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Friday, November 30, 2007

Word to Your Mamma

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

An Ode to Green Chilies

If loving you is wrong,
I don't want to be right.

Your green roasted goodness
Is out of sight.

And pork in a can may seem weird to you,
But is sure is good,
That much is true.

As you see, I have mad skills when it comes to poetry writing. I also like Stoke's Green Chile Sauce with Pork.

Look what my sister-in-law brought me in her suitcase:
I am doing a happy dance right now. And, as if that weren't enough, she brought me twelve whole cans of this:

Did I mention I am a little excited?!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Uh, Where's The Rest Of My Tree?

It was the Black Friday deal worth getting up for, or so I thought. A very plush looking Christmas tree bragging 800+ tips and 7 1/2 feet tall on sale for $30. (Regular Price: $100) So I hauled my sorry butt out of bed and to the store to score my bargain tree. The picture on the box showed a nice full tree that would be just perfect. This is what was in the box:



Yes, indeed, this was IT! Nice and plush, huh?! Jeff pointed out that it was only 7 1/2 feet tall because it started 2 feet off the ground. James could sit under it.



After a LOT of fluffing, this is what we got. It is obviously not even close to the tree on the box, but it is better than our previous tree, so we decided to keep it around. Jeff gave it a trim to reduce the ill-proportioned trunk. Ahh, nothing says Christmas like cutting down your own fake tree. I feel so nostalgic.


This just proves that with enough ornaments, you can cover up anything! So there it is in all its glory...the Black Friday special!

Sunday, November 25, 2007




The Creamed Corn Bandito Strikes Again!

Eggs make a distinctive sound as they thud against the side of a house. It was this squishy sound we heard as we sat in our living room last night. Those sounds were immediately followed by the sound of our collective blood pressure going through the roof! The egg-hurling assailant had the nerve to egg our house a second time, when it was obvious we were home. During the course of a thorough investigation, which took about 3 seconds, we determined that the only possible place for the eggs to be thrown from was, alas, the neighbor’s backyard. Jeff immediately went to pay a little visit. The subject in question was kind enough to answer the door and deny everything. Jeff gave him several chances to come clean, but he maintained his innocence. Jeff told him that if he didn’t do it then someone had been in his backyard, and that he was going to call the cops. Since the kid was sure he didn’t do it, we called the cops. After another brief investigation, the cop determined that it was, indeed, the neighbor kid. He went over and talked to him. The kid denied any part of it. Anyway, the officer quickly tracked down the mother and gave her the scoop. She called her son, who grudgingly admitted to throwing ‘only two eggs.’ (Mysteriously, someone else must have had the same idea at the same time, because there were at least four fresh eggs dripping down our siding.) He did mention to her that he had eaten five eggs. Sounds very likely. Anyway, the Corn Bandit was caught. Now for his trespasses he will have to stand before a jury of retired police officers and the community, who will sentence him to community service and probation. This morning at 7:30 there was a knock on our door. There was the kid, in his pajamas in the freezing cold, with his mom. She was very apologetic. She hauled him over to apologize. She found out about the corn and the previous egg-ings, which made her even more angry. She was yelling at him, apologizing to us, trying to get him to confess, apologizing some more. It was quite dramatic for being 7:30 in the morning. We told the kid, who is 14, about Jeff’s brother and how stupid crimes that seem like fun can get you locked up for a long time. We told them we had no hard feelings against them, we just wanted it to stop. His mom assured us that it shouldn’t happen again. She made him come back over and scrub everything up. Its cold and breezy, and there he was scrubbing eggs and cream of corn off our house. James kept pointing out the window saying ‘guy, guy.’ Yeah, James, that’s a guy who’s probably wondering why he ever thought throwing eggs was fun.
Here is the bandit at work: scrubbing up his mess! (PS. Photo compliments of Jeff, who insisted I post it!)

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

James' Latest Adventure

Last night, James went to the movies! Jeff took James to see a sneak preview of "The Pir@tes Who D@n't Do Anything," a new Veggie T@les movie coming out in January. We weren't sure if he would sit through the whole thing, but he did. Afterward, they had Jeff fill out a survey and gave James a handful of Veggie gear: posters, a magnet, and trading cards! When James came home, you could tell he was walking on cloud nine. He was so excited, running around saying 'pie-wits!' So James' first theater experience was a success. He now has his 'pie-wits' poster hanging above his crib.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007


My most favorite people!


