February?

What happened to the month of February?  Seriously.  Even with the extra day tacked on for leap year, this February whizzed by for our family.

I'm sure that's largely due to the busyness of our February calendar.  And also due to the fact that most of my February was spent wiping runny noses, delivering cough drops and popping in dvds for whoever happened to be sick at the moment.  But thankfully, our February ailments did NOT include any stomach flu bouts.  THANK YOU JESUS!

Here's a photo highlight reel of our February.  And here's to a slower-moving March!

Lots of reading, playing and indoor shenanigans happened in February.  Chloe helped me out by reading to Solomon after he woke up from his nap.  So sweet to see them snuggling together and enjoying a book!  (Believe me, this kind of sight doesn't happen often in my house.)

Making a band out of pots and pans.  Who needs toys, right?

I instituted a new chore chart for the minions this month including dish duty for the two oldest.  I can't tell you how much happier my heart is now that the kids can share the load of cleaning a tiny bit more!  More on the new chore system to come.  It's working famously for our crew so far!

Like most holidays, I feel compelled to celebrate using themed food. This was V-day breakfast.

My Clive devouring his Valentine's Day pancakes with strawberry syrup.

Chloe (notice the red sniffly nose) posing with her Valentine's Day lunch of heart shaped toast, heart shaped cheese and pink smoothies. 

February makes us all a bit stir-crazy.  In an effort to make our indoor days more fun I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and let the kids go wild with dishes.  That's super fun, right?  :)

To celebrate Chloe's completion of her January reading chart we ate cheap pizza and subjected ourselves to the insanity of Chuck E. Cheese.  This horse ride was Chloe's favorite.

The boys preferred riding anything resembling a vehicle or that required pounding. 

Chloe was the only Horn child brave enough to hug and pose with Chuck E.

Thank you, Pinterest for so many fun valentine ideas!  There were Chloe's homemade butterfly valentines for the girls in her class.

Not to be outdone, Clive and I decorated these car valentines for his buddies.

And because the boys could NOT receive butterfly valentines, Chloe and I made these cute swedish fish cards for her male classmates.  

Resolving not to resolve

I'm not making any resolutions this year.  I know if I DO pen any resolutions, I'd just be setting myself up for certain failure. 

Also, since I'm a hugely approval-motivated person I need to tread with caution.  It would easy peasy for me to build up my ego if I actually achieve a resolution -- no matter how minor or major the accomplishment my pride does not need help in puffing itself up unduly. 

So instead I'm setting some overarching goals for 2011.  "Overarching goals" sound less intimidating than "resolutions", doesn't it?

In 2011 I'd like to:

* lose weight
* exercise more
* read my Bible consistently
* spend more time with my husband

How 'bout you?  Did you resolve or set any goals for the coming año?

Back to blogging

We've been home from vacation now for a week and I have yet to blog! Currently, I have SEVEN posts started but none completed. Ugh. I hate that unfinished feeling.

Lately I sit down to blog and even though I've already envisioned what I'm going to write, I inevitably lose my motivation.

So, in an effort to jump back into blogging and breathe some new life into the horn family chronicles, I'm stealing borrowing a play from my pal Jenny's playbook.

Instead of posting a detailed entry on a single subject, here's a smattering (great word, eh?) of our recent activities and endeavors.

1. Jam making: I've impulsively entered the world of home-canning! Unfortunately, I made a big mistake and left too much head space in the jars. So, now I have to re-can it. Shouldn't be too difficult though (famous last words). Thus far I've made 9 pint sized jars of luscious homemade strawberry jam from fresh-picked locally farmed berries. I simply can not describe how much yummier this jam is compared to store bought stuff. I have visions of canning much more yumminess this season!
   
2. Picking, picking, picking: No, I'm not referring to my children's dirty habits of booger removal. Lately I've been picking local farm fresh produce and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Picking, shelling, cleaning and EATING our food straight from a local farm has been highly addicting. Thus far I've picked strawberries, peas, and two varieties of raspberries. Blueberries are next on the picking agenda.
   
