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Leah & Nana (my mom) - Dec 6th 2005 (3 weeks old)

Wii Fit

So last week or so I ordered a Wii Fit. I saw it on sale on Amazon with free shipping and got all excited and ordered it. We'd been talking for awhile about saving up to get a treadmill and I finally decided this was cheaper, more versatile, and takes up considerably less space in my house!

So we get it out of the box. Mind you, this is after we both just worked six hard straight hours at the grocery store, what is the MATTER with me? (Don't actually answer that!)

So when you first start up you pick your Mii from the system and answer some questions. What I didn't know is that the Balance Board is also a scale. So it asked me my height and then apparently weighed me - and then - THEN - it tells me my BMI and it made my Mii go FAT! Like this guy (this is not mine of course):

 

See how he looks all bloated now? Is that just MEAN???

Anyway! So now my Mii is fat but only while I play Wii Fit. Thankfully.

It says funny things to you if you do badly. It asked Drew if he trips a lot when he walks because his balance is bad. I laughed really hard about that one. It also called him a couch potato once.

So it's only been 3 days but I've done it everyday for 30-60 minutes.

One of my main issues with exercise is that I get bored with routine. Any routine - not just exercise. I have a hard time taking pills everyday or doing the same chores everyday or... you get the idea. But this thing has so many options and I can just choose what I want every day and it keeps track of my time for me.

See the yellow box with the red dot? It shows you how balanced you are while you're doing the exercise. You have to try to keep the red dot in the yellow area. It makes sure you keep the form good of whatever exercise you are doing.

Anyway - I really like it and it's fun. That what I started this post to say.

Stats

I measured Leah today. This last week she's eating like a grown man and sleeping WAY more than normal. I think a growth spurt is coming.

So as of today this is where we are at:

At 3 years and 4 months:

your child is 32 pounds, and that is
at the 49th percentile for weight.

your child is 38.5 inches, and that is
at the 62nd percentile for height.

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_kids_centils.htm

In a funny aside - afterward she was measuring herself in places and she measures her leg and declares:

My leg is 42 cents!

Cooking Challenge

Today I was chatting with my friend, Camela, and I tell her I need something interesting to do. First she suggested I rearrange furniture - which unknown to her I love to do but Drew was not agreeable. (understatement) And then she said I should cook but the challenge was whatever cookbook I pulled out first had to be the one & I had to do something from it I had never done before.

So I asked Drew to go downstairs and grab a cookbook - his choice. And he came back with a "Best-loved Casseroles" cookbook that I don't really like. (of course! LOL). So I decided to do a Seafood Lasagna from the book.

I'm not going to post the recipe because it needs some work. I did it as it was written even though I had my doubts. I am reminded to not ignore my instincts when it comes to cooking. Not to say it was horrible but I don't really love recipes that skimp on sauce and use cream soups - it's good but it just seems like something is lacking. So I'll make that again with some more flavors and a true white sauce into of cream soup and post it then. Drew liked it but he agreed about the changes I'd like to make. In the meantime, it was pretty! Here's a picture:

I also choose a dessert - this she said that could come from anywhere but it still had be something I hadn't made before: Ginger Peach Dessert

I did that recipe but like this (the same but the conversions done and double the number of gingersnaps because apparently ours our smaller than 'ginger biscuits'):

2 cans of peach halves
20 gingersnaps
1 cups heavy whipping cream
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp double strength vanilla

Then I followed the instructions on the link for layering.

Really, really simple and really yummy!

I want very very badly to try that with fresh peaches. I think if I halved them, grilled them, and then did that recipe... then it would be over the top to die for.

Anyway! Pictures of that:

Happiest thing ever!

St. Patrick's Day Menu

CrockPot Corned Beef & Cabbage
Authentic Irish Soda Bread
Deep Fried Cabbage
Creme De Menthe Cake

Those links are what I started with. As my compulsion forces me I did something to change everything except the bread. I followed that pretty closely. The deep fried cabbage is an idea I got from Iron Chef America (love that show!).

