Procrastination

I've discovered the key to keeping up with my laundry. I have to fold/hang it and put it away immediately after taking it out of the dryer. If I don't, our couch becomes the world's largest laundry basket, and we live off the couch until hubby and/or I decide to put it all away. He said today something about the house finally coming together, and I said, "well, if I put the laundry away immediately, it doesn't pile up. I know you work hard at a job you hate to provide for us, and I'm not working nearly as much as I used to, so I figured I should be doing better around the house." He looked like he was going to cry and thanked me profusely.

Silly as it may seem, it makes me happy to add those chores to my chore wars log and see my xp increase. I've swept my floors more often, and just purchased a new vacuum (Mamabear, thanks for the heads up on the Bissel, and Cece, if you want the old one to try and figure it out or if your mom does, you are welcome to it -- I just didn't have time before company tomorrow) so I will hopefully be able to vacuum more often.

I only wish I had time to do everything on my to-do list every day. *sigh*

In any case, things are going better with having a cleaner house. We got rid of the TV in the living room (it's just in the garage) and suddenly there is more space -- we weren't watching it anyway, and the game cube got put away in a closet because we don't use it, so ... we're discovering things we can do and already do without, which is awesome.

Just don't expect me to give up my laptop.

Friday Fave Five!

1. My mom. I have been trying to get kiddo's Christmas dress done since, well, before Christmas. I am not that experienced of a seamstress, so I finally just threw my hands in the air, nearly threw the thing in the trash, came to my senses and asked my mom for help. She's altering and hemming it while she's here on a visit. Thankfully. (mutters about sewing with satin and stupid patterns and bad measurements)

2. My dad (gasp). He's fixing my knives and sharpening them up for me while he's here. See, my big carving knife he made me had dings all up the blade, and I asked hubby what happened. "I dunno." Okay, so I'm blaming myself because it didn't fit in my knife block so I've been putting it in a drawer (oops) without a sheath (because we lost it). Turns out, hubby used it to open a COCONUT and used the blade side, not the back of the blade. But he wouldn't admit that to me for fear of getting in trouble with ME, but admitted it to my DAD. Y'know. The former law enforcement officer. who likes guns. and knives. and handcuffs. who intimidated hubbers when we got engaged. *snicker* I guess I'm scarier than dad, although ... he does have to live with me. hehe

3. Experimenting in my kitchen with various ways to cook chicken breasts (hubby's in another competition and doesn't eat red meat when he's trying to shred down to a certain weight). Tonight was spicy garlic lime chicken, inspired by a recipe I'd used before but couldn't find. I liked it better than that one, and I'll post more on my other blog (and foodies) when I get the recipe exactly how I want it.

4. DisGrace. No reason except she gets why I was crying today. *sniff*

5. Hubby. EVEN THOUGH HE DESTROYED MY KNIFE (lol), when I got home from lunch with my folks, I was crying again. He tucked me into bed with the baby and told me I'd feel better after a nap. He was sweet about it, and he was right. Woke up nearly 2 hours later feeling fantabulous. And then I made dinner and we watched a (stupid) movie together. He went to work, and I'm getting to work, too. But we had a date of sorts tonight. Not the one we'd wanted (not enough time to get to the sushi place), but time together just the same.

Weirdo Wednesday

One of hubby's old friends (from pre-mission, and before he knew about DSD, so like 10 years ago?) emailed me today via Facebook. He gave my husband's name and asked if I knew him, as he and his wife have been looking for him for a long time.

I just joined a week ago. There was nary a photo of hubbers on my profile, nor was there any mention of his name. My married name is on there, but not my maiden or former married names, so it looks like it's my only last name ever.

He just *happened* to choose me out of the brief list of folks with our unique last name. He was quite shocked to find ME, the WIFE, first try. lol.

Hubby was thrilled to hear from him. Hopefully they can keep in touch now, since they both seemed to remember their friendship fondly.

Weird. Weird. Weird.

