A Bedtime Story to End November

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Everyone,

It's been a great month posting every day. It was hard at first, but I've actually come to enjoy it like I did last year. And like last year, I would like to continue writing more. Although without the chance of prizes, I don't know if I will. :)

Butterfly has this book memorized. It is so dang cute to hear her "reading" it to herself at night. Plus, it's a long book. She is amazing to know the whole thing at 2.5 years old. Okay, she is just amazing. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as we do.

Some of my favorite words from this book are: pedestal, perhaps ('haps, she says), period, flashy (faasheee). Okay, it's just all around cute.

She has a little cold (we all do again! No Ed! We don't want your cousins/aunt/3rd cousin twice removed to visit! Go away!) so she's sounds a little stuffy but man can she talk.

Good night Internet!

Safire

Back from Chicago

Everyone,

Juice came back from Chicago this afternoon. Yay!!!

Safire

Being yelled at

Everyone,

Yesterday, I went out to a coffee shop with a gal from my mom's group to a small kid concert they had going on. Fun, but parking was bad in downtown Silver Spring but I did it (parallel parking on the street no less!) and I didn't even get lost trying to find the coffee shop or my car after. Go me!

Anyway, we got there a little late, sat down and Butterfly immediately started playing with the wooden toy trains on the floor. They were big, with several wheels missing. She didn't care. She was just happy to play with a new toy! There were probably about 15 other mothers there with their kids, all gabbing happily while a lady with a guitar tried to play nice music over them. I felt a little bad for the guitar lady and wondered if it would just have been better to invite moms out to gab and kids play at the coffee shop.

Butterfly had 2 wooden trains, and went to go get a 3rd to do whatever with. She had given me the trains and I had put them on the table because I didn't want to hold them. Enter Snatch Boy. I had noticed Snatch Boy fighting with another boy (assuming it's his brother) when we had come in, and mentally told myself to watch him. He ran wild with his mom just talking to her friends. He must have been 3 or 4 years old. He had been wandering around snatching toys from all the other kids, only to discard them in 2 seconds to play with something else someone else had. So as Butterfly walked 6 or 7 steps away to get another train, he pounced on the 2 wooden trains I had put on the table.

Or tried to pounce. I stopped his hand, told him "No." Firmly but not mean and let go at that. He then tried to go around me, lean over me, and take the trains. This time it was a firmer NO with a look straight in his eyes. At this point, his mother comes up all mother bear-ish.

"Who is playing with those trains?"

"My daughter." I pointed out Butterfly who was coming back with the other train. A pause.

"Is she playing with them or what?"

"She is playing with them. She has just gone to get the 3rd car."

"She can't play with every toy here you know."

I looked around significantly at the other 100 toys and books on the floor with no one playing with them and said, "Okay. But for now, she is playing with these toys." And I turned away from her and put the trains in my lap. She was still standing over me with Snatch Boy hanging on her body when Butterfly came back. I made a point to show Butterfly how to hook all the trains together and she commenced pulling all the trains around my chair. Snatch Boy's Mom stalked off in a huff, and I noticed a lot of talking and looking over at me for the next 15 minutes.

Eventually, Snatch Boy was back to snatching other kids toys, but did he touch Butterfly's? Nope. But I did feel bad about it. I hate that I brought the mama bear out in another mother. I hate that I felt like I had to protect my daughter's personal space in a public forum. Would she have cared if the other trains were gone when she got back? Possibly but it would have been no big deal since there were tons of other toys around. And more than likely Snatch Boy would have discarded it a few minutes later and she could have played with it again. Do I wonder if I did the right thing, even days later. I worry that I have stepped over some invisible line by saying no to another person's child. A stranger's child. What would you have done?

And do I wish I would have told the mother that I was the one playing with the trains? Oh yeah.

Safire

PS- Butterfly was a stellar example of toddler sharing later when Snatch Boy had gone. She still had the trains, and another little boy kept trying to take them (but not so aggressively). I told her that he would like her to share with him and when she is ready, she can share. About 5 minutes later, she decided she was done and dumped all the trains in his lap. He was happy as a clam and she was ready to move on to something else. I love it when she makes the right decision!

I've been tagged

Everyone,

My friend Laura tagged me for a meme of 6 things/habits about myself. I have absolutely no idea what to say (if it had been 6 things about Butterfly or even Juice I could have done it!) so you guys are getting the first 6 things that pop into my head.

1. I always have to fall asleep on my right side. Juice and I call this 'assuming the position' because it has to be on that side. It's been like that for as long as I can remember, even back to my first house in Colorado. I remember because I would fall asleep looking at the ballerinas on my wall and naming them (Lily, Rose, Pumpkin, Petal). I don't sleep on night on that side, it just has to be the side I start snoozing on.
2. I am incredibly nosey when it comes to other people's fertility. This is especially odd since I'd like to keep ours under wraps a little bit. BUT, I always figure if they are having trouble, I have so many helps! There is always something I know that they haven't tried, or I'm great at being supportive while they go to doctors, etc. I also know all the lingo so they don't have to explain things to me.
3. I talk to my mom every Tuesday night. We have a standing date that at 8pm my time (6pm hers) I call and we chat for hours. I think it keep us connected even though we live thousands of miles apart. Besides, I like hearing about what my family is up to, and what her friends at work are up to, and their kids too. Okay, maybe we talk way too in depth but all I have to say is the saga of Loser Boyfriend is worth hearing. Sometimes we will record and watch the same tv show and talk about it while we watch. It's fun and I look forward to it every week.
4. I am horrible with names. Unless I write them down, I have a tough time remembering them. And spouse's names seem to be the toughest for me. Especially if I've only met them once or twice and only heard about them through other people. I frequently cop out of saying them by just asking, "How's your husband?" instead of "How's insertnamehere?" But once I have the name, I'm pretty good with keeping it. I am great with faces.
5. I love looking through catalogues. I rarely buy anything from them, but I love looking through them and imagining me actually having these things that I think are pretty cute. It's my version of window shopping I guess. I also have a good time buying things online and can generally get pretty good deals.
6. I want another dog. I won't get one because frankly, our house is too small and we have a little bit of trouble keeping the one dog we have walked. But, I would love a small pack of cairn terriers running around the house. I told Juice if Soot is 7 and we have no other dog, that's the time to get one. I would like a dark girl this time and I intend to name her Ashes. Juice still wants to name her Charcoal Briquette and call her Bricky but I bet my name will win out.

