Happy Department

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-26T06:56:00.002-05:00

This should be a pretty simple and easy menu this week as hubby won't be home for dinner most nights and I'll be taking care of the munchkin all day. I figure it's better to plan super simple things than to end up not eating because I don't have a plan! And with a four month old...if I'm not organized things just don't get done!

Monday: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs on toast, sausage, hash brown)
Tuesday: Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich
Wednesday: mini homemade pizza...or a frozen pizza if I'm feeling really lazy!
Thursday: Fish, rice, and veggies
Friday: Chicken caesar salad
Saturday: Roasted chicken, rice or mashed potatoes, veggies
Sunday: Most likely leftovers

It should be an easy week dinner-wise...and I think the Munchkin and I are going to have a fun week together! She's even coming in to work with me a couple times!

Company Girl Coffee 1.23.09

2009-01-23T09:08:00.004-05:00

Good Morning Girls!

This week did not start off great for me. I should start off by saying that ten years ago my husband (then my boyfriend) and I bought our very first pet. It was our first pet together, but it was also my very first pet EVER. He was a little tiny black dwarf rabbit, and we named him Midnight. He was the best rabbit ever. We trained him to use a litter box, and later when we got Duke (our German Shepherd) the two of them were the cutest pair! You wouldn't think a tiny dwarf rabbit and a German Shepherd would be friends, but they were. They'd chase each other around the yard (yes, chase each other. Midnight would actually try to chase Duke. It was hilarious). Midnight was also very particular about how his cage was set up. He had to have his little house (a little wooden structure Ben built for him, he usually slept in there and occasionally chewed on it) in the back corner and he couldn't have too many shavings in there. On days when I'd clean his cage out we'd play a game where I'd fill his little house up with shavings and he'd dive in and shovel it all out with his paws.

Last Thursday when I fed Midnight I noticed that he seemed to be getting thinner and wasn't as active as he usually is. I figured I'd give it a day and see if maybe he was just having a lazy day, which he's done before - he just sort of hangs out and relaxes instead of hopping all over the place. So Friday came and he didn't look any better, I could feel his little spine and when he'd lay down he had trouble getting back up. It was like half of his body wasn't working, and he'd sort of scramble to try to get up and just not make it. So, since he's rather old I decided to make him an appointment at the vet just in case there was something wrong, and he was supposed to go to the vet on Tuesday (after the holiday). Well...Monday morning I got up and went to see him and he seemed to be about the same. He looked like he'd lost some weight, and when I picked him up and snuggled him he didn't want to get down. Usually he'll let me snuggle him for a few minutes, but then he gets fidgety and wants to hop around and play. It wasn't like that Monday morning. After awhile I went back upstairs to take care of the baby while Ben plowed the driveway.

When I went back downstairs a couple hours later to help Ben finish the plowing, I went over to check on Midnight. I guess he had just waited until he'd gotten some morning snuggles before he went into his "house" and passed away. He looked peaceful in there, just laying down like he'd gone to take a nap...

Ben found some wood and we made his little house into a coffin. I wrapped him up in some fabric and we put some carrots in, and said a little prayer. And Ben dug a hole out back where Midnight used to go and eat clovers and we buried him up on that hill. I miss that little bun. In the spring I think we'll put up a little plaque and I'll plant some flowers.

Farewell my little friend. You were a very loved little bunny.

So, aside from that, my week has been fairly calm. I made some fantastic toffee (has anyone ever had the toffee that includes Saltines? You wouldn't think it would work, but it does!) and had lots of fun playing with the Munchkin. She's learned how to roll over and has now figured out that if she continues to roll in the same direction she can roll herself across the room! Only occasionally does she get hung up - if she manages to change direction and roll into one of the support things on her jungle gym she gets stuck there, which is rather amusing.

