Have decided that 2 blogs of our own, +1 knitting blog is just too much to keep up with, so I'm combining the 2 family blogs!
Hugs to all!
Long Time No Write!
12 years ago
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Monday 10 August 2009
Scary Moments
I hope no one ever has to watch their child choke.
As a mom, I've never been so panicked in my whole life.
We were sitting in the living room last night; Brett was playing on his PSP, I was surfing the net, and Hazel was going between the 2 of us, wanting to do what we were. Brett and her were sharing starburst candies and she must have gotten too big of a peice or was eating it and swallowed too quickly or something, but suddenly, she scrambled off the couch over to me, with a very panicked look on her face. She slightly coughed for a second, and I realised she couldn't breathe, so I picked her up and started whacking the highest plart of her back with the heel of my hand. It took what felt like several minutes to get it dislodged, but was actually more like 30-45 seconds. Just long enough to see her lips turning blue. I never wanna see that ever again. Once I saw that she was coughing a little and trying to throw it up, I stuck my finger in her throat (not far) just far enough to trigger a stronger gag for her. It took a few moments of really heavy gagging to get it up, but it finally came out and her color returned. I really can't remember the last time I just wanted to hold onto her for dear life. Lots of crying all around, from Daddy, Me, and Hazel. It nearly broke Brett's heart, too. I thought he'd never put her down.
I implore to everyone to be double-triple-quadruple sure of the size of foods you feed your baby/toddler/child as well as making sure you talk to a doctor about the best way to handle a choking moment should, heaven forbid, any arrise.
For everyone's sake, I hope no one has to ever worry about this. I pray always that I never have to do it again, either.
As a mom, I've never been so panicked in my whole life.
We were sitting in the living room last night; Brett was playing on his PSP, I was surfing the net, and Hazel was going between the 2 of us, wanting to do what we were. Brett and her were sharing starburst candies and she must have gotten too big of a peice or was eating it and swallowed too quickly or something, but suddenly, she scrambled off the couch over to me, with a very panicked look on her face. She slightly coughed for a second, and I realised she couldn't breathe, so I picked her up and started whacking the highest plart of her back with the heel of my hand. It took what felt like several minutes to get it dislodged, but was actually more like 30-45 seconds. Just long enough to see her lips turning blue. I never wanna see that ever again. Once I saw that she was coughing a little and trying to throw it up, I stuck my finger in her throat (not far) just far enough to trigger a stronger gag for her. It took a few moments of really heavy gagging to get it up, but it finally came out and her color returned. I really can't remember the last time I just wanted to hold onto her for dear life. Lots of crying all around, from Daddy, Me, and Hazel. It nearly broke Brett's heart, too. I thought he'd never put her down.
I implore to everyone to be double-triple-quadruple sure of the size of foods you feed your baby/toddler/child as well as making sure you talk to a doctor about the best way to handle a choking moment should, heaven forbid, any arrise.
For everyone's sake, I hope no one has to ever worry about this. I pray always that I never have to do it again, either.
Thursday 6 August 2009
But it SUPPOSED to be there...
Last Friday I chose to do what many think is just all kinds of masochistic.
I chose to wax all unwanted hair on my body. Well, I suppose not ALL of it went. I left some.
I had my legs, eyebrows, bikini, and underarms waxed. All in one visit.
It actually wasn't that bad. I usually do my bikini and eyebrows, and I used to get my legs done, but tried underarms for the first time. It really was quick and easy and far beats the razor burn that is left behind by alternate means of epilation. my underarms were sore afterwards, but that's to be expected and I wasn't too bothered.
Brett winces at the thought of me plucking ONE hair from his eyebrows. And it's usually the one that I could wind around a curling iron, it's so long. Old men have eyebrows hairs hat long, and he freaks when I pluck ONE.
"But it's SUPPOSED to be there. LEave it alone. It isn't hurting anyone."
I still make him let me pluck it. I think it's the reason he never complains if I have leg hair as long as his....he's afraid I'll make him "groom" his....
I chose to wax all unwanted hair on my body. Well, I suppose not ALL of it went. I left some.
I had my legs, eyebrows, bikini, and underarms waxed. All in one visit.
It actually wasn't that bad. I usually do my bikini and eyebrows, and I used to get my legs done, but tried underarms for the first time. It really was quick and easy and far beats the razor burn that is left behind by alternate means of epilation. my underarms were sore afterwards, but that's to be expected and I wasn't too bothered.
Brett winces at the thought of me plucking ONE hair from his eyebrows. And it's usually the one that I could wind around a curling iron, it's so long. Old men have eyebrows hairs hat long, and he freaks when I pluck ONE.
"But it's SUPPOSED to be there. LEave it alone. It isn't hurting anyone."
I still make him let me pluck it. I think it's the reason he never complains if I have leg hair as long as his....he's afraid I'll make him "groom" his....
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Just a little off the top...
Hazel's hair is getting so long and thick. It's always in her face, and I'm always pinning it back so she's not getting it in her eyes and mouth. She has this cute little cowlick at the crest of her head the prevents me from pulling her hair straight back, so we settle for pigtails much of the time.
It's so tragic to pin back those beautiful curls all the time. They're so perfect. Like I just pulled them out of curlers.
I've been toying for a while with giving her a good trim. But I keep thinking that she's still young, and it's not really necessary as her curls tuck all the uneven ends up anyway. So I've been putting the trim off.
Till last night.
We were sitting on the couch, her on my lap, getting her hair combed after her "tubby" and I decided it was time. I was combing hair that, in the front, wet, reached her shoulders , and in the back, reached the base of her shoulder blades. So I asked her if I could cut her hair.
"Okay, Mama."
So we did!
It was about 2 inches off the back only. Just to bring it more level with the sides and then I gave her a little layers in the back to spring up her curls. And it looks cute this morning...bedhead and all. Much more of an intentional bob then anything else. And much cuter in a headband now that it's all even .
And now...off to other growing up things...like college :)
It's so tragic to pin back those beautiful curls all the time. They're so perfect. Like I just pulled them out of curlers.
I've been toying for a while with giving her a good trim. But I keep thinking that she's still young, and it's not really necessary as her curls tuck all the uneven ends up anyway. So I've been putting the trim off.
Till last night.
We were sitting on the couch, her on my lap, getting her hair combed after her "tubby" and I decided it was time. I was combing hair that, in the front, wet, reached her shoulders , and in the back, reached the base of her shoulder blades. So I asked her if I could cut her hair.
"Okay, Mama."
So we did!
It was about 2 inches off the back only. Just to bring it more level with the sides and then I gave her a little layers in the back to spring up her curls. And it looks cute this morning...bedhead and all. Much more of an intentional bob then anything else. And much cuter in a headband now that it's all even .
And now...off to other growing up things...like college :)
Monday 27 July 2009
Odd bruises
Just a quick update today. That way I get in the habit and you don't think I've forgotten about you!
Bruises showed up just inside my lips last Wednesday. Bright red bruising that makes my mouth numb in that area and painful to eat with. Not unbearably, just uncomfortable. Dr on Friday said he was baffled and was sure it would go away, but it's making me nervous. So I'm going to call the dentist as my GP is an idiot 99% of the time anyway. We'll see what she has to say about it.
Hazel's going crazy in our house. She really hasn't been out much except to the old house on Saturday, and it's been pouring down rain most days otherwise. There's a huge Swine flu scare in Northern Ireland, 3 people who work with Brett (not directly) have it and there have been warnings all over the place about staying home and calling your GP for diagnosis vs bringing it into the healthcenter. (thank you). So we've not been very motivated to take her out and expose her to other children and people. I know she doesn't understand, but it's better than her being sick. I'd rather have a crabby healthy child than a crabby sick child.
Well, we're off to check the laundry and find something to do. Lots and lots of stuff to put away from the old house and we should probably get on it so our house is back to neat and tidy!
Hugs to all!
Bruises showed up just inside my lips last Wednesday. Bright red bruising that makes my mouth numb in that area and painful to eat with. Not unbearably, just uncomfortable. Dr on Friday said he was baffled and was sure it would go away, but it's making me nervous. So I'm going to call the dentist as my GP is an idiot 99% of the time anyway. We'll see what she has to say about it.
Hazel's going crazy in our house. She really hasn't been out much except to the old house on Saturday, and it's been pouring down rain most days otherwise. There's a huge Swine flu scare in Northern Ireland, 3 people who work with Brett (not directly) have it and there have been warnings all over the place about staying home and calling your GP for diagnosis vs bringing it into the healthcenter. (thank you). So we've not been very motivated to take her out and expose her to other children and people. I know she doesn't understand, but it's better than her being sick. I'd rather have a crabby healthy child than a crabby sick child.
Well, we're off to check the laundry and find something to do. Lots and lots of stuff to put away from the old house and we should probably get on it so our house is back to neat and tidy!
Hugs to all!
Saturday 25 July 2009
Media malnutrition
I logged onto Windows Live today. I realized about 2pm that I'm a horrible daughter and sister and had cut off all contact and I better log on. So I did.
Now, those of you unfamiliar with the Windows Live logging on process, once you log in, a pop-up comes up with how many emails I haven't read. Don't ask. It's my junk mail/what I use to register for things with/what I give strangers email, the one I never ever check so it's usually 1000+ emails. If you email my hotmail account, don't be hurt if I never return your email....
Then you get another pop-up with TODAY IN THE NEWS. And it's all tabloid stuff. I usually scan it and on very very rare occasion will look up one of the stories. But believe me, it's pretty rare. One big one lately has been, "When Oprah's recommendations go wrong" or something like that (tho I'm pretty sure it had another title...same concept). Fascinated, I looked it up. Funny, useless information about things Oprah has endorced that had a negative effect on the company vs. doing amazing things for the sales of the product. Funny. In one ear and out the other.
Today had a post about Jon (of Jon & Kate + 8) and wha his girlfriend has to say. Really. WHO CARES, right? I have to say that is defenitely one reason I do not miss American Gossip Media. Or News Media. It's all gossip anyway, right?
And it got me thinking. I am so malnourished in the wide world of what is going on. I don't watch the news here b/c it's all about bombings and what one group of people did to another group of people. Prejudice this and prejudice that. Who drank too much and cause a bar fight, who had a DUI, who was caught with drugs, whom was sleeping with who. I think it's sad that A) the media only reports on the bad stuff. B) They have to report all the crap to keep the public interested. C) That society is so bad that they're only interested in the crap. D) That I'm considered uneducated and uninteresting to talk to if I don't know the latest and greatest crap.
So here is my thoughts. You can disagree all you want. That is your right.
I have enough stress in my day to day life, that inviting the notion that something else may happen is simply adding to my stress. Don't need it.
I have a low self-body image as it is. I don't need to see who's wearing what and how they trained for 8 hours a day and flushed their colon to get in it. IT costing more than the balance on my car. Reality is, I have a toddler and I chase her for 18 hours a day and GAIN weight, making my $5 dress look like crap on me.
I love my husband dearly and deeply. He is wonderful and handsome and the best. He is the man I married and there really is no one out there better for me than him. So watching the gossip shows where no one can stay faithful b/c life got hard...BIG SHOCK, life IS hard...and they can't take any more, is a waste of time and energy on my part.
I worship God. Jesus Christ is my saviour. That is why I don't have a favorite Actress, singer, actor. It is sad that Michael JAckson died. It was amazing the things he did for pop music. He had a tragic life and that was sad. However, California should not be in debt for his funeral. I caught the replay of Princess Di's funeral, because I was a Freshman at Purdue, and I wasn't family or close personal friend and wasn't going to get myself out of bed at 5 am to watch it live. These people are just people. That's it. They spent their lives doing amazing things and contributing to society and I truly believe they would be sad to think that instead of joining their cause and helping the world, you sat around and fixated yourself on what they were wearing, what they were doing, WHO they were doing, and the list goes on. They're good people and they will be missed, but I think they would be better served by spending time and precious money on things other than them. Donate to a charity in their honor. Even if you have no money, you have time. I know you do, watching TV, reading magazines. Scanning the news racks for the latest headline containing them. That's just hours and hours of time that you could be banding together with them or their memory. So why doesn't this make sense to other people? I think all these celebrities would be sad to think that the focus was on what they wore to a charity event versus what the charity did for someone. God said worshiping Idols was a sin, and they don't call it American Idol for nothing. He never said there was anything wrong in helping another of mankind. He's all about love and kindness and stretching out your hand. Go do it.
I feel okay in the knowledge that I'm media deficiant. That I have no idea what is going on the rest of the world. I have to be IN this world. I don't have to be OF this world. And I feel happier in the knowing that I'm a little more boring because of it.
Now, those of you unfamiliar with the Windows Live logging on process, once you log in, a pop-up comes up with how many emails I haven't read. Don't ask. It's my junk mail/what I use to register for things with/what I give strangers email, the one I never ever check so it's usually 1000+ emails. If you email my hotmail account, don't be hurt if I never return your email....
Then you get another pop-up with TODAY IN THE NEWS. And it's all tabloid stuff. I usually scan it and on very very rare occasion will look up one of the stories. But believe me, it's pretty rare. One big one lately has been, "When Oprah's recommendations go wrong" or something like that (tho I'm pretty sure it had another title...same concept). Fascinated, I looked it up. Funny, useless information about things Oprah has endorced that had a negative effect on the company vs. doing amazing things for the sales of the product. Funny. In one ear and out the other.
Today had a post about Jon (of Jon & Kate + 8) and wha his girlfriend has to say. Really. WHO CARES, right? I have to say that is defenitely one reason I do not miss American Gossip Media. Or News Media. It's all gossip anyway, right?
And it got me thinking. I am so malnourished in the wide world of what is going on. I don't watch the news here b/c it's all about bombings and what one group of people did to another group of people. Prejudice this and prejudice that. Who drank too much and cause a bar fight, who had a DUI, who was caught with drugs, whom was sleeping with who. I think it's sad that A) the media only reports on the bad stuff. B) They have to report all the crap to keep the public interested. C) That society is so bad that they're only interested in the crap. D) That I'm considered uneducated and uninteresting to talk to if I don't know the latest and greatest crap.
So here is my thoughts. You can disagree all you want. That is your right.
I have enough stress in my day to day life, that inviting the notion that something else may happen is simply adding to my stress. Don't need it.
I have a low self-body image as it is. I don't need to see who's wearing what and how they trained for 8 hours a day and flushed their colon to get in it. IT costing more than the balance on my car. Reality is, I have a toddler and I chase her for 18 hours a day and GAIN weight, making my $5 dress look like crap on me.
I love my husband dearly and deeply. He is wonderful and handsome and the best. He is the man I married and there really is no one out there better for me than him. So watching the gossip shows where no one can stay faithful b/c life got hard...BIG SHOCK, life IS hard...and they can't take any more, is a waste of time and energy on my part.
I worship God. Jesus Christ is my saviour. That is why I don't have a favorite Actress, singer, actor. It is sad that Michael JAckson died. It was amazing the things he did for pop music. He had a tragic life and that was sad. However, California should not be in debt for his funeral. I caught the replay of Princess Di's funeral, because I was a Freshman at Purdue, and I wasn't family or close personal friend and wasn't going to get myself out of bed at 5 am to watch it live. These people are just people. That's it. They spent their lives doing amazing things and contributing to society and I truly believe they would be sad to think that instead of joining their cause and helping the world, you sat around and fixated yourself on what they were wearing, what they were doing, WHO they were doing, and the list goes on. They're good people and they will be missed, but I think they would be better served by spending time and precious money on things other than them. Donate to a charity in their honor. Even if you have no money, you have time. I know you do, watching TV, reading magazines. Scanning the news racks for the latest headline containing them. That's just hours and hours of time that you could be banding together with them or their memory. So why doesn't this make sense to other people? I think all these celebrities would be sad to think that the focus was on what they wore to a charity event versus what the charity did for someone. God said worshiping Idols was a sin, and they don't call it American Idol for nothing. He never said there was anything wrong in helping another of mankind. He's all about love and kindness and stretching out your hand. Go do it.
