Take Two

About a month ago I wrote this post explaining the differing opinions that Zachariah and I have on how the diapers should be organized. Well, we had another diaper encounter. This time, Zachariah took it upon himself to move the diapers from the organized basket back to the big box they came in.


So for his punishment I made him sit in the diaper box to think about what he did.
For three hours.
Just kidding. He was in there for like 5 seconds.
Needless to say, we had to go over the rules again.

Zachariah... Mommy likes the diapers like this:

I don't know why he has such a hard time remembering these things.
:)

This is Fun!

I saw this fun little thing on Rachael's blog over at little bits of heaven. ( I stalk her blog on a pretty regular basis. She has some of the cutest triplets EVER. You should go take a peek.) Ok, onto the game! Here are the rules.

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

My fourth picture happened to be of my K3 kids! Well, most of them. Sweet little Camryn wasn't there. :( This was in 2007... my last year teaching before I had Z, and the picture was taken on Pajama Day! I had such a sweet class (with one exception. But he will remain nameless. hee hee) and I miss them a ton.*sigh*

Now time for some tagging.
I tag Amy, Hayley, Jamie and Tammi.

One Hernia, Coming Up

Zachariah is under the impression that he is the strongest one year old around. He will try (and most of the time succeed) to pick up heavy objects and tote it over to me or Daniel. He is so proud of himself when he "helps" by carrying things. His favorite thing to carry happens to be packs of diapers. He makes a funny little grunting sound and his facial expression cracks me up. Daniel keeps saying that he is going to give himself a baby hernia. *insert eye roll here*

So now, without further adieu... here is a video of the cuteness (Please ignore his messy room).

UGH

I just want to say how freaking tired I am of the weather down here. There is something that is just plain wrong about wearing capri's and a tank top a week away from Christmas. And you know what? It is going to be in the 80's for the next three days. UGH.

Any takers on moving to Hawaii? I hear the weather is fabulous there.

In Other News...

It has been a while since I have posted a "Zachariah update". Since it is long overdue, this will probably be a bit lengthy. So I apologize ahead of time. :)

Age- First things first. He is 15 months old today. I cannot believe he is this old! He has turned into such a fun little toddler. This is SUCH a fun stage! I absolutely love it.

Teeth- The official teeth count is now up to four. Yes. my 15 month old son only has four teeth. So that means that I still have to cut things up into smaller pieces than a typical one year old would be eating. Which is fine, because I have been doing this for a while now. But eventually we need some more teeth in that mouth! :)

Walking- This kid is EVERYWHERE. I am sure you have gathered that from some of my other posts dealing with toilet paper and diapers. So yeah. It keeps things interesting around here to say the least. :)

Communication- Z's vocabulary seems like it is increasing daily. I love it. The words that he says on a regular basis are: bye-bye, ball, momma or mom, dad or dadda, up, this, juice, and penguin (see the next paragraph). His occasional words are: thanks, Daniel (we think this is coincidence, but its still funny), bath, and squirrel (at least its very close to squirrel). He is still doing sign language as well (eat, more, all done, milk, please). And this is by no means sign language, but when he has pooped in his diaper, he will either pat or pull at it, trying to say poop... which is helpful. So between the words and signing, its getting easier to decide what he needs/wants.

Obsessions- Now on to one of my favorite things about my son. He is completely obsessed with penguins. And since penguins are my all time favorite animal, I love that he loves them! He has several penguin stuffed animals, but his all time favorite is Mumble from Happy Feet. Every time he sees it he gets the biggest smile on his face and gives it a huge hug. Its ADORABLE. Whats funny though, is that he calls penguins "ba". Yeah... I don't know. Our guess is that he is trying to say bird. Regardless, he will walk around the house looking for his penguin saying "ba". It cracks me up.

Well, that's about the gist of it. My kid is growing up way to fast. The end. :)
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sorry...

Our hard drive has screwed up. So we are waiting on Dell to send us another one (thank goodness its still under warranty). Until then, I am not able to get on a computer on a regular basis. Though my wonderful brother lets me borrow his laptop while he is at work every now and then. So that is pretty much a life saver. :)

Anyway... just letting you know that if I am a bit slack on responding to emails, blogs, or facebook stuff its because I am waiting on a hard drive. Hopefully I will be back to computer
land soon. :)

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Yes. This weekend I jumped on the bandwagon and read Twilight.

I am going to be honest. I never even knew there was a book called Twilight until after I had heard about the movie. And even when I did figure out what it was about, I wasnt really eager to read about a teen girl who was falling in love with a vampire. Things that are that far fetched usually dont interest me. Then again, I LOVED Harry Potter, and that doesnt exactly deal with reality either.

