snowy randoms

i have had a post on my mind for a few days...nothing significant...just random thoughts... :) i always think i should write down what i'm thinking because i will forget...and i do... :) i feel like i had all this wise knowledge to share...hehehe...must not have been too wise or i would have remembered it, huh?! :) i know it's not wise knowledge...just the ramblings going on in my brain... :)

*we enjoyed our first snow day today... it was pure joy to see that Madison & Albemarle was closed this morning around 6... i love having Ry home to have a "shut in" day with the three of us (+2 pooches)... :) it's kinda like the best little present... :) and, from the sounds of road conditions and the fact that the temperatures are going to be in the teens tonight, it looks like we'll have another "shut in" day tomorrow... :)

*i'm even more glad for having a snow day because i have a terrible sore throat and the "feelings" of a sinus infection... :-\ boo hiss...

*we only got around 3 inches of snow...but things just don't operate like they do in the North when it comes to snow removal in VA....and i'm OK with that... :)

*i loved not waking up last night with my sweet daughter... it has been a choppy/sleepless last few days ever since we experienced the fast moving stomach virus on Sunday night... i am still not sure what's going on with her sleep habits - they're puzzling... she slept until 11 AM this morning...yes, 11 AM...no, she isn't a teenager :) she didn't fall asleep until close to 11 last night (again, her sleep schedule is all off...naps are later in the afternoon, so that makes for a late wake up time...which pushes bedtime back...)

*i was all ready to make an assembly line with Ry to get our christmas cards mailed...but alas, i don't have address labels so that i can print off everyone's address... (and now that i think about it, i remember thinking, "i need to get more labels" last year when i printed our addresses :)) i would personally address the cards, but...well, i worked so hard to get all those addresses typed out... :) maybe we can venture out tomorrow afternoon for labels so that people can get our christmas cards before June... :)

*i had a 32 week check up yesterday with the OB...going every 2 weeks now... it's so uneventful, but i guess they have to check your blood pressure and urine for signs of trouble, so that's a good thing, i guess... the doctor told me i was measuring at 34 weeks...probably just the extra layer of fat i have :D i kinda feel like a moose anyway... more bulky than i was when i was preggo with K...

*i was going to make some cookies...but i don't have one ingredient, of course... don't you hate when that happens? i will probably make a different kind of cookie instead... sadly, out of that list i put up almost 2 weeks ago, i've only made one of those recipes... :) yah, i dream big, don't i? :)

*i need to think about starting dinner...and getting K up... :) so i will leave my random thoughts for now... :)

hope you are enjoying your day... :) white stuff or not, i hope it was a good one :)

meals for 12.13.10 through 12.19.10

greetings from frigid VA... we're sitting comfortably in the teens right now... winds blowing around 20-30 miles per hour... so incredibly nice.. it would be better if there was some white stuff on the ground and roads so Ry didn't have to go to work... :)

we had a nice little stomach virus pass through the house in the last 24 hours... the only victim being my poor, sweet daughter... while it was swift, thankfully, i still don't think that there is anything worse than seeing your 2 year old so sick she can't stop shaking and crying... ugh! thankfully, other than a low-grade fever, she's a lot better today/this afternoon... we'll just pray that this is the end... :)

meals for the week... this isn't the original plan for the week - things got changed since i spent most of the day tending to K and snuggling :)

Monday: macaroni soup & grilled cheese

Tuesday: homemade pizza

Wednesday: spaghetti

Thursday: morning star buffalo wings, mac and cheese, and veggies

Friday: take out - TBD :)

Saturday: Ry will be gone for dinner - leftovers for K and me :)

