Copyrighted

Honey, can I use your pictures for my blog?

No.  They are copyrighted.  You have to go to my website and fill out a consent form.

Since we are married I own half of them right?  I only used a couple so I should be good right?

I need a friend that is a lawyer.  

All pictures in this post are courtesy of the Hubs.   

T Minus Twenty Minutes.

Clover is settled into her pre-bed ritual.  She has an episode of Fresh Beats on so I have twenty three minutes to kick out a blog post.  It seriously does not seem like it is enough time considering we got a lot accomplished today.

Starting off the day, I logged in and noticed all the chatter on Facebook about making Gummies.  I was curious.  I have only dabbled in candy making myself.  Usually around Christmas time.  So I reached out to my online bff (google) to see if they had any answers for me.  Turns out that it's actually kind of easy.  Or at least this recipe is.  I made a double batch of the recipe over at Skip to My Lou.

Two ingredients and water.

A baby shower mold, an ice tray from Ikea and some Christmas Jello molds that I had in the cupboard. 

Cook.

Try to accomplish anything with a 3 year old under you sticking her fingers in everything.  Note to self:  buy her a hairnet!

They were very tasty!  Baby shower gummies.

I think these were my favorite of the batch.  From the Ikea ice tray.  Lightly dusted with cornstarch so they wont stick together.

So while on a roll with my creative crafty self, I decided to work on some ribbon dolls hair clips.  I followed the tutorial over at Life on the Ridge and made a Tinkerbell and and Ariel. 

Clover was not all that enthused about me taking a picture of HER Tinkerbell.  I had to bribe her with a fudge bar (which I was already going to give to her but she doesn't have to know that).  I also had to take about thirty pics to get a half decent one.  

This one I took in my hair.  I didn't notice the tiny glue spot on the tail until I looked at the picture later.  But in all honesty I am to lazy to take another picture and upload it.  

Rounding out the night I made Chili for dinner and Cornbread using this recipe from Epicurious.  I made a double batch of this recipe too.  Clover and Hubs will eat on it for awhile.  Turns out my mom didn't want any because I put real corn in the cornbread.  I always thought it made it taste better.  

Well, there is my twenty three minutes my dears.  I still have to get dinner put away and hop in Clover's room for some stories and bedtime.  Looks like I managed to get everything in there with minimal run on sentences.   Yay.  Go me!

For the Haters

At this very moment I have two completely different thoughts bubbling around in my noggin.  Both however fit under the blog title.  Both of them are relevant in my day today.  In no particular order...

Thought number one.  For the haters of the "New Marina"...Grow up, it's a kids show.  For those who have no idea of what I am talking about I will throw in some background info.  We watch The Fresh Beat Band around here.  Clover has been watching it since it debuted.  My darling Clover is a natural drummer so she LOVES the show.  For those who have no idea who the Fresh Beats are, here is the link to Nick Jr. They have made some cast changes in the show recently which has apparently sent some parents into a tissy.  These parents feel the need to hop online and spew this nastiness out into the interwebs.  I get the whole voice your opinion thing.  I really do.  Hellllooo I blog, so I get it.  But it just seems a little mean spirited to hop online and bash someone you don't know because they replaced your favorite character.  First Reed and now Marina.

My opinion on how they switched Reed.  The actor who played Reed had went back to his country and did not return.  I can see how that could be a problem for a blossoming show since he was one of the main reoccurring characters.  Even if they couldn't have filmed him out of the show they could have called the new guy Jr. and had him take over the music store and I would have been just as happy.  But that is the adult in me who watches TV and likes a smooth plot line.  This however is not adult TV.  It's a poppy, bright kid's show.  One of which my daughter adores.

On Marina.  Yes it would have made more sense to me to have her film a final episode and introduce the new girl as a sister or cousin.  But then again that is the adult in me.  I gave it three episodes and figured out that I actually love Tara Perry as Marina.  I loved Shayna Rose too.  I think it's sad that people feel the need to bash on her from things ranging from "She's to old" (for the record she is two years younger than Rose) to "She can't play the drums".  What you are experiencing is grief and anger because you think Nick Jr tried to pull a fast one over on you.  Get over it.  Both my daughter and I were able to quickly move on.  At three years old she realized that they changed Marinas.  She assigned the "old" Marina and the "new" Marina and was able to move on with her life even with the change.  From a kids perspective, the show is still fun.  It has catchy music that I find myself singing through out the day and wondering where I heard it.  Then I remember where it's from and I have an "Are you serious?" moment to myself.  They also have a #1 download on Itunes right now.  Crazy huh?      