ANYWAY. All that to say, that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I really wanted read it all in one day, but having a one year old craving attention kind of got in the way of my reading time. But I am glad it only took me a couple days to read it, because it consumed my every thought until I finished it. (I don't do to well with suspense.)

What do you guys think about the other books in the series? Are they as good as the first one?

Poll Time!

It has come to my attention that SOME PEOPLE are not particularly fond of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. So that leads me to this oh-so-fun poll I have created. I would like to know if I am the only one out there who actually enjoys their music.

So here ya go. Have a fabulous weekend!

Christmas Music

Last Christmas Daniel and I got hooked on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. And by hooked I mean obsessed.Their music is absolutely phenomenal. Most of their stuff is just instrumental (hence the orchestra part of their name), but they have some kick butt vocals too.

All that to say, I have changed my music player. Instead of the random conglomeration of music that I previously had, I now have some of my favorite songs by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Give them a listen. If you don't already, you will soon come to love them as much as I do. :)

Yes. I am Amazing.

If you know me personally, you know that I am not the perfect little housewife. I am not domestic. And I am a lazy slob.

Well, you bloggers might be pleased to know that I have started making homemade bread! Someone gave me a kick butt bread maker, and I love it. I am making Zachariah whole wheat bread and next I plan to try Cinnimon Rasin. I have a large recipie book that came with the breadmaker, so I have a lot of experiementing to do!

Cute videos of Z coming soon! I just wanted to let you know of the temporary domestication that has consumed me. But no worries. I am still lazy... and a slob. I am sure this will pass soon enough. :)

My Sweet Baby

This is a picture I took earlier today while Zachariah was watching TV. It captures a moment of calmness that has been very rare in our household lately.

Oh how I love this kid.

Pops and Z

Every year we have a massive Thanksgiving gathering at my grandparents house. Its basically a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. It is a bit overwhelming for adults, not to mention small children. Luckily, Zachariah handles crowds okay... as long as he is able to get away from everyone when needed.

So during the chaos I looked around to see if Zachariah was needing some "alone time", and low and behold he and my dad (aka: Pops) were off at the end of the driveway throwing rocks in puddles and watching the neighbors across the street. I couldn't help but take some pictures of them. Here are my favorites. Aren't they just adorable??


Thanks for entertaining him for me, Dad!

Yummy Dessert

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a recipe for a ridiculously yummy dessert. I made it for Thanksgiving this year, and I wanted to share my findings with you. Its called Swirled Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars. When you think about it, you really cant lose with this dessert. Its delish, and pumpkin is an aphrodisiac. This is what we call a win-win scenario. :)

Swirled Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Bars

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
  
  

Preparation

1. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, and 1/3 cup water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg; stir or beat into butter mixture until well blended. Spread batter evenly in a buttered and floured 10- by 15-inch baking pan.

2. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, remaining egg, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.

3. Drop cream cheese mixture in 24 evenly spaced 1-tablespoon portions over batter. Pull a knife tip through filling to swirl slightly into batter.

4. Bake in a 350° oven until center of pumpkin batter (not cream cheese mixture) springs back when touched, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, then cut into 24 bars.

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When I cut them up, mine ended up looking more like a cake as opposed to a "bar". So I need to figure out how to fix that. Other than that, everything was pretty simple.

Click here to get the nutritional info and all that jazz. And let me know if you end up making it!

Enjoy! :)

Zachariah Patrol

Earlier this morning I was sitting on my bed talking to Daniel on the phone. Well, I wasn't really talking. I was more so whining/complaining/crying about how I cant find a receipt to some pants that I want to return. (It has been one of those mornings.)

Anyway, during the phone conversation Zachariah had been in and out of my room and his room, switching out our belongings. But as soon as I hung up I realized that I didn't hear him bustling around anymore (That is NEVER a good sign). Almost immediately I realized where he was and went stomping down the hallway. I was already getting onto him in my best "You-have-no-idea-how-much-trouble-you-are-in" voice, and turns out I should have used my "Mommy-would-spank-your-butt-if-it-wasn't-for-that-darn-diaper" voice.
I was livid. And he was ecstatic. He has never been able to successfully unroll the whole entire roll of toilet paper. He has tried, but those darn parents have gotten in the way every time. So needless to say, he was in baby heaven. Until he saw how pissed Mommy was. (And I still haven't cleaned up that mess. I just piled the toilet paper on top of the toilet. Daniel is going to have a nice little surprise when he gets home. LOL)

Soon after the "toilet paper party" we were in the living room watching Elmo's World. I was sitting on the couch, apparently off in my own little world, when I hear a trash can tip over behind me. And yet again, I march over and find Zachariah enjoying a nice little "trash can party".


