Tales From A Wannabe SuperMom

Beautiful Jewellery!

2008-12-05T19:56:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine from school, Deb, has her own jewellery making business called Tangibles and Touchables. I encourage all my fellow bloggers to check her site out. I bought my girls two of her necklaces last year and they still claim them as their favorite pieces (two dragonfly necklaces).

http://madebymetandt.blogspot.com/

Flylady This Week. Zone 4-Master Bedroom

2008-11-25T08:51:00.002-07:00

Here are the daily reminders, things that should be done on a daily basis to make life that much easier.
http://www.flylady.net/pages/reminder2.asp

This week is zone 4, master bedroom. I find this a fairly easy zone to do as the list isn't too long. Here is the link to the list: http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan_Detail.asp

And here is the link to Kelly's Mission for today. It involves going through those piles of clothes that get left on the floor. Lord knows I need to do this one today! http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan_Missions.asp

Have fun cleaning! :)

Picture Tag Game

2008-11-20T20:54:00.003-07:00

I got this from my friend Suzy and thought it might be fun to do. I'm not tagging anyone cause, really, probably only 3 people read my blog (including me...lol) so it wouldn't work anyways.

The rules-
1. Go to your pictures file.

2. Go to the 4th file.

3. Go to the 4th picture.

4. Post it and tell the story.

5. Tag 4 more people.

This is a picture of my sweet Skylar on our swingset and little Zoey (who I babysit) is standing there watching her. You can see Anna (who I also babysit) also swinging. This was taken with my blackberry phone, thus the poor image quality.

Scalloped Potatoes Extraordinaire!

2008-11-20T17:14:00.002-07:00

I decided I needed to use my Epicure Spices to enhance my scalloped potatoes so here is what I came up with:

4 cups thinly sliced potatoes (boil for 10 minutes)

Sauce:
2 cups milk
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
salt/pepper to taste

Heat above sauce ingredients in a pot until thickened.

Cheese Chive Bacon Dip Mix-prepare 1/2 the dip mixture as per instructions on the jar. Makes about 1 cup of dip mix.

In a large casserole dish put a layer of potatoes and then a layer of the Cheese Chive Bacon Dip Mix. Then another layer of potatoes, and then dip. Continue until done. Pour the white sauce over top of the entire potatoe dish. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Add grated cheese on the top. I used Kraft Tex Mex Grated Cheese. Cook for another 15 minutes.

2008-11-20T08:59:00.005-07:00

I got this from my friend Kristen on facebook. Thank you for letting me share this here on my blog. :)

Application to date my Daughter

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, lineage, and current medical report from your doctor.

NAME____________________________________

DATE OF BIRTH_____________

HEIGHT___________

WEIGHT____________

IQ__________

INCOME TAX FILE NUMBER _________________

DRIVERS LICENSE ________________

BOY SCOUT RANK AND

BADGES__________________________________________

HOME ADDRESS_______________________

CITY/STATE___________

POSTCODE______

Do you have parents? ___Yes ___No

Is one male and the other female? ___Yes ___No

If No, explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Number of years they have been married______________________________

If less than your age, explain___________________________________________________________________

ACCESSORIES SECTION:

A. Do you own or have access to a van? __Yes __No

B. A truck with oversized tires? __Yes __No

C. A waterbed? __Yes __No

D. A pickup with a mattress in the back? __Yes __No

E. A tattoo? __Yes __No

F. Do you have an earring, nose ring, __Yes __No

pierced tongue, pierced cheek or a belly button ring? (IF YOU ANSWERED 'YES' TO ANY OF THE ABOVE, DISCONTINUE APPLICATIONAND LEAVE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY. I SUGGEST RUNNING.)

ESSAY SECTION:

In 50 words or less, what does 'LATE' mean to you? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In

50 words or less, what does 'DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER' mean to you?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In 50 words or less, what does 'ABSTINENCE' mean to you?______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

REFERENCES SECTION:

Church you attend ___________________________________________________

How often you attend ________________________________________________

When would be the best time to interview your:

Father? _____________

Mother?_____________

Priest or Pastor? _____________

SHORT-ANSWER SECTION: Answer by filling in the blank. Please answer freely, all answers are confidential.

A: If I were shot, the last place I would want shot would be: ______________________________________________________________

B: If I were beaten, the last bone I would want broken is my:______________________________________________________________

C: A woman's place is in the:______________________________________________________________

D: The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is:______________________________________________________________

E. What do you want to be IF you grow up? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

F: When I meet a girl, the thing I always notice about her first is:______________________________________________________________

G: What is the current going rate of a hotel room? __________________________

I SWEAR THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TOTHE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT,INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN BULL ANT TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, ELECTROCUTION, CHINESE WATER TORTURE and RED HOT POKERS_________________________________________________________

Applicant's Signature (that means sign your name, moron!) _______________________________ ________________________________

Mother's Signature /Father's Signature _______________________________ ________________________________

Pastor/Priest/Rabbi State or Federal Government Representative _______________________________ (Their stamp goes here )

Notary Public

Thank you for your interest, and it had better be genuine and non-sexual. Please allow four to six years for processing. You will be contacted in writing if you are approved. Please do not try to call or write. If your application is rejected, you will be notified by two gentleman wearing white ties carrying violin cases. (You might watch your back)To prepare yourself, start studying Daddy's Rules for Dating.

Daddy's Rules for Dating

Your dad's rules for your boyfriend (or for you if you're a guy):

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:I'm sure you've been told that in today's world sex without utilizing a 'Barrier method' of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: 'early.'

Rule Six:I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool, places where there is darkness, places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with strong romantic or sexual themes are to be avoided; movies that feature chain saws are okay. Cricket games are okay...Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dim-witted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a tomahawk, a shovel, and a quarter acre behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi . When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Popcorn Santa Craft

2008-11-20T08:53:00.004-07:00

Thought I would share a very cute craft that I made with Skylar and Anna this morning. We made up our Santa bags and I'll fill them up with popcorn later today. Kaitlin is babysitting three kids tonight and she's going to do this craft with them as well. I'll post pictures of our finished craft later today when we fill them.

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Crafts/Popcorn-Santa.html

New Meaning For The Word Government!

2008-11-17T10:29:00.004-07:00

Skylar: "Mom can I have a government?"

Me: " A Government?"

Skylar: "Please, I want a government!"

Me: "I'm not understanding what you mean Skylar"

Skylar, going into the fridge and pulling out the box of Junior Mints that Kaitlin put in there: "A government........."

Me: "Ahhhhhhh, of course" LMAO!

So now, Junior Mints, and After Eight Mints are hereby known as GovernmInts. :)

A Random Act Of Kindness

2008-11-17T10:22:00.002-07:00

This weekend I was the recipient of a random act of kindness. We were at the Video Headquarters, renting a movie, and the line up was very long. When we finally reached the till, they informed me that the debit machine was not working so they were only taking cash. Of course, in this day and age, who carries cash on them right? So I told her I would pass and not get it. She told me she could hold it and I could drive down the street to the nearest bank machine. I wasn't wanting to drive all the way there, take out $20 (the minimum) for a $5 movie, then drive back and stand in that line again with a three year old in tow. Of course I told her no thanks (peeved that they wouldn't bother to tell the people in the line up ahead of time that they don't have debit up and running). Well an older gentlemen beside me, renting his movies, threw $10 down on the counter and told her he was paying for my movie. I was so humbled and told him he really didn't have to do that but he insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer. I thanked him profusely and accepted the offer, blushing red the entire time.

So that being said, I am taking it upon myself to deliver an act of kindness to a complete stranger this week. I challenge everyone of my friends to do the same thing. Let me know what your RAOK is and I'll share mine too.

Hat Making

2008-11-16T00:58:00.003-07:00

My dear friend Bonnie gave me the pattern she uses for crocheting hats and I decided that this winter I wanted Skylar to have an earflap hat. I found a pattern online that gave me the instructions for the flaps and added them to Bon's hat and came up with a WONDERFUL hat! I created my own pattern for a crocheted rose and added it to said hat. I will take a picture of Skylar wearing the hat and add it to this post sometime this coming week. Here, meanwhile, is a picture of my sweet little Zoey (who I babysit) wearing the hat I made her. Zoey and Skylar have matching hats with different color roses. :) Here is the site to the earflap hat: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/BabyChild/WR1088+Childs+Crochet+Earflap+Hat.htm

Here is my crocheted rose pattern for anyone interested:

Crocheted Rose (For hats, hair accessories, etc)

Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring
Round 1- Ch 6 (counts as dc, ch 3), DC in ring, ch 3 (do this 4 times); join with sl st to 3rd ch of beg ch6. You will now have 5 petals.
Round 2- Sl st into first petal, ch 1, (sc, hdc, 3dc, hdc, sc) in each petal; join with sl st in beg sc.
Round 3- Ch 6 (counts as sc, ch 5), slip stitch at the beginning of the first DC (the post of the petal) ch 5 (do this 4 times); join with sl st in 1st ch of beg ch7. You will now have 4 petals sitting on the inside of the 5 petals.
Round 4- Sl st into first petal, ch 1, (sc, hdc, 5dc, hdc, sc) in each petal; join with sl st in beg sc.
Round 5- Ch 8 (counts as sc, ch 7), slip stitch at the beginning of the round 3 chains. (do this 3 times) Join with sl st in 1st ch of beg ch8. You will now have 3 petals sitting on top of the 4 petals which are sitting on top of the 5 petals.
Round 6- Sl st into first petal, ch 1, (sc, hdc, 7dc, hdc, sc) in each petal; join with sl st in beg sc. Fasten off, weave in ends.

Then what I do on the inside petals is slip stitch them together so they bunch up and then I cut off the end, leaving a longer piece of wool, and then I draw it through the middle to the back of the rose.

Photoshop Lesson-Midnight Sepia

2008-11-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

Midnight Sepia

1. Open Image and create a duplicate of the first layer

2. Apply Gaussian Blur on top layer

3. Use Hue/Saturation (CTRL+U)Check the Colorize OptionSaturation=25Lightness=0

4. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply

5. Flatten the Image (CTRL+E)

6. Duplicate the Layer (CTRL+J)

7. Change the Blending Mode to Screen

8. Flatten the Image (CTRL+E)

9. Duplicate the Layer (CTRL+J)

10. Change the Blending Mode to Screen

11. Adjust the Opacity to tasteThe Action sets it to zero

Photoshop Lesson-Carol's White Technique

2008-11-16T00:51:00.003-07:00

This is from my awesome photographer friend Carol! This tutorial rocks! This is written in her words. :)

Get a really plain picture - preferable taken against a white background (I use a vinyl tablecloth), in white outfit or no outfit.

