I'm about to rant about a dog owner in my neighborhood, but I'd like to preface first by saying that I know lots of people who own dogs and who have very nice, polite, quiet pets, and by no means am I making a generalization that all dog owners are irresponsible and inconsiderate. I should also point out that I've never owned a dog, nor do I want to. I like dogs just fine at a distance. As long as they aren't jumping on me, shoving their noses in my crotch, barking, peeing on my shoes, drooling on my clothes, or licking me, they are ok in my book. We didn't grow up with dogs; where I grew up dogs aren't treated as a child of the family. Often, dogs are outdoor pets only, and are allowed in the house only when the temperatures get really chilly, but even then they may be allowed only in a garage or barn, or maybe a mud room.
So, we've lived in our house for 3 years now. One of the things I love about our neighborhood is how quiet is is. Often the only sounds are meadowlarks, a few planes shooting landings at the airport, and some kids playing over at the playground. It's been very peaceful and is a place where you want to open your windows and let all the sounds and smells in on a nice day.
This all came to a screeching halt about 6 months ago. Lots of new houses have been built along the lots that border our back fence. We were happy to see the houses finished, cause that means no more construction, and we hope less dust when everyone gets their yards in. Yay! This spring one of the houses was sold to a couple and their dog, and whenever they go somewhere they kick it outside and let the neighborhood listen to it bark until they get home. The dog is smart though, it seems to quiet down right when its owners pull into the driveway. They apparently have no idea that the dog barks while they are away.
We've had many occasions over the past 6 months listening to this dog bark, one time the barking started at 8 pm and extended until midnight, which was causing tension in our household, since Matt needed to get up at 3:30 am for a 6 am flight out the next morning. We didn't do or say anything to the neighbors, beings that we were sure one of their direct neighbors would talk to them about it.
Which brings me up to yesterday. I was working at home and starting around 2:30 their dog starts to bark. Now the barking isn't a constant minute after minute thing, however it does carry on for a good 15-20-30 minutes then takes a break, and then starts up again. I'm not sure what is provoking the dog to bark, possibly the other neighbors cat is sitting on the fence make the dog go nuts. Cat's are devilish that way. Mind you, it's winter; I don't have any windows open, and I'm inside our house. When it barks I can hear it in every single room in our house; it's that loud. I finish up work around 4:00, occasionally going out to the kitchen to see if it looks like anyone is home in the house where the dog lives...they don't appear to be. I can tell because their security bar is down on their sliding glass window that they let the dog in and out of.
I go pick up my little one, come home, and the dog continues to bark until 7:30 that night. My 2.5 year old daughter even says at some point "dog barking!", and I say, "Yep, it must be lonely or scared."
At 8:00 I decide to grow some courage walk over there and talk to the owners about it, since they're finally home. I feel that I owe them one "discussion" about it before I can call the police, so they have an opportunity to correct the situation. When the owner opens the door, and I say, "I'm one of your neighbors, and I just thought you should know your dog has been barking all afternoon", to which the guy says to me "That's not possible." What?! Not possible? I think my mouth fell open! I couldn't believe what I was hearing! So I said "Look, I realize that this is uncomfortable, and I wouldn't be over here knocking on your door unless I was very sure that it is your dog that's making the noise...I'm not going to come over and make up stories about your pet." After a little more discussion he told me that noone has ever mentioned this to them and this is the first that they've heard of it - which is a total lie. Discussing the dog one afternoon this fall with one of my neighbors, she told me that someone had actually called in a noise complaint to the police, although the dog owners didn't know who. So clearly they know that someone else in the neighborhood, besides me, has issue with the dog being out barking all day/evening.
So now they know. He went to far as to give me his cell number so when it happens again, I can call (mostly likely I will text), and let them know what's happening. I'm hoping that we can return to the nice quiet neighborhood that we fell in love with when bought our house. We shall see!
BTW - I'm finished with my neighborhood ranting now - back to the regular schedule programming of cute kid stories.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Trimming the tree.
After work last night, we decided to go get our Christmas Tree. We could have done it this weekend, but I just have too much stuff going on this weekend to be messing with our tree - I need to finish my Christmas shopping, so that I can get gifts in the mail this up coming week to be sent back home. I figure I need to account for a week of shipping time...so it has to be done this weekend. So, since my weekend is already full of shopping I decided we should get our tree this week so we could get it decorated and beautiful and get to enjoy the tree for a couple of weeks before we leave for the holiday.
We decided to go to the place that we always go to - just down the road. The family that offers the trees there are so nice and always so helpful. Their trees might lean towards being on the more expensive side, but they are always beautiful trees. We drove up, started milling around, when all 3 of the family came over and asked if they could help us pick something out. We told them we like fragrant tallish skinny-ish trees, and within 10 minutes we had a tree strapped to the top of our car and were headed home. Miss Muffit was thrilled and very excited. The people were even nice enough to ask her if that was an ok tree that we picked, to which she agreed.
We got the tree set up in our stand, and after supper I got the lights put on so that little miss could come down after her bath and help me decorate it. She was adorable and sweet putting on the little ornaments, and did a very good job considering she'd find a spot where she could get the ornaments to hang and then hang as many more as she could on that same exact spot. Occasionally, Matt would come over and move a few of her concentrated ornaments to other parts of the tree. It took us about 45 minutes to decorate and looks lovely. I don't have a photo at the moment, but I will try to get one up.
Trimming the tree has been something I've always enjoyed - whether it be with my mom, grandma, or just by myself. I'm so excited to have gotten to share this with my daughter - I hope it becomes something she looks forward to for many years to come!
We decided to go to the place that we always go to - just down the road. The family that offers the trees there are so nice and always so helpful. Their trees might lean towards being on the more expensive side, but they are always beautiful trees. We drove up, started milling around, when all 3 of the family came over and asked if they could help us pick something out. We told them we like fragrant tallish skinny-ish trees, and within 10 minutes we had a tree strapped to the top of our car and were headed home. Miss Muffit was thrilled and very excited. The people were even nice enough to ask her if that was an ok tree that we picked, to which she agreed.
We got the tree set up in our stand, and after supper I got the lights put on so that little miss could come down after her bath and help me decorate it. She was adorable and sweet putting on the little ornaments, and did a very good job considering she'd find a spot where she could get the ornaments to hang and then hang as many more as she could on that same exact spot. Occasionally, Matt would come over and move a few of her concentrated ornaments to other parts of the tree. It took us about 45 minutes to decorate and looks lovely. I don't have a photo at the moment, but I will try to get one up.
Trimming the tree has been something I've always enjoyed - whether it be with my mom, grandma, or just by myself. I'm so excited to have gotten to share this with my daughter - I hope it becomes something she looks forward to for many years to come!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Little Gems.
I read an article recently that a friend posted to facebook...stating all the things you shouldn't do on facebook....they called the people that did them various things, to which I agreed with. I just tried to find the article, it seems to have gone missing, and I don't remember who posted it. Anyhoo - one of the 'nono's' according to this list was posting mudane details about your kids...and that you make think that they are cute and adorable, but to everyone else, it's not! What?! You're telling me you weren't as excited as I was when Miss Muffit pooped on the potty?! Gasp.
That's where this blog comes in - I'm pretty sure I have a fairly limited audience, so I get to post the random things that my sweetie pie says and does here! I've been writing a few of them down as of late so when she gets bigger and doesn't say these adorable little things to us anymore I can still remember them.
Just this morning she said to me inside daddy's car "Mama - come kiss me!" since I always give her a kiss before she leaves for school. She was super excited when I hopped into the car next to her and said I was going to work with daddy!