3. Solomon: He's growing fast, folks! Coming up on his 10 week birthday tomorrow already and weighing in at 13 lbs 7 ounces. Solly is quickly transitioning from newborn to a full-throttled infant. He's cooing and smiling up a storm. I'm a sucker for his grins! Not sleeping consistently through the night yet but I'm hopeful that milestone is around the corner. He's had several 5, 6 and 7 hour nighttime sleep stretches but our recent vacation messed him up nicely. Grrrr.
   
4. Gardening mania: We are gardening full-force this year and I couldn't be more excited about it! Since our backyard soil is awful, Matt built 11 raised garden beds. Five big beds and six smaller ones. One of the beds is exclusively Chloe's and she's growing carrots, beets, radishes and peas. The rest of the garden is planted with leaf lettuce, zucchini, squash, cucumber, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, eggplant, blueberry bushes, asparagus and I don't know what else. I was in the throes of post-partum zombieland when the garden needed to be started so Matt was the motivated sower and chooser of seeds. I also have a small potted herb garden which includes basil, oregano, mint, thyme, and cilantro. It is pure delight to pick fresh basil for quiche, pasta sauce, or caprese salad (one of my summer faves). I feel like a moron for not knowing what the plants look like which yield the foods I've eaten for 30+ years. It's educationally liberating and empowering in a weird way to be able to identify the plants, leaves, flowers, and fruits which give way to familiar veggies. How very sad that the process of growing, planting, and cultivating has been so completely removed from food consumption! I'm certain the average American kid thinks food comes from the grocery store and is clueless regarding the steps necessary to produce said food.
   
5. Summer schedule: Matt is a teacher. You know what that means, don't ya? THREE full months off each summer!!! WOO-HOO! Having Matt home most weekdays is an incredible and indescribable blessing. I am so spoiled. And thankful.
6. Potty training: Clive is potty-trained! Mostly. He's still working on going #2 consistently in the right place. Somehow, our vacation to Wisconsin helped rather than hindered our potty-training efforts. Though he had his share of accidents while we were away, Clive did surprisingly well. And now he's in big boy undies all day long and rarely has an accident! Still doing diapers for naptime and bedtime of course. I realize we're still a long way from Clive being fully trained but this is an encouraging and positive step towards that end!
7. Vacation: Had a spectacularly enjoyable time visiting the family matriarchs in Wisconsin. We were away for two full weeks and I am amazed at how well the kiddos adjusted to new routines and settings. Loads of pictures chronicling our visit in FB.

So now we're all caught up! Ah. And now I can retire to bed in peace. :)

What have you been up to in the month of June?

Unlikely car blasting music

On our way home from a fabulous Target shopping trip tonight, Chloe and I waited at a crowded intersection for the light to turn green.

As is usually the case during the warm summer months, we often hear neighboring car radios blaring their chosen music. Typically I ignore the noise but tonight I erupted in smiles as I started singing along to the very loud music coming from the black sedan next to us in the roadway.

The driver of the car was singing along happily as he blasted the surrounding airwaves with "Do a Deer" from the beloved musical, The Sound of Music.

How refreshing, fun-spirited and joy-inducing! Here's hoping others follow in his musical-blaring footsteps. :)

Our car radio doesn't even work but if it did my number one blasting music of choice is the oldie, "Buttercup". Can't you just hear the lyrics, "Why do you build me up? Buttercup baby just to let me down? And mess me around . . . "

What music do you choose when the car windows are rolled down on a summer evening?

Catching up

We've had a series of busy days in our little family! Here's a quick catch-up as to our doings the past few weeks . . .

Clive received yet another hair cut
Matt is an officer of the hair-cut police apparently. Clive's hair was getting squirrelly around the ears so Matt whipped out the clippers. He did a great job on the cut but Clive is looking too much like a big boy and not enough like a baby these days.























Yard sale success!
Though we didn't rake in mountains of profits, we DID succeed in getting rid of loads of stuff. Even after selling our unwanted possessions, our car was full of discarded items to donate to our local thrift store. Feels so good to have fewer stuff-filled-bins in our basement.

Chloe made about $10 in lemonade and cookie sales. She was SO ADORABLE that not many yard sale patrons could resist her. She even had a little friend over on Friday and they BOTH sold lemonade in their princess garb!!! Too cute!

And big thanks to all of you for the great yard sale tips!

