a helpful tip in the kitchen

Check your pantry before going to the store to buy the spices you need for a new recipe.

If you find the recipe in a magazine at the gym and then go straight to the store afterward because you simply must make that chili as soon as possible, call home to have your husband check the pantry for you.

Don't just assume that since you almost never cook with spices that you don't have the ones you need for the new recipe.

If you don't follow this helpful tip, you might just end up with more chili powder and ground cumin than you'll ever use in your lifetime.

Unless you make a lot of turkey chili.

And I just might end up making a lot of turkey chili from here on out.

It's yummy.

Here's the recipe for turkey chili. Make it. 'Tis the season for chili, right?

If you need chili powder or ground cumin, I'll let you borrow some. I've got plenty.


A little warning for people who've never used ground cumin before: It smells like b.o. It makes the chili taste wonderful but man, does it stink!

at least I don't have a tail

Cate's Princess Leia hair buns...she's supposed to wear this on her head somehow?

Danny is going to be Darth Vader for Halloween.

Cate will be dressed as Princess Leia. Danny reminds her almost every day.

Now she says, "Me-uh Pincess Way-uh" almost every day.

Danny asked me who I'm going to be for Halloween.

I said something along the lines of "I'm going to be Jabba the Hutt because I'm a big fat meanie with a tail."

Without missing a beat, my sweet little boy said, "But, Mama, you don't have a tail."


Ouch. That hurts.


We were driving in the car on Saturday. Danny started talking about costumes yet again.

I asked him, "Who is Daddy going to be for Halloween?"

His reply, "Chewbacca."

That's the first time he's had that answer. Last I heard, Dan was going to be Obi Wan Kenobi.

"Why Chewbacca?" I asked.

"Because he has lots of hair on his body."

"Who does? Chewbacca?"

"No! Daddy!"

It's true. He does.



Now I just have to figure out how to make that big sash that Chewbacca wears, the one that holds his bullets (or cigarette lighters or whatever the heck those metal things are) and Dan's costume will be complete.

I personally think he'd look quite smashing as Han Solo, but Danny has spoken.

Chewbacca it is.

And I'm not really going to be Jabba the Hutt. I don't think I could pull off the big slimy slug creature look. Besides, I don't even have a tail.

Any other suggestions?

watch your mouth

Cate learned a new word at the park yesterday afternoon.

Thanks a lot to the stinkin' teenager who was playing tag with his stinkin' teenager friends.

Don't they know there are young, impressionable minds at that park? Don't they have something better to do, like maybe homework or video games or napping or eating or mowing the lawn? That's all teenagers do, right?

Wanna know the word?

Pansy.

That big kid was playing tag with his big friends (and some of the little kids since they love to feel included in the big kid games even if they're stuck being IT forever since they'll never catch one of those big kids to pass the IT onto someone else).

He stopped right in front of Cate and yelled something like this to his big kid friends, "Hey, pansy! Over here!"

I was hoping Cate didn't hear. Or that she wouldn't pay any attention to it.

Nope.

She immediately said, "Pan-dee! Dat boy pan-dee! Pan-dee!"

I'm not getting my panties in a wad or anything. I know she doesn't remember it today. She probably won't be calling anyone a pan-dee any time soon. Eventually she's going to be big enough to remember those words though. And if she repeats them, it might not sound as cute as it did today.

Unless she still can't pronounce words correctly when she's a teenager and she really goes around calling people pan-dees. That might be kind of funny.

And maybe Danny's lisp isn't such a bad thing after all.

ten things that rhyme with thirty

birdie

dirty

flirty

nerdy

purty

wordy

sturdy

cherty

qwerty

shirty


Happy birthday to my little sister!

Today she's thirty.

{And maybe a little bit shirty. I'm not sure how she feels about being so old.}

strike update: week three

I skipped strike update: week two.

I was a little worried that I might not have anything good to say.

Cate decided to make that week the one where she made herself puke every single time she needed to go to sleep. Nap time and bed time. She pulled out all the stops.

