Saturday, June 30, 2012

Flower Meltdown

Last week after her dance show, Clover got flowers from her Daddy and from her bestest little friend.  Even with regular watering they didn't make it that long.  We got a good week out of them.  They were sad and limpy by the end of the week.  The mini roses held up very well and I hung them upside down to dry for two days so we still have the lovely bouquet.  The other ones were ready for the trash pile.  I already anticipated that this was going to be a problem.

They were HER flowers.

I thought about waiting until she was asleep but while I was cleaning the kitchen and she was in the office with Daddy I figured that I would be safe trying to dispose of the droopy flowers.  She came in and caught me mid trash.

The following fit lasted for about a half an hour.  Daddy came out just to check on her and make sure that she was okay with all the screaming.  There was crying and borderline hyperventilating.  Then in the saddest littlest voice I heard "but they are my flowers".  She didn't understand that they were dying and weren't going to last.  We talked about it and had a mini biology lesson but she didn't care.  

I put the flowers back on the counter.  Clover: 1 Mommy: 0.

While at the craft store yesterday afternoon we went through the silk flowers and picked out a bunch that was almost an exact replica of what the real flowers looked like before.  We struck a deal that if we bought the silk ones that would last forever that I could throw away the limpy dead ones on the counter.  She agreed.  Lucky for me the silk flowers were on sale.  In the end it was $2.99 well spent since she has hardly put them down since I bought them.  

Friday, June 29, 2012

Super Funtastic Summer 2012

Last year we came up with our Summer list 2011.  I/we started brainstorming our list for our Super Funtastic Summer a couple of weeks ago but never posted it.  We came up with a lot of ideas.  I think some might get left behind but we will try our hardest to get through the list.

Make ice cream

make pickles

make our own water park with pvc pipes

make our own fort

Scrapbook day

Outdoor movie pool party

bake something

decorate T-shirts

sponge balls

make boats

picnic in the park

beach trip

camping

Host a sleep over

go to the drive in!

Start a chapter book

Start an audio book

build a lego castle

write and illustrate a book together

visit a farmer's market

make play dough

try croquet 

visit the splash park

Visit the library

Hike in the woods

Go bowling

Muppet movies Marathon

Make our own muppets

Taco night

Princess Party

Meet Repunzel

Road trip

Spa Day

Pizza Party

Cotton Candy


Whenever I get a chance to sit down for more than five seconds I'll make a more prettier version.  Maybe I'll make a large version to hang up in the living room.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Words and Villains

There was a point when I first started tinkering with this blog where I thought it might be a good idea to have a place to spew out the negativity in my head.  I came up with a name and everything.  I brainstormed and thought about all the reasons I should do it.  The main being just to have a place where I could vent.  It's not like anyone would know it was me.  Although I am fully aware that the internet is not totally anonymous.  I thought if no one knew it was me what would it matter?  I would have a place to say how hurt I was, or how no matter how hard I tried or how nice I was, I always ended up a villain in someone's story.

Even though I try my hardest to stay focused on the positives, I have those days.  Sometimes those days coincide with days where I feel the need to consume large amounts of chocolate and/or ice cream or sometimes chocolate ice cream.  I don't always do it...Just sayin.    

I was on the verge of starting another chapter, a darker more sinister side of me.  Then one night when I was blog hopping I came across something that completely changed my mind.

In the end all you have left behind is your documents.  Your words.

And with that my mind swirled even more.  Words have power.  Even if we tell ourselves that they don't, they do.  I could justify how I was hurt and how life is indeed unfair.  And just typing that sentence seems juvenile.  I couldn't leave behind that negativity.  To have it sit there forever and dwell on it.  So days later I decided against creating another dark hole in the internet.  It's better that way.  I couldn't write words that could potentially hurt people.  No matter how much I wanted to vent.  That just isn't me.

I just need to feel it, embrace it and move on, or maybe fly over it on my broom.

