On the Go

Last night we went to Cracker Barrel to have breakfast for dinner. I planned this on Thursday night as I was lying in bed. That's what I do. Instead of reflecting on the day, I plan my next meal. I really think I have an abnormal love for food. So instead of making everything at home, we decided to go out, plus there's no clean-up that way.

We brought Matt's Granny and Paw along with us.

Kate thinks the best part about Cracker Barrel is that they have a little shop full of gifts and toys. I couldn't agree more. It's perfect. She plays and walks around until her meal comes, which really helps to make the night enjoyable, if you know what I mean.

She is still obsessed with bubbles and persuaded Daddy into buying her some.

Ya'll are not going to believe everything I had to eat. Actually, if you know me, you will have absolutely no problem believing it. I had four pieces of french toast, two eggs, three pieces of bacon, and a bowl of grits. And I ate every last bit of it. That's why I'm smiling so big in this picture. Happy tummy=Happy Mommy

I saw this pillow on the way out and loved it!

There's something so wrong, yet so right, about eating in an establishment that also sells bubbles and pillows.

This morning I got up and ran in a 5 mile race nearby. The weather was perfect and it felt great. (There's usually a photography company at the races taking pictures of all the runners. If I get a picture I'll try to post it.) I then hurried home to get ready to take Kate to her cousin Isaac's third birthday party. She fell asleep on the way there and managed to stay asleep for the first 45 minutes of the party.

Standing and holding a sleeping child does wonders for the ol' back.

She finally woke up and had so much fun! She loves parks and loves being around other kids, so it was the perfect day!

Here's a few more pics of the party:

Kate with her cousins, Anna and Lillie

The birthday boy

He had a blast! I could barely get him to stand still for this photo.

Sal Gal and me

And I have know idea what is up with that vein in my neck but apparently it wanted to be included in the picture.

Tonight I'm hoping to just take it easy, maybe with a pizza and movie.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Poser

Remember when I realized that Kate loves the camera and that she cheeses it up every chance she gets? And in that same post we solved the mystery as to why she did this. Well, it seems as if we haven't seen the best of her yet. Judging from the following pictures, the best is yet to come...

Growing up I was a girl of many poses. My family still makes fun of me 'til this day for the fact that every time someone brought out a camera, I had a pose, some more famous than others. Many of my poses didn't make it through the test of time, but here are a few that seemed to have held their own.


"Hey Daddy, take a picture of me leaning on this balcony...kind of like you just walked up and I was already leaning like this."
But in my defense, I am rockin' some serious daisy dukes with absolutely no shame.

Ahh yes, the brown picture....brown wood paneling, brown sectional, brown cassette player. The whole picture just looks brown. At first I thought it was a black and white photo due to the lack of color, but then I realized it's actually just brown and white. If it weren't for that pose, this photo would be so boring. Yes, the pose definitely saved it.

And I saved the best for last....

This one, my dear friends, is my most famous pose as a child. One too many visits to Olan Mills wouldn't you say, Mom? Head tilted just so, resting gently on my clasped hands....what more could you ask for? Oh that's right, a gorgeous brown Town Car as a side prop.


So as you can see, the world was my portrait studio...only without the light blue carpeted box as an arm rest and the unfortunate back drop of a fake meadow.

The 'posing phase' lasted throughout most of my childhood, until I hit the teenage years, which is when I started the 'hiding from the camera phase'.

Was I ever just a normal kid that smiled a normal smile for a picture?

Absolutely not.

That would have been way too easy.

Party at her crib

This is what we did for at least a good hour tonight. And that ball in her mouth, well...she grabbed it out of the garage when we went out there to get some meat out of the freezer.

I'm trying hard to forget about the fact that I'm pretty sure I saw our dog Buck playing with it the other day....and now, well, it's in my daughter's mouth. Awesome.

Obviously I'm in the middle of cleaning out her drawers and making room for clothes that actually fit. It's a project I started, oh I don't know, a good six months ago??

While I'm at it, I promised some of you that I would post pictures of my love's room. And from looking at the photo above, you know I resorted to using the pictures that were taken before Kate was born, right after we finished it, before their were bins of old clothes, laundry baskets of clean clothes that instead of folding and putting away I just use right out of the basket, and an already-tired crib bumper thrown on the changing table that I just had to have but ended up using a total of two times.

We had a little nook in the corner of the room that I thought would be perfect for a window bench seat so M to the Izz-A built this and I painted it and made the cushion. And I haven't done anything crafty since this. It must have been the pregnancy hormones.




This wall looks a little different now because I've added more photos of our family and I hung my belly cast that I made when I was nine months pregnant (which took up a pretty big portion of the wall).

The initials above her crib are from Wise Decor.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

photo c/o Wikipedia

Awesome


Awesomer...

The CHOCOLATEY part, not the 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oil' part.


This week I discovered that they make a chocolate version of one of my most favorite candy bars in the world, Charleston Chews. And yes, I now know that they make a strawberry version too, but with very few exceptions, please don't add any type of fruit ingredient or healthy fruit taste to any of my sinful delights. If I wanted fruit flavor I would have headed to the produce department. It's kind of like how my sis Sal Gal says that the apples ruin a good apple crunch pie. It's like phrasing gossip in the form of a prayer request, it's just wrong. You with me?

Charleston Chews have been around for a very long time, since 1922 to be exact, but they are often hard to come by. My grandparents said that when they were growing up they were sold in almost every store. But now I can only find them in certain ones in my area. I don't know how people made it before 1922, wondering around aimlessly I'm sure, headed through life without these delicious treats. It's even made with imitation chocolate, but I cannot bring myself to discriminate. And it was of no surprise to me to see that the Tootsie Roll Industries are the ones who produce this sweet bar of love, as you'll remember my post from a while back about another obsession of mine.