I hope everyone else had a great week and you're not as snowed in as we are!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-19T06:02:00.003-05:00

This will be a quick post since Ben's home today so we're going to hang out together! This week I made a big list of what we have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards and then let Ben decide which meals he'd like, and then figured out where those meals fit into our schedule. So, this week we're having:

Monday: cheese tortellini with tomato sauce, garlic bread, salad

Tuesday: sweet & sour pork (with leftovers from Sunday's pork roast), rice, veggies

Wednesday: steak and cheese sandwiches, onion rings, salad

Thursday: New England boiled dinner (corned beef, potatoes, cabbage)

Friday: Cheeseburger macaroni (I've had a box of Hamburger Helper in the cupboard for awhile, and I don't love it, but I figure we'd better eat it up before it expires...)

Saturday: BBQ chicken and caramelized onion pizza

Sunday: Breakfast

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more!

Homemade Brownies

2009-01-14T07:34:00.003-05:00

I have to admit that I for a long time I could not make homemade brownies that were as good as what I could make out of a box. They always had the wrong consistency, or they didn't taste chocolately enough...or hubby just didn't like them! I've finally made some that I love - and it only gets one dish dirty! Yay!

Chocolate Brownies
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
dash of vanilla (I never measure this. maybe a teaspoon?)(mint extract is also a yummy option)
1 cup flour
You could add a cup of nuts or chocolate chips or whatever, but Ben likes his brownies plain.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a pan over low-medium heat (you could also do this in the microwave, but I'm sort of anti-microwave for cooking. I'm weird.). Stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until it's well blended. Stir in the flour. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let it cool in the pan and then cut.

I made these last night and then sort of forgot that I left them on the counter...so they stayed out all night and I had a hard time getting them out of the pan this morning...and getting the dog to stay away while I dropped brownie crumbs all over the kitchen floor.

Macaroni and Cheese

2009-01-14T07:21:00.003-05:00

So far this week's menu is working out very well! So I thought I'd share some of my recipes...

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (or use whatever pasta you like)
Bacon - a few slices
1/2 a medium onion, diced
flour - a couple tablespoons
milk - 2 cups-ish
shredded sharp cheddar cheese - 1.5 - 2 cups

You can see I don't really measure when I cook...

So! Boil the macaroni for about 10 minutes or until al dente (or a little more, my hubby likes it just past al dente but before it gets mushy). While the macaroni is boiling:

Cook the bacon, reserving a couple tablespoons of the rendered fat. Crumble the bacon on the side (or, if you don't want bacon in your mac and cheese you can save it for something else). Saute the onions in the reserved bacon fat (you can omit the bacon totally and use a couple tablespoons of butter for this if you want). When those are nice and translucent add a couple tablespoons of flour - enough to make a pastey consistency with the bacon fat/butter. Stir that around for a minute or two. Slowly add 1.5 to 2 cups of milk and whisk. Keep whisking until the mixture starts to thicken and then add the cheddar cheese. Whisk it all together until the cheese is melted and the sauce is nice and thick. Your cheese sauce is all done!

Drain the pasta and put it into a casserole dish (I think I usually use a 2 qt one) and pour the cheese sauce over. If you want bacon in there add it now. Stir everything together. You can eat it at this point if you like, but I like mine backed with a little bit of crunchiness so I usually add some bread crumbs - or - I've recently discovered that stuffing mix is delicious on top! Stick it in the oven at about 350 for half an hour or so until the top is all nice and crunchy. Dinner's ready!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Good Morning!

Ben helped with menu planning again this week! We're trying even harder to budget now that I'm working only part-time. For this week we have planned:

Monday: Homemade macaroni and cheese (It's already put together and in the fridge so Ben can pop it in the oven before I get home from work)

Tuesday: Chicken Stir-Fry

Wednesday: Cheeseburger meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, steamed veggies

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns or corned beef hash)

Friday: Baked chicken, rice, steamed veggies

Saturday: Hamburgers, steak fries, salad

Nothing particularly exciting or new this week, just trying to use up what we already have in the freezer and the cupboards.