A Blur of Tulle, Tights, Bows and Teeny Tiny Rhinestones


My baby girl was in her very first dance production.  The youngest class had two dance numbers.  They did a great job.  She lined up with her bestest little friend and the friends she had made throughout  the year.  As soon as the lights came on they danced their little hearts out.

I got to watch from the sidelines.  Hopefully someday my darling will appreciate the fact that I gave up my audience seat to take part in the backstage craziness.  Which wasn't really all that crazy at all.  Everything was very organized and our kids did great.  At one point all eight of our kids were lined up at the craft table in-between numbers.

I can't wait to get the video so I can see how she looked on stage.  Even though I gave up my seat, being backstage was fun.  It was heartwarming to see just how much fun they were having.

At the end of the show Daddy was waiting with flowers which just made her night.  She held on to them all night and midway home fell asleep on them.

She is already asking about next year's dance season and show.  Next year I will be ready with a stack of tulle and ribbon and slightly bigger rhinestones!  

Back To Whatever Normal Is

Last week was crazy.  It was a blur of tulle, tights, bows and teeny tiny rhinestones.

Sometime last year I became a dance mom!  Clover has been taking dance with her bestest little friend (her words).  She has a big best friend and a little best friend so she has to be specific.  Everything they have learned through out the season had come together last week.  Their very first show.  We were right in the middle of a professional production.  It was the dance studio's 33rd show so as the newbies we did our best to soak it all in while staying out of the way.

Last week was full of introductions and rehearsals.  Lots of busy afternoons.  We aren't really used to having busy afternoons and there was some poor planning on my part which led to a lot of eating out.  Too much for my comfort zone.  To the point where I am embarrassed to admit just how many unhealthy meals we had last week.  But it was just one week so I am cutting myself some slack.

It mostly set in while I was reading my friend's blog about eating better and treating her body right.  How she noticed that she didn't eat right her body let her know.  It probably didn't help that while I was reading about how she was learning how to treat her body right, I was sucking down a chocolate milk while munching on the pretzel ritz munchables.

So then I got up and made some summer porridge to sit in the refrigerator for breakfast.  I make a variation of the blueberry one.  I don't do chia seeds though because I have texture issues, so I subbed in a tablespoon of wheat germ because it's what I had.  I have also had it with flax seed which is also pretty yummy.

I am feeling better about getting back to our version of normal.  Whatever that is.        

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Juju vs the Dryer Vent #427

Actually I have lost count on how many times I have battled the dryer or the dryer vent.  I am very close to drilling a whole in wall and running the dryer vent out into the garage or out the front of the house.  Every year I clean out the ducts.  It used to be something I never thought about until one of our dryers caught on fire.  So since then it gets cleaned.

We have had it professionally cleaned and they jammed a bunch of lint up in the top of the duct in which I had to fish out one morning.  That post follows...

Posted on Jan 9, 2010

"What did you do today Juju?"

I stood on a ladder with a long a** pole and poked the dryer vent because i thought a dead bird got stuck in it.

Whoa…k lets rewind. 

As you all know i have a love for the dryer that will stand the test of time! Last year we RIP'ed two dryers. One after it caught on fire. well after it caught on fire we had to have someone come out and clean out the dryer vent. They wouldn't clean out the top because we have clay tile roof and they don't want to be responsible for breaking tiles. 

So Fast forward to today. I'm out in the front yard playing with Clover. She's happy that we are out early. we are out because our gardener was fixing the fence which was just another chapter of the our drama (available in paperback). I look up and notice that the dryer vent isn't really blowing anything out. Then i look some more and notice that there is something stuck in it. So after consulting Hubby, he grabbed his camera to try and zoom in and get a better view. and the verdict…yes there is something stuck in the vent, and its white. 

Fast forward a little bit more to me procrastinating and then finally getting motivated. I decided to try and snake it out from the bottom. because if it was something dead i didn't want to touch it, so i was going to poke it out from the bottom. i took the pool vacuum line hoses that we had extra of and shoved them up into the vent….with no luck. 