And then the other day, after I take my last bite of one, I look at the wrapper and it reads, "Try Me Frozen." Try you frozen you say? Well I thought you'd never ask. There's a Charleston Chew on aisle two waiting on me and it's freezer bound I tell ya. I LOVE desserts and candy that you can put in the freezer. I love putting these and these and of course Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies® into the freezer as they all seem to become more delectable with ever degree they drop.

Anyone else out their share the love for these chewy bars? I bet your grandma does. If not, you got something else I should try?

As I said, sometimes they are hard to find, but this chic wouldn't hesitate to jump in her car and drive to Charleston for this Chew.

I Should Have Stuck With It

Riverdance was a. ma. zing! I could just kick myself for dropping out of Buddy Sherwood's School of Dance at age seven. I could have been on that stage! Actually no I couldn't have, because what impressed me more than their dancing was their impeccable posture throughout the entire performance, and since I have the posture habits of a hunchback, I would have been cut from the get go...not to mention that when we used to watch the home videos of my dance recitals you could always see my lips moving as I was counting my steps. And one, and two, and three, and kick. That would never fly with the Riverdance troupe. But a girl can dream, can't she?


Over the past couple of weeks M to the Izz-A has gotten a kick out of watching me going around the house doing my best Riverdance performance. And when we met his mom at McDonald's on Friday night so that Kate and Kennedy (my niece) could spend the night with her, he made me demonstrate my skills for her in the middle of McDonald's. I don't think I've ever really seen her laugh that hard. Thanks for the encouragement Mary.



On the way to the show we stopped and had dinner, and after we ate he thought it would be a good idea if I had one last practice.

I am a complete dork. But on this Valentine's Day, may he be reminded that I am in fact his dork.

I'm not quite catching the same amount of air as they do, but at this point, I have to tell ya, I thought I still had a chance. And if this wasn't good enough for 'em, I could always bust out with some Celtic freestyle...or the Irish sprinkler maybe?? I asked Matt if he thought I was good enough. The jury is still out on that one, kind of like when I asked my parents if they thought I was good at basketball in middle school.


We decided to regain some composure (and class) and act like the civilized couple that we are and take a normal Valentine's Day picture together.





We had a great night and the show was incredible. It ended up being that they did not need an extra member on their Riverdance troupe. Oh well, I'm not a big fan of leotards anyway.

Valentine Sweetness

Today when I got home from work Kate and I made Valentine cupcakes. We made them from 'Pillsbury scratch' because let's face it, Funfetti® is hard to beat. Why mess with a good thing?

I'm in love with her little hands.

Always a lady.

The final product (minus about five which didn't make it to the photo shoot because someone licked all of the icing off of them)

Going Back

As I mentioned yesterday, since Valentine's Day is this weekend, I'm feeling the love and decided to scan a few of our engagement pictures to share with you all...from way back when. They were taken almost five years ago, which blows my mind. Has it really been that long? And was my hair really that dark?

Since I had to scan them the quality may be a little off. For some reason I didn't end up with the photos on a disc, only the actual prints and negatives. I need to get them put on a CD.

Anyway, here we are...

What could have been that funny?

As long as you switch out the side dishes you can call it a whole new meal, no?

I'm in the process of scanning some of our old photos and since Valentine's Day is approaching, I thought I'd share a few of them this week if I can make myself get around to it. But that's gonna mean that I have to start my posts before my eyelids start getting that heavy feeling. So, more like around 6ish... I have the bedtime of an eighty year old.

Back before M to the Izz-A had twin peaks (our term of endearment for his receding hairline) and before my unfortunate forehead was given the gracious gift of side bangs, we had our engagement pictures taken on a local beach. Actually, I really love these particular photos because we look so young and clueless carefree. Well, while looking at these photos, I was reminded of our dating days and our first year of marriage.

By the way, I don't think I've ever shared with you all the fact that the boy bought a ring and proposed to me before we had ever mentioned anything about marriage or even brought up the idea spending forever together. Looking back, he must have been nuts. I mean, who in their right mind would do that without having first talked about it or at least mentioned it in conversation with the other person??

In the spirit of honesty, I must tell you that I do know part of the reason he fell for me. It was during our first month of dating when I made that third trip back to the lunch buffet line with him one Sunday after church that he knew I could hang. I guess he assumed that if I liked to eat like that, that I could also cook.

Oh, the folly in assuming, it gets even the best of us at times.

He quickly learned during our first year of marriage that while I did enjoy cooking, my list of recipes was sorely lacking. Although he never mentioned it back then, he now likes to frequently make fun of the fact that I cooked pork chops five out of seven days a week. I can't even defend myself with that one. I mean, what? I like pork chops and so I cooked them often. I baked them, fried them, George Foreman grilled them and mixed them into any casserole I could think of. They were my safety meat of choice if you will, because I wasn't yet comfortable with making fancy roasts or anything else for that matter. I figured that as long as I changed out my cooking method (Monday-fried, Tuesday-baked, Wednesday-grilled, Thursday-fried again, Friday - he better take me out to eat for pulling such pork chopping stunts) and as long as I changed out my sides, it was a whole new meal. Kind of like when you wear that same favorite shirt all the time but change out your jewelry, it's a whole new outfit. They're called staple items people, embrace them.

Well, I'm happy to say that I've made definite gains in the cooking department and I honestly cannot remember the last time I made pork chops. I do still love them, but obviously I tend to get on kicks, and right now I'm on a crock pot kick....what a wonderful invention! I'm gonna send a Valentine to whoever invented it and I hope mine makes it to them before Matt's does.