nothin' much

Just wanted to post something, and when I pulled up my blog, the first thought was "gosh, I really like that." Let's see how long I leave the basic layout the same - I can tweak widgets and stuff, but I'm really liking this! I have a tendency to be fickle with things that are easily changed, though...

How many of you do this? I finally added myself to my Google Reader, so that when I get all my blog updates (and I read 53 other blogs...), I get my life as a mama updates sent as well. I have to say, it's kinda weird. Let's see. Why is it weird? Well, for one thing, I have a tendency to think of all other bloggers as pros and myself as just an amateur - and I also forget that most of them are just moms who, in the words of my mother, "pull their pants on one leg at a time." Not that some of you have to pull your own pants on. You have scads of adoring minions who do that for you. And follow you around with makeup, so you always look perfect... But when I see my words in the same format as everyone else's, it makes mine look just as authentic. Which is kinda cool.

On the other hand, I never fail to get halfway through the post and go "wait, this sounds familiar," before realizing that it's mine. I am such a doofus. And no, it didn't take halfway through my eleventy-first post to get it! I'm not THAT slow!

another contest...

Tips for Toddlers is giving away a Baby's First Kisses doll... how cute is that? Peanut has a little stuffed bunny that makes kissy noises, and it's her favorite stuffed animal. Seriously. She puts her face up to it and I push the bunny-belly and it makes kissy noises and Peanut just goes nuts! What the heck would she do with a DOLL THAT DOES THIS? I can only imagine...

Eleventy-one things about me

So I never got around to doing my 100 things about me post... so here's eleventy-one things about me!

1. I like chocolate.
2. I'talk to my mother about once a day - that's a new development... I didn't call too often in my college years.
   
3. I like white gold better than yellow gold.
4. Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts.
5. I don't like following patterns when crocheting, and only follow recipes when necessary.
6. I am the middle of three children.
7. My older brother is studying to become a priest.
8. I have an undergrad degree in Theology and Philosophy.
9. I have a Masters degree in Theology, with a specialization in Catechetics.
10. I'm retired, at the age of 28.
11. I go to the library at least once a week.
12. When I go to the library, I check out six things. No more, no less. That's a hold over from childhood.
13. I was homeschooled on-and-off, mostly on, for my pre-college years.
14. I skipped first grade.
15. I took a year off after highschool to catch up in age with my peers before entering college.
16. I spent it working in a German convent / inn.
17. I also lived in Austria for a semester.
18. I didn't speak any German before living in Germany, but was fluent at the end of my six months. I learned most of it from a Polish girl, though, so my accent was really funky.
    
19. I have forgotten almost all of it.
20. I am a lazy slug and hate exercise.
21. I love food - reading about food, making food, eating food, talking about food...
22. I own way too many books, but have given away hundreds...
23. I would rather sing harmony than melody.
24. I love to sing, even though I'm not nearly as good as my sister-in-law.
25. I had a natural birth with Peanut and toy with the idea of becoming a Bradley instructor.
26. I was 25 before I had my ears pierced.
27. I pierced them myself when I was given earrings to wear as a member of a bridal party - we got them at the rehearsal dinner, I pierced my ears that night, and wore the earrings proudly the next day!
28. I met my husband online.
29. I am a weird mix between an organizing junkie and a slob.
30. I'm definitely a procrastinator.
31. I love interior decorating.
32. The walls of most of my house are a bright, sunny yellow - which my white-wall parents thought was drastic, but everyone just loves.
33. I've spent more than a month of my life in Italy, between my five trips there.
34. Most of that month was spent in Rome.
35. I have been to: United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and the Vatican City. Oh - and Hungary.
    
36. As of today, I have been to 27 states.
37. If I had been a boy, my name would have been Andrew David. (My grandmother's maiden name was Andrews, and my grandfather's name was David.)
38. I love to spell.
39. I've always wanted to own a used bookstore with a pet monkey as a mascot.
40. I really like Sudoku.
41. I get bored with jobs easily, unless there's new challenges all the time.
42. Ever since being pregnant, I can't watch scary movies at ALL. I used to only be able to watch them a little.
43. I love the TV show House, but every time they intubate someone or go at them with a long needle, I can't watch.
44. I have a horror about being poked in the eye - probably because I'm practically blind and wear super-intense glasses. (This is an exaggeration... don't go feeling sorry for me because I have a seeing-eye dog or anything... but my eyes are a -7.5 if that means anything to you.)
    