Star Wars song -- and moosebutter

I know we all saw the clip with Corey lip synching all the parts. these are the original dudes -- hilarious, well worth watching again because ... well ... just watch it.

And at the end, Wes (top left) sings a clip from a song I sang at the party at which we had them come and perform. I doubt he remembers, but it struck my funny bone.

P.S. Thanks for the previous discussion. I don't lay awake at nights worrying about it, but when I had tried to plan ahead and get gas, some woman swooped in and stole my pump -- the only available one at the station I usually go to, so I gave up. It was a crappy day and I didn't feel like waiting or finding another station, so hubbers got gas Sunday morning on his way home from work, which is another ox in the mire. Just wondering other people's opinions.

Cuzzins

My cousin's wife had a baby shower today. I'd never met her, but sort of figured I'd be the only cousin there (her sisters-in-law were there). I was at first, then another cousin's wife showed up. She left early, so I was it again. (DisGrace wanted to go but had to work).

I think our family has grown so huge, it's hard for people to go to every.single.thing. I have close to 50 cousins on that side of my family and a lot of them live locally. So ... yeah.

I have been pondering reserving our clubhouse to do a family luncheon once a month or so ... and today, plus starting facebook this week and realizing how out of touch I am, I realized I probably ought to get that going.

What is all this leading up to? I sure wish I knew ...

Anyway. Chore Wars is kinda fun -- I'm actually motivated to put laundry away and do stuff around the house that I've been meaning to get to ... because I get points. HAHAHAHAH. I realize this makes me even more of a geek, but I think I'm okay with that.

Ooooooooooo ... Discuss this: Is using your debit card to purchase gas at the pump (not going inside) at a station that is closed on Sunday breaking the Sabbath? After all, no employee has to assist you so you're not making anyone else work on the Sabbath, but you are purchasing something on Sunday ...

Friday Fave Five!

1. Silence. Blessed, golden silence.

2. Silence. Blessed, beautiful silence.

3. Silence. Blessed, happy silence.

4. Silence. Blessed, joyful silence.

5. Silence. Blessed, wonderful silence.

Chore Wars

Pretty hysterical. Get XP and gold for doing chores around the house! Finally, a game I'll play. Hubby thinks it's awesome ... or at least he said he did ... He laughed while I put in my chores the other day.

It's sad. I have actually mopped and put away laundry and cleaned the garage ... not entirely for the XP and gold, but that has had a lot to do with it.

I started a new account and party, so if you want to play, copy paste this url. http://www.worldofchorecraft.com/invite.php?id=d122097d6022

This code is only good for 3 days, so if you wanna join after Sunday, send me an email!

P.S. We can change the name of the party if we want to. I just had to come up with something for the time being to get it going.

Awww, sweet husband

He came home and didn't wake me up this morning to work out. I was kinda glad, but also kinda like, "aw, man! he doesn't wanna do aerobics with me ..."

No. He'd just done something else.

He went to the store on his way home and bought me a lovely card and left it in the car for me to find when I took kiddo to school, so he was just waiting for that. lol.

So I read it, got all weepy, took kiddo to school, went to Big O (oil change and flat tire), watched inauguration coverage, came home and fed the baby, he screamed and woke up daddy, and we talked about the inauguration a bit. He went back to bed and I ran in there and jumped on the bed and snuggled him and said thanks for the card. He thought it had somehow fallen down or something because I didn't say anything first. hehehe.

Then baby and I went to DisGrace's and talked about the inauguration and President Obama and the former President Bush a bit.

And off to the in-laws to visit YSIL ... BIL was there and he was excited to see baby, too, and MIL and FIL came home too, so they all got to see him. They hadn't seen him since the beginning of December so he's changed a lot. Good visit. :)

Came home and talked with hubby again (man, I feel like a dork; he got woken up by us all day), picked up kiddo, fell asleep with baby for two hours, made dinner, hubby went to bed (and baby screamed again, lol) ... bathed baby, put him to sleep, and I'm supposed to be working. But I'm hyper.

Between Chore Wars and President Obama's inauguration, I'm having a hard time settling in to type tonight. hahahaha.

