Sunday, August 27, 2006

Redneck Fun

aka: A lesson in filling your boots.....


Just Like Christopher Robin....


Scroll down here to see what "Rain Man" was up too in May 2005... Yup, different shoes but still stomping in puddles.

Molten Flourless Chocolate Cake

Would someone make this and tell me if it any good?? After last weekend I think I need it....

4 large eggs
½ lb (8oz) semisweet chocolate
2 oz (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
cooking spray
powdered sugar for decorating

Preheat oven to 425
Place a saucepan of water on high heat. Heat to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
In a mixing bowl, crack eggs and warm them over simmering water for 1 minute (hold bowl directly over the water, using a dish towel to protect your hands), whisking constantly.
Remove eggs from heat, and whisk for another minute until eggs are very fluffy. Meanwhile, put the chocolate and butter in a large, heatproof, stainless-steel or tempered-glass bowl; set it over the simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Let the chocolate and butter melt/ remove from heat. Let mixture cool slightly by stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
Once slightly cooled, fold the chocolate and butter into the whipped eggs until no more streaks show. Batter will deflate.
Spray 6 (4oz) ramekins or ovenproof dessert cups with nonstick cooking spray (or use foil cups, or even muffin tins). Fill them ¾ of the way full and place on a baking sheet.Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how gooey you’d like the centers. Turn the cakes out onto dessert plates, and serve immediately with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Last weekend I:

A. Lost my (heirloom –from Hot Stuff’s great-grandma) gold wedding band.
B. Had a woman steal my son’s sunglasses and lie to my face.
C. Hit a baby deer with my husband’s pickup.
D. All of the above.

And while thinking about boob-lube….

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that the tube of hospital-grade (I even got it FROM the hospital!) lanolin* that I’m smearing on my nipples (ew…. Wonder what google-hits I will get from that phrase….) says “DO NOT INGEST” and “KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN” on it?? What do they think I need it for in the first place? And, more importantly, What is it going to do to my baby who is ingesting it??

*Interesting (or not) side note: With Sweet Boy I did not use lanolin…. Too sticky…. I used Crisco (NOT butter-flavored) instead. But this time I was in the hospital with no Crisco handy and the nurse gave me a tube of lanolin and I’ve been pretty happy with it so far.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Just in case you were worried.....

I'm down to 158. From 161. That's THREE pounds. That's a whole pound more than my pound-a-week goal. I rock. I'm gonna go have another cookie.

And the dog thinks....

.... I can't wait until "it" can eat in that tray-cage.....then "it" will drop things for me.

And when "it" gets older I will teach "it" to throw a ball for me like I did with the Big One.

And I like to lick "it's" face and eat "it's" diapers. (Uh-huh.... I'm hoping it happens in that order too.)

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

My Oldest & My Youngest.


The dog.... he can't believe we've done this.

Aahhhh!

Macro Feature.....

Scary Alien Baby....

My kids....


This was AFTER he wiped his face....



Playing with his little toy men..... putting them in the pellet stove pipe outlet....

Because I know you really only come here for the pictures.....




I did this with Sweet Boy.... on or around his "birth date" every month I took a pile of pictures of him in a diaper with a particular toy. His was a stuffed elk, Darling Baby Girl gets a stuffed horse. I love looking back at the photos and seeing the changes month by month.....
and if I was really on the ball I'd post some one month comparison pics for you.... but I'm really just at work and happen to have these photos because I'm using the speedy office internet to upload to snapfish..... so the comparisons will have to wait.....

It lives.

Blogger hates me. I can't seem to post ANYTHING from home. But I tell you, I'm here....

So I'm at work right now but I don't have much to say..... I like working one day a week. It's a little frantic, but I like it..... I could get used to it.... but then I remember how teeny the paycheck would be.....

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

HAVE YOU TRIED THE CARAMEL MOOLATTE FROM DAIRY QUEEN?

Go. Now. And then report back about how much fun you had trying to slurp the frozen caramel through the straw.

The weight.

The weight melted off during the first week. It did. Well, sort of. Now I’m stuck at 161.

Anything below 150 is Excellent.
150-155 is Good.
155-160 is OK.
160-165 is Heavy.
Over 165 is Pregnant with #3.

So, am I dieting & exercising? No. Are you kidding? I started my tried-n-true weight loss method on Sunday. Record everything you eat & report it to someone. It works, I swear. I learned this when I thought I had a starfish in my head (some people call them chronic migraines). The docs thought it might be a food allergy so I had to record everything and report it. Nothing more embarrassing than reporting half a bag of Hershey’s kisses, two spoonfuls of potato salad & 14 macadamia nuts for dinner. So far all I’ve discovered is I seem to really like hot dogs & cream-based foods. Hot dogs? I don’t even like hot dogs. Oh, and if I had any ice cream I would TOTALLY eat it for dinner…..

And then there’s that part about “put on your own oxygen mask first, then assist those around you”…..

IT’S SO TRUE.

It defines parenthood of two, doesn’t it? Come on… those of you with kids know exactly what I’m talking about…. If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

How am I living this?

I shower every day. Every. Day. I take at least 15 minutes of “personal time” for myself. Shower (speed-shaving is an art form), put on a touch of makeup, brush my teeth… that kind of stuff. How is this being accomplished? A clear shower curtain, a bassinet on wheels & Thomas the train on dvd.

I snack. I always have granola bars (Can I tell you how much I LOVE the goodness that is a Kudo? Candy disguised as a snack food. YUM.) in the car and WATER. Last week (when my parents were both here and we somehow thought it would be a good idea to go car shopping in 95-plus degree heat) I failed on the water consumption and ended up with a raging headache…. I could actually feel how sticky & gummy the backs of my eyeballs were from being dried out…. Really. I thought I would die and managed to sucker my mom into staying an extra few days because of it…. Yeah!