And about a half an hour later i am up on the ladder. This really had to be a hilarious site because Lissa wouldn't stop laughing. i rigged a brush onto the telescoping pool pole. it took me a couple of tries to get it but finally poked the brush in….followed by several "EWWWWWWWW"s. I had no idea what i was poking and in my mind i had already figured out that whatever it was was dead.

There was about five minutes of "Ewwww thats so grooooooooos!"

So there is me up on the bright yellow ladder with my gerry rigged pool pole trying to poke a vent about twenty feet away from me. I didn't feel like a total oakie because there was an absence of duct tape. i used it all two weeks ago.

I finally poke it all out and….it was all dryer lint. no dead things. a lot of dryer lint. but just to be on the safe side i left it on the roof for the rain to take care of…just in case. Then it took me another half an hour to get the stupid vent back on the back of the dryer which led to me then having to climb over the dryer to get out of the laundry closet. 

So i had a witness today so that you know that i don't make this stuff up! although by now i could probably write a book. 


So as you can tell the dryer and I get a long oh so well.  Today was another clean it out day since it is once again making noise.  My brother came over and helped me out since I'm not supposed to lift.  I worked on it for about two hours and there was a lot of lint in the duct.  I shopvaced it out to the best of my ability but I am so sick of working on it.  My knuckles are all banged up and my fingers hurt from trying to clean it all out.  I am done for the day!

Monday, June 18, 2012

From the Bottom of My Cute Little Heart

Somehow along the way I found myself with some pretty amazing people in my life.  I'm not sure how but that doesn't stop me from being thankful for them.  I'm in a spot where I'm not sure how to show just how thankful I am.  Sometimes saying the words "Thank You" just doesn't seem to portray it fully. Sometimes people say "Thank You" to be polite but it just isn't the case with me.  So if it seems like I say it a lot it's because I mean it and I'm not sure if it comes across that I really mean it.  I don't ever want to be in a position where it appears like I am taking that for granted.  I've been on that other end of that scenario more than once and I don't want anyone in my life to feel that.

So really from the bottom of my cute little <3

Thank You for being you.  Because you are awesome.  

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Growing Up On PBS

Hubby and I were sitting in the office last night and he was talking about how amazing it is that we have all this content at our fingertips.  He was making a reference to streaming an HD music video in the background while he was working on one of his many side projects.  We were talking about how cool it was to be living in our era.  Then he looks at me and says "You're just used to it all by now".

I think he was baiting me...Hubby can be a troll like that sometimes.  Then I gave him the what-kind-of-prima-donna-princess-do-you-think-is-in-front-of-you with my eyebrows arched ??? kind of look.

It does in fact blow my mind that I can basically google anything and find some form of entertainment or content pertaining to my search.  Part of the reason I find it so mind blowing is because I grew up with over the air antenna television.  5 whole channels at your fingertips.  7 if you count the spanish channels which sometimes I watched when there was nothing else on and even though I could only make out a few words they were still pretty entertaining.  I was not fortunate enough to grow up on MTV.  In my opinion I grew up with something ten times cooler.

I grew up PBS.

Or Public Broadcasting System.  It went through several name changes but I think that's what it's called now.  It's been a year since we cut satellite so I haven't checked in with them in a while.  On the weekdays it was Sesame Street.  The weekends were my favorite because that is when they would air the cooking shows.  This was way before I even knew there was an entire channel devoted to food.  All of my desire to experiment while cooking came from Martin Yan and Rick Bayless.  I also grew up watching the one and only Julia Child.  My family has a pretty basic pallet so I wasn't able to experiment with anything while living with the folks.  Nope, all my culinary exploration took place after I moved out.  Thankfully the Hubby is pretty good about letting me know what was good and what never to make again *cough* Meatloaf *cough*.  

And now in the data at your finger tips era ( I don't know what all the cool kids are calling it) I can browse clips of my favorite shows via YouTube.




I have to say that still after all this time...I'm still not used to it.  But it's pretty dang awesome!  And now I want home made tortillas!
                