Anyway - here we go:

CrockPot Corned Beef & Cabbage

• 3 carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 onions, chopped
• 6-8 red potatoes, cut into chunks
  
• 2-3 lb. corned beef brisket (I trim off a ton of the fat) with seasoning packet
• 1 1/2 cups of strong chicken broth
• 2 TBSP. yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 head of cabbage (chopped/shredded)

In 6 quart crockpot, combine carrots, onions, and potatoes. Rinse corned beef under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in crockpot and sprinkle with contents of seasoning mix. Pour broth over brisket and spread mustard on brisket. In small bowl mix brown sugar with water and pour over brisket. Cover crockpot and cook on low setting for 10 - 12 hours.

Remove corned beef from crockpot and cover with foil to keep warm. Add cabbage to vegetables and liquid in crockpot. Cover crockpot and cook on high for additional 30-40 minutes or until cabbage is crisp tender.

To serve, cut beef across grain into thin slices. Remove vegetables from slow cooker with slotted spoon and serve with beef. Serve cooking juices over the food, if desired. Offer additional mustard on the side. 8 servings

***That's basically the same recipe with some changes. Of course. And can I just say? I don't like corned beef usually but I LOVED this. I wish I had made way more.

Authentic Irish Soda Bread

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit so that it is ready for your bread straight away.
You will need the following ingredients to make authentic Irish Soda Bread

• 4 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ a teaspoon of baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 1 stick of softened butter (about ¼ of a pound)
• 2 cups of buttermilk
• 1 cup or so of raisins (you can use regular or golden raisins - my sister used craisins)

1. Butter a cookie sheet (or some flat pan) and lightly flour it.
2. Mix together in a large mixing bowl the flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder.
3. Cut in softened butter into the flour mixture.
4. Stir in raisins.
5. In a separate bowl lightly beat the egg into the buttermilk.
6. Add the egg and butter milk mixture into the flour mixture by hand, mixing in a little at a time and being careful to avoid over mixing.
7. Turn out on a lightly floured board and briefly knead to form a smooth dough.
8. Shape into a high, round ball.
9. Place onto a baking pan.
10. Slash a cross or x shape across the top of the dough.
11. Bake at 350F 50 to 60 minutes.
12. It is done when it is nicely browned. Tap to see if it sounds hollow if so it is done.

*** The only thing I really changed on here was the flour. It was SO sticky it clearly needed more. So it was 4 cups. I'm guessing I added about 1/2 cup more. I just did it until I could actually get a "smooth" ball.

Deep Fried Cabbage

I got this idea watching Iron Chef America (like I mentioned already). I just used the rest of the head of cabbage and dropped it on hot oil (in several batches - not all at once). Medium-high heat. It spits and splatters like crazy so be careful.

I know this sounds bizarre but it was fabulous! Take it out of the oil spread it on paper towels to drain and sprinkle it with salt. Delicious!

Creme de Menthe Cake
sans any creme de menthe

*** This is the recipe I changed the most from the link but the basic idea is still the same. But I substituted just about everything.

Cake

• 1 package white cake mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 stick melted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons water
• 9 drops green food coloring
• 3 teaspoons peppermint extract

Chocolate Sauce

• 1 bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chip
• Hershey's syrup

Cream Topping

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 6 drops of food coloring
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar

Mix the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and flour - in a bowl by hand. I think I used a whisk.

In a separate bowl mix the water, food coloring and extract - add to the cake batter.

Pour batter into a grease & floured 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave (about 90 seconds). I then added enough Hershey's syrup to make it 1.5 cups. If I had more chocolate chips I'd have just used that with a little cream added for the right texture. But that was all I had. Next time.

When it comes out of the oven poke holes all over it - while still hot. I used a big serving fork but I'd do something bigger next time. A wooden spoon handle maybe.

Pour the chocolate sauce over the cake.

Put in the fridge until completely cool.

With a mixer whip the heavy whipping cream, food coloring, peppermint extract, water, and sugar until firm enough to the topping on your cake.

