I just have to say...

Several times recently, I have been looking through magazines and I have happen upon this one model. Every time I have seen her, I have taken a second look and said...REALLY? I saw her again while I was working out on Friday in a magazine, and I thought, THAT's IT!! I had to find out who she was and what the deal was. Her name is Georgia May Jagger. Yes, Mick's daughter. Her mother is Jerry Hall. She is a "hot" up and coming model. She is the new face of Hudson jeans and Rimmel of London. She has a pretty face, lovely figure, and the UGLIEST teeth I have just about ever seen. I think the first time I saw her, I thought she had fake teeth in. If you saw her with her mouth closed, you wouldn't think twice. But she likes to show off her teeth, and apparently so does everybody else. But really? Those teeth? I realize everyone doesn't have perfect teeth. But these teeth? I don't get it. It's just funny to me. Our society is so obsessed with perfectly white, shaped teeth. Everybody and their brother in Hollywood has those veneers. And the fake lashes (and or Latisse), fake boobs, injections blah blah blah. Why do they love her teeth? Very interesting to me. What do you think?

It's the thought that counts.

Last year, I helped my friend Julie make a TON of caramel apples. Like in the hundreds. There were 4 of us, we all made like 6 batches of caramel in the days leading up to the assembly day...each batch made 25 apples....each batch of caramel took an hour to make. So, it took a lot of work. We assembled ALL day one Saturday last year. We dipped them in yummy toppings. We packaged them professionally. They were gorgeous, and they were delicious.

Fast forward to this year. I decided I'd make some lovely gourmet caramel apples for teachers' gifts. I bought apples today and assembled all my supplies. I chopped Heath bars, crunched pretzels, and toasted and chopped almonds. I even spent an hour making my caramel. You stir and you stir and you stir and you stir...all to have everything happen temperature wise in like the last 5 minutes. Everything was going lovely, until I realized that my goal temperature was 235 NOT 335 as I had mistakenly read/thought. I think I stopped around 240 but I panicked and I'm not sure. Needless to say, I was only able to squeak out 9 apples, before the caramel cooled and you couldn't possibly dip anything in it. The nine I made are very pretty, but watch out you will break a tooth on them. I am tired and worked on those darn things for over 2 hours. Hope's teacher and Hayden's teacher are still getting them. I might wake up in the morning and not be able to pass them out as gifts this year, but for right now they are good enough. I feel bad, they will NOT taste as good as they look. But this year, it's the thought that counts. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Happy Birthday to Hope

Here are some pictures from Hope's birthday party last weekend. The pictures are all sorts of messed up time-line wise, but blogger makes it so hard now to move your pictures around. It didn't used to be that way. So, here is the party story, a little messed up but still here. The pumpkin balloon game in the back. Each balloon was filled with something. **Note to self-kids like candy better than glitter!**

Kids coloring the masks. I bought these little wooden masks at Michael's that the kids colored with markers. They were very successful. They kept the kids busy for like 20+ minutes. And in the world of 4 years olds, that's an eternity. The kids also painted little pumpkins.

I'm not sure why the witch on the right was crying...she must have thought her nose was too big...or too green.

These witches were the hardest ones to make, too the longest too. I couldn't get my food marker to work, so most didn't have any smiles/frowns at all. Stupid food marker.

Cake pops! I think I have figured them out now. Hannah was my helper on this project. She helped me one entire afternoon. We made 75 cake pops that day.

The one picture of me that was taken. NEVER any pictures of me, do you have the same issue?I'm usually the one taking the pictures.

Little mummy wraps and grilled cheese pumpkin shaped sandwiches for the main course. Very kid friendly.

I bought soda for the party, it matched my color scheme.

First cut into the fondant cake. I made marshmallow fondant, so it was a little smooshier than the store bought kind, but it tasted much better.

She was so excited to get this present "my own computer!!".

From Auntie Hayley.

All smiles.

My very first attempt at decorating a cake. I have made plain cakes plenty of times, but my first time trying to decorate. The fondant really wasn't very hard. I really didn't have any idea what I was doing, I just made it up as I went along. But overall I was happy. Learned a lot that's for sure!