45. I exaggerate everything. It's genetic. My mother's family tells whoppers proudly.
46. I like board games, especially if they have words involved.
    
47. I had a boy break up with me because I cheated at Scrabble once (that's not the reason he gave, but it had a lot to do with it.)
    
48. After being seriously addicted to caffeine for years and years, I have been caffeine free since November, 2005.
49. That's ONLY because of pregnancy and breastfeeding - after having our kids, I will definitely go back to drinking it!
50. We would like to have four or five kids... but we'll see what happens!
51. I would like to write a book someday, and am always coming up with new ideas.
52. Although I read 90% fiction, I'd probably write a nonfiction book.
53. I'm addicted to hagiography.
54. I didn't drink until I was 21 (except for the six months I was in Germany) but really don't drink very much at all now.
55. I was a virgin on my wedding night. (So was my husband.)
    
56. I have a tendency to crash the front drivers side of my car. It's happened at least 3 times.
57. I drive a Camry right now... we're looking for a minivan!! I never thought I'd be excited about that.
58. During my first soccer game as a kiddo, I scored a goal for the other team.
59. I played softball in a girl's league for years. My mom knew it was the league for me at the first game when a girl ran to first base while fixing her earrings. It was really low-key.
60. At the house where I grew up, I named the clump of pine trees outside my window Whispering Pines... and we cleaned out the inside to be a fort for me. It was really amazing.
61. I'm a little allergic to cats (as is most of my family) and my parents never wanted a dog, so I had lots of goldfish when I was growing up. We had a goldfish graveyard.
62. When I was growing up, I read all the Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys.
63. My hair is chocolate brown, and usually about shoulder length. Except for the time when I had "red" highlights put in and they turned out pink. That was sad.
64. I use cloth diapers on my Peanut and wear her in a sling. That makes me practically a modern hippie. I'm proud of it.
65. I was vegetarian for three years. (Does it still count if they were the first three years of my life?)
66. I took eleven years of piano lessons and played the clarinet for eight years and the guitar for six.
67. I broke my left wrist while playing basketball with three guys but was trying to be tough, so I kept playing... I even sank the winning shot with a broken wrist. :)
68. I'm really bad at basketball unless I have a broken wrist, but I do like playing.
69. I was reading Little House on the Prairie at the age of 3. No kidding.
70. I've only ever seen Schindler's List in German.
71. I absolutely loathe and detest cotton balls. They have this squeaky-feeling to them that makes me get all nauseous and goosebumpy. They have ended up in any number of pranks pulled on me, of course.
72. I never wear watches.
73. Once milk has even started to turn, it's gross, and since I'm the only milk-drinker in the house (Peanut doesn't count), I have to buy it in small containers.
74. My favorite number is 17. I think of it as a skinny number, but can't really explain why.
75. My dad is a chiropractor, and that's what I always thought I'd be when I grew up.
76. I love sheep and lambs.
77. I like to sew, but have more projects lined up than I'll get to for a long time.
78. I'd take a bath over a shower any day.
79. I would love to go to Australia someday.
80. My favorite color growing up was yellow, for the last ten years was blue, but I think it's becoming pink. I don't know how I feel about that.
81. I don't have that many clothes - I get rid of them as soon as I realize that I'm not wearing them.
82. I check my email at least twenty times a day.
83. I crocheted a pink and purple monkey for Peanut when I was pregnant (no pattern, of course!) - so it's a good thing she turned out to be a girl.
84. I'm still friend with one girl from my childhood - she's fabulous and lives in DC, so I don't get to see her enough.
85. I actually had two beds in my room growing up so she could come over and spend the night and sleep in a real bed.
    