It's Going Down

So I had this idea for a cooking show.  I'm going to call it "I'll Kick Your Butt In The Kitchen" or something along those lines.  The theme of the show is that I'll make some rockin food while fighting off ninjas and other distractions.  While constantly answering the "Mom, is dinner ready?" question as the time on the clock ticks closer to six.

My theme song?

It's going down!

Oh yeah!  It's going down!

At least on the grill it is!

Tacos Al Pastor


The achiote paste turned it the deep red.  I found it at Target of all places.  

From Fiesta at Rick's by Rick Bayless

Yes, my copy is a little worn.  And because I'm one of those hippy dippy parents that doesn't believe in putting the markers away, my child colored on it.  It doesn't add to the value of the book but hey it gives it character.

So wait you say that I already live that show?  Yes, that is true.  Can I still keep the theme song?

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Us Fanatics? No Way. Okay Maybe.

A few weeks ago a friend came across this post from Confessions of a Disnerd, called Raising a Disnerd.  She said that when she read it, she thought it was written about Clover.  After reading through it, I had to agree.  Clover is 4 now and is very much in love with all things Disney.  

We were very fortunate to be able to go for the Cars Preview weekend.  The first day was a Disneyland day.  Hubby asked me what I wanted to do and I had to admit that I had no agenda.  I just enjoyed being there.  I love watching Clover run around the park.  I love watching the way her face lights up being there and how excited she gets just talking about going.  We let go of our ideas of doing everything that is on our favorites list and started to look around at what we haven't done.  There is a lot that we have done but there is also a lot that we haven't gotten around to and still more we have to do.

We took a break and watched some Disney wildlife.  I wonder if one of them is named "Donald"?

I visited what was probably the smallest bathroom in all of Disneyland!

We looked for gold on Adventure Island.

We had a Dole Whip and sat in the Tiki Room.  We headed to Adventure Island.  Then after all that adventuring we hoped the boat back and had lunch at the French Market.  We walked around New Orleans and then headed back to the hotel. Clover had caught a cold before we left and even though she had her normal energy level, we were wiped out from lack of sleep due to poor lil thing snoring all night.  She had a stuffy nose but no fever.  Her energy level was fine along with her appetite but I out of guilt threw around the idea of going home early which did not go over well.  She let me know that she was not going home early.  She was going to the Cars Preview with or without me was what the conversation boiled down to.  That night did not provide any more sleep than the last.  She was stuffy and would wake up and cry because even though she was in the same room she couldn't see me.  So right around when I fell asleep she woke up crying which made me shoot out of bed.  It was a good thing we got a king size bed.  She slept on my side to avoid kicking her Dad.  I figured one of us had to get some sleep.  She was fine when she was in the big bed but every time she moved I woke up and threw my arm around her for fear that she would fall out of the bed.  Why are hotel beds so high?

We were up and at em early since our preview window was from 8am -12pm.  We were all pretty excited.  I was practically bouncing out of my seat.  I couldn't get to the ticket booth fast enough!  I was excited about Cars Land but I was really excited to see the makeover of the main street of California Adventure.

Buena Vista St. 

The makeovers to California Adventure have been five years in the making.  I can't believe it's been that long!  Being a coffee lover I was really excited about the addition of a Starbucks!

Being the girl that I am, I squealed when I saw the cup!  How cute is that!?!  Then I took a picture!

Buena Vista Street is beautiful!  Its got this whole romanticized 1920's vibe going on along with newspaper boys and even a newspaper Mickey!

She is a hugger!  

After our coffee and our walk up and down Buena Vista, there was a squeaky voice coming from the stroller.  "I want to see Cars!".  So off we went.  Clover is four and is completely capable of walking but the stroller makes navigating the park a little easier and keeps Daddy from having a panic attack when it gets a little crowded.