Sunday: Ry will be gone for dinner - leftovers for K and me :)


hope you all have a wonderful last full week before Christmas... :) ENJOY each other and your time together... :)

k-ism

we have interesting meal times here... mainly because my sweet daughter is a very picky eater...
the "every day" things she will eat are:
unlimited fruits
any crackers
cheese (deli sliced american and string cheese-mozzarella)
yogurt (mostly with a straw)
sweet potatoes (on occassion)
toast
waffles
cereal
chips (mainly tortilla)
peanut butter (on crackers, which she will scrape off and eat... she won't eat it on the cracker)
pudding
ice cream
candy
cookies

the main coarse meals consist of:
spaghetti, but only spaghetti, not other shaped pasta
Kraft three cheese mac n cheese
lasagna
pancakes
french toast

i think that's the menu...
so we work, really hard, to encourage K to eat... usually, she will hen pick at what's on her plate...it's rare for her to eat a "good meal," but when she does, we usually try to reward her with dessert... (i've read not to deny children of dessert, regardless if they eat their dinner or not...i'm not sure where i stand on this because i don't understand the "thought" behind it, yet. but i admit that i haven't gotten into the practice of giving K dessert when she doesn't eat her dinner...)

tonight, K had some cheese, spaghetti, applesauce, and some honeydew...
she ate a pretty good meal, so i asked her what she wanted for dessert...a cookie, some pudding, ice cream, etc. she quickly replied that she wanted some candy...

so, i opened up a new bag of holiday M&Ms - dark chocolate - and she loved the red and green candies that we put on her little paper towel...
she's had M&Ms before after Halloween...from her small stash of candy... but she didn't remember what they were...
as she was starting to enjoy her dessert reward, we had this brief conversation...

me: mmmm, are they good?
K: mmmmm, candy....mmmmm... (she picks up 2 or 3 to put in each hand)
me: what colors are they, do you know?
K: (drooling a bit as she talks) rwed and geeen
me: what are the candies called?

she looks down at the few on her paper towel, looks in her hand, and promptly replies, "beans!"

i laughed out loud and told her they were M&Ms...
my poor daughter... :)

meals for 12.6.10 to 12.12.10

well, it's another week already.... :) seems like we just got started on last week... :) but time keeps marching, doesn't it... :) on some days, i long for a pause button for life...

a note on last week's menu... those pillsbury crescent rolls with ham and cheese were so yummy and FAST and EASY... i used ham that we had from some occassion in the past (it was in freezer and i have A LOT more to use)...and i used thin slices of Velveeta as my cheese... yum! :) i'm sure it would be good with deli ham, too... perfect combination of buttery, salty, sweet and just good... :) highly recommended...especially as some of you will probably have leftover ham in the coming weeks if that's your main meat dish for Christmas... :)

this week, i've kind of taken more of a basics menu... i have the goal of making some Christmas cookies, and i don't want to spend afternoons and evenings in the kitchen... so, the meals, while still good, i hope, will be easier and quick... :)

on the Christmas cookie front, while i don't know what i will make on what day, i've decided that i am going to be making:

• my great-grandma's sugar cookies (cut outs)
• maybe some other sugar cut out cookies (a recipe from a past student's mom that were SUPER yummy)
• the infamous ricotta cookies
• raisin puff cookies
• salted caramel thumbprint cookies
• and maybe some buckeyes...

all the cookies, except for the salted caramel thumbprints and the "other" cut out sugar cookie recipes are family recipes... :)
looking at that list is kind of daunting, honestly :) hehe :) but, it's my hope to get a package ready, with cookies, to send to my grandma. she's impossible to shop for (what can you get a lady who is about to turn 89? :)) and loves to have some cookies and things of that sort to snack on... she was the most INCREDIBLE cook...but a stroke took her ability to read and she doesn't see too well, either... so i figured these cookies would be perfect and comforting, too... :)

ok...our meals for the week... :)

• Monday: rotisserie chicken (thank you, Sam's Club :)), mashed potatoes, veggies
• Tuesday: Navajo soup (the "friendship" soup for Sarah and me :))
• Wednesday: leftover chicken and fixins
• Thursday: leftover Navajo soup
• Friday: blintzes
• Saturday: christmas cookie party at the Strongs (we're taking a super simple but yummy hormel chili dip)
• Sunday: tacos

i hope everyone has a great week! :) ENJOY your time together :)

meals for 11.29.10 thru 12.5.10

(i can't believe December is welcomed this week!)