I feel okay in the knowledge that I'm media deficiant. That I have no idea what is going on the rest of the world. I have to be IN this world. I don't have to be OF this world. And I feel happier in the knowing that I'm a little more boring because of it.
Friday 24 July 2009
In Retrospect
I was sitting in the health center today waiting for the doctor, who was 35 minutes late, to ring my name over the announcement screen. Loud, schreaching beep. Mrs. Carli Davis flashes on the screen and makes your trip back to see the doctor more embarassing than being chosen last in Gym class back in school. But that's socialized medicine for you. Zero descression.
Oh, well.
I sat and waited. Knitting, knitting, knitting, trying to pass the time with something productive. I had a baby sweater vest that I'm closing on being done with and it was a good project to have with me. No pattern to follow, simple 2x2 ribbing boardered by garter stitch. Good. Soothing.
Enter the boys. 3 boys...aging approx. 4-7. TERRORS. Please Lord save me from crazy, out-of-control boys. I love boys. Want boys. Think the world is better for boys. God, please give me the strength to raise well behaved boys. Please. Pretty please?
But I digress.
The purpose of my dr's visit was b/c I have some odd bruising on the inside of my lips. Started Wednesday night and have spread. No, there's no ulceration, so it's not a cold sore. It's a bright red bruise. It baffled the doctor. It's numb in that area (which is just inside my lips all the way around) and feels weird to eat. Doctor had no clue. Told me it should go away eventually.
Got me thinking, though.
I wanna get pregnant. I'm craving baby #2. But I remembered all the stuff that I went through in the months that were my first pregnancy.
1. Morning/Afternoon/Evening sickness. All the time. Over everything.
2. Rash on my hands. All over my palms and wrists. Had to sleep with ice bags on my hand just so I could have itch relief.
3. I started "showing" at 3 months. That is had maternity clothes on by 3 months. Yah, that's BY THE END OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER OF MY FIRST PREGNANCY. Don't you show earlier and earlier with each pregnancy?
4. I started lactating (that's leaky boobs for those of you unfamiliar with breast feeding terminology) at 21 weeks. I wore breast pads from 21 weeks until Hazel was 14 months old. That's 16 + (4 times 14)...math don't fail me now...80 weeks. 80 times 7 days is 560 days. of breast pads. don't make me do how many breast pads I went through as that will just depress me.
5. Good old Bedrest. For no reason. Just because Hazel decided it was time to join the world 8 weeks early. Yah, bedrest isn't fun if you haven't done it.
But at the end of the day, pregnancy was wonderful. Nothing too major to complain about and although it wasn't smooth sailing....I wanna do it again. Badly.
Oh, well.
I sat and waited. Knitting, knitting, knitting, trying to pass the time with something productive. I had a baby sweater vest that I'm closing on being done with and it was a good project to have with me. No pattern to follow, simple 2x2 ribbing boardered by garter stitch. Good. Soothing.
Enter the boys. 3 boys...aging approx. 4-7. TERRORS. Please Lord save me from crazy, out-of-control boys. I love boys. Want boys. Think the world is better for boys. God, please give me the strength to raise well behaved boys. Please. Pretty please?
But I digress.
The purpose of my dr's visit was b/c I have some odd bruising on the inside of my lips. Started Wednesday night and have spread. No, there's no ulceration, so it's not a cold sore. It's a bright red bruise. It baffled the doctor. It's numb in that area (which is just inside my lips all the way around) and feels weird to eat. Doctor had no clue. Told me it should go away eventually.
Got me thinking, though.
I wanna get pregnant. I'm craving baby #2. But I remembered all the stuff that I went through in the months that were my first pregnancy.
1. Morning/Afternoon/Evening sickness. All the time. Over everything.
2. Rash on my hands. All over my palms and wrists. Had to sleep with ice bags on my hand just so I could have itch relief.
3. I started "showing" at 3 months. That is had maternity clothes on by 3 months. Yah, that's BY THE END OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER OF MY FIRST PREGNANCY. Don't you show earlier and earlier with each pregnancy?
4. I started lactating (that's leaky boobs for those of you unfamiliar with breast feeding terminology) at 21 weeks. I wore breast pads from 21 weeks until Hazel was 14 months old. That's 16 + (4 times 14)...math don't fail me now...80 weeks. 80 times 7 days is 560 days. of breast pads. don't make me do how many breast pads I went through as that will just depress me.
5. Good old Bedrest. For no reason. Just because Hazel decided it was time to join the world 8 weeks early. Yah, bedrest isn't fun if you haven't done it.
But at the end of the day, pregnancy was wonderful. Nothing too major to complain about and although it wasn't smooth sailing....I wanna do it again. Badly.
Freaky Friday
I woke up this morning about 4:15.
Weird dream, the need to pee, and inability to breath out of one nostril. Got up, did my business to remedy the last to problems and then laid back down.
No sleep. I played on my Nintendo DS, I snuggled down deep, but no sleep.
Then Hazel woke up at 5:30. Hurray. And we've been up since. I'm quickly winding down, but I know that if I lay down now, I'll just lay awake. So I sit, 1/2 alive, blogging and knitting.
Hazel's got a new habit that I forgot to tell you about.
She's always been a belly button and nipple rubber when she gets tired. We know she's tired when the bellybutton is rubbed raw.
Lately, however, she's been lifting her shirt high above her boobies and pressing her belly against EVERYTHING. The TV. The Wall. The Door. The Couch. On the Table top. If you can press your belly against something at her height, she does it.
It's a bit freaky to see your 22 month old, shirt up, pressed against the wall. But, ya know, whatever blows her socks off, I suppose!
Weird dream, the need to pee, and inability to breath out of one nostril. Got up, did my business to remedy the last to problems and then laid back down.
No sleep. I played on my Nintendo DS, I snuggled down deep, but no sleep.
Then Hazel woke up at 5:30. Hurray. And we've been up since. I'm quickly winding down, but I know that if I lay down now, I'll just lay awake. So I sit, 1/2 alive, blogging and knitting.
Hazel's got a new habit that I forgot to tell you about.
She's always been a belly button and nipple rubber when she gets tired. We know she's tired when the bellybutton is rubbed raw.
Lately, however, she's been lifting her shirt high above her boobies and pressing her belly against EVERYTHING. The TV. The Wall. The Door. The Couch. On the Table top. If you can press your belly against something at her height, she does it.
It's a bit freaky to see your 22 month old, shirt up, pressed against the wall. But, ya know, whatever blows her socks off, I suppose!
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Attack of AF and the hormone patrol
No, I'm not preggo yet. Not that I'm aware anyway. But maybe next month. Baby #2 is apparently not ready to enter the world yet, as it'll be another few weeks before I get pregnant. Oh, well. Still trying not to be bitter over people who don't even try. Atleast I know I'm able to carry a little one, so I don't have too much room to complain.
It is, however, period week. And I'm feeling the surge of PMS. Grumble grumble grrrrr. I can tell when I get angry for silly things that usually don't upset me. Like this weeek I'm supposed to be organiing a girl's night out for Michelle's birthday. Nothing to do with the fact that no one planned anything for my birthday and it was my 30th and this is Michelle's 33rd. now, the rational human side of my brain is screaming that we love Michelle, she's a great friend and we want to celebrate her birthday. That every birthday is a special birthday and we absolutely should celebrate her b-day with a girl's night out.
The PMS side of me, however, is standing firmly on my feelings, insisting that no one spent the time, energy, or money on my birthday, and it was a big one. The only one I was really really excited to get to. And it came and went with no celebration. The hormones remind me that the likelyhood of anyone ever throwing me a surprise party or a party at all is slim, so why bother with anyone elses.
And although the normal, rational, NICE side of me knows that I should listen to the human side; the hormones are gaining in presence, and they're getting very difficult to fight off.
I hate the hormones. I really do. And although, as a woman, I can recognize that my irrationality stems from the hormones, it is certain death to ANYONE else who acknowledges them. I tell you what. Aunt Flow is a biatch. She's the wickedest of all wicked witches and she's invading full scale whether you invite her and her crew or not. Sigh. And I welcome her every month in the hopes of having more babies...
In other news, we're stranded inside due to crummy weather. It's raining and gross out (yes, sometimes it's rainy and not gross), making our house chilly. Hazel's bundled up in long sleeves, flannel pants and socks, and it makes me laugh as everyone at home is sweating their behinds off. I kind of miss that, though. Don't know what Hazel will do in warm weather. The thought of moving her from 70 degrees at hottest to Georgia where it's quite a bit warmer amuses me as she won't know what to do with herself in such warm weather!
Well, lunch is over, and she's getting sleepy (rubbing eyes and yawning are dead give aways). Should head and get my girl to bed! Hopefully I'll get a bit of a nap and scare the hormones away for a while...
It is, however, period week. And I'm feeling the surge of PMS. Grumble grumble grrrrr. I can tell when I get angry for silly things that usually don't upset me. Like this weeek I'm supposed to be organiing a girl's night out for Michelle's birthday. Nothing to do with the fact that no one planned anything for my birthday and it was my 30th and this is Michelle's 33rd. now, the rational human side of my brain is screaming that we love Michelle, she's a great friend and we want to celebrate her birthday. That every birthday is a special birthday and we absolutely should celebrate her b-day with a girl's night out.
The PMS side of me, however, is standing firmly on my feelings, insisting that no one spent the time, energy, or money on my birthday, and it was a big one. The only one I was really really excited to get to. And it came and went with no celebration. The hormones remind me that the likelyhood of anyone ever throwing me a surprise party or a party at all is slim, so why bother with anyone elses.
And although the normal, rational, NICE side of me knows that I should listen to the human side; the hormones are gaining in presence, and they're getting very difficult to fight off.
I hate the hormones. I really do. And although, as a woman, I can recognize that my irrationality stems from the hormones, it is certain death to ANYONE else who acknowledges them. I tell you what. Aunt Flow is a biatch. She's the wickedest of all wicked witches and she's invading full scale whether you invite her and her crew or not. Sigh. And I welcome her every month in the hopes of having more babies...
In other news, we're stranded inside due to crummy weather. It's raining and gross out (yes, sometimes it's rainy and not gross), making our house chilly. Hazel's bundled up in long sleeves, flannel pants and socks, and it makes me laugh as everyone at home is sweating their behinds off. I kind of miss that, though. Don't know what Hazel will do in warm weather. The thought of moving her from 70 degrees at hottest to Georgia where it's quite a bit warmer amuses me as she won't know what to do with herself in such warm weather!
Well, lunch is over, and she's getting sleepy (rubbing eyes and yawning are dead give aways). Should head and get my girl to bed! Hopefully I'll get a bit of a nap and scare the hormones away for a while...
Monday 20 July 2009
That Thing You Do
This past weekend was pretty busy, which is new. Usually weekends spent here are pretty uneventful and boring.
Friday night we left Hazel with my friend Michelle and headed off to Whitehead for a dinner party at one of Brett's co-workers. Hani and Sandra are amazing hosts and Sandra prepared just an incredible meal. Hani is palestinian (sp?) and his wife served an incredible spread of middle eastern inspired dishes, and were delicious. There was good food, good company, good conversation, and the evening flew far too quickly. I headed home around midnight to releave Michelle, and Brett stayed with Matt and Jenn, catching a taxi home but not getting here until 3!! I'm glad they had so much fun, though.
We had a birthday party on Saturday and Sunday was just a big day of relaxing!
Hazel's developing so quickly that I almost can't keep up. She's really talking up a storm. She never grunts anymore when she wants something. When she doesn't know the word for what she wants, she usually says, "This." or "Pity Pease." Otherwise we get bombarded with the same word for whatever is over and over and over and over until we say no hard enough or give it to her. Michelle was laughing at me the other day when I was talking to her daughter, Beth. Beth is in the babbling stage, which I love, and I was babbling right back at her. "No wonder your daughter talks so much. You speak her language." Hmmmm....
The next several weekends are going to be crazy. This weekend we have to finish up moving out of the old apartment, next weekend is our 5th anniversary (yay!!!), the following weekend I have a baby fair that I'm putting a stall of 2nd hand baby clothes in (there are a few of us doing it), then the following weekend I'm supposed to be hosting a Pampered Chef party. That is, if the flipping consultant will actually email me back. I hate telling people about it when I can't get her to commit or respond. Most people are on holiday last week, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and if she doesn't get back to me by wednesday then I'm calling it off.
Well, it's sunny and windy outside, so I should finish breakfast so I can go hang clothing outside...hopefully get a few loads done today while we're home.
Hugs and Kisses to all!
Friday night we left Hazel with my friend Michelle and headed off to Whitehead for a dinner party at one of Brett's co-workers. Hani and Sandra are amazing hosts and Sandra prepared just an incredible meal. Hani is palestinian (sp?) and his wife served an incredible spread of middle eastern inspired dishes, and were delicious. There was good food, good company, good conversation, and the evening flew far too quickly. I headed home around midnight to releave Michelle, and Brett stayed with Matt and Jenn, catching a taxi home but not getting here until 3!! I'm glad they had so much fun, though.
We had a birthday party on Saturday and Sunday was just a big day of relaxing!
Hazel's developing so quickly that I almost can't keep up. She's really talking up a storm. She never grunts anymore when she wants something. When she doesn't know the word for what she wants, she usually says, "This." or "Pity Pease." Otherwise we get bombarded with the same word for whatever is over and over and over and over until we say no hard enough or give it to her. Michelle was laughing at me the other day when I was talking to her daughter, Beth. Beth is in the babbling stage, which I love, and I was babbling right back at her. "No wonder your daughter talks so much. You speak her language." Hmmmm....
The next several weekends are going to be crazy. This weekend we have to finish up moving out of the old apartment, next weekend is our 5th anniversary (yay!!!), the following weekend I have a baby fair that I'm putting a stall of 2nd hand baby clothes in (there are a few of us doing it), then the following weekend I'm supposed to be hosting a Pampered Chef party. That is, if the flipping consultant will actually email me back. I hate telling people about it when I can't get her to commit or respond. Most people are on holiday last week, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and if she doesn't get back to me by wednesday then I'm calling it off.
Well, it's sunny and windy outside, so I should finish breakfast so I can go hang clothing outside...hopefully get a few loads done today while we're home.
Hugs and Kisses to all!
Friday 17 July 2009
Oldies, but Goodies
I meant to post last night, but nevermind that I knitted and knitted and knitted instead. Unexciting day yesterday, anyway.
Hazel and I played and read books a lot, we hung out laundry to dry, took a nap (I needed one as much as her), made Koolaid Playdoh, daddy got home, made dinner, wrestled Daddy, Hazel went to bed at 8:30, and Brett and I watched Battlestar Galactica. Knitting, knitting, knitting.
It's official, I'm a scifi geek. I think after you're addicted to and love 3 different scifi shows, you're a geek. I don't think it was possible to grow up in my house and not be in love with Star Wars, Brett started watching Star Trek: Enterprise in Peoria and got me addicted (love that show). And now we've gotten into BSG. The Yarn Harlot, my knitting idol, was a BSG fan and I thought we'd give it a go, watch an episode or two and see. Good show. Not to mention that we've got that, plus the series Prison Break going at the same time. Pamela loaned us Prison Break while she's touring the US for a month. It's an amazingly good show. Kind of violent and gory, but it really needs that, I think, for the show to progress.
By the way (BTW), I'm currently sitting on the floor, Hazel's on my lap, and the computer is on hers, so if this is a little unreadable, then you'll know why.
