Okay, maybe not angrier. But it definitely got my attention!!! You need to watch Who Killed The Electric Car. We got it off Netflix, and it's truly fascinating. And if you're like us and are spending killer amounts of money on gas lately with no choice, it's going to make you sit up and listen. So check it out!
I was tagged by Liz, so here goes.
Here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
7 interesting, or perhaps not so interesting things about me:
1. I am deathly allergic to cats, yet all my life all I ever wanted was a cat. So when Brian and I got married, and a friend told us about a sweet stray they found, I jumped on the chance! It has actually helped my allergy, though when pollen gets bad, my reaction to Leo gets bad too. I cannot fight it all off!
2. I am TERRIFIED of heights. Just thinking about being up high makes me want to throw up or pass out, whichever comes first. This also ties into the fact that I have never flown. I am told you don't notice when you're in a plane, but I don't care. I think you all lie!
3. I want to see the entire world, from one end to the other. I cannot wait to be able to travel. I want to see beaches and mountains and landmarks and just all of it! France to Greece to China to Maine. I want to see the world!! (Yes, I know I will have to fly...maybe Brian can just knock me out. "I ain't gettin on no plane, sucka!")
4. I am teaching myself Italian. I have always wanted to learn this language, and since I cannot really take classes right now, I am teaching myself! It's going pretty well, too. I am mostly working on learning their grammar right now, but I really am enjoying it.
5. I am perfectly content to wait a while longer before having another kid. Things are absolute chaos around here between law school and moving and learning how to be a good mom to the one I already have. So while I pray that God does bless us with more, I am happy to wait on that a while!
6. I can drink a double shot of espresso before bed and it won't affect my sleep. It always take me an hour to fall asleep anyway, but coffee makes no difference whatsoever. Sometimes it makes me jumpy, but I can still sleep like a baby. Coke, on the other hand, will keep me hopping for HOURS. I don't drink it often, but when I do it's in moderation! (which is necessary anyway since it's SO bad for you!!)
7. I wanted to be a photographer for a long time, and still love to take pictures (though I don't have a great digital camera, so I don't take them too often.) I actually flirted with going to the Art Institute for photography, but a $60,000 per year major gets a bit pricey! And I have truly always always wanted to write. Children's stories, a newspaper or magazine column, anything. I love to write. But I am such a coward that I haven't done it! Maybe someday...
Well there you go. I hope it was enlightening!
I Hereby pronounce you TAGGED:
1. Brittny, Je Ne Sais Quoi
2. Dorothy, Dorothy's Web
3. Lynzi
4. Beth, Pearls Slipping Off A String
5. Anna
6. Sarah
Keep scrolling, by the way. I posted more below!
I have to agree with Jen when I say that it's easy to feel that if I haven't kept up in a while then I will have to catch everyone up. So rather than bother with that, since there isn't a whole lot to say anyway, I will just start with what's been going on lately. I cannot promise I'll do better at keeping up, but I will try!
Emma is growing up rapidly. She walks, talks, runs, plays. She is quite the little person. Her personality is becoming more and more defined each day, and it's been truly fascinating to watch. She talks all day, and every day it becomes clearer and clearer. She speaks in sentences now, albeit simple ones, and she makes her own word combinations. She truly "gets it," and the outcome is almost always comical. She asked for something from me the other day, and when I handed it to her she happily said "Taint tyou MUCH! (thank you much)" which is not something we taught her or say ourselves. She was already saying thank you, she just added her own little flair. She will also come to me very seriously and say "wlkdhoaiudthalosgi SHOE" or "hmmodsfaoierihf MOMMY" which we think is what she must hear when we're talking quickly (rather Charlie Brownish.) She also said "love you" to me the other night when I was putting her to bed. She is full of life and love, and she is also constantly getting into trouble!! She is rather willful, though I've found that with enough sleep she is much much less contrary for the sake of being contrary. We are soon to kick the high chair and the crib, and I am so sorry to see it all go, but it's nice to move on in many ways. I cannot believe it's been nearly 2 years!
Brian is very nearly done with his second year of law school! I never thought I would be saying that, it all seemed like it was taking so long, but here we are 2 years later. He intends to cram as many classes into his maymester as he can, and Lord willing he'll be finishing a semester early, in December of '09! Like always, he's working away, and he is really looking forward to seeing an end to all of this hard work. He cannot wait to start his new career in extremely boring (okay, boring to ME) areas of law! I am so thankful that he is willing to carry this load. It's not been an easy one, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, albeit faintly.