Some more:
"I need dis side buttered too" - referring to the bottom side of her toast one evening
Me: "What should we name baby sister?"
Little Miss: "Tinkerbell"
On her way to bed: "Look daddy - boots" - pointing to our Christmas stockings.
And every day when I pick her up from school "Got candy mama?"
That's where this blog comes in - I'm pretty sure I have a fairly limited audience, so I get to post the random things that my sweetie pie says and does here! I've been writing a few of them down as of late so when she gets bigger and doesn't say these adorable little things to us anymore I can still remember them.
Just this morning she said to me inside daddy's car "Mama - come kiss me!" since I always give her a kiss before she leaves for school. She was super excited when I hopped into the car next to her and said I was going to work with daddy!
Some more:
"I need dis side buttered too" - referring to the bottom side of her toast one evening
Me: "What should we name baby sister?"
Little Miss: "Tinkerbell"
On her way to bed: "Look daddy - boots" - pointing to our Christmas stockings.
And every day when I pick her up from school "Got candy mama?"
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The answer.
I hear my name. Matt still isn't there.
The woman says to me "are you waiting for someone?"
"Yes, I'm waiting for my husband".
"Well come on back, we'll tell the front desk to send him back when he gets here."
We make our way back to the ultrasound room. She asks me how my bladder is feeling - I tell her it could possibly rupture at any point. She tells me to go pee, she doesn't need it that full. She has me lay on the little table/chair thingy, and says she'll do some measurements before Matt gets there. It's 9:58. She asks if we want to know the gender...I cringe a little and say that we're not sure, but if she didn't mind writing it down for us, I brought a piece of paper and an envelope. She's game. She tells me she's had all sorts of requests. Call a bakery and tell them, mail an envelope to a new address where the couple is moving to so they'll have fun mail...etc. If only I were that clever. It's now 10:06. Still no Matt. She says she'll call the front desk when we hear a light knocking on the door. It's Matt. Good lord, I thought he was going to miss it.
She seemingly goes through all the standard checks of the baby, measuring here and there. Telling us everything. Then she says, "ok, I'm going to look now, if you don't want to know close your eyes and turn your head." I look at Matt and say "Are you going to look?". He shakes his head. She says "Hold on, just a second longer - I want to take a picture." She gives us the all clear and we can look back.
We finish up the ultrasound. The placenta is "anterior", which apparently means on the outside of my belly. So she tells me that lots of kicks and movements are probably absorbed by the placenta, and so don't be alarmed if I go through some spells of not feeling the baby. She finished up and lets me pee again. I come out and go to get her the piece of paper, and she says that unless I have something special that I want it written in, she has a cute card she'd like to give us. I think it's sweet.
She hands the card to me, and we walk out. I hand it to Matt in the waiting room, and tell him I can't be trusted. I tell him he can open it in the car and call me if he wants. He says he wants to wait for Miss Muffet to open it, and that we should do it together as a family. I go see the doctor, she says everything is perfect. Baby is measuring exactly to the date, everything looks good.
We finally get home that night, Matt arrives with the envelope, we tell Lauren that we have a surprise...she thinks it's candy. We help her rip it open.
We see the outside of the card, I say, "It's pink!" Matt says, "what does it say on the inside?" The inside contains a picture and says "Congratulations, it's a girl!" I am stunned. But I am very happy that my little girl will have a sister!
The woman says to me "are you waiting for someone?"
"Yes, I'm waiting for my husband".
"Well come on back, we'll tell the front desk to send him back when he gets here."
We make our way back to the ultrasound room. She asks me how my bladder is feeling - I tell her it could possibly rupture at any point. She tells me to go pee, she doesn't need it that full. She has me lay on the little table/chair thingy, and says she'll do some measurements before Matt gets there. It's 9:58. She asks if we want to know the gender...I cringe a little and say that we're not sure, but if she didn't mind writing it down for us, I brought a piece of paper and an envelope. She's game. She tells me she's had all sorts of requests. Call a bakery and tell them, mail an envelope to a new address where the couple is moving to so they'll have fun mail...etc. If only I were that clever. It's now 10:06. Still no Matt. She says she'll call the front desk when we hear a light knocking on the door. It's Matt. Good lord, I thought he was going to miss it.
She seemingly goes through all the standard checks of the baby, measuring here and there. Telling us everything. Then she says, "ok, I'm going to look now, if you don't want to know close your eyes and turn your head." I look at Matt and say "Are you going to look?". He shakes his head. She says "Hold on, just a second longer - I want to take a picture." She gives us the all clear and we can look back.
We finish up the ultrasound. The placenta is "anterior", which apparently means on the outside of my belly. So she tells me that lots of kicks and movements are probably absorbed by the placenta, and so don't be alarmed if I go through some spells of not feeling the baby. She finished up and lets me pee again. I come out and go to get her the piece of paper, and she says that unless I have something special that I want it written in, she has a cute card she'd like to give us. I think it's sweet.
She hands the card to me, and we walk out. I hand it to Matt in the waiting room, and tell him I can't be trusted. I tell him he can open it in the car and call me if he wants. He says he wants to wait for Miss Muffet to open it, and that we should do it together as a family. I go see the doctor, she says everything is perfect. Baby is measuring exactly to the date, everything looks good.
We finally get home that night, Matt arrives with the envelope, we tell Lauren that we have a surprise...she thinks it's candy. We help her rip it open.
We see the outside of the card, I say, "It's pink!" Matt says, "what does it say on the inside?" The inside contains a picture and says "Congratulations, it's a girl!" I am stunned. But I am very happy that my little girl will have a sister!
Friday, September 23, 2011
And a baby makes...4
It doesn't appear that I've actually mentioned this yet...we've decided to have another baby. This one is due in February. So for me, that just means a little less than 5 months to go.
This pregnancy has been very different from my pregnancy with Miss Muffit. It seems from the MOMENT I took that pregnancy test the nausea set in and I started in with the deep breathing - through the mouth - cause whatever it was that I smelled had the potential of making my toss my cookies at any moment. I'm lucky that nothing ever came up, however, my 'morning/all day sickness' lasted clear until I was about 15 weeks along. Since then I've been feeling great....tired...but anything beats that gross motion sick feeling.
Since announcing to our world that we're having another baby, we've actually gotten word that few of our family and friends are expecting now too! Remember that wedding that I wrote of a few months ago? Well they announced that they are expecting, along with a cousin of Matt's in MN, as well as an old friend of mine back in my home town - and they are expecting within a week of us! It was my mom who said the nicest thing to me with this pregnancy - she said "That's really nice, I think we have room for one more".
Currently the question is: to find out, or not to find out; as far as the gender goes. Ultrasound is in two weeks. I have to admit, that I'm really torn with this. Matt and I have different ideas on how many children we want. I've always said 3, he used to say 3, but when we had Miss Muffet, his number changed to 1.5. So, deciding to have another to him was necessary, since he didn't want Little Miss to be an only child, but still going to be a big challenge. I kinda feel like if this is going to be my last baby, maybe I want to experience what's it's like to go the entire 9 months without knowing - having to wait until that little one decides to come out. On the other hand, we LOVED knowing with baby-girl; it was awesome knowing a little more about that little person growing in there. Matt would like to know - I know there's a place in him that would love to have one of each, although be perfectly happy with 2 of the same - and he's also mentioned that he doesn't want to take away from my experience of not knowing by finding out. And he said there's no way he could keep it a secret from me (I've given him the option of knowing and not telling me!). So we will see what we come up with.