Screaming, crying, sticking her hand down her throat.

For the entire week.

And then, like nothing had ever been wrong, she stopped. I seriously have no idea what that was about. I'm glad it's over. She now sleeps with a clean bowl in her bed though.

I think I might have done a little complaining about the daily pukage that week. I tried not to though. I have realized that complaining is just lots of negative words that don't really do anything to make the situation better. They don't change anything. Sometimes it feels better to just get those words out though.

I had a minor breakdown on the Saturday night of week two. I spewed forth some complaining words late one night, shed a few tears and then felt better.

Week three has been good. No complaints here. It helps that the weather has been so pleasant, my jeans are getting looser and Cate has been going to sleep without emptying her stomach contents all over her sheets first.

Just one more week to go!


p.s. That picture up there was taken in the afternoon on Labor Day. Day one of Puke Fest '10. Little did I know what was in store for me. So glad it's over. Knock on wood. Don't you love her crazy nap hair?

stop and smell the potpourri

Cate had a playdate yesterday with a fellow two-year-old girl. Her name is Isabella. Cate called her Bella (as it would be pronounced in Spanish...bay-yuh). Kris called her Cabela's. The two two-year-olds were running around the house squealing and laughing. It was hilarious. Little boys just don't play like that.

* * * * * *

That doll beside Cate is named Big Baby. Guess who named her. She's wearing one of the preemie outfits Cate used to wear.

* * * * * *

Sometimes I think Cate might be Italian. Here's how she talks to Grama Bama on the phone.

You-uh come-uh to-uh mine-uh house-uh. Two minutes.

(You come to my house. Two minutes.)

Go ahead. Read it over again with a really bad Italian accent. That's how she talks. I love it. Here's what she says to me several times a day.

You-uh mean-uh me, Mommy!

* * * * * *

My three cats really need to get their act together. They need to coordinate their schedules of when to be let in and out of the house. That's all I'm saying. I don't want to complain. Let's just say that they scratch on the back door when they're ready for you to cater to their every popping need. The back door is old and noisy when it is opened. Cate's bedroom is very close to the back door. Enough said. Cats, you've been warned.

* * * * * *

I'm tending baby Ray today. Pray for lots of sleep and not lots of poop. I'm wearing him in the baby bjorn as I type this with one hand. He hasn't napped yet today.

* * * * * *

Danny's been sleeping later than the crack of dawn lately. It's been nice.

* * * * * *

Cate calls to me from her crib like this sometimes, "Ho, ho! Mama! Ho, ho!" I think she means to say "yoo-hoo." She says ho ho instead and it just cracks me up.

* * * * * *

I went to see Eat Pray Love with Candis a few weeks ago. I came home wondering what would happen if I took a vow of silence for a day. I think it would drive my kids completely crazy. I just might try it.

* * * * * *

When I was tending my friend's two boys a few weeks ago, I heard Kris ask Danny something a little disturbing.

"Does he call your mom Grandma or Mama?"

He was referring to the little one-year-old. Grandma? Sheesh. I'm not that old.

* * * * * *

I want to plant a nectarine tree in my back yard.

* * * * * *

I was looking through some of my stuff trying to find some old pictures of my mom. I found this from one of the kids in my first class instead.

That's why I miss it. I need to teach my kids how to write nice stuff like that.

* * * * * *

I bought a mini Ben & Jerry's for Dan on Saturday. I ate it yesterday. I don't know what he was waiting for. Sorry, Dan. I deserved it since I spent nap time ironing all your shirts.

the end

*AFTERNOON POTPOURRI UPDATE*

Someone's been praying for me! Baby Ray has been asleep for three hours and he only pooped once this morning!
Oh, happy day!

confession: I'm a hoarder

I'm not a big time hoarder. Just an amateur really.

I don't collect anything. I don't like clutter. I am organized.

There's no crap on my kitchen counters.

A place for everything and everything in its place. I take that very seriously.

