Dog Hair...

...the bane of my existence. Literally. Not exaggerating. People come to our house, and I have to preface a lounge on the couch with, "yeah, we have lint rollers for when you leave." Embarrassing and annoying. Enough to make me want to kill our dog almost daily. It's not his fault that he's a golden retriever. And retrievers shed...a lot. I was ready to just give up and let the hair pile up. It would sort of be like having a down comforter or a feather pillow, right?

Then, last Saturday, Miguel went grocery shopping. He return with a $4 Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair. I'm sold. My life has been changed forever. Now when you get up off my couch, you only walk away with a miniature poodle's worth and not a golden retriever's worth of hair. Amazing, I tell you.

(Note: The product is meant to be discarded once it's full. But, since there was no way I was going to spend $4 every other day, I managed to buck the system. I shoved my index finger in between the rollers and managed to extract most of the hair. Take that Pledge!)

If you need proof, see pictures below. These were NOT altered in any way, and are actual pictures of our couch before and after the Pledge Fabric Sweeper.
(Before the P.F.S. entered my life)

(After the P.F.S. worked its magic)

getting rid of....

a few things in the new year...no resolutions, but goals. Seems less daunting, at least to me! So, here is my list of "things that gotta go in 2010":

1. Diet Soda. My one a day has been seriously messing with my stomach of late.
2. Three plus trips to the grocery store (aka Wal-Mart) for "just a few things"
3. Clutter in the spare room. Oh, it's taking over the entire house really.

What would you like to see GO in your life?

Christmas traditions

I was laying in bed last night, trying to remember all of the "little" traditions that our family had at Christmas time. What sweet memories.

*Driving around after the Christmas Eve service to look at the luminaries and lights in Joppatowne
*Putting out milk and cookies for Santa, though we didn't believe in him.
*Eating Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast, with extra icing.
*Dad wearing his brown robe and over-sized matching brown slippers.
*Sleeping in so late that our parents woke US up.
*Getting special Christmas dresses from our Aunt Gail, who now buys one for Isabel.
*Having our stockings stuffed so full that the gifts had to be placed underneath them on the floor

What "little" traditions do you remember from your childhood?

for real??

I have been doing some online "window" shopping. No money to spend on myself, but I figure when we hit the Megamillions, I should know what I want to purchase! I stumbled across this top at J.Crew. Not cute. And definitely NOT worth $795.00. Oh, but it does come with free shipping.

picky

I use to drink soy milk, because my stomach was weak. Is weak. Usually, I preferred Vanilla Silk. With Isabel's latest milk intolerance, we have switched her to soy (I know, I know, it raises quite a debate). I generally buy whatever brand is cheapest-8th Generation, Great Value-and stay far, far away from Silk. In a moment of desperation, I had to buy it. We were almost out of milk, and there was one grocery store on my way home from work. It was either spend $3.50 for a half gallon or $4.25. I grabbed what I thought was plain, but turned out to be No-Sugar Added plain. Big whoop. Wrong. Isabel refuses to drink it. Too crunchy for her budding taste...er, buds.

Don't make the same mistake my friends. Your Trader-Joes loving children will thank you.

gift giving

Ever think of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and wonder what that extravagant gift giving would truly cost your "true love." I wonder if Miguel loves me $21,465.56 this year?!?

Check out the link for more fun "Twelve Days of Christmas" tidbits.

Another cookie recipe

These can hardly be classified as cookies, more like mini cakes. But, none-the-less, they are DELICIOUS! So, without further ado, here is my mother's recipe for Whoopie Pies.

Cookies
2C White Sugar
1C Shortening
2 eggs
1C Buttermilk (or a little less than 1C milk and 1T lemon juice-let sit 10+ min)
1t Vanilla
1C hot water
4C Flour
1C Cocoa
2t Salt
2t Baking Soda

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and beat. Add liquid and dry ingredients alternately. Drop teaspoon sized balls onto greased cookie sheets. DO NOT make the cookies larger than tablespoon size!

Bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes. Cool completely and fill.

Filling
2T Flour
2T milk
1 1/2C Shortening
2 egg whites, room temp.
1t vanilla
4C 10x Sugar

Beat flour and milk. Cream in shortening. Add other ingredients and beat until smooth.

Spread a generous amount of filling onto one cookie. Top with another. You can freeze these; wrap individual pies in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer safe container. Defrost in the fridge.

Moon Cookies

In case you are interested in trying something new:

(click on the image for the recipe)

My grandmother must have been friends with Jaraslava Pouska, the woman mentioned in the article. My granny got her recipe directly from Mrs. Pouska years ago.

It's time

...time to take up the traditions of the ladies in my family. This Christmas, despite Miguel's protests, I am going to make Whoopie Pies (my mom's recipe, IF I can find it) and Moon Cookies (a Lithuanian tradition, and my grandmother's recipe). Whoopie Pies are a lot of work, so I've never attempted them. I used to despise Moon Cookies, so I've never made them. I am up for a challenge. Bring on the Whoopie Pies. My tastes have changed. Bring on the Moon Cookies.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Isabel, my baby girl, your first birthday is today, and truly the last year has flown by. I miss the sweet little baby you were, but love the crazy little girl you've become. I miss having you sleep contently, with your head rested against my chest. But I love the way you throw your head back and chuckle for no good reason. I love the way you come running to me, your mouth wide open, screaming "ahhhhh" because you want a kiss. When you're tired, you get ridiculously silly which makes us laugh constantly. You run around the room trying to kiss everything in sight.