I found these two spiders the morning of the party. I was sweeping up, I knew the spider on the left was there (I think it's the same one that was on my outside chair from before, he just moved). I was going to have Scott move him, but I was sweeping all around him, I came out like 2 minutes later...to find the tarantula on the left crawling around right where I had been!!! I must have stirred it up, but I'm just so glad it didn't crawl on me, I would have messed my pants for sure. Kids liked seeing them, and Hunter released them back into the wild the next day.

Little Alice in Wonderland. She had a great day!!

poor carebear

Poor Carebear. Rocky chewed this a month or two ago. Funny thing is Hope still loves it. I'm thinking about sewing that eye closed along with the nose. But not so sure. It makes me laugh when I see it. Although, he is loosing his stuffing at a quick rate :)

I bought myself this new baking cookbook. Holy cow. So, I started by making puff pastry. One of the cooking blogs had this puff pastry and peanut butter and chocolate treat. Made them, very tasty. But then I made these little treats. BEST cookie ever! I thought it was so pretty too. They are those palmier cookies, or butterfly wings. They are puff pastry with sugar. DELICIOUS. I made homemade cream cheese filled Danishes out of the same cookbook. I thought I had died and gone to heaven a little bit. I have been baking and delivering to people. The bishop drove Hunter to seminary a few times over the last couple of weeks... and I delivered pastries to him. I must pass out to others or else I would get really big. These things are so good, I have very little control. But so fun to make.

Hope's 4th birthday is coming up on the 19th. We are doing a Halloween themed party this year. Halloween parties are fun to plan and put together. I have been all sorts of crafty. Martha Stewart and I are BBF. I made her invitations, and actually had fun doing it. That Martha has some good glitter. I'm planning on making 3 different cakepops for the celebration. Do you have this book? I'm planning on making the witches, ghosts, and pumpkins. Last night I didn't sleep very well, because I was mentally planning. I had some good ideas last night and can't remember them all this morning. I swear I should put a journal by the side of my bed for times like that. I'd feel better to write it out, plus I'd remember all my good ideas in the morning. Win win.

Enchilada Pie

I miss a lot of things about Washington, I'm not going to lie. One of the things I miss is recipe club. About 20 of us would get together every month or two (depending on the month), you would be assigned a category...appetizer, main dish, side dish, or dessert. Then you would make your dish, bring the recipe and come for a night of food and friends. I think I will eventually start my own recipe club up here. We had some real foodies in the group, so I got several real "keeper" recipes.

Some nights were incredible, some nights not so much. I would take everybody's recipe that night (so as not to make anybody feel bad ;) but honestly some I would recycle and NOT put into my recipe binder. Sorry, but it's true. Only the goodies go in there. You know...only the ones I really loved. I made Heather Schow's Enchilada Pie again the other night and felt that it was blog worthy. I changed it up a little bit from her original recipe, and it was so stinking good+easy+low clean up!! So here follows my version of the Enchilada Pie:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2 (15 oz) can mild green chile enchilada sauce (a change from the original, adds a different flavor from the regular red sauce)
1/2 cup water
a bunch of corn tortillas **I think I used about 15-20** You could use flour tortillas, that's one of the changes I made, but it's NOT as good...I do enjoy the corn tortillas!
3 cups mozzarella and Colby Jack cheese (total)

Brown meat and onion in large skillet (I use a large cast iron skillet so it's a one pot deal). Drain off grease (I cooked the meat until it was mostly done, put it in a colander and drained THEN added onion and finished cooking, that way you get rid of most of the fat, but still have the onion flavor infused into the meat) Add tomato sauce, enchilada sauce, and water. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove 2/3 of the sauce into another bowl. Leave 1/3 of the sauce in the skillet, layer on top of that corn tortillas (enough to form a layer covering the whole skillet with some over lapping), then 1/3 of the sauce, cheese; then repeat. Cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes until heated through. Slice pizza style into triangles. Serve with sides of shredded lettuce, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, or anything else that you fancy.

It's good stuff!

Change of Heart

Excuse the bags under my eyes in this pictures. It was our last day of moving AND I was saying goodbye to my friend Julie. Not a very good day.