Whew, that wasn't as hard as I thought! Now I have to tag 6 people...My Brother because he hasn't posted much, Cousin Jen, Jill in France, Julia, Melissa, and Valinda.

Safire

Good things, bad things

Everyone,

Juice is in Chicago until Thursday. I thought I'd do a post on the good things about having him gone, and the bad. Let's start with the bad first.

BAD:

• I am a single parent. Boy does this make me tired. I am amazed at the single working moms whenever I have to go through this. It's a lot of work!
• I have to drop Juice off at whatever major transportation sight he is leaving from. This often includes us getting up at 5am to take him somewhere. Sometimes I hate having only one car. But really, it makes no sense for him to pay for parking when I am still in the area.
• He gets to go places I don't. Apparently Chicago has a big German Christmas Market and he intends to do some shopping there and do a little sight seeing while he is in Chicago. Why can't I have a company that pays me to go travel...let alone pays for the travel! I have only driven through Chicago and would love to see it from somewhere else besides the interstate.
• I miss him. It's hard to have only a 2 year old for company sometimes. I get lonely. And I get a little cross at Butterfly because she asks the same questions over and over and over. Oh the repetition! I have also not been sleeping well the past few weeks (bad dreams about the miscarriage...we should have had the baby by now) and I wake up and snuggle up to Juice to make me feel better. I'm hoping I'm so tired while he is gone it's not an issue.

GOOD:

• I am the sole parent. I get to decide when we do things, how they are done, what we do, etc. It's really no different during the day but at night and especially at bed time, things are different.
• Juice is not around to wind up Butterfly. In the evening he thinks it's fun to get her running through the house and screaming right before bedtime. He says it burns off energy. Since he is in charge of bed time, I let him do this. But all I can say is that it did not happen tonight, and Butterfly was in bed at 7:45pm and is very quiet and yawning instead of yammering and yelling.
• I don't feel like cooking. It's hard enough trying to come up with lunches for just me and her, that I just give up on dinners. We go out to eat every night, or every other night depending on what we bought. Tonight we had burritos. Yum!
• I get to watch all the girly movies I want. Bring on Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, The King and I and all other heaving bosom/musical movies that Juice hates and refuses to watch/be in the same room as. Tonight: Persuasion! SO CUTE!

In ways he gets a little break, and I do too. Well, after Butterfly is in bed anyway. We always feel a little more refreshed after a short break like this. But I still can't wait for him to come home. Now, on with the show!

Safire

It will heal!

Everyone,

Butterfly fell down today at church. She was running outside on our way out to the car. And boy did she fall. No face injuries but she got her knee (and her tights!) pretty bad. She immediately started to scream. The only thing we could get out of her is "It will heal! It will heal!"

Awhile back, she fell and skinned both knees badly. We cleaned her up, wrapped them up and told her they would heal. And every day when we changed the bandages, she would scream and we would tell her it will heal, it will heal. She still had a faint pink scar on one of her knees from that fall.

Of course, this happens to be the knee she fell and scrapped today. It's not as bad as the last fall was, but it's still pretty bad. She is milking it a little. She cries a lot and limps around the house. Now, when she forgets it's there, she runs and plays and does all her normal things. So really, it can't hurt that much. She's going to be fun the next couple of days while Juice is in Chicago, I can tell. Such a drama queen!

Safire

LaVell Edwards Stadium

Everyone,

Turns out we do get one BYU game a year. (Where Juice and I both graduated from college. We have a passing interest in the out come of their football season.) The game we get is the big rival game between BYU and it's neighbor, University of Utah. Juice is happily using the DVR to watch the game in between playing with Butterfly and not missing anything.

I am enjoying the sight of the mountains we lived by for 3 years. I lived across the street from the stadium and on game day, the noise was deafening. I never did go to a game while we were at school, but I did my senior year with my best friend and her dad. He always had season tickets and they invited me along one time. A fun memory.

In any case, one interesting fact about the stadium: did you know that the largest collection of Jurassic era fossils in North America are stored under the stadium? Yeah, who knew?

Safire

Black Friday

Everyone,

No I did not go out shopping today. I decided to just do it from home. Gotta love internet shopping sometimes. They even had some of the good deals online as well as in the store. I think I am pretty much done with shopping this year, just a few more odds and ends to pick up. Oh, and something for Juice. He is SO hard to buy for!

We pulled out our Christmas tree this evening (Juice had to work and then he actually got a hair cut!) and Butterfly was so funny. She said, "Look Mommy! It's the biggest and best tree of all!" I remember thinking that of this very tree when I was little. She is enchanted with the lights. She also thinks that the ornaments are toys and wants to arrange them on the tree so 'friends' can talk to each other. We only put up the 3 we bought this year (every year we buy a new one) and we will put up the rest tomorrow.

