An average day for an average gal

7:00 am- Alarm goes off and I stumble, literally, to Maddy's room to wake her. I shake her a bit and say "time for school." Argue with her while I open the window to let some light in. I leave with one last warning that she needs to get up. I return to my room to attend to the business of waking up. By the time I go downstairs Maddy is dressed and unloading the dishwasher. I make the only sandwich she will eat, peanut butter and jelly, and pack her backpack. Argue with her a little more about buying lunch. My argument being that she doesn't need to BUY a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I can MAKE her one. Feed her breakfast and then marvel at how much time she can spend in the bathroom.

8:00 am- Get Maddy off to the bus stop and magically as soon as she is gone Connor wakes up. Go get him and then prepare round two of breakfast.

9:00 am - Get on the computer while Connor watches PBS kids. Agree that "yes, that is a very big truck!"

10:00 am- Go out and run errands. Basically kill as much time as possible. And "yes, that is a very big truck!"

11:30 - Come home and feed Connor lunch. Eat half his food in an effort to get him to eat one bite. Tell him that if he wanted to eat then he should have done that while he was sitting at the table.

Noon - Put Connor down for a nap. Put in the next disk of Seinfeld and get back on the computer. Maybe have some lunch myself.

2:30 if I'm lucky pm- Connor wakes up cranky and we snuggle on the couch with a sippy cup and watch Home Improvement.

3:00 pm - Larry comes home. Great excitement!

3:30 pm- Maddy comes home. More excitement!!! Unpack her backpack and discuss her day. Tell her what is for dinner and then threaten no dinner at all if she is going to complain about it.

4:00 pm - Start dinner. Try to get Maddy involved in the cooking since this has shown an improvement in her attitude in the past. She refuses.

5:00 pm- Eat dinner.

5:15 pm- Clean up dinner.

6:00 pm - Someone gets a bath.

7:00 pm- Put Connor to bed.

7:30 pm- Maddy starts getting ready for bed. Explain that yes, she has to clean up ALL the toys.

8:00 pm- Put Maddy to bed and then have some grown up time. This of course means getting out the good desserts and eating them in front of the TV.

9:30 pm- Go to bed.

Woot Woot!

I painted my bedroom today. I love it. I don't have a very good record for picking out paint I actually like once it's on the wall. Only one room in the whole house hasn't needed repainting. The kitchen. Maddy's room and the spare room both have been repainted. The family room needs to be repainted but hasn't been yet. And Connor's room, eh, it's ok but I'm just not feeling it. I'll repaint it when he gets a little older. So I was pretty nervous. But I love it. Here, I'll post a pic.



It took exactly one gallon of paint. We kept saying how close it was going to be, how much it was going to suck to have to stop and go to Home Depot just to finish one square foot of wall space. But it finished it. I was using the brush to get the last bits out of the can to finish the touch ups. Of course now that we have cleaned up I can see all kinds of touch ups that we missed, but I am without paint. Oh well. When you come visit please don't look too closely. Especially around the door frame. :)

Connor made me laugh so hard tonight. He has one of those wooden train whistles and we were trying to show him how to use it. We could get him to blow air if the whistle wasn't near his mouth. But as soon as we would put it up to his lips he would just say "woot woot". OMG I was crying. Finally he would blow air but not hard enough to make any noise. Then he would hand it back so slobbery you could barely stand to put it to your mouth. But he was so cute, I had no choice but to wipe it on my shirt and continue on. He did eventually get a little bit of actual whistle blowing noise.

Ok, my recipe of the week. I got a Rachel Ray cookbook for Christmas and I'm very inspired. So I made this the other night. I actually diverged from my weekly menu and made a special trip to the grocery store just to make it. I know... CRAZY!

The sauce is to die for. I loved it. And if you notice it uses apple cider vinegar. So I now have a use for the bottle I bought to make that bad "Apples and Chicken" recipe I made a few months ago. Double bonus.