My general observation is that I'm way too cheap a person to hold a yard sale. It was a nice way to purge our household of stuff but I am a horribly low-pricer. I firmly believe that yard sales should be cheap and hence most of our items were priced under $1. (Check out the cool display contraption Matt built!)

That being said, we still think it was a very positive experience. It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise and I got to chat with several neighbors both days. That in itself was a huge bonus! I don't know about your schedule, but ours seems rather hectic during the school year. We seem to flit here and there without spending much time invested in the lives of our neighbors and community.

Also interesting to see the various characters that attended our small sale. The funniest was a lady who haggled with me over every single item she bought. C'mon, as if my stuff wasn't cheap enough already! Of course I gave in. I'm no tough salesperson.














Pittsburgh zoo trip
In a word, the Pittsburgh zoo is AWESOME! I highly recommend it as a family and kid-friendly zoo. We did the zoo in two days and saw it all. They have your traditional zoo-ey animals including all the cool African ones but they also boast some unique zoo sights. The onsite aquarium was a definite highlight for us all. It's small enough to hold the attention of little ones and yet big enough to showcase a variety of sea creatures. Faves were the stingray pool with tunnel, the 2 story high fish tank with sharks, and the rockfish (ok, that was mainly just my fave).

The kids kingdom was fantastic! Well-planned with unique playground stops throughout it was like a mini-zoo in itself. Wide variety of animals too. We saw sea lions swimming, deer, owls, an alligator, kangaroos, a skunk, sheep, and a camel.

By far the best element of the zoo trip was the fact that we were all together and AWAY from home. Without the distractions of computer and work we were all fully engaged in the time together. We're already planning our next mini-family-getaway!

Check out all the pictures of our trip here.

























Website project completion
Not much to report here but after hours upon hours upon hours of work I finally completed and successfully published a website for a small church in Wisconsin. Whew! It was a frustrating and rewarding journey. I love the design process of website production but I'm such a hacker that it's always a long series of trial-and-error before I have a finished product.

With that disclaimer firmly in mind, check out the website for tree of life ministries here. I'd love your feedback and helpful comments!

Flowers and garden in bloom
No photos of the garden yet as it's really just unexciting seedlings right now. My ingenious hubby built me a unique raised garden bed that's perfecto for planting shallow-rooted veggies. So, we're doing cabbage, romaine and two other types of leaf lettuce. Also tomatoes, basil and mint in pots. All thanks to my wonderful master gardener friend! She provided me with the seeds and seedlings and is constantly available to answer my lame-o questions. :)

This year we have irises for the first time ever. What gorgeous blooms! The first batch is a deep purple; I can't get over how symmetrical and intricate the flower head is! As Chloe gets older we'll definitely do some informal study on flower anatomy and pollination as the iris is such a large visual for such things.

And our peonies are blooming! I can't tell you how much we love the ease of perennial flowers. It's especially exciting to anticipate how many more flowers we get each summer. This year we got 10-12!



What flowers are you growing this year?

Blackberry smoothies

Today started out slowly for me. I was weary and unmotivated. (I'd blame my thyroiditis but it could very well have just been that I'm weary from chasing after two kids. I don't know HOW moms of more than two do it!)

After coloring with the kids awhile this morning, I loaded Clive up in the stroller and we all took a walk. The Vitamin-D filled sunshine always helps lift my mood. We had a nice walk to the drug store and then we stopped at Dairy Queen to share an ice cream cone between the three of us. On the way home we even snagged a kid-sized plastic table someone had left curb-side. I'm sure we were quite a sight to see. Me struggling to carry the table while pushing Clive's stroller and Chloe walking beside us with a new-found walking stick about 5 feet tall. :)

We then had a simple lunch and I tried out a new blackberry smoothie recipe. Clive went crazy on his smoothie and resorted to chugging it instead of using his spoon. He's such a cute and messy eater! Chloe ate her smoothie a bit more slowly and I warned her sternly NOT to let Clive get a hold of her cup. He's snatchy and quick when it comes to grabbing what he wants. I'm not usually a huge stickler about keeping clean at the lunch table but this particular smoothie was blackberry heavy and a VERY dark purple.

While they finished up their lunches, I ran upstairs to use the bathroom (am I the only mom who completely neglects her own bladder until it's an emergency?) and was gone for a few minutes. Suddenly I heard Chloe's panic-filled voice calling for me as she raced up the steps.