When I was in high school, my parents bought a new pre-lit tree. I convinced them to let me use the old tree as a decoration for a dinner we were having at our house in high school. It was for a school dance and my dad cooked us burgers (I think it was around Halloween, we were all dressed up in 50's clothes). Anyway, my friends and I carved pumpkins, put blankets on the unfinished basement walls and hung twinkle lights from the ceiling. We also put crepe paper all over the old Christmas and put it in the corner. I don't remember if the dinner was good (it probably was) but my date was awful. I had had a huge crush on him for a long time and I finally got up the nerve to ask him out. Long story short, he was rude, bored and didn't even try to hide it. Crush ended that very night.

However, the decorations did not end that night. Or the next, or the next 30 nights. Over the next few years, the blankets came down and I took down the twinkle lights to take to college. I think I even threw out the rotted husks of carved pumpkins a year later. (Yes, a year. It was in Utah and things don't mold there like they do here! It just shriveled and looked like a sad sad grey heap.) The tree was down in the basement with that crepe paper on it until Juice and I were married.

My parents had decided to actually finish the basement and wanted to throw out the tree. We couldn't afford a tree that first year of being married. We needed a tree, they didn't want this tree. A win/win situation for everyone. We packed it up with the rest of our meager belongings and used it every year since. My parents bought it the year after my brother was born for 80 dollars. This year would mark the 28th Christmas this tree has seen.

Most of the year it spends it's time up in our attic wrapped in a big white sheet looking strangely like a body in a bag. But when you pull it out, pull the branches down, and put lights on it, and pile presents under it, it really is the biggest and the best tree ever.

Safire

Happy Thanksgiving!

Everyone,

We were good. We made sure our phone was charged today. And I think between us, we must have spent a good 4 hours on the phone. It's hard to be away from family on these days. But it's good we have unlimited long distance and can talk as long as we want.

We had a great time at the babysitting place for dinner. The girls played, we talked, turkey was eaten...all good things. We probably didn't get home until about quarter to 10pm and Butterfly was asleep at 10:09 pm. Tired girl!

Speaking of, we are very tired too. More tomorrow!

Safire

Butterfly the Engineer

Everyone,

Lately Butterfly is into building things. And she builds things elaborately. This is a bird house made out of books. Do you see the bird? Juice and I make them for her in church to keep her occupied. She LOVES them. She does everything with them lately. She even takes them with her to bed (which often results in her screaming in the middle of the night when one falls in the crack between the wall and the bed...)

Her other building love is airplanes with her legos. I am a terrible airplane builder but she loves Juice's concoctions. Sure sure kid, go with the professional aerospace engineer's planes. These planes fly around, shoot each other, rescue each other from the shooting airplane, dance, cry, and want their daddy airplane. Lots of fun, I'm telling you. (This is not my favorite game, I mostly listen to her and Juice duke it out. I typically make my plane crash so I don't have to play anymore.)

She also loves to do mazes which is a-mazing. Haha. (Can you tell I'm in a funky mood? It's all this cranberry fumes!) She has a coloring book of games and pictures and she latched on to the mazes and will actually do them. As in, take her pencil and draw through the maze without crossing the lines to get to the end. It's pretty impressive. Then she likes to do the maze over and over and over. Good times. Good times.

Safire

Fun with Paint

Everyone,

My friend Lolli introduced me to a place called the resource center. We went once, Butterfly loved it, and so I joined. It's like a small preschool that the parents need to participate in. They have toys, books, puzzles, blocks, legos, dress up stuff, a big bin with fish tank rocks and funnels and spoons etc., a toy house with a kitchen and laundry and baby dolls and toy couches, play dough, paint, and a different craft project every week. They also have circle time with songs and books and little hand games. You don't drop your kids off, but they encourage you to play and enjoy the time you spend there. They do have 2 teachers that do circle time, help out, and answer any questions the parents have. They also have an extensive library of parenting books for the adults, and different parenting tips up on the wall. It really is a lot of fun. We've only gone a few times because Ed invaded our house right after we joined. But it's still so much fun and they do things that I refuse to do at my house. Like paint.

Butterfly discovered the easels and paint today, and had a great time making a very modern art looking painting. Don't you love her face...this is her new smile-at-mommy face. We also did the art project, played with play dough, played with rocks, played with potato head, the dollies, and sort of participated in circle time.

A lot of the songs ask the kids to stand up and do something (like jump) and then sit down. Butterfly will stand up, stand there scowling, and sit down. She is so funny. I really like going there because I feel like it gives her a chance to socialize and see how school might go (with a teacher leading some stuff, etc.) Now that we are better, we will try and go every week. Should be fun!

Safire

Christmas Cards, part 2

Everyone,

Since I am trying to figure out what to write about every day during this month, I thought I'd take Karen's questions about my Christmas cards and tell my process of picking them. Here goes:

Mid October- Think: oh, I have to do Christmas cards this year. I wonder if I have any pictures? Decide then and there not to specifically do a picture for the card but use one I have taken throughout the year. Wonder where I should get Butterfly and Soot's formal picture taken this year because we do every year. Wish parents were around to take them since she was so good for them at her birthday and is so so bad for me. Be glad that they closed the picture taking place in the mall because they had really poor customer service but be sad because they were the only place around that let me bring Soot to join in the picture. Wonder out loud to Juice about it. Be horrified that he said to leave Soot out this year. Not going to happen.

First of November- Think: oh yeah, I haven't really done much for my Christmas cards yet.

