Show us the ugliest thing you own.
Show us the ugliest thing you own.
First, let's start with the Ugly....my hair. Actually, I just about have styling it down, so it's not really bad. I just had to have "ugly" so my title would make sense.
So, now the good and the bad...
Bad....
This stinking cold that just won't go away.
Good....
Ice Day on Friday! Family movie night with my husband and kids. Sleeping in with Steve because of the ice. Having friends over for dinner on Saturday. Sweet potato fries. My kids. Sunday dinner with my family at our favorite restaurant. A husband that helps without being asked because he knows I'm not feeling good. Sunday afternoon naps. Skipbo with Steve and Victoria. Curling up with my honey watching the Oscars.
Hey, look at that, the good totally outweighed the bad!
]]>I've been sick and whiny all week. If I were Steve, I would've sent me to my room, locked the door and thrown the key away. But I'm not Steve. Instead, he got up on Sunday morning, got the kids out the door, played last minute substitute teacher for my Sunday School class, and allowed me to curl up on the couch in my pajamas for both Sunday AND Monday. He also did the Sunday afternoon clean up. (The house always seems to explode during the Sunday morning rush to get ready for church) He's been great in the evenings, doing whatever he can to make stuff easy on me, even if that just means playing referree and answering the hundreds of questions the kids come up with.
Last night he really came through for me. He surprised me with 2 pints of Ben and Jerry's (Chubby Hubby and Half Baked) and this....
Yes, he brought me War and Peace. I read Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina a couple of summers ago and have been talking about wanting to read War and Peace ever since. It's something I've mentioned before, but it's been awhile, so Steve gets "good husband" bonus points for stopping and buying this for me. Not that he needs any more points. His score is off the chart this year already. Although, now that I think about it, maybe he bought it for me so I would stop trying to talk to him while he is trying to read "The Poisonwood Bible". Hmmmm.
Anyway, this is the newest (and supposedly the best) translation. Sure this might take me a month to read, but I'm looking forward to it. As you can see, ZuZu is unimpressed by War and Peace and just wanted me to give her the treat I promised if she would sit still for the picture.
]]>I've made some new food discoveries recently and wanted to share them with you all. I tend to get bored with things after awhile and start looking for new taste experiences. Here are a few things that have made my taste buds go "Wow!".
First, we have these delicious cookies. They are super healthy AND ridiculously tasty. They are also high in fiber. So, um, don't eat a whole box in one sitting. Steve keeps turning his nose up at these. Which is fine with me, because if he ate one, he'd be hooked. I'm rationing them out, one a day, so I still have over a months worth in the pantry.
Also delicious and healthy. I love a good french fry and these are not only good, but full of vitamins, fiber and other good stuff. (Sorry, I'm obsessed with fiber due to a history of colon cancer in my family). I love 'em baked with a light sprinkling of salt. My Target sells them in their frozen food section. Love them! Steve gave them a thumbs up and 4 out of 5 children say they are tasty. (Mrs. P, guess which one doesn't like them!)
Last but not least, Pringles Baked Wheat Stix. They are low in calories and fat, but not really nutritious. No vitamins, no fiber. They've got that nice sweet and salty thing going on that I just love. They also come in Pizza and Vanilla. I've had the pizza flavor and like those too. Reminds me of Pizza flavored Goldfish. 3 out of 5 children in the household also give them a thumbs up. The other two don't like new flavors and textures (Mrs. P, wanna guess which 2 those happen to be?). That's ok, just means more for me!
]]>ZuZu, Victoria's chinchilla, just ran across my keyboard and changed my browser settings. I have no clue as to how she did that. Crazy chilla!
*I edited this to add a picture of ZuZu for those of you that have never seen a chinchilla before.
]]>I know, I know, it's not hideous, but there are some major issues I have with it. First off, she cut it in two distinct layers on the sides and back. Around the face is fine, I can deal with the bangs I didn't ask for. But I need lots of layering to get my curls to behave. I'm stuck straightening and curling now. Before my hair didn't take long at all, 10 minutes tops. It took me an hour to get it to do this. Needless to say, I'm frustrated and out of time as I have to go pick up the kids from school.