Visit Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for lots more Menu Plan Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday, er, Wednesday

2009-01-07T10:18:00.003-05:00

Dudes, I am so late with everything so far! So much for New Years Resolutions! Wait, I didn't resolve to stay punctual with anything! Maybe I ought to...

I actually planned our menu for the week on Sunday, and then did about a month's worth of plans on Monday. How those fit into the rotation will more or less depend on what's on sale at the time. Anyhow, Ben actually helped a lot with the menu planning this week! We came up with lots of different meals so now I have about a months worth of menus to work with. I try not to plan too far ahead, and usually finalize my plans on Sunday so that I can incorporate whatever is on sale at the grocery store that week. But having a rough idea works great for me because it's one less thing I have to worry about during the day!

Monday: Stuffed Peppers. This was a "Make Again" meal for Ben.

Tuesday: Penne with meatballs and sauce, garlic bread. Another "Make Again."

Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner - bacon, eggs on toast, hash browns

Thursday: Honey Mustard Chicken, potatoes (mashed I think), steamed veggies

Friday: BBQ Chicken Pizza with Caramelized Onions

Saturday: Fish, rice and veggies

Sunday: Taco Salads

Today I MUST put away the four loads of laundry that are sitting in the guest bedroom. I have no idea how we produce as much laundry as we do. It's ridiculous. And by the time I manage to get it all clean and dried I'm so tired that I have no energy to put it away. But today - I will! Because tomorrow - my aunt is coming to spend the night and the guest bed is currently covered in laundry! :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T09:56:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!

I'm a little late in posting as of late, but I finally have a few minutes for a quick update!

Our Christmas was fantastic. I love having everybody at the house, and I'm so glad that our new(ish) house has plenty of room for everybody to spend the night without being on top of one another.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year:

Now let me explain it. :) A couple years ago, when Ben was deployed, my brother, Allen, and I went to my parents house and we baked Christmas cookies together. But, because while we strictly adhere to traditions (like baking cookies together) we aren't exactly always traditional in what we make. That year we had the drunk Christmas penguin, a Christmas fried egg, and Christmas Pac Man and Ghosts, and, our favorite, Stuart the Christmas Elephant (I have no idea how we came up with Stuart's name, it just happened). That Christmas Allen shellacked Stuart, put a ribbon on him, and gave him to me for my Christmas tree. And for two years Stuart proudly hung on the tree...until this year. This year he came out of the ornament box...a little fuzzy. And green. I suppose when you use actual cookie dough rather than dough intended for ornaments mold is perhaps inevitable. And with the baby I didn't want to keep anything moldy hanging around on the tree (or anywhere else for that matter...). So Stuart ended up in the trash. I wrote my brother a sad little email about how I had to get rid of Stuart...and this year I got the ornament above. That is a picture of the actual Stuart the Christmas Elephant (apparently we thought it was so funny that we took a picture of the cookie), in a Seasons Greetings frame that Allen made, with a ribbon to hang on the tree. The back of it says:

"Stuart The Ghost of Christmas Elephants Past, 2008." I think it's hilarious and thoughtful. I love my brother. :)

Madelyn got a new hat (amongst a trove of other clothes and toys). I just thought the picture was hilarious.

And eventually she got sick of the whole Christmas thing and just needed a nap:
So now, onward to the new year! I've resolved to try harder to keep up with the Small Things, and to do a little extra every day. And I'm trying hard to get into some sort of household routine so that the laundry gets done, and the bathrooms get cleaned and my house doesn't generally fall apart. :) I read someplace that it takes 21 days to get into a new habit, so I'm resolving to start 12 new healthy habits this year (just small ones, nothing huge) - one per month. I figure that way I can get into the habit of one of those, and then once it's already a part of my life - I can start another one. We're talking really small though. This month's is to bring up the yucky dishcloth & kitchen towel every night and throw it in the laundry (or at least the laundry pile) so that it doesn't get stinky in the kitchen sink. :) See? SMALL.