Increase Brightness and Contrast to the right half way for an overexposed look. Slide the levels as follows: First slider a little to the right Second slider a little to the left Third slider a little to the left (don't you love how technical this is??!)

Adjust color, reduce the saturation a little if you like, for a more wishy washy look.

Now control A (all), control C (copy), control V (paste) to get a new layer of the same picture.

Go to layer tab, top right and where the dropdown menu says "normal" select "color dodge" and make it about 50% then play around with the other options, such as screen, hard light, soft light to find a setting you like....

When you like it, flatten image and save a copy.

Photoshop Lesson-Creating Rich Colors In Your Picture

2008-11-16T00:48:00.004-07:00

Also got this tutorial from the photoshop support flickr group. I love this one.

1. First I convert the photo to LAB MODE.

2. Then I add a CURVES adjustment layer. When it comes up and, I only have four squares showing in the curves screen, I option/alt click and it'll give you 10 squares across and down.

3. On the menu in the curves adjustment layer I switch to channel "a". Once there I move the top right dot to the left two squares and the bottom left dot to the right two squares.

4. I do the same thing with the "b" channel and click OK.

5. Then clicking back to the "background" layer I switch to the Channels pallet and click on "Lightness"

6. I use smart sharpening or unsharp mask from the Filter menu and sharpen this layer to taste.

7. I click back on the Lab layer and switch back to the Layers Pallet.

8. I lower the opacity of the CURVES adjustment layer to the richness of color I desire.

9. I flatter the image and switch back to RGB mode in the Image > Mode menu for more editing.

I made this into an action in my photoshop so that I can just press the button and it does it all for me without me having to go through each step. I will discuss how to make an action on a later post.

Photoshop Lesson-Ripped Borders

2008-11-16T00:46:00.000-07:00

Step OneOpen up the image that you want to work on in Photoshop. Take the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection inside the image where you would like to apply the ripped border effect.

Step TwoPress the Q key on your keyboard to enter the Quick Mask Mode. Thereafter, navigate your mouse to Filter>Brush Strokes>Sprayed Strokes. Apply the settings Stroke Length: 2; Spray Radius: 16. Press OK and by now you should have something like below:

Step ThreePress Q of your keyboard once again to leave the Quick Mask Mode. Now press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection and hit Delete. That should do your ripped border!

Photoshop

2008-11-16T00:35:00.003-07:00

I LOVE photoshop! That being said I am going to start a section on my blog that will teach photoshop techniques. If there is something you don't understand in the lesson please feel free to contact me for a more one-on-one instruction.

Goodbye To Baby Carrier Making

2008-11-16T00:21:00.002-07:00

It just didn't work out. Not enough people interested in our product. Maybe it's just Canada? Not enough baby wearing here?? Maybe it's us? Not enough people thought we had a nice enough baby carrier to offer and would rather have bought something more mainstream, something more well known? Whatever the reason I shrug my shoulders and give up. It wasn't meant to be. It's been a source of frustration for myself and Bonnie for the past year. Now I'm going to try focusing my attention in another direction, selling spices and cookwear. To be honest, though, I'm not sure how long this will last as I'm so not the salesperson type. I definitely won't be making the $200K a year salary that my unit leader makes, but at least I can make enough to get my spices at a good price. Watch for my recipe section on here to start filling up. :)

Things That Make Me Crazy-My Personal Pet Peeves

2008-11-15T21:47:00.003-07:00

Here are the things that make me crazy:

Why is it that I'm the only one in my house that knows how to put a toilet paper roll on the roller?

Why do people insist on putting their dirty dishes in the sink or on the counter when they are perfectly capable of putting them in the dishwasher. If the dishwasher has clean dishes in it then either empty it out or put some dish soap and water in the sink and give those dirty dishes a nice cleaning.

Why would you leave your halloween candy wrappers all over the place (ie, the back of the couch, the coffee table, the floor......) when we do have a garbage can?

Toothbrushes and toothpaste belong in the medicine cabinet, not lying all over the bathroom.

Can we maybe turn the lights off if we aren't in the room?

I know I have a lot more pet peeves but those are the ones that really got to me today. :)

Flylady-Great Organizational Tool

2008-11-13T11:46:00.002-07:00

If anyone is looking for a great way to stay organized around the home then check out www.flylady.net . The concept is to clean your home in zones. Each week you have a zone assigned, whether it be the kitchen, bedrooms, living room, etc. You spend about half an hour in the day doing a sweep of the entire home and then you spend the rest of the week working on a cleaning list for that particular zone. It's an amazing system and takes the stress of feeling you have to clean your entire home at one time.

This week is the kitchen. Here is the list if anyone would like to join me on this:

FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 2: The Kitchen

.

KITCHEN: DETAIL CLEANING LIST

1. EMPTY REFG/CLEAN THOROUGHLY
2. CLEAN MICROWAVE INSIDE AND OUT
3. CLEAN STOVE/OVEN
4. WASH CANISTER/KNICK-KNACKS
5. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS/CUPBOARDS
6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
7. WASH INSIDE WINDOWS
8. CLEAN FAN/VENT-A-HOOD FILTERS AND HOOD
9. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS (only a few at a time)
10. CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS(GLASS GLOBES OVER
LIGHT BULBS)
11. CLEAN UNDER SINK/THROW AWAY OLD RAGS12. CLEAN PET DISHES

There are also some extra daily missions if you would like to tackle them:

Thursday's Mission!
Dear Friends,It has come to the time to go after those counter tops!! Your mission for today is to scrub those counter tops. Not just the average wipe down that we do after dinner. Now it is very easy to make this task overwhelming but if you take this slow and easy you can do this! DO NOT TAKE EVERYTHING OFF OF THE COUNTERS AT ONE TIME!!!! I promise you will get sidetracked and then you will all email me crying that it is all my fault!! LOL! You just move your toaster (or coffee pot or whatever this is an example here! :>) ) over to one side and wipe down the counter, then move over a foot or so, move aside what is there and wipe down some more and so on. We are not marathon cleaning the kitchen here, just getting all the crumbs and junk that seems to build up behind and under things. Have fun! Don't obsess!

Epicure Selections-My Newest Venture

2008-11-13T11:35:00.004-07:00

I decided, a few months ago, to start selling Epicure Selections. It is spices and kitchen items. I'm pretty passionate about cooking healthy meals for my family and Epicure fits right in with that passion. I'll be including Epicure thoughts and recipes along the way, for as long as I feel I will be in this business. :)

Time To Blog Again

2008-11-13T11:31:00.001-07:00

I think I'm ready to blog again. :) It's been a while and I probably won't be blogging a ton but I'm wanting to get back into writing my thoughts down. I think it's a lot healthier than holding them in.

Taking The Summer Off

2007-07-14T18:46:00.000-06:00

I'm taking the rest of the summer off. My two older kids are home for one more week and then they will be gone for two weeks, then we will pick them up and go for two weeks. After that, we will get home and only have two more weeks until school starts. I'm trying to really enjoy the summer break and spending time with my children. It's going to be hard to not have them here for two weeks but at least I'll have Skylar around. I can't really get into blogging when I have so many other things to do, and really not a lot of people read my blog so it's essentially only for me, and my thoughts tend to be a little boring when nothing is happening around here. Have a great summer to anyone who reads my blog. :~)

Looking For Glamor Shots Of Yourself?

2007-06-25T15:21:00.000-06:00

My good friend, and extraordinary photographer, Ruthi David is starting up a joint venture with another photographer in her area and they are going to be doing glamour/boudoir photography. They are looking for models and if you are interested and live in the Virginia/Washington D.C. area please contact them. You can check out all the details on Ruthi's website here: RDavid Photography . Ruthi also specializes in child photography so please take the time to check out her gallery. I'm sure you will all be impressed.

Meal Planning Monday

2007-06-24T10:13:00.000-06:00

Here is our menu for this week. I really liked the look of Laura's (org junkie) menu for last week so I hope she doesn't mind me copying her.

Monday: Ravioli Chicken Casserole http://recipes.bestsimplerecipes.com/eRMS/recp.aspx?recid=26416&r_d=y

Caeser Salad

Tueday: Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeSource=search&recipeID=27270&amp;page=0&index=0&SearchText=savory+pot+roast&LastIndex=false

Wednesday: Tender And Tangy Slow Cooker Ribs (recipe on org junkie in her Thursday Slow Cooker section).

Garden Salad

Thursday: Left-over night

Friday: Family night so we usually let the kids take turns deciding.

Check out Laura at Org Junkie http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com/ for more great tips and ideas on organizing your home.

Menu Planning Monday

2007-06-18T09:55:00.000-06:00

Here is our menu for this week:

Monday:

Chow Mein Casserole

Oriental Cabbage Salad http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1918,148166-225197,00.html

Tuesday:

Buttered Chicken

Garden Salad

Wednesday:

Beef Stroganoff

Garden Salad

Thursday:

Left-Over night

Friday:

Barbeque Hamburgers

Corn On The Cob

Come join Org Junkie and post your menu for the week. http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com/ There are great ideas for recipes, house and home, etc.

Chicken Taco Foil Dinner

2007-06-18T09:50:00.001-06:00

Got this one from another blogger via the org junkie. It's from the Kraft website. I've made some changes which I'll post here under the link.

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/recipetemplate.htm?recipe_id=88772&ctx=%7B64BCD7A8-952D-4A99-B972-11A12C985264%7D

Changes:

We added corn, onion, black olives, and green chili's. We also adjusted the cooking time to 50 minutes. And finally, we added the cheese last, when you open the tin foil up. We put the cheese in and then lightly reclosed the tinfoil while it sat on top of the oven. The cheese melted beautifully. And Troy actually precooked the onions before he put them in the foil packs, just slightly cooked. And finally, we also precooked the potatoes for 5 minutes in boiling water.

A Loss For Words These Days........