86. We have a projector and screen instead of a tv, and we only have cable so that we can watch football games in the fall.
87. I use ellipses (...) waaay too often, and use all small case frequently - even though it annoys me, I still do it.
88. I use Google Reader to read blogs - which means I don't comment on other people's blogs as much as I should.
89. I have kid songs in my head all the time now. Like Clementine (that's a morbid song, by the way!)
90. My favorite tv show to fold laundry in front of is Rachael Ray. I'd like to be her when I grow up.
91. I grew up in Wisconsin, and yes, I love cheese.
92. Since Mister and I met online, we started with two weeks of emails, then two weeks of emails and phone calls, and then we met. At our first date, I knew I'd probably marry him, but I wasn't in love with him yet.
93. I am a sucker for a good massage.
94. My least favorite household chore is washing windows. It's not really my least favorite, but it's the one that gets done the least.
95. My favorite vegetable is the sweet potato.
96. I love blueberries.
97. We changed Peanut's name just a couple of days before she was born because no one could pronounce or spell the name we'd chosen.
98. I'll eat anything - I think the funkiest thing I ever ate was calf brains. That was in Hungary.
99. My two favorite classes in college (both Senior electives) were Introduction to Sign Language and Game Theory.
100. I had an almost perfect score on the SAT, but my parents wouldn't let me take it again to get a 1600 because that was simply pride.
101. When I was little and in grade school, I would get so homesick during the day that at recess, I would talk to a tree I nicknamed "Mom."
102. That is one of the main reasons I will probably homeschool Peanut.
103. I don't like to buy more than one book, cd, dvd, etc., at a time, because I will inevitably pick a favorite and then never really get into the other ones.
104. My mom always calls babies "punkin-noodle" and while I swore I'd never ever say that, I find myself saying it to babies.
105. I barely remember life before computers - I think I was eight when we got our first one.
106. Someday I'd like to invent a machine to read your thoughts and take all of those "I should blog this" moments and actually transpose and post them.
107. I have deleted ellipses from the ends of 50% of these items so far.
108. I have a tendency to forget the details of stories, so I can re-read books and re-watch movies and get as into it as the first time.
109. I love getting mail, and will sign up for free samples just to get something in the mail.
110. I have a golden birthmark on my belly, and since it has a freckle right in the middle of it, Peanut tries to latch onto it sometimes. It always makes me laugh.
111. I like my feet. I think they're pretty. In fact, I think I'll go paint my toes.
     

CONTESTS!

Ok, all - here's some contests to go get yourself over and enter!

My Two Boys is giving away a Signing Time dvd...

Musings of a Housewife is giving away an Eliza Grace tote...

Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess is giving away a doll sling. I know the perfect little girl to receive this!! (No, not Peanut. She just eats the tags that stick out of dolly bums. She's not really into carrying them around yet! It's the Mister's god-daughter that would get this...)

what do you think?

yet another evolution of my blog design...

Menu Plan Monday

Has it really been over a month since I've posted my menus, and two weeks since I've posted anything? Sheesh! I really have planned menus, but I plan them and forget to post. Oops. I feel more compelled to follow the menus when they're online, though, so I need to get back in the habit of putting them up.

Menu Plan for Week of August 27:
Monday:
breakfast - sweet potato pancakes (stir a couple heaping spoonfulls of mashed sweet potatoes into your pancake batter. They are to DIE for - so light and fluffy and faintly sweet.)
dinner - fajitas. (Great idea, Organizing Junkie!!)

Tuesday:
breakfast - skinny omelettes (we actually haven't had these in a while.... mmm!)
dinner - Creamy Ranch Potatoes & Chicken (thanks, Amy)

Wednesday:
breakfast - oatmeal
dinner - paninis

Thursday:
breakfast - scrambled eggs
dinner - going to a baseball game - Mister is going to the Cubs game and I am going to the Brewers game. Good thing they're playing each other!

Friday:
breakfast - with in-laws
dinner - with in-laws

Saturday:
breakfast - with in-laws
dinner - who knows? it's the weekend!!

Sunday:
breakfast - pancakes or biscuits and gravy - up to the Mister
dinner - sticky chicken (thanks, JudyL!)

sometimes life is fair

So I was driving back from the post office this afternoon when this car speeds by me, pulls in front of me, cutting me off, and then suddenly drops about 20 mph. Seriously. I was a little frustrated, but then a minute later, from out of nowhere come these blessed red and blue lights... I of course had the momentary panic of "what did I do wrong?" but the wonderful police officer pulled over the offending driver and made my day.