We've also let our little girl know about the pregnancy - and although I'm sure she doesn't fully understand what it means, she's very cute and tells us that she has a baby in her tummy too. Then she pretends to take the baby out and hand it to us. Often the baby turns into a dragon, and then she roars. Side note, we were driving down the road one day and she saw a school bus (which is VERY exciting), and she roared at it, "Rawwr!", I asked why she roared and she responded "Scawre kids".
This pregnancy has been very different from my pregnancy with Miss Muffit. It seems from the MOMENT I took that pregnancy test the nausea set in and I started in with the deep breathing - through the mouth - cause whatever it was that I smelled had the potential of making my toss my cookies at any moment. I'm lucky that nothing ever came up, however, my 'morning/all day sickness' lasted clear until I was about 15 weeks along. Since then I've been feeling great....tired...but anything beats that gross motion sick feeling.
Since announcing to our world that we're having another baby, we've actually gotten word that few of our family and friends are expecting now too! Remember that wedding that I wrote of a few months ago? Well they announced that they are expecting, along with a cousin of Matt's in MN, as well as an old friend of mine back in my home town - and they are expecting within a week of us! It was my mom who said the nicest thing to me with this pregnancy - she said "That's really nice, I think we have room for one more".
Currently the question is: to find out, or not to find out; as far as the gender goes. Ultrasound is in two weeks. I have to admit, that I'm really torn with this. Matt and I have different ideas on how many children we want. I've always said 3, he used to say 3, but when we had Miss Muffet, his number changed to 1.5. So, deciding to have another to him was necessary, since he didn't want Little Miss to be an only child, but still going to be a big challenge. I kinda feel like if this is going to be my last baby, maybe I want to experience what's it's like to go the entire 9 months without knowing - having to wait until that little one decides to come out. On the other hand, we LOVED knowing with baby-girl; it was awesome knowing a little more about that little person growing in there. Matt would like to know - I know there's a place in him that would love to have one of each, although be perfectly happy with 2 of the same - and he's also mentioned that he doesn't want to take away from my experience of not knowing by finding out. And he said there's no way he could keep it a secret from me (I've given him the option of knowing and not telling me!). So we will see what we come up with.
We've also let our little girl know about the pregnancy - and although I'm sure she doesn't fully understand what it means, she's very cute and tells us that she has a baby in her tummy too. Then she pretends to take the baby out and hand it to us. Often the baby turns into a dragon, and then she roars. Side note, we were driving down the road one day and she saw a school bus (which is VERY exciting), and she roared at it, "Rawwr!", I asked why she roared and she responded "Scawre kids".
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Hold my legs.
Now now, you might be thinking this could easily wander down to the land of hospitals and baby delivery, but trust me, it won't, and my apologies to anyone that wasn't thinking that prior, and now is.
So we just returned on Sunday from a FABULOUS trip to Montana to see my family. We left on a Tuesday night spent a night in Capser, WY, drove to Bozeman, MT and stayed with a good friend of mine from college - who I think I've mentioned previously in a post about having a preterm baby. Anyhoo, we hadn't gotten to meet her littlest one (who, might I add, is ADORABLE and so smiley!), and she was gracious enough to host us for the night, it worked out great. We got up the next day, and started our route to Flathead Lake - specifically my Great Uncle's (he's not just Great - but actually my Grandpa's brother) place at Flathead that we've enjoyed going to for 24 years. Next year, will be our 25th year at "the Lake", I suggested we needed to celebrate with a champagne toast and some cake. Who can pass up cake?! Maybe he'd let us shower him with some gifts - I'm thinking in the form of new sofa-beds in all the cabins! ha ha!
Wait wait - maybe I should explain a little more. His 'place' on flathead isn't just a little bit of shore front - it's like, 500 METERS or something like that of shore front. He has 5 cabins not including his own house which also provides sleeping accommodations for at least I dunno - 10 more people sleeping on mattresses and sleeping bags. Not to mention ample grass space for tents, motor-homes, campers and people who like to sleep out under the stars. Growing up, my cousins and I did just that - there was always a tent for us to sleep in, but sometimes we'd go rogue and sleep out under the stars. It was heaven. Here's a picture:
That was taken in 2007, and it's bigger than that - but that's apparently all I could fit into the picture at the time. Let me tell you, the whole family loves it there, and my Uncle graciously invites us back every year. We usually spend the weekend boating, swimming, visiting, eating, and napping. It's great to have a family that enjoys spending that kind of time with each other!
Matt and I have't been since 2008. We had Miss Muffet the end of May in 2009, and didn't feel like hauling a 6 week old baby up to MT. Then in 2010 we opted to go to a cousin's wedding the end of June so again, didn't think we could make the trip. But finally 2011 and we got to go! And it did NOT disappoint! My brother and a friend of his have purchased a boat together, so he brought that over from Seattle and was our captain for the weekend, we did tons of water skiing, wake-boarding, tubing, you name it. Another cousin of mine owns a 'SeaDoo' so we got to play on that, and yet another cousin rents a SeaDoo every year so there was that to play on too! We have a potluck dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and usually the main meat course is provided where all the families help contribute with a salad or dessert. And of course, when the sun finally starts to set, we get to light up a fire, roast marshmallows, and hang out and visit. Ahem, with keg beer.
Normally I'm right down there with the best of them, but this year was harder - I have a little one who likes to get up at the crack of dawn - so it was really hard for me to stay up until 3 am like the rest of em. But I am happy to report that plenty did, and one night, I got up at 4 am go move the child to our bed, when I looked down at the fire to see that it was still blazing 4 feet tall!! I believe this is the same night that one of my cousins, who shall remain unnamed, was telling everyone around the keg to "Hold my legs! Hold my legs!" so she could do her version of a "Tap Head", know to everyone else as a Keg Stand. You go girl, I just hope when I'm 42 I can still do Tap Heads too! The shocking part is that she could get up in the morning with everyone else, have breakfast and look COMPLETELY normal! Ugh - I do NOT have that kind of rebound. I believe she said to her husband at one point of one of the nights "Go to bed -but I'm staying up, I only get to see these people once a year!" Amen sista.
** EDIT 9/7/2011 ** Come to find out I was wrong about the name of the Keg stand. Apparently she called them "Tap Hits". Still awesome.
So we just returned on Sunday from a FABULOUS trip to Montana to see my family. We left on a Tuesday night spent a night in Capser, WY, drove to Bozeman, MT and stayed with a good friend of mine from college - who I think I've mentioned previously in a post about having a preterm baby. Anyhoo, we hadn't gotten to meet her littlest one (who, might I add, is ADORABLE and so smiley!), and she was gracious enough to host us for the night, it worked out great. We got up the next day, and started our route to Flathead Lake - specifically my Great Uncle's (he's not just Great - but actually my Grandpa's brother) place at Flathead that we've enjoyed going to for 24 years. Next year, will be our 25th year at "the Lake", I suggested we needed to celebrate with a champagne toast and some cake. Who can pass up cake?! Maybe he'd let us shower him with some gifts - I'm thinking in the form of new sofa-beds in all the cabins! ha ha!
Wait wait - maybe I should explain a little more. His 'place' on flathead isn't just a little bit of shore front - it's like, 500 METERS or something like that of shore front. He has 5 cabins not including his own house which also provides sleeping accommodations for at least I dunno - 10 more people sleeping on mattresses and sleeping bags. Not to mention ample grass space for tents, motor-homes, campers and people who like to sleep out under the stars. Growing up, my cousins and I did just that - there was always a tent for us to sleep in, but sometimes we'd go rogue and sleep out under the stars. It was heaven. Here's a picture:
That was taken in 2007, and it's bigger than that - but that's apparently all I could fit into the picture at the time. Let me tell you, the whole family loves it there, and my Uncle graciously invites us back every year. We usually spend the weekend boating, swimming, visiting, eating, and napping. It's great to have a family that enjoys spending that kind of time with each other!