Third of November- Get a catalog in the mail from an online picture place. Really enjoy going through it and seeing the new things they have this year. See a card in the back of one picture and really like the idea. Take note of who sent the catalog and vow to look at it online for pricing.

5 of November- Go through Christmas cards on my regular online photo sharing place. Decide I want to share more than 1 picture this year (do I have pictures to share?!) and decide I want something a little fun and not terribly traditional. I then spend about an hour going through my 2007 pictures and pull out all of the ones of the 3 of us together, plus a few of Butterfly that I just absolutely love. (Gotta love the favorites button that puts them all together in a folder for you...nice!) Put together card. Like it but not love it. View a few other cards on a few other sites and not find anything I like. Start to like the card a little more.

9 of November- Show Juice the card. His one comment, "Where's Soot?" It just so happens that the best pictures of all 3 of us do not include the dog. I don't have a problem with it, but Juice does. Mentally complain (slightly) and vow to find a way to put Soot in the card. Scrap first card in head but keep it for reference.

11 of November- Get email for 20% off card purchase and think..ohh...20% off!

18 of November- Finally get back onto the computer for some serious searching for cards. Go to the 20% off place first and find out that it is the same place that put out the catalog I liked. Go searching for card I liked, find it and really like it. Price, eh. Thought I would just put the card together and see if I liked it put together or not. Upload pictures. Arrange on card. LOVE card. Even get Soot on there in a really cute mini picture. Write a tiny blurb about what we did this year. Shorten it even more because it won't all fit on the card. Finalize blurb, spell check it and read it about 10 times. Really like the card enough that I don't go looking for others. Write out who I'm sending them to to figure out how many to buy. Add a few more for scrap booking purposes. Fight with website for about an hour and have to build the card 3 times because time keeps running out. Finally get the card to work, put in my 20% off coupon and blanch a little at the price. Figure I got exactly what I wanted in a card this year and buy it anyway.

19 of November- Anxiously await card delivery and contemplate how I'm going to get Juice to pull out all of our Christmas decorations so I can find my Christmas address book to start addressing. Figure I'll convince him he needs to pull everything out before he leaves to Chicago so I can start decorating. Figure I'll do some cleaning to show him I am serious. Wonder if he'll consent to putting up the tree this weekend. Would solve my address book dilemma. Decide that's the way to go. Plan on going to the post office tomorrow to get stamps. Rejoice that so many companies send address labels (Christmas themed ones too!) that I will never have to buy another address label again as long as I live.

Safire

Christmas Cards

Everyone,

As I wandered around photo websites the other day wondering what I should do with our Christmas cards this year, I wondered what exactly we did last year. I know I used a shot of Hawaii that my mom wanted to use so she used a different one and shouldn't have. I know I had more than 1 picture. But I couldn't remember what else.

A hop, skip, and a jump to my very cluttered scrap booking desk (which I don't scrapbook at, it's turned into more of a junk heap) and moving a few old clothes I keep meaning to give away (btw, bro and dad, I bought Juice new ties and he doesn't like them...any interest? Green and gray, they are very nice looking and both long)...now I've used parentheses so much I've lost my place. Ah, yes, I dug through the pile on my desk and came across my box of extra cards from last year. It was nice to see exactly what I put on the card last year. It's also very nice to know that I have a bunch of stamps left over from last year. Sadly, I do have to get a bunch of 2 cent stamps to cover the postal hike. But still, 2 cents is better than 41 cents.

Also in the box were the Christmas cards we received last year. I had originally intended to scrapbook them all together, but never got around to it. I had a ball going over the cards, and seeing how much things have changed. How much babies have grown. But it also strikes me that life is full of a lot of the same. And that sameness is nice. It's nice to have some stability and just enjoy life as it comes to you.

Christmas cards are all ordered and will be sent out hopefully the first week in December. Juice is in Chicago in a week and I will probably take those long evenings by myself and address envelopes. So if you want a card and haven't gotten one in past years, shoot me an email at safirecat (at) gmail (dot) com. I will also be contacting those of you who I do not have an address for.

Christmas is coming, but I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. Christmas doesn't seem like Christmas without the snow.

Safire

Answers

Everyone,

A while a go, I asked people if they had any questions for me. Here are a few of my answers.

Brandy asks: do you and Juice get much alone or "date night" time now that you have Butterfly?

Yes and no. Because we are sticklers about Butterfly's bedtime (7:30pm), we get a few hours after she is in bed to hang out. Lately, it's been mostly watching tv or Juice will play on the computer and I will read. We do try to get out without Butterfly on a date occasionally. I have a girl from my church who lives close and is happy to have the money. Mostly we either go to a movie so there has to be something we want to see in order to use her. We also swap sometimes with Vinny's parents (Butterfly's best friend). Mostly, those are temple trips (picture) but they don't happen much anymore since Vinny's mom is pregnant. It would be nice to have family around to help out watching Butterfly, but we do just fine with our church friends. I am just glad we have them otherwise I think I would go crazy!

Valinda asks: Besides marrying Juice what was the defining moment of your life? If you had picked the other choice what do you think your life would "look" like now?

There are a lot of moments in my life that I feel are defining. But I guess the one that changed me the most was going to college in Idaho. I feel like in Idaho, I finally solidified who I was going to be. And that person was fun but also serious and thoughtful. I basically got straight A's in college and gained an academic scholarship. I remember my first year in college I took a class about music and art for a general ed credit. The class had a 2 disk CD of music that we had to memorize the composers and time period, plus the names of all the songs. I listened to it while I slogged through French. I listened to it walking around campus. I listened to it going to bed at night. And when the final test came, I missed one question on an painting. I got a 98% in the class, and that was my first experience of the teacher telling me he had to fail someone because I did so well. Talk about guilt! But it happened in astronomy, zoology, an English class called cowboy literature, and my animal restraint class. The teacher of the music and art class (Vaughn was his first name...can't think of his last name!) told me to not be ashamed of my abilities but to really push myself to become greater at what I can do. And just because I can study and put in the effort, I should be rewarded, while the other person should have worked harder. I think really at that point I realized that I could do great things if I chose to and put in the effort. So I do.