In current, and totally unrelated to anything, knitting news - I haven't finished a darn thing. Go figure. I'm partway through the foot of the blue and brown socks (which are someone's Christmas gift for next year), and working on the heel of the pink and blue socks (another gift, although I'm not sure for who yet...), and still working on the mittens from Karen's homespun. I have finished nothing. Maybe I should incorporate knitting into my new years resolutions somehow....

Company Girl Coffee

2008-12-19T08:37:00.004-05:00

Good Morning Girls!

It's been a rather long week here, we've been super busy getting ready for Christmas and Madelyn seems to have developed a distaste for naptime and discovered a fun new way to keep herself awake rather than nap - high pitched screaming. Luckily it isn't the same sort of "I'm mad!" or "I'm hurt!" sort of scream - it's a happy scream, just incredibly high pitched. So now the only way to get her to take a nap is to lay her down and let her do that for about three minutes, which totally wears her out, and then she'll konk out...for about ten minutes. I barely have any time to do anything - for the second day in a row when Ben got home yesterday I was still in my pajamas and unshowered.

We have overnight guests next week from Monday through Saturday, so I'm also trying to get three guest bedrooms tidied up and ready. I'm almost there; I think by the time everyone arrives I should be pretty much finished. Today I'm hoping to at least get all the guest beds made up.

I'm not even close to finished with all the Christmas gift crafts I was supposed to have finished by now, and I have yet to wrap a single gift! I did finish one of the four scrapbook calendars, one pair of socks for Ben, and I've partially finished some of the ornaments for my grandmothers. At least I still have a few more days to finish! Here are some of my favorite pages from the first scrap-calendar:

Three more to go! I also need to finish another pair of socks and put the final touches on the ornaments. And I still have holiday baking to do! I'm hoping to get some of that done tomorrow. I'm trying not to take on too much this season so I can really enjoy it with Maddie, so my parents will be bringing our traditional Christmas breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls (usually burnt by my dad). And we're having fairly simple dinners for the holidays - New England Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve, and Prime Rib for Christmas Day. Simple and yummy!

I'm also really looking forward to after-Christmas knitting! I have a couple projects I want to start for myself that I can't get to with all the Christmas gift knitting!

Hope you're all having fun this season!

Bailey's Truffle Fudge recipe

2008-12-16T13:26:00.003-05:00

As requested from last Friday's post, my recipe for Bailey's Irish Cream Truffle fudge. I can't eat more than one square or I get a tummy ache - so make sure you have lots of people to share with!

4 cups chocolate chips (or any combination of chocolate and vanilla chips, depending on your taste)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
- Some people add nuts to this, I don't. I just don't think nuts go well with Bailey's. Add about a half cup if you like them

Melt the chocolate chips and butter together - I use a double boiler or a bowl set over steaming water so as not to overheat. Once melted, add the sugar and Bailey's and stir until it's smooth. (Add the nuts here if you want them, and mix well). Line an 8" pan with plastic wrap and lightly spray with cooking spray (or you can spray the pan directly, I like to lift the plastic wrap out after, either way works). Pour (or spoon) the fudge into the pan. Smooth out the top - I use another piece of plastic wrap and just press until the fudge is even and smooth.

For extra special fudge you can make this topping:
1.5 cups chocolate chips (or any combination of chocolate/vanilla)
2 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp Bailey's

Melt the chocolate chips as you did for the fudge. Stir in butter and Bailey's until smooth. Spread over the top of fudge. You can smooth this layer with a piece of plastic wrap too.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours while you lick the bowl.

How long could you survive?

2008-12-15T10:40:00.002-05:00

1 minute, 6 seconds

Created by Bunk Beds.net

Of course this doesn't exactly explain why I'm chained to a bunk bed, or why there's a velociraptor in there with me...but at least I could survive for a minute and six seconds.

