of how much of a dork I am when trying to get a movie out of the Red Box. Yegads. And I'll give you a review of the movie, 27 Dresses.

Panera Bread...literally.

So, my friend Katie recently revealed that she has a thing for Panera Bread's yummy food. If I'd only known this when she was visiting, for I, too, adore it. Also, it's so hard to find a place where they have Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, which I prefer to C.F.D.Coke, so it makes it EXTRA special to go and enjoy a little something from Panera. For example, my current favorite meal is their lovely LOVELY tomato, basil, mozzarella salad with a balsamic vinaigrette...ohhhhhhhhhh, delish!

Ahem.

So, just last weekend we enjoyed an Italian meal with some friends. I love to go to friends' houses to eat because, can I just say (once again), that when you don't have to make a meal, it ALWAYS ALWAYS seems to taste better than anything you could have created at home? Do you know what I mean? The baked mostacolli was soooo good! And Cryptic Jennifer brought over this...man, dare I call it succulent?...garlic bread. And where did she get the bread???? Panera. However I did not know this at the time. It was just this wonderful dense bread with crunchy (but not kill the inside of your mouth crunchy) crusty bread.

HOLY COW it was fabulous. In fact, later that evening, whilst others were munching on M&M's and other chocolaty/candy edibles, I myself went back for another lovely piece of crusty french bread, broiled to perfection with buttered garlic Parmesan toppings toasted to a golden brown. So good. Literally a little slice of heaven.

Why bring this up? Not to taunt you, Gentle Reader. I promise. PROMISE! But I bring this up to tell you of my craving for this bread, that I've had for days. And it really is a craving, because as of late I have had Heartburn from the HOT PLACE. OHhhhhhhhhhhh, the heartburn! I swear, New Baby is going to come out with a head full of hair or else I don't know what is going to happen! NEVER before have I had this heartburn. Oh merrrrrcy me.

But this afternoon, the craving overrode the potential Hotplace Heartburn and I called up Jennifer and asked where (oh where!) did she get her bread. Imagine my joy to discover: Panera! Imagine my sadness to find they were OUT of French Bread when I went to go get some. Argh.

Did that stop me from actually purchasing bread? Heck no. While in Panera Bread, bread must be bought...especially when they have Ciabatta, Sourdough and Asiago Cheese bread. And those, Gentle Reader, I have found, also make LOVELY garlic bread.

So, until I am able to procure some of that amazing French Bread (and one day, trust me, I shall), I have some other great tasting dense bread. Now if only I had thought to get me one of those TBMw/bv salads...with a new roll of tums. :)

Seriously, this is Easy Alfredo Sauce

As are most of my recipes, this is also snagged off of Allrecipes.com. We lurves it in our house, even Miss O. It can be gussied up or down and served with whatever your favorite pasta is. Tonight, we're having it with mushroom raviolis. Yum.

Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder (we put in minced garlic because that's who we are!)
2 cups milk
6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
(and I add some nutmeg for giggles and grins)

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve.

Golden Arches

Update @1:54pm: I realize reading this that it sounds kind of braggy, and that's not what it's meant to be. I was just happily pleased that they offered a meal to make up the goof they made. Does that make sense?

The Setup: For lunch, we went through the drive-thru at McDonalds. I was very excited to see if I upgraded my beverage to a large, I got a free DVD rental from Redbox (I tell you, Redbox is going to put Blockbuster out of business). I ordered Happy Meals for the girls and I got my normal: A #7 meal, which is a grilled chicken sandwich with NO mayo. I always get this. I used to try to have them put mustard on it (my condiment of choice). HA. HAHAHAHAHAH. You should see the problems I have trying to get regular mustard on any McDonald's sandwich. It just doesn't happen.

ANYWAY. We get our bags and come home (remember: going through the drive through). As I'm bringing stuff in, the first thing I notice is that my cup is horribly misshaped at the bottom. I don't know why I didn't notice it in the cup holder, but it's true. It's leaning like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Nice.

Then, I open up my sandwich. Hmmmm. I notice the white goo oozing from the sides...and the crispy chicken. Uh oh. I look at the receipt and find that they have indeed mixed up my order and I have received someone's crispy chicken BLT with EXTRA ranch dressing. Ugh. I can only imagine someone's reaction to my grilled chicken with no dressing, at all.

So I called and am now "in the books" to get a free extra value meal. I appreciate that, I have to say. I hope the ranch person calls and gets one, too.

Now I have a "free" dinner and a movie! So, what's vaguely disappointing (the ranch dressing is so gross! I scraped as much off as I could and then ate it anyway), turned out to be kinda okay. Yay!