Here are a few of the latest pictures. Last night James had his first real 'flesh wound.' He was playing and took a dive on the carpet. Jeff told him that putting this ridiculous paper on his nose the bleeding would stop. It was just a thinly-veiled excuse to get a funny picture. James has been stringing some goofy words together. After hitting his sister (not a normal behavior for him, by the way) and getting a time-out, he said to her, "Saw-wee Kee-keet; bench time-ow." And the phrase of the day is "Daddy Pee-tot," translated means Daddy Peacock. He saw a peacock once, with Jeff, about a month ago. Apparently he hasn't forgotten about it. Katie is getting so big. She is smiling and cooing. She even sounds like she is laughing every now and then. Its amazing how very fast they change!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

We Got Creamed

Cream of Corned, that is. Yesterday we were out on our patio and lo and behold I saw what appeared to be corn on our window. I quickly discounted the corn idea, as it seemed implausible. I realized just as quickly that it couldn't have come from a bird, either. Unless the bird was very skilled at low-flying shenanigans. (We have a roof that overhangs our patio) Then I saw an egg shell...right below the egg that was splattered on our house! I looked around and realized that our house had been egged. But alas! We must explain the corn. There, lying on the patio, was an opened can of cream of corn, with its contents splattered hither and yon. We had been cream-of-corned! Who does this, you wonder? I am not sure if creamed corn is the newest teenage prank, or if they just couldn't find enough eggs. Obviously, the kids who did it were not very smart. The only possible trajectory of the flying food originates in our neighbor's backyard. They have teenagers. Apparently they couldn't think of anything better to do that egg/corn their neighbor's house. We've never had trouble before. They actually seemed like nice young chaps. Every once in a while they come over to get their football from our yard. I have no idea why they decided that our house should be the target of their exploits. Or why they decided to hurl a can of creamed corn at the side of our house.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Free Rice

You don't have to be munificent to give free rice to hungry people. Check out freerice to become sagacious and abet a good cause. You might even learn what hemidemisemiquaver means!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Say cheese!


James helping Katie take a picture with his camera

Can you believe how big she is getting?! She has grown 3 whole inches in 2 short months and has gained a little over 3 pounds.

Call in the Grammer Police!

James is talking in sentences. Incomplete sentences. Sentence fragments. Whatever. He is two. And he's starting to string words together. Here are a few examples of his handiwork:
"Baby stinky"
"Baby Ni-Nigh"
"Baby Eat"
"Bike Mine"
"Me Picture"
Isn't he a genius? Pretty soon he have his own blog! I know I sound like the obnoxious bragging parent. Its just so darn exciting when your two year old says "Baby burp...ha..ha...ha!"

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dear Eric,

A Rebuttal To Your Rebuttal

I would like to respond to a friendly little comment left by "pianoguyonstage", who in response to a previous blog entry regarding pregnancy/birth, said:

"Hey Meg! This is Eric. I feel the need to comment on some of these blogs so here I go. Oh and I recently picked up a copy of the New York Times to see where your front page articles are being published but alas, I couldn't find your writings. Must be my eyes. Also, I feel the desperate need and desire to publish a rebuttal. You do not talk about the extreme pain the poor husband has to go through during the birth. He has to deal with down time...lots of it. Oh and the yelling and name calling. Sometimes, the husband's feelings are hurt here. I also think it's a Tragedy that the woman gets whatever drugs she wants and the poor husband..(who so despeartely needs Vicodin) gets nothing!!!!! Please remind Rachel of these hardships we husbands go through."

Ah, where to begin? First of all, it must be your eyes. I have a daily column which is very popular I might add. Second of all, extreme pain!?! Down time?! Need for drugs?! Please tell me, so I can clarify with Rach, what extreme pain does the husband go through during childbirth? Is it extremely painful to sit on a comfy chair and watch re-runs while your wife is having contractions? Or is it extremely painful to loose your beauty rest because your wife decides to go into labor in the middle of the night? And since when is 'down time' such a punishment? Would you rather be birthing a human being? And why the need for Vicodin? Candi and I have managed to have a few babies without any drugs at all, so I don't see what the big deal is. Also, I would like to clarify. I don't know what your sweet wifey was yelling as she birthed your three children. (Knowing her it was nothing but sweetness) Maybe she was yelling because you told her 'you felt her pain.' I think that would make me yell too. For myself, there was no yelling/name-calling directed towards my hubby. He just sat off to the side and tried not to turn green. He did mention afterward that he didn't know if he could go through it again. He said it was very intense. Hmm...for him or for ME? So, to quote your dear wife, 'Puh-leeeeeze,' get a grip. Be glad you just get to sit there next to her, even if she is yelling a few choice phrases every now and then. So, when are you going to have the next one?!

Sincerely,

Meg

Oh, Happy Day!