I am just the same, I suppose. We are planning on moving into the house my parents are leaving once their house is finished, which should be sometime mid summer. So I have to learn to organize my chaos, and thankfully my sister in law has graciously offered to help me. I am afraid I'm a bit too scattered to figure it out on my own! The more the days go by, the more excited I am to be moving. It's time for something new, and I just hope I will be ready when it comes! Other than that, everything is as it's been. As for the weight loss, I hit a bit of a plateau, and then we all got the flu. Then I started watching my neighbor when she got off the bus, and then I wasn't able to go work out at the gym anymore. I am proud to say, though, that after two months of abysmal eating I am just where I was. So at least I didn't gain anything! I have started working out again, and if the Lord wills, I will drop the remaining weight. It's not so much about the jeans anymore as it is about being healthy, and now that I really know what that means, I hope to be able to stay healthy with the next baby (with which I am NOT pregnant...)
I will leave you with pictures of my monkey. She is so precious!!
I am OFFICIALLY back in my pre-Emma jeans!!! They are a little snug in places they did not used to be snug, and I cannot technically wear them in public yet, but they FIT!!!!!!! PROGRESS!!!
There is another post below, so keep on scrolling!
My sleepy goose. She never sleeps on her back, so she must have passed out immediately!
Look at her crazy hair and curls! I know I need to cut it, but I don't want to lose the curls!
Taking bear friends for a stroll.
Daddy stealing "kefir hugs" (she always snuggles when she drinks her kefir in the morning!)
Destroying a bag of tissues while I was on the phone and too lazy to stop her.
All smiles with the Skip Bo cards.
Even happier with them on the floor!
Playing piano with Daddy.
Snuggling with daddy after a nap. So precious!!!
I have never loved the time change very much. Something about being forced to lose an hour of sleep in the spring makes me dream up wild government conspiracies and in general makes me cranky. Never did I ever in my wildest dreams realize just how bad the time change can be for a child! Especially one who is on a pretty tight sleeping schedule. Enter last Sunday. I was thinking it wouldn't be great, but Emma is resilient. She tends to bounce right on back from stuff like this. We should be all smiles by Monday, at the latest! Right? Wrong. I was lulled into thinking things were hunky dory on Sunday evening, but Monday was a whole different story. I put her down at her usual time and she proceeded to scream for the next two hours or so. I thought she was dying, and then I realized she really was just protesting bed time which she never does. This kept up every single night this week. Screaming for half an hour. Silence. Me silently doing a jig that she is asleep. SCREAM. Me shaking my head. So last night I went for a jog to escape the screaming, and when I got back Brian and I decided I would go to Target today and get some new blinds. And while they didn't have exactly what I was looking for, we ended up trying out these (only in a really cute brown):
This afternoon we put her down for a nap that she usually barely sleeps an hour for. Two hours later I purposefully slammed the front door so she would wake up! I was already in love with these drapes, but could they pass the ultimate test? Would they help knock her out at bed time? We did our usual routine, and before I threw her into her pjs I closed the blinds and then the shades. She immediately started sucking her thumb and happily said "night night" when I got her dressed and put her in her crib. And now she is sleeping soundly after maybe a nanosecond of crying and I am JUMPING UP AND DOWN! But quietly!
Emma adores going to Nonny and Baba's house. The mere mention of such an outing makes a gloomy day better and turns a happy day into sheer ecstasy. She loves her Nonny and Baba. So today we went to visit and were there for several hours. We ate dinner and were letting her play when she ran in to the kitchen and worked very hard to get me to come with her. She was trying to open the door and was clearly ready to go home. I asked her if that was so and she emphatically squealed (her version of yes.) She was so ready to go, in fact, that when I told her that was fine but could she hang on one more minute she burst into tears! I was truly puzzled now, because I usually have to drag her away from there. So off to the car we went, and she happily complied with getting buckled in. We drove home and she sucked her thumb contentedly, meanwhile I was still trying to figure out what was up. I chocked it up to exhaustion and a long day, so when we got home, I got her pajamas on, grabbed bear friend and hoisted her in to bed. And then the tears came. She was looking around everywhere and crying piteously when it hit me. She was looking for her daddy. This has been happening more and more lately. She spends the last hour before bed time looking everywhere for daddy while I gently remind her he's bye bye and won't be home to see her tonight. And so she cries, not understanding why he can't be there and play with her. I explain as best I can, and in the end she is pacified when I remind her he will be there to wake her up tomorrow and to make her breakfast and give her big kisses. But she still looks for him a little more, and still cries a little bit when it's time to sleep. My heart breaks a little bit every time this occurs. I know what Brian is doing is so important to us, and I know there isn't any other way. But that's just it. I know. It's nearly impossible to convey this to a child who only knows her daddy isn't home tonight. So while we struggle through, I have to remember that this is for the best. I just hate that I cannot explain it to the littlest one who just misses her daddy. And more sadly, I know it breaks his heart in two not being able to be here. Two more years and we'll be home free. Until then, I'll be looking for a way to tell her that her daddy is doing it all for his girls, and he'll be home soon.