I think I'm kind of like my grandma. She saved band-aid containers (back when they were made out of metal) and stored random nails and screws in them. She also saved all different sizes of metal hooks and who knows what else. As long as it fit in those little metal containers and could be sorted by size, shape or color, she saved it.

She also saved Cool Whip containers. She washed them, dried them and kept them for sending home leftovers after Sunday dinner when I was in college. I think it was quite brilliant of her actually. That way, she never had to part with any of her precious Tupperware containers. Can you spot the vintage Cool Whip container I found in the garage? It has a handle and a spout. I'll be saving that one forever. It's vintage!

And now, I save Cool Whip containers too. I also save yogurt, cottage cheese and margarine containers. I especially like the smaller containers of sour cream and cream cheese. I don't put anything in these containers, mind you. I just wash them and stack them in the cupboard. I could recycle them but I can't bring myself to part with them. I might need them some day.

Sometimes I use them when I'm painting. I just pour some paint into a yogurt container and then I don't waste money on those paint bowls you buy at Home Depot, the ones with the little metal bar to wipe your brush on. I find that little metal bar is totally unnecessary so I just use my yogurt containers. Plus, there's a lid. No wasting paint when I have to take a break to change a diaper or break up a fight.

Plastic peanut butter jars are another favorite. I clean them out and stack them in the cupboard too. I have a hard time building up my stash though. They're perfect for collecting worms, grasshoppers and roly polies.

So there you have it. I'm an amateur hoarder.

Anything you'd like to confess?

to do list: book sling

Never mind about the rain gutter bookshelves. I found something in my new Family Fun magazine that I like even better.

A book sling.

Made out of fabric.

That I don't even have to sew.

That's a good thing since I still don't know how to use the sewing machine my mom gave me for my birthday about 10 years ago. I just had to have a sewing machine. I don't know what I was thinking.

Back to the slings, all you need is fabric, a funky curtain rod with two rod holder things and some wooden dowels.

It looks do-able.

That's why it's on my to do list now.

It might have just gotten bumped to the top of the list.

Danny's got some Star Wars library books that will fit quite nicely in there.




p.s. Did you know that Anakin built C-3PO? And that he likes to soak in an oil bath (C-3PO, not Anakin)? I had no idea. Thank goodness for library books. I learn something new almost every day.

tuesdays with raymond

Danny, Cate and I spend our Tuesdays with baby Ray. It's an adventure. We start early, sometimes not even taking time to change out of our Cinderella jammies.


Cate has been loving all the time she gets to hold baby Ray. I'm pretty sure baby Ray does not feel the same about it.


Judy strapped me in to the sleepy wrap this week. I tried. I really did. It's just not me. I don't know how to make him comfy in there and that just stresses me out. I lasted longer than last time so I feel like I'm making progress. I don't know how you baby wearing mamas do it. I really don't.


Luckily, Judy called to remind me that I could try the baby bjorn if I wanted. I feel much better in that contraption, although I did have a moment of confusion while trying to figure out where to put my arms and which way was up.


We played a little bit of dress up with baby Ray. He was not amused.


Then he finally fell asleep in the baby bjorn. Hallelujah! I think he lasted 40 minutes. That's way more than the zero sleep he did for me last Tuesday. Hallelujah again!


After that brief nap he was much happier. See? Then he stayed awake the entire time Cate slept for her nap. That was an adventure. I am remembering with not so much fondness the early days of my baby Danny. A whole lot of walking around bouncing a baby. Not a whole lot of anything else. I don't know how you mamas of newborns do it. Heck, I don't know how I did it. Twice.


After Cate's brief nap (and my catching up on my shows on the DVR and Danny's not napping and baby Ray's not napping either), we headed out to the front yard. At least that sweet little boy enjoys lounging on a blanket on the lawn. We lasted out there for a good 30 minutes.


I'm not sure what Danny was looking at but he was deep in thought.


Baby Ray had a good view of some nice green leaves.


And Cate tried out her gymnastics skills, right next to baby Ray's head. Fun times.