Almost forgot...

Happy Cinco de Mayo

In honor of this holiday, I thought I'd use a jaunty font (we'll see if Pyzam allows it...okay, nope. It doesn't. So much for jaunty font) and share a recipe we are going to be trying out tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Ole'

INGREDIENTS:

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons shortening
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening to resemble cornmeal. Add water slowly, mixing with your hands to make a soft dough. You may not need all the water.

2. Knead a few minutes on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Lubricate top with oil, put back in bowl and let rest, covered for 10 minutes.

3. Divide into small balls the size of golf balls and proceed to roll out into size and thickness you prefer.

4. Cook on top of stove over medium heat using a cast iron grill or heavy skillet until top is slightly bubbly then turning on opposite side for a minute or two.

5. Keep stacked and warm inside a clean dish towel.

6. Sorry for any weird spacing. I tried and tried to fix it. I feel like using it as a pinata now. Heavy sigh.

Oh well! Off to make tortillas!

The Weekend and Mystery Solved!

What a weekend. In the best sense, of course.

Friday began it all with a fabulous shin dig at our place (if I do say so myself). I love having friends over who have already seen my house at its most pristine, who have already seen my hair in it's most beatific coif, and who when arrive for said event don't care what it or I look like. These are those types of friends who are, simply put, the best of company and conversationalists.

So, we had this pasta buffet (which, while making you use all four burners to get all the pasta done at approximately the same time, is actually quite easy to put together) and while I was trying to avoid preparing enough to feed an army, we so still have leftovers. Oh well. There are worse things. :)

On the other hand, throughout the evening and cooking, whenever we'd open the door, J and I were plagued by this incredibly onion smell from our fridge. As this meant a thorough inspection of the vegetable rotter...er...the vegetable crisper bin, I figured I'd handle it on Saturday.

Saturday came and went! I got to go to my book club, which was great fun being around oodles and oodles of empathetic estrogen, more great conversationalists, and a killer brunch prepared by this month's hostess. Holy cow, it was yummmmmy (and talk about setting a high standard). Truly, I felt like a renewed woman when I dashed off to get home to put Miss O down for a nap whilst J took the older girls to a birthday party, empowered by consensus and knowledge that I was not alone in the world (and we actually discussed the book for about 10 minutes).

I was later joined by more good company and then later that afternoon...shock of shock...went and talked to several of our neighbors.

Anyone who knows me, especially in my current condition, knows that I am a HERMIT whilst carrying a bambino. Seriously. I need and love my existing circle of friends (see above comments about book club!), but have NO desire to enlarge it. So, poor J, who became our little neighborhood's H.O.A. President for the simple reason that he wanted to get to know these people is, alas, burdened right now with someone who...well...doesn't.

But, Miss A is all about riding her bike and Miss E enjoys trolling about on the tricycle and Miss O...for crying out loud, likes to take to the side walk at a streaking run before biffing it (inevitably) because her tiny legs get going so fast. It was such a nice day, we had neighbors out to meet and greet, and let's not forget the other little 5 year olds girls who were also outside. Suffice to say, Miss A was in HOG heaven. We eventually had two other neighborhood little friends over and Miss A promptly took them up to her bathroom and gave them a make-up make-over. And...well...

Yegads.

I hope their parents will still allow me to be part of the carpool this fall. The rouge was sooooo thick and applied in such a square-like unblended fashion, it really was a sight to behold. They were so proud of themselves, too! It reminded me of my first time using a curling iron, which I used backwards and ended up with an unnatural strange crimp in my hair. But I didn't care. I looked H.O.T. Oh uh-huh. Anyway, I was able to gently put a kabosh on dressing up in all of A's Sunday dresses so they could be princesses, because seriously, I'd have had to wash all of them because of the imprints from their newly adorned faces. Ohhhhh, to be five. Sigh. Oh well.

Meanwhile, after all those festivities, I decided to examine the fride. The onion smell became even more intense, so I went through the Rot...er...Crisper and found some green onions that didn't look terrible but must have been giving off the offensive odor (right???) and chucked them. I also put in a new box of baking soda. Quite the Domestic Queen, eh?

Sunday brought about it's own little bit of craziness as we attended the first hour of our church services (it was Ward Conference and, of course, went over by AT LEAST 15 minutes. It was also a surprise to attend our ward because I thought we weren't but J was like, sure, we should go. Oh. Okay.), and then dashed off to the First Baptist Church where the girls attend preschool because they were singing at this service. Miss Rene, the girl's preschool director, told me that Pastor Dewayne starts PROMPTLY at 10:45 every Sunday, and she wasn't kidding. When I got there, luckily friends had saved us a seat (albeit the in the second row, which turned out to be great because of the view of the kiddos), and I was still standing, trying to skooch the girls over when this booming voice began to welcome us. STARTLING!