We made Koolaid Playdough (recipe in link above) for the 2nd time yesterday. It's the best recipe I've found as it contains no oil, therefore it doesn't leave oily greasy mess everywhere. Simple. Flour, salt, koolaid, water. Easy peasy. Makes the world largest amount of playdough, though. Be forwarned. Lots and lots. And I strongly recommend plastic gloves before mixing, as mooshing together the dry stuff with boiling water is PAINFUL. I, also, recommend kneading it until you feel like your arms are going to fall off. It really gets the gluten in the flour going so that it feels like playdough and not the generic, grainy, homemade stuff. Not to mention the stuff SMELLS amazing since it has koolaid in it. The first batch we made was with 2 pkg of Cherry, this batch was 1 Strawberry, 1 Tropical Punch. Hardly any difference. Nothing too noticeable. Same smell, color, etc. Well, mostly. I can't wait to try it in other color/flavors. I'm going to make some for Hazel's little guests at her birthday party in September.
Speaking of...the kids are getting big enough this year to make it a child centered party instead of an adults-celebrating-kids party. So after some brainstorming, we decided to have a big craft party for the kids. Hazel's got about 6 little friends, so oI thought it would be fun to make playdough for them in different colors, we talked about hiring a facepainter. There are recipes online for homemade fingerpaints, we can color, etc and so on. I thought it would be fun and then the little ones can have some art to take home at the end of the day! I think I have to be a crazy lady, though, for doing it, as....
...the day before Hazel's birthday is the day several of us in the knit group are going to IKnit day in London. We'll fly out about 6am and get home somewhere around 10pm that night. THEN, I'm having a party the next day. Luckily it should be fairly simple for the party, and if I get all prepped on Friday, then Sunday will be a breeze and I can relax at IKnit.
Hmmmm. Whatelse is going on...Baby making has commenced! I'm really excited!!!! And really dreading it at the same time. Seems like everyone is preggo and took no effort to get that way, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that it probably won't be that easy for us. Sigh. It's hard not to be resentful toward everyone who got preggo right away, but I do dknow God knows best and it'll happen when it should. I do dknow that, but convincing my heart is a whole other story. I was hoping Hazel and her siblings would be closer in age, but it's not in God's plan, so I need to just calm down and wait.
Well, I should go get dressed as we have to get friends in an hour to go play at Cheeky Monkey's. I'm going to take the camera and hopefully have some video to post!
Hazel and I played and read books a lot, we hung out laundry to dry, took a nap (I needed one as much as her), made Koolaid Playdoh, daddy got home, made dinner, wrestled Daddy, Hazel went to bed at 8:30, and Brett and I watched Battlestar Galactica. Knitting, knitting, knitting.
It's official, I'm a scifi geek. I think after you're addicted to and love 3 different scifi shows, you're a geek. I don't think it was possible to grow up in my house and not be in love with Star Wars, Brett started watching Star Trek: Enterprise in Peoria and got me addicted (love that show). And now we've gotten into BSG. The Yarn Harlot, my knitting idol, was a BSG fan and I thought we'd give it a go, watch an episode or two and see. Good show. Not to mention that we've got that, plus the series Prison Break going at the same time. Pamela loaned us Prison Break while she's touring the US for a month. It's an amazingly good show. Kind of violent and gory, but it really needs that, I think, for the show to progress.
By the way (BTW), I'm currently sitting on the floor, Hazel's on my lap, and the computer is on hers, so if this is a little unreadable, then you'll know why.
We made Koolaid Playdough (recipe in link above) for the 2nd time yesterday. It's the best recipe I've found as it contains no oil, therefore it doesn't leave oily greasy mess everywhere. Simple. Flour, salt, koolaid, water. Easy peasy. Makes the world largest amount of playdough, though. Be forwarned. Lots and lots. And I strongly recommend plastic gloves before mixing, as mooshing together the dry stuff with boiling water is PAINFUL. I, also, recommend kneading it until you feel like your arms are going to fall off. It really gets the gluten in the flour going so that it feels like playdough and not the generic, grainy, homemade stuff. Not to mention the stuff SMELLS amazing since it has koolaid in it. The first batch we made was with 2 pkg of Cherry, this batch was 1 Strawberry, 1 Tropical Punch. Hardly any difference. Nothing too noticeable. Same smell, color, etc. Well, mostly. I can't wait to try it in other color/flavors. I'm going to make some for Hazel's little guests at her birthday party in September.
Speaking of...the kids are getting big enough this year to make it a child centered party instead of an adults-celebrating-kids party. So after some brainstorming, we decided to have a big craft party for the kids. Hazel's got about 6 little friends, so oI thought it would be fun to make playdough for them in different colors, we talked about hiring a facepainter. There are recipes online for homemade fingerpaints, we can color, etc and so on. I thought it would be fun and then the little ones can have some art to take home at the end of the day! I think I have to be a crazy lady, though, for doing it, as....
...the day before Hazel's birthday is the day several of us in the knit group are going to IKnit day in London. We'll fly out about 6am and get home somewhere around 10pm that night. THEN, I'm having a party the next day. Luckily it should be fairly simple for the party, and if I get all prepped on Friday, then Sunday will be a breeze and I can relax at IKnit.
Hmmmm. Whatelse is going on...Baby making has commenced! I'm really excited!!!! And really dreading it at the same time. Seems like everyone is preggo and took no effort to get that way, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that it probably won't be that easy for us. Sigh. It's hard not to be resentful toward everyone who got preggo right away, but I do dknow God knows best and it'll happen when it should. I do dknow that, but convincing my heart is a whole other story. I was hoping Hazel and her siblings would be closer in age, but it's not in God's plan, so I need to just calm down and wait.
Well, I should go get dressed as we have to get friends in an hour to go play at Cheeky Monkey's. I'm going to take the camera and hopefully have some video to post!
Tuesday 14 July 2009
Running head first into the terrible twos...
Hazel's been pretty angry with me for almost a week. Trying to be ever patient, I've been trying to figure out what is wrong, but can only come up with a handfull of things.
#1: We're in a new house, and I think it's just now sinking in that we live here now. I'm going to try my best not to take her to the other place as not to confuse her, hopefully we'll be able to find someone to watch her here while we finish the move.
#2: She's hitting "that age." Which I think is hysterical since every stage starts out with someone saying, "Well, she's at that age." But I think this time, that age is independence. And she wants it, so we encourage it, but I think it really scares her, too. She wants to feed herself, and drink out of a big girl cup, go to the big girl potty, but she's wanting it all at once, and we need to realise that it can all be a little overwhelming for someone so little. We don't push any of it, she'll get it when she's ready, but we're giving her as many opportunities as possible, and she's flying. It's wonderful to watch, but at the same time, I'm frightened at how fast she's growing up!
#3: She's been a Daddy's girl lately and doesn't really understand why he leaves each morning. I've been explaining that Daddy goes to work so we can eat and play. But she's really a bit young to fully understand. But we still talk about it, she may be little, but it's good practice for me to explain the whys of life and for her to ask, knowing that she'll get an explaination...even if we have to look it up later. I really, actually, like it when I get bombarded with a million, "WHY?"s. I think it's cool that she's learning and wanting to learn.
On other news...
We still don't have a dryer. It'll be 2 weeks on Thursday that it conked out, but we're doing well. I get atleast 2 loads on the line in the backyard per day, giving Hazel a chance to be out and about while I'm doing the wash. I forgot how much I like line-dried clothing. Brett laughs, saying I look "domesticated" when I'm doing the drying "the old way." He's been helping on occasion (when he's home) just standing there hanging things up with me. I'm going to be glad to get a dryer eventually, but for now, the line is bliss on a pole.
Baby making has commenced! We're in the "safe zone" if we move home in December, and if not, then we'll hopefully have our little one sometime late spring of next year. I just dread the thought of months and months of not getting pregnant. Only took 6 months last time, which, over all, is NOT a long time to try, but I've had the baby bug bite since January, and it feels like a long time to wait already, ya know? I was in IKEA on Sunday, and seriously, there was easily 20 pregnant women and I think I counted 3 newborns in that store. Ever notice when you want something so bad, that's all you see? Oh, well, I know in my heart of hearts that God's in charge and it'll happen when it's supposed to! I just have to keep remembering that!
Hazel's been talking in 2-3 word sentences lately, which has just been blowing us away. It's really cool to see the words she puts together.
Well, I should be off. I promised the Nut some book reading time...
#1: We're in a new house, and I think it's just now sinking in that we live here now. I'm going to try my best not to take her to the other place as not to confuse her, hopefully we'll be able to find someone to watch her here while we finish the move.
#2: She's hitting "that age." Which I think is hysterical since every stage starts out with someone saying, "Well, she's at that age." But I think this time, that age is independence. And she wants it, so we encourage it, but I think it really scares her, too. She wants to feed herself, and drink out of a big girl cup, go to the big girl potty, but she's wanting it all at once, and we need to realise that it can all be a little overwhelming for someone so little. We don't push any of it, she'll get it when she's ready, but we're giving her as many opportunities as possible, and she's flying. It's wonderful to watch, but at the same time, I'm frightened at how fast she's growing up!
#3: She's been a Daddy's girl lately and doesn't really understand why he leaves each morning. I've been explaining that Daddy goes to work so we can eat and play. But she's really a bit young to fully understand. But we still talk about it, she may be little, but it's good practice for me to explain the whys of life and for her to ask, knowing that she'll get an explaination...even if we have to look it up later. I really, actually, like it when I get bombarded with a million, "WHY?"s. I think it's cool that she's learning and wanting to learn.
On other news...
We still don't have a dryer. It'll be 2 weeks on Thursday that it conked out, but we're doing well. I get atleast 2 loads on the line in the backyard per day, giving Hazel a chance to be out and about while I'm doing the wash. I forgot how much I like line-dried clothing. Brett laughs, saying I look "domesticated" when I'm doing the drying "the old way." He's been helping on occasion (when he's home) just standing there hanging things up with me. I'm going to be glad to get a dryer eventually, but for now, the line is bliss on a pole.
Baby making has commenced! We're in the "safe zone" if we move home in December, and if not, then we'll hopefully have our little one sometime late spring of next year. I just dread the thought of months and months of not getting pregnant. Only took 6 months last time, which, over all, is NOT a long time to try, but I've had the baby bug bite since January, and it feels like a long time to wait already, ya know? I was in IKEA on Sunday, and seriously, there was easily 20 pregnant women and I think I counted 3 newborns in that store. Ever notice when you want something so bad, that's all you see? Oh, well, I know in my heart of hearts that God's in charge and it'll happen when it's supposed to! I just have to keep remembering that!
Hazel's been talking in 2-3 word sentences lately, which has just been blowing us away. It's really cool to see the words she puts together.
Well, I should be off. I promised the Nut some book reading time...
If you don't know...
I originally posted about a situation I've found myself in lately. About how I feel about people who get angry and then don't want to talk about it. About what I really think about people who blame others for the things they don't like about their life. The title was originally leading into my thoughts on the phrase, "If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you." But after posting, I realized that, the person in topic, doesn't care about me. Is generally POed about their life, regardless of their life situation, and is convinced that my life is better and therefore i must be a great way to take out their anger. I tried to help, I gave advice only when requested, but none of it was good enough. And you know what I just realized? Their emotional instability is not my concern, as apparently mine is not theirs. I think I know what set them off, and you know what? They've needed to hear it for a VERY VERY long time...
Wednesday 8 July 2009
It's a Lazytown Day
Well, we're on the count down to Lazytown Live!!! The show is tonight at 5 pm and Hazel and I are taking off around 2:3o or 3 to ensure we get to Belfast in time to have a small snack and get into the theatre in time. We have Hazel's Stephanie Wig ready to go. Her skirt is at the other house and I'm still debating whether to retrieve it or not. She has Stephanie PJs that I thought she could wear the top with jeans. We'll see. I even thought about getting her something to wear at the concert, too. Who knows. We'll see what we come up with.
Poor girl is getting cabin fever. She hasn't left the house in a week and a half except to go to the backyard. I was going to take her to Cheeky Monkey's yesterday, but with Lazytown being today, I thought 2 really big days out would be a lot too much. We'll have a day in tomorrow and then maybe Daddy will go with us to CM's or Junction One and play on Friday.
Brett has a 4 day weekend this weekend due to no more working Fridays (which started in June and will continue through the year until further notice) and a holiday on Monday. Stinks that his 4 days will be full of moving. We've still got so much left at the old apartment that we can't take the weekend for anything else. Maybe. We do have until the 28th to move out, so maybe we'll do something fun this weekend instead. One of the guys Brett works with is going to Rome and inivited us to go back in May. I'm so jealous. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanna go to Rome, but that may wait until October when the weather is a bit milder and prices are cheaper. Tourist numbers will be down, too, which will make taking Hazel through the touristy places a lot easier.
We still have a few growing pains in this house. The clothes dryer gave out last Thursday and once looked at, it was declared unworthy for repair. Then our landlords decided they weren't going to replace it unless they could find a cheap one at a second hand shop (which is fine) but even then, shopping for one wasn't a priority. So my laundry keeps piling up higher and higher. Hazel and I are going to venture out back to hang up a load here in a few minutes, I'll let her run like crazy so maybe she'll take an early nap to rest up for the evening. We're looking into buying a new dryer as we can't live without one and have a toddler in the house. The weather is just too cold and too unpredictable to rely on the clothing line. Besides, the line only holds one load at a time and takes about 3 hours per load to dry. Not reasonable if you ask me. Our shower continues to clog unless you clear out the drain of hair before every use. I don't mind cleaning out the drain, it's just annoying not to be able to just jump in and clean it out once every few days, ya know? I dread the thought that we're moving home in a few short months, provided FG Wilson doesn't renew our contract for another year, but I do miss everyone. I miss my car. I miss being able to jump in the car and run into town and get whatever I need at anytime of night. Shops around here close around 5:30 typically, being open late (8pm) on Fridays only and most being closed entirely on Tuesdays. I'll miss our friends, and soft play areas (like Cheeky Monkeys) and mom and tots groups. I'm grateful each and every day that I was able to find friends shortly after moving here otherwise, I think living in a foreign country would be nearly unbearable. Most people don't make living abroad more than 6 months. I can't tell you how many women I talked to while living in Peoria who couldn't handle it and in the process thought it was cool that I could live in Ireland but thought I was nuts for agreeing to it. I'm so lucky to have Marina and Michelle and all the lovely other people in my life. They're what make this worth every second.
Well, I need to figure out what the Nut is up to and go hang up clothes....hugs to all and hope you have a great day!
Poor girl is getting cabin fever. She hasn't left the house in a week and a half except to go to the backyard. I was going to take her to Cheeky Monkey's yesterday, but with Lazytown being today, I thought 2 really big days out would be a lot too much. We'll have a day in tomorrow and then maybe Daddy will go with us to CM's or Junction One and play on Friday.
Brett has a 4 day weekend this weekend due to no more working Fridays (which started in June and will continue through the year until further notice) and a holiday on Monday. Stinks that his 4 days will be full of moving. We've still got so much left at the old apartment that we can't take the weekend for anything else. Maybe. We do have until the 28th to move out, so maybe we'll do something fun this weekend instead. One of the guys Brett works with is going to Rome and inivited us to go back in May. I'm so jealous. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanna go to Rome, but that may wait until October when the weather is a bit milder and prices are cheaper. Tourist numbers will be down, too, which will make taking Hazel through the touristy places a lot easier.
We still have a few growing pains in this house. The clothes dryer gave out last Thursday and once looked at, it was declared unworthy for repair. Then our landlords decided they weren't going to replace it unless they could find a cheap one at a second hand shop (which is fine) but even then, shopping for one wasn't a priority. So my laundry keeps piling up higher and higher. Hazel and I are going to venture out back to hang up a load here in a few minutes, I'll let her run like crazy so maybe she'll take an early nap to rest up for the evening. We're looking into buying a new dryer as we can't live without one and have a toddler in the house. The weather is just too cold and too unpredictable to rely on the clothing line. Besides, the line only holds one load at a time and takes about 3 hours per load to dry. Not reasonable if you ask me. Our shower continues to clog unless you clear out the drain of hair before every use. I don't mind cleaning out the drain, it's just annoying not to be able to just jump in and clean it out once every few days, ya know? I dread the thought that we're moving home in a few short months, provided FG Wilson doesn't renew our contract for another year, but I do miss everyone. I miss my car. I miss being able to jump in the car and run into town and get whatever I need at anytime of night. Shops around here close around 5:30 typically, being open late (8pm) on Fridays only and most being closed entirely on Tuesdays. I'll miss our friends, and soft play areas (like Cheeky Monkeys) and mom and tots groups. I'm grateful each and every day that I was able to find friends shortly after moving here otherwise, I think living in a foreign country would be nearly unbearable. Most people don't make living abroad more than 6 months. I can't tell you how many women I talked to while living in Peoria who couldn't handle it and in the process thought it was cool that I could live in Ireland but thought I was nuts for agreeing to it. I'm so lucky to have Marina and Michelle and all the lovely other people in my life. They're what make this worth every second.