Baby Ray's big brothers came home from school while we were outside. Jarrett kept the baby happy so I could take a shower. Everyone played nicely until our lovely dinner of pizza and cantaloupe.

And that was Tuesday with Raymond (and Danny and Cate and Jarrett and Kris and me and the baby bjorn).

for her uncle tim

She eats it plain.

No peanut butter.

And she likes it.

In case you don't know Uncle Tim, he thinks celery is disgusting.
I'm not sure he even thinks it counts as food.

kind of like han solo

Except instead of Han Solo it's a mini firefighter dude.

And instead of carbonite it's ice.

Right now there's a green army guy in a chunk of ice in the freezer.

Isn't it fun when your kid gets big enough to fill little containers with water,

open the freezer door

and put stuff in the freezer

all by himself?

So fun.

the before pictures

I'm pretty sure my grandpa made this rocking horse. It was up in the attic. The kids got a head start on decorating it. I'm not sure what color it wants to be. I'm guessing scribble chalk is not it though.


Here's a close up of the horse's head. Back in the day, someone did a little pencil sketch of where the eyes should be.


I got this bench for free from some neighbors. It is screaming for a glossy coat of red. If you listen really closely you can hear it.


You can't really tell from the picture but these are kid chairs. My neighbor gave them to me. The other 6 are not pictured but they are just as cute. My kids and I were over at her house watching the jackhammer guy one day. She was sweeping her garage. I saw the chairs in the corner and made a comment about how cute they were (even though they were covered in dust and spider webs). She told me I could have them. All 8 of them! I asked if she was sure and she said yes. I quickly hauled them over to my yard before she could change her mind.

I'm thinking I'll paint them blue, red, yellow and green. I have no idea where I'll put them but they're going to be stinkin' cute.


I love this old chalkboard. I think it was in the attic too. I'm not sure what color it wants to be. Maybe turquoise. Seems like that color is all the rage now-a-days. Here it is back in its heyday when it had a place of importance on my grandma's kitchen wall.


That's my mom in the furry slippers reading the paper. My dad's the guy on the phone.


When I was a freshman in college I lived with my grandma. This metal cart held my typewriter. I love it. I wish I had an extra bedroom that could be my office. If I did, I would totally have this cart in there. I kind of like the green color. Maybe it just needs to be washed off. I don't know.



See how the sides come up? That's where I used to put my White Out and extra typing paper. Remember White Out? I loved the smell.


This rocking chair was in the attic too. I have a picture of my grandma sitting on this chair in her kitchen holding my uncle when he was a wee babe. Maybe it wants to be turquoise too. If you look closely at the back of the rocker part you can see that that's the color it used to be. My grandpa probably made this too.


I bought this desk from my across-the-street neighbors. They were getting ready for a yard sale. I bought it for $10. I have no where to put it but I like it anyway. What color does it want to be? Who wants to volunteer to scrape all those stickers off for me?


This beauty was given to me by my other neighbor. For free! I don't know what's going on with these neighbors of mine but I love them! This desk needs some serious sanding. Maybe that's why I've done nothing to it yet. I kind of like the blueish/grayish color of the paint that's already on it. It would go in my office if I had one. Or maybe in the playroom (if I had one of those too). For now it just sits in the back garage waiting its turn to become beautiful again.


I have big plans for this chest of drawers. It's going in Cate's room. Right now it's in the front garage because it's too heavy for me to scootch to the back all by myself and nobody seems to be helping me. Ahem. I think it could be a nice creamy color with new handles. I think my dad might have made this. Or his dad.

And one more before picture:


You never know. If I ever have some "work" done I'll be glad I have this picture to remember my wrinkles, saggy jowls, droopy eyelids and the bump at the end of my nose.

blogs I read: it's murn's turn

Marion and I grew up in the same town.
My parents have lived there for over 32 years.
Her parents have lived there for longer than that.

Marion is younger than me so we didn't really play together as kids.
She played with my younger sister though.
And our families went to church together.