When I came down I discovered the reason for her panic. Chloe had left the table to play and Clive reached her smoothie cup and DUMPED it all over the carpet below. I sat down on the floor and cried. It was one of those moments that struck a raw nerve. I cried for awhile and scolded Chloe angrily. Poor girl. I apologized to her later and spent some extra-snuggly time with her tonight. I'm so thankful little kids are such quick-forgivers!

Clive didn't know how to handle my crying. He stared for a few moments and then when he saw Chloe jump in my lap to hug me he came racing over too. That was an incredibly sweet moment. His darling little smile and whole-bodied hug melted my heart immediately.

Anyways, I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more using first water and then two different carpet cleaners. And surprisingly the dark purple blotch is almost completely gone!

After some much-needed naps for everyone the day got much better. Now I'm looking forward to a bath, Bible reading, and an early bedtime. Whew. This is one day I'm glad is almost over.

What's your worst stain story?

Stupid choices

Since becoming a mom I've become much less impulsive in my decision-making. I usually consider the options and try to make the wisest, safest, cheapest choice possible.

Not so in the past few days. I abhor the word stupid. It's so harsh-sounding and mean. Lately I've earned the stupid label for my rash choices.

On our way to Bible study Thursday morning we were running a little late (we're almost always running late) and I sighed when I saw the last light in our journey turn red just as I reached it. I stopped and waited. I finished applying my lipstick and we waited some more. It felt like ages for the light to turn and since the road is under construction I reasoned that maybe the traffic light was broken. I inched forward and once the traffic cleared I proceeded through the intersection. As I coasted across the street out of the corner of my eye I saw the light change to green. No biggie I thought, I drove the last block to church and then I saw a very different set of lights. And they were flashing. Arrggh! Yup, I earned myself a traffic citation for running a red light. Even though I cried (the tears were very sincere, believe me!) the kind officer still issued me a ticket. That was stupid choice #1. And of course then I was upset and blubbery all through Bible study. The worst part though was explaining to Chloe that I broke the law. Talk about feeling like a rotten mama! In the moment it was trying but of course I realize now the value in it. I got to modeling in front of Chloe how to apologize and take consequences when I made a bad choice.

Stupid choice #2 came yesterday afternoon when I hastily searched priceline for a cheap hotel rate for our upcoming family mini-vacation to Pittsburgh. After seeing some higher-than-desirable prices I decided to go the "name my own price" route. I should have listened to my inner warnings as I read the non-refundable no cancellations policy but instead I dashed ahead. I was pumped to see the results come back - a classy downtown hotel room for only 50 bucks! My heart sank however when I realized that parking isn't included. And there's no complimentary breakfast or swimming pool. Arrggh again! Thankfully, Pittsburgh is not Chicago and overnight parking will only cost $10. And there's a McD's nearby so we can score a cheap kid-friendly breakfast there.

I'm thankful God shows me my stupidity and reminds me of His unfailing love and waiting forgiveness. I'm still His child and He'll always gather me into His arms with comfort even when I fail. I certainly need to be humbled before realizing the depth of my need for Jesus!

What foolish decisions/choices have you made of late? Have any of you been pulled over with your kiddos?

Date night suggestions?

Matt and I get a date night this Friday night!!!!

My girlfriends and I have recently organized a babysitting swap service. Since we don't have family in the area and we can't afford babysitters Matt and I very rarely get date nights.

Through our swapping system we'll watch each other's kiddos for credit and then cash in for some much-needed couple time. A win-win situation for all of us!

Our date night is approaching fast and Matt and I still don't have a gameplan. We hoped to go putt-putt golfing but the weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms. We'll most likely eat dinner at home with the kids and then sneak away for 3-4 hours.

We're thinking a movie and then maybe dessert somewhere. Any recommendations for movies? I am so out of touch with movies that I don't know what's playing besides Wolverine. Which we might end up seeing. :) Romantic, eh? We're weird that way. We like a good action-packed movie if we're going to shell out the money to see a flick on the big screen.

Any other suggestions for an on-the-cheap date?

