Ali's Dinner

My younger sister Ali (also lovingly referred to as Big Al, just for the sheer humor found in an oxymoron such as that) and her family are moving back to South Carolina this weekend. So Thursday night Sal Gal, Big Al, and I went out for a little going away dinner and some much needed sister time.

I've posted before about how much fun we always have whenever we're together...singing our hearts out, laughing our heads off, and mostly making complete hardcore fun of each other. In other words, we act like we're still twelve.

I love spending time with them. They make me smile and love me for everything I am, and everything I'm not.

You may be wondering who took this photo. I was going to include the story of the random fellow who offered up his photgraphy skills and his outstanding ability at being obnoxious, but then decided to just sum it up with this:

They don't breed mules for the Kentucky Derby.

But I'm Known To Rock The Microphone

Kate has a toddler music cd that has permanently made a home in our car's cd player. One day I drove all the way to work listening to it and didn't even realize it. Kate wasn't even with me! I think I even sang with it.

She loves certain songs on it and one of her faves is 'Where is Thumbkin'. I, of course, do the hand motions with it (yes, while driving) as she follows along. If I try to skip the motions one day, she protests, in her own way, that I do them. The problem is that no one can see her in the back seat and here I am traveling on my merry way doing weird hand motions while other drivers look at me like I'm nuts. I'm worried someone will call my tag number in and report me as having a seizure.

Another one of her favorites is 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe...' but only if I sing it in my best rap star voice. What can I say? She prefers it hip-hop style and I, of course, have no objections busting out some sweet toddler rhymes with the occasional beat-box mixed in. I sometimes double-check that no one is in hearing range before I start my performance. It's things like this that remind me of just how weird where are. And love it.

A few of you have asked to see pics of Kate's room. I'll try to post some soon. Don't worry, it doesn't have posters of Snoop Dogg taped to the walls.

And then she went and grew up on me

Since I was off work yesterday Sal Gal watched Kate for me while I went and gave my hair some much needed attention. My roots were beginning to tell on me and my ends were in the midst of some nasty break-ups.

After my appointment, I headed back to get Kate and pulled up to Sal Gal's only to see her riding around on my nephew's scooter like she was all grown-up! When I first saw her I didn't realize it was her....she looked that old! I thought to myself, "What?! Oh no, hold up, this is not happening. When did she get so big?!"

After I got over the fact that she is 19 months going on 9 years old and that she is indeed growing up before my eyes (which I don't remember giving her permission to do), I quickly jump in on the fun. And after seeing the pics, I think I may have been enjoying myself a little more than she was!

I'm the one cheesin' it up, and there she is all calm and collected, like she's been doing it for years.

She does that. She'll be doing something cute, or something for the first time, and then I'll run to get the camera and she'll stop immediately.

It was the same thing with the scooter that day. When I drove up she was riding it while Sal Gal and my niece, Lillie, pushed her and was smiling so big, laughing, and making little screams of excitement.

Then I decided to push her on it (because I have this mommy hang-up about wanting to be a part of everything she does) and she plays Joe Cool and doesn't crack a smile as in, "Yea whatever Mama, you're always trying to get involved aren't ya?!"

It's hilarious. Really. I'm smiling about it....through hard-clenched teeth.

And as if riding on a scooter didn't grow her up enough, she goes and grows enough hair to put up in pigtails....micro-pigtails, yet pigtails none the less.

It seems like just the other day I was trying to find a way to make her out of control she-mullet look presentable and now she's got strands long enough for pigtails. Wow.


Kate, Mommy has a request. Please get a hold on these growth spurts and slow them down a bit. Please? I'll be your best friiieeend (sung in my best kiddy sing-song voice).
See? Mommy never grew up.

Mary's Mac-n-Cheese

Although I usually don't post that many recipes and was hesitant to post this one because I didn't want it to get looked over as just another mac-n-cheese recipe, I decided that I would be doing you a culinary injustice not to.

I know that there are many, many different recipes out there for macaroni and cheese....baked, crock-pot, stove-top, etc. And I must admit that I have tried most of them, but this one seriously takes the cheese...err, I mean cake.

After a little prodding, I finally got M to the Izz-A's mother to share with me her famous recipe.

Mary's Mac-n-Cheese

**This is for a 9x13 casserole dish.***

1 box (1 lb.) elbow noodles

1 1/2 block shredded sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 box (16oz.) Velveeta cheese (but you won't use it all)

4 tbs butter

4 tbs flour

2 cup whole milk

salt to taste

Boil noodles and set aside.

Make white sauce: In a microwavable bowl, melt butter. Then add flour and whisk. Then pour in milk, whisk good, and cook for approx. 6-10 minutes (in 2 minute intervals) stirring/whisking every 2 minutes until the watery sauce turns into a creamy, thick sauce. The key is to keep stirring throughout the cooking.

Once your sauce is thick and creamy, add 1/3 of the Velveeta cheese block to it. No need to reheat, it should melt while being stirred.

Spray your pan and layer the ingredients as follows:

noodles, salt, cream/sauce, shredded cheese. Repeat twice, making two full layers, making sure to end with the shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 40 minutes.

ENJOY!

Undeserving of a title

Feel free to skip over this post in its entirety.

You all caught me a little completely off guard with your comments about my arms a couple posts back.
And while I really wanted to just act like maybe I didn’t read all of the comments, you and I both know the exact opposite to be true. I always read your comments.