Thought number two.  For all the haters that said that I couldn't live without a microwave...hahaha.  Last month I managed to somehow kill ours again.  Yes I just used the word "again".  Which would imply that I have killed more than one.  The last time I bought a "back to school" microwave.  It lasted under a year.  So that means in a year period I managed to kill two microwaves.  I did use it a lot.  I made oatmeal in the mornings, defrosted meat,  micronuked veggies, and a slew of other things.  Bacon was my favorite since it only took a few minutes.  The side of it started smelling and sparking one day and that was it.  Bye Bye microwave.  I got a lot of flack about how the last time I ran back out and bought one.  Convinced I couldn't live without it.  What a difference time makes because this time I was pissed.  So I decided NO MICROWAVE.  It went out and has not been replaced.  I heard about how it wont be long until it gets replaced.  The spot on the counter is still empty.  Guess what?  I'm still alive.  Turns out that you can use the stove or a toaster oven for almost everything, minus the microwave popcorn I had already bought.  I have decided just to take it with us when we travel since a lot of the rooms we stay in have microwaves.  Today I reheated some leftover favorite cheese pizza in toaster oven and it came out fantastic!  Then I just sat there and thought...for all the haters...ha ha ha!

Today has been pretty mellow.  It's given me lots of time to think so maybe that's where all my random thoughts came from today.

Let's Chill

It's no secret that anxiety along with stress and I are on a first name basis.  I am always weary about what's around the next corner.  To the point where it keeps me up at night.  Everything is good right now, but I find myself having a hard time enjoying it.  Fear sometimes keeps me grounded.  So as we headed to the beach on Sunday to get some much needed family time, I had a nice little conversation with myself.  I felt the anxiety, stress and fear penetrate my armor.  I looked out the window and started to stress over what was around the next corner, figuratively and literally.  Then out of nowhere this voice that was so tiny, got stronger.  Not to mention louder.

Chill Out and Shut It!

Message received.  Loud and clear.      

I'm glad I listened.  I had an awesome weekend.  I spent some time with some good friends and spent a lovely Sunday with the two loves of my life.  Even today I started to feel anxious and gently reminded myself to chill out.  So far it seems to be working.  I'm sure it wont always so for now I am enjoying my time.  Clover is tucked in bed.  Hubs is teaching his online class and I have two free hours to do whatever I want.  Enjoying a nice glass of California Raspberry and a Brie cheese platter with dried cherries and pecans.  Not to mention I have full control of the remote!  

The Return of Soda

So for the longest time my daughter has been a night waker.  When she was little I would go in and comfort her and she would go back to sleep.  I know there are a lot of you that are going to scream "cry it out" but I couldn't let her sit in a dark room and cry.  Feel free to judge away.  So I go in and kiss her good night and she goes back to sleep.  Since she has had her big girl bed she now gets up out of bed, opens the door and comes and gets in bed with us.  If it's closer to 12, I walk her back to her bed.  If it's closer to 5 then she gets to stay since she will sleep a little later in our bed.  We cycle through night wakings.  Some months she has one or two nights where she gets up and some months she gets up every night.  Earlier this year I was at my wits end on what to do.  So I asked her.

"Babe, Why do you keep getting up and getting in our bed?"

"Mommy, there is a dog in my room."

Bewildered, I pressed on.

"What dog?"

"His name is Soda.  He comes out of the hole in my floor.  He gets in my bed with me and wakes me up."

She was 2 and about 3/4's when she came up with this little story and I have to admit when she told it my mouth dropped.  I just stared at my husband for a minute.  What?  Really?  Did she just make all this up on her own?  What do I do now?