2007-06-13T14:33:00.000-06:00

I'm stuck for words and feeling blah. I can pin it on a few things, I suppose (things I don't want to get into too much), but my heart just hasn't been into posting, blogging, or much of anything else for that matter. Maybe because it's getting so nice out and it feels good to be in the real world doing things like gardening, going for walks, and lounging out in my hammock with an ice cap. I hope everyone is getting some sun and having some fun where they are. :~)

Our Holiday To West Edmonton Mall

2007-06-11T19:53:00.000-06:00

Every year our family takes a few days off from school, work, and other stresses going on in our lives at the time, and we head 3 hours north to the capital city of our province. In Edmonton you will find the largest mall in the world. In this mall is a full scale, deluxe water park, an amusement park, and many other fun things to do besides shopping (though really what is funner than shopping right?). Here is the link to the mall if anyone would like to check it out: http://www.westedmontonmall.com/home/default.asp

Our adventure starts with me putting all our money into my bank account via a bank machine days prior to leaving and not realizing they were putting a 5 day business hold on that money (I'll get to more of that part of the story in a bit). All is well, we had a great drive up. This year I decided to change hotels. We had been staying at this one place for years but for some reason they were being unreasonable so I figured we would stay elsewhere. Where better than the Howard Johnson Hotel right? Actually most hotels were booked and the grand hotel in the mall was $300 a night so that was out. Hojo seemed fairly decent by the online pics so I booked it. As we drove into Edmonton we followed the path to the Hojo. Well the area went from pretty nice to very seedy in no time. My hubby was looking at me funny with that "where the heck did you book us?" look. Bums, drunks, and other assorted people were walking around. Then we saw our hotel, complete with a big casino in it. Well alrighty then..........We checked in and the girl at the front was very nice. I asked her if the parking lot was safe and she assured me it was and they had security monitoring it all times of the day (more to this part of the story coming up). So I went to pay for the room on my debit card. Insufficient funds!!!!!! We had to drive to my bank (hubby wasn't too impressed) and they informed me of the hold on my money until next week sometime. So I had to take the money out of our line of credit (thank goodness we had that in there) and I'll have to replace it next week when these holds are taken off. Back to the hotel we go. We checked in, room was pretty okay, no better or worse than what we've had in previous years. Then we headed off to the mall for an afternoon of swimming at the waterpark and Troy's birthday dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory right in the mall in the Bourbon Street section. Excellent food btw! The next day was our shopping day so of course the girls were VERY excited to spend their wad of cash we had given each of them. They bought clothes and a new Webkinz each. I got myself a new bathing suit which I love. Troy got himself a swack of new clothes as well and a new pair of Skeechers. We ate dinner at Chillis (very good but we thought it was way overpriced for what we got). The girls were pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel and turned in for the night. The next morning we got up and the plan of the day was to swim at the waterpark again. When we got out to the parking lot we saw our van had been hit, front tail light all smashed in and the bumper damaged! So much for a safe parking lot. Thank goodness the van was driveable. So I went back in and the attendant at the front desk (a different woman) told me they aren't responsible for the parking lot. Now I was mad. My alarm was armed and my van probably went off for a good five minutes so someone should have heard that, came out, and notified us! We had to drive to a cop station to report the damage as a hit and run. Good news is, my insurance won't go up as it is a hit and run. Bad news is I have to pay my deductable which is $500 and I don't really have that kind of money right now. We'll figure it out, we always do. After that, we decided to go swimming and I forgot the swim passes in my suitcase, so Troy had to drive all the way back to get them. FINALLY we got into the water park to swim. We stayed there until 6pm and drove around trying to find a place to eat that wasn't a 90 minute wait. No luck, so we headed back to the hotel and ate at the little restaurant in there. Not great, but at least it was food and they treated us really nice which we truly needed at that point. I was upset as I felt I had made bad choices but Troy just laughed and said it was an adventure that we all got to experience together and we would look back and laugh at it in years to come. Let me end by saying, it was great to get home, sleep in my own bed and relax in my own enviroment. Here are some pictures of our fun time at the mall:
Here I am holding Skylar on the carousel. She LOVED this ride and rode it about 10 times in a row. Troy and I switched off taking her on. :~)

Kaitlin took Skylar on this ride but she ended up getting scared and crawling out partway into the ride so Katie held her for the rest of it.

Skylar sitting by the pool.

Kaitlin going in the bubble thingy at the waterpark.

Kassidy going in the bubble thingy.

Anti-Procrastination Wednesday

2007-06-06T10:56:00.001-06:00

Well it's Wednesday so time to do something you've been putting off all week. I really need to pack as we leave tomorrow for our mini-vacation. I usually have it done days in advance and I've been dragging my butt all week, so off to get the suitcases out of the garage and start putting clothes in. It's so hard when you have a baby/toddler. Even going away for a few days entails major packing.

What is your anti-procrastination task for today? Please share.

Monday Memory-The First Time..........

2007-06-04T10:46:00.000-06:00

I would like to first thank The Art Of Making A Home Joyful for starting this. If you want to share a memory please visit her blog and link yourself to her Mr. Linky at the bottom of her memory. http://theartofmakingahomejoyful.blogspot.com/

I would like to share The First Time..........I found out I was pregnant with my first (my sweet Kaitlin who is now 11 years old).

I remember we had been married for only a few months but we wanted to get pregnant so we had been really working on that. Well it didn't take long at all, we got pregnant 4 months after we said our I Do's. I remember that I had been feeling very sick and tired. Then, of course, I missed having my period and I was a regular with that. So I decided to go and buy a pregnancy test. I was a little shy about doing so, not sure why really. I took the test up to the counter and the guy working the till couldnt' find a price tag to scan so he calls out on the microphone for a price check on a pregnancy test. I swear everyone behind me was giving me the eye and I think I turned a nice shade of red. After getting through that, I rushed home and decided not to wait until the morning but to take it right away. I was nervous and I told Troy I was going to test. He was working out in the "future" nursery and I'm sure he was just as nervous. I went in the bathroom, peed on the little stick, and it said to wait a few minutes for your result, but I have to say that the little positive sign pretty much showed up instantly. I walked out of the bathroom in a daze and Troy came running out asking what it said. I showed him and I started to cry. I think I just had to cry out of sheer relief at that point. He hugged me so tight and then he cried too. That memory will stay with me forever.

Please share your stories of Firsts.

Menu Planning Monday

2007-06-04T10:02:00.000-06:00

We are going on a mini-vacation Thursday through until Sunday so my menu planning only will go up to Wednesday this week.

Sunday (last night)

burgers on the BBQ
Greek Salad

Monday

Feta Chicken Bake http://mealsmatter.com/recipes-meals/recipe/33892
Cauliflower Salad (recipe in my recipe section)
Garlic Bread

Tuesday

Cabbage Rolls (from M&M Meats)
Broccoli With Toasted Pine Nuts and Garlic (I'll post this recipe in a bit-it's from Atkins)
Garlic Bread

Wednesday

Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole http://www.kraftcanada.com/EN/Recipes/RecipeTemplate?recipe_id=105548
Garden Salad
(Though we may have left-overs instead if there are lots from Tuesday)

Oh and don't forget to check out Org Junkie at http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com/ There are some great ideas on how to organize your house and check out the other blogs that are participating in menu planning. You can get a LOT of great recipes and ideas from there.

Asparagus, Asparagus, and More Asparagus.......

2007-06-02T16:58:00.000-06:00

Someone on my baby board was looking for asaparagus recipes so I dug out my recipe book and found an entire sheet with recipes just for this delicious veggie. Of course the favorite way of choice for us to eat asparagus is lightly steamed and with butter on top. So YUM! The other thing I like to do is pickle the asparagus. Again, delicious! But if you are looking for other yummy things to do with this great food of choice look no further........

Asparagus & Green Pea Casserole
1 lb asparagus
2 cans peas or equivalant frozen
1 can mushroom soup
1 cup buttered crumbs
1 cup grated medium cheese

Place asparagus in a 9x9 greased pan, cover with peas, then mushroom soup. Cover with crumbs and cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Asparagus Soup (if you want to freeze the asparagus)
Put all your cut end trimmings into a pot and boil. Make sure they are completely cooked. drain well and put into a food processor or blender until a smooth pulp. You can freeze this by the pint. To each pint of your asparagus pulp, add 1 cup of cream or milk. Brint to a boil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Marinated Asparagus Spears
2 lbs asparagus
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbps chopped green onion
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 clove garlic crushed
pinch of salt

Cook asparagus until just tender. Combine remaining ingredients, pour over asparagus. Chill overnight and garnish with toasted nuts.

Asparagus With Shrimp Sauce
2 cups cereal cream
2 cups shredded havarti or cheddar
2 tbsp flourpinch cayenne pepper
2 cups cooked small shrimp
3 lbs asparagus

Heat cream over medium heat, lower heat. lightly toss flour and cheese. add to cream, stir until smooth. Add spices. Add a small amount o fsauce to egg yolk. add all to sauce. continue cooking, do not boil, add shrimp.cook asparagus until tender and cover with sauce.

Stir Fry Chicken & Asparagus
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 large chicken breast
1 lb asparagus
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soya sauce
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tbsp cornstarch
Hot cooked rice or pasta

Cut asparagus and chicken into bite sizes. In large frying pan or wok, heat oil, stir fry chicken until no longer pink. Add asparagus and continue to fry about 5 minutes. add chestnuts. In small bowl combine broth, soya sauce, ginger, garlic and cornstartch. Pour over asparagus and chicke. continue to cook until sauce is thickened and clear. Serve over rice or pasta.

I'll be back with some more. There are two great soups I want to post too.

Win A $50 Gift Certificate To Vincent Shoes

2007-05-31T21:48:00.000-06:00

These look like great shoes! I'm supposed to share my favorite and man that was hard as I loved all the styles, but I found myself leaning towards the Tanja shoe. If you want the chance to win this gift certificate visit Adventures In Babywearing http://adventuresinbabywearing.blogspot.com/ and please visit Vincent Shoes http://www.vincentshoestore.us/home/

Good luck to all participating in the contest.

Living The Mommy Dream Contest Submission

2007-05-30T22:55:00.000-06:00

I finally finished my writing submission for this contest. You can read it down below. Here is the link if you don't feel like scrolling down to look for it:

http://babyskywalker.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-in-life-of-supermom.html

I would love to see all my blogging friends submit a story for this contest. Here is the link to Hip Blog Mama's : http://crazyhipblogmamas.com/?p=262 and to LTD Chix : http://www.ltdchix.com/ where you can find some GREAT t'shirts.

Since When Does A Pedophile Deserve Rights??!!

2007-05-30T22:21:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here reading the paper and this article "Man Found Guilty Of Touching Six-Year Old" jumped out at me. First some background on rural municipalities in Canada.........Since we are under the jurisdiction of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) which are, in turn, governed by the federal government, pedophiles cannot be named to the public due to a publication ban to protect their identities. Right there I am riled!!!!! Why do they deserve to have their identities protected? Is it not my right, as a parent to protect my children by knowing if a pedophile lives in my neighbourhood? Now if they lived in the city, which is governed by the municipal government and a municipal police force, pedophiles can be named so guess what? They all move out here to where I live!!!!!!!!!! So we do the best we can living here, and my kids aren't allowed to go to far from home, and if they do go for a walk they go in groups and carry cell phones for emergencies. Anyways...........back to this article. This poor, sweet boy was molested by his mother's boyfriend. It sickens me to even read what was put in the paper, but it was enough that if it was my child, this guy probaby wouldn't be walking much and wouldn't have balls anymore. So what angers me is the sentence he got, get this.........Because this monster (I will call him that since it is what he is) is noted to be a man of good character and funtioning very well considering the circumstances (good character? who the hell figures that?) he received a two year conditional sentence order (house arrest), followed by one year probation, and he is to have no contact with the victim who is now seven years old. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! House Arrest!!!!!?????? You have to be joking! Come to rural Canada pedophiles, better yet run here as you will have rights up your ass! I love my country but I'm ashamed at the laws that protect these monsters. No wonder I feel the need to not let my girls out of my sight.