Matt and I have't been since 2008. We had Miss Muffet the end of May in 2009, and didn't feel like hauling a 6 week old baby up to MT. Then in 2010 we opted to go to a cousin's wedding the end of June so again, didn't think we could make the trip. But finally 2011 and we got to go! And it did NOT disappoint! My brother and a friend of his have purchased a boat together, so he brought that over from Seattle and was our captain for the weekend, we did tons of water skiing, wake-boarding, tubing, you name it. Another cousin of mine owns a 'SeaDoo' so we got to play on that, and yet another cousin rents a SeaDoo every year so there was that to play on too! We have a potluck dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and usually the main meat course is provided where all the families help contribute with a salad or dessert. And of course, when the sun finally starts to set, we get to light up a fire, roast marshmallows, and hang out and visit. Ahem, with keg beer.
Normally I'm right down there with the best of them, but this year was harder - I have a little one who likes to get up at the crack of dawn - so it was really hard for me to stay up until 3 am like the rest of em. But I am happy to report that plenty did, and one night, I got up at 4 am go move the child to our bed, when I looked down at the fire to see that it was still blazing 4 feet tall!! I believe this is the same night that one of my cousins, who shall remain unnamed, was telling everyone around the keg to "Hold my legs! Hold my legs!" so she could do her version of a "Tap Head", know to everyone else as a Keg Stand. You go girl, I just hope when I'm 42 I can still do Tap Heads too! The shocking part is that she could get up in the morning with everyone else, have breakfast and look COMPLETELY normal! Ugh - I do NOT have that kind of rebound. I believe she said to her husband at one point of one of the nights "Go to bed -but I'm staying up, I only get to see these people once a year!" Amen sista.
** EDIT 9/7/2011 ** Come to find out I was wrong about the name of the Keg stand. Apparently she called them "Tap Hits". Still awesome.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Smoke alarm.
Just to start this off right, I hate smoke detectors. Seriously. They are the bane of my existence. Every place that I have lived since moving to CO I have had issues with the smoke detectors. I've had them start chirping in the middle of the night in all the places that I live, and that chirp is nothing you can sleep through. I'd just like to note that growing up, our 1 smoke detector never had batteries in it - thus, we never had any issues with it! ha ha!
We've had the usual issues in our house with the smoke detectors since moving in 2.5 years ago. We've had them start chirping in the middle of the night, which thankfully Matt has always been home when it happens. He IMMEDIATELY hears it, and then says something on the lines of "That's driving me CRAZY", which wakes me up saying "Huh, what, what is it?". One night Matt's sister was spending the night with us, and all of our smoke detectors went off at once, we ran out to the hallway, and when she opened her bedroom door the alarms quit. Mind you, we have 8 of them, and they're all 'hard wired', so all 8 go of at the same time, and it is VERY LOUD and scary. We chalked it up to her using some fingernail polish remover and a sensitive smoke detector...although looking back, it doesn't hardly seem possible, but it did stop alarming as soon as she opened the door.
Last week at 4 am our smoke alarms went off again. I was in a dead sleep, so the sound was VERY VERY scary for me. After an initial scream from Matt, I continued to scream - not like a high pitched "eeee", but more like a tired there's a monster in my room "aaahhhhhhh!!!!"....Matt knew what was happening immediately but it took a few seconds for him to help me register what was happening...in the form of putting his arms on me yelling "Angie, it's ok! It's ok!!".
So the first thing I think is "OMG. The house is burning down. I need to get Miss Muffet". So we both go racing out into the hallway, and still very disoriented, I decide that maybe our house isn't burning down after all - remember, we've done this before... So Matt immediately goes into Miss Muffet's room and rips her smoke alarm off the ceiling, and then heads down stairs. I in the mean time am standing in the middle of the hallway with my hands over my ears just wishing the alarming would stop. I think Matt started in the basement, and by the time he got to ripping the one down in the main floor hallway, the alarming stopped. Then he came back upstairs and took the one down in the hallway and our bedroom. BTW, through all of this, the munch didn't make a peep. When I went to check on her, she was out cold. Thank goodness.
We laid down on the bed for a few minutes trying to decide what to do, and decided we should to a walk around the house together to make sure we didn't smell any smoke or see any flame. So we did the smell and lights off check in every room, didn't find anything, and went back to bed, only to lay there until about 6 before we both fell asleep. I'm still mystified as to why it happened. I've gotten a few recommendations from people that apparently smoke detectors can get dusty and that will cause them to alarm? And they need cleaned out now and then. If that's the case, that pisses.me.off. They should make sure those damn things DON'T false alarm because of DUST...otherwise why the hell would anyone ever want to put them back up?! Which btw, 4 of our 8 are still sitting down on the dining room table with us trying to figure out what to do with them.
Have any of my readers had this happen? Is it worth buying all new detectors and having them installed? Our house is only 5 years old, I just can't imagine alarms wearing out in that amount of time. Grr!
We've had the usual issues in our house with the smoke detectors since moving in 2.5 years ago. We've had them start chirping in the middle of the night, which thankfully Matt has always been home when it happens. He IMMEDIATELY hears it, and then says something on the lines of "That's driving me CRAZY", which wakes me up saying "Huh, what, what is it?". One night Matt's sister was spending the night with us, and all of our smoke detectors went off at once, we ran out to the hallway, and when she opened her bedroom door the alarms quit. Mind you, we have 8 of them, and they're all 'hard wired', so all 8 go of at the same time, and it is VERY LOUD and scary. We chalked it up to her using some fingernail polish remover and a sensitive smoke detector...although looking back, it doesn't hardly seem possible, but it did stop alarming as soon as she opened the door.
Last week at 4 am our smoke alarms went off again. I was in a dead sleep, so the sound was VERY VERY scary for me. After an initial scream from Matt, I continued to scream - not like a high pitched "eeee", but more like a tired there's a monster in my room "aaahhhhhhh!!!!"....Matt knew what was happening immediately but it took a few seconds for him to help me register what was happening...in the form of putting his arms on me yelling "Angie, it's ok! It's ok!!".
So the first thing I think is "OMG. The house is burning down. I need to get Miss Muffet". So we both go racing out into the hallway, and still very disoriented, I decide that maybe our house isn't burning down after all - remember, we've done this before... So Matt immediately goes into Miss Muffet's room and rips her smoke alarm off the ceiling, and then heads down stairs. I in the mean time am standing in the middle of the hallway with my hands over my ears just wishing the alarming would stop. I think Matt started in the basement, and by the time he got to ripping the one down in the main floor hallway, the alarming stopped. Then he came back upstairs and took the one down in the hallway and our bedroom. BTW, through all of this, the munch didn't make a peep. When I went to check on her, she was out cold. Thank goodness.
We laid down on the bed for a few minutes trying to decide what to do, and decided we should to a walk around the house together to make sure we didn't smell any smoke or see any flame. So we did the smell and lights off check in every room, didn't find anything, and went back to bed, only to lay there until about 6 before we both fell asleep. I'm still mystified as to why it happened. I've gotten a few recommendations from people that apparently smoke detectors can get dusty and that will cause them to alarm? And they need cleaned out now and then. If that's the case, that pisses.me.off. They should make sure those damn things DON'T false alarm because of DUST...otherwise why the hell would anyone ever want to put them back up?! Which btw, 4 of our 8 are still sitting down on the dining room table with us trying to figure out what to do with them.