Well, I need to figure out what the Nut is up to and go hang up clothes....hugs to all and hope you have a great day!
Tuesday 7 July 2009
Just another lazy day
Nothing much has been going on these past 3 days. Pure boredom on Hazel's part. Poor girl. I was going to take her to Cheeky Monkey's today to get her out of the house, but then Brett reminded me that we get to go see Lazytown tomorrow in Belfast, so I'm thinking it's probably a better idea that we stay home. Lazytown starts at 5, meaning we have to leave here no later than 3:30 to get there in time, although we'll probably head down between 2:30 and 3 just to be on the safe side. I don't want to get there early as we have purchased seats and she's only 22 months (well, nearly) old and I can't imagine her having too much patience with sitting there early. If we get there quickly then we can go get a snack or something before going in.
I'm so excited abotu taking her I can't stand it! I'm a little nervous that it'll be so big and loud that it'll scare her, but I think she should be alright. She's been marching around in her Stephanie wig for a few days now. It's her "hat," she says.
Well, I should be off. Not a lot to say other than that!
I'm so excited abotu taking her I can't stand it! I'm a little nervous that it'll be so big and loud that it'll scare her, but I think she should be alright. She's been marching around in her Stephanie wig for a few days now. It's her "hat," she says.
Well, I should be off. Not a lot to say other than that!
Sunday 5 July 2009
Happy Independence Day!
Oh....my....goodness. I think we survived our Fourth party. House is intact, and surprisingly unmessy. I started cooking Friday around 1:30 and between meals and getting stuff ready for the party, I don't think I stopped (with the exception of bedtime and eating) until 5:30 last night. And I was ready to drop.
Jenn and Matt came over early to help us out. Bless Jenn's heart, she tackled the deviled eggs. I would give her the messiest job ever. She was champ and did a great job! Nicola and her son, Alastair, we the first to arrive after them. Everyone else started arriving about an hour later around 4. I seriously can't tell you how fun a houseful of people is. I think at the top of the night there was...(hang on I have to think about this) 22 adults and 6 kids running about. I got to meet Ian(head of Brett's office)'s wife, Caren and their daughter, Charlotte, who was just a sweetheart. It was really nice to get to meet them. I also got to meet Stephen's wife, Valerie, who was just the nicest soul. We had a sick amount of food, beer, and wine, laughter, and chats, the kids ran around like only little kids can, one kid barfed on our patio, the new grill burned the first 4 hamburgers, but the weather was gorgeous and the company was incredible and I couldn't have asked for a better Fourth of July.
Praise God for a gorgeous day b/c the weather called for downpours all weekend. He truly is an awesome God and I'm glad he's on our side!
Well, the aftermath of an awesome party is usually pretty brutal, so I should get started on the clean up!
Jenn and Matt came over early to help us out. Bless Jenn's heart, she tackled the deviled eggs. I would give her the messiest job ever. She was champ and did a great job! Nicola and her son, Alastair, we the first to arrive after them. Everyone else started arriving about an hour later around 4. I seriously can't tell you how fun a houseful of people is. I think at the top of the night there was...(hang on I have to think about this) 22 adults and 6 kids running about. I got to meet Ian(head of Brett's office)'s wife, Caren and their daughter, Charlotte, who was just a sweetheart. It was really nice to get to meet them. I also got to meet Stephen's wife, Valerie, who was just the nicest soul. We had a sick amount of food, beer, and wine, laughter, and chats, the kids ran around like only little kids can, one kid barfed on our patio, the new grill burned the first 4 hamburgers, but the weather was gorgeous and the company was incredible and I couldn't have asked for a better Fourth of July.
Praise God for a gorgeous day b/c the weather called for downpours all weekend. He truly is an awesome God and I'm glad he's on our side!
Well, the aftermath of an awesome party is usually pretty brutal, so I should get started on the clean up!
Friday 3 July 2009
Painfully tired, but happy...
Just a quick note as I'm about to drop from exhaustion. We got the keys to our new house on Sunday night, and have been here since. It's wonderful. Hazel's in heaven with all the space to run, and I'm just estatic with storage space. I promise to post pics soon.
Tomorrow we're hosting most of Brett's Project Management Office staff and several of my mom and tot friends for a Fourth of July party. I can't wait, but man, it's exhausting trying to get ready today. I got up at 8 and did the grocery shopping by 12:30, then started cooking about 1:30 and didn't stop until 9:15. I'm dying. This is just crazy....wish me luck!
Tomorrow we're hosting most of Brett's Project Management Office staff and several of my mom and tot friends for a Fourth of July party. I can't wait, but man, it's exhausting trying to get ready today. I got up at 8 and did the grocery shopping by 12:30, then started cooking about 1:30 and didn't stop until 9:15. I'm dying. This is just crazy....wish me luck!
Friday 26 June 2009
Final Friday
Shear excitement has taken over. We will have the keys to our new house no later than Monday, which is a whole 2+ days earlier than when our lease begins. And the owners (our landlords) said by all means, move in this weekend if we want!!!! HURRAY!!!! That means we have to get cracking on this packing thing. I actually think it's going to be a lot quicker than everyone thinks b/c it really isn't a whole lot of stuff. We may take bigger things like the desk and chair, bookcase, toy box and such on Sunday. The rest is clothing and books. Won't be hard. The one thing I'm nervous about is Hazel's crib. Our little car isn't exactly space friendly. I have a couple of friends who volunteered to help which will be fantastic.
IT'S OUR LAST FRIDAY IN THE CLOSET!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!
On the downside, the whole BT thing is going to drive me crazy. We have to wait for the old service at the new house to be shut off in order to turn a new phone line on. Grrrrr. That means no phone or internet until then. Grumble. Can I tell you BT is one of the few reasons I hate being here? There is a very short list of reasons I don't wanna be here anymore. Missing everyone is on that short list, but BT and other necessary services...like the bank....are huge reasons it will be nice to get back to America.
So, for the moment, I will keep you up-to-date at what's going on....after that, only God knows.
IT'S OUR LAST FRIDAY IN THE CLOSET!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!
On the downside, the whole BT thing is going to drive me crazy. We have to wait for the old service at the new house to be shut off in order to turn a new phone line on. Grrrrr. That means no phone or internet until then. Grumble. Can I tell you BT is one of the few reasons I hate being here? There is a very short list of reasons I don't wanna be here anymore. Missing everyone is on that short list, but BT and other necessary services...like the bank....are huge reasons it will be nice to get back to America.
So, for the moment, I will keep you up-to-date at what's going on....after that, only God knows.
Wednesday 24 June 2009
On A Walk
We ventured out toady about mid-morning. The goal was, enjoy the gorgeous weather while it's here. It's near 70 degrees, the sun is shining very brightly, there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's just beautiful.
I loaded the diaper bag, filled Hazel's "baa-pack" (backpack) with varies toys and snacks. We had juice and a stuffed animal (Cat & the Hat, which definitely wasn't my first choice as it's HUGE), diapers and shopping bag. We were set. I loaded it on the stroller and tucked Hazel in and we were off. Hazel did really well in the stroller all the way through town; to the bank, to the yarn shop, to the butcher's, to Boots, she even did well through most of Dorothy Perkins (a clothes shop). It was apparent then that lunch was due. So we made our way to Subway.
Hazel loves Subway. It's like getting a great big cookie for her. Now, that thrills me to no end. Subway is healthy, in most occasions (it always is for her). So we ordered, and sat down to our meal. I loved it. She sat like a big girl in a regular seat, ate from her sandwich like a big girl, wiped her mouth with her napkin, took sips from her juice. It was all so big. And I got to experience it. It was wonderful sitting with her, my little girl, as this person is no longer my baby. (I don't wanna get into how much that's tearing up my heart, it'll just make me cry.)
We finished up lunch and headed home. She walked almost 3/4 of the way home, holding my hand with one hand and grasping the stem of a leaf with the other. Every once in a while, she would see something cool, or something she recognized and knew the word for and we'd get slowed down for a moment, talking about it. Every few steps she'd "hop" and get the giggles over it, and I'd laugh. But for the most part, we just walked; hand in hand, enjoying the day together.
I realized that I wouldn't trade a nano-second of this for any other life, or situation. If living here forever was the only way to ensure I got to cherish my children's every waking moment, I'll take it. Because with every step home, I realized I was one step closer to not having those moments. She'll be too big to hold Mama's hand and giggle at her hops.
She may not be my baby any more, but she'll always be my little girl on a walk.
I loaded the diaper bag, filled Hazel's "baa-pack" (backpack) with varies toys and snacks. We had juice and a stuffed animal (Cat & the Hat, which definitely wasn't my first choice as it's HUGE), diapers and shopping bag. We were set. I loaded it on the stroller and tucked Hazel in and we were off. Hazel did really well in the stroller all the way through town; to the bank, to the yarn shop, to the butcher's, to Boots, she even did well through most of Dorothy Perkins (a clothes shop). It was apparent then that lunch was due. So we made our way to Subway.
Hazel loves Subway. It's like getting a great big cookie for her. Now, that thrills me to no end. Subway is healthy, in most occasions (it always is for her). So we ordered, and sat down to our meal. I loved it. She sat like a big girl in a regular seat, ate from her sandwich like a big girl, wiped her mouth with her napkin, took sips from her juice. It was all so big. And I got to experience it. It was wonderful sitting with her, my little girl, as this person is no longer my baby. (I don't wanna get into how much that's tearing up my heart, it'll just make me cry.)
We finished up lunch and headed home. She walked almost 3/4 of the way home, holding my hand with one hand and grasping the stem of a leaf with the other. Every once in a while, she would see something cool, or something she recognized and knew the word for and we'd get slowed down for a moment, talking about it. Every few steps she'd "hop" and get the giggles over it, and I'd laugh. But for the most part, we just walked; hand in hand, enjoying the day together.
I realized that I wouldn't trade a nano-second of this for any other life, or situation. If living here forever was the only way to ensure I got to cherish my children's every waking moment, I'll take it. Because with every step home, I realized I was one step closer to not having those moments. She'll be too big to hold Mama's hand and giggle at her hops.
She may not be my baby any more, but she'll always be my little girl on a walk.
It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...
Yesterday was our last mom n tots group for the summer (*sniff*), so we all climbed the many stairs up into a large bus and found our way to Ballymena for a picnic!
The ride was....interesting. The main road to Ballymena starts out going up the side of a mountain, and then winds tightly through the countryside. Many hills, and tight turns are involved, making for a very bumpy ride. I think many of us were bright shades of green by the time we arrived at The People's Park. A great little park that had a large playground seperated into an area for kids over 8 and another for under 7. We went in, and with the sunshine like it was, we immediately slathered the kids down with sunscreen. It's a good thing, too, b/c the very first thing Hazel did was lay down in the sand pit and ensure that the sunscreen acted as an adhecive btween her skin and the sand. YAY! She spent the better part of the trip face down in the sand, making sure that she was fully covered in it.
The rest of the time was spent on the slide. We then went to feed the ducks. They had grain for sale and we got a big bag and shared it amongst the 3 of us mama's. There were just gobs of pigeons who were more than thrilled about the short armed throws to the ducks.
Lunch quickly followed and then we were on the road home!
(Hazel with Betty, the group organizer. This woman is tops in my book as she goes above and beyond what most M&T organizers do. She knows all the kids' names, treats them all as individuals {and not one big group}, takes an active interest in all the moms. She's amazing.)
Hazel's become a big fan of "Let's see what we see." We saw Windmills, which prompted about 5 minutes of "roun roun" statements from Hazel, informing the bus what windmills do. We saw cows, which had a screaming announcement everytime she saw one..."COW! COW! MOOOOOOOOOOO!", and sheep. It makes for a noisy Hazel, but a happy one, so that's all I ask.
Tubby time promptly followed our return home as well as nap time, so that gave Mommy free time to get moving stuff done.
BT sucks. Just so you know. I spent well into an hour on the phone with them, trying to make sense of the whole move. It was painful, and it's still not completely sorted out, but it will be shortly. Even if it's the death of me. Grumble grumble BT.
Well, we're off to do shopping for the day, nice walk into town to take advantage of the pretty weather :)
Laters!
The ride was....interesting. The main road to Ballymena starts out going up the side of a mountain, and then winds tightly through the countryside. Many hills, and tight turns are involved, making for a very bumpy ride. I think many of us were bright shades of green by the time we arrived at The People's Park. A great little park that had a large playground seperated into an area for kids over 8 and another for under 7. We went in, and with the sunshine like it was, we immediately slathered the kids down with sunscreen. It's a good thing, too, b/c the very first thing Hazel did was lay down in the sand pit and ensure that the sunscreen acted as an adhecive btween her skin and the sand. YAY! She spent the better part of the trip face down in the sand, making sure that she was fully covered in it.
The rest of the time was spent on the slide. We then went to feed the ducks. They had grain for sale and we got a big bag and shared it amongst the 3 of us mama's. There were just gobs of pigeons who were more than thrilled about the short armed throws to the ducks.
Lunch quickly followed and then we were on the road home!
(Hazel with Betty, the group organizer. This woman is tops in my book as she goes above and beyond what most M&T organizers do. She knows all the kids' names, treats them all as individuals {and not one big group}, takes an active interest in all the moms. She's amazing.)Hazel's become a big fan of "Let's see what we see." We saw Windmills, which prompted about 5 minutes of "roun roun" statements from Hazel, informing the bus what windmills do. We saw cows, which had a screaming announcement everytime she saw one..."COW! COW! MOOOOOOOOOOO!", and sheep. It makes for a noisy Hazel, but a happy one, so that's all I ask.
Tubby time promptly followed our return home as well as nap time, so that gave Mommy free time to get moving stuff done.
BT sucks. Just so you know. I spent well into an hour on the phone with them, trying to make sense of the whole move. It was painful, and it's still not completely sorted out, but it will be shortly. Even if it's the death of me. Grumble grumble BT.
Well, we're off to do shopping for the day, nice walk into town to take advantage of the pretty weather :)
Laters!
Monday 22 June 2009
A Blarney Weekend
Well, the weekend out was wonderful. The drive, not so much, as it was a close to 6 hour trip, but it was well worth it once we got there.
We started the day by turning in the application for our new house (hurray!) and having a quick (but very filling) breakfast. Then we were OFF about 11am.
Hazel was asleep before we even left Larne, she got up at 4am and was exhausted, so we said a little prayer that she would sleep for most of the trip. No go. She slept until we got through Belfast and then screamed for the other 5 hours. Informing me that I brought the wrong blanket and that she didn't want the "yeyo bankie" (the one she normally wants) she wanted the "big bankie" which is her green duvet. It was a long trip down. At one point, the Sat Nav lost us, and I thought Brett was going to throw it out the window. But we got straightened out. We drove through the Port town of Cork, which was just really cool as I've never really been that close to where large ships dock. But our trip through Cork was quick and took us through some very tight streets and alleyways , then before you knew it, we were on the short drive to Blarney. It was shortly after 5 when we arrived in Blarney, which is a very small village just outside Cork. The cool thing was that we found a very very good deal at the Blarney Castle Hotel which was across the street from the Castle entrance, and around the corner from the Blarney Woolen Mills, so we parked our car in the hotel parking and didn't move it for the rest of the weekend. Our room was suprisingly nice, the owners kindly put us up at the top floor to avoid any excess noise come bedtime. I really recommend this hotel as the room was spaceous, cheap and clean. The staff was absolutely wonderful. We took HAzel over to the park across the road so she could run and stretch her legs, had dinner, then headed up to bed. Hazel passed out within 15 minutes which is a record for traveling. Brett and I followed not to long after...
