Questions and a New Roof

Everyone,

They are re-doing our roof today. Actually, they were supposed to do it yesterday. They kept telling me this was going to be a one day job. Well, when you don't show up to your job until 11am, it's probably going to take 2 days. They worked until almost 8pm last night, and didn't show up until 11am again today. Maybe those are their hours? In any case, the pounding has stopped so I assume they are out to lunch. They better not have left because the yard is a wreck and there are nails everywhere. I just can't wait till they are done. Having a small amount of buyer's remorse as well. Oh well.

My friend Aimee as asked a few questions so I thought I'd answer them. Thanks Aimee! This is fun.

1. Who is the person you admire most in your life and why? Probably my mom because she has an amazing memory and she would do anything for us. That's pretty amazing. :)

2. If you were presented a Tree in a pot or a piece of chocolate cake on a plate, which would you choose and why? A tree in a pot because I am not a cake eater. I would plant the tree (this is assuming when I am given the tree I actually have a place to plant it) and watch it grow. Would be better than 5 minutes eating cake!

3. Tell me a story from your childhood. One year for Christmas I got a fish tank. I loved that tank. It was so much fun to set up, and to have the filter bubbling and the light softly glowing in my room at night. A few days later, we were able to pick out 6 fish at the pet store. I think I got 2 guppies, 2 black mollies, and a couple gold fish. Within a week, everything but the black mollies had died, and the black mollies had ick. (White spots all over them, poor things.) I kept getting more fish like neon tetras, the fish that you can see through, and a beta here and there. Some lived a long time, some died right away. At the time, I was keeping a very small journal with a lock and a key. Most of my entries around this time are about my fish. What I named them, and how sad I was when they died. I even drew a big picture of the fish tank in there and said good bye to each of the fish as they died. "Good bye Lemon, Lime, and Lemon Drop! You were good pet fish. I will love you forever!" Funny, those are the only fish's names I can remember. When we moved from Colorado to Utah, I decided against putting up the fish tank again. I think it is still in my parent's garage though. It has gone through about 5 moves and 3 different houses. But I never set it up after Colorado. I still love to look at the fish at the pet store. Maybe if we ever move back to Colorado, I will set it up again. I'm sure my parents will be happy to see it go from their garage.

4. What is your favorite thing to do by yourself? My all time favorite thing to do by myself is to read with a huge bowl of popcorn. Most days though, I don't have a moment to myself or a good book to read.

5. Describe yourself in 4 words. Hmm, this is a hard one. Loyal, thoughtful, quiet, nice.

If anyone wants me to interview them, just leave me a comment.

Safire

Feeling Busy

Everyone,

On my google home page, I have a big to do list right in the center so I see it every time I get on the computer. It helps me focus on what I actually need to to, instead of being sucked into google reader or my email. Every day this week I have had at least 6 things on it, 7 being the max amount of things you can put on there. Okay, a lot of things are rolled over things from the day before that I didn't get to. Because you can only do so much with a 2 year old in the house. Especially one that says to you, "Mommy, let's play with my toys! You are my favorite person to play with!" (I think she says that because I'm the only one around. When Juice is there, I can't even touch the toys without being yelled at.)

Today's list involves folding and putting away clean laundry (left over from yesterday), talking to the roof guy (roof day is Tuesday next week! Stay tuned for pictures.), paying bills, going to the grocery store, getting gas, packing for the PA renn faire tomorrow. Yes, we are leaving tomorrow for a night in PA and the renn faire there. We went to the renn faire here (another post, another day) and it was okay. There is just so much smoking there!

But none of these things are getting done because I'm trying to type and juggle being 'mommy horsey' with Butterfly's little people. And the couch is calling. Can I just go lay down for awhile and maybe my double will get everything done. That would be great!

Safire

Linky-Loo

Everyone,

Been super busy doing who knows what. Juice has a big project this week and has been busy at work until 7pm for awhile. Makes me tired! In any case, there has been a lot of talk around my mommy blogs about Bill Maher and his bashing on breastfeeding. You can read the story behind it here.

I read a few very good posts about this (many many more...just these ones stuck out in my mind, especially the last one) so I thought I'd share. I nursed Butterfly until she was 15 months, and it was the most wonderful thing for both of us. She loved it, I loved it. It's what I miss the most about her baby-ness.

While I am not pushing breastfeeding on anyone (I think everyone should choose what is best for them and their family) what he said was wrong and I want to say something about it. But since I only have a minute, here are what other people have said.

Suburbanoblivion gives good background and a good starting point for this.
VDog and the Little Man shows how upset mommy bloggers can get. Watch out, we're a sleep deprived, easily pricked group of people.
Mojo of a Mama is my favorite by far...(be warned there are pictures but man do they make a point!)

Safire

Mommy There's your Birfday!

Everyone,

This month Butterfly helped me change out our wooden calender (as she does every month). Whenever there is a special thing going on that month, I let her pick out the special tile. Well, this month is my birthday month. Butterfly picked out the cake with a candle (so you can blow it out Mommy!) and all month she has been pointing to the tile. "There's your birfday Mommy!"

My birthday this year was low key. Butterfly and I spent the morning at a resource center with toys, play doe and paint. And then our friends (where I go scrapbooking every week) replaced the brakes on our car. So nice of them! And Juice gave me a present I was wanting for awhile...another dutch oven. I am very excited to learn how to use them. Now I just need a place to put the fire to use them...