Have any of my readers had this happen? Is it worth buying all new detectors and having them installed? Our house is only 5 years old, I just can't imagine alarms wearing out in that amount of time. Grr!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Great Wedding.
I just decided I had to write another quick post after reading my husband's latest blog: http://firstand20.blogspot.com/ He mentions a couple weddings that we attended in April. I have to admit, the wedding that we attended in Montana for my cousin and his beautiful bride was off the hook.
Now, I wouldn't say I'm all gaga over weddings. I get tired of the cheesy music, the throwing of the bouquet, and all that...but I have to say that my cousin's bride's family really know how to throw a party! It was held in Winifred, MT, and I swear, everyone from Turner, MT (groom's hometown) and Winifred showed up for the reception, and what a reception it was! The biggest I had ever been to; they planned to feed around 300, used leftovers from the rehearsal dinner and ran out of food around 350 people. The bride commented on facebook that 515 people signed their guest book!! It was incredible.
We didn't get too stay long, since we now have a curfew that revolves around the littlest one, although she was ready to stay up and PARTY. She was having a great time dancing to the music with her bigger cousins, who were SO nice to her, and had to drag her out of there screaming and crying!
My mom later told us that they went through 9 kegs that night. My brother, who was the best man, said "Well, that explains everything." when I told him about the 9 kegs. It also may explain one of my brother's friends giving my mom a lap dance entitled "The Wipe My Butt Dance". Awesome.
Now, I wouldn't say I'm all gaga over weddings. I get tired of the cheesy music, the throwing of the bouquet, and all that...but I have to say that my cousin's bride's family really know how to throw a party! It was held in Winifred, MT, and I swear, everyone from Turner, MT (groom's hometown) and Winifred showed up for the reception, and what a reception it was! The biggest I had ever been to; they planned to feed around 300, used leftovers from the rehearsal dinner and ran out of food around 350 people. The bride commented on facebook that 515 people signed their guest book!! It was incredible.
We didn't get too stay long, since we now have a curfew that revolves around the littlest one, although she was ready to stay up and PARTY. She was having a great time dancing to the music with her bigger cousins, who were SO nice to her, and had to drag her out of there screaming and crying!
My mom later told us that they went through 9 kegs that night. My brother, who was the best man, said "Well, that explains everything." when I told him about the 9 kegs. It also may explain one of my brother's friends giving my mom a lap dance entitled "The Wipe My Butt Dance". Awesome.
Elmo.
My baby turned two a couple of weeks ago, and since I used to post my cakes on this blog, I figure I shouldn't miss out on the chance to post her birthday cake. I baked it the night before and actually froze it for the night, which turned out to be a brilliant idea, since the frozen cake was much easier to work with than a freshly baked one.
I also decided to go for fondant on the nose, eyes and mouth, and I think it turned out great. I was worried about how hard it would be to cut those shapes, until a light bulb turned on and I just layed the fondant right on the elmo cake pan and basically traced it right there. And then a little trimming once it was placed, and it looked fantastic! I did the fur with a grass tip after all the fondant was placed...and it took about a 1/2 hour to pipe once I finally got the red mixed. I'd say, in total, including bake time, the entire cake probably took about 3 hours. Not too bad - although I wonder how much I could charge for 3 hours work on a birthday cake?
I also decided to go for fondant on the nose, eyes and mouth, and I think it turned out great. I was worried about how hard it would be to cut those shapes, until a light bulb turned on and I just layed the fondant right on the elmo cake pan and basically traced it right there. And then a little trimming once it was placed, and it looked fantastic! I did the fur with a grass tip after all the fondant was placed...and it took about a 1/2 hour to pipe once I finally got the red mixed. I'd say, in total, including bake time, the entire cake probably took about 3 hours. Not too bad - although I wonder how much I could charge for 3 hours work on a birthday cake?
Friday, May 20, 2011
Goggles.
When I was growing up, my eyesight was perfect, much to my disappointment. It seemed like the 'cool kids' at school were getting smurfette glasses and other cute spectacles and oh how I wanted to wear glasses so badly. Looking back, thank GOODNESS I didn't wear glasses!!!! I needed all the help I could get, and glasses would NOT have been helping me out. At all. My mullet was all the thanks I needed, and I rocked that for like 6 years.
My parents and sister wore glasses though, and often I'd see their glasses sitting on a counter or something and they'd be SO dirty that I'd ask if they could even see through them. I remember cleaning their glasses when I found them in that condition because I couldn't believe they could ever see anything. And when I was finished they'd be sparkling. Not a spec of dust.
I got my first pair of glasses about 10 years ago. I was having trouble seeing what the professors at college were writing on the white board. Granted, I was sitting in the back row and they insisted on writing in red marker...but none the less at spring break one year (yep no fancy vacations for me, I was so broke I just went home every spring break!), I asked my parents if they'd take me to the eye doctor, and the eye doctor agreed, no reason to move closer to the white board, glasses will solve the problem! So I've worn them off and on for the past 10 years. Recently I think my vision has gotten worse, and I find that I love to wear my prescription sunglasses and I have a pair of glasses that I like to wear at my computer and for driving at night. It seems like I have terrible night vision and the glasses really help.
But one of the things that I hate about wearing glasses is that they are ALWAYS dirty. I've become my parents and just put them on, even if there is a big smudge on them. Even when I try to clean them, they're smeared and a mess, and after a while I just give up and put them on! If only I had the 10 year old version of myself standing around here to give my glasses a good clean for me every day, I'd praise her for getting them so clean and then tell her to eat her carrots!
My parents and sister wore glasses though, and often I'd see their glasses sitting on a counter or something and they'd be SO dirty that I'd ask if they could even see through them. I remember cleaning their glasses when I found them in that condition because I couldn't believe they could ever see anything. And when I was finished they'd be sparkling. Not a spec of dust.
I got my first pair of glasses about 10 years ago. I was having trouble seeing what the professors at college were writing on the white board. Granted, I was sitting in the back row and they insisted on writing in red marker...but none the less at spring break one year (yep no fancy vacations for me, I was so broke I just went home every spring break!), I asked my parents if they'd take me to the eye doctor, and the eye doctor agreed, no reason to move closer to the white board, glasses will solve the problem! So I've worn them off and on for the past 10 years. Recently I think my vision has gotten worse, and I find that I love to wear my prescription sunglasses and I have a pair of glasses that I like to wear at my computer and for driving at night. It seems like I have terrible night vision and the glasses really help.
But one of the things that I hate about wearing glasses is that they are ALWAYS dirty. I've become my parents and just put them on, even if there is a big smudge on them. Even when I try to clean them, they're smeared and a mess, and after a while I just give up and put them on! If only I had the 10 year old version of myself standing around here to give my glasses a good clean for me every day, I'd praise her for getting them so clean and then tell her to eat her carrots!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Mama bed.
I've been telling people for a while that our lives seem like they're getting back to normal...we're getting lots of sleep at night, although littlest one can be trying, for the most part she's loads of fun, and generally we are doing really well.
This false sense of security came to a screeching halt the other night. For some reason 2 nights ago, littlest one woke up at midnight, and proceeded to call for one of us...at the moment I can't remember which, and I can't even remember who went in there first (translation - must not have been me). So Matt went her room, comforted her, laid her back down, gives her paci's, a drink of water, and then comes back to bed. About 2 minutes later, she calls for us again. This time I go...do the same thing, go back to bed. 5 minutes pass, Matt's back in there. Another 5, I'm in there. But this time, I'm tired of it, so I ask her if she'd like to go lay down in mama's bed. "Yes."