More answers later!

Safire

Thanksgiving Plans

Everyone,

This year, no family is coming to visit for Thanksgiving since the first year we moved to Maryland. We have been asked over to a friend's house from church, and we are pretty excited to just show up and not have to worry about the turkey. Although we have been asked to bring a few sides, which I volunteered to do anyway.

The first Thanksgiving we had in Maryland was the first Thanksgiving we had ever had on our own. About a month before, I started looking at recipes, planning the menu and planning how to make all of this on my income. Juice had JUST started his work (I think he had been there 2 weeks and was still going to school 3 nights a week) and I don't even think we had a paycheck from them yet. I started my tradition that year of buying one thing for Thanksgiving every shopping trip all through October and November. Things that would keep I bought first. Turkey (I think we just had 2 breasts that year), stuff for desert, frozen veggies, etc. And things like potatoes and fresh salad I bought last. It has been a great tradition and really easy to make one big meal out of maybe a few extra dollars a week.

That year I also bought a few of those little cookbooks they have at the check out counter next to the magazines talking about how fat Oprah was or the latest divorce. The first one I bought because it had a time line. I had never ever made Thanksgiving dinner before without help (thanks Dad!) so I had no idea what to put in where. This one had a nice time line of putting what recipes they had in what order where. We enjoyed a perfectly good and all hot at the same time Thanksgiving dinner because of this book. I still love to use the turkey breast recipe in there. Do you know how hard it is to find JUST a turkey breast though? And the ones I have found are as much or even more than a full turkey! (Juice would like some turkey left overs to make his beloved turkey puffs. Even though we are eating someone else's bird, I think I may have to make one for us. Okay, for Juice. Man, I'm nice.)

The other book I picked up was Pillsbury's Holiday 2005 edition. I don't care for most of the recipes in it but there is one redeeming quality about this book. The cranberry sauce. I think this is Juice's favorite part of Thanksgiving. It even goes great with his coveted turkey puffs. Butterfly loves it too and will eat only that if we let her. This is also if you look in my freezer right now you will see 3 2 lbs bags of cranberries and 1 2 lbs bag in my fridge. This recipe makes me want to know how to can so I can make a ton of it and have it all through the year. Sadly, no canning skills here so I just buy a ton of bags of cranberries and freeze them. (Easy to do...buy the bag. Put the bag in the freezer. In about 24 hours, enjoy the marble-like sound they make as you desperately dig for something else in your freezer.) I will be buying more as the cranberries are still available since I only see them in the stores this time of year.

I was watching the food network the other day (thanks again Dad!) and they had the secret to making really good cranberry sauce. Orange juice. They said to pour orange juice in the sauce after you have cooked it to make it less tart. My recipe takes it one step further. Enjoy!

Cherry-Cranberry Sauce
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries
1/3 cup dried sweet red cherries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons orange marmalade

In 3 quart saucepan, mix cranberries, cherries, sugar and water. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have popped open.

Stir in marmalade. Cool 1 hour. Spoon into serving dish; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

How easy is that? It works well to make it a few days ahead, although after about a week in the fridge is gets a little runny. I also double or even triple it sometimes, but be prepared to double or triple the time to cook it. Plus, if you do double it, stir it a little more often than 'occasionally' and all the berries will be hot and soft at the end.

Let me know if anyone tries it.

Safire

Juice and the Doctor

Everyone,

Juice went to the doctor yesterday for Ed, the cough. He was gone a long time...I was almost convinced that the doctor had sent him for chest x-rays to confirm pneumonia. When he got home, I asked him what happened.

He shrugged his shoulders, said the doctor listened to his chest and gave him some antibiotics. "So I was right! You are sick!" I said.

"No, the doctor didn't want me to give it back to you and Butterfly. She couldn't hear anything wrong."

Ohhh..."What took so long then?"

"I went to change the oil in the car."

Nice of him to do that. The oil did need changing. And he is feeling lots better and actually slept last night. I just hope the cough goes away soon.

ED MUST DIE!

Safire

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

Everyone,

Today, since Juice was home again today (more on that later), I went upstairs to talk about nap time and what I needed to do while she was napping. It has been really nice to have Juice home during the day and I could go and run my errands while she was napping.

In any case, we were all in our computer room, and this is what we said:

Juice- "When is N-A-P?" (Spelling it out of course, or Butterfly flips)
Me- "Right now, that's why I came up here to T-A-L-K." (Totally teasing, of course.)
Juice- "Okay, so T-A-L-K."
Me- "I need to run to the S-T-O-R-E and get some food for Young Women's tomorrow." (A thing for church.)
Juice- "Alright."
Me- "And I really want some C-H-E-E-S-E F-R-I-E-S. So I'll get some while I am out."
Juice- (laughing) "G-O-O-D."
Me- (giving him a hug on the computer chair) "You need a H-A-I-R C-U-T."
Juice- "Yes, I thought I would wait until the C-O-U-G-H is better."
Me- "Ah, good I-D-E-A."

At which point Butterfly pipes up, "Yeah, that would be a good idea!"

Either she can spell or we say good idea a lot in this house. I'd like to believe it's the first reason. No, no, don't burst my bubble. It's the first reason. :) My child is a genius.