Saturday we got up, had breakfast, then headed early to the Blarney Castle. It was just across the road, so it took less than 5 minutes to walk there. The estate was massive, and simply breathtaking. I'll let the pics talk for themselves...
The castle through the trees at the entrance.
Not sure if the top sign is directions or a warning...
The ground level entrances. The large door is the door to the dungeon!
The front entrance of the castle. Lots of people huffing and puffing. Should have been a warning.
This is the view of the blarney stone from the outside. Yah, the whole is where you drop into upsidedown and backwards. The bars around the wall are what you hold onto in order to drop, UPSIDE DOWN and BACKWARDS. Sounds logical to me...
The castle
Hazel and I sitting in the dungeon (sorry I forgot to rotate the pic)
Brett, Hazel, and Peppa Pig (Hazel's best friend). Peppa had to come on the tour of the castle.
Many many steps for us to climb. Brett did them all. Each and every skinny and warn step, carrying our not so little daughter.
You can actually see our hotel from this picture. I just don't know how to tell you where to look...it's also the very first thing I saw when we got to the top of the steps. I quickly changed my mind about kissing the stone.
Taking a rest while in the line for the stone...
Brett kissed the stone (again, sorry for the rotated pic)
I sucked it up and kissed the stone. Not without freaking out a bit, though. Brett said he thought I was going to cry.
The Lookout tower
*Sniff* A pretty flower for me...
This tree had the coolest branches. A few of them were wrapped tightly around the trunk, I wanna know how they grow like that!
The lime Kiln
The Blarney House. Still a residence today. It's huge and a very short walk from the castle.
After walking the grounds and kissing the stone, we headed to get lunch and the stroller, then headed to the Blarney Woolen Mills. It was a cool old warehouse. Massive in size. 3 stories tall and just went on for ages. It had almost everything you could want to purchase from Ireland. I deperately wanted an Aran sweater (it's the souvenier of choice here in Ireland) but even with an entire floor of Aran sweaters and cardigans, I couldn't find one to fit the boobies. Boobies are great until you have to fine clothing for them. So I got a t-shirt. :)
Brett bought me my one and only piece of Waterford crystal. It's a heart-shaped ring dish. Just so you know, Waterford crystal is expensive. EXTREMELY, even from here where it's made. I have no desire to own 6 juice glasses that cost roughly $50 each. I'll stick to my dainty ring dish. It's perfect.
It was a really mellow weekend, after dinner, H had her bath and I think we were all in bed asleep by 9. The trip home seemed a lot easier, even though H only slept about an hour of it, she was content to watch Horton Hears a Who on the DVD player.
We're home, and I have lots of packing and unpacking to do :) Laundry here we come!
We started the day by turning in the application for our new house (hurray!) and having a quick (but very filling) breakfast. Then we were OFF about 11am.
Hazel was asleep before we even left Larne, she got up at 4am and was exhausted, so we said a little prayer that she would sleep for most of the trip. No go. She slept until we got through Belfast and then screamed for the other 5 hours. Informing me that I brought the wrong blanket and that she didn't want the "yeyo bankie" (the one she normally wants) she wanted the "big bankie" which is her green duvet. It was a long trip down. At one point, the Sat Nav lost us, and I thought Brett was going to throw it out the window. But we got straightened out. We drove through the Port town of Cork, which was just really cool as I've never really been that close to where large ships dock. But our trip through Cork was quick and took us through some very tight streets and alleyways , then before you knew it, we were on the short drive to Blarney. It was shortly after 5 when we arrived in Blarney, which is a very small village just outside Cork. The cool thing was that we found a very very good deal at the Blarney Castle Hotel which was across the street from the Castle entrance, and around the corner from the Blarney Woolen Mills, so we parked our car in the hotel parking and didn't move it for the rest of the weekend. Our room was suprisingly nice, the owners kindly put us up at the top floor to avoid any excess noise come bedtime. I really recommend this hotel as the room was spaceous, cheap and clean. The staff was absolutely wonderful. We took HAzel over to the park across the road so she could run and stretch her legs, had dinner, then headed up to bed. Hazel passed out within 15 minutes which is a record for traveling. Brett and I followed not to long after...
Saturday we got up, had breakfast, then headed early to the Blarney Castle. It was just across the road, so it took less than 5 minutes to walk there. The estate was massive, and simply breathtaking. I'll let the pics talk for themselves...
The castle through the trees at the entrance.
Not sure if the top sign is directions or a warning...
The ground level entrances. The large door is the door to the dungeon!
The front entrance of the castle. Lots of people huffing and puffing. Should have been a warning.
This is the view of the blarney stone from the outside. Yah, the whole is where you drop into upsidedown and backwards. The bars around the wall are what you hold onto in order to drop, UPSIDE DOWN and BACKWARDS. Sounds logical to me...
The castle
Hazel and I sitting in the dungeon (sorry I forgot to rotate the pic)
Brett, Hazel, and Peppa Pig (Hazel's best friend). Peppa had to come on the tour of the castle.
Many many steps for us to climb. Brett did them all. Each and every skinny and warn step, carrying our not so little daughter.
You can actually see our hotel from this picture. I just don't know how to tell you where to look...it's also the very first thing I saw when we got to the top of the steps. I quickly changed my mind about kissing the stone.
Taking a rest while in the line for the stone...
Brett kissed the stone (again, sorry for the rotated pic)
I sucked it up and kissed the stone. Not without freaking out a bit, though. Brett said he thought I was going to cry.
The Lookout tower
*Sniff* A pretty flower for me...
This tree had the coolest branches. A few of them were wrapped tightly around the trunk, I wanna know how they grow like that!
The lime Kiln
The Blarney House. Still a residence today. It's huge and a very short walk from the castle.After walking the grounds and kissing the stone, we headed to get lunch and the stroller, then headed to the Blarney Woolen Mills. It was a cool old warehouse. Massive in size. 3 stories tall and just went on for ages. It had almost everything you could want to purchase from Ireland. I deperately wanted an Aran sweater (it's the souvenier of choice here in Ireland) but even with an entire floor of Aran sweaters and cardigans, I couldn't find one to fit the boobies. Boobies are great until you have to fine clothing for them. So I got a t-shirt. :)
Brett bought me my one and only piece of Waterford crystal. It's a heart-shaped ring dish. Just so you know, Waterford crystal is expensive. EXTREMELY, even from here where it's made. I have no desire to own 6 juice glasses that cost roughly $50 each. I'll stick to my dainty ring dish. It's perfect.
It was a really mellow weekend, after dinner, H had her bath and I think we were all in bed asleep by 9. The trip home seemed a lot easier, even though H only slept about an hour of it, she was content to watch Horton Hears a Who on the DVD player.
We're home, and I have lots of packing and unpacking to do :) Laundry here we come!
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Another Day, Another Dollar.
So, I have decided to sit down and figure out exactly what needs to be done to get a handle on my blog posting. There has to be a way to get on here more often and say....something.
It's been since before our trip home that I posted. I think I should combine our family one and this one. I think I'm just going to leave up the Davis blog, that way you can read all the things we've done up to this point, but maintaining 2 blogs of our own is just crazy, and the knitting blog on top of that. So here we go...a quick summation of life in the Davis household.
Hazel and I went home between April 25 and May 17, it was a great trip. I got zero accomplished, but as my mom said, "That was the point." I spent a lot of time with my family, which was also the point. Hazel traveled very little while we were there, which I believe was a big contribution to her sliding back into the NI way of life seamlessly. She was a dream on the flights to and from America and I'm so thankful to God for that. All in all it was a great trip. I spent lots of time with my brothers and sister in law, whom I miss more than they know, I think. I got to spend time with my Dad and Mom, and they got to spend lots of time with Hazel, which I think they loved. I'm glad we got the opportunity.
I turned 30 in May. Scary to think, but I'm grateful to be out of my 20s. Your 20s are such a hard time...establishing your place in life, having no money (not that that gets better with age), trying to convince the rest of the world that you're old enough to make a contribution. Bring on the 30s!!!!
Upon getting home, we found that much of our little developement has filled in with tenants. And as much of those tenants are college aged, there are parties all night and seemingly unsafe situations, so we've decided that although we may only have 6 months left here in NI, it's time to move. We looked and looked and looked. I decided to give it to God, and we just kept hitting dead end after dead end house wise and I was getting very discouraged. I should know better. Word to the wise. When you give something to God, BE PATIENT. Don't just say you're giving it to Him, really do it. We were blessed with everything we wanted and needed in a house. Now, I'm not saying it always goes the way you want it to, not by a long shot. But it always turns out for the best. Always.
Anyway, back to the house. I'm so excited. We have a 4 bd/ 2 1/2 bath home with a back yard. YAY!!! Cabinets in the kitchen for my stuff...I'll have counter space for cooking!!! Closets to put things away in. I'm in heaven. Room for Hazel to run. I'm coming out of my skin, can you tell? The funnest part of this new place is the watermelon pink downstairs bathroom. BRIGHT watermelon pink with a silver glitter overcoat. It's fantastic. I promised Brett that we would do all we could to "man it up" so he could use it with dignity. It is a fabulous place, though. We move in 2 weeks from today and then we've decided to host the Fourth of July party only 3 days later. Good thing all we're moving is clothing and kitchen stuff, huh?
We had a scary moment with Dad almost 2 weeks ago. He was bleeding pretty badly and had a scare in the hospital, but things seem to have calmed down and he's feeling good. Then he broke his ankle last weekend. Poor guy can't catch a break! But thank you to everyone for your prayers! I know they helped a lot and continue to help every day!
Hazel's started growing like a mad woman. She is now wearing 2t-3t sizes (18-2t in bottoms, 3t in most tops) which just wows me. She's a head taller than most of her friends. No hopes for a petite daughter :). Her vocabulary has hit the point where she's now talking in 2-3 word sentences. It blows my mind to hear her say things that make sense. We have very little pointing and grunting any more. We started Potty Training on Monday. I'm taking a very relaxed approach to this, whether that's a good thing or not. Monday she started saying "Potty, potty." every 20 minutes or so, and we had a play date here in the early morning, so after they left, I stripped her down and brought out the potty. She went 3 times between then and naptime, had a dry diaper when she got up, and went 3 more times between nap and tubby time. No accidents. I was so proud of her. Then Tuesday she got up, went 2ce and started having tiny little accidents, so I decided we'd put it away and see what she does in the next couple of days. She's only 21 months, so I'm not pushing it any harder than she demands. It'll happen when she's ready :)
We're going to see Lazy Town Live at the Belfast Grand Opera House on July 8th. I'm so excited. Brett's going to stay home and have a Daddy night. Her and I haven't had a mommy daughter date in a long time, so I thought it would be fun to go. I think I'm going to take her to the leisure center that morning as soon as they open (9) and let her really swim hard for about an hour or 2, come home, have lunch and an early nap, then head to Belfast about 3:30. We got the premium package (she gets a goody bag and our seats are in the 2nd row where there's dancing row-the theatre seats have restricted dance room) as it's just the 2 of us and I thought she'd have a lot of fun dancing around, ya know?
Well, that's all the news in our world for the time being. Hugs to all!
It's been since before our trip home that I posted. I think I should combine our family one and this one. I think I'm just going to leave up the Davis blog, that way you can read all the things we've done up to this point, but maintaining 2 blogs of our own is just crazy, and the knitting blog on top of that. So here we go...a quick summation of life in the Davis household.
Hazel and I went home between April 25 and May 17, it was a great trip. I got zero accomplished, but as my mom said, "That was the point." I spent a lot of time with my family, which was also the point. Hazel traveled very little while we were there, which I believe was a big contribution to her sliding back into the NI way of life seamlessly. She was a dream on the flights to and from America and I'm so thankful to God for that. All in all it was a great trip. I spent lots of time with my brothers and sister in law, whom I miss more than they know, I think. I got to spend time with my Dad and Mom, and they got to spend lots of time with Hazel, which I think they loved. I'm glad we got the opportunity.
I turned 30 in May. Scary to think, but I'm grateful to be out of my 20s. Your 20s are such a hard time...establishing your place in life, having no money (not that that gets better with age), trying to convince the rest of the world that you're old enough to make a contribution. Bring on the 30s!!!!
Upon getting home, we found that much of our little developement has filled in with tenants. And as much of those tenants are college aged, there are parties all night and seemingly unsafe situations, so we've decided that although we may only have 6 months left here in NI, it's time to move. We looked and looked and looked. I decided to give it to God, and we just kept hitting dead end after dead end house wise and I was getting very discouraged. I should know better. Word to the wise. When you give something to God, BE PATIENT. Don't just say you're giving it to Him, really do it. We were blessed with everything we wanted and needed in a house. Now, I'm not saying it always goes the way you want it to, not by a long shot. But it always turns out for the best. Always.
Anyway, back to the house. I'm so excited. We have a 4 bd/ 2 1/2 bath home with a back yard. YAY!!! Cabinets in the kitchen for my stuff...I'll have counter space for cooking!!! Closets to put things away in. I'm in heaven. Room for Hazel to run. I'm coming out of my skin, can you tell? The funnest part of this new place is the watermelon pink downstairs bathroom. BRIGHT watermelon pink with a silver glitter overcoat. It's fantastic. I promised Brett that we would do all we could to "man it up" so he could use it with dignity. It is a fabulous place, though. We move in 2 weeks from today and then we've decided to host the Fourth of July party only 3 days later. Good thing all we're moving is clothing and kitchen stuff, huh?
We had a scary moment with Dad almost 2 weeks ago. He was bleeding pretty badly and had a scare in the hospital, but things seem to have calmed down and he's feeling good. Then he broke his ankle last weekend. Poor guy can't catch a break! But thank you to everyone for your prayers! I know they helped a lot and continue to help every day!
Hazel's started growing like a mad woman. She is now wearing 2t-3t sizes (18-2t in bottoms, 3t in most tops) which just wows me. She's a head taller than most of her friends. No hopes for a petite daughter :). Her vocabulary has hit the point where she's now talking in 2-3 word sentences. It blows my mind to hear her say things that make sense. We have very little pointing and grunting any more. We started Potty Training on Monday. I'm taking a very relaxed approach to this, whether that's a good thing or not. Monday she started saying "Potty, potty." every 20 minutes or so, and we had a play date here in the early morning, so after they left, I stripped her down and brought out the potty. She went 3 times between then and naptime, had a dry diaper when she got up, and went 3 more times between nap and tubby time. No accidents. I was so proud of her. Then Tuesday she got up, went 2ce and started having tiny little accidents, so I decided we'd put it away and see what she does in the next couple of days. She's only 21 months, so I'm not pushing it any harder than she demands. It'll happen when she's ready :)
We're going to see Lazy Town Live at the Belfast Grand Opera House on July 8th. I'm so excited. Brett's going to stay home and have a Daddy night. Her and I haven't had a mommy daughter date in a long time, so I thought it would be fun to go. I think I'm going to take her to the leisure center that morning as soon as they open (9) and let her really swim hard for about an hour or 2, come home, have lunch and an early nap, then head to Belfast about 3:30. We got the premium package (she gets a goody bag and our seats are in the 2nd row where there's dancing row-the theatre seats have restricted dance room) as it's just the 2 of us and I thought she'd have a lot of fun dancing around, ya know?
Well, that's all the news in our world for the time being. Hugs to all!
Friday 24 April 2009
Prepared as we're gonna be....