I am not pointing any fingers, but SOMEONE is falling down on "Zachariah Patrol" today. And if they keep it up this house may be a wreck by the time Daniel gets home.
:)

Collin Stone

My sister-in-law had her baby yesterday. His name is Collin, and he weighs 5 pounds 4 ounces and is 17 inches long. He was born 4 weeks early, so he is in the NICU right now so they can monitor him. But everything is going really well. I am so proud of Christie. She did a great job and has handled everything wonderfully. Daniel wrote a post about it over at his blog, so go check it out.

And now for a couple pictures...

Congrats Christie and Brian!! You have one adorable baby boy! :)

Bragging Rights

Bear with me for a bit, while I take some time to do a bit of bragging. :)

Zachariah got some Baby Einstein Alphabet Books for his birthday. He absolutely LOVES these books. Several times a week, he will bring them up to me and we will go through every single book (Each one only has three pages, so it doesn't take too long). I will start each book by pronouncing the sound of the letter that is on the front. Z picked up on that pretty quickly and he has been repeating the letter sound after us.

Well... now he has moved on to letter recognition! There are 8-10 of them that he knows. I will show him one of the books and he will actually make the correct letter sound! At 14 months old!! I don't know about you, but I was pretty darn impressed.

Below is a picture of the letters that he can recognize so far. I will try to get a video of it sometime soon. Its just too cute!

Can You Hula Hoop like this?

I saw this amazing six year old girl on Oprah last week. She was literally born into the circus and started hula hooping at 3 years old. Her name is Americus, and I think she is adorable. And she can hula hoop better than anyone I have met. :)

Click here to watch her preform!!

Birthday Shout Out

Just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother, Wesley! He turns 22 years old today... And yes ladies, he is available.

And these are the ghetto cupcakes I made him. Don't make fun. I was sick and I don't have any experience with decorating. So this is what I ended up with. lol

Happy Birthday, Wesley!

Wearing Daddy's Hat

I'm sorry... but I just can't get over how cute my child is. I mean really, I just cant get enough of the cuteness.

And I HAVE to find him a hat like this. Because it is just plain adorable.

The End.

Christmas Video

I saw this video on a friends blog this morning. I liked it so much I decided to be a copycat and put it on my blog as well. Thanks for the video, Tammi! :)
Enjoy!

Sick as a Dog

Some type of illness has been going around Daniel's office, and he has now brought it home. So needless to say, I feel like crap.

This is the first time I have been sick since having Zachariah, so lets just say it has been a bit different that being able to lay in the bed all day watching TV. Gone are those days....

First Hair Cut

Yesterday, I took on the challenge of giving Zachariah his first hair cut. (Though I would consider it more of a trim. He doesn't have a ton of hair to begin with.) He was a bit squirmy. He kept moving his head up and down, and then tried to swat at the scissors a few times. Amazingly enough, we managed to come out unharmed. At one point I thought I had accidentally given him a mullet though. But all is well. Hopefully the picture hides the unevenness of his hair. I still need to go back and get a few stragglers. But he had enough for one sitting, so I didn't push it.

Before:

After:

Honesty is the Best Policy

For the past seven months I have been struggling with depression. Sadly, I am just now starting to come to grips with that.

I thought that the depression would come immediately after having Zachariah. I had read up on postpartum depression, so I was prepared for it. Days, weeks, and even months went by, and I was just fine. But around his seventh month birthday, depression slowly started trickling into my life. I guess staying at home with virtually no adult contact during the day eventually got to me. I didn't want to admit that I was feeling depressed. I thought it was a sign of weakness. I didn't want people to think less of me. I didn't want people to think I was a bad mom.

So I kept ignoring it, thinking it would get better with time. Until just a couple weeks ago when a friend called me out on it. For the first time, I actually admitted I was suffering from postpartum depression. Talking with someone who has gone through this before has made a world of difference. For the first time in months I went a whole week without having an emotional breakdown. I enjoyed myself and my time with my family immensely. It was great to be myself again.

Don't get me wrong... I still have my moments. And I am sure it is not going to be smooth sailing from here on out. I am really going to have to work at this. I may eventually even need medication. But for now, I just need to talk about it. And so far it has helped.

So yeah. That's what is going on in my life right now. And if you guys don't mind, I think I may try to post about this more often. This "being real" thing is actually really satisfying. :)

1 800 SafeAuto

This is one of those commercials that I love to hate. It is really is a horrible commercial. But I just cant look away.

Diapers

We have a basket for Zachariah's diapers located on the first shelf of his changing table (picture below). The basket holds approximately 40 diapers, and I usually re-load the basket once a week. Sometimes I can go a bit longer... just depends on what he has eaten that week. :)

Unfortunately, since Zachariah has been walking, he has discovered the diaper basket. That being said, it is not uncommon for me to walk into his room and find this:

He LOVES to take the diapers out of the basket. He will stand there and throw them over his shoulder while mumbling something in Japanese (which is downright hilarious). Luckily, he has started helping me pick up the diapers. He will usually hand them to me one by one while giggling, but lately he has decided to put them in the basket by himself. Here is the problem...