Safire

Juice the mad scientist

Everyone,

This afternoon, while Butterfly was napping, I decided to take a nap. I curled up on the couch and soon conked out. Only to be woken up about an hour later to Butterfly sobbing in her room. I was so groggy I couldn't figure out what was going on and why Juice was not going to see what was wrong. He was working in the room next to her.

I took my groggy self upstairs to hear the wailing getting louder and louder. And I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed because I poked my head in where Juice was working and said, "Don't you hear the baby?"

He looked at his computer screen a few more minutes, clicked a few more times, turned his body around before his head, and said, "No, why?" At this point I stalked out, flung open Butterfly's door and said hello. She was crying because she couldn't find a book (kid, you have at least 6 others in your bed...won't they work?) and once I found it, she was fine. I went and stalked into my bedroom to count to 10, and heard her crying in the office with Juice. Once I calmed down, I went to see what was the matter and she wouldn't talk to me. Juice is eye deep in a project they have given him so he won't come into work. (Yes, his work basically told him to stay home until he either stops coughing or has been on antibiotics for 48 hours. They do NOT want pneumonia going through the office!) He has such great powers of concentration that he barely moves when he's working. That's why I say he can out wait a glacier.

I wonder if it was hard for his mother to get him to stop playing and come to the table to eat when he was little. Although thinking about his appetite, she probably didn't. These powers of concentration are nice when he's thinking about me. :) Just not when he misses the world go by.

Safire

Behold My Future

Everyone,


Who here is familiar with Gilmore Girls? Most people? Good. You know that one episode where they stay at the inn and Mrs. Gilmore stays with Lorelei and Rory? And Lorelei and Mrs. Gilmore are putting on their moisturiser at the same time the exact same way? And Rory says, "Behold my future."

I feel like that sometimes watching my mom, my aunt and my Nana. It's a little strange to get all 3 of them together talking and laughing. They sound the same. They have the same facial expressions.

***Blogger ate my post! I have no desire to go back and finish it right now. Stupid computer.***

Sleeping

Everyone,

Butterfly didn't go to sleep until close to 11:30pm last night. Today has been pretty miserable. Every little things makes her pout, cry, complain to the opposite parent, etc. She started throwing blocks so I told her we don't throw blocks. Especially at Soot. She pouted for a second, turned to Juice and said, "Mommy said not to throw blocks." She had her little bottom lip out and a slight whine to her voice. I must admit, it was totally cute. She knows how to work it.

Juice told her that I was right, and she crumpled to the floor and cried for awhile. It was like this pretty much all day long. She did not eat her dinner because she has this thing for rice. She refuses to eat it. And we had rice, beans, and corn casserole. So there was no getting around the rice. So she had no dinner. I figure, she can eat if she wants. But when she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't and is extra hungry in the morning. She needs to learn to eat the dinners we give her.

I, on the other hand, slept in till past noon, and took at least 2 naps today. I think I might be tired. It was nice to have Juice home to take care of her and I could have a small break. We skipped church because it was stake conference (all the congregations or wards in the area get together for one meeting, happens 2 times a year) and it started at 10am. Juice wasn't going to go (Ed is still plaguing him) and he was going to keep Butterfly with him. Stake conference is 2 hours long and I just didn't see her lasting. So I was going to go but when I woke up right as conference was going to be ending...I figured I shouldn't go. Just a thought. :)

Now, I'm going to go back to bed and hopefully get some good sleep tonight. Although I do hope that I can wake up at a reasonable hour tomorrow and actually feel like I get something done instead of sleeping till lunch.

Safire

Ed Must Die.

Everyone,

I am so sick and tired of Ed (aka the cough that would not die). Ed decided to make a trip to my parents' house with them, and well, Ed seems to have taken up house. They both have the beginning signs of pneumonia and are on major antibiotics. I am slightly happy Ed has decided to really start decorating at my parents' because it has been the only way I could convince Juice to go to the doctor. He will be making his appointment on Monday. Stupid Ed. Go away!

Running out of things to say this year so anyone have any questions for me? Anything?

Safire

Sweetie Pie

Everyone,

Butterfly took a 3 hour nap today which is why she is still awake at 10:15pm. At least she is a good girl and stays in her bed for hours at a time. And now that I've just posted that, she will be up. Isn't that always the way things go?

Butterfly is a really sweet little girl. She is just so cute. Especially when you are reading a book to her. She would seriously sit all day long and listen to you read if you were inclined to read 8 hours straight. Today we read The Cat in the Hat (at least 4 times), The Foot Book (first time for Juice. I have the thing memorized.), assorted Wild Baby Animal magazines that she gets, Bears in the Night, Snow White, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, Dr. Seuss's ABCs, There's a Wocket in my Pocket, and Chicken Little (two times).

She makes reading to her so much fun. She snuggles up to you, gets as close as she can and really is engaged. Even if it's books she's read over and over. And even if she can recite the whole book to you. She really loves to hear it over and over. Occasionally she will put her arm around my neck, pull my head down, give me a kiss, and say, "Thanks for reading Mommy." If that doesn't want you to read more, I don't know what does. She will also say, "I love you" or "I love this book" as well. Sometimes she wants me to put my head on her shoulder like she does to me. That makes reading a little harder and more uncomfortable, but she seems to love it.

What a sweetie pie we have. It's moments like these that really make me happy I am a mom. And I am her mom.

Safire

Day 8. I think?