Cars Land looks like they picked Radiator Springs out of the movie and dropped it right in the park.  What I love love loved (yes three times the love) was all the tiny detail that they put into the park.  Yes it's easy to throw some rides in an area but one thing Disney does absolutely right is the detail.  You feel like you just walked into Radiator Springs...the cutest little town in Carburetor County.


Mater used it

Dang near fainted

Looked like

He had just been painted - Rusteze

We stopped off at the Cozy Cone for some snacks and rehydration. 


Dill Pickle Popcorn.  It was good but a little on the funky side!

Once we were fed my two cuties were off to ride some rides!  

Man, she is growing up too fast!  I remember when he had to lean over to hold her hand while she walked.

I'm glad that we got the opportunity to see everything early.  I felt like we were able to be a part of Disney history and experience something new.  It was fun seeing it through Clover's eyes.  She was so excited to experience everything.  Mostly we heard a lot of "I wanna go on rides" from her in the squeaky little voice which did eventually lead us to leave early.  She was a little mad that we were leaving early but as soon as she settled in the car seat and started watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse she was fine.  She told us "I just love Disneyland" before she knocked out and snoring filled the car.  She was not the only one snoring.  As soon as I got home home and got her in and out of the bath I knocked out and woke up to find that it was 9:30!  

      

It's Dangerous To Go Alone...Take This

Hubby's 33rd birthday came through here with a force.  Or maybe that was a Triforce.  bad-dum-tish!  We picked a theme three days before the party.  Then it was go time!  I had one day to run errands, a day to clean and a morning to pull it all together.

We went with a classic Zelda theme.  It's funny when you tell adults that you are going with a themed party.  At first they sort of look at you sideways like they are way to cool for some party with a kids theme.  Then about three minutes later they are sitting with you helping you brainstorming.  It happens every year and five minutes after they get here they are sporting a pirate hat or whatever theme we went with that year.

So once the theme was picked there was an intensive internet search for things that were doable in my three day period.  I also had to pick aspects from the video game that could be translated into party fodder.  For the entry way Hubby had the great idea to cover the door in something black to make it look like you were entering through a door from the game.  So that is what we did.  It turned out so cute but for some reason I forgot to take a picture.  Here are a few pictures I did manage to take.


Zelda map cake.  Sort of.  
 
Hubby likes yellow cake with chocolate frosting or else I would have used the tan color for the map but he wanted chocolate.  He loves it baked in a glass pan.  I think it's because that's how his aunt made it.  He's the birthday boy so he got exactly what he wanted.  I did add a box of pudding to the mix and it was sooooo yummy!  The design cane from snack or die.  

I printed out pictures from a quote website and hung them around.  This one was on the bathroom door.


I whipped this up the morning of with some clipart and some printable shrinky dink paper.  I used my last sheet!  I love this stuff.  I did run into a small problem where I didn't punch out the hole big enough.  I used the small hole punch and it wasn't large enough after it shrunk and there is no way you can make that hole bigger after you shrink it.  

My cute and very simple hats! 

The hats came from The Night Garden blog.  They are as simple as she makes it look!  One square and one seam!  Sixteen hats and two prototypes where completed in two Phineas and Ferb episodes and one Sesame Street.  So about two hours.

It felt great to be surrounded by great friends.  I will admit that I didn't think that everyone I invited was going to be able to make but at one point we had way more people here than we had seats for them.  Yeah, I felt kinda bad about that.

All together the party was a big hit.  

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Birthday Season

Sorry for the lack of posting.  Our May and June get a little crazy.  We are full on in our family's birthday season here.  We just finished up Hubby's Zelda theme birthday party in which we had more people than seats.  It was fun catching up with people I haven't seen in a while.  I felt like a busy bee though.  I don't think I made it around to everyone and I feel kinda bad about that.

I like to cook (duh) so I bbq'ed for my husband and everyone and even though I made two dishes in the crock pot it felt like I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  There was a little bit of kid wrangling but not a whole lot because the kiddos were pretty awesome.  As soon as I collect pics from everyone I'll post a few.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am still around.