I was also able to talk to most of my family, my MIL, and best friend. I was only missing one person's phone call although he did send me an e-card.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and very low key day. Just how I needed it to be today. :)

Safire

Labor Day Hiking

Everyone,

Okay, I know Labor Day was weeks ago. But I just got the pictures off my camera a few days ago and thought you'd like to see us hiking. You know I have this national parks passport book. It is so much fun to put that little stamp in the book! It's become kind of a quest for me. My goal is get all of Maryland's stamps in the next year. Most of the ones we have left are battlefields and houses to see. But Catoctin is one we were still able to Soot with us. We had a great time! We hiked only 2 of the 4 little short trails I had planned out because it took us 2 hours to get out of the house.

We thought we should buy some lunch! So we had to stop at the sandwich place and pick up something. And then I thought that it might cost to get into the park (often does) so we had to stop by the ATM which was really busy. And then we had to stop by the babysitting place and feed/pick up their dog. We took her with us. I had no idea it would take that long to do those little errands but they did.

Anyway, we were able to hike to the highest point in the park, and also the opposite view. These mountains are nothing compared to Utah's mountains, but they are nice. Butterfly got tired half way through and it's a good thing I still had my carrier in the trunk. It was a good day for everyone!

Safire

Reader Requests

Everyone,

I've had a few reader requests lately so I thought I'd answer them. Jill has asked to see some of my scrapbooking. Here you go!

The pictures of the pages aren't that great. I had a hard time getting no glare on them because I refuse to take the page protectors off. But still, you get the idea.

And Karen over at Keeping it Simple has asked me to post the most awesome chicken salad recipes. You know, the one that almost set my house on fire. It's that's awesome. :) Here you go! (courtesy of my mom...Thanks Mom!)

BowTie Chicken Salad

1 box pasta bow ties, cooked as directed
celery, diced
green onions, chopped
water chestnuts, chopped (optional)
1 small can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
red seedless grapes
1 package Craisins
1 small package slivered almonds
chicken or turkey; cooked and diced
Dressing:
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 bottle Kraft Coleslaw Dressing (has to be Kraft or it tastes funny)

Mix together celery, green onions, water chestnuts, pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, grapes, Craisins and almonds. Add chicken or turkey and pasta box ties. In a separate bowl, blend together mayonnaise and dressing. Pour almost all of the dressing over the pasta mixture. Fold in and let salad stand overnight, refrigerated. Pour the rest of the dressing over the salad mixture and stir well before serving.

I always leave out the celery, the almonds, and the water chestnuts and it doesn't seem to hurt the taste at all. And I cook my chicken in olive oil for an hour and send them through the food processor rather than dicing by hand. Both ways are good though!

Any more requests?

Safire

Scrapbooking

Everyone,

Every week I go over to a friend's house and we sit and scrapbook. Her little boy is just 8 days younger than Butterfly and they play okay together. Okay enough that we get some stuff done.

Today I finally finished my 2005-2006 scrapbook. Hey, I'm only 2 years behind. I start it every year at our anniversary in August because our wedding is what started me scrapbooking. So technically I'm only 1 book and a few months behind.

This book ended up being 118 pages. It covered from when Butterfly was 3 months old and we took her to Delaware to when she was about 16 months old and walking. I can't believe how much they change in one year! And thank goodness I've been pretty regular about writing in this blog. Otherwise I would have vague memories of things and no details!

Safire

Phone Woes

Everyone,

Do you see that wire that is sitting out all bare and exposed? That is our brand new, less than a month old phone line.

Off and on since we moved to the house, we have been getting a horrible buzz in the background of the phone. It used to come and go. We've had the phone company out several times to check it and hopefully fix it. They always managed to get it right, if only for a few more months. Finally, this time it was worse than ever. I couldn't even talk on the phone because I couldn't hear anything. And since we get no cell phone reception, we were without a phone.

The phone company (PC) sent out tech #1. She tells me it's time to replace the line. Yay! PC sends out tech #2 and he cancelled the ticket without even setting foot inside the house. He stated that it was an indoor problem. Lots of talking between Juice and the PC brought about tech #3. He also said that the line needs to be replaced. (By the way, this tech showed up in horribly baggy clothes with huge ketchup stains on them and his boxers were plaid. I do not want to see my repair guy's boxers! Where is the PC's dress code??) Nothing happened for weeks. Almost daily, Juice would call them and complain that the phone is awful. (A lot of, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you. The phone connection is awful!" on his part.) Tech #4 came out, phone line needs to be replaced. He at least mapped out where our hubs for the neighborhood are and tried to figure out where our lines went. (We have 2.) Tech #5 comes out. Finally, action is made. He called the utility people right then and there to get them to come and paint some lines so they can dig. He gave me his personal number. If we are going to get anywhere, he is going to do it.

Within days they marked the utility lines. (Butterfly said, "Oh! Someone colored on our grass!") About a week later, guys showed up with big digging equipment. Our new line was in! But the buzz was still awful. 2 days after the new line went in, tech #5 came and spliced it all together and we had crystal clear phone reception! Yay!

Then our neighbors decided to put in a new fence. They had to dig up our phone line to put the fence posts in. Bye bye crystal clear sound. Hello slight buzz. Arg!!!

Since I took the pictures, they have finished their fence, re-buried the line, and it's back to being clear. The only bad this is that the buzz is gone. We used the buzz as an indicator that the phone was on. Now, when we pick up the phone, it's silent. It's a little weird!

And it's a little weird that we got used to the buzz!

Safire