New glasses

Kiddo handed me her glasses in a plastic bag last monday. they'd broken across the bridge. *sigh*

she had an eye exam, and fortunately, they were under warranty, so we ordered a new pair ... which came with a new prescription (from 150 to 200).

We walked in the house just now after picking them up.

"Whoa. The carpet is very detailed."

"I can see the dust!" (to which I replied, "well, if you can see it, maybe you should take care of it," but she didn't go for that idea.)

"Mom! I can see bubbles!" (in her water bottle -- those tiny little bubbles that exist in water)

"Everything looks so cool!"

"Everything is very detailed. It's my favorite!"

hahahah. All of this leads me to believe she didn't have the right prescription at all for the last year, since she didn't get this excited about having them. Sheesh.

free stuff!

the free stuff at mormon mommy blogs is all so cute ... my want it! lol. go here and enter.

Eagle Eye

Been wanting to watch this since we saw previews, but as you all know, I am cheap and not going out to movies right now, so we waited for the video.

Loved it. Intense, drama, action ... good plot. Shia LeBeouf is amazing. So is pretty much the entire cast. No nudity! Score! Everyone is dressed modestly! Even better! There is some language, one F-bomb, but that's it.

Hubby loved it too. YAY!

The Duchess

I picked this up on a whim a week or so ago, and just took the opportunity to watch it while hubby was at work and the kids were both asleep. Having read a few historical novels in my day, I knew this probably was not going to be the happiest story, but hoped I was wrong. I didn't realize until I turned it on that it was based on a *true* story, which made it all the more sad. Total chick flick and I'm glad I watched it while they weren't around.

Because I am me and have to look things up, I read the Wikipedia article on Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. She's the title character in the movie. It mentions Princess Diana and Sarah, Duchess of York, are descendants of her family. While Sarah's life with Andrew wasn't a happy one, Princess Diana's with Charles and after Charles was just tragic in so many ways ... and made me realize that not all women have the rights I sometimes take for granted. Princess Diana's life just seemed so doomed, and seeing this movie actually helped me understand why that was in so many ways. History well and truly repeats itself. How sad is it that the rights of women nobility and aristocracy haven't changed too much over the centuries. Neither have the rights of impoverished men and women in other nations. They're just ... trapped.

It made me grateful to live in a time and a place where women DO have legal rights and most are not just puppets for men and their fancies, that women have rights when it comes down to philandering and abusive husbands, and can and do succeed without men when needed. It made me grateful that I can snuggle my children when I want to and don't have nannies raising them -- or a husband trying to keep me from them. It also made me grateful for the husband I have, who loves me immensely, and does just about anything he can to make me happy, even if it makes him miserable. lol.

That being said, I can't recommend anyone watch it. There were a few places I had to close my eyes and ears as our fast forward doesn't work on the DVD player and there were inappropriate things in it.

FRIDAY FAVE FIVE!!!

1. Candy salmon. Better than candy chicken.

2. Steph brought me shoes and clothes today!!! I love getting "new" clothes. Now, just need to find nursing bras, but I don't think Steph can provide those ... lol

3. Ace of Cakes. Seriously, one of my favorite TV shows (and almost all of my favorites are on the Food Network). I may take a cake decorating class ... not that I'm talented like that, but I want to know more about what they're doing on the show. And it looks like fun. lol. hmmm ...

4. Visiting with DisGrace and her cute kids this morning. Mojo bonked his head, but he did fine otherwise.

5. Brownies. My SIL gave me this recipe a while ago but it didn't turn out when I tried it before ... I tried it again and oh.my.gosh, I almost ate them all myself. Ack.

Um ... yeah.

I started a new blog and started participating in another one. Both are all about food and links are to the left. Thus, while you might see a menu plan Monday here from me every week, I won't drone on about how disgusting or enjoyable it was on *this* blog. Just the food ones. Treen started weneedmangoes/wannabe foodies, and because I wax ad nauseum about being dairy free and most of the recipes contributed (except mine) thus far are all full of dairy, I started the other one so I don't feel out of place... *snort*

Anyway.