Mommy likes the diapers to look like this:

Zachariah likes the diapers to look like this:

Ah well. Whatever works. :)

Portable Washing Machine?

I was watching The Today Show this morning, and heard an interesting segment on shopping carts. There was a study done, and it turns out that shopping carts are more dirty than toilets. I guess when you think about it, that makes perfect sense. I mean, hundreds of people touch the handle a day. A butt load of kids sit in the seats, and some might slobber, spit up, poop, or pee on them. Then there are the groceries that actually go into the cart! What if the uncooked chicken has a hole in the packaging? All of that, and grocery carts are not washed regularly... if ever. Gross.

So I guess it wasn't to far fetched for someone to come up with this product:

A washing machine for shopping carts. How smart is that? It has a 5 minuet cycle and over 300 washes per gallon! I guess I will be wiping down my grocery cart handle from now on... at least until I see one of these here in town. :)

Welcome to the Jungle

Confession time.
I always have to have the TV turned on. Even its just to have on in the background as I get stuff done, it is on... constantly. The kicker is that we only have one channel. We have not been able to justify getting cable, but luckily we live right down the street from a TV station, so we get NBC. And as long as I have The Office, I am a happy camper.

Often I will watch whatever show happens to be on, regardless if I like it or not. That being said, I started watching Lipstick Jungle last season. I didn't think I would like it, but watched it because I had nothing else to do. And before I knew it, it was added to my list of "regulars". There is nothing special about this show. Its not cleverly written, its doesn't have good morals, and it doesn't have the best acting. But it has good clothes and scandalous women. So I cant stop watching it. Sad isn't it?

So that is my Television guilty pleasure. What is yours?

My Boys

Like father, like son...

Immunizations

Zachariah's 15 month shots are coming up. Naturally, that has caused me to do some thinking about vaccines. There is a good bit of controversy going on about vaccines now days, and I am just now starting to do some research about it. So in the meantime, I want to know what all of you think about children getting vaccines. Do you think it is a good thing? Bad thing? Have your children been vaccinated and have you had any negative results from that?

I will post info as I do some more digging. But I really do want to hear what you think about it!

My jumbled thoughts

I have been quite depressed today, and I cannot seem to shake it. I blame most of it on the fabulous postpartum depression that has decided to run my life for the past 7 months... but I think part of it has to do with the election results. I have no idea what is going to happen. I do know that the world will probably not come to an end the day Obama is sworn into office. What I don't know is if he will be the downfall of this country, or if he will actually improve the way things are going. Don't get me wrong... I have a guess. But I just don't know. And apparently I have a real problem with the unknown.

I probably need to work on that.
Anyway. Those are my thoughts, jumbled as they may be.

My Little Toddler

He has been working at this for a couple weeks now, but I think it is safe to say that Zachariah is (for the most part anyway) walking more than crawling! It took him 13 months, but he has really gotten the hang of this walking thing. It is very bittersweet... to see my baby confidently walking down the hallway with a HUGE grin on his face. He acts as if he had been doing this his whole life. Its just the cutest thing.



We are oh-so-proud of this little man!

LOL

As of late, Zachariah has been having a little to much fun with our toilet paper. In hopes of putting a stop to the toilet paper unraveling, I went on a search for a cover.

I found this...

Every time you take some toilet paper out it makes a fart sound. I realize I shouldn't find this quite so comical... but sometimes I cant help myself. I guess that's what I get for being married to a middle schooler.

A Year Ago

Halloween last year...


Halloween this year...


My gosh he has gotten big.

Happy Trick or Treating everyone!! :)

LOOKY!

My friend Tammi came over today and took some pictures of Zachariah in his Halloween costume. She just posted some of the pics on her biz blog... so go here and look at my cute little monkey!!

Seriously... This is Amazing

Saw this video on my friends blog and couldn't help but share it with everyone over here.

I honestly don't even know what to say about this video. So feel free to untie my tongue. :)

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Another Video

Over the past few days I have been going through my video footage of Zachariah. I have videos from 5-12 months that I haven't done anything with yet. I am trying to tackle at least one a day. Sometimes if I get real ambitious I can knock out two or three. So I apologize if all I post within the next week or so are videos. :)

Here is way to much background information for you:
One of Zachariah's favorite Baby Einstein DVD's is called Baby da Vinci. Its a 6-9 month DVD, but he still loves it. His favorite part is when two hippos are on the screen and they start to yawn. All of a sudden they make the elephant noise instead of a yawn. (Zachariah thinks this is hilarious.) At the end of the "scene" you see the hippos walk off all confused and the elephant pops out from behind some brush. Z tried to mimic the elephant sound constantly. He is much better at it now, but this was taken a couple months ago. It is just so cute I couldn't help but share it with you all. :-)

Cuddle Bug

Over the past few weeks, Zachariah has been very loving and cuddly. At any given moment he will crawl up into my lap to hug me, or just lay on me. Just this morning he reclined himself in my lap for 20 minuets watching T.V. (He hasn’t been that still since he learned to crawl). Sometimes the cuddles only last for a few minutes, and sometimes it only lasts for a few seconds. But no matter how long it lasts, I am loving every little bit of it. I cant get enough of his cuddles!!