When the cake is totally cooled put the cream mixture on there and put it back in the fridge until you are ready to eat it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

24 Hours

This weekend my husband - my dear wonderful gem of a husband - took Leah and went to spend the night with his parents 100 miles away from here and gave me TWENTY-FOUR HOURS alone in my house.

What lead to this delicious day of alone-ness?

I need - in a very real way - time to myself sometimes. If I get even 20 minutes a day completely alone I can function just fine. But I need it to center myself. When Leah was tiny, Drew would come in the door from work, take her, and I would go in the office and shut the door. How long I stayed in there depended on how the day had gone but it was never more than 30 minutes. Sometimes it was only 10. I really don't need much time but I do need it.

So since Drew has gotten cut off work (again. ugh.) we haven't been making sure I get that. Even when I pointed out to Drew his first response was to apologize and said "Oh! I should have thought of that first! I'm sorry." Sweet man. Why should he anticipate my need that I've been neglecting? lol

Anyway, I suggested he go visit just for Sunday during the day and he said he'd take her over night. So they left at 7:30 PM on Saturday and came home at 9 Sunday night. (Okay I know that's more than 24 hours but he left 1.5 hours late. lol We planned 24 hours.)

So after they left on Saturday I went to the grocery store and shopped. I had earlier in the day gone through the ad, loaded coupons to my value card online (how cool is that?) and printed 3 other coupons. I saved 64.17 doing that! (*thank you, thank you*). I enjoyed that. I came home and put the things that need to be in the fridge/freezer away, cooked the crab I bought myself, and relaxed and watched TV. I cleaned my room after that and read until 2 am.

Then I slept until 9:50! No one woke me up at all! When I first sat up and looked at the clocked I acutally shouted "YES!" and then a split second later "oops." Because church started at 9 AM. lol

I got up and quickly got ready while also making some treats for the girls at church and hurried off to church. I at least go to attend the last hour and see the girls. That's my favorite part of church.

Then I came home, got my MP3 player and listened to my current audio book and I cleaned. Top to bottom. Every nook and cranny. All day.

And all the worries and fears I couldn't let go of this last week. All the things that were making me feel paralyzed about my life? Everything is back in it's place.

Something about taking my home and putting it in order - quelling all the chaos - also quelled all my internal chaos.

All the problems are still there but I'm functionally well again!

Life is good!

And I LOVE my husband!

The Rest of the Story...

Ahhh my neighbor.

So the very next morning after the above post...

I'm standing outside on the step, with the door open, talking to Drew standing inside our home still and the neighbor drives up. As she gets out of her car I look over at her - with what I'm sure translated as a look of disgust. She kind of made a face at me and I rolled my eyes and turned back towards Drew.

And she calls out something like "You don't have to give me dirty looks!"

And flashes through my head "You have GOT to be kidding me. After all of this now she wants to tell me what to do with my FACE?!?!"

And I turned back to her and... well... I lost it.

There was a lot of yelling back and forth.

Drew came out at one point and yelled at her & I got him to go back in the house. Two women is one thing but a man & a woman is another issue. Anyway.

She threatened to call the police (for WHAT?), she threatened sue me (for WHAT?) - when she mentioned the lawyer I just started laughing - she didn't take that well. hehe

She accused me of stealing a rock. Ya, you read that right - A rock. Not many rocks. A single rock.

When we moved into this place there was a huge mound of rocks in the backyard. We used them to line all the beds. I mentioned this and asked what reason I would have to steal A rock from her house and she said "there's paint from my house on a rock over there!" and I said "You are making that up." and she changed the subject.

She said she's missed work before because we were blocking her driveway - to which I also said "You're making that up." Seriously? What sane person would NOT go to work instead of knocking on the door? Besides that fact that it's never happened. Whatever. She changed the subject again. At some point she did say she had pictures and I said I wanted to see them. As of yet no pictures of materialized. Imagine that.

I pointed out that we put up with the noise of her dogs and her dogs eating our fence, etc. And she said she has pictures of MY dog eating the fence. (sense a theme here??) We didn't even HAVE A DOG when that happened. Never mind her dog had to stand on the dog house to chew it. There is nothing back there for my dog to stand on.