here is what will be gracing our table this week... :)

• Monday: Thanksgiving leftovers
• Tuesday: hamburger stoup (crock pot)
• Wednesday: chicken macaroni casserole
• Thursday: leftovers (hamburger stoup)
• Friday: leftovers (chick. mac. casserole)
• Saturday: out to eat, probably
• Sunday: ham and cheese crescent roll ups

seeing that i have my hands full on Wednesday with the kids, i will probably try to make the chicken casserole ahead of time on Tuesday... i'll just put it together, and hopefully it will bake up nicely on Wednesday... we shall see... it's also a new recipe that i've never tried... so i'm also crossing my fingers that it tastes pretty good... if not, we'll be having tomato soup! :)

and why are crescent rolls so daggone yummy? i could seriously sit and eat a whole entire poppin' fresh tube of freshly baked crescent rolls... yum!!! anyway, i'm going to the ham and cheese roll ups on Sunday... they look delicious on the Pillsbury website... and we have some ham in the freezer... i'm hoping that the meal will be good!

hope your meals are yummy and you're enjoying time chowing down this week... :)

mourning my beloved laptop and the day...

i'm so sad to say that my trusty old laptop finally went to laptop heaven today... :( oh how sad i am... 4+ years of "life" on that baby...gone...

i did a little troubleshooting with my "pal" Beverly from Dell...and after i did some fancy technical things at her prompting, she let me know that she felt i probably needed a new motherboard... fast forward for another 20 minutes on hold with parts...and the cost of a new motherboard is $600... so...yah...not going to happen... i didn't think i'd really get a new motherboard, but i was just curious to hear how much it would set us back if we did...

i'm really sad because i am an IDIOT...i have had this beautiful new laptop sitting in my living room for 3 months...but i NEVER sat down to transfer anything... i got all caught up in getting stuff situated for my online class...and it just never seemed important or something i should have made a priority... of course, hindsight is 20/20 and, well, i'm seeing the err of my ways... :(

thankfully, ry has the same work laptop as our own personal laptop, so i think i can take the hard drive out of my recently departed laptop, take his out, install mine into Ry's computer, and then pull off what i need... i have a ton of my files already on my portable hard drive...but i know there are things that i have updated since i dumped the files... i think i might have to do that this weekend...but i do have some things i need for the week - like stuff for my online class...of course...
*sigh*

and i hate the mouse on the newbie laptop...and the keys are all in different places... i seem to suffer from a pretty hard learning curve....

have i done enough whining yet? oh sorry...

yes, i heard a lot of whining here today from my sweet child... she managed to sleep 12 hours last night, but i just think she was all out of sorts from the travels... i would be, too... house hopping between the grandparents - 2 nights here...2 nights there...lots of time in the van... but anyway, we spent over an hour outside this afternoon so that we could "wash that grumpy" right out of her soul.... thankfully, it worked... even though her little hands were like ice cubes by the time we came in...
i was thinking that we were about a half-inch away from her head spinning around in the living room because she couldn't get her kite puzzle piece to fit properly before we headed out, so the chilly hands were worth it...