I lost touch with Marion many years ago.
Recently we've found each other again on facebook.
Hooray!

Marion lives in the San Francisco area.
It's beautiful there.
I'm jealous that she gets to go for a run on the Golden Gate Bridge any old time she pleases.

Murn (that's the nickname I never knew she had) started her blog in January as a way to journal her weight loss journey.
According to the ticker at the top of her blog, she's lost 65.8 pounds so far.
I'm pretty sure Mondays are her weigh-in days so I'm hoping that number goes up tomorrow!

Go to her blog.

It's Murn's Turn

Read it.
Leave a comment.
Follow her if you want.

Learn how to cook okra.
Be jealous that she went to the Oprah show.
Admire her adorable pooch.



Go check out It's Murn's Turn!
You'll be glad you did.

Love ya, Marion!

You're amazing!

running in a 5k

Dan and I ran in a 5k on Wednesday evening. It was my first. I'm not sure about Dan. He might have done something crazy like this in college before he met me. This 5k was a family "fun" run/walk/bike event. No registration fees. No white paper with a number on it safety pinned to your shirt. Dan's not convinced that it was actually 5k either. That's ok though. I was just there to see what the "fun" was going to be.

Turns out, the only part that I would consider "fun" was crossing the finish line and stopping. Watching Dan and our friend (in the red shirt up there) do some warm up stretches before the whole thing started was a little bit fun too.



See how Dan's all smiles before the race started? It didn't take long for those smiles to fade. I can't blame him though. He was running for fun while pushing 69 pounds of kid in the stroller. I tried to take my turn pushing but he shooed me off. So I ran ahead of them and that was that.


I quickly discovered that running for fun is quite boring. I prefer to watch the tv at the gym when I exercise. All this running with nothing to look at but my feet and the backs of the people in front of me. Fun. Fun. Fun. So I took pictures to pass the time.

Here's a picture of my legs and the road.


I think I heard someone say that when we turned the corner it would be half way. I'm not sure how accurate that was but here's where we turned the corner. It was a lovely sunset.


This is where my shoulder started hurting. It was the arm that was holding my camera so that's probably why. It has nothing to do with being out of shape I'm sure.


I saw some horses.


And some horse poop. There's a guy and a little kid up at the top of the picture. That little kid was on a bike and he kept swerving over the yellow lines, even though his dad was jogging next to him. I sped up and passed them because there was no way I was going to let a kid on a bike beat me.


I took this picture over my shoulder. If you look really closely you might be able to see the rest of my family eating my dust.


This picture is for my dad. That's Mt. Timpanogos.


When I was getting close to the finish line, some people started cheering. It made me feel good until I realized that they were cheering for the girl who was right behind me. See? Fun!

A few feet away from the finish, that same girl sped up and took a big step so she could beat me! The nerve. Then she laughed and said, "Just kidding!" Fun!

I obviously have never run in any kind of race before. Here's how I know (other than the fact that I remember everything and I know I've never run in a race before). As I crossed the finish line, I heard a guy say "31, 35." I thought he was telling me that I had finished 31st in the race. I wasn't sure what the 35 meant. Maybe that the other girl had finished 35th. That didn't make sense though since there weren't 4 people between us. I'm not too bright. I realize that now.



I headed back out to the curb so I could see Dan and the kids when they crossed the line too. That's when I saw that Danny had taken off is shirt during the run. Lovely. Dan's a trooper! I'm proud of him for finishing. His time was 33:46. Guess what mine was. Yep. 31:35. I was thinking that was pretty good until Dan told me that he walked a lot of the way. And he was pushing 69 pounds of kid. I've left myself lots of room for improvement though.

Actually training for this "fun" run might have helped too. I'm not sure running 20 times around the track a week before the event really counts as training. Oh well. Since the only prize I could see was spending quality time on a run/walk/bike with your family, I'd say I put in just the right amount of training.


See how fun it was? I'm smiling! And that girl behind me with the blue shorts is the one who tried to beat me.


Look out, St. George marathon!

Here I come!