The girls sang their songs within the first 10 minutes and they were sooooo cute! I love watching little people sing. They sang this song called, "Oh What a Miracle Am I," and "Zaccheaus" (from Luke 19), and each of these songs had a bit of groove to them and you should have seen these 3-5 yr olds shaking and shimmying. SOOOOOOO FUNNY! In fact, Miss E called me on it and said she saw me laughing. I told her I wasn't laughing AT them, but my heart was so full of joy I couldn't contain it. And that was true. I also had tears coming out of my eyes, I was trying so hard NOT to laugh, but I was sooooo proud of them for being up there, singing and moving their little bodies as best they could. I had several good congregates tell me that my girls did a great job and had good rhythm.

We had a lovely lunch with some other preschool parents who go to church with Abigail and school with her, too, (well, they don't but their children do) and I got to have a fun visiting teaching visit (As a note: I'm so sorry Madelyn! I'm the worst V.T. companion right now!!!! Again and again, I'm so sorry!!!!!!), and then we took the kids down to J's sister's house to get Miss O acclimated for when J and I have our Great Adventure (a post for another time). It was a busy day.

But that's not all! After grabbing a quick nap on Sunday, when I emerged, Superman J asked me to smell the fridge. It smelled about 1000% better! He'd found a smallish bag of what had been cut onions. The culprits of the stinky stench, apprehended at last!! Now, our kitchen just stunk. So I put it the mess into another Ziploc bag and chucked it into the garbage. Alas, by this morning, though, I had to escort the whole thing OUT SIDE to the official garbage, it had gotten so strong. Whooowee! There is nothing like overwhelming onion to put you off of that particular food item for a while.

So you see, Gentle Reader. It was a happy weekend, overall. Hope yours was just a great. :)

Yummo Birthday Cake

So, I had J make this for my birthday yesterday, and it is sooooooo good. You almost can kid yourself into thinking it's healthy because of the vegetable content (it's a carrot cake). Then you eat some more frosting and, well, just keep thinking it's healthy for you so that the guilt doesn't take any of the fun out of eating birthday cake. If it's any consolation, I did have J use applesauce instead of all the oil....

You should make it next time you are needing a carrot fix. You can find the recipe (and more pictures!!!!) here:
http://thepioneerwomancooks.com/2008/03/sigrids_carrot_cake_perfect_for_easter.html

I should say that I. Love. This. Site! I've made a couple things off of it, and they're always fun and tasty, plus she's a hoot and a half.

I'll post a picture of MY actual cake soon. 'Til then, enjoy. :)

A bite for you, a bite for me, two bites for you...

Soooooo, we are dog sitting this weekend. J's sister's family has two schnauzers who are very sweet and very good dogs, so they are no problem. In fact, my dining room floor never looks better than when they are visiting. I often have to remind myself that it is not my mad cleaning skills that have suddenly rocketed to new efficiency and thus I am now able to maintain that level of tidiness (because, let's face it, underneath the table is always a sight after ANY meal), but I have two little elves helping. So it's always a little sad to see them go...sigh...but I digress.

Yes, the dogs...very sweet, very well behaved, but we've done this enough to know that there is a wee bit of transition time so everyone feels comfortable. Each time it is less and less, especially for O, who initially is freaked out when she sees them. I can happily report, however, that this has been the quickest turn-around yet. O made friends with Abby-dog over breakfast.

A note of explanation: Abby-dog is 6 years old and is so super mild mannered with kids, it's not even funny. If I could guarantee that a dog would be as good with kids and as low maintenance as Abby, we'd have one tomorrow. Her comrade, Bo...we have high hopes for. As of now, he's just 6-ish months old and is still in puppy mode, but I think he's remarkably well behaved all things considered. If he starts taking off after one of the kids, I just hiss at him (literally) and call his name and he comes bounding back to me. It makes me feel like the "Dog Whisperer." Sigh. Delusions of Grandeur strike again.

So, back to reality. O and Abby-dog. Yeah, so I caught O feeding Abby some of her Fruit Loops this morning. Ack!

"Stop feeding the dog that. You'll make her sick. They go in YOUR mouth."

I'm sure she still snuck Abby a few, but O did pretty well finishing her cereal, and soon breakfast for O is done and she gets down from her chair and starts playing. I leave her and her sisters watching Sesame Street to go check my email until I hear the faint strains, "Chinkie, chinkie" which I immediately recognize as dog food being swished around in the little ceramic dog food bowl that belong to Abby.

