Performing Monkey

I don’t think I’ve ever posted video I shot on my blog before. Let’s be honest, besides myself and grandparents, who really wants to watch videos of kids doing random things? I rarely watch other people’s videos, unless I really like the parents or their kids. So I take no offense if you choose not to watch this 1:40 video of Summer doing all the tricks she knows: walking behind her cart, blowing a kiss, giving a kiss on the cheek, saying hi, clapping, and showing how big she is. She even has a mini dance break. Pretty impressive stuff, right? Well, we think so.

She cracks us up constantly. She’s a very sweet girl and says “hi” to everyone she sees. She especially loves it when they say “hi” back to her. I can’t believe she’s almost 14 months. We love this kid!

Vintage

I have been obsessed lately with finding the toys from my childhood. Most importantly, the Fisher Price house. I loved this house! I remember spending hours playing with it, ringing the doorbell and lifting the garage door. While my parents have become bona fide pack rats in their old age, somehow they thought it fitting to get rid of this. I’ll never understand. So begins my search for one that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. Along with the beds and chairs and cars and choking-hazard really little people.

I walked through an estate sale last weekend and happened to find this: The Sesame Street Place house! For only $6!!! It was absolutely filthy, but I cleaned it up and we’ve been putting our little people in it and playing away.

Also on the hunt for: The Fisher Price Record Player,

The Fisher Price Parking Garage,

The Fisher Price Farm,

The Fisher Price Airport,

     

And the Ewok Village!

I didn’t have the Ewok Village but my friend did and I remember playing with it all the time. And dang, did Fisher Price have some kickin’ toys back then or what??? They just don’t make em like they used to, eh? Full of lead and choking hazards. If you see any of the above items at your local yard sale, Goodwill, etc, you let me know! I love old toys, and now I have an excuse to actually buy them!

It’s all Greek to me!

You know how sometimes you go to church and you feel like the messages given seem to be just for you? That’s how I’ve felt lately.

Except, not at church.

Where, then? Our Best Bites, of course! It’s no secret this is my favorite food blog, and we have quite the little cult following of it here in our corner of Wisconsin. My friend Kate is one of the co-bloggers and I swear she’s been in my head and has posted just what I’ve needed in just the nick of time. (I loved it before I knew she was part of it, and then when I found out I loved it even more!)

For the past couple weeks I’d been searching for a King Cake recipe to make for Mardi Gras. I’d read dozens, and they were all pretty different from each other. How would I choose?? I had decided on one that I found on allrecipes.com when on Monday Kate posted a King Cake recipe! Done and done. And it was faaaabulous. And surprisingly easy. Everyone loved it. I really don’t think I can wait until next year to make another one either.

When I was pregnant with Summer, I couldn’t get enough Mexican food. I craved it all the time, and I wanted it spicy. Well, now I have a spicy, hairy little girl as a result. This pregnancy is different: all I want is Greek food. But good Greek food is hard to come by around here. So I decided I was going to try and make my own. So I started researching recipes. Can you see where this is going??? Last week Kate posted recipes for flatbread and tzatziki sauce (which I eat with a spoon…so good!) and promises to post a recipe for gyros soon. Heaven sent! I made the flatbread and tzatziki sauce along with a chicken souvlaki recipe from allrecipes.com for dinner last night and it was amazing. As soon as I finished I was already looking forward to my lunch today, which I just ate. At 10:30 am. I couldn’t wait. I’m not sure what kind of baby eating tons of Greek food will yield me. Probably another hairy one. Maybe one that throws plates? Who knows…

Anyway, keep it up, you culinary geniuses over there at OBB! My pregnancy cravings are counting on you!

Day of Looooove

I love Valentine’s Day. I love red and pink and hearts and chocolate and conversation hearts. I really just love the month of February, minus the weather. My birthday, V-day, Winter Olympics every 4 years, all good things.

Check out my sweet glittered letters. I’m obsessed with Martha Stewart’s glitters, and will find a reason to glitter anything. They were all out of “L’s” at Hobby Lobby so I had to improvise and spell “love” in Spanish instead. :)

Cupid visited our house and left us such fun surprises. (Side note: in Derrick’s family, the “Valentine Man” visited their house leaving treats and gifts. I have a hard time calling a fictitious Valentine’s person the “Valentine Man.” I don’t know why. Perhaps because it sounds super lame. Or maybe because it’s never a man that leaves the stuff around here…) I digress….

Summer opened up her Dora book from Grandma Callister, and was more interested in the crinkly paper. Surprise, surprise.

Then she opened up the surprises Cupid left her: books, crayons, a soft koala bear Pez dispenser, and her very own Lucky Charms chap stick. No more sucking on mom’s!

She gave dad her gift to him, which was a vintage BYU window hanger. He also got a vintage BYU clock from me to help decorate our Cougar Den. Slowly but surely!

I got an electric fondue pot, which I’ve been wanting for awhile. We broke it right in that very night and had our traditional Valentine’s Day dinner of fondue. Sooo delicious. We even had chocolate fondue for dessert.   

Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! While we should always tell the people we love them everyday, it’s fun to have a day dedicated solely to love and telling your loved ones that you love them even MORE!

Close Encounters of the Weirdo Kind

In the past week or so I’ve had 3 very weird encounters with weird people. Allow me to elaborate:

• Last week I had to take my CPR renewal course. Our class of 15 was divided into groups of 3. I had the chance to join a group positioned on the floor, or a group at a table. I chose the table. Unwisely. I should have taken more careful note of the group members before so hastily joining the token Old Lady and Minimal-English-Speaking Foreigner. Because you have to work in partners during the 2 Man CPR portion, you can just imagine my frustration when our group is always the very last group to finish their practices and test-offs. CPR is really not that hard, (and something I feel every person should be certified in) but you would think these MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS had never heard of CPR before. “Oh, you don’t need to do rescue breathing if they are breathing on their own???” “Where do I feel for a pulse?” Ugh. Moral of the story: don’t be lazy. Get down on the floor and kneel at the mannequin.
• My friend Nikki got me tickets to see a premier of Dear John before it was released on Friday. (It was good!) In the entire theater, I of course get stuck to the crazy old lady wearing oxygen and who laughs extremely loud. Who also has to get up to use the restroom during the movie. But not before reaching down for her purse and grabbing and groping my leg before she realized that it is, in fact, not her purse. She then gets up and falls on me, oxygen tubes flying everywhere. She comes back, falls on me again, and says—not whispers—“Getting old is a bitch!” Classy, lady.
• Saturday night at The Cheesecake Factory a high school age couple was seated next to us. If you’ve ever been to The CCF, you know how ridiculously close the tables are to each other. I don’t know if it’s a reflection on the current generation, of if they were fighting, or what, but they did not say ONE WORD to each other the entire time. She sat in her chair, arms folded, looking off into the distance, while he texted and played on his phone the entire time. At one point she pulled out her phone as well. They continued to sit there silently, eat a few bites, and then he returned to his phone. And then he started playing solitaire. Seriously?? You’re that bored you have to play solitaire while out on a date?? It was sooo weird. Who are these people?? I tried really hard not to stare, but it was fascinating in a way.

Sometimes I think there must be something about myself that attracts these weirdos. What gives?

Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, my boobs are free at last!

Yes, my boobs. Summer has been weaned for about 2 weeks now. At the time it was pretty sad for me. I mean, for the past year+ I’ve spent exclusive one-on-one time with her doing something nobody else could for her. I really enjoyed it. What made it even harder for me was that first night when I just read her a story and rocked her for a minute and then put her down in her crib and she fell right asleep. No crying, no fussing, nada. I always knew it would be easy for her. Nursing was kind of a “take it or leave it” thing for her. But geez, I thought I’d at least be missed a little! Nope.

Well, it only took me one night to realize how awesome it is. It’s like I have a newfound freedom. Now Derrick can put her to bed! I don’t even have to be home! I’ll admit, that first week I kind of took advantage of the situation. I went out, I watched TV, I let Derrick “practice” putting her to bed. It was glorious. It’s not that bad though. She’s super snuggly and it’s really one of the best parts of the day.

I’m thinking my evenings are going to get a lot more social from now on. Especially since Derrick was just accepted into the MBA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, through Kohl’s. He’ll be studying and doing lots of homework every night, so shoot, I might as well go out and do something fun! He can put her down and then hit the books! Mostly I’m trying to convince myself that the next two years of school for him won’t be complete hell for ME, especially with a new babe. I guess I have until August to live up my freedom before I’m behind bars a nursing cover again.

Anyway, if you’d like to go out and do something with myself and my new free boobs, you just let me know!

Cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze

That’s what my sweet little Summer sounds like these days. It all started with a runny nose, which I thought was teething related, and now she sounds like a smoker on her dying bed, hacking and coughing and wheezing. It’s so sad.

Monday night we took her to Urgent Care because she was breathing really fast and working really hard to do it. We got there at 8:30 pm. They did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia and aspiration (it was clear) and gave her a nebulizer treatment. (They put her in a pediatric gown for the x-ray…talk about the saddest thing you’ve ever seen…a baby in a mini hospital gown!!!) It helped for a little but then she was coughing again. So…they sent us to Children’s Hospital. We got the hospital at 11 pm, Summer now being awake for 13 hours straight, and stuck us in a room to wait. And wait. Meanwhile I’m trying to be Practical Nurse and not Emotional Wreck Mom. We get Miss First Year Resident Idiot who pretty much does nothing. Gotta love teaching hospitals. The nurse comes back and gives her another nebulizer treatment and we wait some more. Finally the attending MD comes in (thank goodness) and says she has bronchiolitis/RSV. They send us home with an inhaler of albuterol for her and we get home around 2 am. It was a rough night to say the least.