Not that I was glad to see that person get a ticket, but I was just glad that... oh wait, I have to admit, I was a little glad to see them get a ticket. Oops.

On an unrelated front, we gave Peanut a sippy cup for the first time yesterday, and have cracked up at the wobegone faces she gets when she chews on the spout and gets WATER IN HER MOUTH. She never expects it, and still gets startled every time it happens. Is it wrong that I think that's funny?

Gosh, I sound like I really enjoy other's misery. Hmm. What's wrong with me? Must be the heat.

i went on a DATE last night!

So yesterday, Mister took a half day off of work, came home and finished shampooing the carpets in the house (love that man!) and then we drove up to the Quad Cities, which for the uninitiated is two cities in Iowa (Davenport and Bettendorf) and a number of cities in Illinois (Rock Island, Moline, East Moline and Silvis). I know that adds up to more than 4, but East Moline and Silvis get really offended if they're left off the list. :) It's a cluster of cities (they all run into each other) that are found on the banks of the Mississippi.

My brother and sister-in-law and babies moved there recently, so we spent the afternoon with them, and then left Peanut there while Mister and I went to the American Idol concert! Wooooohooo! It was AMAZING! We really just had so much fun - had super seats - and just got such a kick out of seeing everybody. I thought it was more fun than a regular ol' concert because you never knew WHO was performing next, and WHAT they were going to do. Normally, at a concert, you know that band/person X will do a song, usually off one of their cds. This time, you didn't know if Sanjaya or Blake was going to come out, if they were doing a duet with Melinda or Sligh or something... and if anyone was playing instruments, etc.

Really, it was a phenomenal party. Musically, it was great - it was almost all covers, which meant that I knew the lyrics and could sing along, but it was just a lot of fun. Two surprises of the night: Phil and Chris Richardson were better in person than they were on tv... and LaKisha was PHENOMENAL. I'm not going to give any more details, in case anyone else will see them later in the tour, but it was just so much fun!

Then, we went back to my brother's house, stayed overnight, hung out with all of them this morning, and came on back here. Now, Peanut is sleeping and I think I may go catch up on a few ZZZ's myself!

grr

so i feel like a major dork right now. we have an extra freezer in our garage, and it has been so helpful during the last few months of pregnancy / birth / first months of craziness... i can just walk downstairs, see what's in there and then pop it in the oven for dinner.

either i left the door open last sunday night or it's just been too darn hot, because i went in there a few minutes ago and everything is soggy and squishy.

so sad. there is a ton of food in there.

notice that i said "is" and not "was?" that's right. i am in here blogging about it instead of cleaning it up. this is denial if i ever saw it.

but I am married to the best man ever, because when i just called Mister to tell him we weren't going to have frozen pizza for dinner, his first reaction was to tell me that it was okay that we just lost a ton of food... and then he asked what he should bring home for dinner. now that is a man i could love forever!

i think it's a conspiracy

Peanut was supposed to go down for her morning nap this morning at 8, like I plan for her to do she does on a regular basis. Nope. Not interested. She ate a few times, crawled all over the house, all over me, gave me wet kisses on my open mouth, etc... But not too interested in sleeping.

So I said to myself, "Self, if she's still awake at 10:00, we'll go to the library." That's when it opens, you see. And I have two books that were due yesterday. Funny how that always happens.

9:59 and the babbling to herself from in her crib finally stops. 9:59. No joke. Not going to the library for at least a couple of hours now.

If it's a conspiracy, I don't know who else is in it, but Peanut sure is!

dopey

Gosh, Shannon's got a lot of parenting advice up at her blog today, so I think I'd better brew myself some decaf (I pretend it helps) and blearily flip through blogs this morning...

Don't know what is going on with Peanut recently, but she doesn't particularly want to fall back asleep after one of her midnight snacks. She used to sleep through the night so easily; I always felt bad telling other new moms about it... but now I'm hopping up and down every hour and a half or so to go coax her back to sleep. Which means I'm dopey now. Better go get me some parenting advice!

Since I know there's a lot of readers out there, and obviously we all love contests, I thought I'd point you to one for a Christian chick-lit book... go check it out!