Some silly questions

My frazzled brain has been going in several directions lately. (I have a feeling that's the new normal for my thinking patterns. My reading habits are following suit. I have 4 books going right now and I hop from one to another during my nightly reading time.) Blog post ideas often pop into my head but then they just as quickly pop out again. :)

Instead of the usual blog post, I feel like asking you some random life questions. Just an informal query on what you all do, think, and live to satisfy my strange and curious mind.

1. Does everyone have a Wii but me? What's the big deal with those contraptions? I've never even seen one but I hear about them constantly.
   
2. How in the world do you cook with tomatillos? I tried and failed disastrously this week.
3. What food is your personal weakness? Mine is without a doubt cheese. I must eat it daily.
   
4. Do you paint your toenails?
5. HOW do you make time for mending?!? I have an immense mountain (not merely a pile) of small mending projects that are just not getting done.
   

All right, I've ignored my chattering son long enough so that's all the questions you get. I look forward to reading your answers, dear blogging friends!

Cadbury conspiracy

Spring is such a lovely time of year. The anticipation of new flowers, the promise of warmer weather, and the air is atwitter with chirping birds. Ah. And then of course there's the arrival of cadbury creme eggs to the Easter candy aisle. :)

I certainly have my candy preferences (york peppermint patties and lindor hazelnut truffles in case you were wondering). But I'm not one that MUST have a particular candy as a treat or reward.

Not so with cadbury creme eggs. Maybe it's their limited availability or their unique, albeit weird, egg-like colors inside. I usually pick up a few around Easter and savor them when I need a special pick-me-up.

Imagine my consumer surprise when I searched the pastel Easter shelves at Drug Mart and couldn't find cadbury creme eggs! Mind you, there are lots of look-alike cadbury creme eggs on the market these days. Cadbury caramel eggs, reese's eggs, snickers' eggs . . . you name it, it's an egg. I couldn't believe the creme eggs would be missing so I kept searching.

Lo, and behold, as of this year, the greedy cadbury company no longer sells creme eggs individually. Now you have to buy them in a package of THREE and the package costs more than two dollars?!? C'mon! Our economy is in shambles here!

I feel like I'm on an episode of Seinfeld ranting about something so silly . . . but it's really gotten under my skin. So, I'm boycotting this spring. No money-grubbing candy company will get my loose change! :)

Maybe I'm just getting more opinionated as I age . . . I almost honked in disapproval at some jaywalking teenagers yesterday. I don't mind that they jaywalked but what seriously annoyed me was that they saw me driving and still they leisurely crossed the road. Hoodlums. :)

What's your favorite spring time candy?

Mommy Mush Brain

Anyone else suffer from mommy mush brain?

I'm convinced that my regular habits of multi-tasking are affecting my overall neuron fire-power.

But that doesn't mean I'm about to stop multi-tasking. Besides making me feel efficient and goal-oriented, multi-tasking enables me to start several tasks during the precious golden moments of overlapping naptime. This time is too precious to waste doing just one task!

In fact, right now I'm not only updating my blog, I'm posting an online test, cooking a ginormous pot of rice, monitoring two email accounts, making a list of questions to ask an instructor, editing my google tasks list, and drinking coffee. Don't ask me how many tabs and windows I currently have open! :) What are you doing right now?

More and more studies are confirming my hunch about the dangers of multi-tasking. If you've got some time, here are a few interesting articles on the subject of multi-tasking (NY Times and NPR). Turns out though I think I'm being more productive the more tasks I juggle, I'm not. The human brain can only fully focus on 1-3 things at a time. Instead I'm causing my brain to just switch rapidly between tasks and losing focus each time I switch. Oopsies. No wonder my natural flow of conversation topics jumps around like an espresso guzzling jackrabbit.

I should amend my multi-tasking ways but even after skimming these articles I'm not sure I'm prepared to make any huge changes. About the only thing I've done thus far is to eliminate listening to music while I work on the computer. Way too distracting.

Have any tips for this unfocused brain of mine?

How was your voting experience?

I voted early this year and waited 3 hours to vote! Turns out I needn't have made such efforts to vote early as our local polls were not overly crowded today.

Oh well! I got some much-needed quiet time to sit and work on a Christmas cross-stitch project while I waited my turn at the polls. It also gave me time to reflect on how fortunate we are in America. We have the right to vote and we can vote without oppression or fear of persecution.