We have lived in this new ward since July 1st ish. Scott got a calling a while ago, but I had not. A woman called and asked me on Sunday if I wouldn't mind subbing for her in nursery on Sunday...strange, I thought, that she would ask me of all the people in the ward to choose from and all of the parents of the children in nursery...I had this feeling...I already had an appointment for before church set up to meet with a bishopric counselor. I already knew something was coming. While I was getting ready for church, I knew what my new calling was going to be. I even told Scott that's what it was going to be. He kind of laughed and said I was totally jumping to conclusions. How could I jump to that conclusion with that little bit of information??

Because, somebody was helping prepare me, that's why. I might have cried if he sprung that one on me totally unaware. I didn't want to be in nursery. Didn't want to be isolated in nursery in a brand new ward. Nope, no thank you. Scott didn't give me what I was looking for when I told him. He was way too supportive and positive. ;) I texted my friend Julie and she gave me exactly what I needed and wanted to hear. She did manage to make me smile. Felt a little better. Still moaned and groaned a large part of yesterday.



But I woke up this morning feeling much better. Dare I say change of heart??? We will see. But I am looking on the internet getting some fun ideas. Wish me luck. After all, if I'm going to do something, I might as well do one hell of a job!!

my version of NYC popovers

I might need this pan now.

Made these popovers tonight for dessert. With this butter, except I used marionberry jam, because that's what I had. They were very good. I did not have a popover pan, so I just used muffin tins. I filled 9 tins with my batter. My only wish/complaint was that there wasn't more. EVERYONE ate one and then we were staring at each other... hoping nobody else wanted the last three. We split them, but I will certainly double (if not triple) that recipe next time. I would definitely triple if that was our breakfast. Just thought I'd share!

NYC

Pictures by Jane The food of NYC did not disappoint. Favorites??? I don't know if I can pick. Those french fries and hamburgers from Shake Shack hit the spot, not once, not twice but...three times. The Cuban corn on the cob was super tasty. I even googled a recipe for it. We all had our share of cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, YUM! We walked into John's Pizza and I remember I had eaten there with Scott a few years before. Although, that picture is from Patsy's and it was delicious too. I had never had a popover before, and now I'm afraid no popover will ever compare to the one we had in NYC with strawberry butter. I have found recipes for those treats as well and plan on making them soon. Not only did Jane take most of the pictures, this was her 5th time to NYC, so she led us to all the good eats. Thanks Jane!

As we were walking the streets of NYC, I looked up and saw this cute dress. It was in a shop on the second floor, that you had to be buzzed into. This dress cost $1400!! Cute...but not that cute. Jane did take my picture and I sent Scott a text telling him about all the money I just saved.

Most of you that know me know that we trekked over to NJ one day to check out the Cake Boss. When we arrived the line to get into the bakery WAS HUGE. Not a single one of us felt like waiting in that line, so we asked around and got a recommendation for a good deli close by. Sarah and I got these huge "Big Paulie" sandwiches, and we both ate them up. Not everyday do you have a prosciutto, sun dried tomato and fresh mozzarella cheese sandwich. After lingering for about and hour and a half at the deli, we set off for NYC. However, as we passed the bakery, this white navigator passed, and people were yelling "hey buddy hey buddy". We snuck around to the back alley, and who was there??? Buddy and his little elves, I mean helpers. They were loading some cakes into delivery vans. Buddy and Frankie stayed out for a little picture session. Good times!

On Friday we went and saw Memphis. Very entertaining! Good story and great music.

The rats in the city were huge. I knew they were there, but I didn't expect to see them as much as I did. The first night we came out of the subway and we were walking, only to spot several at the end of the corridor scurrying about. For the most part, they stayed down by the tracks. But they were huge. We saw one lady buying rat traps in a Time Square Walgreens. Yuck. Those necklaces come from a vendor that we saw in a Brooklyn flea market. He made necklaces out of old coins, then he would put some kind of charm to go with it. The one that spoke to us, was this old subway token and the RAT charm. I thought it was very cute.