Anyone know of some yummy, healthy places to eat around here? I would love to have somewhere to go out to eat that won't wreck my diet. So any ideas?
Brian and Emma have had quite a horrendous case of the flu since last Saturday (yeah, it's been a LONG week.) I "slept" on the couch most of this week, and every night have been woken multiple times by one or all three of the other people in this house (I am counting the four legged furry one.) I have been expecting to get sick for days, knowing full well that without sleep I would never be able to fight it off. But curiously I haven't been very sick at all. On Sunday I started taking Wellness Formula once a day, and though I know I started to flirt with getting sick on Wednesday, and I know I am currently sick now, the symptoms are NOTHING to the severity of Brian and Emma's. I can barely tell I am sick, and were it not for the lack of sleep I bet I wouldn't have gotten anything at all. So for what it's worth, that stuff is WONDERFUL! And for those of you who spent time with us last week, I would recommend buying some. You don't want this flu! It never goes away! The only bummer is this is one of the few pills I own that explicitly says not to take it while pregnant or nursing, so be aware of that.
- My precious baby girl giving me big hugs and kisses
- The latest issue of Health Magazine (to which I do NOT subscribe, but this one is actually worth picking up)
- Working out until I pass out (really!)
- The weight I have lost so far
- Putting my cat in the garage!
- Folded laundry piles
- A made bed
- Hearing my hubby say class in canceled
- A really big salad
- A clean house (though I don't much remember what that actually looks like)
- Pretty flowers
- Songs For Saplings
- Method Pink Grapefruit All Purpose Cleaner
- Emma saying "buddy buddy" (translate: Belly Button)
I told her to get ready to go Bye Bye, and this is what she came back with!
She climbed in all by herself then asked for books. It was so cute!
Wearing mommy's shoe like a big girl.
LOVE the hair clip!!
Our other Stray Cat Bookend is on back order. It'll come one of these days.
Her first ponytail.
The eggs were her favorite Christmas toy out of all the toys she got!
I basically made this up and thought I would share it since it was so yummy and easy! Most of the measurements are guesses since I rarely use measuring spoons, so feel free to add more or less of the spices. I pounded the chicken breasts in between wax paper with a heavy spoon since I don't have a mallet, and it was extremely easy. Plus Emma thought it was funny, so that was a bonus.
3 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp milk
3 chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/4" thick
3 Tbsp mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 350. Place a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet.
Place the bread slices in food processor or coffee grinder and grind until coarse crumbs. Place in a bowl and add oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine beaten egg and milk with a fork.
Take the pounded chicken breasts and dip into egg and milk mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture. Place chicken on prepared wire rack. You can drizzle some olive oil on top of the chicken at this point for a little more crunch. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then sprinkle 1 Tbsp mozzarella cheese on top of each chicken breast. Heat until cheese is bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. If you want the breading a little more crunchy you can throw the chicken into the broiler for a minute or two before you add the cheese.
I served it with linguine and a little tomato sauce, and garnished with extra cheese. All in all I think it was an excellent recipe and the chicken was perfectly moist, not over cooked at all. You also save the fat and the time by baking it. Oh and the clean up is a snap! I hope you enjoy! Oh, and it served Brian, Emma, and me with about a breast and a half left over, so I guess it basically serves 6 with the addition of the pasta.
Well. I think I can finally say I understand why the holidays get so hectic. I don't know why we've been spared in the past, but this year things were crazy! Between visiting family and shopping and car trouble we have managed to lose an entire month and I don't know where it went! I told Brian is seems like yesterday we were so looking forward to a month off from law school. How can it be starting back Monday?! Sarah came in to town on the 15th, and was here for two weeks. We managed shopping trips, a night out, and many a slaughter at Mexican Train. It was a really enjoyable break. It just flew!