Friday Coffee with My Company Girls!

2008-12-12T08:36:00.002-05:00

Come on in for some hot chocolate and Bailey's truffle fudge! Mmm! It's freezing cold here today! I hope everybody had a great week. I'm starting to enjoy getting ready for the holidays. I start preparing for Christmas right after my birthday (mid-October) because it's my favorite time of year, but it was a little more difficult this year because Maddie was only a month old at that time - so she's still a lot of work every day. So I tried to do at least one little holiday task every day - put up the lights, decorate the tree, bake some cookies, put the decorations up around the house.
Tuesday's Small Thing was by far my favorite - I spent some extra snuggly time with Maddie, which was just wonderful. I had made a comment the night before to Ben, about how I was sort of jealous (not really jealous but...well that's the best word I can think of) because he gets to come home from work and he gets to spend the evening cuddling with her, while my day is generally spent in a whirlwind of cleaning, feedings, diaper changes, playtime...and by the time he gets home she's sleepy and snuggly. But, you know, when I think about it - I'm really lucky to be able to spend (almost) every day with her. I may have other things to take care of during the day, but we have a good amount of snuggle time and play time during the day. I've been able to see her first smile, and her first giggle, and the first time she started "talking" to me. I wouldn't give that up for anything.

We're definitely cutting back this Christmas, with the economy the way it is, and the fact that we're essentially living on one income (I'm only at work one day a week, so it gives us a little extra, but not a whole lot). So I've been making gifts for a lot of people - mostly knitted things (socks, gloves, hats, one special person is getting a sweater), and a couple quilts. For my parents and Ben's parents I took blank calendars and made the pages scrapbook style with pictures of Madelyn's first three months. It's small, but I think it's sentimental - and quite a lot of work to do a total of 24 scrapbook pages in three months! I've also made ornaments for some of our friends. I think the only people getting store bought gifts this year are my immediate family, and they're getting things they really need. The things at Christmas that matter most to me are all non-present-related. I love setting up the tree and decorating it. In years past we've always had friends over for this activity, and we've had cocoa and I've told stories about where all the ornaments are from. This year it was just the three of us, which was still special since it's Madelyn's first Christmas. I love having "Craft Day" before Christmas to work on all the Christmas gifts that need to be finished up - although many times this turns into a bunch of us girls watching Christmas movies, drinking cocoa, and just catching up. And I'm very excited for next year when I think Maddie will be old enough to help bake Christmas cookies, and we can make some ornaments together.

Today Maddie and I are most definitely spending the day inside where it's warm! Ben called a few minutes ago to let me know he had made it to work - in an hour! His office is only about 5 miles down the road! On top of the roads being icy, there are trees down, roads closed, and some cars off the road. Yikes. I took the photo above this morning, up near one of the streams that flows through our property. So I think today looks like a good day to do a little work from home, and then work on some Christmas projects! I hope everybody has a great weekend and stays warm!

Witnessed Last Evening & Knitting Update

2008-12-09T08:46:00.004-05:00

I got up from knitting last night and found everbody zonked out:

Maddie and Daddy

Duke:

Dozie (who really was sleeping and then I woke him up with the flashing camera)

In knitting news...I have a large variety of unfinished items. Three pairs of socks are awaiting mates. I'm making Madelyn a cardigan - the back is finished, and that's it so far. And, as usual, I'm working on "The Blankie":

Each of those squares is about 2" - I have to make like 800 of them to finish the blankie. I'm not joking. 800. I might finish by the time Maddie's a teenager. Maybe. It's all sock yarn and knit on Size 2 needles. Any sock knitters out there who care to part with their leftovers? The squares are little so I'm always looking for new little bits of sock yarn to incorporate. Plus I love that each of the different squares has a different story. The square way on the left (it's cut off in the picture) is from the very first pair of socks I knit - a gift for Baby Owen (he's almost 2 now) and his mom. The stripey blue/red/green/blue/white one is from the second pair I knit - a gift for my Aunt Laura a couple years ago. The blue one was a pair I knit for her for her birthday. And the big purple one and the stripey green/purple/pink one are from yarn that I dyed with some help from Karen when Ben was deployed. There's another bunch that came from my mom, and some that came from swaps I did with people on Ravelry. If you have extra you're willing to part with let me know! I'm always on the lookout for more!!