Honey Mustard BBQ Chicken

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 red onion chopped

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup prepared honey mustard

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Chicken

4 pieces bonelss, skinles chicken breast

4 bonless, skinless, chicken thighs

Vegetable oil

Salt and peper

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Directions

1. To make the sauce, place a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add vegetable oil. Add red onions and saute, 3 to 5 minutes. Add vinegar and cook to reduce by half, 1 to 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and cook 1 minute to incorporate. Whisk broth, honey mustard, all spice, and curry powder.

Coat chicken with a drizzle of oil and some salt and pepper. Place chicken on hot grill and cook 4 to 5 minutes, then turn. Baste chicken liberally with sauce and grill another 5 minutes. Turn once again and baste. Cook 2 or 3 minutes more, then transfer chicken to a platter and serve.

Good bye 07, Hello 08!

So 2007 is almost over. Crazy. Inspired by my good friend Shane on Dec 21 (http://www.landofsavages.com/) I will write about the best moments of 2007.

Hmm… I have to be honest that nothing pops into my mind. I really feel like the days just blend into one. Days blend into weeks, weeks into months, and then bang.. the year is over and I can’t believe it.

I will have to think more carefully. Well, Connor turned one. He also learned to walk, which was amazing to watch. The first time he took more than one or two steps to our outstretched arms was to follow Maddy around and pretend to be a train. It was just the beginning of following Maddy everywhere she goes. He also started talking. I can’t even list the words he can say.

I got my minivan and turned 30 in May. What can I say? Some things just go hand in hand. Haha. I’m old now… I’ll drive the minivan. No, really, I love my van. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

What else? Well, Lindsey got married. Which is awesome, and I got to go visit back home all by myself! Which was a blast and half.

Then we landscaped the back yard. Which is soooo nice. Its like a whole new room to the house. Now that it isn’t hot as blue blazes outside we can open the back door and the kids can come in and out as they please. Not to mention the hot tub!

Maddy started school. Wow. What a milestone for her. She loves it and is doing awesome. It was a big deal for me too. Going from having two kids home during the day to just one. It was hard to get used to at first but now I love it.

And our family vacation to Disneyland. Fun as always.

Now for things I’m looking forward to in 2008.

Starting school. I hope that it gives me what I’m looking for. A little time away from the house and kids. An outlet to be myself again. An actual person, not just someone’s mom all the time. Plus, it’s something that I need to get done anyways. I really can’t think of a better time to do it.

Paying off Larry’s car. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good loan payoff!

Connor is going to turn 2. Which hopefully means the start of potty training. Maybe 2008 will be the last year of diapers?! Let’s hope.

I will be thrilled if 2008 mirrors 2007. We had a pretty good year and I just hope for more of the same.

Our new toys

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did. Every year we get the kids way too much and every year we vow not to make that mistake again. After the toys are unwrapped comes the most frustrating part of Christmas. Trying to get the toys out of their boxes. My God. The person who invented those metal twisty ties is going to burn in hell. I'm sure he was cursed at least a half million times on Christmas day. It starts out so innocent. Your sitting on the couch minding your own business and your kid brings over a toy. "Can you open this for me?" Of course you can! Oh the joy your kid will have playing with this toy. The toy you carefully picked out so many weeks ago. Your kid is standing there eagerly awaiting the fun inside that box. First you have to break through the industrial grade tape. Then pull out the inside cardboard to which the fun is bolted down. Someone offers some scissors at this point but you are still confident you can do it. I mean, some things just shouldn't require tools. You start unraveling those cursed twisty ties. One at a time. Twist, twist, twist. and just when you think you have it then you realize that there is also some clear plastic around it that has been taped down with that unbreakable tape. Your 30 mins in and bleeding. "Where are those God damned scissors!" you yell. By the time you get the damn toy out of its packaging, your kid is no where to be found.

But I was the big winner this year. Larry got me a fancy new laptop!! I love it. I'm writing this from my couch with my cozy blanket watching TV. I'm loving it. I was very surprised. He got me good. All the presents were opened and I have to say, I was kinda disappointed. I liked everything I got, but ummm... there wasn't very much. Maybe that sounds bad. I had socks, underwear, jammies, and some measuring cups. All things I wanted, but I did the math and it just didn't add up to what he had to spend. Ya know? I was expecting more. But then he leaves and comes back and hands me a laptop bag. I was confused. I'm thinking "gosh, this sure looks like a laptop case." But I still didn't think it could possibly be one. I opened the case and there it was, all shiny and pretty. I really still didn't believe it. I asked "Are you serious?" So yeah, now I've done the math and he doesn't have to get me another present for like 4 years.