Right now, you are loving your "Little People" farm books, balls, babies, and of course Cuzco. You follow me around, but also play on your own. You have managed to take every baking and cooking utensil I own out of the cabinets, but can't seem to put them back. The toilet paper is never around the roll, and I can't help but let you do unroll it every time. You laugh and giggle, and my heart melts!

Precious baby girl, our prayer for you is that you will grow up to love our Savior. That you will be a beautiful girl-inside and out. That you will cling to His faithfulness and goodness, no matter what the coming years hold. We love that God chose us to be your parents and truly cannot wait to watch you grow.

coming to terms

Messes used to make me cringe. I'd get the heebie geebies when I saw my carpets strewn with babies, blocks, and books. When Isabel first started "getting into" things, I would follow closely behind her. Putting away the books as she moved on to the blocks. But, as soon as the books were put away she was through with the blocks and back to the books. You know the drill. I spent all day: books put away, blocks cleaned up, books re-sorted, blocks neatly stacked. Then she discovered toilet paper, and I thought it was cute. She'd pull off one little square and eat it. So cute, right? Then she realized she could keep pulling, and pulling, and pulling...After most of the paper was on the floor, I would wind the entire roll back around the tube.

I was driving myself insane, all in the name of keeping a neat, organized home. Then, last week, I had a revelation of sorts. Why not save the mental and physical energy during the day and do one big clean up after Isabel is in bed for the night. Wow, earth-shattering.

I have learned to be OK with this (at least for the 12 hours Isabel is awake):

And this (quite possibly until she grows out of this phase):
Now, I have *huge* reserves of energy for things like reading and watching t.v. once she's safely tucked in bed, unable to destroy my house until tomorrow.

ideas

I am not one to collect "stuff." This has trickled down to Isabel. Poor girl. She has very few toys, and even fewer that we've purchased for her. But, as she's getting older, I've realized that she needs at least a few things to play with! ha. With her birthday and Christmas both right around the corner, I have been trying to come up with a list of toys, books, puzzles, etc. that we would like for her.

I would love to know what your favorite items were for your 12-18 month old! What books did your kids most enjoy? What toys kept them engaged?

um, yum!

Chocolate and peanut butter. Need I say more?! (click on the picture) The entire site is dedicated to all things chocolate and peanut butter. I'll be visiting this site regularly!

ah

These could quite possibly be the prettiest slippers I have seen. I want a pair (from L.L. Bean). I think even Stacie London and Clinton Kelley would approve.

11 months

Isabel is 11 months old today. Over the past three months, she has gone from barely crawling to almost walking. She's so funny; she takes six steps and then flies through the air to get to her final destination. She's gone from being toothless to having her two bottom teeth. She's gone from being a shy little baby to a loud, screaming little girl. She imitates us vocally when we cough, blow raspberries, or scream. She loves food more than ANYONE I know, and refuses to share her food with the dog (unless it's Cheerios). She loves to be scared by Daddy sneaking around corners, Mommy chasing her, and Cuzco coming to lick her. She lights up when she sees her cousins, Oren and Zion. She plays with Oren and loves on Zion. She carries her baby doll around, and will kiss it when told to, or when she feels like it. Though all girl, she is tough. She will take a nose dive, and get right up without crying. She truly has brought such joy, entertainment and growth to us.

Thanks, Laura

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed out lately. There seems to be no time to slow down, relax, or have fun. However, this Youtube video has kept me laughing. I think I've watched Anjelah Johnson's Bon Qui Qui about ten times this week!! Enjoy, and i hope it makes you laugh, too!

mmmmmm.

I love S'mores. The gooey marshmallows, the melted chocolate, all smooshed between two crunchy graham cracker. Today, I was introduced to a more sophisticated version of the good ol' standard. S'mores made with a Reese's Cup instead of the Hershey's bar. OHMYGOODNESS! Try it; you'll wonder why you ate boring S'mores for years and years when this fabulouness was just a Reese's Cup away.

fall

Nothing says fall to me like:
1. Raven's games
2. Sleeping in socks
3. Bonkey's pumpkin ice cream with a scoop of toasted coconut ice cream
4. Making soupWhat do you love about fall?

oh poo, pt. 2

A little clarification. I felt the need to tell Miguel about the poop situation. I was trying not to laugh the entire time. His only comment was, "That wasn't the SMARTEST thing you've ever done!" He insisted that he had washed the spatula. But I've seen him do dishes, and well, let's hope he at least rinsed off some of the major chunks ;-) The spatula has been boiled and is safe to use again for flipping eggs.

oh poo.

Yesterday, I took Cuzco, our dog out for a walk. He pooped out what looked like clear jello. Gel-like, oozy, and just plain disgusting. As soon as I plastic bagged it, he had diarrhea again. I untied the bag and scooped that up. I walked him one last time before bed for good measure. However, this morning, I woke up to a nice large pile of diarrhea on my living room floor. Poor dog, he must be sick. Not a pleasant job to clean it up, but it had to be done. I tried to figure out how to scoop it up, without making more of a poopy mess. So, I grabbed a spatula and scraped it off the floor, and that worked perfectly. Quickly, while holding my nose, I rinsed all visible signs of poo off the spatula and put it in the dishwasher.

About an hour later, Miguel made himself fried eggs. He does this almost every morning, so I thought nothing of it. After breakfast, I went to load the dishes and realized that the spatula was no longer in the dishwasher. Yup, you guessed it. He had grabbed a spatula out of the dishwasher because there wasn't a clean one. He used the poopy spatula to flip his eggs!!!! SICK.