A New Christmas Carrot

2008-12-09T08:35:00.005-05:00

The original Christmas Carrot. Originally part of my mobile when I was a baby, "Carroty" eventually found his calling as a Christmas ornament. Always the first ornament on the tree, in a place of honor and surrounded by his friends Christmas Dog (seen here laying down on the tree) and Christmas Whale, he was always our favorite and most sentimental Christmas ornament. Now that Allen and I have both moved to our own homes, Carroty still lives with my parents. He made the trek to NH last year when my parents and Allen came down from Maine to have Christmas at our new house. I think he'll do the same thing this year, but I felt the need to have a little carrot on my own tree. Unfortunately...I'm not sure the carrot I made even compares to the original carroty:

New carrot:

Carroty Jr. is much chubbier than original Carroty. He's also missing the pink cheeks, a nose, and green sprouts on the top. All things I can fix. I think maybe I need to either make a knitted carrot and felt it, or actually make one out of felt. For now, Carroty Jr. will live happily on our tree next to Madelyn's first Christmas ornament.

A Visit with Santa

2008-12-09T08:29:00.003-05:00

You can't tell in this photo but our photos with Santa Claus were taken at the local Harley dealership! The kids got to sit on Santa's Harley (which isn't in any of our pictures since Maddie's too little to sit on it) and get their pictures taken. Maddie did so well in line while we waited, looking around, smiling, giggling...right up until it was our turn and then she had a little mini-meltdown. So most of the photos of her with Santa this year are...not so great. This was probably the best one we got. The Harley dealership was great though - they had a photographer there and the photos are free! We have to go back on Saturday to pick it up; hopefully the photographer got a better photo than we did.

Company Girl Coffee!

2008-12-05T12:22:00.005-05:00

Good Morning Girls!

I hope you all had a great week! Our week was busy, but good. I managed to keep up with my Small Things - on top of going back to work. I'm back in the office for one day a week, which is perfect. I get to see everyone that I missed while I was out on maternity leave, but since I'm home the rest of the week I don't have to worry too much about childcare, and I get to spend lots of time with Maddie. We also got our Christmas tree - chopped down in the woods! Yesterday was Ben's birthday, so we had a "special" dinner (KFC - his choice...) and he opened his presents and spent some snuggly time with Maddie.

How cute are these little socks? They're Smartwools for babies! I just think they're the cutest. I also love that they have the non-slip stuff on the bottoms, even though she isn't even close to walking yet. They're just so cute and little!!

Holy Sheets!

2008-12-04T11:56:00.004-05:00

So, for the past few months I've been following Rachel Anne's "Sanctuary in the Small Things" assignments in an attempt to regain some control over my house. This worked up until Maddie was born at which point I no longer have time to do ANYTHING except baby stuff. Not that I'd have it any other way - I'm totally enjoying baby time, even if it does mean that sometimes we have no clean dishes. Or clothes. But, now that Maddie's almost three months old and we've somewhat settled into a schedule, I'm going to try to follow them again and actually have the house look somewhat presentable on a daily basis (hey! stop laughing!).

We had two guest rooms used over Thanksgiving, and then one again on Sunday night when my aunt stayed over so she could babysit for me on Monday. So this amounts to five sets of sheets that need washing (if you count my sheets and the Maddie's crib and bassinett.) My small thing today? Wash them ALL and put them away. Neatly.