Everyone,

It's been an interesting day. Look, I actually have something to write about! I woke up in a start this morning because a man's voice was talking in the house. And it wasn't Juice's. I sat bolt upright from my very vivid dream (something about Juice chasing robbers out of our house with his swords in his robe...) and started to hyperventilate for a second. Then I looked at the clock. 3:32 am. I then wondered if the voice was not inside the house, but outside. It's very normal in the summertime for us to have a lot of people out on their decks having parties and drinking. That involves a lot of loud talking. And we hear it sometimes. Mostly it's in Spanish so I have no idea what they are saying. But this time, I understood the voice. So I took a moment to listen to see what they are saying. This is before I sent Juice downstairs in his robe with a sword. And this is what I hear:

"Has anyone seen a boat?!"

I flop back down on the bed and blow out the breath I had been holding. Butterfly has turned on her CD player with her Finding Nemo book on CD in it. She has been insisting to listen to this before bed off and on since she got it from my brother for her 2nd birthday. She loves the thing. But why is she listening to it at 3:30 in the morning? I hear her rolling around and sighing. Finally I hear her turning the pages of her read along book to the little tinkling ques. Great, she's fine. I can go back to sleep. Except now I have to go to the bathroom.

That taken care of, I listen to the book over the baby monitor. And I listen to it again. Sometime during the 3rd round she fell back asleep. No such luck for me. I sat there and worried. I considered getting up and going to watch tv downstairs. I considered turning the movie on in our room and watching that. I considered finding my book and reading for awhile. But that would mean I had to get out of the bed and all these things I just didn't want to do. So I just laid there. Very boring.

Somewhere around 6am, I finally fell asleep again. And it was not a pleasant sleep. I need to sleep more during the dark. It gets light too early now. And we have a 2 year old. Who wakes up on time at 8am. Even if she was up for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night. And even if she is so tired she is crying. Must. Play. Now.

A trip to the mall, to the craft store, and a 2 hour nap did nothing to improve her mood. So we made cookies with Juice tonight. They were great, but she was more interested in eating the chocolate chips than the cookies. Still, good wholesome family time was had.

And then I got a splitting headache and decided to write this and go to bed. Hopefully I will sleep more.

Safire

Things actually got done today!

Everyone,

The Cough That Won't Die (CTWD or Ed for short) really did a number on us. And I come to find out that my parents who were here while I was in the throws of it, took it home with them. Sorry, again. And sorry to whoever was on the airplane with them. And sorry to my mom's work. This is the worst cough ever and I had no wish to infect the west coast with it's ravaging croakiness. My dad's doctor seems to think his strain of Ed turned into pocket pneumonia. Yucky.

In any case, Juice went to work today only to come home and say he was not going tomorrow. Butterfly is still coughing but seems to be less and less. Ed is hopefully loosing it's grip on her and she will be better shortly. Me, I still have a small lingering cough in the morning, but nothing to stop me.

I've been trying to catch up on all the housework that went astray when Ed first joined us. I finally cleaned out the last of the shorts in Butterfly's drawers (left the short sleeve shirts because it's still fairly nice here). And this week I have been doing load after load of laundry. I finally am all caught up with it. I can take it out of the kitchen! Yay! I hate having our washer and dryer in the kitchen because there is no counter space to put things on while you're doing wash. I never thought I'd miss it but I did.

I also was able to get ink out of Butterfly's brand new winter dress. Juice let her play with one of his pens at church and she came away with a huge streak of ink down the front of her cranberry velor dress with a big cranberry bow in front. I was sad but resigned. I mean, what can you do with ink? Thankfully, the Master of Laundry (my Mom) was visiting us that day and she told me to put hairspray on it. Oookaay...I'd have to try that one out. And man, it worked! First I tested the dress for color fastness (wouldn't do to have the dress bleached out). I poured hairspray right from the bottle onto the stain and used cotton balls to dab up the ink. Came right out in a snap. The first dab took out most of the biggest stain, and 2 more dabs you couldn't even see it. I feel empowered by new found knowledge. Thanks Mom!

Safire

At A Loss

Everyone,

6 Days into this thing and I seriously have nothing to say. Today has been a very quiet and unassuming day. Mostly I spent the time trying to keep Butterfly away from Juice who is working upstairs. And trying to keep her entertained...lots of blocks and stuffed animals looking for their mommies.

In between play time, I read my book club book: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. Every time I pick it up I worry that this is not the book I'm supposed to be reading. I'm getting a kick out of it...I love anything by James Herriot and this is one I haven't read before. It's very funny because doing some of this stuff in college, I can really relate.

Juice wants me to say that we had a soup milestone with Butterfly today. She had soup for dinner and got more on her face than on the table and floor around her. Good job Butterfly!

Safire

Pictures

Everyone,

My sister in law just sent me a slew of pictures of her and her 3 kids. And their new house (which looks fabulous!). It made me realize that I haven't put out my pictures for 2 whole months. Which means that everyone on my list is bound to get over 200 pictures to look at from Sept and Oct. I know my parents won't mind...but will everyone else? Oh well if they do! Now the trick is to write captions to aforementioned 200 pictures.

This morning, I did my weekly scrap booking with my friend Laura. Butterfly had a great time with her 2 youngest, and I actually finished my Hawaii pictures from over a year ago. There has got to be close to 30 pages of just Hawaii. I am going to have to re-think my yearly scrapbook, since I don't think I can put any more than 100 pages in it. I guess I'll just have to split it up or stop starting in August.

Juice has been home sick today again. He shut himself up in the office and worked all day. His cough is doing better. He is also feeling a little happier and is not so morose. And with him home, I got to go out while Butterfly was supposed to be sleeping for her nap and buy myself a new book. Oh, and get Juice's glasses fixed since they broke for the 5th time this year. Butterfly is hard on those things! Only 2 more months till he can go and pick out new, less fragile glasses.