(BTW, if any of you have heard Miss Muffet talk, she has a very distinct "yes"...)
Off to mama's bed we go, and she snuggles right up, and I think even might fall asleep for a few minutes. But then she wakes up and proceeds to toss and turn...touch Matt..."dada home"...feel my hair..."mama bed"...."hi daddy!"..."wake up dada!"..."mama go?...there ee is!"...."dada go?...there ee is!"...then us, "ssshhh, it's night night time, go to sleep"..."mama bed".... And this goes on for another hour. 2 am comes and goes - no one is getting any sleep.
Around 2:30 or 3 Matt decides she needs to go back to her crib. So he takes her and the water works start, and after he puts her back to bed she cries and cries and cries until I can't stand it anymore, take my pillow and decide that she and I can sleep in the spare bedroom - at least one of will get some sleep that way. As soon as I pick her up, she says "mama bed", and cries HARD when she realizes that we're going into the guest room. Ugh. Matt comes in and rescues me, and back we go to mama's bed. Joy.
So, Little Miss flops around for another hour and a half, when I think she finally gets tired, and starts crying, cause she's not comfortable or something. At that point, all I can think of to do is change her diaper, and give her some tylenol, just in case something hurts and she couldn't tell us what. She FINALLY fell back asleep and slept great, while Matt and I endured toes in the back and a flopping 1.89 year old until 6:30 when the alarm went off.
It was miserable, and we were both a wreck the next day. Matt mentioned that it reminded him of the dark days of having a new born! Ha ha! We decided not to wake her when we got up, and Matt stayed home with her yesterday, since she slept until 8:45 in morning. She still doesn't seem sick or anything, so we can't pinpoint what was going on that would cause her 4 hours of insomnia in the middle of the night. Last night she tried to pull the same "mama bed" thing, and after a tag-team bedtime routine, we finally got her to lay down in her crib and go to sleep. She did call out for her dad at 2:36 am this morning, and I noticed that he didn't go in there...good thing she didn't call out for mama!
This false sense of security came to a screeching halt the other night. For some reason 2 nights ago, littlest one woke up at midnight, and proceeded to call for one of us...at the moment I can't remember which, and I can't even remember who went in there first (translation - must not have been me). So Matt went her room, comforted her, laid her back down, gives her paci's, a drink of water, and then comes back to bed. About 2 minutes later, she calls for us again. This time I go...do the same thing, go back to bed. 5 minutes pass, Matt's back in there. Another 5, I'm in there. But this time, I'm tired of it, so I ask her if she'd like to go lay down in mama's bed. "Yes."
(BTW, if any of you have heard Miss Muffet talk, she has a very distinct "yes"...)
Off to mama's bed we go, and she snuggles right up, and I think even might fall asleep for a few minutes. But then she wakes up and proceeds to toss and turn...touch Matt..."dada home"...feel my hair..."mama bed"...."hi daddy!"..."wake up dada!"..."mama go?...there ee is!"...."dada go?...there ee is!"...then us, "ssshhh, it's night night time, go to sleep"..."mama bed".... And this goes on for another hour. 2 am comes and goes - no one is getting any sleep.
Around 2:30 or 3 Matt decides she needs to go back to her crib. So he takes her and the water works start, and after he puts her back to bed she cries and cries and cries until I can't stand it anymore, take my pillow and decide that she and I can sleep in the spare bedroom - at least one of will get some sleep that way. As soon as I pick her up, she says "mama bed", and cries HARD when she realizes that we're going into the guest room. Ugh. Matt comes in and rescues me, and back we go to mama's bed. Joy.
So, Little Miss flops around for another hour and a half, when I think she finally gets tired, and starts crying, cause she's not comfortable or something. At that point, all I can think of to do is change her diaper, and give her some tylenol, just in case something hurts and she couldn't tell us what. She FINALLY fell back asleep and slept great, while Matt and I endured toes in the back and a flopping 1.89 year old until 6:30 when the alarm went off.
It was miserable, and we were both a wreck the next day. Matt mentioned that it reminded him of the dark days of having a new born! Ha ha! We decided not to wake her when we got up, and Matt stayed home with her yesterday, since she slept until 8:45 in morning. She still doesn't seem sick or anything, so we can't pinpoint what was going on that would cause her 4 hours of insomnia in the middle of the night. Last night she tried to pull the same "mama bed" thing, and after a tag-team bedtime routine, we finally got her to lay down in her crib and go to sleep. She did call out for her dad at 2:36 am this morning, and I noticed that he didn't go in there...good thing she didn't call out for mama!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
My new baby.
Another update in my personal life is a recent addition of a smart phone to my arsenal of electronics. I have been putting this purchase off for some time now, as Matt got a Droid sometime last year. I couldn't believe that a data plan was going to cost me an extra $30 a month, and I honestly didn't see myself using it. Since then, I've grown to love our iPod Touch, that has the Facebook App, Google Reader, and the Weather Channel (to name a few) along with a few silly games that I can play before going to bed at night. Needless to say I'm hooked. The only problem? Well, just that it's not a phone, and as soon as I'm outside the reach of a wifi network I don't get to do anything online, although there's still plenty of fun things to do offline.
So, needless to say, I've been tossing around the idea of getting a smart phone for a while. And was REALLY excited when Verizon finally got the iPhone...I mean that's HUGE! I had decided that I was going to wait for the iPhone 5 to come out sometime this summer. Every since Verizon's iPhone 4 has been out, which was what, Febuary(?), I started re-thinking my logic. Granted, I love our iPod touch, however, I'm not sure I was ready to replace it - considering that it would probably go into major non-use if I were to get an iPhone. Also, for Matt's birthday, he got an iPad, which we also love and use lots. However, I'm also a heavy google account user, and what I love about Android phones is their tight integration with google - so my email, calender, photos, etc. load would load automatically. And I also like that although there aren't as many apps on the Android Market, a lot of them are free, and I'm a fan of free! Granted, the App Store has lots of free apps too, but often they are a lite version or somehow crippled until you buy the full version.
With that in mind, we went into Verizon's store (btw - I sorta hate Verizon and their antics, but since everyone in my family uses them, partly because of me, party because of the network, I must stick with them - hello free minutes!) and looked at phones. I originally thought I really wanted the HTC Thunderbolt, however when I held it it felt massive. It just seemed to big for my petite/dainty hands (hehe). The next one I picked up was the Samsung Fascinate, and liked it immediately. Just like Harry Pottery and his wand sending a warm jolt of energy to his body at first touch...ha ha ha! Anyhoo, I really dig the swipe texting, and the look and feel of the Fascinate. One drawback is that it does not have a front camera, so video chat isn't an option, however I'm not sure how often (if ever) I'd be in a situation where I'd only have my phone to do a video chat with someone - most likely we'd have Matt's iPad, or a laptop or some other means of doing video chat.
So far, I'm loving it - I love doing a quick check of FB, downloading 2 free versions of Angry Birds, and having the beautiful background pic sweet baby girl spread across all my home screens. I don't like that Verizon wants to charge to tether the device to another wireless device for $20 a month, for 2 GB of data - that's highway robbery, although there HAS to be someway around that, right? Admittedly I do have some remorse over not getting the iPhone, since I think I have been in love with the iPhone since it's conception, like 8 years ago, but beings that I'm not a mac user, or a heavy mac anything, I think I've made a decision that's right for me.