At some point I said "What in the world have I ever done that you needed to start out being so rude to me??" And she changed the subject. (sigh.)

And then I said "You don't have to be such a b$*#&" And she about lost her mind.

And she went in her house, yelling out a name I will not even come close to repeating. And she called the police.

I had been on my way to the store so I went ahead and ran down there. In the meantime I called Drew and told him to take Leah and leave the house. That I would come back and deal with the police. I didn't want Leah to be there.

So I get back and sure enough. There's a cop car outside my house. I was getting out of my van to go in and Brad (from church - husband of Kristen who is on my blog roll) drove up. He wanted to know why there was a cop car outside my house. lolol

So while I'm talking to him the cop came over. I did my level best to smile and be cheery and reasonable with him. I think he liked me. At first he said he was going to ticket me for calling her a name - she OF COURSE - had not mentioned what she called me. He did not ticket me after I told him what she said (apparently there's a city ordinance about swearing?!? whatever). We talked about what happened, some of the issues I've had with her, how my neighbor on the other side parks the same way we do and it's never once made me angry. It never even crossed my mind to be angry!

She acts like the world is conspiring against her and her parking her car.

Heaven only knows what she tells herself but she comes across like one of those - I don't know - just very entitled people.

That's her 5 inches of law, that's her property line for parking, blah blah blah.

Oh at some point I sarcastically said "Should I call the cops when all 3 of your dogs are barking up a storm??" and she says "You really want to play this like that?" and I said "We already are. YOU already called the police!!" That's when she switched to the lawyer thing that made me laugh.

So we have a plan to paint a line on the curb when it's warm enough and we're gonna put up a low fence - this fence will be fun - only because when she "claimed" her few inches of lawn - she put down rocks - that are VERY clearly over the line into our yard. And we didn't complain of course - but I'll get to move them when we put the fence up.

I look forward to it with glee.

I promised the cop I would go back to being overly agreeable.

I don't want to talk to that woman ever again. I have real issues in my life, kwim? I don't need to deal with that kind of person.

I just don't get it.

And I don't want to!

But I am gonna enjoy moving those rocks.

Finding Peace

Old Post: Peace

Just thinking about this today. I'm going there in my mind.

MY CD.

This will really only be shocking to my sister. Sorry about this folks....

I've been looking for one of my Jewel CDs for forever - like several months.

And today I found it.

In. My. Husband's. Car.

That's right, Leah. My husband stole my JEWEL CD.

Unbelievable.

Natalie Merchant - Life is Sweet

This one just kind of matches my mood. Or is advice I need to hear. I should be grateful for life - even though things are hard - so hard - right now.



And this one made me cry.

My Neighbor

Remember this post? Two Dogs

Let me tell you about my experiences with my neighbor.

When we first moved in here it was clear our little front yard hadn't really been taken care of for awhile. The yard had creep out into the sidewalk about 8 inches, some into our own driveway and probably 6 inches into our neighbor's driveway. So we cleaned up it, she came out at one point and asked if we wanted to use her edger thing. We used it. (We had been using a shovel which was working fine, it had a flat edge but the edger made it faster.) She was nice about it and I said something about feeling badly that our yard was bleeding into her driveway, etc. She just smiled but didn't respond.

The only other thing up to this point I know about this woman is that she has 3 dogs in her backyard and they NEVER. SHUT. UP. She's a nurse and she's gone a LOT. And her dogs bark nearly constantly. It's a noise that I've blocked out but EVERY time someone come and stays here they get woken up in the morning by her dogs. Our bedrooms our on the front half of the house but the guest bedroom is on the back - closer to her dogs.

At this point we didn't even have a dog. But we listened to her dogs bark. EVERY day. We couldn't even go back there without them acting like they were going to attack us.

Not only that but she had a dog house up against our fence and the dog pictured in the post above would stand on the dog house and chew on our fence. She's made a mess of the top of it. And did we complain about it? No. Did I complain that my child couldn't play in the backyard without getting the crap scared out of her by the neighbor's dogs? No. I bought dog biscuits and started feeding them to her dogs. So now they bark when we get back there but only until I give them biscuits. Then we can have some peace.