How was your voting experience? Check out my mini-poll on the right hand side bar. Happy voting!

Am I the only one?

Matt is headed out to St. Louis this weekend to present at a conference (sidenote: I am SO PROUD of all the scholarly work Matt is doing in the midst of writing his dissertation AND teaching four classes at Kent State).

He'll be gone Saturday and Sunday. The big bummer is he'll miss trick-or-treating in our neighborhood on Saturday night. The bonus is I'll finally get to watch the much-hyped Disney blockbuster High School Musical.

Which leads me to my question for you . . . am I the only one out there that hasn't seen this flick yet? I have some gal pals from Bible study who RAVE about how good HSM is. They know most of the songs and even some dance moves. What's your take on the HSM craze?

Anyone else tired of seeing Hannah Montana?

I've been out shopping quite a bit lately as we prepare for Chloe's big third birthday party. In every store I am haunted by Hannah Montana's toothy smile.

Why is Hannah Montana plastered on EVERYTHING?!?! Purses, folders, shirts, pencils, binders, curtains, little girls' undies, board games, party plates, bean bag chairs, stickers . . .

Is there no end to the shameless marketing? It's as if girls have no choice but to like Hannah Montana. As Chloe grows I will try my hardest to steer her to role models that aren't being shoved down her throat by packaging and hype. (As my mom reads this I can hear her laughing as she recalls my days of mindless infatuation of such greats as New Kids on the Block and McHammer).

Who did you absolutely adore when you were a teen or tween?

Celebrate Earth Day with reusable bags

Most of my earth-conscious habits were initiated by my mom. She always recycled and kept reusable cloth bags in her car for shopping. Thanks, mommy!

Using cloth shopping bags is one of my favorite earth-friendly practices (definitely rates higher than cleaning out poopy cloth diapers). It's incredibly easy to keep our cloth bags in the trunk of the car and to pull them out for grocery trips. I'm not so good about always remembering to bring cloth bags into retail stores though. Still working on that.

If you're out and about tomorrow, be sure to stop in at your local Wal-Mart. In celebration of Earth Day, Wal-Mart is giving away 1 million free reusable shopping bags!

Or if you're the crafty sewing type, check out this tutorial for making a cloth bag that rolls up and then snaps handily. I love that idea! A compact rolled-up bag would be super duper easy to throw into your purse or diaper bag.

I won't even begin to address the plastic bag environmental issues (especially since a baby is crying for my attention at the moment) . Read more here and here.

Snippets

Often this week I've sat down to post to the blog only to get distracted and leave my thoughts unfinished. Now that I'm a mommy of two, I'm constantly surprised at how fast the days go by! So here are some snippets: bite-sized portions of blog-worthy news from our life this last week . . .

Sleep
Yup, Clive's sleeping for 5 hours at a shot was a total fluke. He's gone back to 3-4 hour chunks again. I'm not stressing about it anymore. I do pretty well energy-wise as long as I make myself go to bed when he does! I can usually get 6-7 hours of sleep that way and make it through the day without a nap. Afternoon naptime is precious time for me to get a few things done around the house and for my online job.

Pink-eye
The pink-eye thing was a false alarm. Turns out I had just been wearing my right contact for an embarrassingly long amount of time. Ooopsies! After going sans contacts for a few days the redness and swelling disappeared. Guess I have to be better about keeping track of how long I wear them.

Indoor activities
As the snow continues to fall on us in Ohio, we've been housebound almost all week. A few trips to the craft store and some searching online gave us fodder for fun indoor activities. Chloe's been coloring pictures using foamy stickers (much easier for her toddler hands to peel off their paper backing than regular stickers). She can spend 15-20 minutes using the stickers and her markers to make pictures. It's been great fun to watch her pour over a drawing with such intensity. And she tells a story while she's drawing and sticking on stickers. Too cute!

Another fun craft, though not taking up as much time, has been using pipe cleaners to make various shapes or animals. Chloe puts beads on the pipe cleaner and then I bend it up to make a fish or heart or what not.