I woke up this morning to hubby handing me a check. From work. A "bonus" of sorts. It allowed us to complete baby step 1 of the Total Money Makeover, catch up on some stuff, and make a trip to Costco that I've been putting off. Wahoo. The goal this month is to send triple this month's minimum to the hospickle.

I'd better get to work. Bambino is alternately puking and pooping and whining and sometimes two at once, so I'd better get something done while he's sleeping even though I just want to run a bubble bath and ignore everyone.

Garlic guacamole burgers

Sooo ... tonight's dinner totally made up for last night's flop. I forgot how many mushrooms I needed this week when I was at the store, so we skipped the mushrooms on the burgers and added caramelized onions instead. If you like mushrooms, you can use them in place of or in addition to the onions, but you will need to start the mushrooms cooking before the burgers as they take longer to cook.

oh.my.gosh.

I love this dinner and forget in between times how good it is. Not to pat myself on the back or anything.

This sounds complicated, but it's really not.

*****
2 Tbs olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pound ground beef
1-1/2 tsp seasoning salt of your choice
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried parsley

2 Tbs olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
fresh ground pepper

2 avocados
dash of each to taste: garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice, lime juice, and tobasco sauce

Light mayonnaise
8 french steak rolls

In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium low heat and saute garlic for just a couple of minutes. take just the garlic out of the pan and put in medium mixing bowl with meat, seasoning salt, parsley, pepper, and sauteed garlic. Mix well. Make 8 patties about the same size and cook in the garlic oil over medium high heat until done, flipping only once.

While they are cooking: Slice onion. Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat and add onion and ground pepper. Cook just until browned.

While both of the above are cooking: Make your guacamole. Mash avocados with the other ingredients and adjust to your taste.

Slice your rolls in half.

Assembly:
On the bottom bun, spread a little light mayo and add a spoonful of onions (I didn't measure this, just adjusted based on who would be eating which burger). Put burger directly on the onions. On the top bun, spread about 1 Tbs of guacamole. Put the top bun on top of the burger ... and moan with delight.

*****

So Dawn, you don't necessarily need to come over for dinner ... you can do this yourself! hehehe.

chicken and rice verdict

Goat milk is not our friend. Neither is goat cheese. I know some people who can't tolerate cow dairy do fine with goat, but we're apparently not some of them. While the milk bakes fine in certain things (cornbread, biscuits, etc.) and has not bothered us from a "milk" standpoint before, it definitely bothered hubby tonight, and the smell and taste made me really nauseated. The dinner looked good, but tasted strongly of goat, so I ended up throwing out whatever hubby didn't eat.

Bah.

Good to know though. We'll just stick with almond milk and may try this recipe again with that.

american idol

the blonde in the clip below is kellie pickler of ai "fame". i didn't know either.

she took 6th the season she was on.

there's a whole wikipedia page on her ... which has a rather large section about the clip ... and the people of hungary.

and as dumb as she may be, she still makes more money than i do. cry.

oh fun

dinner is in the crockpot (i used goat milk for the sauce and it smells wonderful), some of the kitchen is clean, dishwasher is going, towels are going, i mopped yesterday, cleaned up our bathroom, and i still feel so behind. probably because of the mountains of clean clothes that need to be put away and the floor that needs vacuuming desperately ... but bambino is not cooperating. he's trying to kick my keyboard too since he can't quite reach with his hands. lol

You can't fix stupid

but it sure is fun to mock.

uh, what???

Kiddo's glasses broke.

In half.

At school.

You know, away from the house.

She tried to blame the baby because "he's always grabbing them!"

Ha.

Menu Plan Monday

Did okay last week, not the best. The chicken nights were great, spaghetti and glop normal, and Friday ... I forgot to start the ribs on time, so we had the soup Friday. Saturday, I did the ribs; no gravy for the biscuits because hubbers used up my beef broth in his lunch one day (oops). Sunday, we had leftover soup. The brown sugar chicken made plenty of sandwiches during the week; I'll freeze half next time I make it. Also realized I need to plan a crockpot dinner for Sundays because of the 1-4 church schedule.