I thought that was a nice way for me to handle it. Several people that heard those dogs suggested a BB Gun.... ;)

The next summer we decided to edge our yard so that the issue that happened before wouldn't have to be redone every year. We bought these cool bricks to do the front and some black edging for the sides. When it came time to do the edge of the yard Drew goes and knocks on the neighbor's door and asks if she could move her car so he can edge the driveway. She asks what he's doing and then insists that 6 inches of our yard on the right side belongs to her and we can't do that.

Now. First I'd like to point out why didn't she mention that she felt that way when we were cleaning it up the first summer, eh? Oh no. Because she's going to let us do WORK for her but not put up permanent edging.

We are in a townhouse right? So each front yard overlaps the next town house by a few inches. And she wants to lay CLAIM to those inches. Freaking bizarre. Drew was very nice about it apparently. She decided to lay rocks on her few inches BUT only half way down. So now what does it look like to people driving by? Ya. That we only half finished our yard. Lovely. Because who would drive by and assume our neighbor did that to our 6 inches of yard? Right.

Then we get a dog. Sam. He's a good dog. He barks sometimes but not bad. If I yell at him he stops. Sometimes all three of her dogs are barking away when she isn't home and Sam is just sitting and listening to them. Or he runs up and down the fence line. It'd kind of funny. And maybe he barks more when we aren't home I suppose but we're home a lot. She's not.

Anyway, so the dog pictured above. As Sam gets bigger she wants to play. So she came THROUGH our fence. Broke a board and came on over.

And honestly, I did NOT care! She eats all Sam's food. Drinks all his water. Plays with him. Whatever. I just pulled the food and water inside. No big deal.

It kept happening. This neighbor would come home and wait until her daughter came home and then send her daughter to come retrieve the dog. Once she even sent some woman how doesn't live there. WHAT is she afraid of??

We kept patching holes in the fence and this dog & Sam kept making them. So I write the woman a friendly letter. Seriously nice. I tell her that it seems silly that we keep fixing the fence. *I* think we should just leave a hole so that the dogs can play, etc.

And she never answered. She put a pallet up against her fence so it was clear she didn't agree. But would an answer have been too much to ask?!? I gave her phone number, email, name, everything.

The funny thing was it gave her dog an idea. She used the pallet to go over the fence. Well, at least she stopped making holes in the fence! HAHA Oh. She also digs holes when she's back there. Sam has never dug holes. She taught him how. Now he does it too. It's SO frustrating.

So apparently the dog now figures out she can just LEAP the 6 ft fence. She really really wants to play with Sam. Again, I don't care if she does but my "this is my 6 inches of yard" neighbor clearly cares and now that dog is tied up all day long. The other two dogs run free but the leaping dog is tied up in the backyard so she can't fence jump.

Oh the cutest thing - when the dog wants to go back? She jumps and Sam pushes her from underneath to help her back over. (on our side the fence is smooth so it's a harder jump)

And now our new issue.

A couple weeks ago she backed out of her driveway and hit Drew's car that was parked on the street. She didn't hurt Drew's car but she scratched hers up. She called the police and the cop said ya he's in your space but ya you had plenty of room to get out. No report filed whatever. She should look when she backs up.

This morning. At 7:20. We are all still SOUND asleep. And there is the horrendous banging on our front door that makes Drew & I both fly out of bed. And scared my poor Leah half to death. And we get to the door. No one is there. Okay then.

We get back in bed. We've all 3 started to drift back off to sleep. Even Leah thankfully. 7:48. BANG BANG BANG on the door. I wrap a blanket around myself and hurry to the door.

It. is. a. COP.

He starts telling me that my neighbor called the police because she feels like Drew's car is across her property line. I rolled my eyes and the cop says, "have you talked to her about this before?" and I said "Only when she hit my husband's car backing out of her driveway." And he says that he sees what she's say but that clearly has plenty of room to get out of her driveway. Even right that second there were tracks in the snow and she hadn't even had to curve to back out. She just backed straight out. Whatever. And he says to me...