Pasta With Shrimp Sauce

2007-05-30T21:53:00.001-06:00

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while. It's the absolute favorite of my middle daughter and her pick when it's her turn to decide what we have for dinner (we let the kids take turn deciding every payday Friday). It's from my Campbell's Soup cookbook that is so well used it's falling apart so it's imperative I save all my favorites to the computer. For the below recipe, I'll list my soup of choice first and in brackets I'll put the other options that are in the cookbook.

Pasta With Shrimp Sauce (Or Seafood Pasta as we like to call it)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
Crabmeat-I use imitation crabmeat (other options in the book are scallops, clams, cod chunks, or additional shrimp)
1 can cheddar cheese soup (other options are cream of celery, tomato, or cream of mushroom)
1 cup of half and half cream (other options are 1/4 cup of sherry plus 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup dry white wine plus 1/4 cup milk, or 1 cup tomato juice)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 ounces of cooked linguini (other options are spaghetti, medium noodles, or shell noodles)

In a skillet pan, over medium heat, in hot oil, cook mushrooms, onion and garlic until tender. Add shrimp and seafood (and sidenote to this, I add my crabmeat at the end when it is all done and just heat it through instead of adding it at this point). Cook for two minutes more until seafood is done.

In a medium bowl, combine soup and liquid. Mix well and then stir into the skillet. Add parsley. Heat through but do not boil. Serve sauce over your noodles of choice. Voila! An excellent dinner!

My Current Favorite Band

2007-05-30T21:07:00.000-06:00

This week's topic on Hip Blog Mamas is "what is your current favorite band?"

I just LOVE the band Nickelback! First off, their music is awesome! Every song on all of their discs just rocks. I love when you can put a disc in and you don't have to skip through the bad songs to play the two or three good ones on there. With all my Nickelback CD's I listen to every song. Also, Nickelback is not only a Canadian band BUT they are also from a town very close to where I live. They make Alberta proud!!!!! My lovely children and husband bought me two tickets to the Nickelback concert in July. They want me to take a friend so I'm still trying to figure out who I would like to ask. I may be taking my husband which will be a fun date night for us.

Anti-Procrastination Wednesday

2007-05-30T19:37:00.001-06:00

It's anti-procrastination day and time to do something that you've been putting off for way too long. It could be anything from cleaning up a mess of papers on your table to mailing off a letter or parcel that you've been meaning too but just haven't gotten around to doing.

Today I decided I needed to clean up the dog poop out of the dog run. The smell was really overtaking me everytime I let the dog out so I knew it was time to bite the bullet, get the rubber gloves on, and get at it. An added procrastination task was awaiting me out there.........the weeds had overtaken the dog run and the poop was hiding amongst them. Those weeds were so tall they were like small trees! So one giant orange Glad garbage bag later, it was done. Whew......it feels good to have that cleaned up.

What did you do today? Please tell us your task of choice.

New Skytai MT! This One Is So Pretty!

2007-05-30T14:53:00.000-06:00

I just finished a new MT up and hoping it grabs some interest to someone out there. We may have it sold, not sure yet, but if it is we have materials to make an identical one to it, and we have the exact stripe in a blue to please a mom of a boy. :) After I finish each MT I always tell my partner in business that it is my favorite one to date. Well this one IS my favorite to date. I just love the dark brown and the pink combination. Make sure you visit us at www.hideabugskytai@googlepages.com for more information on MT baby carriers, more color combos we have and instructions on how to wear them.

FINALLY! YAY!

2007-05-30T10:33:00.000-06:00

My new furniture is being delivered tomorrow!!!!!!! I ordered it all in February and it is here!!!!!!! Maybe it was my scathing letter of complaint I emailed to the furniture store last week.........hmmmm...........I'll have pictures posted when it all gets here.

15 Minute Taco Skillet Dinner

2007-05-29T08:38:00.000-06:00

This is from the Kraft site and my family loves it. I customize it a bit more so I'll list those things at the bottom of the page.

15-Minute Taco In A Pan

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1-1/2 cups water
1 pkg. (35 g) taco seasoning mix
1-1/2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1 cup KRAFT Tex Mex Shredded Cheese (or just regular grated cheese is fine)
2 cups shredded lettuce
2 cups chopped tomatoes

Directions
1. BROWN meat in large nonstick skillet; drain.
2. ADD water and seasoning mix; stir. Bring to boil.
3. STIR in rice. Sprinkle with cheese; cover. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 min. Top with lettuce and tomatoes.

Substitute Substitute 1 tsp. ground cumin and 1 Tbsp. chili powder for the taco seasoning mix.

Things I like to add:

Top with coarsely crushed tortilla chips and sour cream

I also like to add a can of green chillis, black olives, salsa, and a can of corn kernels. You can add anything with a mexican flavor to this recipe.

Kraft has some GREAT recipe ideas. Here is the site if you would like to check it out: http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/Recipes/

Campbell's Cheesy Chicken And Rice Casserole

2007-05-29T08:27:00.000-06:00

Campbell's® Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 1/3 cups water

3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice 2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables

1/2 tsp. onion powder

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Stir the soup, water, rice, vegetables and onion powder in a 12 x 8” shallow baking dish.
2. Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired. Cover.
3. Bake at 375°F. for 45 min. or until done. Top with cheese.

TIP: Italian: In place of onion powder, use 1 tsp. Italian seasoning. Substitute 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan for Cheddar.
Mexican: In place of onion powder, use 1 tsp. chili powder. Substitute Mexican cheese blend for Cheddar.

For more great and easy recipes visit the Campbell's Kitchen at http://www.campbellkitchen.com/

Skylar's Thoughts-Potty Training

2007-05-28T19:06:00.000-06:00

I don't like potty training! I wish my mommy would stop making me sit on the potty chair. It's so scary. I would rather poop and pee in my diaper and if she won't put one on me then I'll darn well poop on the floor. Poop stinks! I tell my mommy that all the time. I do like watching Elmo's potty movie though. My mommy lets me watch it in our van all the time when we go for drives. Baby Bear says Woo-Woo and Wee-Wee. He's funny but I love Elmo the best. Maybe someday I'll poop and pee in the potty but for now I will just do it in my diaper. It's much easier that way.

Pull Apart Cinnamon Buns

2007-05-28T15:32:00.001-06:00

This is from The Best Of Bridges and is super yummy:

Pull Apart Cinnamon Buns

20 frozen dough ball buns (not Pillsbury. Get the store brand ones in a bag in your frozen foods section).
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla instant pudding (I've also used butterscotch and it's very good)
2 tbsps cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1/4-1/2 cup melted butter

The night before, grease a 10" bundt pan. Add frozen dough balls. Sprinkle brown sugar, pudding mix, cinnamon and raisins. Pour melted butter over it. Cover with a clean, damp cloth. Leave out at room temperature.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes after you remove from oven. Turn out onto a serving plate. Makes a great brunch or party item. Guests just pull apart the pieces they want to eat.

Cauliflower (Potato) Salad

2007-05-28T15:25:00.000-06:00

This recipe is from Atkins so if you are on a diet, it's a great substitute for potato salad. If you aren't on a diet it's still super yummy. Most importantly, my kids like it and anything they give a thumbs up to becomes a regular in our house.

Atkins Cauliflower Salad (just like a potato salad)

1 head cauliflower (broken into small florets)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 packets sugar substitute (I have used real sugar before too but don't tell Atkins. lol)
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
3 green onions
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper or 2 tablespoons chopped green bell peppers (I actually use cut up dill pickles as that is a favorite of my kids).
salt and pepper

Cook cauliflower in a large pot of boiling water 10 minutes or until tender.
Drain and rinse with cold water.
In a large mixing bowl, mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar substitute and mustard.
Add cauliflower, green onions, dill pickles (or whatever you are using) and pepper.
Mix well until vegetables are evenly coated with dressing.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Chill 30 mins.

Living The Mommy Dream Writing Contest

2007-05-28T11:58:00.000-06:00

Come join the Hip Blog Mamas and get your typing fingers ready to write about a day in the life of YOU and how being a mommy feels. I'm working on mine right now. The deadline is Sunday. Here is the link if anyone is interested:

http://crazyhipblogmamas.com/?p=262

Menu Planning Monday

2007-05-28T11:34:00.001-06:00

I've always been really good about menu planning for the week but I'm going to start posting it here in my blog as I've jumped on the organizing junkie bandwagon. And check out orgjunkie's blog as it is full of great tips on how to organize your home.

Monday: Barbequed pork chops, corn on the cob, garlic bread

Tuesday: Shepherd's pie (In my recipe section)

Wednesday: Barbeque chicken thighs, garden salad

Thursday: Left-overs and cauliflower salad (recipe in my recipe section)

Friday: Chicken enchilladas (recipe is in my blog under the recipe category) and garden salad

Saturday and Sunday: Not planned as of yet

Attention Sewers! All Ladies That Sew.

2007-05-27T21:38:00.001-06:00

I "stumbled upon" this great site with some FREE Amy Butler patterns. I'm excited to try some of them.

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/free_patterns.php

A Day In The Life Of Supermom

2007-05-27T18:41:00.001-06:00

The day started out just as all the others, the alarm clock waking her from a sleep that she felt she had just begun. Slowly supermom got up, stretching out her tired muscles as she rose, dragging herself to the bathroom and not wanting to look in the mirror as that would surely scare her into reality. The morning breath was horrible so she brushed her teeth first, getting all the grime from last night off them. A shower would be nice but first there was so much to do. There were lunches to make, breakfast to prepare, school agendas to look over and sign and kids to get out the door. Just a quick brush of the hair, a splash of water on the face and then off to the kitchen to start the next phase of the day.

Supermom heard the two older girls get up and could never understand why they just couldn't be quiet in the morning. "Please don't wake the baby up" she thought to herself. Having to go and get her two year old meant a delay in making lunches. Too late, baby was in full "MOMMY" scream. Here's where the juggling act began and continued for the next hour. After getting her mental list accomplished, she was able to sit with her youngest and nurse her for a few minutes. The older two were a big help some of the time and she begged them to get the little one some cereal while she tidied up breakfast dishes and put backpacks together. It was a challenge everyday, but it was a routine she had learned to master over the years. Hmmmmmmm......she could put that on her resume, master organizer excelling at time management.