So here's the other thing. Having menus planned *even if I do them a different day* takes away sooooooo much stress. I know I have stuff in the house to make any meal on the list. And I'm using up my almond milk, so I might go buy some goat milk (which is like $4/quart) and try that in biscuits and cornbread and other things I've been making.

Totally craving burgers and roast; wonder if I'm anemic. lol.

Monday:
Spaghetti. Duh. some form of veggie.

Tuesday:
crockpot chicken and brown rice (i'll probably use wild rice instead)

Wednesday:
Garlic guacamole mushroom burgers on french steak rolls. Yes. Really.

Thursday:
Jambalaya with smoked sausage

Friday:
salsa chicken black bean soup and corn bread muffins.

Saturday:
Breakfast for dinner (sausage, hashbrowns, pancakes or waffles)

Sunday:
Crock pot french onion roast, ramen, frozen veggies (comfort food, what can I say?)

*****

Hubby said to me this morning that our fridge was moaning like a ghost. Because it's empty. lol. Good thing I went to the store after that. All the proteins I purchased were on sale -- pork roast for $5, beef roast for about that, ground beef (not lean) for 1.39/pound ... some cube steaks for next week and a flank steak for the week after. I usually hit the local grocery store during their huge meat sales once a month or so but haven't been for a while. So we definitely needed today's trip.

*EDIT: I started this post Sunday, which is why it shows that date, but I did NOT go to the store until Monday morning. I feel better now.

First two Pepsi free days ...

So ... last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I was still drinking 3 to 4 cans a Pepsi a day (don't look so surprised; that's only 36-48 ounces of soda a day, which is just one huge drink at a fast food place or gas station). Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I had one can each day, waiting until the caffeine withdrawal headache hit before I opened the can. Yesterday and today, I've had no Pepsi, and while I have a dull ache in the back of my skull, it isn't the withdrawal migraine I was expecting.

DisGrace asked why I was quitting: It's bad for my wallet and waistline. And when your 9-year-old starts telling people about your Pepsi addiction, it's a problem.

She didn't realize I'd cut it back so much until yesterday when she got all excited and asked if I'd quit.

I realize it's not smoking or drugs or alcohol, but it is detrimental to my health, and just to have her so excited I took this step made it all worth it.

Stupid Saturday

The internet is out.

Hubby is grouchy.

Baby is grumpy.

Kiddo is hyper.

and I'm exhausted.

but I'm at my sister's logging in to work on HER internet ... because the pay period ends tomorrow and I have to get caught up tonight. Woo.

Friday whats-its

As some of you know, we've mostly been co-sleeping since the baby was born. He was fine in his bassinet until one night I was too tired and fell asleep with him in bed while feeding him, and then he started throwing up in his sleep and choking, so I just kept him in the bed with me. I'd sworn I wouldn't do that again because Kiddo still tried to be co-sleeping even after we got married. She was 7 years old and hogged the whole bed! lol.

*sigh*

I tried putting Mojo in his crib last night. We lasted until about 2 a.m. Lots of crying and loneliness, and he was just as bad. lol.

Hubby came home this morning, upset about some rumors at work, so we talked for a bit. After he realized how sad I was (I had freaky dreams about leaving the baby and Kiddo in the CAR in the SNOW to sleep! and when I came back, my family was taking care of them until I was ready to have them again! NOT GOOD!! aaaaaaaaaaa), he said he doesn't mind the co-sleeping except we need a bigger bed so all of us can fit in it, OR we need to get a big bed in the baby's room so I can put him in there and leave without having to move him. I vote both. hahahaha. Hopefully we get a tax return -- thinking buying a big bed for our room and putting the mattress to the bed we have now in baby's room on the floor.

I'm still going to put him in his crib every night though. He has to get used to sleeping alone at some point, right? hahahahahaha.