I woke up this morning at 4:00 am. I was a little groggy, but quickly realized that Katie hadn't gotten up to eat yet. She normally gets up around 2 or 3. So, as every mother does the first time her baby sleeps longer than normal, I checked on her about 5 times in a row. After I determined that she was breathing and in fact sleeping quite peacefully, I went back to sleep. She didn't get up to eat till 5:08 am! She slept through the night!!! I realize it may be a fluke, but I take what sleep I can get, and it was nice.

To top it off, Mom came over this morning to watch the kiddies so that I could go grocery shopping. It is so nice to be able to run out and get things done without having to worry about keeping everybody happy and retrieving wayward Sippy cups. Not only did I go grocery shopping, but I followed my list and only bought two things that weren't on it. I feel so organized, which is SO out of character for me! And to top it off, I have a menu made up for the next month. Hopefully that pays off and makes for less chaos in the kitchen!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

'Mootz' are Extinct!

Sadly, the 'mootz' are extinct. They have been replaced with regular ol' moose. The 'motz' have died too. They were replaced with mice. Fortunately, the 'peets' have not yet met their demise. If you are wondering what in the world I am talking about, James is learning the fine art of enunciation. Sort of. The cute ways he began to say words are slowly being replaced with more accurate pronunciation. He's still got a long way to go, but I already miss hearing him say 'arf, pees?' (Something to eat, please) Now he says 'way-sins, pees?' (Raisins) or 'bat-suls' (pretzels). He used to call 'Mommy-a' or 'Daddy-a' for help. Now he can say 'helpees!' He also says 'bapack' for a piggy back ride, which he calls a backpack. So while he's not exactly pronouncing things correctly, he's coming right along. I am sure he will come up with a lot more cute ones before this stage passes.

Its Like Christmas...

...Except you never get to open the presents. For a two year old, this is torture! We have 95 shoe boxes crammed all around our house filled with toys, stuffed animals, candy and lots of other kid stuff. I am getting them ready to drop off for Operation Christmas Child. (We didn't fill all 95, our church did) James doesn't really understand the part about sharing with others. He just doesn't understand why he can't rip the paper off and take the doggy he knows is inside one of the boxes. Hopefully they'll be on their way soon and arrive in time for Christmas!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Few Pictures




Argh!

Its a tragedy, folks! I went to the dentist yesterday and he so kindly informed my that I have, after 27 years, acquired my first cavity.

And my second.

And my third.

And my fourth.

Yes! I have four cavities! I was stunned, depressed, and felt like crying. Where did they come from? He informed me that one of them is big, very very BIG. He said the words root canal. I think I stopped breathing. He was very surprised at how all of the sudden I had such a huge cavity, and three others to boot. But, he informed me that he has had many patients who's teeth were fine until pregnancy and then, boom! Cavities! Apparently something during pregnancy triggers the teeth to go 'crazy' as he put it. So now I have to have them drill a nice hole in my tooth to see whether I need a filling or a root canal. And I am not looking forward to it. I have gone long enough without any dental work, and I am not excited about starting now. I wish I could postpone it but the kind dentist informed me that although the cavity is not at the surface of my tooth, one of these days 'you'll be eating a banana and a chunk of your tooth will just fall off.' Uh, nice. I guess I will be setting my appointment ASAP. Waaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Activity for a Rainy Day

Oh, my! Check out this website and see the absolute craziness that can be made out of duct tape! Duck Tape gives out scholarships to teenagers every year for outfits made entirely out of duct tape. Its insane! There are a zillion colors and patterns of tape now. Click on the Class of '07 logo to see the best of the best.

Duct Tape Prom Pictures

I think it would be super-cute to make James a suit out of duct tape, but by the time I finished it he'd probably be in college and it wouldn't fit!

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Pregnancy, Breastfeeding and Bread

Dispelling the myths.