Once the two older girls were out the door, then it was time to pick up a bit, start a load of laundry, get the dishwasher unloaded and reloaded, change a diaper, then have a well deserved shower. The wee one would quite often sit in the bathroom playing with some toys, or sit up in her high chair and color while supermom had a very quick rinse off, just enough to finish waking her up. After that was done, she was ready to attack her "to do" list for that day. Armed with her trusty vacuum cleaner, supermom attacked the floors with a fury. After that, it was on to making beds and scrubbing toilets. Next thing she knew, it was close to 12pm and time to make lunch. The rest of the afternoon flew by as fast as supermom when she was mopping floors. Something to look forward to was naptime from 2pm until 4pm. That was a great time to procrastinate. Should supermom take a nap or should she do her pilates routine? Since beach weather was just around the corner, the pilates tape went in, not that she would ever wear a bikini again but it was a worthy goal.

The bigger kids got home at 3:45 and supermom waited anxiously at the door to try and get them to come in quietly so as to not wake up baby one. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not-today she was fortunate. Dinner was started, homework needed to be done, and there was always something to be picked up, evident by looking around the room. Tonight it was lasagna, garlic bread, and a garden salad as the choice of meal. Hopefully there would be no fuss about what was being served and generally speaking, lasagna went over pretty good with the family.

Finally it was time to eat dinner and talk about the day. Thank goodness there were no after school activities planned and they could all just relax for the rest of the evening. Dinner dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, jammies put on, and it was time for the nightly ritual of reading.

Supermom was counting down the minutes until 9pm when she would have all the children in bed and she could sit and catch up with her favorite tv shows and her online friends. Then it was 10pm and time to go to bed only to wake up in a few hours and start the routine all over again. As she drifted off to sleep she thought about her life. It was a busy one, but also very fullfilling. She had three beautiful children whom she loved with her entire heart. If she had to do it over again, she would not change a thing, except for one.......she would make time go slower as to enjoy her children and rewind the good parts like the day they all were born, the day they took their first steps, said their first words.......she sighed as she closed her eyes for the last time that night. Tomorrow was another day and Supermom was going to make every minute of it last as long as she could.

Attitude

2007-05-27T16:19:00.000-06:00

My child has discovered a thing called ATTITUDE. At 2 1/2 she now knows how to fully express herself. My husband has created a monster (I'll blame him since it's so easy to do).

Today's attitude included:

1. telling my 9 year old to "never mind, just eat your breakfast" and
2. telling my 11 year old to "shut up" after listening to her practice the saxophone.

It's very hard not to laugh and I have to put my best mommy face on when telling her that she can't talk like that. I so don't need this today seeing I am PMS'ing. sigh............

What Should I Make For Dinner Tonight?

2007-05-25T23:15:00.001-06:00

I'm always on the eternal quest of "What Should I Make For Dinner Tonight?" It really has to be the worst part of my day, trying to figure out what to make, what do I need to make it, yada yada...........

So I found this website: http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/frames.html

I hope it helps me out.

Letter From The Editor

2007-05-25T21:17:00.000-06:00

I was sitting, reading the paper tonight (Great Balls of Fire! I actually was able to sit and read a paper finally!). Anyways, the letter from the editor this week really got me laughing so I'd like to share with you all what was so funny. (I'll just quote the funny parts only and add my comments)

Taken from The Okotoks Western Wheel
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 edition
Editor: John Barlow
Title: Our Priorities Seem To Be Screwed (this title actually referred to the beginning of the article which was focused on the tragedies going on in the world yet the entertainment media set more focus on Ana-Nicole Smith)

Since we are venting I thought I would throw a couple of other issues out there. First off, why does it seem some people feel like they do not have to get dressed when they go to Wal-Mart? It is like a pyjama convention when you go there. Okay I have to laugh at this because, especially at our Wal-Mart, this is soooooo true! I was commenting on this not to long ago to my husband. I had seen at least half a dozen people within one week wearing their pyjama bottoms in Wal-Mart. One lady particularly caught my eye as it was in the middle of COLD January, she was wearing a night-gown, a down coat over top, and her hiking boots. Could these people at least put some proper pants on? And just today I was there and the two women in front of me at the checkout were wearing flannel jammie bottoms.

Second, why does anyone plan a camping trip on the May long weekend? You must be completely daft or a newcomer to Alberta-or to Canada for that matter. All of the local campgrounds were fully booked for the May long weekend, but I am betting they were deserted by noon on Sunday. It is always an awful weekend and yet people feel compelled to set up a tent on the still frozen ground nly to shiver yourself silly all night. Again, something I was commenting on with my husband. People will fight tooth and nail, and pay big bucks to secure a good camping spot for this particular weekend and it's friggin cold out! I guess if that's what you like then who am I to judge, but I would much rather wait until it's summertime and I can really enjoy the great weather and all that camping has to offer, like hiking, campfires, etc. When it's windy, rainy, and cold out you just end up sitting in your tent or in your trailer and playing cards with your family. Though I'm sure that leads to some great family conversations so that's not entirely a bad thing (unless you have an active two year old....lol).

I'll end my post by saying I hope I didn't offend any readers who like wearing jammies to Wal-Mart and camping in the windy, rainy weather. Much love to you all.

Book Recommendations

2007-05-25T20:05:00.000-06:00

I love to read and the only down side with having a small child is there never seems enough time to relax and get into a great book. I'm, of course, looking for my next good read but for now here are a couple of really good books that were ones where once you start you just can't stop and when you are done it's 3am and then you can't sleep because you keep thinking about the characters and what they went through.

First one is: Stolen Lives: 20 Years in a Desert Jail
by Malika Oufkir

Second one is: Fall on Your Knees
by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Me So Far Today..........

2007-05-25T19:52:00.000-06:00

Woke up at 7am

Got kids ready for school

Surprised by the guy putting our windows in. He showed up today to finally finish putting the inside trim up and guess what????? He freaking cut one of the pieces of trim to small so now I have to go to Home Depot and buy another one!!!!!!!! These darn windows have only taken 6 months so far to get to the point of almost done.

Had to drive to the city for a noontime oil change appointment (Troy's truck)

Troy and I and Skylar headed to Harvey's to get a hamburger

Drove Troy to the Canada Passport Office to get his passport. Only took an hour to do and the lineup was small!!!!!!

Drove him back to pick up his truck. So it's two hours later and the truck is just going up on the lift!!!!!!!! What the heck!!!!!!!! It should have only taken 45 minutes for that oil change!

Booted back home as the girls were out of school at 2:18pm. I had to really boogy to get back as it was 2pm when I left Calgary.

Pulled up and girls were just walking up the sidewalk. We all headed to FartMart as I needed some thread to finish a baby carrier I'm making.

Picked up a movie (Epic Movie) and some dinner at the grocery store and finally headed home.

Chased a 2 year old around the house trying to get her to eat cheese and meat! She was having nothing to do with just sitting in her seat nicely. Why should she, she's two right?!

Finally I get to sit and blog for a bit before I get her ready for bed. Then it's movie time for the rest of us.

Another New Blog I Found

2007-05-25T19:12:00.000-06:00

I am intrigued.........these women are so strong, and I will never take my freedom for granted again after reading these powerful blogs. Here is a blog from a SAHM living in Gaza:

http://contemplating-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Japanese IQ Test

2007-05-25T09:08:00.001-06:00

I wanted to share this with my friends. Apparently it is on some job applications in Japan. I have half the family over but I am stuck and it's bugging me! If anyone gets this let me know.

http://www.robmathiowetz.com/

Stumble Upon - Great Fun

2007-05-24T22:30:00.000-06:00

Thank you so much to http://www.mamablogga.com/ for posting about this in her blog. I downloaded the toolbar and it's great fun. You put in your interests and then when you click the stumbleupon button it will bring up websites that you may find fun. There is a rating system so if you like a site it chooses for you, then you click thumbs up and if you don't care for a site it recommends, you click the thumbs down. You can also put your own site on so that it gets more exposure out there in cyberland.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

The Day You Were Born..........

2007-05-24T22:07:00.000-06:00

I came across this cool site that, when you input your date of birth, it gives you all the stats related to your birthday and many interesting facts. Here is the link if you would like to see the events and stats related to your birthday: http://www.dayofbirth.co.uk/

Here are my day of birth stats:

Results for 8th October 1968 :

You were born on a Tuesday.

Your star sign is Libra.

The season was Autumn.

You are 38 years, 7 months, 17 days old.*

It is 136 days until your next Birthday.*

You are 14,108 days old.*

You are approximately 338,597 hours old.*

You are approximately 1,218,949,556 seconds old.*

Birthdays
Eddie Rickenbacker 1890
Juan Peron 1895
Billy Conn 1917
Rona Barrett 1936
Fred Stolle 1938
Paul Hogan 1939
David Carradine 1940
Fred Cash (The Impressions) 1940
Jesse Jackson 1941
George Bellamy (The Tornados) 1941
Buzz Clifford 1942
R.L. Stine 1943
Chevy Chase 1943
Susan Raye 1944
Tony Wilson (Hot Chocolate) 1947
Sarah Purcell 1948
Brian Glenwright 1949
Sigourney Weaver 1949
Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) 1949
Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang) 1950
Johnny Cummings (Ramones) 1951
Ricky Lee Phelps (Brother Phelps) 1953
Michael Dudikoff 1954
Darrell Hammond 1955
Stephanie Zimbalist 1956
Mitch Marine (Tripping Daisy) 1961
Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) 1963
C.J. Ward (The Ramones) 1965
Teddy Riley 1966
Emily Proctor 1968
Matt Damon 1970
Kristanna Loken 1979
Byron Reeder (Mista) 1979
Nick Cannon 1980
Angus T. Jones 1993

Blog Surfing

2007-05-24T18:30:00.000-06:00

I've decided to blog surf and see what is out there in the blogging community. I came across this powerful blog about a Palestinian mother who is raising her son between the U.S. and Gaza. She's a journalist and her husband has to remain in Gaza so they can't be together all the time. Very powerful.

http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Thanks To My Friend Meghan............

2007-05-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

I have the theme song to Wonder Woman stuck in my head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!

My LOST Theory

2007-05-24T08:56:00.000-06:00

My theories are always works in progress but for now this is what I think the show is all about (at least if I was a writer on this show I would go this route):

First The Black Rock:

The Black Rock is a huge ship that landed on the island. It's quite old and I wonder if it was a pirate ship of sorts. I think Richard and some of the Others are from this boat and it landed there probably over 100 years or so ago, maybe longer.