oh...back to the laptop saga... i called Apple to ask about how to transfer the hundreds of dollars worth of music on my iTunes account... and i spent lots of time on hold, AGAIN... the silly (i'm using nice words) automated person on the other end kept asking me for a serial number...and i didn't feel like going to find the iPod with the serial number... FINALLY i get to talk to a human...she tells me that she needs my serial number (of COURSE!).... so i get my iPod (which is borderline ancient, to Apple standards)... and i read her my serial number and she tells me it's INVALID...
so she asks if i have my box....and i do (of course, b/c we never throw anything away) and i KNEW where it was in about 3 seconds... i read her the serial number on the box, and, by golly gee, it's the SAME number on the back of my iPod... *go figure* the chick is pretty much insinuating that i probably have a "bought on a street corner in Philly" iPod in my hand...of course, i don't... it's from a big box electronics store...i've had it for 4 years... and well, the stupid store is now out of business... gee, i wonder why - probably b/c they were selling these $300+ iPods with faulty serial numbers...
so i ask this apple girl how i can prove that my equipment is not bootleg from Vinny in Philly...and she keeps telling me she's sorry but the serial number isn't valid (and she wasn't from India)... i'm like, "I KNOW...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! LISTEN TO THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH...." (then i had "Meet the Fockers" flashbacks)...
she tells me i can go to an Apple store and they can verify if my iPod is legit... yah, b/c i live in the middle of the "almost" total country and we have Apple stores in every direction...
then she tells me they can help me get my music transferred if i pay around $30 for person to help me...
haven't i already given Apple enough of my money... iPods...music...for real... so i'm annoyed and tell her that i'm not paying for that service right now until i can see if i can do it myself... and i hang up...
i was not a sweet "customer"
i was so annoyed....................
especially because i really needed to mash the potatoes so we could eat dinner before 10 PM...

and since i spent so much time on hold with Dell and then the remarkably intelligent Apple representative...i didn't get to go to the grocery store until 8:30 tonight... the bonus is that the place is deserted at 8:30... i had my pick of parking spaces... :) and it was OK that i was wearing my sleep nursing bra because no one was there... i had a fleece on but...let's just say that the nursing bra doesn't lend for much as far as "perking" up "the girls" *boy i'm really letting it all out, aren't i?* but no one cared and i could peruse the aisles of the store in total undergarment comfort :)

i liked driving the mile or so to the store and seeing the Christmas lights decorating houses in the neighborhoods... kinda neat... :) i admit, i do miss the cow and baby Jesus that used to decorate the "got junk" house on one corner... it was such a touching Nativity scene... those tenants are long gone... then i started to wonder why people put lights on their houses...i like the whole idea, but...what's the meaning or background of this tradition?

so when i got home, before i gave K her bath, i decided to get out her little 4 ft. tall pre-lit tree that we got a few weekends ago for a pretty good deal... she LOVES "Triss----missss teees" so i knew it would be a big hit... :) i folded down the cheap little branches on her little tree...it's cute... :) i put it in her room in front of her window... her face was so daggone cute when she walked into her room to get ready for her bath... :) of course, she wanted to touch the "trissss------missss teee" a million times...and nicely pointed out the same blue light a few times...
and, aside from making Little Lady's night with her pretty little tree, i realized that i can kind of participate in the "lighting" of the outside of my house "no reason" tradition, albeit from inside, by turning on her little tree to illuminate the window area in the evenings...

we would probably decorate the house with fancy lights if we had an electrical outlet in the front of our house...yah, someone forgot to do that when they built this box of a house in the 80s... some one's leg warmers were probably too tight...or maybe Guns and Roses was playing too loud on the boom box on that day and the construction guys were dancing around in the yard singing "welcome to the jungle" and playing their electric air guitars like Slash...........

i digress...

i'm glad the day is over... :) i feel like i didn't get a lot done... :) gee, i wonder why... :) but, everything is fine...it will be better in the morning when i wake up because the "big things" now will not be that big after a little time has passed...
:)

hope you had a good monday... :)

thanksgiving memories {2010}

it's been a few hours since we returned back to VA from our travels "to the north" to visit our families... PA first...then DE...
i'm pleased to say we didn't balloon to another clothing size... (hehe) but we hold some sweet memories...

~sitting at the table with our families...but especially with my mom as she ate turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy...the fixins... :) a seemingly "simple" praise...but after what she went through with her tonsil cancer and the treatments she endured, which literally stole more than a year from her sweet soul... but the pure delight i feel while watching her be able to eat is something i cannot even put into words...