Safire

Where does she get this?

Everyone,

Today while Juice was trying to wrestle Butterfly into her dress for church, she tried to run away. He snatched her back and laughed, "Ha ha ha! I got you!" She turned around and looked at him and said, "Did you just cackle with glee?"

No joke people. She's 2. Where did she learn the phrase cackle with glee and how to use it in a sentence correctly?!

Also said today to her daddy, "It doesn't matter what you think. It matters what I think. And I think you're pretty special." (This is from a book, You Are Special by Max Lucado.)

She's a talker!

Safire

Trip with Parents

Everyone,

If I don't write this visit down, I will forget! Well, some of it anyway. We went to the pumpkin patch with my mom's group and had a pretty good time. It was very hot that day. And we got there before all the school groups showed up. Once they did, it was pandemonium! My dad was nice enough to run around with Butterfly, although he did leave her at the top of the slide. He slipped trying to get all ready for her and down he went. She got over it.

We traveled up to the outlet mall in Hagerstown and then to Antietam Battlefield. It was very interesting, but we didn't spend enough time there. Most of the day was spent buying a headboard for Butterfly's Christmas present.

On the weekend, we traveled a few hours south of us to go to Jamestown, VA. It's their 400th birthday, and we thought it would be nice to see sometime this year. It was very interesting, but very hot again. Juice doesn't care for historical stuff and combined with the humidity, he was pretty unhappy. But I enjoyed listing to the guides tell us about the archaeological digs they are still doing on the island (did you know it was an island?) and seeing the really old ruins.

After Jamestown, we ran over to Yorktown to see where the Revolutionary war ended. We happened to be there on the day it ended (Oct 19th) so we got in free! That place was cool and I wish we could have stayed longer but Butterfly had had enough.

From there, we drove to Chincoteague and spent the night. What an interesting little island. And it's bigger and has more stuff on it than I thought! We spent part of the day over at Assateague hoping to see some horses. We only saw them from afar, but we did go see the light house. We also spent a lot of time at the beach and just enjoyed the water. My mom dropped her purse in the ocean as I was trying to get a picture. It was pretty funny. Butterfly kept saying, "It's water! Not the ocean! The ocean is where Nemo lives." Apparently the ocean is only under water. :)

From there we tried to stop in Ocean City, MD but it was late and kind of cold and I didn't feel all that great. So we headed home. We should have taken some pictures of the bridge/tunnel that goes under/over the Chesapeake Bay on the VA side, and then again on the MD side. Very big!

And then, it was time for them to go home. We had a really nice time with them and I wish they could come back more often. Butterfly loved having a captive audience for all her cute stuff, and also someone who will read any book she brings.

Safire

All caught up...sort of.

Everyone,

When I got sick, I just couldn't haul myself out of bed to do much of anything. Meaning, I fed and changed Butterfly, but mostly lay either on the floor or on my bed semi wishing I would die or pass out. Something to stop the coughing! And then I started to feel better after a much needed trip to the doc and lovely pills to take. And then my parents came. We had a great time (still more to come on that!) and we were out all day every day.

And then I'm not sure what happened but I guess I just got out of the habit of checking my email. I mean, it had been 2 weeks, what could possibly go wrong with another week? When I finally did get to the computer, I had over 700 emails. Yikes. Not to mention over 300 items on my google reader to go through. So I had a lot of stuff to do. And I have been doing it! I'm all caught up on my emails and I only have about 100 things on my google reader to go through.

I guess the question is do I really want to go through these 3 blogs or should I take them out of my circulation? I never comment on them. I doubt they even know that I read, other than a hit to pump up their numbers. I obviously haven't missed their lives. I'm really debating on deleting them. But then I wonder what I would do if one of you readers who I don't know did that to me. Would I feel guilty? I don't know. What would you do?

Safire

Practicing Avoidance

Everyone,

Today starts the first day of National Blog Posting Month. Check the ticker on the left for more information but basically it means I will be posting every day through the month of November.

I meant to get right up and post this morning so I wouldn't have to worry about it all day long but I have been avoiding things lately. What things? Oh, everything. I don't know why. I just have no energy to do...anything. I have a to do list that has at least 10 things on it, and what do I do instead? Lay on the couch and read a book while Butterfly does a puzzle. I had my scrap booking buddy come over yesterday and one of her kids left a pencil at my house. You would think that Butterfly had found gold. She has been drawing all day with it and it has enabled me to once again, ignore my list. Considering it's 9pm, I now have the energy to call back all these people that are calling me, throw in a load of laundry, and maybe pick up some toys. Maybe. But first! My blog!

Let's see...I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to talk about, that I had been saving for this month to talk about. Most of the posts I have deal with pictures and I just haven't uploaded them from my hard drive yet. Hey, look! Avoidance again!

Juice and Butterfly are sick. They have that nasty cough I had. Butterfly has also sprouted 2 brand new molars on the bottom. It makes me think back to her very first tooth that appeared on Halloween 2 years ago. She has been cross (in the extreme) and refuses to nap. So of course, by 4pm, she is a tantrum throwing, horn sprouting, where-is-your-father-he-better-not-be-late-today kind of kid. And of course, since Juice is sick, all he wants to do is lie down. I'll admit, he does do some stuff but I think it's mostly because I look like I'm about to run away when he comes home some nights. I just want all of us to get better. I hate being sick but really, I hate Juice being sick worse.

Looks like it's time for me to go use some of this waining energy on something. See you tomorrow!

Safire