The Secret of the Island Itself:

The island holds some sort of healing/anti-aging, or fountain of youth secret. The Black Rock survivors discovered it and have been holding onto it for as long as they've been there. Then in the 70's, Dharma discovered the island and set up their stations, noting that hostiles lived on the island. They created some sort of barrier around their camp to keep them out while they did their research. The hostiles didn't want the Dharma people to find out their secret so they used the island's weird secrets to lure young Ben to them (they used a vision of his dead mother to appeal to him). They then secretly worked on Ben for years leading up to the masacre. Then they "appointed" Ben their new leader, perhaps promising him the secrets of eternal life. They may have "needed" someone like Ben and a few other goons (such as Tom and Mikhail) to do their dirty work for them. Perhaps the fountain of youth does not happen for people who have done evil deeds on the island. Notice how Richard always seems to get Ben (or Locke) to do their dirty work. For example, Richard talked Locke into killing his father (and in turn he got Sawyer to do the dirty deed). I truly believe Richard is the mastermind. To explain people such as Tom and Mikhail, well they are people that Ben decided needed to be recruited to come to the island and help protect the secrets that lie within it.

Danielle Russo:

I believe Dharma has been trying to find the island for years since the masacre of their people. I think Danielle's research team was sent there and they ended up stranded on the island. The hostiles, led by Ben, killed them except for Danielle. She gave birth to Alex and they took the baby, leaving her to die. Except she didn't die.........

The Need For New Others:

The original Black Rock survivors haven't been able to procreate. Perhaps they were all men so I'm not sure yet on that. The island isn't allowing pregnancies to continue past the 2nd trimester if the baby was conceived on the island. This was of concern to people like Ben so he recruited Juliette to come and help out with that problem. Note a conversation between Richard and Juliette when he first goes to recruit her. He shows her an ultrasound of a woman and asks her what she sees. She says she sees the reproductive system of a woman in her 70's. Richard says no it's a woman in her 20's. Is this a woman who really is 70 but remains in her 20's? Or is it truly what happens to the reproductive system of women who remain on the island? Is the reason they need people like Sun and Kate because they are fairly new to the island and their reproductive systems might not be damaged yet? I still have so many questions on this part of my theory.

The Reason For Not Wanting Off The Island:

Well it's easy to figure out why Locke, Rose, and Ben and his people don't want off the island. Locke and Rose have been healed so if they leave they face going back to how their bodies were. Ben wants the secrets of the island passed to him. Richard wants to protect the secrets of the island. All in all, a rescue would lead to the outside world finding the island and Dharma getting back the island.

So that's all I have for now on theories. I sure cried when Charlie died last night. Why didn't he just grab some scuba gear with Des and they both could have swam out of their? Unless the grenade would have destroyed the entire station I guess. I'm sure I'll be back with more LOST soon as I continue to process last night's episode.

I NEED To Lose Some Weight!

2007-05-23T22:19:00.000-06:00

Okay so I have 3 weeks to lose some of this flab around my middle. We are going to the West Edmonton Mall and we are spending two days at the waterpark there. I wasn't so worried before but now Troy informs me his brother and BIL's girlfriend are coming for one of the swimming days to hang out. Normally I'm not too worried about what I look like but I HATE myself in a bathing suit and to be "hanging out" with two people with perfect bods doesn't sit well with me. I'll be self conscience the entire day and that won't be fun. Why or why do I worry about such trivial crap?! I mean I birthed 3 children for God's sake! Well I'm going to be drinking a ton of water and really trying to get onto my pilates this week since it's crappy outside and I can't go for walks with the weather like this. Wish me luck.

Hopefully Final Update

2007-05-23T17:41:00.000-06:00

Well I think the situation is resolved. The vice principal called her in and talked to her very nicely, asking for her side of what happened. Upon further investigation, she discovered who called the boy names and it wasn't Kaitlin. She is now cleared of all suspicion and was treated with respect and dignity. I decided to wait and see if Katie brings it up to me first to see if she wants to further discuss the matter. Thank goodness it was handled with grace. I hope my girl sees that she can rely on me in the future.

Head's Smashed In Buffalo Jump

2007-05-23T15:44:00.000-06:00

On Saturday we decided to find something to do as a family that we hadn't done before, so we jumped in the van and drove down to Head's Smashed In Buffalo Jump which is near Fort McMurray, Alberta (so about an hour and a half drive from where we live). It's a museum which features the actual jumps that the Indians used to drive the buffalo off of in the old days. We walked through the museum, looked at the displays, and even got the tail end of a tour that was being conducted by a native woman. She was awesome and explained in detail how the Indians would go about driving the herds over these cliffs. Then we went outside and looked around where the jumps are. It was really cool to see a piece of history and feel the presence of the spirits of the Indian people and the buffalo. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

Update With The School Situation

2007-05-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

Well I just got off the phone with the vice principal of our school. She was very nice and told me what this student had told her. He said that some of the students were calling him a stupid retard boy and he wasn't sure who said it but he did say a group of girls (Kaitlin was one of these girls) were the ones teasing him. Then I got to tell Kaitlin's side of the story which is almost the same but a few differences, the main difference being that the boy was sitting on the ground, playing in the dirt when he was supposed to be the back catcher (they were playing kick ball). He wouldn't get up and do what he was supposed to be doing so one student yelled out to him to get up, whereupon he yelled back no. Then Kaitlin yelled out his name in disgust. After that he called them all asses and that is when the teacher told him to go to the office. Then Kaitlin did call him stupid, but I believe it was more in the context of him swearing at them all. I asked Kaitlin again if she called him names or heard of him being called names by other students and she says no but I'm thinking she is not telling me so that no one else gets in trouble. Then I told the vice principal that I think if she is to write an apology to this boy that he, in turn, should be also writing one back apologizing for the ass comment. So anyways, the vice principal is going to call Kaitlin down right now to talk to her. I asked her to talk gently to her and that Kaitlin is already embarrassed enough by this and that I want my daughter treated with respect. She agreed and will be phoning me afterwards to fill me in on what transpired. I know Kaitlin will come home in a bad mood but I'm not going to let on that I know anything about this for now. I'll write another update as soon as I know more.

Anti-Procrastination Day

2007-05-23T13:19:00.000-06:00

So it's Wednesday and that means it's anti-procrastination day. I got two bills paid and a parcel mailed, things I've been procrastinating on for a few days. What have you accomplished today?

Cool New Show Next Fall!

2007-05-21T20:03:00.000-06:00

Okay maybe I'm dating myself but one of my favorite shows when I was a kid was The Bionic Woman. They are bringing it back to NBC next fall. Of course it's revamped and more high tech but I'm excited to see how they pull it off. Hooray for the Bionic Woman!

Put Yourself In Their Shoes

2007-05-20T09:05:00.000-06:00

As my daughter's get older I am having to teach them how to give respect, how to forgive, and how to put themselves in the shoes of others.

Kaitlin had an incident at school the other day. A fellow student in her class was acting out against the substitute teacher during gym time. This student is well known for this kind of behaviour against teachers and students. Well this time Kaitlin couldn't handle it anymore and yelled his name out in an attempt to make him listen to the teacher. This teacher told the boy to just go to the office. As he was leaving he called them all a bunch of asses. Kaitlin turned to her friends and called him stupid. Fast forward..........her homeroom teacher calls her in and asks if she called this kid a name. She admitted full responsibility to the act but when trying to tell the entire side of the story she was shut down and told to write out an apology note. Me being the protective mother I am, in turn wrote a note to this teacher saying that I understand my child needed to do that but does she not deserve the respect to tell her side, and that I will be expecting a full apology back from the boy for being called an ass. No word yet back from the school but I won't be letting it go. I also told Kaitlin to put herself in this boy's shoes. Does he have a good home life? Does he have good friends like she does? It doesn't make it right but most times kids that act out in this way don't have it so good.

Now on to the moral of the story, at least for me personally. If we are to teach our children to give respect we must in turn be prepared to give it back. And if a child has truly taken the responsibility for their actions, we must then at least commend them for that and pray they have learned their lesson. In Kaitlin's case, I have explained to her that calling someone stupid, even behind their backs, is not appropriate and that she must never do it again. She feels badly for this but I am proud of her for admitting to it. I think the same morals can be true for adults too. We all make mistakes but if we are willing to admit to them and try to fix the problem then I think that says volumes. I've made my share of mistakes and I've tried to make it right where ever possible. We can learn a lot from young children and I'm thankful that my daughters have been able to teach me as I teach them.

Meet Mr. Poo Breath

2007-05-18T18:36:00.001-06:00

Here's my dog Zeus. He eats poo. Gross hey?! I was potty training my little girl today, she did a big log on the floor and he was in there like a dirty sock before I could even blink. I washed his mouth out with a soapy cloth and put him in time out. Now he's no longer allowed to lick us. Poor Mr. Poo Breath.

Stephanie's Carrot Cake! To Die For Yummy!!!!!!

2007-05-15T11:34:00.000-06:00

I hope Stephanie doesn't mind me sharing this awesome recipe for carrot cake. This one was comparable to sex for my husband.

Carrot Cake
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c mayo
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice or ginger - I normally do 1/4 of each
3 eggs
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
2 c finely shredded carrots (abt 4 med)
1/4 c chopped pecans or walnuts

Heat oven to 350. Grease sides and bottoms of (2) 8" or 9" round pans and lightly flour. Geat all ingred. except carrots and pecans in lg bowl with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds then on med for 3 minutes. Stir in carrots and pecans and pour into pans.

Bake 9" pans 30-35 mins and 8" pans 40-45 mins. Cool completely.

Fill layers and frost top with cream cheese frosting, leaving sides unfrosted. Store covered in fridge.

Cream Cheese Icing

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 c butter or marg, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3-4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt

Beat butter and cc until smooth. Gradually stir in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth and spreadable.

* I find that it generally takes quite a bit more powdered sugar to make the icing stiff enough - just add until you're satisfied with the texture. I usually have to put it in the fridge for a while before icing the cake to let it set up.

7 Weird Things About Me!

2007-05-15T08:48:00.000-06:00

I was tagged by my good friend Lori and challenged to write down 7 weird things about me so here goes:

1. I like my pop at room temperature.

2. I like guys with longer hair. It doesn't have to be butt length but I like it long and scruffy looking (like Sawyer on LOST).

3. Like Lori, I bite my nails too. It's a horrible habit but I do it when I'm thinking about something or nervous.

4. I like spending time with my kids instead of having more alone time. I feel more lonely when they aren't here.

5. I suffer from OCD. If something looks out of place I have to pick it up and clean. It will sometimes take me half an hour to even get out of the house because I feel this need to clean up.