Limiting myself to one or two things off the “must do” list. Today I emailed work with the baby’s insurance info so she will be added correctly. I am planning to drop off videos when I go to town later to help my sister pack up her house… and that’s IT. I’m putting off getting groceries & water-sealing the Adirondack chairs until tomorrow or the next day.

Ok, now I have to go be neurotic & obsessive-compulsive while both kids are asleep…. I’m making enchiladas for dinner, running the dishwasher AND the washing machine, making iced coffee to take to my sister & trying to catch up my Quicken budget…. All at once. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right??

Monday, August 07, 2006

Ok, it’s getting funnier now….

I had to wait a few days to write about this because it didn’t used to be funny….

I decided to go to Target. Well, I had to go to Target. I was out of newborn diapers. Yes, I know, I said I’d only need one package because I only needed one package with Sweet Boy. Guess what? I’ve learned there are a lot of things about a second baby that are different…. There is no such thing as a veteran mom….. every kid is a new experience. And this kid? She has a skinny & frog-like but very productive ass.

So I grab my sister (we can play man-to-man instead of me dropping back in a 2-on-1 zone) and away we go. Things are going great. We shop. We find. I end up in the changing room once nursing the angry humming bird while Auntie watches Sweet Boy dance in front of the 3-angle mirrors. Sweet Boy learned there IS a naughty chair in Target…. It is by the camping stuff. Don’t run away from mama.

Hot Stuff called and had a big fire so we decided to hang out with Auntie, watch a movie, and eat dinner. Things were going along just fine until Sweet Boy curled up next to me, closed his eyes, snuggled up and…. Began vomiting in fountain-style. All over. On me, on him, on the diaper bag, on the carpet….. so we cleaned up as best we could, rolled down the windows in the car and drove home. Got him in the tub and got a load of puke-laundry going. Fortunately, Darling Girl was sleeping in her car seat…. Scooped her out of the bucket seat and got….. a scoop full of baby poop. Yup, the pants & the car seat were full. How does she do that? I just changed her. So I get her out and cleaned up and get a second load of poop-laundry going and we all decide we’ve had enough. Darling Girl curls up on my lap to nurse & Sweet Boy curls up next to me with a sippy of water & a book for me to read.

Things are going relatively well and I’m thinking how good this story will be to tell later and…. Sweet Boy says, “I. Hate. You.” What? “I. Hate. You.” I know he doesn’t really mean it but I’m devastated anyway. I put him to bed and sit down on the couch to re-examine my parenting skills & style. Did I go wrong somewhere?

Hot Stuff finally gets home around 11:30. I tell him about my day. He asks what movie Sweet Boy watched. Nemo. NEMO. NEMO. Nemo says, “I. Hate. You.” To his father. Ah-hah. Ah-hah!! Hell. Now what? So Hot Stuff has a long talk with SB the next morning and, indeed, Sweet Boy tells him Nemo said it.

Welcome to parenting in my world, right?

Here I am.

I'd love to be posting... .really.

But getting internet time here is, well, not really possible.

1. I have better things to do... like write thank-y0u notes.
2. I can't be online because Hot Stuff might be getting a call to go to a fire and we are using dial-up.
3. Did I mention we are using dial-up? Dial-up sucks. Do you know how long it takes to post with dial-up?
4. I've gone somewhere EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Really. I'd like to stay home but I have so much to do. Today we are off to the park to have a picnic with the cousins & Nana and then we are stopping at Ben Franklin to drop off Sweet Boy's Smokey Bear posters... I've been promising him we will get them shrink-wrapped so he can hang them on the wall. Yesterday I went to church (me, alone, with the two small ones.... I got a lot out of it), the grocery store & then we went to the water slide with Nana & the cousins.

Life is..... Busy.

Darling Girl is, well, perfect. She learned how to spit up a little bit this week and she's trying to master the pacifier. Her fingernails grow with lightning speed. She's a champion nurser and a world-record caliber pooper. Seriously. That sweet pink bundle can take a Pampers to maximum capacity in about 12 minutes. And she's started making cute noises (as opposed to smelly noises) and she's getting chubby cheeks. She's in that cute phase between scaly-lizard-baby (last week) and little pimple nose with cradle cap (next week). Gosh, I should take some pictures.

Sweet Boy is handling things pretty well. He is two. He has figured out he can pretty much do whatever he wants when the baby is eating. Yes, the naughty chair is in no fear of getting dusty. We've had a few serious trials but for the most part he's still sweet. And only a few stellar parenting moments.... like the night he slept with us because he was scared of bad dogs..... (What? He LOVES to watch Fear Factor with his dad.... he likes the helicopters & car crashes.... how was I to know that episode would have attack dogs on it???) He really loved going down the water slide with his Auntie yesterday. Perma-grin.

I'm holding up. It helps that this kid sleeps for fairly consistent 3-hour stretches at night. I try to keep her awake in the evenings and then nurse her into oblivion between 9-10 pm so I can get a solid chunk of sleep between 10-1 or 2. It's the best we can do right now. I've never been able to do that "nap when the baby naps" thing... I'm not a good napper. And it never fails that someone calls or shows up the second I flop down on the couch. Fortunately, she's not a screamer so I can nurse her in the middle of the night without really ever fully waking up. Love the co-sleeper bassinet. Worth every penny for us.

So far the "gift I thought I wouldn' t use that I now love" is the swaddler-blanket. It has a pouch for the feet & legs and some velcro things to keep the baby in. A little tiny yellow straight-jacket... what could be better? Darling Girl doesn't love having her arms swaddled so we skip that part but I love knowing her tiny little toes are covered up at night.... the girl is a squirmer.

And now she's squeaking.... must go.... back in a few weeks.....