Even though I felt like death warmed over, I stayed up to finish what I could of packing. I think we have most of what we need in the clothing department. Other than Lindsay's sweater, that I have to sew the other 2 buttons on, all the knitting I've finished for everyone is in the suitcase. I have most of the carry-ons finished. We got Hazel some meds to make her more comfortable for the long flight. I tried some this morning to make sure she mellows out and doesn't get super hyper instead, fear not, we have MELLOW. I'll give her some just before we go through Customs and she should be nice and happy by the time we get on the plane.
I have to copy the pattern mom bought so I can make her some boots, that way I don't lose the original, and so I have the pattern there so I can get some wool.
I have to color my pink hair this afternoon. Shold be very dark red. Not pink. Needs tending to.
Have to figure out what knitting I'm bringing. I wanted to be finished with Hazel's Jane Austen dress, but unless I get the chance to knit today, that won't happen before we leave the house. And I was really hoping to only bring the finished dress with us....
Right now, we're playing with stickers. Hazel has tiny star stickers all over her face. It's our new game. I put them on her, she tries to find them and pull them off. Hours of entertainment.
We bought a Portable DVD player for Hazel's flight. The first one we bought was a cheaper no name. WE figured that would be more than adequate for what we were using it for. It didn't work. Wouldn't play movies. We tried several. So I sped to the store to exchange it. This time we bought a Philips. Works like a dream. We're going to go buy a case for it enroute to Dublin this afternoon and I need to get a small CD case so the DVDs fit in the carry-on easily.
Lots to do. Only a few hours to do it....see you guys later!
I have to copy the pattern mom bought so I can make her some boots, that way I don't lose the original, and so I have the pattern there so I can get some wool.
I have to color my pink hair this afternoon. Shold be very dark red. Not pink. Needs tending to.
Have to figure out what knitting I'm bringing. I wanted to be finished with Hazel's Jane Austen dress, but unless I get the chance to knit today, that won't happen before we leave the house. And I was really hoping to only bring the finished dress with us....
Right now, we're playing with stickers. Hazel has tiny star stickers all over her face. It's our new game. I put them on her, she tries to find them and pull them off. Hours of entertainment.
We bought a Portable DVD player for Hazel's flight. The first one we bought was a cheaper no name. WE figured that would be more than adequate for what we were using it for. It didn't work. Wouldn't play movies. We tried several. So I sped to the store to exchange it. This time we bought a Philips. Works like a dream. We're going to go buy a case for it enroute to Dublin this afternoon and I need to get a small CD case so the DVDs fit in the carry-on easily.
Lots to do. Only a few hours to do it....see you guys later!
Thursday 23 April 2009
Today is not the day....
I woke up this morning feeling the absolute worst I have so far. My chest is killing me, stuff is getting coughed up, my head hurts. The plan was to take Hazel to mom and tots to wear her out, finalize packing and laundry, go to the dr and get her ears checked for the plane ride, pick daddy up, get dinner, get my eyebrows waxed, spend the evening knitting and relaxing with my true love.
That, apparently, is not how this day is going to go down. Hazel's being a terror. I know it's not entirely her fault. She knows something's going on, and she's right, and she doesn't understand. I get that. However. I don't feel good. AT ALL. And that's thanks to people being in public who have no business there, sharing their diseases. Even if you don't THINK your contageous, you are. Keep your creepy crud home. And also, I have stuff that has to get done!!!!! Everytime I try to get the suitcase out and start packing, she unpacks it. For an independent child, she's being very clingy and unhappy if I'm not sitting with her or watching her...while I do nothing. The second I sit on the floor with her and do something she gets angry and doesn't want to do that.
I need a nap, I need to go to the store, I need a shower, I have a dr's appointment in 4 1/2 hours, I have to go to the library, I have to pick up Brett. And none of those include packing. Which absolutely must be done today.
Life will be better today for everyone not to comment about this blog post as you'll probably hear about it. And today is not the day for me to be nice.
That, apparently, is not how this day is going to go down. Hazel's being a terror. I know it's not entirely her fault. She knows something's going on, and she's right, and she doesn't understand. I get that. However. I don't feel good. AT ALL. And that's thanks to people being in public who have no business there, sharing their diseases. Even if you don't THINK your contageous, you are. Keep your creepy crud home. And also, I have stuff that has to get done!!!!! Everytime I try to get the suitcase out and start packing, she unpacks it. For an independent child, she's being very clingy and unhappy if I'm not sitting with her or watching her...while I do nothing. The second I sit on the floor with her and do something she gets angry and doesn't want to do that.
I need a nap, I need to go to the store, I need a shower, I have a dr's appointment in 4 1/2 hours, I have to go to the library, I have to pick up Brett. And none of those include packing. Which absolutely must be done today.
Life will be better today for everyone not to comment about this blog post as you'll probably hear about it. And today is not the day for me to be nice.
Friday 10 April 2009
Your glass
So a couple of weeks ago, I was part of a discussion about people and their views of their "glass".
You know the old, "Do you see this glass as half empty, or half full?" Well, we were talking about which of us views it which way, and came to realization. That question comes with a social stigma. To view the glass 1/2 empty means you're a negative person...focusing on all that is wrong. To view your glass as 1/2 full means you're a positive person...viewing the world in all that is right. So under that presumption, who in the world would admit to being a "1/2 empty" person? Can you imagine someone introducing themselves to a room full of strangers (regardless of the social situation...work, school, church, etc) as a person who focuses on all the wrong? That's not going to happen, and as it turns out few people get close enough to each other to really find out if you're a 1/2 full or 1/2 empty person. So all those negative people can "masquarade" as a positive person and no one is the wiser. Which makes the question unnecessary to begin with, right?
But I think there's more to the question than just the black and white answer. I think it should be viewed quite differently than what we're taught. I actually believe there's a 3rd group of people. Those are the people who recognize that there is something in their glass, but refuse to see it as 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. Let me back up and explain myself.
I'm generally a 1/2 full kinda gal. Few things in life are really worth getting worked up about, and life is good. Life isn't perfect. Life isn't easy. Life isn't always fun. But life is good, and God is good to us. I believe that. I believe that, at the end of the day, life is what you make it. I live in a foreign country, moving here with no one to help me learn how to live, our apartment is crap, I miss my family and friends. I struggle all the time with how HARD it is to be here. But I'm so thankful that Brett has a good job. He enjoys his job. He makes incredibly good money. I can stay home with Hazel. We live somewhere that I would have never thought of to visit, but am just breathless with being able to experience things here that I never dreamed I could and may never get to again! My Daddy is very sick. Very sick. but I know that every single second I get to sit with him...even if it's at 4 am in the ER...is a God given second. And I'm so greatful. Now, all that being said, I do have my 1/2 empty moments...quite a few of them lately as a matter of fact. It's easy to focus on all that is wrong and how it could be much better. How the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. At the end of the day, though, being miserable does no good but make me a sour puss, raise my blood pressure, and generally make me unpleasant to be around.
Now, back to the viewing our glasses differently. What if we all stopped looking at the question as a black/white, negative/positive question? What if we thought of it like this....
1/2 full--I think of my glass as containing more than it could. More than I deserve. I recognize that there was more in there at one time, and I was so lucky to have a full glass, but look at all I got to enjoy and all that is left to enjoy! I realize that one day my glass may run out, but all the joy that is there right now will get replaced if I let God be in control.
1/2 empty--I think of my glass as having potential to have more. I don't have as much as I did, but all I have to do is be careful of what is left. Enjoy it, but be cautious. But I know that an empty glass doesn't mean the end of everything. Just means there will be room for more when it does.
Riding The Fence---Now, this is a group of people that I struggle with. To be honest. They're the ones who tug at my heart strings. These are the people who are sooooooo fixated on what is in the glass that they can't actually see how much or how little is left. They fixate on the air...why isn't that full? If I had THAT person's 1/2 full glass than mine would be full and life would be better. But then THAT person would be content with their empty glass and now I don't want a glass full of milk, I want a glass full of Kool-aid. And why do they get to be happy with their empty glass when I'm not happy with my full glass? Now I don't want their glass, because if I can't be happy with their glass or make THEM miserable with me, then I don't want anything to do with them or their glass at all. Now that I look at what's in there, it seems to be draining rather quickly! And I'm not doing anything to make it drain faster. Why isn't mine fuller? Those people who have 1/2 empty glasses couldn't possibly understand what it's like to have MY glass. The one with the imaginary hole and isn't Kool-aid.
Deep thoughts for a Friday, huh?
My challenge for you this Easter weekend is to take a deep look at who YOU are. And for every single situation that is wiggling under your skin, breaking your heart, raising your blood pressure, I challenge you to find 5....yes FIVE...positives about it. They may not fix the situation. They may not even make you feel better. But you'll enjoy the weekend much more...maybe even put a smile on someone elses face, which is the best feeling in the world.
Here's an example of my 5 positives....
I HATE living in this apartment.
1. It forces us to spend time together.
2. It's about $200 cheaper than anywhere else that is furnished, and after 2 years, that has saved us almost $5000. Yah, that should be #1.
3. Limited space means limited purchases of things that will just get donated, sold on ebay, or thrown away at the end of our stay...meaning more $$ that can go towards useful things...like paying off credit cards or student loans
4. We have a great landlord. Really crappy property manager, but the guy who owns this place is great.
5. We're 1/2 block from the bay and 2 blocks from the Leisure Center. 1 block from a park with a playground and a 10 minute walk from town. On a nice day, there's lots available to do if I get off my toosh.
6. I have a clothes drier. and that's a big deal here in Northern Ireland.
You know the old, "Do you see this glass as half empty, or half full?" Well, we were talking about which of us views it which way, and came to realization. That question comes with a social stigma. To view the glass 1/2 empty means you're a negative person...focusing on all that is wrong. To view your glass as 1/2 full means you're a positive person...viewing the world in all that is right. So under that presumption, who in the world would admit to being a "1/2 empty" person? Can you imagine someone introducing themselves to a room full of strangers (regardless of the social situation...work, school, church, etc) as a person who focuses on all the wrong? That's not going to happen, and as it turns out few people get close enough to each other to really find out if you're a 1/2 full or 1/2 empty person. So all those negative people can "masquarade" as a positive person and no one is the wiser. Which makes the question unnecessary to begin with, right?
But I think there's more to the question than just the black and white answer. I think it should be viewed quite differently than what we're taught. I actually believe there's a 3rd group of people. Those are the people who recognize that there is something in their glass, but refuse to see it as 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. Let me back up and explain myself.
I'm generally a 1/2 full kinda gal. Few things in life are really worth getting worked up about, and life is good. Life isn't perfect. Life isn't easy. Life isn't always fun. But life is good, and God is good to us. I believe that. I believe that, at the end of the day, life is what you make it. I live in a foreign country, moving here with no one to help me learn how to live, our apartment is crap, I miss my family and friends. I struggle all the time with how HARD it is to be here. But I'm so thankful that Brett has a good job. He enjoys his job. He makes incredibly good money. I can stay home with Hazel. We live somewhere that I would have never thought of to visit, but am just breathless with being able to experience things here that I never dreamed I could and may never get to again! My Daddy is very sick. Very sick. but I know that every single second I get to sit with him...even if it's at 4 am in the ER...is a God given second. And I'm so greatful. Now, all that being said, I do have my 1/2 empty moments...quite a few of them lately as a matter of fact. It's easy to focus on all that is wrong and how it could be much better. How the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. At the end of the day, though, being miserable does no good but make me a sour puss, raise my blood pressure, and generally make me unpleasant to be around.
Now, back to the viewing our glasses differently. What if we all stopped looking at the question as a black/white, negative/positive question? What if we thought of it like this....
1/2 full--I think of my glass as containing more than it could. More than I deserve. I recognize that there was more in there at one time, and I was so lucky to have a full glass, but look at all I got to enjoy and all that is left to enjoy! I realize that one day my glass may run out, but all the joy that is there right now will get replaced if I let God be in control.
1/2 empty--I think of my glass as having potential to have more. I don't have as much as I did, but all I have to do is be careful of what is left. Enjoy it, but be cautious. But I know that an empty glass doesn't mean the end of everything. Just means there will be room for more when it does.
Riding The Fence---Now, this is a group of people that I struggle with. To be honest. They're the ones who tug at my heart strings. These are the people who are sooooooo fixated on what is in the glass that they can't actually see how much or how little is left. They fixate on the air...why isn't that full? If I had THAT person's 1/2 full glass than mine would be full and life would be better. But then THAT person would be content with their empty glass and now I don't want a glass full of milk, I want a glass full of Kool-aid. And why do they get to be happy with their empty glass when I'm not happy with my full glass? Now I don't want their glass, because if I can't be happy with their glass or make THEM miserable with me, then I don't want anything to do with them or their glass at all. Now that I look at what's in there, it seems to be draining rather quickly! And I'm not doing anything to make it drain faster. Why isn't mine fuller? Those people who have 1/2 empty glasses couldn't possibly understand what it's like to have MY glass. The one with the imaginary hole and isn't Kool-aid.
Deep thoughts for a Friday, huh?
My challenge for you this Easter weekend is to take a deep look at who YOU are. And for every single situation that is wiggling under your skin, breaking your heart, raising your blood pressure, I challenge you to find 5....yes FIVE...positives about it. They may not fix the situation. They may not even make you feel better. But you'll enjoy the weekend much more...maybe even put a smile on someone elses face, which is the best feeling in the world.
Here's an example of my 5 positives....
I HATE living in this apartment.
1. It forces us to spend time together.
2. It's about $200 cheaper than anywhere else that is furnished, and after 2 years, that has saved us almost $5000. Yah, that should be #1.
3. Limited space means limited purchases of things that will just get donated, sold on ebay, or thrown away at the end of our stay...meaning more $$ that can go towards useful things...like paying off credit cards or student loans
4. We have a great landlord. Really crappy property manager, but the guy who owns this place is great.
5. We're 1/2 block from the bay and 2 blocks from the Leisure Center. 1 block from a park with a playground and a 10 minute walk from town. On a nice day, there's lots available to do if I get off my toosh.
6. I have a clothes drier. and that's a big deal here in Northern Ireland.
Tuesday 7 April 2009
Crafty Monday
Yesterday rocked. It was a great day. We were worn out at the end of it...but yay!
Michelle, Beth (her little girl), Marina, and Emma (Mar's little girl) came over to hang out, have lunch and play. We had Oriental Chicken...THE simplest marinaded chicken btw (I'll put the recipe at the end)...and garlic green beans for lunch. The girls had hot dogs...well, they played with the hot dogs and spread them out evenly around the living area...but they're 16-18 months old. Can't expect much more than hot dog scattering to occur. Then we stripped the girls down and made Kool-aid Play dough. FANTASTIC. It was so quick and easy, and I think us mommies had more fun playing with it than the girls. The recipe is found here.
I used cherry kool-aid and my hands were pink from the heat of the dough and the kool-aid, but it cooled off and stopped making people who touched it pink when I was done kneading it. I loved that it smelled like Cherry. Mmmmmm. I think Emma liked it, too, as she decided it smelled yummy enough to eat until she actually took a bite. There's 1/2 cup of salt in that recipe, and it tastes like it :). And the recipe makes a crazy amount of playdough. I sent a bag of it home with Michelle and still have quite a bit left. I can't wait to get back home to buy more and try different scents and colors!!!!! It, amazingly, actually feels like playdough, which I wasn't prepared for! I expected the grainy feeling most homemade doughs feel like. Nope! Now we'll just have to see how long it lasts....
Hazel smacked the front of her head on the floor this morning at Mom and Tots. Broke my heart. She just cried and cried and cried. So I decided to bring her home and have lunch, read books and snuggle vs. going to Ballyclare and get groceries. We desperatly need food in this house, but I didn't feel right making her sit in a car seat for the 1/2 hour drive there, in a shopping cart through the store, and back in the car for the drive home. I'll go to the store tonight or order Tesco for the morning, I can just hit the butchers for dinner tonight. I'm thinking it's more important to have Mommy/daughter snuggle time.