Ha! Before you run away screaming at the title of my post, don't worry! I am not going to go into any gory details. I could, but you probably would stop reading right here. Besides, my grandma reads my blog. Hi, Grandma! Anywho....back to pregnancy, breastfeeding and bread. What do they have to do with each other? My sister. For my sister, and probably a lot of people, there is a great deal of mystery surrounding these three things. What does a pregnant belly feel like? How do you live for nine months with the fact that that thing has to come out eventually? Various boob-related questions which I won't get into. And of course, how do you make bread? This is really an incredibly abbreviated list. Every time we get together, which is just about all the time, the conversation always manages to turn back around to one of these subjects (not really the bread, the other two). And Rachel says, 'Well, Meg! Since you've already taken the mystery out of this, why not tell me about this' and asks me some question that you always want to know but are too afraid to ask. Let me take you back in time. Rachel had never been around a pregnant woman before I had James. Neither had I, for that matter. So it was all new. She was totally skeeved out by the pregnant belly, but got over it in a hurry. It wasn't what she thought, she said. She started to ask me questions here and there. She started to talk to my belly, and created a bond with James that is still strong today. She wasn't in the room when James was born, and so the mystery of the actual birthing process remained. So when Katie came along, we made sure Rachel was there. Now that whole process has been demystified. (I don't know if that was such a good idea...I want nieces and nephews!) Now there is really no pretense. Rach just fires away with hilarious questions that everyone wants to know. About pregnancy, birth, boobs, umbilical cords, etc. And bread. That leads me to the bread. Apparently my gourmet chef of a sister had a fear of bread-making. Who knew?! She can whip out some unpronounceable dish with fancy-schmancy ingredients but she was afraid to make bread. Not any more! That was the latest myth I was called on to dispel. Rach asked me if we could do a bread-making apprenticeship. In the last two days, we have made two big batches of cinnamon rolls and an enormous amount of Zweiback! Mmmmm! And as we were kneading away, Rachel asked a few more questions about the aforementioned subjects. After all, what would be a time together without giggling over some quirky pregnancy/birth related question?

Monday, November 05, 2007

Random Bits of Info

Here is another of my infamous RANDOM posts. I lost my last post somehow, and this is all I can come up with.

1. It is possible for a one-armed woman to make bread. How do I know? Because I have done it holding a baby in one arm. Rachel has been over yesterday and today for parts one and two of her 'Bread Apprenticeship.' We made cinnamon rolls and zweiback, and now the bread making process is less scary for her.

2. Katie is smiling a lot lately! Beauteous!

3. James was a Gorilla for Halloween, and Katie was supposed to be a Banana but the costume has yet to be made.

4. James has become very fond of 'helping' me in the kitchen. He helped us with our bread this morning. He especially likes to sample everything. Mmmmm....flour!

5. James and Katie got all dressed up yesterday for pictures and looked so delicious!!! And they both did great! I can't wait to get the pictures back.

6. NEWSFLASH! Christmas decorations are up already! How'd that happen? I need to get with it! And that means only 2 1/2 weeks till the tree goes up. Yippee!

7. Jeff and James found out that big batteries are made up of smaller batteries. Those smaller batteries can be strung together to light up a small flashlight!

Friday, November 02, 2007

Recycling Gone Terribly Wrong

Some people go too far. They have to much time on their hands, or something wrong with their sensibilities. I found this link on my friend's blog. Check this out:

How to make a bra into a purse!

And, depending on the size of the bra, you can have a coin purse, or something to tote your groceries home in. Sounds oh, so intriguing, doesn't it?

Scrouge

If you were to stop by our house on Halloween, you would have been sorely disappointed. We turned the lights off, closed the curtains and tried to make our home look as uninviting as possible. Amazingly, people took the hint. No one knocked. Its not that we hate Halloween, or hate kids, or whatever. Its just annoying. You go out and spend a bunch of money on candy, and you get a bunch of over-aged brats knocking on your door for a piece of candy. Don't get me wrong. I have fond memories of trick-or-treating. For you city-folk, we had to drive around from house to house if we wanted to go more than two or three places. It was fun. We got loads of candy, came home and sorted it all out. Then the real fun began. We would barter, trade, steal, beg, etc. All to get what we most wanted. "I'll trade you two Bottlecaps for one Reece's" "No, give me two Mambas and two Nerds for a Reece's" "No, that's a rip-off!" "OK, one Mamba and a box of Nerds" "OK, its a deal" You get the point. And, we had the coolest Mom around. She let us stuff our faces with as much candy as we pleased. She didn't care if we ate the whole loot in one night. It was a kid's dream come true. But back to our current lack of enthusiasm about trick-or-treaters. Here are the reasons it annoys me:

1. Dress up, please!
2. Parents, you aren't supposed to grab candy for yourself. That's just tacky.
3. Don't give me evil looks if I don't have the candy you like, or I didn't give you half the bag. Afterall, it could be worse. I could be one of those people who hands out pretzels or oranges.
4. High-schoolers, give it up! Go buy yourself a giant bag of candy at Walmart and stay home!

Now the secret is out! We are heartless Scrouges. One of these years, we'll take James out and we'll feel obligated to provide candy to the other neighborhood kids. Until then, we'll turn our lights out and go to bed early!

PS. We did take James over to Mom and Dad's and, for those of you concerned about us depriving our son of sugar....drumroll, please....he got an entire Reece's peanut butter cup all to himself! (And he liked it very much) I'll post pictures one of these days.