]]>How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Submitted by Stephen.
Well, Valentine's Day isn't really a big deal around here for Steve and I. Once upon a time, I felt the need for a holiday like that. But Steve, well, it's like we have Valentine's Day several times a week. Except instead of cards and chocolate, it's usually a sweet phone call, e-mail or mix cd he spent hours putting together for me (yes, we are silly like that) and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. He really is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met. He pays attention to the things I say, which makes him an awesome gift giver. Seriously, nice guys are the best. He even rescued me on Wednesday when I tried to put air in my tire and ended up letting all the air out instead. Yeah, I'm a real idiot sometimes. I can be pretty self sufficient, but other times, I'm a just a helpless girl in need of a intelligent man to come to my rescue. He didn't even yell or get upset, as my father always did when my mother did something silly and inconvenient.
So yeah, what did I do to celebrate Valentine's Day? Well, around here, it's more for the kids. I got the Valentine's Day cards I picked up last year on clearance out of the closet ($.25 a box, yo!). The 3 youngest kids mixed and matched what they wanted, and I still have plenty for next year. Then I stayed up late baking 132 double chocolate cookies for various school parties.
Wednesday morning, we all got up and ready for school. Steve and I gave the kids their Valentine's Day candy. Then we headed off to school. About 10 minutes into the drive, Steve called. The kids' school was closed due to ice. I was clueless as it wasn't on the news that morning and there wasn't a lick of ice on the roads in our county.
Since we were already dressed and out, we all headed to Target to pick up Steve's gift. I know, I said we aren't big on Valentine's Day, but I wasn't happy with what I gave him for Christmas, so I saved up to buy him a good gift for whatever holiday came next.
Anyway, the kids were in shock over how dead and quiet Target is at 8:30 in the morning. They were a little creeped out by it. Me, I love it. I bought Steve's iPod and Josiah spent the rest of his birthday cash on Pokemon figurines. I also let them pick out a frozen dinner out for lunch as a special treat. Then we headed home, put pjs back on and chilled for the rest of the day. Well, they chilled. Since that meant 4 out of 5 kids taking turns on my laptop, I organized 2 different cabinets in the kitchen. I was tired of them not shutting completely or being whacked by boxes of cereal when I opened them.
I made lazy lasagna for dinner with super buttery chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Steve loves him some cookies. Steve brought me my sweet potato fries (which required 3 trips into the same store to locate), a couple of boxes of chocolate, and some Ben and Jerry's. Gary came over to watch LOST and have some of my yummy lasagna.
This morning I sent all the cookies back to school with the kids. Even if they don't have parties today, at least they can share them. Seriously, I don't need 11+ dozen cookies sitting around the house calling me to eat them. Although, I do still have 3 dozen chocolate chips cookies, plus the cookie dough I sat aside in the fridge for myself. Nothing like cookie dough from the fridge. When I was a kid, my mom would say I would get worms from eating raw cookie dough, but I've never gotten worms, so I suspect she was just trying to keep me from eating all the cookie dough.
Now I need to go get ready. Steve was a sweetheart and made me an appointment with my awesome hairstylist, Amy. I think he was tired of me whining about my hair. I usually only get it cut once or twice a year (because I am cheap), which means I'm really not due for a trim til sometime in June, so this is a special treat! Amy's really cool and fun too. She grew up in the same church as Steve, so I even get some fun little stories. She's a little older than him, so she refers to him as "Stevie". Heh. If I decide to go with something new and outrageous, I'll share the pictures, but I'm thinking I'll be boring and just have the dead ends cut off.
Ok, seriously, I'm going now!
]]>I bought Steve an iPod for Valentine's Day (to make up for some less than stellar Christmas gifts). He brought me a bag of frozen sweet potato fries. Seriously, I love this guy.
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