6. I can't sleep with my arms or legs hanging over the bed. I have this wierd fear of something or someone being under the bed and grabbing me.

7. I can't look in a mirror at myself. I do in the morning but that's about it. I hate looking at myself in the mirror as then I start to fret about how I look, how fat I might appear, wrinkles, my hair out of place, etc.

I'll be back to tag 5 more people.

5 Warm and Fuzzies!

2007-05-14T10:36:00.000-06:00

My good friend Ingrid tagged me so I am supposed to list five things that make me feel warm and fuzzy.

1. A hot cup of tea on a cold morning.

2. When there is money in my bank account.

3. Cuddling with my sweet baby girl Skylar.

4. Watching my girls sleep and seeing how peaceful they are.

5. The memories I have of my girls when they were first born.

My Mother's Day

2007-05-13T19:36:00.000-06:00

Well it started out good at least............

First off, I didn't have a good sleep last night. Perhaps that was the universe trying to tell me that bad things were happening. My girls woke me up at 7am as they had made me tea and a bagel and wanted to give me my gift. As much as I appreciate their heartmost intentions, I was so tired and had a headache. But I got up, because that's what moms do. So I headed out to the living room for my breakfast (I so very much love them for doing that for me), and to open my gift. I got two tickets to go and see Nickelback!!!!!!!!! Love Nickelback too so I'm totally looking forward to that.

Then it was time to get ready. We had reservations at Silver Dragon, in Calgary, for Dim Sum. I figured we had better leave earlier as I knew they had part of the downtown core closed off for the Forzani's Mother's Day Run and Walk. So I go out to my van to get things ready and my driver's side door is open. OMG! Upon further observation, Troy's Sirius Satellite Radio is gone! FUCKING KIDS! I was in tears when I went in the house. Nothing more I could do other than to call the RCMP and call Sirius to close my account and give them the serial number of the radio. If those fuckers try to activate it, they will be traced. I truly hope they are stupid enough to do it to.

At 9:30 we left. Our reservation was for an hour from then. We made great time until we hit downtown. Then it was chaos from that point on. Roads were closed or reduced to one lane, people were honking and yelling, it was horrible. We phoned the restaurant and told them to tell our party we would be late. Well we managed to get out of the core and tried to go around the long way but fate would step in and we would get stuck at a train crossing for a good 20 minutes. I was convinced that the powers above didn't want me to have Dim Sum. Finally the train moved out of the way and we made it to the place a good hour past when we were supposed to be there.

Dim Sum was great! I had my old friend, since grade seven, meet us there with her husband. She is pregnant with her first and we had a lot of catching up to do. That was probably the highlight of my day.

The day itself was trying though. It felt like a regular day to me, with no one offering to help out. I did the cleaning and I picked up dinner since I was determined I wasn't cooking today. Thank goodness I was able to get a short nap in while Skylar slept. I hope next Mother's Day is better.

Peace be with you all and Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommies out there.
Helen

Darn It!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-10T19:33:00.000-06:00

Murphey's Law is a bitch sometimes! I just got a new windshield today and when I was driving home on the Deerfoot, minding my own business when a truck went whipping past me doing probably 140 km/hr and a tiny rock hit my window!!!!!!!! It's a tiny, tiny little mark but dam it if my perfect window isn't perfect anymore. At least I had about half an hour with it being new. AARRGH!

Happy Mothers Day To All The Moms Out There

2007-05-10T13:16:00.000-06:00

This is a copy and paste from an email circulating around out there. Thanks to Kelly from my mommy board for sharing it.

Mothers

If you send this to just one person, it should make it all the way
around the world by Mother's Day.

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers
in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and
cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's okay honey, Mommy's here." Who have sat
in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can' t
be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their
hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew
Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see.
And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on
their refrigerator doors. And for all the mothers who froze their buns
on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching
from the warmth of their cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you
see me, Mom ?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it
for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery
store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream
for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten
instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and
explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand) mothers who
wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.
For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a
year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their
shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who
opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their
daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little
voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own
offspring are at home -- or even away at college.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach
aches assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to
get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please
pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone
astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the step-mothers who raised another woman's child or
children, and gave their time, attention, and love... sometimes
totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their
14-year-olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the
mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of
their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from
school, safely

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful,
and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad
hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a
shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you
feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street,
walking to school alone for the very first time ? The jolt that takes
you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand
on the back of a sleeping baby? The panic, years later, that comes
again at 2 A.M. when you just wan t to hear their key in the door and
know they are safe again in your home? Or the need to flee from
wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a
car accident, a child dying? The emotions of motherhood are universal
and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper
changes and sleep deprivation...

And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all.

For all of us.

Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can.

Tell them every day that we love them.

And pray.

Please pass along to all the Moms in your life.

"Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall."
Please pass this to a wonderful mother you know. (I just did.)

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day!

2007-05-09T14:27:00.000-06:00

I follow a cleaning regime set out by The Flylady. (www.flylady.net) It's a wonderful cleaning program and really makes life easier for me. I highly recommend it to all my friends. Anyways, every Wednesday is anti-procrastination day. The goal is to do or finish something that you've been procrastinating about for a while. Today I finished Tina's MT AND I am almost done hemming my drapes (which I've been putting off for weeks now). It feels so good to have those things done.

Every Wednesday I will challenge all my friends to finish or do something they've been meaning too. It can be something as simple as cleaning up a corner of the room, throwing away old magazines, mailing a letter or package, etc. Please let me know what you accomplished and feel good with me.

Weinerific Tim - By Kaitlin Walker

2007-05-09T13:45:00.000-06:00

Kaitlin wrote this as a submission for the Young Author's Conference last year. It's a really cute story. Hope you all enjoy it.

Wienerific Tim

This is it. This is the adventure I experienced while at the amusement park. Listen carefully and I will tell you.
It all starts here at my cottage back in Alabama, the only place I have ever been. I beg my owner to take me someplace else and he seems to think I am begging for food.
Of course that is because I am a dog, a wiener dog named Timmy Timmis Jr. My dad, Timmy Timmis Sr., was famous. He ate hotdogs for a living. He has 82 shiny trophies, but that is not my story. This is my story.
It all started here when my owner, Bobby Joe, finally got my message and took me someplace else. That place was an amusement park.
First he took me on the roller coaster, a place from now on that I hate. He left me on that roller coaster and I will never forgive Bobby Joe. So while he was sipping on lemonade and looking for me, I was barking in terror as I went around the loop.
Then comes my miracle. I fell off the loop and landed directly in Bobby Joe’s arms. I forgave him for leaving me on the roller coaster. Then he gave me a hot dog with relish and told me: “I love you little Tim!” I knew I loved Bobby Joe too, especially since he gave me that hot dog, so he took me home and we decided never to go to an amusement park again. Of course you understand why. If you don’t, you may want to read this again. Love your wienerific friend, Timmy Timmis Jr. Oops, I mean……
The End

By; Kaitlin Walker,
Grade 5

A Different Point Of View On The Cinderella Story

2007-05-09T13:42:00.000-06:00

This was written by Kaitlin last year in grade 5. It showed great imagination on her part and the teacher loved it so much, she shared it with all the grade 5 classes as an example of what she was looking for in this assignment.

CINDERELLA FROM THE MOUSE’S POINT OF VIEW

My Name is Mr. A Mouse and I am here to tell you the real story of Cinderella. Now of course I wasn’t there watching Cinderella the whole time, but as you know the prince is my friend and he told me some stuff about this story.

So it all began here when the prince’s servants were spreading out invitations all across the land. I always hated it when the mail came; it gave me the urge to nibble. So I chewed up the one invitation that was addressed to Cinderella. It was never the stepsister’s fault Cinderella couldn’t go to the ball; in fact the sisters were very fond of Cinderella. I don’t know where anyone got that.
Of course when Cinderella didn’t get an invitation she wept.
So the Stepsister said she would take Cinderella with her to the ball as a guest.

Now, I the mouse out of my great kindness made Cinderella the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. I couldn’t wait to ask the prince if he liked it. Of course my dress was made of dish cloths and cheese balls. Because I am not as rich as you think. When Cinderella saw this she was excited and her face filled with pride and joy.
But this is how her joy turned to sorrow: The stepsisters thought Cinderella deserved better and tore Cinderella’s dress to shreds. They never replaced it either. This made me quite sad as well. So I walked to the kitchen to see if the stepsisters had left any cheese from breakfast. I always nibbled when I was anything but happy.

As I ate away at a chunk of fresh cheese, I remembered I still had Fairy Godmother’s number in my pouch made of an old sock. So I called her up. I told her about the torn dress, and she was soon on her way without hesitation. When Cinderella saw Fairy Godmother she smiled and her face beamed with happiness. Cinderella was told she could have three wishes, but they must be about the ball. She wished for a carriage and a beautiful dress to go to the ball in. But she couldn’t think of a third wish. Just then I peeped out of my mouse hole to get a closer look, and when she saw me she wished I was a driver for her carriage made of an apple.

Cinderella’s dress was so beautiful that anyone who saw it was to stop and take a look. But the best part was that Cinderella wore a pair of beautiful glass slippers. And it all happened so fast. Soon the fairy godmother was gone and we were at the ball. Cinderella found the prince and she also found Cinderhazel (who was finally clean), Cinderella penguin and Cinder Edna. They all wore gowns and had princes. But none of them were as beautiful as Cinderella herself. Then she saw the prince. When he saw her dress he was amazed and asked Cinderella to dance. Of course Cinderella said yes and they had so much fun. They did the boogie woogie, the twist and they even did some ballroom dancing.

Just then when the clock stroked midnight, Cinderella’s glass slipper cracked because she danced too hard. And Cinderella rushed out of the castle. She hated the shoes just then and she kicked the other one off onto the castle steps. That was very frightening for Cinderella, but somehow she knew the slippers weren’t that great of thing to wear. As we pulled into the driveway of our house, back at the castle the prince was sad that he would never see Cinderella again. Just then, Cinderhazel bellowed out to the prince “I know who that shoe belongs to!” pointing at the dainty glass slipper on the steps. The prince ran over to where the shoe was lying. “Who, Cinderhazel, does this slipper belong to? “Don’t you remember?” Asked Cinderhazel. “That hoity toity girl you were dancing with, Cinderella.” “You must take me to her immediately,” replied the prince. “Alrighty then, you asked for it!” Cinderhazel whispered. So Cinderhazel took the prince on horse back to Cinderella at her house.