Santa claus is coming to town.

I am terrible at the Santa thing. I probably can't even list all the mistakes I've made. First of all I pointed out Connor's power wheel to Maddy at the store and told her that we got it for him for Christmas. Forgetting that Santa is bringing it. I had to cover it with a lame "I"m just kidding. Maybe Santa will bring it." Then, the wrapping paper that I wrapped all the Santa gifts in was left laying on the kitchen counter for like a week. Oh yeah, no chance she saw that! Plus I didn't think to pick up different gift tags so Santa's gifts will have the same tags as ours. Funny how me and Santa have the exact same taste.

Despite my ineptness Maddy still totally believes. This is THE year. The one she will remember for the rest of her life. Unfortunately Santa isn't bringing any of the gifts she asked for in her letter. But I bet you $100 she won't remember what she wrote come Christmas day. Next year will the last hanging on Christmas. The one where you have some serious doubts about Santa but still want so much to believe. I played a trick on Santa that year and told him that my stocking was the red and white one and I told my mom that I wanted the red and green one. I think you know how that ended. But hey, we still have this year. I can't wait!

Today we watched Elmo's Christmas Countdown and there was a lot of singing in it. Afterwards Connor was walking around the living room making up a song with facial expressions and hand movements. It was adorable. It ended with "bye bye DeeDa, bye bye DeeDa". (bye bye, Santa) Those were the only words we could understand. awwww. He is so fricken cute.

Dear Santa,

Here is Maddy's letter to Santa and her picture she drew. She leaves him a picture every year with his cookies. He likes that. :) I helped her spell and encouraged complete sentences but other than that it's all her. Sorry they are so big.

Christmas singing

We had carolers the other night. Which is weird because Maddy is obsessed with Christmas caroling. She asks me every night if she can go outside and sing Christmas songs. I let her do it once a year. She goes out on the front porch and sings and sings. It's funny. But the other day she was up in her room getting her jammies on and she comes racing down stairs saying there are people out side caroling. Yeah right. I'm thinking there are some teenagers out there who happen to be singing as they are walking home or whatever. But we go outside and sure enough... actual Christmas carolers. A big group of them. They came over and sang us two song and gave us a plate of cookies. Pretty weird. I didn't know that people still did that sort of thing. Then I went inside with my lantern and wrote a letter with a quill.

This morning Maddy had a little Christmas performance. It was very cute. Each grade did a little something. I took video and will put it up on photobucket when I have a chance. It was very short... like a minute or less. But what can you do. I can't not go watch her sing. Even if the drive over there is longer than the actual performance.

Well, I hope everyone has a great holiday. Merry Christmas.

Oh the fun we can have.

Connor's ear infection seems to coming along nicely. He slept through the night last night. For the first time in at least two weeks. We are both beat. Yesterday he took a 4 hour nap, and don't think I missed the chance to leave a full body impression in the couch.

We have a Super Wal-mart near our house. The buzz on the street is that it is the biggest Wal-mart in the state and its only been open since August so it hasn't really caught on yet. It's my own personal Wal-mart. Complete with fully stocked shelves and helpful employees. (ok, I'm exaggerating on the helpful employee part). It's awesome. We went there this morning and it was empty. Did you know that the lights in the freezers are on motion detectors? Neither did I. This was quite a source of amusement for us today. I would push the cart down the aisle and the lights would come on just ahead of us. It was really cool. haha. Connor was loving it. By the time we would get to the last aisle the first aisle would be dark again so we could do it all over. Connor would point to the dark freezer and say "on" and the light would come on. It's a magic Wal-mart.

Nothing like some hot chocolate to cheer you up.

