check out my new bookshelf

Look at my new bookshelf over there under my blog buddies...Isn't that fun? You just go to shelfari.com and pop in the books you're reading and it installs it right on your blog for you! Funsies.

I want a cupcake

MMMMM. I have been trying to eat good for a few months now, and generally, I'm doing pretty well. BUT...this week (and guess what time of the month it is...) I reeeeeaaaallly want one of these:



St. Cupcake Hot Fudge on chocolate....oh baby, the chocolateyness and sprinkles, mmm mmm good!

Visit St Cupake here...seriously, the best cupcakes on the planet.

ps today I was supposed to run my first 2 miles straight. Didn't do it. I actually wanted to, but HOORAY, my long lost sister in law (who moved to texas a few years ago)and today, her and my neice and nephew CAME HOME!! For good! Technically they're moving to Seattle area, but that is SO much closer than Texas!My bro in law is on his way, too, in the UHaul...yay!!

Time Warp

Have you ever noticed how there is a time warp between your house and the car? You look at the clock, it's 8:30am. Perfect! You need to be on the road by 8:45, and you're doing great. You gather the kids and load up and pull out of the driveway, happy with yourself for being on time, for once. You glance at the clock on your dashboard as you head down the road...WHAT?!? How is it possibly 9:05? It was JUST 8:30! There is some kind of black hole time warp in my garage, I think.

Lee Ann, I know your house does not have this time warp phenomenon...unless maybe, it goes the other way. You leave your house at 8:30 and you magically time warp to 8:15am when you pull out your driveway. :)

It's Official

It started with the cloth diapers. Then the chickens. Some have hinted to the fact that maybe, I was becoming a granola bar...a closet tree hugger.

Well, yesterday, I made my own Granola Bars! And they are good! I've been on the quest for more "whole" food...unprocessed. And, may I say, it's hard on the budget! So, the store bought granola bars without preservatives, hydrogenated soybean oil, and high fructose corn syrup, cost about $3.50 for 6 little granola bars! Ouch. Can't do that, at the rate my darlings consume the things, so I set out to make my own. And, since I got such a phenomenal deal awhile back on Quaker Old Fashioned oats...I happen to have enough oatmeal to make like, 10,000 granola bars!

It only took about 30 minutes, from mixing ingredients to coming out of the oven. And it made about 18 granola bars, and I'm sure cost much less (I had all the ingredients in the cupboard).

Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 C rolled or steel cut oats (just not the "quick cooking" kind)
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C flax sead meal (optional-but adds a ton of fiber)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C dried mixed berries/raisins (coarsly chopped)
1/4 C mini semi sweet morsels (I chopped up regular ones)
1/2 C + 2tbsp Natural Peanut Butter
1/2 C water
2 tsp vanilla
2 large egg whites
1/4 C packed brown sugar


Mix vanilla, eggs, water,brown sugar and peanut butter with mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients.

Wet your hands and press mixture into greased baking sheet (9x13 size)

Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Turn out onto cutting board (should come out in one big peice). Cut into squares or bars as you wish...I made 18 bars. Yummy! Not as sweet as store bought ones, but my kids love them! (and so do i)


In other news, the Preschooler dumped an ENTIRE bottle of baby powder all over the boys room yesterday. There is ALOT of powder in one bottle! Oh, wait, let me back up. The day before that...he got ahold of a can of hairspray. Hubby and I were making dinner, when he said, "Do you smell hairspray?"

I went to see, and sure enough, preschooler was spraying away, like it was Febreeze. All over the toddlers head, all over the room. I couldn't even see all the places he sprayed it, UNTIL, there was a nice dusting of powder to reveal it. On the dresser, on the carpet...everywhere. Including toddlers head, which I had not yet bathed. So the powder caked onto everything!! So, really, he was helping me to see, where the hairspray was right? At least baby powder smells good. Good thing, it will be puffing out of the mattress every time he lays down until he's sixteen.


i was beyond angry, but I had to take a picture of pasty toddler.

My little flock

We got our chicks! 2 Rhode Island Reds, and a Plymouth Barred Rock. We got them today and now they're nice and cozy in thier new home. The kids love them, and keep trying to share thier toys with them...Here's our 3 little ladies.


the preschooler thought he needed to take some photos of them as well.








They are really sweet and so the journey begins!

ps...Nate K...here's some motivation to check Traci's email. I got some nice shots of her at the shower, and they're in her email!

I'm a Winner!!

Well, on Ebay, anyway! I just "won" the auction for the plans for my Chicken Tractor (Coop). It's cool, because all the wood comes from recycled wood pallets, which we will get for FREE. Yahoo! We have a connection for free pallets (which we've never needed before, but now will come in handy). We get our baby chicks on Thursday!

My first haircut...

I couldn't take in anymore...the preschooler was looking like helmet head! Usually my sister in law (a professional) gives the cuts around here, but we've both been super busy...So...I got out the scissors and clippers.

Before



After

this after pic was taken with my new 50mm 1.4 lens...yay!!

So was this one...love those eyes!And Jack's favorite red "shhhhoooo" (said with lots of spit!)




In other news, our neighbor kids seemed to have taught the toddler the lovely "pow pow" and he's attached himself to this play pistol...great. At least when we were at a friends house yesterday, I overheard the preschooler say "Hey, we don't shoot people, we shoot deer and elk!"

Red Therapy...

I went to Target tonight. ALONE. It was so nice (thanks Jamie!!). There is something wonderful about wandering the aisles, pushing my red cart around, wherever I wanted to go...no pleading with my children to "stop touching that" or "please don't bite your brothers fingers". Just me and the aisles full of fun, pretty, fashionable things. It is totally "retail therapy" for me.

Check out this gals blog about her love for Target....Slavetotarget

Check It

Ok, these are HILAR-I-OUS webisodes on mommyhood.

Go to In the Motherhood

yah, baby!

I'm back! Matt and I have been mooching internet off a random wireless signal we've picked up at our house (hey, I'm cheap, what can I say?). Well, it disappeared. So, after some creative budgeting, and a great comcast promo deal, I finally coughed up the moolah to get our own internet (and because of the great deal...cable tv too! FOOD NETWORK, HERE I COME!)

So, in other news, I've kept up with my Couch to 5K plan. I ran 1.5 miles yesterday! yahoo!! It was 1.5 straight miles, but broken up. still...this is quite an accomplishment for me, who's not "run", except to chase my toddler away from splashing in the toilet, in a very VERY long time. I'm on week 4 of the schedule, and it has by far...been the hardest. Mostly hard in my head. I was thinking, there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to run for 5 straight minutes. But, turns out...I can! I was totally sabbotaging myself, and when I decided, I should just go for it and see if I fail, instead of deciding before I even tried. And, it wasn't THAT bad. It wasn't that GOOD either...but I lived and will do it again tomorrow.

The sun is good...my kiddos are LOVING being outside, and I love it too! I'm back on my chicken kick. I really want to get a few chickens! Maybe 3. i think it would be so fun for my boys to get the little chicks and see them get big. Then, we could get fresh eggs! How fun would that be? And they eat your kitchen scraps...since I don't have a garbage disposal...perfect!

Well, you'll be hearing more from me. :)