For your viewing pleasure...

Zachariah got a riding/walking bus from his Mimi and Poppie for his birthday. He LOVES this bus. He will push this thing around the house all day long. And he thinks it is the funniest thing. It is absolutely adorable. So I wanted you to share the cuteness with everyone.
(And for the grandparents, I have already added this video to my Vimeo page. So you can watch it there as well.)
Enjoy!



By the way... I need more comments on my potty training blog down there! Even if you don't have a little boy, tell me what you think about potty seats. Common people!

Potty Training

My mom recently asked me to get a Christmas list started for all of my family members (You have to stay on top of me about those things, or I will wait until Christmas Eve to make a list.). So I have been putting together a list for Zachariah. Daniel had the fabulous idea of putting a potty training seat (or whatever they are called these days) on the list, that way when we get ready to take the plunge (hee hee), we wont need to buy one.

Then my research started. I have found several that I like, and they have gotten a good combination of positive and negative reviews. And seeing as how I haven't potty trained a little boy before, I was wondering what all of you recommend. I am all about getting the "three in one" deals. Most of the potty's I am looking at has a seat that can be put onto the big toilet AND it converts into a step stool. My favorite thus far is this potty, because it plays music when pee or poop hits the toilet bowl. But people are saying that the splash guard comes off easy. Then again, people have raved about this one, because it is simple and sturdy and doesn't have any bells and whistles.

So let me know what you used when potty training your kiddo. Did you love it, hate it? Wish you had purchased another one?

Sequence of Events

Yesterday morning Zachariah and I were playing in the living room, when all of a sudden he crawled to the window and started yelling at the squirrels in our yard. (Which I swear, if I had a gun, I would shoot every single one of those things. But that's a totally different post.) I said, "Do you see the squirrels outside?" To which he responds by squealing and crawling as fast as he can to the front door. Which prompted the following sequence of events:

(As usual, click any picture to enlarge)

Crawling to the door.

Trying to act cute enough to get me to open the door.

Realizing the cuteness is not working, he
moves to Plan B... trying to do it himself.

Pouting, because Plan B failed... miserably.

Accepting defeat.

Ah... the life of a one year old. :)

I Heart MasterCard Commercials

I don't know what it is, but this commercial makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Shout Out

My friend Marie just posted an interesting post about political media bias.

Go take a look at it and let one of us know what you think. :)

Quick Update

I don't have a lot of time before Z wakes up, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update on my little monkey.

He took his "first steps" a couple weeks ago. But since he has figured out that we liked him walking, he has stopped. Go figure. He will take a few steps and then look at us and defiantly sit down and crawl. Its actually pretty funny. So for now we are at a stand still (pardon the pun) with the walking. But I will keep you updated when he gets his lazy butt up off the floor. :)

Zachariah has 3 teeth so far (Yes we are slow on that end too, thanks to his Uncle). Two on the bottom and one on top. He has started up the drooling thing again. So I think another one is on its way. The teeth have been a problem for me when I need to fish something out of his mouth that he has shoved in there. I keep forgetting there are teeth in there... until he bites the crap out of my finger.

We have added some new words to our vocabulary. Most of his jabbering sounds like Japanese and I am going to try and get it on video for you all, cause it is hilarious. But his official words have been: momma, dadda, this, ish (fish), that, bye, pease (please), cup, juice, uh-oh and dog. And I swear he said broccoli at dinner a week or so ago. We just cant count it cause he didn't say it twice. :) He is also getting really good at repeating animal sounds and letter sounds to us! (I need to get a video of that too)

Ok, that's it for now. I need to go feed my child breakfast.
Hope everyone has a happy Monday!

Taking Donations

I want a Nintendo Wii.

I mean, I have always thought it would be cool to play on one (something I have yet to do), but now I just plain want one. I think it would be something fun for me to do and at the same time something that will get me off my butt. And it would give me and Daniel something to do besides watch TV. Don't get me wrong, I love me some TV. But the only night we really want to watch it is Thursdays. The other nights we end up watching these stupid shows just cause we are bored. So yeah, I think the Wii would solve that problem.