Christmas went really well, though Emma is still a little young to really get it. She enjoyed opening the wrong presents, and mostly was happy to take all of her things and put them in and out of boxes. In fact, out of all the presents she received, the one she is the most obsessed with are these wooden eggs I bought her from target. She LOVES them! She had about 20 toys to chose from after Christmas was all over and she consistently went straight for the eggs. I think she has been dying to have food to cook with like mommy, and she loves to feel all grown up. Eggs are such a grown up thing! She mastered some form of "Aunt Sarah," "Christmas Tree," and "Chair." Who even knew she knew the word chair? No one tried to teach it to her! So now I am waiting for "please." Think she'll learn THAT one on her own? Unfortunately, due to all the craziness, Emma got sick with a cold last Wednesday that does not seem to want to go away. Then Brian and I both got it, and have also been sick since Friday. We all three spent yesterday sleeping and just feeling yucky, and sadly, it was our only real day off this whole break. We were due. The Lord spared us all last semester and we have been remarkably well. At least we weren't all sick exam week!
Oh, on the car note. Our Honda (a 2003) was making a really loud noise when we drove it. We knew it had something to do with wheels or tires, we just weren't sure what exactly was wrong. Brian took it to his usual place and they told us it was the wheel bearings, which would cost over $500. So while I was cringing at the though of kissing our just arrived tax refund away, I decided to get a second opinion. We called Michelle Cunningham and got the number of their mechanic, who said he'd look at it for us. Sure enough, he said there was not a thing wrong with the bearings, and all we needed were two new tires and to have the wheel reshaped. It was literally half the cost, and let me just tell you that we were thrilled! And we're never going back to the other place. When Brian told them what the second opinion was, they again lied to him and told him he would need to be two new wheels also. So if you need the number of a great mechanic, let me know!
Also some super helpful info to pass on: I received an email from Granny about how if you put vicks vapor rub on your feet and then put socks on, it will help you sleep undisturbed if you have a bad cough. I thought it was kind of funny, but Michelle's daughter had been really sick with a cough and so I figured why not? The worst it could do is not work! So I forwarded it on to Michelle and she just happened to received it when her daughter, Ashley, was coughing so badly they were planning on taking her to the ER. They figured they might as well try it, and within 10 minutes Ashley was sound asleep, not coughing, and slept all night. Emma's cold has given her a bit of a cough also, so we tried it last night after she woke herself up coughing and she slept well the rest of the night. As crazy as it sounds, it works. So give it a try!
One final thing. Brian was super thoughtful for Christmas! He got me a beautiful shirt from Ann Taylor Loft that he was so proud of. He had no help from me whatsoever and it was perfect! He has also promised me a spa treatment of my choosing at the location of my choosing, so that leads me to a question. Does anyone have any insight on a good location? I think I want to try a body wrap, so if anyone has any advice to offer please let me know! My hubby is the sweetest =).
Aunt Sarah took lots and lots of pictures. My camera battery was dying and I could never remember to charge it. So go look at Sarah's Facebook page for holiday pics. Sorry! =)
I will try pretty much anything to lose weight, hence the ticker. So maybe I will actually start getting somewhere now that I have a ticker. Maybe?
Having had great success in the past going out of town on a holiday, my parents, granny, Brian, Emma, and I decided to head for the beach for our first vacation in a year and a half! Brian was actually able to take off a full week from his craziness and relax. It was so wonderful to be with him so much!
The trip down started off with many a hitch culminating in locking Granny's keys in her van. We hadn't gotten it packed yet, and we had to call a locksmith. An hour and a half and $90 later, we were on our way. Did you know you can only activate OnStar if you are inside the car?!? I digress. We made it there in decent time and we had a wonderful time. The weather was warm so mom, Emma, and I spent most of the trip on the beach. Mom and I read, while Emma preferred to eat sand and put it in buckets. She was not so keen on the ocean the first day, but the next day she was running to get the waves if they didn't come fast enough. It was so cute! She is fearless, which is going to be great at some point, but for now it gives us all heart attacks! She of course loved having five adoring adults at any given time, and had a fabulous time entertaining us all. She picked up the word More and the word Waffle, and uses the former whenever she can.
Thanksgiving was great. We brought a Honey Baked Ham, a Publix Smoked Turkey Breast, and all the fixings for regular thanksgiving feasting. It was so good, and we could see the beach. What more do I need to say?
We drove back without incident, and this week has been chaos. Brian had class every night this week, so we have hardly seen him. I am so thankful we had all that time last week so we could prepare for this week and next. His semester is officially over, but he still has exams next week. Be praying for him. He has two in one day and he is really really stressed!
On a different note entirely, I have found a store called Steve and Barry's that I absolutely adore. They are going to be opening one at Discover Mills sometime in December and I highly recommend you check it out. I went to the one in Athens and I bought a pair of sneakers for $14.95. They were not on sale, that is regular price. They are high quality, and I ran in them today and they didn't hurt my feet or my back! I am highly impressed! Anyway, off to get stuff done. Have a great weekend.
Emma wearing her Thanksgiving feast.
Our lovely view on Thanksgiving.
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