I sported my sensible shoes around NYC. Except for Sunday, and I had a skirt on. The Dansco shoes kept my feet happy all day long. Here we are in Brooklyn, we came to this pier to get some ice-cream. I also ate a handmade pretzel and a shaved ice. Usually not a huge fan of the shaved ice, but it was hot and it sure looked good that day.

So, that is just a little glimpse into my trip to New York City. Thanks to Carrie, Becky, Sarah and Jane for all of the good times!

It was taking way too long to download the pictures the other way, so I just "blogged this" from picassa, and it was much faster.

More pictures of the Japanese Gardens.

I thought this place was very beautiful.

Hope and Liam. Liam is my friend Julie's little guy. Hope and Liam love each other. I have about 20 pictures of them kissing and/or hugging each other. This was the day before we left, they were saying goodbye. Eventually, Liam tired of all the hugging and kissing, but not Hope. Toward the end she would say...."Just one more kiss Liam!". Liam would kiss and Hope would say, "ON THE LIPS LIAM". Is it so wrong to arrange a marriage? They would be perfect together and I so love Julie.

Taken off my front (well my old) porch. Loved looking out and seeing those deer.

Here we are at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. From the first day I lived in Camas, I wanted to go to the Japanese Gardens. Not sure what took me so long to get there, but...I was going before we moved. When my Mom came to visit right before we left, I took her and all the kids. Hunter had just gotten his screws removed a few days before. He hobbled around on crutches. But we made it to the Japanese Gardens, and boy am I glad we made it.

dilemma

I'm in the middle of trying to decide which pictures (from our last family photo shoot) to print...and put on the walls. I want to do a bunch of them in the canvas wrap around, but they can be $$ and I want them ALL that way. When I like something I really like it ;) Hope is asleep, Hunter and Hannah are in WA, Scott and Hayden are at a Round Rock Express baseball game. I need another person's opinion, and since I don't have it, I decided to blog. Makes perfect sense to me. But anyway, I have a nice big spot to do a big family shot, and then perhaps some single pictures of each child separate. Would it look weird to have one canvas and the others in frames? That would be a cheaper alternative. What do you think?

Family pictures...first you have to decide what the heck to wear, then you have to have them taken, then you have to decide which ones to print. Funny story: I rode down to the place where we were having our pictures taken with wash clothes shoved between my shirt and body. I'm a sweater. Not so much because I'm hot, but when I'm stressed...watch out! Just thought you should know that.

Found a preschool today for Hope. I liked it. She liked it, and Hayden asked if he could go there to school. He was really impressed with the indoor play structure and slide. Texas knows how to do preschool. 9-2 and it's not a co-op. That makes me rather happy. Not that I don't love and cherish the time I spend with Hope, I do...but she will love it, and it sounds kind of nice to have a few hours a week all on my lonesome.

We are all doing good. I have upgraded from "fine". I guess for a while everything was "fine". Hunter started commenting on how "oh it's fine again..." I have cried a few times, felt lonely a few times, been overwhelmed a few times. But overall, things are coming into place, and life is looking brighter again. Still miss WA (alot), but that's okay. I embrace those feelings and try to move on. I'm off to read my book now. Good night.

Green is my favorite color

I have been drinking green smoothies for a long while now. If you are interested look here or here for starters or not, but you should, just saying. I don't remember when I started, but a while ago. I usually make a green smoothie at lunch time. I eat a few smallish other things to get some protein in, but I honestly have developed a taste for them. I like my green smoothies. I also make a yummy citrus smoothie in the morning with all kinds of different citrus fruit, honey, and yogurt. We drink that instead of OJ now. I just got a good deal on a Blendtec and I'm very excited about it. I had been using a regular blender which was fine, but this is nice. It made my smoothie really...well smooth today at lunch.

Anyway, I want to tell you about something else I have been doing/drinking. Back in April I went to this class at Relief Society. I went because I was teaching a class. I taught everybody about all my homemade lotions, potions and cleaning supplies. I learned some stuff about sprouted wheat that night. Like how to do it and how easy it was. It's super healthy for you to eat it, and easy. But as I was doing research on sprouted wheat later that night and the next day(I even found and made some sprouted wheat bread recipes) I started learning about wheatgrass too. I was really amazed. The benefits are really amazing. The funny thing is how easy it is to grow. First you have to sprout it, then once it's sprouted you let it grow. I have bought some little trays, but I also grow it in an 8x11 Pyrex dish. All you do is cover it for a few days, and let it start to grow, then take the cover off and let it keep growing.