The only hang up is that it cost anywhere from $290 to $500. And that probably doesnt include games or an extra controller. Considering our mortgage just went up a hundred bucks a month and Daniel's hours just got cut back, I don't think I will be buying groceries, much less a Wii. lol

So if you would like to give to the "Amy Lynn wants a Wii" fund, you may call or email me for more information. I take cash, checks and all major credit cards.

:)

Irritable

I went to bed frustrated.
I woke up cranky.
I have been bored all morning.
Zachariah took a REALLY short nap.
Because of those things, I am irritable.
And I see no end in sight.

The End.

The Perfect Egg... Take 2

A couple months ago I blogged about how to boil the "perfect egg". Apparently Daniel is very picky about his eggs, so he did not think it was the perfect egg. In fact, he thought it was quite disgusting. So I did some experimenting and found an even more perfect egg than the one before. And this time Daniel approves.

For those of you who didn't like Rachel Ray's egg boiling method, here is the new and improved "Perfect Egg".

Bring eggs to a boil for 3-4 minutes
Turn off heat.
Let eggs sit in hot water for 10-12 minutes.
Peal eggs while warm for best results.

Let me know if you have an egg boiling method that you prefer! I am interested in seeing how everyone boils their eggs. Weird, I know.

Too Cute

I saw this video and thought it was the cutest thing! This babies laugh is just plain adorable!

I love this kid

I love how he crosses his cute little feet
I love how peaceful he looks when he is sleeping
And I love how absolutely adorable he is 100% of the time

Delish

Casey, over at Namaste, posted a vegetarian recipe a while back. Since I am not a vegetarian, and have no desire to become one I just kind of ignored it. BUT I recently visited it again out of curiosity. And because I am wanting to find a few healthy "lunch" ideas. It seemed easy enough to make, so I gave it a try. And much to my surprise, it was quite yummy!! So I want to share it with all of you in bloggerland... just in case you didn't catch it on Casey's blog.

MEATLESS (Chicken/Tuna-esque) SALAD

Ingredients:
-1 can- garbanzo beans (chick peas)
-Ranch Dressing-or mayonnaise ( I used Ranch... had a more "salad feel" to it)
-Onion-chopped finely (I don't like onions... so I just sprinkled in some Onion Powder)
-Relish-(I used sweet, but you may also use dill)
-Seasoning-salt, pepper, garlic salt, lemon pepper, season all, paprika, etc.

Drain & mash garbanzo beans. Then add ranch dressing and stir to coat. Toss in onion and relish. Then season to taste.

* I served mine on a tortilla shell with a tiny bit of shredded cheese and a hand full of lettuce. It made a tasty little wrap!


Many thanks to Casey for the yummy recipe. And if any of you have some yummy, easy, and healthy recipes, I would LOVE for you to share them... either in the comment section, or on your own blog! :)

I'm Not Bitter...

Before I get into the reason that I am not bitter, here is some much needed background information for you:

I stay at home with Zachariah. I am at home with him all day. Every day. There has not been a day of his life where I have not been home with him. The most I have left him with a sitter (aka: grandparents) has been two and a half hours. I am with him when Daniel is at work and I am also with him when Daniel comes home. I change his gosh awful diapers, I play with him, I console him, I tickle him, I laugh at him, and I love on him. Every. Single. Day.

Often when Daniel gets home from work he will entertain Zachariah while I get dinner ready. It helps me get dinner ready without a one year old hanging on my legs yelling at me, and it gives Daniel some one on one time with his son. So its a win-win situation for both of us.

Now that you have had that bit of information, you may continue with the reason for this post...
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Zachariah took his first two steps today! Or at least thats what I hear.

That's right. I wasn't actually there. My darling son took his first steps in the 30 minute window where Daniel was entertaining him and I was in another room cooking dinner.

Am I the only one that thinks this is just plain wrong?????

Help a Girl Out

I am bored out of my mind. I blame it on the dreariness of the day.

You people need to update your blogs so that I can procrastinate doing the dishes.

The End.

This is as political as I get

I support McCain/Palin. That being said...I think its fair to say that no matter who you support, these Saturday Night Live sketches are pretty darn funny.

Additives

In my book that I am reading, I came across a section about additives. It was scary to say the least. After reading this chapter, I immediately ran to the pantry to check the Nutrition Facts on all of our food. Sure enough 90% of what we eat has at least one of these additives. I promptly picked up the phone and called Daniel to let him know that we are going to die.

Since then I have calmed down a bit... but it doesn't change the fact that we eat some pretty nasty stuff. So I have included a list of additives that Sharon Broer has listed. She claims that she will not buy ANYTHING that has a single one of these additives in it. That's a bit overboard for a food junkie like me... but I am starting to read Nutrition Facts more closely.