When he got there the stepsisters were getting ready for bed. He knocked on the door, and Cinderella’s stepsisters opened the door. “I must see Cinderella at once!” The prince said. Then Cinderella came running downstairs to see the prince waiting for her. “Cinderella is that you?” asked the prince. “It is me” said Cinderella giggling. “Come with me to the castle and tomorrow we will be married!” “I would love that” said Cinderella. I was so happy for the pair that I couldn’t help but ask if I too could come and live with them happily ever after. They said yes and then the next day they were married. At there wedding was Cinderhazel and her prince, Cinderella penguin and her prince and Cinder Edna with her prince. Everyone lived happily ever after, even me the mouse who got a lifetime supply of cheese while living in the castle with the Prince.

THE END

My Big Girl Is Going To Junior High!

2007-05-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

In a few months I will be the mother of a grade 7 student! Where did the last 11 years go anyways?

We have our meeting at the junior high tonight where we will be given a tour of the school and the course curriculum. I'm so not ready for this!

Stupid Train!

2007-05-07T12:51:00.000-06:00

Why do trains have to blow their whistles at the most UNGODLY hours of the night?! Last night I was having a hard time getting to sleep. I had just dozed off and was having a pretty okay dream when the stupid train decided to let his presence be known. After that, falling asleep was pretty much a wash and I spent the rest of the night watching the clock. DEATH TO TRAINS!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Meghan!

2007-05-07T11:34:00.000-06:00

You ROCK! I'm so happy to have a new banner up on my blog now thanks to your easy instructions.

Everyone seriously needs to vote Meghan for Hottest Mommy Blogger! (((HUGS)))

Emily's Enchilladas-Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2007-05-05T19:06:00.000-06:00

I hope Emily doesn't mind me posting this recipe here on my blog. It seriously is to die for good. My kids loved it and told me they love this more than tacos. So here it is:

Chicken Enchilladas

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pint sour cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
8 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 (12 ounce) jar enchilada sauce
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup pepper jack shredded

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium, non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain excess fat. Cube the chicken and return it to the skillet. Add the onion, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano and ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in salt, tomato sauce, chili powder, green pepper and garlic.
Roll even amounts of the mixture in the tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with taco sauce 3/4 cup pepper jack and 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

A couple of changes suggested by Emily were: sautee the onions beforehand (which I did) and use some cream cheese in place of some of the sour cream. Also, I couldn't find any Pepper Jack cheese so I bought the Kraft Tex Mex Mix with jalapenos and used about 3/4 of a bag on the top in place of the two cheeses.

Enjoy

Craziness!

2007-05-04T10:16:00.000-06:00

I'm so glad this week is over. Kaitlin has her big dance recital tonight. I volunteered to help with the costumes for her group and ended up being the only mother out of 19 girls to do so. I got those done Monday but had a couple of fixes to do yesterday. Kaitlin gets home at 2:30 and then she needs to get ready and I need to have her fed before 4:00 as she needs to be out at Strathcona Tweedsmuir by 4:15. The actual recital starts at 7:00 so it promises to be a long afternoon for her. I pray that Skylar makes it through from 6 until 8pm tonight without any issues. Troy and I are taking seperate vehicles just in case I need to bring her home. They don't allow snacks or drinks in the theater which is a saving grace for parents of young children. We'll do our best though. I'll take a bunch of pictures of Kaitlin in her costume and post them later.

My "Twins"

2007-04-25T19:41:00.000-06:00

Everytime I see a picture of Kassidy and Skylar I can't get over how much they look alike. I captured a great shot of them today.

The CUTENESS!

2007-04-23T13:43:00.000-06:00

I took this picture today while she was eating lunch. She was looking out the window at the birds. Man I love this kid! And thanks to Jennifer for the black and white action. It is my favorite PS action now. :)

It's Friday!

2007-04-20T15:26:00.001-06:00

Woot!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta love Fridays!

Hideabug Sky Tai's!

2007-04-19T21:15:00.000-06:00

We have some new pictures posted in our Sky Tai gallery. Please check us out and recommend us to your friends. :)

http://hideabugskytai.googlepages.com/

The Landlord

2007-04-18T10:06:00.000-06:00

This Will Ferrel video is so freaking hilarious!

Strawberry/Pecan Salad

2007-04-17T09:20:00.000-06:00

Spring mix greens
Fresh Strawberries cut up
Pecans
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Strawberry Jam or Jelly
1 TBSP sugar
Mild Gouda Cheese cubed in small pieces

Roast the pecans at 300 degrees for about 20 minutesMix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, jam and sugar together for your dressing. Let it sit out until you are ready to mix with the greens, strawberries, and cheese.Mix all together and serve.

Skylar's New Hat

2007-04-17T09:15:00.000-06:00

Bonnie crotched this gorgeous hat for Skylar. She even made her a matching one to put on a doll. Thank you Bonnie, you are truly talented.

Easter Pictures

2007-04-17T09:04:00.000-06:00

The girls and I headed off to Creston to spend Easter with Troy's mom and step-dad. Troy stayed home and wired our basement. We had a good time. Easter dinner was spectacular (as usual). I'll post the recipe for that Strawberry/Pecan Salad that mom made. It is now my favorite salad.

Things I Need To Do Today..........

2007-04-17T08:53:00.000-06:00

Well I did my flylady stuff except for finishing the laundry and getting dressed. I need to get my ribs in the marinade sauce for tonight's dinner. I need to finish Noah's MT and then start on Tina's MT. I need to get to Walmart and buy some more yarn to finish Skylar's sweater I'm knitting. I need to buy some silver trim for the dance costumes. I need to get to Home Depot and buy some fertilizer so I can start some yard work (though I may leave that for today as it's supposed to rain this week and you can't fertilize when it rains). I need to find a new spade and I have to start getting the window wells dug ( I can do the yard stuff this weekend).

RATT Is Back!

2007-04-16T11:15:00.000-06:00

The 80's hair band RATT is back together. Well technically speaking it's Stephen Pearcey and a new group of musicians but SP still sounds great. I didn't realize this but Robbin Crosbey (the original guitar player) died of AIDS 5 years ago. RATT is touring with POISEN this summer. I hope they come this way.

Haven't Posted In A While

2007-04-16T11:14:00.000-06:00

I'm still here.

Hideabug Sky-Tai's

2007-02-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to bump up our new website. We have a few more pictures added, a couple of solds, and working on a gallery and a bio page. Shameless advertising. LOL!

http://hideabugskytai.googlepages.com/

Shepherd's Pie

2007-02-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

I usually just wing when I make it so here goes:

2 pound ground beef (I use lean and this will make two casserole dishes so you can always freeze one for later)

1 onion chopped up

4 cups of mashed potatos (2 cups for each casserole)

diced up carrots

whatever veggies you like (I use green beans, peas, corn........whatever I have in the freezer)

1 can beef gravy and 1 pkg of shepherd's pie seasoning mix (or use 2 cans of gravy)

Cook up your hamburger and onion. Drain the fat. Add your carrots and other veggies and cook for a while. Add your seasonings and gravy (I also add pepper, seasoning salt, garlic plus, and minced garlic). Put in a casserole dish and top with the mashed potatos. Pour melted butter over the entire casserole. Then I like to sprinkle paprika on top of that. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 350. Enjoy.

LOST 2-21

2007-02-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching LOST. Great show tonight. It was interesting to see that the passengers who were abducted are okay. I can't wait to see their storylines now. I am liking the chemistry between Jack and Juliette. Loved the sweetness of Carl and Alex. We finally got to see the story behind Jack's tattoos. I'll process some more and be back tomorrow to talk more LOST with anyone who wants to.

My Day So Far......

2007-02-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well I must say I'm exhausted! I haven't slept well in months and the past two nights Skylar has been waking up in the night a lot. She usually sleeps right through unless she is teething so I'm quite confident that is what is happening. She won't allow me to look in her mouth either so I have to assume. Judging by her extremely sour poopies the last couple of days, it's a given that it is teeth. So I'm tired and I have extra babysitting kids this week (school is out for teacher's convention) and I have a crabby baby. At least I made dinner for tonight yesterday, so I don't have to cook. We are having Shepherd's Pie.......YUM!

Kassidy and her friend Chelsea just finished making chocolate chip cookies and are off playing Bratz dolls. Andrew and Skylar are playing Nintendo Game Cube. We are having grill cheese and potato chips for lunch and then I'm booting the three of them outside and putting Sky down for an early nap so I can watch Days Of Our Lives. Kaitlin and her friend are at a babysitting course until 3pm. It should be a nice afternoon, knock on wood.

LOST is on tonight! WOOT! I have my reminder set. Tonight we get to see some yummy Sawyerlicious on the screen. Makes me happy we have a big screen tv.

Well that's about it for my boring life today. I'm so interesting that it's insane! LOL!

My Child Is A Monkey!

2007-02-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

So my two year old discovered how to climb INTO her crib. She just shimmies right up the side just like Curious George. She hasn't figured out how to get out yet, but I'm sure that is only a few days away. The funny thing is, I think I taught her by accident. The other day she was having a hard time falling asleep for her nap so I climbed into the crib and laid down with her (yes I can fit in the crib quite easily.....lol). So does this mean we have to transfer her to a big girl bed? EEK I'm so not ready for that.

We Have A New Website

2007-02-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Bonnie created a website for our Hideabug SkyTai's today. We just were going to scrap the whole idea but we have a few we want to sell off and all of a sudden we have a few potential orders from our add on Kiijii. Yay! So here is the website, a work in progress still. Neither of us has ever made a website before so bear with the changes. At least we have somewhere we can showcase our fabrics and our finished products. Anyways............http://hideabugskytai.googlepages.com/ Check it out.

Behold The Black Bullet!

2007-02-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

He's sporting a new blue and white striped golf shirt just new in for spring. And notice the matching blue camo collar. Missing in this picture is the matching golf hat and blue camo leash. lmao!

Poor Zeus.........we call him the black bullet because he is so darn hyper and just loves to run around our house doing the Boston 500. It's quite a site but a little dangerous as I worry he will run the baby over. Kaitlin bought him this new shirt yesterday and it has totally calmed him right down. I think Zeus will be wearing his shirt a lot more now, especially if we have people over. He hasn't moved from my side in the last 15 minutes here. Poor Zeus.......lol!

Homemade Macaroni And Cheese

2007-02-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is a lunchtime (or dinnertime side dish) favorite of my kids.

Ingredients:

1 can cheddar cheese soup (though today I accidentally bought broccoli cheddar and it worked awesome).

3/4 cup of milk

2 cups grated cheese

Cooked macaroni noodles (I use 1 1/2 cups dry noodles before cooked)

1 tbsp mustard

pepper to taste

crushed up plain potatoe chips or buttered bread crumbs for the topper

Directions:

Combine cheese soup, milk, mustard, and pepper and put in a casserole dish. Add cooked noodles and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Bake in oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Add rest of cheese and the topper to the top and bake for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted. Enjoy!