But a few weeks ago, I went into the eye doctor because I was having trouble seeing. Never a good thing. So, I went it and had my eyes tested. My eyes had improved!! and I was over being over corrected with that prescription. That has never happened to me, if anything my eyes have gotten worse and worse over the years. I was really excited and thinking this was truly a miracle until Hayley told me the same thing happened to her a few years ago, and she isn't drinking the wheatgrass juice. But I will pretend that didn't happen to her, and continue to think the improved eyesight is due to the drinking of the wheatgrass juice. Scott even drinks it when he is home. I have all kinds of cleaning up to do on that boy.

The other thing I noticed, is...less gray hair. I used to sit and pick out gray hairs EVERYDAY. I started to tell myself I had better stop or else I was going to get patches of bald. But I haven't been picking lately, and I haven't been noticing as many gray hairs. Seriously. I had a patch in the front of my head that was pretty gray. Yes, it was very small, but it is gone. I don't know, it's not a miracle cure all, but I am noticing some interesting changes.

I don't know, I'm not super obsessed about it or anything, I just find it to be very interesting. The whole idea that food can almost be viewed as a medicine or a purifier. You know? I do eat 7-10+ fruits and vegetables a day. I try and eat super healthy and nutrient rich foods. I do eat plenty of treats though too. So, I'm not perfect. I just made chocolate chip cookies the other day, so...take that for what it's worth. I just love to eat good, real, whole foods. I do view my body as a machine, and I'm trying to fuel my machine with the best possible fuel available. I have been spending a lot more on groceries though. Eating healthy can be expensive. But that's a whole other blog post, that I could go on and on and on and on about.

You'll need to

read the previous post to understand what I'm about to say. I was trying to not be so long winded buy my entire shower I was thinking about what I didn't say that I wanted to say. So, here it is...

I was embarrassed about my toes until I felt that lady checking me out. (You might be thinking enough about the toes, but it's symbolic for my I think so bear with me.) Then, I got kind of bossy. I told her I was a runner and I had lost my nails training for Hood to Coast. That made me feel proud, no more embarrassment. She told me I could get a fake nail put on there to make it look better. That made me feel kind of pissy. I looked at her with her fake blond hair, her fake nails and her fake boobs, and said yeah I could, but the podiatrist said I could get a fungus under there and I don't want a fungus. That shut her up quick. She didn't want to chat about a fungus. I put my foot up on the bar proudly from then on out. I don't care what she thinks. Why should I. I am who I am nail-less toe and all. I kicked her skinny little butt in that class. She kept needing the teacher to come over and correct her posture. Not me, I got compliments on my form. Carrie remembered my name was Heather.

I would not recommend...

putting eggs into a pan, going to take a quick shower, leaving the eggs on, and then taking 2 of the kids to the dentist while the EGGS ARE STILL COOKING! Yesterday was early release (can I say that is one thing I will be happy to get rid of) and the kids had dentist appointments at 2. They get home at 1:40 and it's at least a 20 minute ride. At 1:20 I still hadn't showered so I needed to move it. I thought I'd put some eggs in to hard boil, my kids do enjoy a hard boiled egg, before I left so they could have a nice snack when we got home. Well, I forgot all about the eggs. Hunter gets home at 2:45. EXCEPT, Hunter was supposed to go to a track end of season party. Yesterday, Hunter said he just had a feeling he should come home, he just didn't feel like going to the track party that day. SO not like him either, he does enjoy a good party with junk food. He came home to the smoke alarm going off, and a smoke filled house. No fire, just smoke. He took the eggs off, they were done by then, and opened all of the windows. What if he would have gone? I'm just so thankful that boy was listening! Scary to think of what could have happened. My windows have been opened airing the house out. The smell is just about gone.