"Maybe you could just be careful about it so she stops bothering us?"

Haha.

Okay officer.

Meanwhile it's 10 degrees and you know this cop has better things to be doing with his time then reporting our neighbor's complaints to us!!
****

Now, are you kidding me? Did that just happen??

Do I have the most ridiculous neighbor ever? Seriously?

We have done NOTHING to this woman. NOTHING.

Do we complain about her dogs? no. Could we? of course! Do we complain that her dog eats our fence? no.

I'd kind of like to print this post and stick it in her door.

Because really I wonder what in the world she must be thinking??? I'm so insanely frustrated. And tired. I could still be SLEEPING.

Crappy neighbor.

Oh. And she doesn't know it but she's friends with my stepsister. I've never told her that. I've heard from other people that she's not a nice lady. She's a nurse though and so is my stepsister. One woman told me "I never could figure out what she sees in her." about my stepsister.

Why do I have to live next to this woman? The people on the other side are nice.

And really - I'm nice people. I'm friendly. But she's a crazy rude lady.

Only one time have I ever knocked on their door. She wasn't home just her daughter. And I had to knock for a LONG time. She had her music up so loud Leah couldn't take a nap. That's it. And I was totally nice about it!

UGH.

Can't they move away???

Because is it wrong that I only want to move so I don't have to live anywhere near this lady????

Who acts like that?!!?

Drew says he's going to go talk to her. He doesn't want me to do it.

Why do you think? ;)

Oh. And we've lived her 18 months. And NOW she's complaining not ever once before she hit the car did she complain.

Oh I just want to SCREAM.

And I'm tired.

Oh, the drama!

Today I warned Leah 3 times on the way home (an hour drive) "When we get home you have to clean your room." And she would cheerfully respond, "Okay, mommy!"

Me in the driveway: "What do you have to do now?"

Leah: Clean my room!

But then she said she was hungry - which was legitimate so she ate a yogurt. She came upstairs to find me with two toys in hand...

L: I'm going to play with these now.

Me: You have to clean your room.

L: NO!

Me: I will count to 10 and then I will take those two toys away.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10...

No reaction from Leah.

I stand up without a word and take the two toys.

Then I grabbed my camera because I KNEW what was coming. :)

Zero to...

... sixty.

About 8 seconds.

PS She's cleaning her room now. This could be a long evening.

Inside Out Roll

I made some more sushi today. Drew and I both wanted that veggie one for lunch. So I did two rolls. But I did one inside out roll. It was a little harder. Well, just more messy. lol
Here it is (I rolled it in sesame seeds afterward):

Oh and I did the rice without soy sauce AND less salt today. I love it!

Sushi

I did it. I made my own sushi.

I love sushi but I live in Wyoming. There isn't exactly a sushi bar on every corner...

So I ordered this kit from Amazon (which a very nice friend helped me choose. There were so many to chose from!): Sushi Kit and it came yesterday. So today I made sushi! I got most of what I needed at the grocery store. I had to get the seaweed and the wasabi at the Asian store in town. (that's right we have an Asian market in our little Wyoming town. hooray for me!)

So here are some pictures. I really am proud of myself. And it was SO crazy good. Drew loved it even though he was completely convinced beforehand that he would hate it! And it's so much more fun if someone loves it with you, isn't it??

So first I made short grain/sushi rice in my rice cooker. I spread it in this bowl to cool.

In the meantime I did this sauce which is a mixture of rice vinegar, salt, sugar and soy sauce. It was supposed to be mirin not soy sauce which is apparently some alcohol something. When I do this again I I will use slightly less salt. It was very very good but soy sauce is salty, of course. I saw other online mixtures that don't have soy sauce or mirin. Just rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Actually come to think of it I probably won't add soy sauce at all next time. I like dipping it in soy sauce but we didn't since that would have been overkill this time. Maybe it'll depend on my mood. lol

Some of the ingredients I had laid out and had ready to go:

This is the one that had crab, cucumber, wasabi, and avocado:

Tuna, Crab, Cucumber, Green Onion, a little smear of mayo and a smear of wasabi:

 

This is the veggie one. Red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, green onions, and avocado. This one was drew's favorite. And although I've posted it last was the first one I made. The rice was a little thick I think. So the others were thinner.