So, needless to say, I've been tossing around the idea of getting a smart phone for a while. And was REALLY excited when Verizon finally got the iPhone...I mean that's HUGE! I had decided that I was going to wait for the iPhone 5 to come out sometime this summer. Every since Verizon's iPhone 4 has been out, which was what, Febuary(?), I started re-thinking my logic. Granted, I love our iPod touch, however, I'm not sure I was ready to replace it - considering that it would probably go into major non-use if I were to get an iPhone. Also, for Matt's birthday, he got an iPad, which we also love and use lots. However, I'm also a heavy google account user, and what I love about Android phones is their tight integration with google - so my email, calender, photos, etc. load would load automatically. And I also like that although there aren't as many apps on the Android Market, a lot of them are free, and I'm a fan of free! Granted, the App Store has lots of free apps too, but often they are a lite version or somehow crippled until you buy the full version.
With that in mind, we went into Verizon's store (btw - I sorta hate Verizon and their antics, but since everyone in my family uses them, partly because of me, party because of the network, I must stick with them - hello free minutes!) and looked at phones. I originally thought I really wanted the HTC Thunderbolt, however when I held it it felt massive. It just seemed to big for my petite/dainty hands (hehe). The next one I picked up was the Samsung Fascinate, and liked it immediately. Just like Harry Pottery and his wand sending a warm jolt of energy to his body at first touch...ha ha ha! Anyhoo, I really dig the swipe texting, and the look and feel of the Fascinate. One drawback is that it does not have a front camera, so video chat isn't an option, however I'm not sure how often (if ever) I'd be in a situation where I'd only have my phone to do a video chat with someone - most likely we'd have Matt's iPad, or a laptop or some other means of doing video chat.
So far, I'm loving it - I love doing a quick check of FB, downloading 2 free versions of Angry Birds, and having the beautiful background pic sweet baby girl spread across all my home screens. I don't like that Verizon wants to charge to tether the device to another wireless device for $20 a month, for 2 GB of data - that's highway robbery, although there HAS to be someway around that, right? Admittedly I do have some remorse over not getting the iPhone, since I think I have been in love with the iPhone since it's conception, like 8 years ago, but beings that I'm not a mac user, or a heavy mac anything, I think I've made a decision that's right for me.
Update: $4 a dozen.
Previously, when I had written about eggs costing $4 a dozen, I was comparing it to my own shopping experiences at a normal grocery store - so I'm sure I'm buying eggs laid by caged, abused, and forced to eat their own feces chickens.
Fast forward to last week - we needed eggs, I was running to Whole Foods to get us some fish for supper, and Matt suggested that I pick up a dozen eggs, since we were out and my all time favorite breakfast (right now) on the weekend is an omelette made with Whole Foods bean and corn salsa, hold the cheese. There I was, standing in front of the eggs, and I was SHOCKED that I could only see eggs that were in the range of $5 a dozen! $5.49, $4.69....I finally found a dozen that was on sale for 2 for $5, and another that was $2.49 a dozen...so at least there were options.
I didn't realize how much a a bargain (?) farm fresh eggs were for $4 a dozen. Silly me.
Fast forward to last week - we needed eggs, I was running to Whole Foods to get us some fish for supper, and Matt suggested that I pick up a dozen eggs, since we were out and my all time favorite breakfast (right now) on the weekend is an omelette made with Whole Foods bean and corn salsa, hold the cheese. There I was, standing in front of the eggs, and I was SHOCKED that I could only see eggs that were in the range of $5 a dozen! $5.49, $4.69....I finally found a dozen that was on sale for 2 for $5, and another that was $2.49 a dozen...so at least there were options.
I didn't realize how much a a bargain (?) farm fresh eggs were for $4 a dozen. Silly me.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
$4 a dozen.
Some (probably most) of my readers know that I am a Montana girl and that I grew up on a farm. Well, truthfully, I was a town kid; our farm was 6 miles "out of town", but I spent a lot of time out there playing with my cousins and hanging out with my Gramma. On a side note, one of my all time favorite memories is laying by the heat register on the soft carpet in my Gramma's living room after lunch, reading comic books until I was so tired I'd just have to shut my eyes and take a little nap....ahhh.....
Back to the point.
I was driving home the other night and happened to spot a sign posted to someone's tree/fence. As I was whizzing by at 5 mph over the speed limit, I noticed it said "Farm fresh eggs - $4 a dozen". I didn't think much of it, until I started thinking about how much our eggs cost us at the grocery store - which I think is possibly more in the range of $2 a dozen? I don't really keep track, I just buy them. But $4 a dozen! Wow! It made me think of spending the night at a friends house in elementary school and our 'chores' in the morning were to go out and collect the eggs from the chicken coop. So out we'd go, each of us with our coffee can to the chicken coup that smelled like hay and chicken poop. I was always fairly scared of what those hens were going to do to us - but turns out they were always a little more scared of us so would flee their box when my friend would stick her hand in to retrieve the eggs. Seems like each little box had 1-3 eggs, and we'd load up the eggs in our cans (trying hard not to break them) and take them back into the house. Then we had to wash them, since sometimes they were covered with chicken poop and put them in the fridge. Talk about farm fresh eggs! I didn't realize what a luxury I was growing up with...and to think that they could have sold those eggs for $4 a dozen...I think it would have blown their minds...granted, they were a fairly big family, with 4 kids, so I'm sure they used all those eggs to feed themselves.
Another thing I've been hearing about lately is 'raw' milk...and again - growing up, we one of the local ranchers had a milk cow and would bring us milk every few days...I remember HATING the taste of it...and wishing we could just buy store milk, until my mom decided she could just boil it and we'd drink it... Yep, a good ol stroll down the pasteurization highway and we were good to go! It shocks me now to think that people actually have to buy a very expensive 'share' of a milk cow to get unpasteurized milk, when we complained about wanting store bought milk!
I guess my point today is that I have all of these experiences and memories of things that I absolutely take for granted, and that the people that I meet/know in the land of paved streets and no mud have never experienced, and possibly never will....which could quite possibly include my own children. I hope for my kids sake that they will get to enjoy some of those things that I grew up with, and love it and always look back on it fondly, and like me, always dreaming of my next trip to the Big Flat in Montana.
Back to the point.
I was driving home the other night and happened to spot a sign posted to someone's tree/fence. As I was whizzing by at 5 mph over the speed limit, I noticed it said "Farm fresh eggs - $4 a dozen". I didn't think much of it, until I started thinking about how much our eggs cost us at the grocery store - which I think is possibly more in the range of $2 a dozen? I don't really keep track, I just buy them. But $4 a dozen! Wow! It made me think of spending the night at a friends house in elementary school and our 'chores' in the morning were to go out and collect the eggs from the chicken coop. So out we'd go, each of us with our coffee can to the chicken coup that smelled like hay and chicken poop. I was always fairly scared of what those hens were going to do to us - but turns out they were always a little more scared of us so would flee their box when my friend would stick her hand in to retrieve the eggs. Seems like each little box had 1-3 eggs, and we'd load up the eggs in our cans (trying hard not to break them) and take them back into the house. Then we had to wash them, since sometimes they were covered with chicken poop and put them in the fridge. Talk about farm fresh eggs! I didn't realize what a luxury I was growing up with...and to think that they could have sold those eggs for $4 a dozen...I think it would have blown their minds...granted, they were a fairly big family, with 4 kids, so I'm sure they used all those eggs to feed themselves.