So, in a very long winded way, I just wanted to say how blessed I felt that everything was okay. Because really, I don't see how a fire didn't catch. And come on...Hunter not wanting to go to the track party...it's like too good to be true. I'm so watched over. On the way home, when Hunter was finally able to get ahold of me, I was upset. Shakey almost. I couldn't believe I had done that. By the time I got home, I pulled into the garage and was about ready to charge into the house when I looked down, and there was Hope's little purple head band. Just sitting under my feet on the little car carpet. I have looked for that head band. Looked and looked and looked, even in my car. I had given up on ever finding it about a month and a half ago. But it was just like somebody said, see bad things happen but things will be okay. I felt like it was Heavenly Father's little way of giving me a little pat on the back. After Scott lost his job, I blogged about a game I had played and really liked and wanted to buy. But Scott was out of work, and we weren't buying expensive games. A few days later, I was having a particularly bad day, and on that very day I got a package. One of my dear friends sent me that game. I immediately started to cry. The ugly cry. I called my Mom first, to tell her. I was crying so hard she didn't even understand me. Then I called my friend to thank her. Heavenly Father used her to answer my prayer, and to let me know everything would be okay. We are blessed so many times in so many little ways, that I'm afraid I don't even notice sometimes.

Moving on to less important matters...I went to the podiatrist a few days ago. Well, the good news is I didn't have a fungus. I do feel so much better about that. But I did loose my left toenail and some of the right. I've have a bandaid on the left for months, because I was afraid it would rip off. You could see damage (from all the hill running from before) on my nail (it was a line). The left was a lot worse and had pulled away all the way down to the bottom. Great, just in time for sandals.

I went to this brand new studio in Camas/Vancouver called Barre3. I loved the class, it was pilates meets voga meets ballet. LOVED IT! The teacher had the most amazing body. Of course they just open in time for me to move, but I walk into the class hoping to leave my socks on...only to be told it's a bare foot class. GRRRRRR. Oh well, I took my socks off and said oh well. The class was completely full and I had somebody right next to me. We had our feel all up in front of us on the bar and stuff. I felt the lady checking out me toes. I leaned over and told her I was a runner and lost my nails. I felt like telling her to stop staring!! haha At least it wasn't a contagious fungus. But it is ugly :( When something is embarrassing/obvious, I'd rather just get it out there so she could stop wondering. Nice. I did really like the cork floors, maybe someday I'd put those in someplace.

My windows are all open and I'm cold. Yes, cold because it's cold and damp here today, my windows are open and I'm still in workout clothes. Why can't I live in a place with a "normal" climate haha!!

Random thoughts

1) It's been raining a lot here. Winters aren't bad here, it's spring that gets old. In the first part of the the spring I was all smiles thinking that all was perfect here. BUT, I must admit, the rain is getting old. I have talked to several people that have lived here for many years, and everyone is saying this was the rainiest May ever. I'm trying to look on the bright side of things, like Austin will be sunny...

2) Scott just called me and told me I HAD to watch a show. It's the Biggest Looser Family Show. He just called a second time, to make sure I knew I had to watch it. He said I was "just like Jillian". I'm not sure he meant that as a compliment. I know who she is, but I have never watched the show. I think I will watch the show just to see how he sees me. ha.

3) There are 4 cookbooks that I really want to buy right now. I am waiting, taking a deep breath, and letting a few weeks pass by to see if I still want all 4. I'm waiting I'm seeing. Only 3 out of 4 are at the library. I checked that one out, and think I'd like to own it. Although, my library doesn't charge overdue fines, maybe I'll just keep it for a good long while. Looked at 2 more at the bookstore, and think I'd like them a lot. But probably don't NEED them. Haven't gotten my hands on the fourth yet, so definitely won't buy that one... yet. Maybe the Round Rock library will have them. Or, maybe I will treat myself. Haven't decided. Just thought you should know.

4) Hannah's dance recital is the week after school gets out here, and I still need to buy tickets, and she needs a Goldilocks wig.


5) School gets out June 17th here. The packers come on June 28th. The kids get ripped on about a month of vacation. Bummer for them.