One evening we had a bubble blowing party in the kitchen. That was way fun! In fact, I think I had just as much (if not more) fun than Chloe blowing our homemade bubbles through various bubble wands. We made wands out of pipe cleaners and then we used regular kitchen utensils to blow bubbles. Slotted spoons, strainers, and play-doh stencils worked especially well to blow bubbles through. The bonus was that when I wiped up the mess, my kitchen floor got a much-needed cleaning. Yay!

Outdoor activities
Chloe is a snow angel addict! It's so cute to see her plop down in the snow and go crazy with her arms and legs. Our front yard (and our neighbors') have been thoroughly snow-angeled by our little angel. :) While playing outside we also crafted a little snowman complete with scarf, hat, fly swatter arms, carrot nose and raisin eyes.

What have you been up to of late?

Grosser than gross

Before birthing children I thought baby drool was disgusting. Now that I've been hardened as a mom, not much phases me in the bodily fluid arena. I can handle potty accidents and vommit without much flinching these days.

But one thing that completely grosses me out is preparing a whole chicken. This afternoon I washed out and seasoned a chicken to roast this afternoon. I physically could NOT put my hand in the poor chicken's innards to get out the unidentified body parts. I closed my eyes and used a wooden spoon to remove said chickeny inside pieces.

Of course, I'll have no problem eating our succulent poultry friend for supper but when the carcass is all raw and naked I can't help picturing it as a live chicken fluttering around the farmyard.

Like, gag me with a wooden spoon. (That, by the way, was one of my favorite expressions in 7th grade.)

What's your ultimate gross-inducing activity?

Some silly analogies

I know this is more of an email forward type thing than a blog post, but I thought you all might like a giggle on this cold afternoon. I'm in a silly and overtired mood so these made me laugh riotously! Enjoy; post and let me know which one struck your funny bone. Or if you think they're all lame, let me know that too. Remember, I warned you I was in a weird mood. :)

Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners. . .

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m .... instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots will do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a landmine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

It sure feels good to wake up early!

Last night I got my exhausted body to bed by 9:30 p.m. Seems like during these big old third trimester days I run on adrenaline until about 3 and then I do some serious crashing. I usually take a nap while Chloe sleeps and that's enough to get me through the evening.

Yesterday though I had a ridiculous amount of computer work to do for my online job so I knew it was no napping for me. Wahh! By the time Matt arrived home in the afternoon, I looked like a zombie and was on the verge of tears; all signs of imminent mommy break-down. He stepped up to the daddy plate and took care of Chloe so I could make a quick supper, take a bubble bath, and hit the hay early. What a dear hubby!

My early bedtime caused me to rise with the sun this morning and it sure feels good! I could get used to this! Thus far this morning I've boiled some eggs for egg salad, mixed up dough for 2 batches of Rachel's phenomenal cinnamon rolls, made the coffee and I'm currently doing yet more online work. Of course I haven't showered yet for fear of waking up Chloe but I can do that quickly when Matt wakes up.

All this early waking jazz leads me to ask you all a question. I'm slightly afraid to ask it because I'm sure your responses will make me feel rather guilty for my usual leisurely waking-up time of 8 o'clock (or later some days!). But I am a giant pregnant woman who needs my rest and I know that baby #2 will drastically change our morning routines.

What time do you regularly wake up? What's your morning routine like?

Peppermint white chocolate mocha decaf bliss

This feels very strange but I'm sitting here in panera blogging on my laptop. What a high tech-mommy I am. :)

After a vvvvvvvvvvvery difficult morning of potty training with Chloe, Matt made me take a nap and then kicked me out for the evening to enjoy some much-needed alone time. What a great guy I snagged. So I headed out wondering what to nosh on for dinner. After various stops, I splurged at starbucks on a peppermint white chocolate mocha (don't worry - I decafed it). We seriously NEVER go to starbucks. Just not a toddler-friendly place and truthfully, I think they're way overpriced and I much prefer panera's coffee to the strong as oil starbucks brand java. Though I do very much appreciate the fact that starbucks is a fair and well-paying employer (or so I've heard).

But Matt told me to splurge on something special so I did. Yowza, what delight hit my tastebuds when I sipped the perfectly pepperminty chocolatey drink! Yum! Definitely worth $3.50 (even though that same money would buy a gallon of milk).

What special treat do you enjoy during a splurging moment?