"Get out of the dog food, O!" I yell helpfully. OHHHHHH the laziness on my part! I listen and I don't hear anything for a moment, so I figure, what a good baby I have. So obedient. Then, "Chinkie, chinkie." Time for observation.

I head back into the dining room and see O digging for more dog food. She is taking over a couple pieces at a time and hand feeding them to Abby. Please keep in mind that Abby is a typical dog that when she is separated from her "pack," she doesn't immediately eat. In fact, she will often go days with only a little bit of kibble. So, this is actually quite a sight for me to see O feeding and Abby accepting the food. This goes on for a bit and I'm just about thinking, okay, this is too cute when I see...yes...O snag a kibble or two and pop it in her mouth.

Blech. And since I'm grossed out by it, surely O needs to be. "Spit it out!!!!" I'm not sure how much we got out, but enough that I'm happier. I go to throw the offending pieces of kibble in the trash when "Chinkie, chinkie." And turn to see the same pattern repeat...some kibble for Abby, some kibble for O. Yummo.

Allllllrighty then. Breakfast time for both O AND Abby is officially over. But a friendship has been renewed, and sometimes, isn't that what it's all about?

Happy St Patrick's Day

"Mohn-day, Monday," sing the Mamas & the Papas.

Happy Green Leprechaun day where you can potentially get pinched in an undesirable way for not wearing an appropriately colored hue...though come to think of it, when *IS* it even remotely desirable to get pinched. That ranks right up there with being tickled against your will. VERY annoying. But I digress.

What a weekend. I'm so glad it's over, even if it's raining and the kids are going stir crazy on their first day of Spring Break. This begs the question: what, besides t.v. and coloring and play-dough and Barbies and maybe a puzzle, can you do with the kids/have the kids do to entertain themselves when they are cloistered indoors when you, yourself, have absolutely NO desire to even do the above things with them. Any suggestions?

So, in any case, I don't think it can be considered lying when I said that I was on the mend in a post a few days ago, but I forgot that when one is expecting that your body...well, it's just not running on "normal" anyway, and by Sunday morning...ewww. Let's just call it, "Relapse with a special nod to morning sickness." Oh my holy cow. It's a good thing that Jason was wise enough to call a Quarantine on our house for the rest of the weekend, and I already had a sub for Sunday (bless you, again, Jennifer!!!), because...what a mess and I sincerely didn't feel great for a while. The good news is that once the vomit hour was over, my voice came back to a slight degree.

On top of that, I decided, too, that I wasn't going to take any medicine until bedtime (and even then, if absolutely necessary) because I started worrying that if my lips were dry and chapping and my sinuses were drying out, what about NEW BABY! Ah yes. The Panic.

I'm sure The Panic is one of Jason's favorite things about me being pregnant. I have these moments where I start mentally hyperventilating that "something is wrong!!!!!" and it can really be about anything, but yesterday it was about medicines. I start re-researching all my worries and he has to reassure me that a) I have had these afflictions EVERY pregnancy and have been just fine each time or b) you were worse during ABC's pregnancy and it turned out just fine or c) there are many things worse than Sudafed for 3 days that I could have been taking and I have done this with all the pregnancies before so it'll be fine and d) I must have some faith (okay, that's actually what I glean from the pep talks, but still). Anyway, reason did prevail so I wasn't completely hysterical, but I didn't take any meds until bedtime anyway.

I *did* drink about half a lake of water and herbal tea and I knew I was feeling better when I actually made some food that didn't come right out of a box; poor kids and their many meals of Mac & Cheese. I made Jason actually get some Kraft Mac & Cheese on Friday (I think?), you know, the one in the blue box which truly is "the Cheesiest" or as Abigail calls it "The Kind from Wal-Mart," because that's where we normally buy it. She's not a big fan of generic Mac & Cheese, as I've now discovered. Suffice to say, we've had a lot of Mac & Cheese this weekend, so as stated above, I knew I was starting to feel better when I actually made a simple but non-box meal...with a dessert.

Anyway, the gift of Monday and Spring Break and rainy weather is that I feel no desire to even leave the house, so that's good too. Indeed, I am not even worried about what color clothing I actually wear today. Earlier this morning, Abigail asked me if I had any green on, with a certain gleam in her eye, and I answered (in typical Winner of the Mother of the Week Award), "Anyone who pinches me gets a spanking." Ah yes. It was a sure sign that not only do I NOT want to go anywhere today, perhaps it's best NOT to go anywhere today. :)

But for everyone else venturing out this day, I hope it's enjoyable! And I hope you don't get pinched, unless you really want to be, of course.