6) Hope has stopped taking a nap again (a week now with no nap). She stopped all summer last year, but when the kids went back to school she started napping again. School isn't out, but she isn't sleeping.

7) I have mice in my garage. In true Heather fashion, I bought six traps. I wanted to buy double that, but talked myself down. I put peanut butter in them all, and set them. Most if not all peanut butter is gone, but none of the traps snapped. (Yes I set them right!) There is poop on my food storage, and one of my bags of oatmeal had a hole. I'm feeling really grossed out. My neighbor caught (really killed) SIX IN HER HOUSE. At least I'm not her. I would not be able to sleep. She put her cast iron skillet in the stove...and the next morning there was poop in the skillet. Mice are a problem here, in the spring, they don't like our May showers either. Just to clarify, I don't have mice in the house, ONLY the garage.

8) I have a toe nail fungus. There, I said it. Me...the girl that wears flip flops in a public shower. Why me? It all started when I was training for Hood to Coast. The trauma to my nail left me weak! Remember the mice? I'm feeling very creepy crawly these days. All in time for my big move to Texas, where I could wear sandals most months out of the year. Lucky me :)

9) Lastly, Hope was frustrated with me and just called me a "Monkey Lady" hahahahaha.

Just so you know

Just a quick post to update anyone that still reads. We sold the house last week to a family at church. We are packing up and moving the end of June. We have found another house, and I have only seen it in pictures! Scott moves in on June 1st. I went to Costco with my friend today, and was really tired after. Hope slept in my bed last night and coughed and kept me awake, so I took a little nappy while she was napping. I woke with a start...WE ARE MOVING! Sometimes I have a hard time with reality and it hits me suddenly haha. I have been eating crazy healthy and my body feels really good. Just thought I'd throw that in. :) More about that later. Kids are walking up the street now.

Hayden turns 8

For Hayden's birthday we had a party at the movie theater. We had cake and ice cream, saw the movie Diary of a Whimpy Kid, and then we got to take a tour of the movie theater...a behind the scenes look. It was pretty darn interesting I must admit. I enjoyed the tour much more than the movie ;) Hayden is now 8! Where did the time go? You know what I loved best about that party? It wasn't at my house. You've got to love the 8 year old boy... in small doses :)

low balls

I do, I like her show and I like her style. In my perfect world everything would be perfect just like her. On Sunday, we had an open house. Some lady mentioned to the realtor something about when we moved out of the house how we had staged it. I don't remember exactly what she said. Alls I know is, I cleaned the crap out of this house on Sunday morning, and I think it would have made even Martha proud.

Some annoying person wanted to see the house at 4 o'clock that day. The open house ran from 1-3... I said yes because that's what people who are trying to sell their house do. Those same annoying people made an offer on our house. It was a total low ball offer. Practically insulting. No, not practically, it was insulting. Plus, they wanted my refrigerator, washer/dryer, big screen TV in the game room and my fire place logs. I am feeling a little bitter. We didn't even counter. We simply said NO. I hate that the market has taken such a nose dive here. It just sucks.

After talking to Scott, I immediately called my Mom and Hayley (Hayley is in Chicago right now) to vent and say some very inappropriate 4 letter words. Because quite frankly who else can you say them to?? Of course, they got me laughing. My Mom said we should have countered with an offer that was even higher than the list price. Hayley said we should respond @*&% +%#. There that made me feel better. A little profanity goes a long way in my book. Thanks girls!

After I got off the phone, I put on my robe, turned on the TV and watched a little Martha. I think I'm liking her right now because my life is a little chaotic and she is so...orderly. It's comforting. Sounds weird, I know, but I'm weird. I have printed off this recipe, it did look really good. **Chocolate Pudding Icebox Cake**

steam cleaner

I got this Wagner steam cleaner a couple of weeks ago at Costco and I love it. It comes with different attachments to do different cleaning jobs. But it is so good on the wood floors I can hardly stand it. Oh, and the bathrooms??!! I got it when it had an instant rebate (which I love) so it was only like $55. A steal if you ask me. I'm sure other steam cleaners are perfectly perfect, too. But I do love my steam cleaner and I thought I'd share.