Talking about myself, particularly in the complimentary form, is for the most part completely out of my comfort zone. But I realize that I should acknowledge and reply to your comments, even though my first choice was to just move on and never mention it.
You can thank my sis, Sal Gal, for somewhat forcefully bringing to my attention that I did indeed need to respond and answer the questions posed. Seriously sometimes she’s like a splinter in my finger I tell ya.

There’s not much, if anything, that I’d take back on my blog, but if I could do it all over again, I’d probably take back that picture. I, in no way, shape, or form, thought that a post about Kate’s towel would lead to a discussion on my arms.

Like I said, I get all nervous when attention is brought to me, so I think you should know that right now, as I’m typing, my face feels hot and I may be developing a nervous rash on my neck.

I know that I always hate reading in magazines when celebrities try to say that they eat Whoppers for lunch three times a week, or that they never work out. And I’m going to ignore my fear of somehow coming across that way to you all. I am not however, in any position to give expert fitness advice, but I’ll just share with you what I do, or perhaps I should say ‘don’t do’.

As you know, I love to run. I’ve been running on a consistent basis for about 10-11 years. I think that it may contribute a little but I’m also built like my dad, which I used to not like because it did not come in handy while wearing a cheerleading skirt that was short to begin with, but on a 5’8 frame looked even shorter. And that did not go well with the fact that if I did not have a tan and my legs got the least bit cold, they turned completely purple. I wish I were kidding. I have since learned to embrace my height…and some much needed bronzer on occasion!

I’ve done free weights in the past but do not really like them, never did it consistently and definitely do not do them now. If I do anything other than running, it’s P90X. I mostly just do the cardio ones,which is more Kenpo (punching/kicking type moves). And I can’t even say that I do that on a regular basis anymore, it’s much more sporadic.

Here’s what I think:

I think I have ‘mom arms’ from repeatedly picking up Kate. She weighs about 22-23 pounds and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pick her up with almost every whimper. Bad parenting maybe, but it’s instinct.

So in all actuality, my workout schedule goes as follows:
-Pick Kate up
-Put Kate down
-Pick Kate up
-Put Kate down
-Repeat thousands of times throughout the day

Just while typing this post I’ve picked her up and down several times.

I wish I were the type that could come up with an awesome workout routine to share with everyone but I am so far from that.

This post turned out to be so much longer than I ever wanted. But I did not want you all to think your comments went unread. They were really sweet and after I got all of my nervous laughter out, they even made me grin a little.


And since we’re talking health and because I don’t want this post to be at the top of my blog for long, I’m about to post my mother-in-law’s macaroni and cheese recipe! Now that is one post you do NOT have permission to skip over! It’ll make you mad at yourself for ever thinking that your ‘go-to’ mac-n-cheese recipe was the junk!

Happy 1st Kennedy!

Today was my niece, Kennedy's, first birthday party. Although she's been sick and wasn't feeling well, I think she thoroughly enjoyed herself. I know we sure did!

Here's a few pics from the party:

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

The birthday girl with her mommy, Abbi

You already know who these two chicks are.

Kate admiring Kennedy's super-cute birthday outfit

Look at those squishy cheeks!

Anyone think M to the Izz-A and his brother, Adam, look alike?

The highlight of Kate's day was the cooler filled with ice. At one point we glanced over and she had crawled completely inside it. Nice. That's a sure fire way to get invited back next year.

Winding down, feeling nap time coming on

Keep Kennedy in your prayers. As I mentioned before, she's been sick this week, her blood count has been a bit off and they have yet to find the reason. This can be so frustrating, especially for the mommy. Hopefully, whatever it is, will pass soon.

Have a great Saturday!

One Tough Towel

M to the Izz-A quite frequently makes fun of the fact that Kate and I use the same towel for most of her baths.


"That thing is going to walk off by itself if you don't give it a break."

The truth is, while yes, we do use it almost every night for her bath, I do wash it all the time just so that we can!


She smiles every time she sees it and while it is definitely cute, I like it for all of the practical reasons: absorbent, soft, hooded, long in length, and plush. We have several others but they are all very thin and way too short for my long-legged love.

At first I argued the fact that we've used it so often over the past year and a half. I didn't even remember having it that long. But it's true, I will purposely dig that towel out of the dirty clothes and wash it just so we can use it that night. I was proven wrong while looking back at pictures taken almost a year ago and found that many of them had Kate wrapped up in that exact towel.

Last March

Last night

So yes, I admit that he was right.

If you're gonna be a part of this household, you gotta be tough. And this towel has proven to be that and so much more, which is more than I can say for many other 'must have' baby items that have been shoved in baskets under Kate's changing table and never again saw the light of day since their failure of a debut.

Speaking of getting your use out of things, Kate and I had another wild time tonight on her horse that she got for Christmas. She loves taking me for rides on it.

If you listen carefully you can probably hear the 'pretty pony' crying.

Rooster tail of a hair-do sold separately.

And yes, Matt's resourcefulness has books pinned to the wall to ensure that our child-safety gate at the bottom of the stairs doesn't rub off the paint. Too late. And we change the books out every so often to give the impression that we read a lot.

If Mr. Horse is planning on hanging around as long as 'the towel', it's going to have to step it up a notch.