~watching the snow fall quickly and thickly on Thanksgiving morning... and hearing K tell us " 'no is coming from the ki!!" :) and her immeasurable joy and excitement... :)

~safe travels...over 8 hours going, but only 5 hours on our return trip... not too bad at all :)

~the beautiful crimson sunset on our way home...

~"i spy," the 2 year old version, for horses, cows, school buses, trucks, jeeps, and cars for the car rides... and her sadness when we couldn't stop and see the parked school buses for a lengthy time period...

~K's random announcement/request for "Mickey D's" on the ride home today... even if it is just for some apple dippers (the only thing she'll eat from there :))

~taking the annual Rakow (as in the in-laws) Christmas photo at Ronnie's Garden World in DE... wreaths around our necks...pretty trees...a 2 year old who won't look at the camera or, when she does, she won't smile...people staring at us as we try to take pictures during prime shopping time... :) having fun with the picture on Picnic later that night... lots of good laughs... :)

~doing a little Christmas shopping at a craft house in PA... a most prized purchase for my mom... :) more on that later... :)

~watching K climb up in "bebot's" chair with him as he watches TV (bebot=grandpa)

~K finally trying a munchkin from Dunkin' Donuts because we told her it was "cake"

~K sitting like a big girl at DD as she told us she was "watchin' the kids" or looking for "n" and "o" and "m" in any sign she sees...

~K referring to every slightly over middle-aged man, especially with grey hair, as a "bebot" and announcing when they were going to the bathroom to "go pee pee"

~thinking about decorating for Christmas at the house (and finally putting away the pumpkins - sorry sweet K)

~awesome Christian songs on satellite radio to fill my soul on the drive

~realizing that we are cheap... we keep our house really cold compared to our parents' houses....

~Wawa iced coffee.... :)

~watching "The Wiggles"

~dreaming of 2 slices of amazing white pizza with broccoli from Maple Glen Pizza on Wednesday evening... and Dad coming home with regular pizza with broccoli because "they didn't have any white pizza"


i know there are so many things that we can find as "not so perfect" each and every day... but, in all honesty, i think that we sometimes fail to see the real blessings that surround us... and, for this trip...while the turkey was good and the sweet potatoes were wonderful, the REAL beauty of the time was being with family and just "being" in every single moment. i loved every minute of it... :) and, i cannot help but feel a tremendous and overwhelming sense of thankfulness...and not just for the big things...but also for the little things that we often take for granted or fail to notice...

i look forward to Thanksgiving 2011 for even more invaluable memories... :)

confessions, meal plans, and other stuff... :)

~Confessions~
i'm sitting here watching Lady Gaga from her performance this summer on the Today Show...on july 9th... it has been DVR'd for me and i'm ashamed i've never watched yet! :)
i'm so amazed by her talent...and i love her music... i know my husband rolls his eyes b/c of my fastination with her...but she's really interesting to me... i don't agree with some of her "stances" and the fact that she's almost always scantily clad in a bra and underwear, but the fact that she's a music genius is probably an understatement... and her music - well, i really love most of it... :)

~Meals~
it's Thanksgiving week...and it seems silly for me to post what we're eating... :) but, i will share the basics... :)

Monday: grilling out (hot dogs), mac n cheese, baked beans (ry), corn

Tuesday: leftover french toast casserole

Wednesday: dinner with Mom and Dad :)

Thursday: lots of yummies...turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, REAL cranberries, sweet potatoes, rolls...and who knows what else :) i'll surely be working along side of my mom helping prepare everything :)

Friday: i'm not sure yet :)

Saturday: lots of yummies, part deux - a regular Thanksgiving feast, again, but this time, with my in-laws :)

Sunday: i'm not sure yet :)