Another thing I've been hearing about lately is 'raw' milk...and again - growing up, we one of the local ranchers had a milk cow and would bring us milk every few days...I remember HATING the taste of it...and wishing we could just buy store milk, until my mom decided she could just boil it and we'd drink it... Yep, a good ol stroll down the pasteurization highway and we were good to go! It shocks me now to think that people actually have to buy a very expensive 'share' of a milk cow to get unpasteurized milk, when we complained about wanting store bought milk!
I guess my point today is that I have all of these experiences and memories of things that I absolutely take for granted, and that the people that I meet/know in the land of paved streets and no mud have never experienced, and possibly never will....which could quite possibly include my own children. I hope for my kids sake that they will get to enjoy some of those things that I grew up with, and love it and always look back on it fondly, and like me, always dreaming of my next trip to the Big Flat in Montana.
Monday, March 7, 2011
End of a 10 day fiesta.
I'm writing at the tail end of a great 10 days that we got to spend with my parents. They left this morning, and now I'm blue. It hardly seems like they were here for that long, and that it's already over. The worst part of it was that I didn't take my mom shopping, my dad STILL did not make it down to the museum, and we probably could have gotten more visiting in. I had a fabulous time with them though, and they spoil the dickens out of us when they are here. They even kept littlest one home for 4 days and watched her while they were here! Since they've left little miss has been very quiet and playing quietly with her dolls and toys...I wonder if she's sad too.
I had originally intended to put it in our bedroom, but after it sat at the bottom of the stairs for a day we decided it would look really good in the front entry, and could be used as a bench for people to put their shoes on, and it would be a great place to store mittens and hats. Clever!
I'm sure I've mentioned in past posts that my mom is a jack of all trades. Not only does is she a master piano player, but she also sews. When Matt's parents were emptying out their house I was able to snag his mom's Hope/Cedar chest. The cover of it was ripped and torn, and there were a fair amount of nicks and scuffs in the wood, so while my mom was here I decided we should refinish the Cedar chest. I am an idiot though, and can't think to take a before picture, however here is an after picture. There was enough material left over to make two pillows too. I think all the pillows need is a big square button in the center of them. Mom did the sewing, and I did the sanding and staining. I'm so proud of us!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Cooks Illustrated.
I was just reading a few blog posts back, and just had to mention this. My sister got me a subscription to Cooks Illustrated and to the Cook's Illustrated Entertaining magazines for my birthday last year, and it's been like the gift that keeps on giving. I love it! What I love is the write up that goes into how they came about getting their recipe, and how they tested it out. I've shared some of the recipes with a few people, including a pie crust recipe with my mom, who has been making pies forever, and she now uses a crust from Cooks Illustrated!
Matt's family recently moved away from the good 'ol USA, and for one last get-together Matt and I decided to host a dinner. In that dinner we used many recipes from CI - including garlic roasted potatoes, roasted pear and blue cheese salad, and a cranberry pecan tart...all of which were AMAZING and delicious...It was so fun. Anyways, if you have't already, check out their website and grab yourself a free recipe or two - they have a few posted. The blueberry muffins are delicious!
Matt's family recently moved away from the good 'ol USA, and for one last get-together Matt and I decided to host a dinner. In that dinner we used many recipes from CI - including garlic roasted potatoes, roasted pear and blue cheese salad, and a cranberry pecan tart...all of which were AMAZING and delicious...It was so fun. Anyways, if you have't already, check out their website and grab yourself a free recipe or two - they have a few posted. The blueberry muffins are delicious!
It's a virus.
I don't know how many times I've heard the phrase "It's a virus" this past year. Ever since we enrolled littlest-one into day care we've been to the doctor countless times to just be told that there's nothing that can be done - it's just a virus and we have to let it run its course. And how frustrating as a parent to think, "gosh, she's coughing a lot she sounds very congested...what if it's pneumonia again?!" A $15 copay later, we're back in the car with nothing to show for it!
And it's been more noticeable as of late, but today I've realized that my baby girl is no longer a baby, but a full on toddler. Little Miss Independent wants to do NOTHING that I ask of her, but will get around to doing it on her own time...so frustrating for mama who just wants her to get IN the car so we can go home after day car, or leave the exam room after seeing the doctor, or sit on mama's lap so the doctor can examine her. Ugh....so starts the terrible-twos? I've heard it also is the terrible 3's...we're in for a long haul.
And it's been more noticeable as of late, but today I've realized that my baby girl is no longer a baby, but a full on toddler. Little Miss Independent wants to do NOTHING that I ask of her, but will get around to doing it on her own time...so frustrating for mama who just wants her to get IN the car so we can go home after day car, or leave the exam room after seeing the doctor, or sit on mama's lap so the doctor can examine her. Ugh....so starts the terrible-twos? I've heard it also is the terrible 3's...we're in for a long haul.
Friday, February 4, 2011
What's wrong with me?
I don't mean to sound like Debbie Downer, but I haven't touched this blog in forever! The funny thing is, I can think of interesting things that I'd like to write about when I'm falling asleep at night, but by the morning the idea has left me and I can't remember for the LIFE of me what it was that I wanted to write. So the cycle goes, and my poor blog goes untouched.
Our life is pretty quiet right now. Baby girl seems to be getting healthier, although she still has a cough that sounds terrible. I said I wasn't going to do it, but I am...I'm watching this season of biggest loser. There's a 5'8" man on the show that weighs like 400 pounds...but the thing is, he's hard to root for. He has a MAJOR addiction to food, so I'm not convinced that 3 months on the ranch is going to save his life. I think the MOMENT he gets voted off and goes home he will fall back into the situation that got him to 400 pounds to begin with. I could be wrong, let's hope that I am.
I am also in a rut. Since my diet last year at this time, I have gained back 6 pounds and I hate those 6 pounds but I'm having a very hard time losing them. At the beginning of the year I decided to actually use the P90X videos that I had bought a while back. I did the 1st workout, caught a cold and didn't work out again for 2 weeks. Since then, I've been trying to do a video every other night - although sometimes I still don't get it done and skip an extra night in between. It's such an intense workout and makes me so sore that there's no way I could do it every night...not to mention my knees feel like they get so swollen that my knee caps are going to explode off.
It's super-bowl Sunday this weekend, and last year I had a JC meal during super-bowl...I hope I can keep from gaining 5 pounds at this one, since we are the ones hosting a party and offering up terrible things for people to eat!!
Our life is pretty quiet right now. Baby girl seems to be getting healthier, although she still has a cough that sounds terrible. I said I wasn't going to do it, but I am...I'm watching this season of biggest loser. There's a 5'8" man on the show that weighs like 400 pounds...but the thing is, he's hard to root for. He has a MAJOR addiction to food, so I'm not convinced that 3 months on the ranch is going to save his life. I think the MOMENT he gets voted off and goes home he will fall back into the situation that got him to 400 pounds to begin with. I could be wrong, let's hope that I am.
I am also in a rut. Since my diet last year at this time, I have gained back 6 pounds and I hate those 6 pounds but I'm having a very hard time losing them. At the beginning of the year I decided to actually use the P90X videos that I had bought a while back. I did the 1st workout, caught a cold and didn't work out again for 2 weeks. Since then, I've been trying to do a video every other night - although sometimes I still don't get it done and skip an extra night in between. It's such an intense workout and makes me so sore that there's no way I could do it every night...not to mention my knees feel like they get so swollen that my knee caps are going to explode off.
It's super-bowl Sunday this weekend, and last year I had a JC meal during super-bowl...I hope I can keep from gaining 5 pounds at this one, since we are the ones hosting a party and offering up terrible things for people to eat!!
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