I was a little stumped on what to do next since she has a fear of dogs.  Our neighbors dog has been a thorn in my side since she is deathly scared of him and his favorite activity is to sit by her window and bark his head off.  At first I thought she was talking about him.  I asked her to show me the hole and she brought me into her room and showed me the tiny space in between her bed and the floor.  Most kids have imaginary friends or monsters...mine has a dog.

So we played a long.  We told Soda to get out and we even brought in her Deee to help board up the hole so Soda could no longer get out.  It stayed like that for while.

Then tonight...

"Mom...Soda is under my bed again"

"What?"  I laid down and started to shout at our imaginary dog and Clover yelled at me.

"Mooooom.  Nooooo!"  She continued with "Soda is a good dog!  He watches over me at night now"

She then called him up on her bed and laid down.  "Cmon Soda.  Get up here...See Mom...He sleeps with me and I stay in my own bed".

Again I sat there completely bewildered and muttered out and "oooookay".

I'm glad that she was able to become friends with Soda.  We could use a guard dog around here!  

 

We're All In This Together!

Here and now its time for celebration
I finally figured it out (yeah yeah)
That all our dreams have no limitations
That's what its all about(yeah yeah)

Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong (we make each other strong)
Were not the same
Were different in a good way
Together's where we belong

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true


Using HSM as a theme just seemed to fit this year's Fourth of July party.  We went a little silly with it and had pom poms and Red Velvet Brownies.  We even had an East High Wildcat Cheerleader!  Even if she only wanted to yell "Wildcats!"  Being three, she had lot's of natural enthusiasm.  Thanks Christina for the costume.

 
I found the Red Velvet Brownie Recipe at Adventures in Juggling.  Instead of the Buttercream I used Cream Cheese frosting.  I really just wanted a reason to make Cream Cheese frosting.  I exercised self control and did not dive head first into the bowl.  I did however share the beater with Clover when we done.  I did have to use a "brownie hiding" device aka a bowl over the plate so that little fingers did not creep up and snag all the frosting off of the brownies.

    
We had a blast hangin out back despite the heat we managed to stay cool.  We were a little discouraged by all the last minute cancelations but as soon as more friends started arriving, the festivities were underway!  Clover had a blast making new friends and hanging out with her best pals.  It was really cute watching the youngins get all into the fireworks.  Thanks Grandpop and friends for the fireworks.  We took turns with the neighbors across the street lighting off fountains, between the two of us we were out there for awhile.  We like to place them up on a ladder so that everyone can see them.  


I am very fortunate to have friends who don't mind helping out here and there when they come over.  I actually felt like I got to enjoy my own party.  Thanks everyone!  We had chili nachos so all the cooking was done in the crock pot.  Despite the three blackouts, everything went pretty well.  I think this was the first time I can remember that we went through and entire can of nacho cheese!        


So just in case you have never heard the song...Here is an earworm for the day!

Checkin Off the List

We went out yesterday to run some errands and my poor Clover got a heat rash.  So today we thought we got out early enough to beat the heat.  No luck.  Still hot.  Clover's heat rash returned.  So for the rest of the day we have been held up inside.  So what to do for the rest of the day?  We got in the kitchen and made a double batch of some Kool-Aid Playdough.  So we can scratch that off of the Summer List.  

Mix together dry ingredients.

(It is helpful if you have a Red Head Cutie helping you)

Add Kool-Aid (we used lemon lime) to the water and add.

Cook on medium heat until mostly cooked.

When cooled to the touch, knead until smooth.

(Thanks to the Hubs who brought me a treat) 

Thanks to Tee who took pictures of us kneading and playing.

Then we hung out outside while the boys worked on some outdoors projects.  While outside I started the grill up to make grilled pizzas and once again managed to catch the grill on fire.  Yes they are supposed to be on fire...but when you turn off the gas there shouldn't still be a flame gently kissing the trees above.  It has managed to catch on fire at least once a year.  To the point where baking soda is in the cupboard is not for baking.  So with the grill cleaned off it was time to make dinner.  We had grilled pizza made with home made pizza dough from a totally awesome recipe here.  

Nice way to kick off the three day weekend.  Minus the heat rash issues and the grill catching on fire.