Additives

MSG (Monosodium glutamate): Used to intensify meat and spice flavorings

• reported complaints: headache, chest pains, numbness, irritability and depression
• Brain damage and memory loss
• Baby food companies removed this from baby food. (But why was it there to begin with??)
• Listed under other names: hydrolyzed vegetable Potemkin (HVP)
• "Natural Flavorings"
  

Aspartame: Used in NutraSweet and Equal, contains the following ingredients:

• Methanol- a neurological poison that cannot be made nonpoisonous. It can cause headaches, blindness and permanent brain damage.
  
• Aspartic acid- similar to MSG, it has been known to overstimulate neural cells, causing cell death. This is why it is called an "excitotoxin". It literally kills brain cells.
  
• Phenylalaninie- causes permanent brain damage if concentrations are high enough

Nitrites: Used to give that "pretty pink color" to cured meats, bacon, bologna, hot dogs, ham, Vienna sausages, and luncheon meats.

• Nitrites combined with natural stomach acids create nitrosamines, powerful cancer-causing agents.
  
• Baby food manufactures voluntarily removed nitrites from baby food in the early 1970's.
  
• In 1977, Germany banned nitrites and nitrates, except in certain species of fish.
  

Olestra or Olean
These are the "fake fats" introduced in 1996. Preliminary studies found that Olestra caused tumors in laboratory animals. Possible side effects include cramping and loose stools.

Monoglycerides and Diglycerides: Synthetic substances made for emulsifying and defoaming agents.

• Used in bakery products to maintain "softness"
• Used in beverages, ice cream, shortening, margarine. chocolate, whipped toppings and cosmetic creams.
  
• This is on the FDA list of food additives to be studied for possible reproduction effects.

BHA (butylated hudroxyanisole): A preservative used in many products, including beverages, ice cream, baked goods, potato chips, and breakfast cereals.

BHT (butylated hudroxytoluene): a preservative used in the same type of products as BHA.

Aluminum

• Frequently used in food additives, cosmetics, and antacids
• Can aggravated kidney and lung disorders
• Aluminum deposits have been found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients

Aluminum Sulfate

• Used in producing sweet and dill pickles
• Used as an antiseptic, astringent and in detergents and deodorants
  
• Moderately toxic by ingestion and injection
• May affect reproduction

Artificial Flavoring

Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil: Used in margarine or Crisco-type products. Very "cheap" oils used in chips, crackers, cereal, peanut butter, snack cakes, bread and many more products.

Other oils to avoid

• Cottonseed oil
• Palm kernel oil
• Corn oil

Recommended oils

• Regular use- virgin. cold pressed olive oil
• Occasional use- good, old fashioned organic butter
  

And now for a poll:

Just One

Its been a little over two weeks since I have posted a picture of Zachariah... which is very unlike me. So here is one I took the other day when he was trying to tear down the blinds in his room. He is into everything! And he isn't even walking yet!!! Ah! I cant even imagine how much crazier my life is going to get once he starts walking. Then again, that could be another couple years. He is quite a lazy baby. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I Love This Commercial

Last One

I really don’t feel like writing another post for this show, but I feel this is the closure that all five of my blog readers need. So here goes.

America’s Got Talent had their final show Wednesday night. The results are in, and apparently America Voted on who they thought deserved to win the competition. But first things first… Here is the number that the Top 10 finalist preformed together. I thought the song selection could have been a bit better. But oh well. That blasted song has been stuck in my head all day though. Darn you Kelly Clarkson.

From the very beginning of the show, Daniel and I thought that Nuttin But Stringz should win. And I think the judges did too. But leave it up to America to ruin things. Good grief.

Ends up Nuttin But Stringz came in third place, Eli Mattson came in second place, and Neil E. Boyd won the thing. He is talented… don’t get me wrong. But really? An opera singer beat out two amazing violin players who wrote and preformed all of their own music each and every time they played?? I think we could use more raw talent like those guys. I could deal without another opera singer, no matter how good he might be.

The show left me feeling very frustrated. So to make myself feel better, I will leave you with a link to all of the performances by Nuttin But Strinz. I could watch them over and over and over again and never get tired of them.

First Audition
Top 40
Top 20
Top 10
Top 5

I'm It

I have been tagged by Tammi to post 7 random facts about me. I usually hate these "tag, your it" games... but what better way to procrastinate doing laundry than this?? I am going to try hard to think of things most people don't know about me, but I am a pretty open book. So it wouldn't surprise me if most of you already know this stuff. :)