Anyway.

On to the fave five or something ...

1. Finally feeling like I have a few friends in my ward. One of 'em called a couple days ago wanting to learn to crochet, I went over and helped her pick a pattern, she bought her yarn and stuff, so we're working on that today.

2. One-armed BIL coming over after work to help us with the crib since I kept breaking the height adjustment pieces. Either I'm an idiot or the plastic was just too old and brittle, but he did get it together without breaking it further. (i have ordered parts now, never you fear!) One-armed BIL is a neato dude and I'm glad my sister married him. hehehe

3. Feeling more awake *without* tons of pepsi and caffeine in my system. I haven't talked about my resolutions much because I haven't done any of them perfectly, but I am making improvements in most of them. I am down to a can of pepsi a day and when I walked kiddo home from the bus stop yesterday, she told me to slow down. *that* hasn't happened for a LONG time. Like since she was a toddler.

4. Renewed my temple recommend Tuesday. Gotta get the stake presidency to sign it Sunday, but wahoo!

5. Happy baby smiles first thing in the morning. hehehe

FYI, I love my kids and hubbers and would never leave any of them alone in the car in the snow or otherwise to sleep or anything else. *sniff* just remembering the freakiness of that dream is making me cry. The end.

orange chicken

Dinner rocked. I left a few chicken pieces out so kiddo would eat her "nuggets" and hubby loved the chicken. He went from grumpy to happy in about 3 bites. lol

Here's my recipe.

2 large chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 c milk (note: I used vanilla almond milk)
Vegetable oil (about 1/2 inch in your pan)
1-1/2 c orange juice
1/4 c honey (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp ginger
pinch of red pepper flakes

Heat veggie oil to medium to medium high heat. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in one bowl and pour milk in another. Dredge chicken in flour, dip in milk, then dredge again. Pan fry over medium to medium high heat 3-4 minutes on each side then set aside. After all the chicken is cooked, pour off all but 2 Tbs of oil, then add OJ and deglaze the pan. Add honey, ginger, and pepper flakes, then cook over medium heat until sauce is reduced by half. Pour sauce over chicken and serve over cooked rice and with stir-fry veggies on the side. Wooo!

i'm a bad mommy

my wonderful son has been really whiny the past few ... what are we on now, days or weeks? i'm not getting much sleep between him and work. i'm trying to quit pepsi so my head hurts. (hey, that might be a reason he's so fussy -- second-hand caffeine withdrawals). and i just need a freaking break.

he's watching kung fu panda and playing with the remote.

he's 5-1/2 months old.

he's in my lap and i'm interacting when required, but i really just want to chill. oy.

The Notebook

Why oh why did I watch this on abc family tonight??? (julie, i'm wondering how on earth that's appropriate for a family channel, too, but abc family has surprised me more than once before).

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I guess I felt like I needed to cry. I've never seen it before, but I knew it was sad and I knew it'd make me cry.

I am a dork.

Owell.

That whole scene about "this is what we do, I'm a SOB and you're a PITA" kinda cracked me up. ah, it's a little familiar.

I did enjoy it, but I don't think I can tell hubby I watched it because he'll think I'm all depressed again like I get after every sad love story. lol

And the candy chicken is ...

GOOD! Kiddo gobbled hers up, hubby ate some before I even came home from my haircut (it was done, but we left it on warm until dinner time), and I rather enjoyed it too.

Plus, the rice I cooked in hubby's rice cooker turned out all fluffy and delish ... that thing is the new favorite appliance in this house.

Soooooo ... haircut. Tilly is the name of the gal I love to have do my hair. She's a sweetie and I really like her, and even though she takes a while to cut it, it always looks good. She does an awesome dye job, too, but we skipped that this time. I'll go buy a bottle later or something. lol.

