So Proud of Me!

At the risk of turning my blog into a brag-fest.... LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!

                      

I'm so proud of myself!  After struggling through making a quilt for a church project, I realized that sewing could be something that I might really enjoy.  The only problem is that I have absolutely NO knowledge whatsoever about how to sew.   Luckily for me I have a really good friend who happens to be an amazing seamstress. (She's the one who made Khursten's baptism dress)  Also luckily for me, she's very generous, patient, and willing to share her knowledge. 

On Friday night, a few of us girls got together for a little sew-a-thon.  It was so much fun.  I was surrounded by women with vast amounts of sewing wisdom.  They walked me through my little project step by step and patiently explained all of the instructions on my pattern (which I swear are written in Greek). 

I feel like I've been entered into a world of endless possibilities.  I can't wait to start my next project.  Thanks ladies for all of your help!

Bend-a-Roos

Here's just one more reason why I love my kids so darn much. On Saturday morning we left the kids with a babysitter while we went to the temple. When we came back, here's what we found. The girls had decorated their bedroom doors with Bend-a-Roo art.

I'm not exactly sure why, but this brings me so much joy. Everytime I walk down the hall, these works of art bring a smile to my face.

My First Culinary Masterpiece

Well... masterpiece might be a bit extreme, but my kids ate it all up and asked for seconds and thirds. That's what really counts. Plus, by my standards, it wasn't entirely unhealthy. And to top it off, I actually thought it was quite good myself.

I don't know what to call it, it was some sort of twice-baked potatoes.

And just because I'm so proud of myself, here's how I made it.

Puncture raw potatoes all over with a fork. Rub them with extra virgin olive oil. Place them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for one hour and 15 min.

Meanwhile, steam some broccoli, brown 1/2 lb. of ground beef (I used the 91% fat free and then drained and rinsed it to try to be healthy), slice some green onions, and shred a few carrots.

Let potatoes cool enough to handle easily. Cut off top 1/3 of potato. Scrape out the insides into a bowl. (I threw the tops away, but maybe you can be creative with them too)

Mix together the potato insides with the broccoli, beef, green onions, and carrots. Add a nice dollop of fat free sour cream (or regular if you want) some dill, some season salt, and a little bit of grated cheese. (once again, I used low fat) Mash it all with a potato masher until it's smooth and creamy.

Stuff potato skins with mixture. Top with a little bit of cheese, and put them back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes. Voila!

With any luck your kids will eat it as well as mine did. Skins and all! And you can feel as great as I did about feeding your kids something they really liked.

A Good Long Cry

So here's a question for you ladies out there. Do you ever just need a good, long cry? Just a chance to lay in your bed, sobbing hysterically for no good reason?

For me this is about a semi-annual occurrence. Sometimes I just need to get it all out. I have had a hum-drum, gloomy-weathered, dirty housed past couple of weeks. It was all just getting to me and on Sunday I finally had my breakdown.

My husband, bless his heart, doesn't understand this phenomenon at all. He thinks it is completely irrational (which of course it is) and he has such a hard time just embracing my occasional craziness. After much persuasion, I was able to convince him to just sit there and let me cry on his shoulder. All I needed was for him to stroke my hair, kiss my cheek, and tell me he loves me. It didn't even matter to me one bit that the whole time he was probably thinking, "Man! This woman is crazy!".

Ryan says that this isn't normal. He can't for the life of him believe that most women need to sometimes just cry it out. I'm convinced we do. I'm not talking about sobbing and weeping all the time. I'm just thinking once or twice a year - a good break down is normal, right? Please tell me I'm not alone. You see, for me a good long cry can be like magic. I woke up on Monday feeling so much better. I have snapped out of my funk. My house is clean, my laundry is done, there's a smile on my face, and I'm feeling great!

Confessions About My iPod

This is my iPod.

It's my little shuffle. It's an antique. They don't even make them like this anymore. Ryan got this for me 100 years ago and I haven't ever felt the need to update or upgrade. The whole reason I got it was so that I could load it up with songs with a good beat and some pumpin' bass. This is my cleaning / workout music. The songs on it have never changed. What was originally loaded (in my early, early 20's), still is there. And I hadn't really ever thought about my choice of music until yesterday.

Audrey asked me for her 'cleaning music'. (And yes, it's scary to see how many of my habits my kids pick up.) She begged and begged me to let her listen to my iPod. It was then that I realized that it was high time I reevaluated my choice of music. My current playlist includes such lovelies as: Guns 'n' Roses, Metallica, Aerosmith, Eminem, Blood Hound Gang, Avril Lavigne... the list goes on.

None of this music is appropriate for my 3-year-old to be listening to. So here's my question. Is it ok to keep my secret little hidden passion for my less-than-appropriate music? If it's for my ears only, is it ok? Or do it I need to think more about the what -fs? What if it gets into the wrong hands? What if Khursten decides to pop in the headphones and give it a listen? Is it my motherly duty and responsibility to update my iPod to be just a little bit cleaner?

Please tell me no. There's nothing like a little Eminem to get this girl cleaning!

CRUNCH!!

I've been putting off this post because I've been just way too sad. But yesterday I finally got some resolution to my little problem. For Christmas Ryan got me a car. I was so excited. It was the first time I got to pick out what I wanted to drive around. And I'm not going to lie, I instantly fell in love with my new little car.

On January 15th, (less than 3 weeks later) This happened.

I was devastated. Many of you may remember that Ryan got the exact same injury on his brand new (to us) Acura earlier this year. What are the chances?
I was backing out of my parking stall at Target and I noticed another car was backing out too. I was already out far enough that I could almost put it into drive and drive away. I was at too much of an angle to drive back in, and I couldn't drive away, but the lady kept coming. I remember telling my girls, "That lady's not going to stop. She's just not going to stop." I waved my arms and honked my horn, but it was to no avail. CRUNCH!
The lady was super frazzled and when I asked her if she admitted that things were her fault, she told me she agreed that they were. We decided we didn't need to call the police since she acknowledged that it was, indeed, her fault. BAD IDEA!!
I have spent the last 11 days giving statements and sworn affidavits over and over and over again. Somehow things weren't looking so much like her fault to her anymore. Somehow it was now 'our joint fault'.
Well... after learning a big lesson to always call the police, I finally got some good news. Her insurance decided to cover it. I am headed off to the shop today to get my long-awaited repairs. Hallelujah!

Ugly Sweater Party

So I guess it's probably time for another blog post. Last night's events were definitely blog-worthy. Ryan & I hosted our first (hopefully annual) Ugly Sweater Party.

The challenge - hit the D.I. and find the world's ugliest sweater.

The reward - this amazing trophy!

There were definitely some real winners amongst the group.

But ultimately, Amy proved to be the ugliest! (don't worry, that's a compliment!)

Thanks to all who joined us for a night of snacking, gaming, and hilarity. I hope this will become a tradition that will grow and grow throughout the years. I can picture it now... a whole shelf filled with ugly sweater trophies. Wouldn't that be a source of some real pride? Next year you too could be a winner!