Do you ever get so bored that you can't even think straight? I did yesterday. I just woke up bored. It was the kind of bored where every little thing that makes you get off the couch is a huge irritant. Like "UG...I can't put a movie in for you. I'm too busy being bored." I was so busy being bored that I didn't even take a shower. Which is too bad cause that could have killed a lot of time. Hair removal alone would have taken me 30 minutes. Never mind the cleaning I could have done while I was in there. I bet I could have created a plume of chemicals big enough to make the neighbor's eyes sting. But instead I laid on the couch with a pillow over my face and got frustrated with the kids for wanting lunch.

But today has been more productive. I took Connor to the doctor's. I really felt like an idiot. He isn't sick. He really doesn't even have any symptoms that I could list. I just wanted to know if he had an ear infection or not. Then when they are making the appointment they ask questions like "why do you feel he has an ear infection?" Ummm... no reason. I just think it. I could almost hear their eyes roll. But the thing is that he has never gotten sick and not gotten one. He was sick last week and just hasn't been himself. Nothing dramatic. Just off. When we got there I got the same "you're a freak" vibe from the nurse (purely my imagination I'm sure) when she took his temp and it's 98.6. But Connor DID have an ear infection. I was right. And Connor did soooo good. It was the best doctor's appointment we have ever had. He even let them weigh him! That's huge. He only cried when the doctor looked in his ears and then stopped right away. I was so proud.

Oh, I didn't do a new recipe last week. I also never told you that the pork chop recipe from two weeks ago was pretty good and really easy. I've made it again since then. This week new thing is hot chocolate. I've actually already made it so I can tell you right now... it rocks! Perfect for the holdiays.

SPECIAL HOT CHOCOLATE

1 (6 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. water
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tub of cool whip
Hot milk

Combine chocolate morsels, sugar, water, and cinnamon in large measuring cup. Microwave at medium 2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate is melted, stirring twice during cooking. Cool to lukewarm. (takes about 20-30 mins)

Gradually mix cool whip and cooled chocolate mixture together. Chill. Chocolate mixture keeps well in refrigerator in covered container up to 1 week.

For individual servings of hot chocolate, place 1 cup milk in serving mug. Microwave at high 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Do not boil. Stir in 1 rounded tablespoon chocolate mixture until smooth. Chocolate mixture will yield 15 to 18 cups of hot chocolate.

100 degree ice water

If you are the first person to read this then you are my 100th hit. Congratulations!! Pretend there is confetti and streamers falling down from the ceiling around you. Your prize is that you get to be the first one to hear me complain. wohooo!!!

Our hot tub was delivered about two and half months ago. We shopped all around and looked at places online and what not and decided to go with a local company. They had been in business 20 years and offered a 10 year warranty. We just thought it would be nice to be able to have the hot tub delivered, set up, and worked on by the manufacturer. To be able to go down and talk to someone face to face if need be... you know? Rather than buy it online and have it dropped off in the drive way and have no recourse of something crazy happened. I guess we were kinda nervous since this is a huge purchase and we have never owned a hot tub before. That and we are big worry warts.

Well about a month ago we had a question about the chemicals to use. We called them and they answered a bunch of our questions and they said [enter hot tub speak here] and that someone would be out to look at it. The guy came out but didn't have a key and I couldn't find ours so he left and said he would be back in two days. He never came back. We called and they said they would call us back with an appointment time. They never called. Then we put off calling them again cause we were going to Disney and figured it would just be easier to deal with it when we got home. So last night we called them and guess what........ they are out of business. I can't believe it. When you call there is just a message saying that warranty work will be done by so and so and gives their number. It says they will do the work at a "substantial discount". You know what the big discount is? $15.00 off. $15 bucks! Thats it. They said it would be $60 just to have someone come out and look at it. It's usually $75, oh wow, thanks so much.

It is just so messed up that a company can do that. There were no signs that they were going out of business. They even had a new line of hot tubs coming out and everything. I don't get it!

You know... really the hot tub is just fine. We have figured out the whole chemical thing and even if the whatever could use some adjusting it really isn't a big deal. We use it everyday and its just fine. But I still feel totally cheated.