Anyway. I was at the salon with her when hubby texted me for our second date (yes, he really did, and I really said yes, and we're really happily married, lol), and she did my hair for the wedding. I hadn't seen her in over 2 years because she had a baby and quit working at the salon, but I have had my hair done a few times in between by other people and never loved it because we lost touch. Then, we ran into each other when Mojo was just tiny (less than 2 weeks old). It's taken me this long (5+ months) to call her for the cut, and she had a baby in October (when I saw her, she was obviously pregnant).

She's never seen my hair this long.

I had her chop 5-6 inches off, then she layered it.

I LOVE it.

I didn't tell hubby I was doing this today, but when he saw me come in, he said, "Oh, I like your hair!" Kiddo said, "I liked it longer." Dork. lol.

To sum up my day:
Haircut: Good.
Dinner: Good.
Snow: BAD. I hate snow. I got stuck in front of her house. Twice. *sigh*
Temple recommend interview: Done.

I'd better get to work. I'm not done with that.

Menu Plan Monday

I did pretty good last week. Had chili on Wed at DisGrace's, made hot wings and ribs on Thursday (I was sick so I didn't enjoy them like I wanted, lol), breakfast for dinner on Friday instead of orange chicken, and fried chicken, biscuits, black-eyed peas, and veggies on Saturday instead of soup. I didn't make it to the store, so Sunday we had chili and cornbread.

I couldn't plan this week earlier because I didn't get to the store until this morning. I think that's gonna be my normal routine now though.

Monday:
Spaghetti, spinach (monday is spaghetti day apparently)

Tuesday:
Brown sugar "candy" chicken, rice, mixed veggies

Wednesday:
Glop (aka chili mac)

Thursday:
Orange chicken rolled over from last week, rice, stir fry veggies

Friday:
Ribs, biscuits, gravy, green beans

Saturday:
Turkey, mashed potatoes, veggie of some sort, maybe dressing?

Sunday:
chicken noodle soup (i made a double batch of noodles last time and froze half; might be turkey noodle though with leftover turkey from Saturday and turkey stock, yummy)

*I would do the turkey sunday except we have 1 o'clock church and our turkey roaster cooks too fast to leave it since it's a relatively small bird.

Friday Fave Five

1. My RING! It's here! I took pictures of it on my hand , but need to upload them from the camera and, well, that's not happening today. but it is just as pretty as this picture. it's more demure than my engagement ring, smaller, but I love it and it's not going to stab the baby.

2. Playing cards with DisGrace and her family. That was a lot of fun.

3. Catching up with friends. Kaje called yesterday to remind me about her son's baptism and we got to chat for a while. I am sad though because I didn't get to see Jess and her family while they were in Utah. *sniff*

4. The baby found his toes. It's so cute to put him on his back and watch him grab both big toes and try to get them in his mouth. Yes, I have pics of that too ... le sigh.

5. Eyedrops. I tell ya, they've been really handy since the baby puked *in my eye* the other day. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

The Dark Knight

I intentionally didn't see this in the theater because I was so sad about Heath Ledger's death. We rented it last week but just barely got a chance to watch it tonight.

I cried.

Not because of the movie, but again ... sad about Heath Ledger.

As someone who suffers from depression, married to a person with bipolar disorder, I get mental illness. I am glad my "calling" isn't acting or anything like that -- I think dramatic and creepy roles would be such a temptation for me, but I KNOW what my limits are and I'd have to just not take those roles. I don't watch the news because of the drama and try not to read sad stories. Heck, there is classical music I don't play because of the emotion it brings out in me.

Yes, I do stick my head in the sand. Just call me an ostrich. :P

I'm not a movie star crusher or fanatic, just liked him and thought he was an incredibly talented actor. His role as The Joker was amazingly creepy, and I understand why he ended up crazy enough to need medication, and understand sometimes doctors just give meds instead of giving someone real help. As my sister put it, someone who is that brilliant in that way is probably a little crazy anyway. It just made me incredibly sad that they didn't HELP him and he ended up dying from the combination of medications in his system. I really don't believe it was a suicide.

And I'm sad all over again for his little girl.

As far as the movie itself goes, I loved it. Lots of good action, creepy villians, sadness, some funny lines ... but I will never watch it again.