A follow-up appointment yesterday with her pediatrician confirmed the diagnosis and she got another nebulizer. She still sounds terrible, coughing and wheezing, and her nose constantly runs, but she is still as happy as ever, crawling around and getting into messes. She is a little more clingy, which is understandable, I just wish she could tell me exactly what’s hurting her or how I can help her.

I hate viruses. Seriously, what is their purpose? To cause hate and discontent, mostly. I hate having to “wait it out” until it “runs its course”. What a bunch of malarky.

In the meantime we’ve just been stuck inside, covered in about a foot of snow we got yesterday, trying to stay sane. Our days consist of sleeping, eating, playing, sucking boogers out. Rinse and repeat.

Hopefully we can kick this sucker quick and get on with our lives!

One year closer…

…to the dirty thirty!

Sunday was my birthday, the big 2-9! It’s always kind of weird day when my birthday falls on a Sunday,with the whole going-to-church thing and all, but it ended on a good note with a Super Bowl party at my good friend Linda’s. I like to think all of America was having a party just for me, too. :)

I was definitely spoiled this year. My parents sent me an amazing Paula Deen copper-bottomed cookware set, which I looove. It’s light years better than my old set, (which my mom bought for me, incidentally) I got when I left for college. Oh….10 years ago! Maybe I’m just a dork, but cooking with nice things makes it more fun. And maybe even taste better?? I love food.

A bunch of my friends surprised me with gifts, which I was definitely not expecting. They must all know me really well, because they were all related to either scents, cooking, crafts, or games. All my favorite!! Not to brag, but I seriously have the best friends ever.

And my biggest surprise was from Derrick….an iPod Touch! I’m already so in love with this little gadget it’s ridiculous. I thought I was getting a fondue pot, so I was completely surprised. (And while my sweet husband always gives great gifts, he’s not always so stellar in the surprise department. And he knows I love surprises!) So he did sooo great, and thanks also to Scott who was his little partner in crime in making it happen! Derrick also baked me a cake (Rainbow Chip! Yum!) and everyone sang to me during half time.

(Thanks to Linda for the picture!)Saturday night we got a babysitter and hit the town. Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and the movie When in Rome. I loved both.

Thanks to everyone who called/texted/facebooked! I had a great day thanks to all of you. And especially to Derrick who always does a great job of making me feel special. Hey, I didn’t change one diaper all day! Score!

I kind of want this?

Remember this commercial from last year??? The hilarious McDonald’s one that I loved?? Well, imagine my sheer delight to see this in Menard’s this evening! (We were there to buy space heaters….our heat is out. OUT. It’s 55 degrees in our house. Hopefully the tech can come BACK and fix it tomorrow!)

It indeed sings the exact song from the commercial, complete with techo beat and everything. All for the low, low price of $19.99. Honestly, I don’t know where I’d put it or what the heck I’d do with it, I just want it.

You know, my birthday is on Sunday….

Taylor Swift

Anyone catch the Grammy’s last night? Taylor Swift took home awards for Album of the Year, Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song, and Best Country Album.

I feel like I’m the only person who isn’t in on the funniest joke of all time. Seriously, I don’t get it. She’s NOT GOOD. At least not live. Don’t get me wrong, I have both of her albums, and I like them both. Catchy, happy tunes all around. ON CD.

I’ve heard her numerous times perform live on TV. Each and every single time she sounds horrible. Slightly flat and a super weak voice. Thank goodness for post-production to tweak her voice. If she were on American Idol there is no doubt in my mind the judges would cut her. When she sang with Stevie Nicks last night, I literally cringed when she tried to hit the high note on “Rhiannon.”

Still, I keep giving her chances. I think, “Oh, this time she will be good” And every time, I’m let down. I would not pay one red cent to see this chick in concert. I’d rather stab toothpicks in my ears.

Her one saving grace with me is that she did a fantastic job on SNL a few months back. Acting. Not singing. I know Taylor's Biggest Fan, Nikki, will likely very strongly disagree with me, and I’m prepared to handle that attack. I have my argument: SHE SUCKS LIVE!

And to me, to be a truly great performing singing artist, it’s all about the live performance. Who cares if your engineers can make you sound decent in a recording studio? (And let’s not dive into the fact that I love Britney, who is the queen of post-production…I’m well aware. I love her for far more reasons than her voice. Don’t get me started!)

The tribute to MJ by Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Usher, Smokey Robinson, and Jennifer Hudson was amazing because they are all amazing vocalists that can stand on their own. And don’t you just love Earth Song?

Derrick knows that me being a band geek I’m much more inclined to listen to instrumentals over a choir any day. I don’t think I have perfect pitch, but I can hear when something is off very easily, and it drives me crazy. And to hear a bad choir or chorus is so painful to me. The only vocal group I can really stand to listen to is MoTab. So when I hear a vocalist sing crappily, it drives me absolutely nuts. Also, I hate to sing so maybe that has something to do with it too. Who knows.

Ok, I’ll end my rant now.

Let’s hope our kids choose band over choir….