~Other Stuff~

• i'm being bombarded, via email, with so many super shopping deals... tonight, i ordered some gifts for my husband and sis-in-law at Gap...saved 40% and got free shipping...that's pretty good... i also picked up 2 super cute sleepers for new baby #2 - possible coming home outfits :) the first "official" purchases for this little person :)
• speaking of shopping, did you know that you can earn money back if you're a member of AAA (triple A) or by using ebates.com? today, i ordered my mom's *late* birthday gift...some flowers for her garden for spring 2011... i had a $25 off $50 coupon...and i used my AAA.com/mall find... i got 7.5% back to put toward a balance... and when you reach $10, AAA mails you a check... they have over 250 shopping partners...like Best Buy, Land of Nod, and several others... something to think about if you do a lot of shopping online... i was gong to use it for my Gap purchase, but i couldn't get logged in properly, for some reason, and i was nearing the midnight hour (the 40% was only for Monday)...so i had to bypass that deal....but it's kinda neat to get paid for spending money :) hehe :)
• the lights went out at our house this evening for some strange reason...dunno why... but K's clock in her room had to be reset...and the ALARM started going off at midnight... NOT cool... she was stirring, but she laid right back down *thank God* and was sleeping before i could unplug the clock and leave... argh!
• i'm going to steam clean the living room carpet tomorrow night... it needs to be done soooooo badly (the carpet is gross!!), but i really don't want to do it... :) i would love for the nice guys at Stanley Steamer to come and do it instead, but we'll save that expense for when i'm dealing with a newborn and the carpet needs to be cleaned and i REALLY don't want to do it then... :)
• i have a lot of laundry to fold and transfer, so i better stop my randomness and get my rear in gear so i can wind down for the night... :)

if i don't post again before Thanksgiving, i wish everyone (ok, all 3 of you who read :)) a VERY wonderful and BLESSED Thanksgiving... :) Enjoy your time with your friends and family... :)

babysitter for hire...

as i'm sure you can imagine, the thought of welcoming a new baby into our family in February is at the forefront of our mind for Katherine... she is our world...and we are trying to introduce the concept of a baby, what they do, etc. :) thankfully, the little girl i watch, Tenley, is just 3 months and K has learned a lot from her being here... :)

K loves her baby doll...... she got her for her birthday...my dad affectionately named her Suzie....and that's the end of that... :) she even smells like powder...yum... :)

K has shown she's going to be a pretty good big sister, i think...
she can help get Suzie's little hat on... :)

she can get Suzie situated on her "blankie"

she can pick Suzie up and comfort her when she "kies" or burp her...

she can also use Suzie as a bowling ball when she plays with her bowling set...

she gets a strike every time, too! thankfully our "Nanny bear cam" wasn't functioning for those pictures...

and we can't help but giggle when Suzie is "tossed" wrecklessly into the swing for a little relaxation... :)

in all seriousness, i'm so pleased to watch K with Suzie and Tenley... while it's not all coos and smiles, K is learning that baby's cry...and they need their diaper changed...and they have to eat...and that they require to be held... she's so attentive to Tenley...wanting to comfort her or give her hugs and kisses every 5 minutes... :) we'll still working on talking quiety when the baby is sleeping...but that will come with time. :) i know she's going to be a super big sister... :) well, until she realizes that her little sister isn't going to go home with Tenley at 4:30 each day :)

while she has a ways to go, take her number down...in 10 years, she's bound to be a great baby sitter... :) just be sure to put away your bowling pins, kay? :) i'm not making any promises there.... :)

for no particular reason...

just because...
she's makes me smile...
she'll pull off her "yooos and yocks" in a heartbeat to put on Mom's shoes...

and if i could find the words to convey the attitude in this facial expression, i would... i think my mom would say something about paybacks and things coming full circle right now...but we won't go there... :)
but really, it's just funny to see such a little body sporting big shoes ( :o) right, Sarah? )... :) and it's even more scary to think that, in 15 years, i'll be wishing she was still doing this...well, minus the attitude... :)

...the sunshine is streaming through the windows right now, and i hear little rustlings from a certain little girl's bedroom... it's time to see what the day has to offer... :)

enjoy your day :)