Being Uplifted

I followed a link to this from my sister's blog a little bit ago to this video. I love to be so randomly uplifted! Make sure you watch the whole thing. There is a moment that shouldn't be missed.


This looks really messy on here. I'll change it to a link in a couple of days.

Before FIAR

So on the recommendation of an online friend I decided to order this book: Before FIAR - Details here (that's not a complete list). I just ordered the manual from them - not the individual books. Anyway, I like that it's a literature based thing and Leah LOVES to read and be read to. Five In A Row - That's FIAR. So they have lots more things for after this. Anyway.

I have been collecting all the books for a few weeks from various online places. She said she just used the library but I went to our library and I wasn't going to be able to get but a few of the 25 books. I found a lot on ebay that had 11 of them plus 7 companion books. (companion books - for example, one of the books is Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? - so there were other Jesse Bear books in the lot). I got others on amazon. One book single on eBay - it's on its way here from Australia! That was going to be nearly 30 on amazon but even with shipping from Australia I'm only paying 14 for it.

See, some of these books are out of print and that makes some of them cheap and some of them insanely expensive.

So through searching - and this morning another online friend turning me onto a cheaper version of The Blue Boat (hooray!) - I have one book left to get.

The Quiet Way Home.
By Bonnie Becker

I am not kidding. The cheapest I can find this book is 66 dollars. Right now the most I've paid for one is 18.99 (that was The Blue Boat). And the least is .01. Really I've gotten some awesome deals.

But this book? No. $66 - $188. That's the prices I've seen.

So, if you know me and you happen to see this book at a garage sale. or in some random book store. or on the side of the street. Pick it up. I'll pay. I promise. Just don't pay 66 bucks for it! Pay 20. Or 25 cents is good too. ;)

Really, if it's that famous I'm sure this will be one I can get at the library. So we can do the lessons that go with it and return it. No big deal.

But I'd really like to have my own copy since I have all the others!

Doc Appointment

First, I have to say I love our doctor's office. I called at 8:45 this morning, got an appointment for 10:45 and by 11 we were leaving the office. Not bad, eh?

Leah has a sinus infection. She's had this cold for awhile but apparently it's finally infected. She hadn't had any green mucus until today AFTER the appointment but the doctor said it was green in the back of her throat so hopefully the infection just started. Probably Saturday - that was the day she took a turn for the worse.

Anyway, so now she's on her first antibiotics. And hopefully she'll be feeling better soon! I want my baby to be well!

Several times today she did the thing that is one of my favorites with her. No matter what we are doing, if I set my hand against her face, she will quickly lean into it and say "love you, mommy" and then go back to what she's doing.

Sometimes the way we love our kids is almost painful to hold it's so big.

Sick of Winter Sickness

Leah is still sick. It's been forever. More than 2 weeks. And today her cough sounds worse than ever. No fever or anything. Still clear snot. But I'm going to make a doctor's appt in the morning - just in case.

I've only taken Leah to the doctor once because of sickness. She was 6 months old and had gotten a fever that left little blisters inside her mouth. I thought that's what they were but one of my friend's - her 2 had hand, foot, mouth disease at the time. Thankfully she didn't have it.

Anyway, I hate taking her but I guess it's gonna have to be done.

I'm so tired of her being sick. Poor baby. And I'm sick of missing church! But I can't release my hacking coughing 3 year old on all the other kids, right?

Right. That would be wrong. Sigh.

But it means I'm missing things at church. And I feel bad! :(

And Drew - of course - got called to work last night. Not called BACK to work of course. Sigh. Just called in to cover someone else. Great timing. I had just thought I'd go to church alone.

Alas.

This is a whiny post, eh?