Oh good luck to me...all I want to do is play with Maddie!

A Christmas Tree

2008-12-04T11:46:00.004-05:00

A new family holiday tradition!! This was so exciting. A combination of holiday traditions (one of my favorite things) and me thinking that I'm outdoorsy (another of my favorite things.)! Let's just take note that this says "thinking" I'm outdoorsy. Because, dudes, I am so not outdoorsy. I own one pair of jeans, and I didn't even wear them out in the woods. I think I wore gray pants. And black boots with fluffy insides. That were most definitely not designed for use hiking through the woods in search of Christmas trees. I waded through several rivers (yeah okay, they weren't exactly rivers. But they were bigger than streams! Give me some credit here.), and walked through branches and brush and...found a Christmas tree! How fun.

We drove up to Rachel and Steve's on Sunday morning, hiked out in the woods with them (they are totally outdoorsy. Rachel wore a Carhardtt jacket and Sorel boots. This does not compare to my Columbia jacket and boots from Target.) and we found the most perfect Christmas tree! Ben and Steve sawed it down and carried it back to the house. My favorite part was making them stop mid-"river" so that I could take a picture of them being outdoorsy. Ben wouldn't let me wear Maddie in the Snugli carrier on the way back because he was afraid I'd fall into a river or something, which is probably an accurate assumption. So Rachel hiked back with Maddie strapped on, and then we got back and we had a lovely lunch of grilled cheese and soup and Maddie had a little nap! PLUS we got to go visit the farm and I got to pet lots of sheep!

I do love the holidays!!

Can anyone explain why I look 4 feet tall here?

Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late...)

2008-12-04T11:37:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah, I'm posting a little late...as usual. We had my parents, my brother, and my aunt down for Thanksgiving. I think this was the first year I finally decided I didn't need to go all Martha Stewart-esque. There was the year where I made everything - including the crackers that we had set out before dinner. We had seven guests. I made nine pies. And then I fell asleep at the dinner table. This year...cranberry sauce from a can, and potluck style everything else. My only responsibility was the turkey...which I bought and then got so busy Thanksgiving morning that I forgot to put it in the oven until somewhere around 11. And even then...my dad did it. Whatever - I was relaxed and enjoyed the time with my family, and as far as I'm concerned that's worth a whole lot more than the homemade cranberry sauce (which, honestly, I'll probably make next year).

The little munchkin enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and even wore a particularly festive little outfit. She even sat at the table with Daddy while we all ate. Ben decided that evening that we should get a Christmas tree as soon as possible. I think my attempt to convert him from Scrooge to Elf is almost complete. I'm thinking the baby helped.

Happy Girl!

2008-11-13T08:04:00.003-05:00

She's "talking" a blue streak now! Granted, I have no idea what she's saying, but she'll "talk" back to me in what I can only describe as baby conversation. :) I think she's trying to say "Mama."

I'm Back!!

2008-11-04T09:48:00.005-05:00

So it took me a couple months to get back into the swing of things. I have a two month old! I find it impressive when I manage to take a shower before dinner. I'm desperately trying to get back into somewhat of a routine and get the house cleaned up. I managed to move my craft furniture upstairs yesterday with Ben, so now it's just a matter of collecting the yarn/fabric/scrapbooking supplies and hauling them upstairs and putting them away. Yay! Look - Halloween pictures!

Time to go pick up the house!

Moved Here!

2008-08-02T14:07:00.001-04:00

Yes, I know there are only like three people who actually read this - but I moved it over to this new address! http://happydept.blogspot.com/. It was becoming increasingly annoying to have to sign out of google and into yahoo every time I wanted to update the old site, and then sign back into google after I was finished. This way I'm always logged in and it'll be much easier to update! And with so much going on in my life lately, I'm going to try really hard to update more often!! For now...I'm off to help Ben build the new patio. Hot tub here I come!