So, Little Miss has developed quite the vocabulary. It's actually getting to the point where she's able to copy many of the words we say. So, #1 we have to be careful...but we've always been careful around her, so there's no adjustment there. But #2 I'm working very hard to getting her to use her words for things now instead of throwing fits or grunting or whining. It'll take some work, but I know she's capable of TELLING me what she wants for many things now and so it's our newest project. She gets frustrated quickly, but it just takes time and patience. It'll happen.
I think we've decided that we're going to try for baby #2 starting in July. I think that's a safe time with us moving home in December (provided that IS when we're transferred home). With Hazel making the attempt to be born early (8 weeks if she had her way, thankfully it was 3), I'm forever considered "high risk" meaning I have no business being on an airplane after my 2nd trimester. Actually I'll be lucky if they'd let me on the plane during my 3rd trimester anyway. If we get preggo right away in July, I'll be due at the beginning of April which makes me safely able to move home in December. All I can say is how glad I am that the next 2 months are full of travel. I'm hoping the next few months will go fast...I'm ready for morning sickness! (Not really, but I think it's been romanticized this far from my last episode.)
Well, Hazel's done with her lunch, and I've got some Wii Fit to do while she's napping...
Hope everyone has a great day!
Michelle, Beth (her little girl), Marina, and Emma (Mar's little girl) came over to hang out, have lunch and play. We had Oriental Chicken...THE simplest marinaded chicken btw (I'll put the recipe at the end)...and garlic green beans for lunch. The girls had hot dogs...well, they played with the hot dogs and spread them out evenly around the living area...but they're 16-18 months old. Can't expect much more than hot dog scattering to occur. Then we stripped the girls down and made Kool-aid Play dough. FANTASTIC. It was so quick and easy, and I think us mommies had more fun playing with it than the girls. The recipe is found here.
I used cherry kool-aid and my hands were pink from the heat of the dough and the kool-aid, but it cooled off and stopped making people who touched it pink when I was done kneading it. I loved that it smelled like Cherry. Mmmmmm. I think Emma liked it, too, as she decided it smelled yummy enough to eat until she actually took a bite. There's 1/2 cup of salt in that recipe, and it tastes like it :). And the recipe makes a crazy amount of playdough. I sent a bag of it home with Michelle and still have quite a bit left. I can't wait to get back home to buy more and try different scents and colors!!!!! It, amazingly, actually feels like playdough, which I wasn't prepared for! I expected the grainy feeling most homemade doughs feel like. Nope! Now we'll just have to see how long it lasts....
Hazel smacked the front of her head on the floor this morning at Mom and Tots. Broke my heart. She just cried and cried and cried. So I decided to bring her home and have lunch, read books and snuggle vs. going to Ballyclare and get groceries. We desperatly need food in this house, but I didn't feel right making her sit in a car seat for the 1/2 hour drive there, in a shopping cart through the store, and back in the car for the drive home. I'll go to the store tonight or order Tesco for the morning, I can just hit the butchers for dinner tonight. I'm thinking it's more important to have Mommy/daughter snuggle time.
So, Little Miss has developed quite the vocabulary. It's actually getting to the point where she's able to copy many of the words we say. So, #1 we have to be careful...but we've always been careful around her, so there's no adjustment there. But #2 I'm working very hard to getting her to use her words for things now instead of throwing fits or grunting or whining. It'll take some work, but I know she's capable of TELLING me what she wants for many things now and so it's our newest project. She gets frustrated quickly, but it just takes time and patience. It'll happen.
I think we've decided that we're going to try for baby #2 starting in July. I think that's a safe time with us moving home in December (provided that IS when we're transferred home). With Hazel making the attempt to be born early (8 weeks if she had her way, thankfully it was 3), I'm forever considered "high risk" meaning I have no business being on an airplane after my 2nd trimester. Actually I'll be lucky if they'd let me on the plane during my 3rd trimester anyway. If we get preggo right away in July, I'll be due at the beginning of April which makes me safely able to move home in December. All I can say is how glad I am that the next 2 months are full of travel. I'm hoping the next few months will go fast...I'm ready for morning sickness! (Not really, but I think it's been romanticized this far from my last episode.)
Oriental chicken
(this is not my recipe, but I can't find the name of the library book I borrowed that had it in it...will post when I do find it...just know this isn't mine)
2 Tbl Sunflower Oil
2 Tbl Soy Sauce
2 Tbl Hoi Sin Sauce
Mix marinade in a ziplock bag. Drop in up to 4 chicken breasts. Marinate at room temperature for atleast 15 minutes. This marinade works very quickly so there's no need to marinate longer than 1/2 hour.
Grill chicken.
We found that preparing the chicken any other way burns off the sugar in the Hoi Sin, and leaves a very salty chicken. I highly recommend just grilling it....
(this is not my recipe, but I can't find the name of the library book I borrowed that had it in it...will post when I do find it...just know this isn't mine)
2 Tbl Sunflower Oil
2 Tbl Soy Sauce
2 Tbl Hoi Sin Sauce
Mix marinade in a ziplock bag. Drop in up to 4 chicken breasts. Marinate at room temperature for atleast 15 minutes. This marinade works very quickly so there's no need to marinate longer than 1/2 hour.
Grill chicken.
We found that preparing the chicken any other way burns off the sugar in the Hoi Sin, and leaves a very salty chicken. I highly recommend just grilling it....
Well, Hazel's done with her lunch, and I've got some Wii Fit to do while she's napping...
Hope everyone has a great day!
Monday 6 April 2009
Another week ahead...
It's been a great weekend. Saturday....we did nothing. :) It was fantastic. We had Indian for dinner and then Daddy surprised us with ice cream cones and a stroll through town to "walk off dinner". It was the perfect Saturday. Sunday...we all got up around 7:30, then Daddy and Matt went fishing at a lake nearby while Hazel and I went to breakfast in town. We had fried eggs and english muffins and pancakes. Great breakfast btw. Yum. Then we decided to surprise Daddy and Matt with coffee and an egg/bacon muffin sandwich since neither got breakfast and it was freezing. The lake is huge and (of course) our guys were sitting on the opposite side of the lake from the car park, so we hiked it all the way around the lake to them. There was a father/son pair that we passed enroute, and the father-figure looked at me, looked at Hazel, then looked at our coffee/breakfast. "There's a couple of VERY spoiled people around here somewhere, huh?" He said with a smile and a wink as we passed by. "Nope, just loved." was my reply. :) There were tons of people walking with their dogs, which put Hazel in heaven. I think the guys got an extra skip in their step from being brought breakfast. Then, freezing, Hazel and I headed home. Brrr. Fishing in Northern IReland is much to chilly for us.
This week we have a break from mom and tots for Easter break which is 2 weeks. I think Hazel and I are going to go see a movie tomorrow in Belfast. Well, there's an Easter party at one of the M&T's that we go to, but I don't know if we'll go or not. I kind of feel like H and I need a day out alone. Ya know? Watch a movie, have some pizza together, walk around the mall. It's a mommy daughter date! We'll see what happens today, though. We may just hold off on Movie morning until next week when Daddy can go.
I'm starting to make a mental note of all I need to pack to come home in just under 3 weeks. We're going to try to pack light as I'll be traveling with Hazel, but even if I manage to pack the checked luggage light, the carry-on is still a disaster. I've decided to make some homemade play dough for the flight. I thought it would be fun to make one batch and then just divide it and make 3 or 4 different colors. Put them in a clean butter tub and we're set! That way if I end up throwing it away, I won't have spent more than about $2 on the whole thing. That'll buy us atleast 1/2 hour entertainment on the plane....
Late Breaking News:
Mommy just dropped an entire glass container of Nutmeg on her tile floor. The glass shattered, spilling ground nutmeg and throwing glass shards to the 4 corners of her living area. Yay. Can we just discuss the fact that a little nutmeg smells heavenly. Lots of nutmeg smells like dirt. And not in that Spring planting, natural yummy dirt smell. More like, tobacco meets mold meets wet dog scented dirt smell. And now my house smells of the later. Ick.
Speaking of things that smell. I've found another thing to add to my 403 reasons I hate living in this apartment list. We have new neighbors. Right next door in 44. The way this stupid complex is built, our little "alley" doesn't allow any air to escape as it sucks in all the wind and it just swirls around and around in here. Well, #44 are smokers. Now, to each his own. I personally do not understand smoking. It stinks, it's stupidly expensive, and if you have a history of cancer in your family, then you're basically slowly writing your own suicide note. But everyone is entitled to make their own decisions, and I respect that. I do know that it's hard to quit, especially when things in life get hard, but I digress. I don't want it in my house or around my child. And that is MY decision. So, back to #44. They smoke. and even though our little alleyway is windy, their doorway is sheltered from the wind and rain, so it's the ideal place to smoke. Now, our house only lets out in that little alleyway and then at our front patio (both on the same side of the building). Theirs, however, lets out in the front (in the alleyway) and then on the other side of the building. So there are 2 places that they could smoke. Well, because we don't have a recess at our front door, and the door is very poorly insulated, all the smoke they produce gets SUCKED right under the crack in our front door. These people smoke like a chimney during a bitter winter. So for the past week (they've just recently discovered the advantages to smoking on this side) our house has STUNK of cigarette smoke. Our downstairs bathroom smells like it belongs in a pub. And we can't open our side window (which if you remember is our ONLY downstairs window and this place gets really hot with it closed) because then it's almost direct 2nd hand smoke. I kept trying to catch them out theree, so I could politely ask them to smoke on the other side of the house, but I would be too late every time. Well, finally, last night, I caught them. I honestly was as nice as anyone could be, explaining the situation about the wind and the door and window and such. That woman looked at me like she could not believe I was asking such a thing...how rude of you (me)!....and then, as bi*%&y as possible, she responded, "Sure." Didn't smile. Nothing. Now, let me tell you, she was smoking with a friend. And that friend was CLEARLY pregnant. It took all I could do not to stare at her big belly while she took drag after drag off her cigarette. Obviously if they have no qualms about smoking while pregnant, then they're going to have no problem subjecting us to it. My heart absolutely ached for that baby in there. I know I was very strict as to what I would and wouldn't eat while I was preggo and all that jazz. I was probably more strict than most people would agree with, but I don't regret a second of it and I will do it again for every other baby I have. But the thought of subjecting your poor unborn child to something like that strictly out of selfishness, just leaves me speechless and dumbfounded. I just don't get it. And I really don't want anyone to "try and explain." Thanks though! Okay, I've had my vent. Long story short. I wanna move. The kitchen sink has sprung a leak, and the plaster on a good portion of the wall at the top of the stairs is pulling away. Is it time to come home yet?
You can see our Patio doors at the front, our lonely window around the corner, and our front door right next to the window. #44 sits in a slight recess immediately to the right of our door (it's the one facing you), the wall to the right of #44 (that you can see a thin sliver of at the edge of the pic) juts out a bit creating a corner for #44 but aiming the smoke right at our door. Shelter for them, suffication for us. Sigh.
This week we have a break from mom and tots for Easter break which is 2 weeks. I think Hazel and I are going to go see a movie tomorrow in Belfast. Well, there's an Easter party at one of the M&T's that we go to, but I don't know if we'll go or not. I kind of feel like H and I need a day out alone. Ya know? Watch a movie, have some pizza together, walk around the mall. It's a mommy daughter date! We'll see what happens today, though. We may just hold off on Movie morning until next week when Daddy can go.
I'm starting to make a mental note of all I need to pack to come home in just under 3 weeks. We're going to try to pack light as I'll be traveling with Hazel, but even if I manage to pack the checked luggage light, the carry-on is still a disaster. I've decided to make some homemade play dough for the flight. I thought it would be fun to make one batch and then just divide it and make 3 or 4 different colors. Put them in a clean butter tub and we're set! That way if I end up throwing it away, I won't have spent more than about $2 on the whole thing. That'll buy us atleast 1/2 hour entertainment on the plane....
Late Breaking News:
Mommy just dropped an entire glass container of Nutmeg on her tile floor. The glass shattered, spilling ground nutmeg and throwing glass shards to the 4 corners of her living area. Yay. Can we just discuss the fact that a little nutmeg smells heavenly. Lots of nutmeg smells like dirt. And not in that Spring planting, natural yummy dirt smell. More like, tobacco meets mold meets wet dog scented dirt smell. And now my house smells of the later. Ick.
Speaking of things that smell. I've found another thing to add to my 403 reasons I hate living in this apartment list. We have new neighbors. Right next door in 44. The way this stupid complex is built, our little "alley" doesn't allow any air to escape as it sucks in all the wind and it just swirls around and around in here. Well, #44 are smokers. Now, to each his own. I personally do not understand smoking. It stinks, it's stupidly expensive, and if you have a history of cancer in your family, then you're basically slowly writing your own suicide note. But everyone is entitled to make their own decisions, and I respect that. I do know that it's hard to quit, especially when things in life get hard, but I digress. I don't want it in my house or around my child. And that is MY decision. So, back to #44. They smoke. and even though our little alleyway is windy, their doorway is sheltered from the wind and rain, so it's the ideal place to smoke. Now, our house only lets out in that little alleyway and then at our front patio (both on the same side of the building). Theirs, however, lets out in the front (in the alleyway) and then on the other side of the building. So there are 2 places that they could smoke. Well, because we don't have a recess at our front door, and the door is very poorly insulated, all the smoke they produce gets SUCKED right under the crack in our front door. These people smoke like a chimney during a bitter winter. So for the past week (they've just recently discovered the advantages to smoking on this side) our house has STUNK of cigarette smoke. Our downstairs bathroom smells like it belongs in a pub. And we can't open our side window (which if you remember is our ONLY downstairs window and this place gets really hot with it closed) because then it's almost direct 2nd hand smoke. I kept trying to catch them out theree, so I could politely ask them to smoke on the other side of the house, but I would be too late every time. Well, finally, last night, I caught them. I honestly was as nice as anyone could be, explaining the situation about the wind and the door and window and such. That woman looked at me like she could not believe I was asking such a thing...how rude of you (me)!....and then, as bi*%&y as possible, she responded, "Sure." Didn't smile. Nothing. Now, let me tell you, she was smoking with a friend. And that friend was CLEARLY pregnant. It took all I could do not to stare at her big belly while she took drag after drag off her cigarette. Obviously if they have no qualms about smoking while pregnant, then they're going to have no problem subjecting us to it. My heart absolutely ached for that baby in there. I know I was very strict as to what I would and wouldn't eat while I was preggo and all that jazz. I was probably more strict than most people would agree with, but I don't regret a second of it and I will do it again for every other baby I have. But the thought of subjecting your poor unborn child to something like that strictly out of selfishness, just leaves me speechless and dumbfounded. I just don't get it. And I really don't want anyone to "try and explain." Thanks though! Okay, I've had my vent. Long story short. I wanna move. The kitchen sink has sprung a leak, and the plaster on a good portion of the wall at the top of the stairs is pulling away. Is it time to come home yet?
You can see our Patio doors at the front, our lonely window around the corner, and our front door right next to the window. #44 sits in a slight recess immediately to the right of our door (it's the one facing you), the wall to the right of #44 (that you can see a thin sliver of at the edge of the pic) juts out a bit creating a corner for #44 but aiming the smoke right at our door. Shelter for them, suffication for us. Sigh.
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Missing March
So, I've been a little MIA this month. I really don't have any explanations as per WHY I've been unable to blog this past month, but, well, I didn't. Hmmm.
What's new in our world....
Hazel's growing daily. Has become a huge fan of Hello Kitty. Has decided that running is her favorite form of travel. Has watched Horton Hears A Who more times than I like to admit (though we do other things while it is playing). Has stopped eating all of a sudden. Well, she's decided that 2-3 bites per meal is sufficient for her energy through the day. Everyone assures us that it's normal around this age as they don't grow as fast and don't need quite as much as they did. So we're basically letting her eat as much as she wants. I don't want her developing a bad eating habit b/c Brett and I force food on her, and as she's growing and not losing weight, we figure everyone's right and this is just normal. She's become a HUGE fan of beans. Baked beans to be more precise, and she eats quite a bit of them, so we keep them stocked in the cabinet. She's become obsessed with babies at our Toddler groups, which is making the fact that we have to wait to get preggo until July hurt just that much more. My heart goes out to those families who try for years to get pregnant. The waiting just SUCKS and at least I know I only have to wait until July (well, provided I get preggo quickly which is doubtful). I know the waiting for me is agony, so I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for them.