Disaster avoided

Connor has been sick. He was throwing up Saturday and Sunday night. So far so good since about noon yesterday. What is weird is that he has also been in the BEST mood. He has been a total angel. He even gave me a hug and kiss without me having to ask. Talk about a heart melter.

I had to run a few errands yesterday. I went to the post office and then to UPS. The whole thing took about an hour. Afterwards I was starving and Connor was being so good I thought maybe we should just get some lunch and then go and do some Christmas shopping. But then I thought better of it and figured that since he was sick I had better not push it. So we just came home. We walk in the door and I'm putting my stuff down and he starts crying. Crying a lot. For no reason. I bent down to give him a hug and he puked all over the place. I would have impressed you with the ninja like skill I used to get out of the way. But all I could think of was how unbelievably lucky I was that I didn't go to lunch. And that he didn't puke at the post office. What a good boy I have. He didn't even get any on himself. Except a little on his shoes. So I take him over to the stairs and take his shoes off and he just sat there the whole time I was cleaning it up and said "ewww". hahaha. And then when Larry came home he took Larry into the kitchen and pointed to the spot and was telling him "ewww". He is such a smart boy.

Ok, but since then no puking. I felt so bad for him last night cause we haven't been giving him milk. We have noticed that when he drinks milk, he pukes. But he wanted some so badly. He was just walking around saying "guk" "guk". I made some decaf iced tea and gave him that as a treat. He loves iced tea for some reason. And he drank that but you could tell it wasn't as good as his beloved "guk".

Disneyland

Ever been on a vacation where you go to bed for the night at 6:30? No? Then you have never been on vacation with me. The term "with 2 kids in tow" makes me laugh out loud. In tow. hahaha. When you are laying quietly in bed with the curtains drawn tight because it's still light out I think it's pretty clear who is "in tow".

But Disneyland was a blast. Thanks for asking. The very coolest thing was the character breakfast. It costs a small fortune but it's totally worth it. We had breakfast with Minnie and friends. It was a buffet breakfast and all the characters come around and give hugs and pictures. It was really fun. Oh and we also got a room with a view of Disneyland. Also worth the extra cost in my opinion. On the first day we skipped the crazies and went back to our room to watch the fireworks. That was very cool. We had a great view and didn't have to fight the crowds. We went on the train that goes around the park. Connor was loving it. We got a seat right in the front where he could watch the engineer and he was loving it. He caught the engineer's eye and they were waving and he would blow the whistle for him. It was very cute. Then the engineer came over and gave Connor two little plastic trains which are Connor's prized possession now. I couldn't even see them for like a half hour Connor had them so tight in his little fists.

The pics are on photobucket. If you know me in real life and don't know how to see my pics then please ask.

Disneyland here we come!

We are leaving for Disneyland tomorrow!!!!!! I'm soooo excited. Tomorrow isn't going to be very fun at all considering it's going to be a 6 hour drive with Connor and Maddy in the back. Maddy has a lot to do (video games, books, music, movies) but Connor is going to be bored. He can watch some movies maybe but he really isn't a big tv watcher. Maybe there will be a lot of trucks on the road. He likes that. Maddy can't stop talking about the snacks. She has it all planned out, which snack she is going to eat first, second, third... ect. She is such a dork. She is very concerned about the drive. With good reason, Connor screamed the entire time last year. I think this year will be better though. It really can't be worse. Anyways, she keeps coming to me with concerns and I have to tell her our plan for that particular worry. Most recently it was, "what if I get thirsty?" and I assured her that we could stop and get something to drink.

I just called the hotel and asked for a room with a view of Disneyland and they said they would reserve one for us so I'm excited about that. I'm excited about everything. I've been getting ready all day and all last night. So much to do trying to get 4 people ready for vacation. What is really scary is the one thing I forgot to put on my list of things to pack were the tickets to the park. How awful would that have been? OMG I would have died. The only thing that even made me think about it was when I was looking for the confirmation number for the hotel. So I could call get our park view. I thought "we might need that to get the room", then I thought "hmmm... what do we need to get into the park?" THE TICKETS!

So I'll be gone for a week... til Friday. I'll upload the pics to photobucket as soon as I can.

see you then....