1. I have never had the chicken pox. I'm not joking. I have never, ever had anything that even resembles a pox from a chicken. I do feel sorry for Daniel if/when I ever do get the chicken pox though. I do not suffer silently.
2. I go to the grocery store at least 4 times a week. No joke. Our grocery shopping day is Monday. And it never fails that I return to either Wal Mart or Publix 4 or 5 times before the next shopping trip. For this reason my husband is taking away my credit card (which I am still putting up a fight about).
3. I hated pregnancy. (Shocker, right?) I hated every single day of being pregnant. I don't know how people can say being pregnant is the most wonderful thing they have ever been through. Let me enlighten you to just a few reason as to why I have this hatred inside of me:
- I was the 1 in 4 statistic. "One in four women do ____ during pregnancy". That was me. I experienced just about everything that a pregnant woman can experience. With the exception of hemorrhoids. Thank God I skipped out on those. (I know, TMI. Sorry)
- From the day I found out I was pregnant, to the day before I delivered I was puking my guts up. It started out to where I was puking every couple hours... but then the Dr. prescribed me some medication that limited it to three times a day. (That way I could at least go to work.)
- I had an increase in saliva. Which apparently most women have... some just have a greater increase than others. Mine increased so much that I had to carry around a blue cup and spit in it. (no, I couldn't swallow it.) I had to keep a bucket next to my bed so that I could lean over and spit in it for an hour at night before finally dozing off. I had to carry that blasted cup around from the 6th week of my pregnancy until two weeks after I delivered. Yes, I said AFTER. And to this very day, when my "monthly time" comes, I have an increase in saliva during that week and I have to make a few trips to the sink to spit it out.
Shoot me.
4. I have never broken or sprained anything. This is a testament to how adventurous I am. I have never been a "risk taker". The most that I have had done to me has been getting my wisdom teeth removed. I do actually have a scar, though. It is on my right pinky finger from when I had a wart type thing removed in middle school. See, it wasn't even a full on wart. Sheesh. I cant win.
5. I miss teaching. I never thought I would say it, but I really do miss it. There is nothing more fulfilling than to know I had an impact in preschoolers lives. I miss the random hugs I would receive throughout the day. I miss watching them learn and explore new things. I would love to do it again when my kids are in school.
6. I want to adopt. I have always wanted to adopt. But when my Aunt adopted her youngest daughter from Azerbaijan 5 years ago, that made me all the more passionate about adoption. I don't know when or where. I don't know how we will EVER afford it. All I know is that I would love nothing more than to take in a baby that so desperately needs a home.
7. I am a wanna be photographer. I didn't care about taking pictures until Zachariah came along. Once I saw how adorable he was, I couldn't stop taking pictures. I still cant. There are over a thousand of pictures of him from his first year on this earth. I think I am getting a bit better at the picture taking thing... but I have such a long way to go. I want to learn so much more. This has become my new interest and I REALLY want to get better at it.

Ok, that's about it. I tag Hayley, Marie, Jamie, Wesley, Trish Pfaender, Daniel and Brian (Hayley, you may need to update his blog for him). Now lets see if anyone is as bored as I am! :)

New Book!

For the past few days I have been reading a book called Train Up Your Children in the Way They Should Eat, by Sharon Broer. Its not a bran new book that just hit the shelves... in fact it was published back in 1999. BUT it is a very interesting read. It has opened my eyes to all the junk that we are all putting into our bodies. So as I read, I will be posting to enlighten everyone on a few of my discoveries. :)

This book addressed many issues... the first of which is trying to keep our kids healthy. It states that the leading cause of death in children, next to accidents, is cancer. Many kids are diagnosed with asthma, obesity, allergies, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and other types of learning disabilities. Sharon Broer suggests that what we are feeding our children is playing a vital role in the demise of their health. And after reading half of this book, I am almost positive that she is right.

In Chapter 2 she gives a list of foods kids should avoid... and the first four on the list she says they should NEVER consume in their lifetime. So here it is, straight from the book.

"Top Ten List"
1. Pork and all high-fat luncheon meats. They are loaded with nitrates, artificial dyes and chemicals; they can also cause parasite infestation.
2. Shellfish: lobster, crab, oysters and clams. They can contain abnormally high levels of arsenic, led and mercury.
3. All hydrogenated oils, including margarine and shortening products. These increase the risk of heart disease and cancer. Use organic butter or olive oil instead.
4. Aspartame (Nutra Sweet). Never use these artificial sweetener products.
5. "Junk foods," all high-fat, high-sugar, chemically processed snacks.
6. High-fat dairy products. Goats milk is fine.
7. Olestra, the "fake fat." This product inhibits the absorption of fat soluble vitamins.
8. Caffeine. Limit your intake of caffeinated products.
9. Chlorine and fluoride. These chemicals are found in treated water supplies. Use reverse osmosis or steam distilled water.
10. Alcohol products. Alcohol destroys brain cells and increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, alcoholism, liver cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis and cirrhosis of the liver.


***NOTE***
I realize that some of you are going to think all this is ridiculous... but remember, this is only one woman's opinion. I encourage you to do your own research to better form your opinion on the facts that she gives. :)