Hmmm...What else....
Brett turned 30 on the 28th! We celebrated on the 21st with all his co-workers at Chili's in Belfast and had a great time (I'll post more about this along with pics on our family blog) then we were in Edinburgh for his actual birthday. It was a great weekend together!
Last week was a rough one. Brett was sick all week, and our washing machine gave out, which was 2 days of un-ending drama. But atleast we got a new one quickly! Let's just say I cannot wait to get back to America where the wash takes 1 1/2 hours from start to finish..including the drying. But that will come soon enough I suppose!
Speaking of moving home....I'm not sure where we'll actually end up, but if we do (please Lord) get transferred to Lafayette, then I've found 2 houses I love. I think I'm tempted to take a look at them when I'm home. If for no other reason then to get a general idea as to the areas we wanna live and the size house we want to get. After living in this closet for 2 years, I'm positive that ANYWHERE we live will feel enormous. All I ask for is a dishwasher that works and a washer/dryer that takes a reasonable amount of time to do one load.
Well, I should get back to wrestling the shorty....here's a clip from our trip to Scotland for your viewing pleasure. It's Hazel and I sitting in the front seat of the car, parked, waiting to load onto the Ferry to come home. We're playing backgammon on my DS.
What's new in our world....
Hazel's growing daily. Has become a huge fan of Hello Kitty. Has decided that running is her favorite form of travel. Has watched Horton Hears A Who more times than I like to admit (though we do other things while it is playing). Has stopped eating all of a sudden. Well, she's decided that 2-3 bites per meal is sufficient for her energy through the day. Everyone assures us that it's normal around this age as they don't grow as fast and don't need quite as much as they did. So we're basically letting her eat as much as she wants. I don't want her developing a bad eating habit b/c Brett and I force food on her, and as she's growing and not losing weight, we figure everyone's right and this is just normal. She's become a HUGE fan of beans. Baked beans to be more precise, and she eats quite a bit of them, so we keep them stocked in the cabinet. She's become obsessed with babies at our Toddler groups, which is making the fact that we have to wait to get preggo until July hurt just that much more. My heart goes out to those families who try for years to get pregnant. The waiting just SUCKS and at least I know I only have to wait until July (well, provided I get preggo quickly which is doubtful). I know the waiting for me is agony, so I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for them.
Hmmm...What else....
Brett turned 30 on the 28th! We celebrated on the 21st with all his co-workers at Chili's in Belfast and had a great time (I'll post more about this along with pics on our family blog) then we were in Edinburgh for his actual birthday. It was a great weekend together!
Last week was a rough one. Brett was sick all week, and our washing machine gave out, which was 2 days of un-ending drama. But atleast we got a new one quickly! Let's just say I cannot wait to get back to America where the wash takes 1 1/2 hours from start to finish..including the drying. But that will come soon enough I suppose!
Speaking of moving home....I'm not sure where we'll actually end up, but if we do (please Lord) get transferred to Lafayette, then I've found 2 houses I love. I think I'm tempted to take a look at them when I'm home. If for no other reason then to get a general idea as to the areas we wanna live and the size house we want to get. After living in this closet for 2 years, I'm positive that ANYWHERE we live will feel enormous. All I ask for is a dishwasher that works and a washer/dryer that takes a reasonable amount of time to do one load.
Well, I should get back to wrestling the shorty....here's a clip from our trip to Scotland for your viewing pleasure. It's Hazel and I sitting in the front seat of the car, parked, waiting to load onto the Ferry to come home. We're playing backgammon on my DS.
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Longest night in history
Last night, to put it mildly, didn't go well.
Let's start by telling you all that Sunday Hazel ran a fever all day. Had no other ailments, other than being slightly more tempermental than normal, so we just treated her with Nurofen and tylenol to get her fever down and laid low all day. That night was awful though, as she woke up shortly after we put her to sleep, just sobbing. She sat on Brett's lap through Lost and then went back to bed.
Monday, because she was running a fever on Sunday, we stayed home until Daddy got home from work and then went to the grocery in Carrickfergus. She acted fine all day, no fever, but not much of an appetite.
Yesterday (Tuesday), we got up, took Daddy to work, she was in a good mood, came home, got ready for mom and tots. She wasn't grouchy, per say, but being "Terrible Two-ish" so it took longer than normal to get ready, but we got there on time, and she seemed to have a great time. We ran into town for 1/2 hour to get dinner, go to the bank, and I didn't take the stoller as we didn't have far to go and I figured she could use the walking. Well, 10 minutes in, she simply sat down, exhausted, and refused to go farther. So I finished our errands and headed home. Nap time went down without much of a fuss, we went to get Daddy, had dinner, then put her to bed at her usual time after Bear in The Big Blue House. She seemed keen on laying down when I took her upstairs, didn't want held, just wanted to be in her bed. She even Shhhh'd me when I sang, so I figured she was ready to crash.
WRONG.
As soon as I left her room, the screaming started. So, I though she was doing her tantrum thing she does when Mommy and Daddy are doing something without her. 20 minutes laters, she was still crying and she was crying harder, so I went up to get her. Usually when this happens, her and I go sit on mommy and daddy's bed in the dark and snuggle and sing and talk. But this time, she just sobbed. Hard. She was acting stuffy (I think from all the crying), so I yelled for Brett so he could come up to fill and turn on her humidifier. Too quietly. He didn't hear me. So I yelled again. Again, not loud enough, he didn't hear me. So I yelled one last time, and I must have scared her, because she started sobbing harder and so hard she couldn't breathe. Sigh, I just hugged her and kissed her and Brett came running, not b/c he heard me, but b/c he could hear her. We sat upstairs for a good 1/2 hour until she calmed down enough to go to sleep. That was 9:30/ 9:45. Brett and I decided to head to bed about 11, I got a shower, then snuck in to turn down her humidifier. Successful. Went to bed and pulled out my book. 1/2 way through my chapter, we heard moans. But we didn't think much of it as they were quiet and inconsistant. Dreaming, we thought. But they got louder, and more persistant, so I snuck in. She was crying in her sleep, so I rubbed her back and her head, then turned the humidifier back on. She was out. Mommy went back to bed. 1 minute (literally) later, the crying picked back up. So I went in and picked her up, but she was still mostly asleep, so I thought I would take her in with us, lay her down and when she was really asleep, I'd put her back in her room. No go. This kid is a tosser and a turner. She draped herself in the most hysterical positions over Brett and I. But she never really fell sound asleep. So I finally decided she should go back to bed as she couldn't get comfy with us. Wrong.
To sum up this story, I ended up sleeping part of the night on Hazel's floor next to her crib, b/c the second she couldn't see me, she would start in on the hysterics. Then I finally was sure she was sound asleep and went to my bed for a whopping 2 hours. Then they hysterics started again. so we came downstairs, but I was so dead that by 5, we had to come back up. I couldn't do another second.
Brett, Hazel, and I are zombies today. I'm thinking it was teething. Any other ideas? I can't do another night like that.
Let's start by telling you all that Sunday Hazel ran a fever all day. Had no other ailments, other than being slightly more tempermental than normal, so we just treated her with Nurofen and tylenol to get her fever down and laid low all day. That night was awful though, as she woke up shortly after we put her to sleep, just sobbing. She sat on Brett's lap through Lost and then went back to bed.
Monday, because she was running a fever on Sunday, we stayed home until Daddy got home from work and then went to the grocery in Carrickfergus. She acted fine all day, no fever, but not much of an appetite.
Yesterday (Tuesday), we got up, took Daddy to work, she was in a good mood, came home, got ready for mom and tots. She wasn't grouchy, per say, but being "Terrible Two-ish" so it took longer than normal to get ready, but we got there on time, and she seemed to have a great time. We ran into town for 1/2 hour to get dinner, go to the bank, and I didn't take the stoller as we didn't have far to go and I figured she could use the walking. Well, 10 minutes in, she simply sat down, exhausted, and refused to go farther. So I finished our errands and headed home. Nap time went down without much of a fuss, we went to get Daddy, had dinner, then put her to bed at her usual time after Bear in The Big Blue House. She seemed keen on laying down when I took her upstairs, didn't want held, just wanted to be in her bed. She even Shhhh'd me when I sang, so I figured she was ready to crash.
WRONG.
As soon as I left her room, the screaming started. So, I though she was doing her tantrum thing she does when Mommy and Daddy are doing something without her. 20 minutes laters, she was still crying and she was crying harder, so I went up to get her. Usually when this happens, her and I go sit on mommy and daddy's bed in the dark and snuggle and sing and talk. But this time, she just sobbed. Hard. She was acting stuffy (I think from all the crying), so I yelled for Brett so he could come up to fill and turn on her humidifier. Too quietly. He didn't hear me. So I yelled again. Again, not loud enough, he didn't hear me. So I yelled one last time, and I must have scared her, because she started sobbing harder and so hard she couldn't breathe. Sigh, I just hugged her and kissed her and Brett came running, not b/c he heard me, but b/c he could hear her. We sat upstairs for a good 1/2 hour until she calmed down enough to go to sleep. That was 9:30/ 9:45. Brett and I decided to head to bed about 11, I got a shower, then snuck in to turn down her humidifier. Successful. Went to bed and pulled out my book. 1/2 way through my chapter, we heard moans. But we didn't think much of it as they were quiet and inconsistant. Dreaming, we thought. But they got louder, and more persistant, so I snuck in. She was crying in her sleep, so I rubbed her back and her head, then turned the humidifier back on. She was out. Mommy went back to bed. 1 minute (literally) later, the crying picked back up. So I went in and picked her up, but she was still mostly asleep, so I thought I would take her in with us, lay her down and when she was really asleep, I'd put her back in her room. No go. This kid is a tosser and a turner. She draped herself in the most hysterical positions over Brett and I. But she never really fell sound asleep. So I finally decided she should go back to bed as she couldn't get comfy with us. Wrong.
To sum up this story, I ended up sleeping part of the night on Hazel's floor next to her crib, b/c the second she couldn't see me, she would start in on the hysterics. Then I finally was sure she was sound asleep and went to my bed for a whopping 2 hours. Then they hysterics started again. so we came downstairs, but I was so dead that by 5, we had to come back up. I couldn't do another second.
Brett, Hazel, and I are zombies today. I'm thinking it was teething. Any other ideas? I can't do another night like that.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Bubbles!
Last night I broke out the bubble machine for the first time in many months b/c Hazel's been on a bubble kick lately and I just can't get motivated to blow that many bubbles for that long. Hazel LOVED it. We had fun watching her play....
Friday 13 February 2009
Dress up
We bought a dress-up jewelry set at Asda yesterday. Now, it's not much, just 3 necklaces, 3 braclets and a pair of clip on heart earrings. Don't worry, I've been watching her while she plays with it all...
Anyway, we've been dressing up Lumpy with the necklaces and earrings. She's just fascinated by the earrings. I clipped them on her and she waddled around the room like a queen with them on. I'll get a picture at some point. For now we're enjoying the playing....
Anyway, we've been dressing up Lumpy with the necklaces and earrings. She's just fascinated by the earrings. I clipped them on her and she waddled around the room like a queen with them on. I'll get a picture at some point. For now we're enjoying the playing....
Thursday 12 February 2009
Sixteen
It's been a long day folks. I got a belly ache 1/2 way through the Knit night, so I was up most of the night not feeling well. However, I was determined to take Hazel to a Mom and Tots group to get her out and running some of that toddler energy off. Little did Michelle and I know, it's 1/2 term break for the kids in school, so none of the M&T groups in town were meeting...sigh. So Michelle and I drove Hazel and Beth to Junction One to try out their soft play area. It was really fun as their S.P.A. for the under 4's is small enough that Hazel was able to do much of it on her own without Mommy helping, which I think she really enjoyed. We still like Cheeky Monkey's the best, but this one was good for a change every once in a while. Plus Cheeky Monkey's is good excersize for me, too! We probably would have stayed quite a while, however, when we got there, there were no seats left for eating and keeping your belongings, so we had to find a corner to drop our shoes and coats off, and then it was SOOOOO crowded that it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. With all the kids on break, I think all kids in NI were at that SPA. I had to have a polite (though, through gritted teeth) discussion with a grandmother who insisted on standing at the safety gate with it wide open (even though her grandson was well inside the play area and she was unable to see him from there) letting all the little ones (mine included) out. I did it as polite as I could muster, after the fourth time I had to chase my little Hazel back in. Grumble. Then a little boy, who's mother (or whoever she was) was sitting right behind him, tried to two hand shove Hazel down a slide. I looked right at him and his mother (why do I have to babysit a grown woman?) and told him not to shove Hazel. She hadn't quite sat down on her toosh and would have fallen somersault style down the slide had he shoved her like that. Now granted, the slide was MAYBE 3 feet high, and she had gotten very good at sliding down it alone (with me at the bottom to encourage her), but she's still really little and that might have really hurt her. At that point, she was stressed out with all the running screaming older kids (who should not have been in the younger area--there was a huge area for 5 and older--throwing balls at the little one's heads in the ball pit, pushing the little ones over to get to the slides, etc.) and I was stressed out trying to keep rude adults from injuring my little girl. So we decided to head down to Subway for lunch. After lunch, we took the girls in to the changing room for a diaper change. Michelle was apologizing for not being as quick as we are, and I told her that it happens when you've traveled as much as we have. She's flown with Beth, but I pointed out that in a year, Hazel and I have been on somewhere in the vaccinity of 16 (it is actually 18) flights, all of them atleast an hour in length. She agreed that I've probably earned being quick at changings. Hazel thought the word 16 was hysterical and we stood there and said 16 (she'd repeat, saying, "Dit-ten") and giggling everytime we said it. It was so cute. She still smiles when you say "Sixteen." So then, we headed out into the outdoor mall and did a little exploring. Hazel and Beth (Michelle's little girl) got to walk about (kind of) freely and we got some fresh air. We made a few purchases, but by 2pm the girls were dead. What started out as absolute elation that we were allowing them to walk on their own turned into sitting on the ground b/c they couldn't walk anymore. So we carried them. And our bags. And by the time we made it to our car, I was pooped. So we ran one more errand and came home.
The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. I made Oriental Chicken (Brett grilled it in the oven) with a side of Creamy Brussel Sprouts Gratin. Yummy. THEN, I decided to get adventurous and try a recipe for Raisin Bread. Now let me say that I've never made bread before. And I've never made ANYTHING that required kneading. But I followed the recipe and everything they said would happen, happened, so I thought we were golden! But then I cut into the bread to try a piece and a small part of the inside was still uncooked. Sigh. I think I should lower the temperature in the oven (it's fan assisted, so it usually requires a lower temp and I just should have done it to begin with) as the outside brown very quickly, but didn't quite cook all the way through in the inside. I'll try again, as what was outside and cooked tasted yummy. So maybe I'll take a stab at it this weekend.
Well, I'm off for the day!
Hugs to all!
The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. I made Oriental Chicken (Brett grilled it in the oven) with a side of Creamy Brussel Sprouts Gratin. Yummy. THEN, I decided to get adventurous and try a recipe for Raisin Bread. Now let me say that I've never made bread before. And I've never made ANYTHING that required kneading. But I followed the recipe and everything they said would happen, happened, so I thought we were golden! But then I cut into the bread to try a piece and a small part of the inside was still uncooked. Sigh. I think I should lower the temperature in the oven (it's fan assisted, so it usually requires a lower temp and I just should have done it to begin with) as the outside brown very quickly, but didn't quite cook all the way through in the inside. I'll try again, as what was outside and cooked tasted yummy. So maybe I'll take a stab at it this weekend.
Well, I'm off for the day!
Hugs to all!
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