Imagine you're a basset hound...

....and you wake up in the morning to an overcast sky and rain. Lots of rain. You've been hearing the rain since the middle of the night, so you know how wet it really is. Your person is awake so you try to be as quiet as you can inside your warm dry crate, hoping she won't make you go outside. It works! But only for a while as you soon become aware of the fact that you've been in the house for nearly 12 hours. You really really need to go to the bathroom. Finally you give up and whine to be let out. When she opens the door you are confused. Normally she puts on her shoes and walks you to your kennel. She puts food in your bowl and she gets you water. But she only opens the door and kicks you out onto the patio. Oh dear! Now what? You stand there confused looking in the house. She is saying something to you. Go potty? What does that mean? Finally you wander away, at least as far as the patio furniture. You lift your leg then run back to the door. She is still there! She opens the door! You race through the house as fast as you can. You chase a cat and knock a small person over. You find the cat food and eat it all! The whole time they are chasing you and yelling and haveing just as much fun as you are. You are going to stay dry! You don't have to go outside today!

But then it happens. Your person starts doing weird things. She gets a pitcher and takes it to the bathroom. Then she finds some old towels and puts them in the bathroom too. Then she puts water in the big white thing in the bathroom. You are starting to feel nervous. She calls you to the bathroom and you get so excited that she is talking to you you forget your nervousness and run right to her. She picks you up and puts you in the big white thing. It's horrible. There is water in there. Has she lost her mind? She let you stay in. She let you stay in the house so you didn't get wet and then she puts you in water on purpose!



You are dejected and wet. You hang your head while she leads you back to your warm dry and now clean bed in the crate. At least in here you are safe. At least in here you stay dry. She shuts the door and walks away. You think that maybe you'll never be able to forgive her. Maybe you'll never love her again.



What's that? Do you want a treat? Your tail goes thump thump thump and she opens the door and hands you some treats. You love her! You love this person! Isn't she wonderful?

A day at the zoo!

I feel like I haven't blogged about my kids in a while so I made sure to take lots of pictures at the zoo today. Well, a lot for me - 66 - my sister takes that many a minute but still. The weather was beautiful, in the high 60's, and it wasn't too busy!

We started off by grabbing some lunch at the brand new indoor food court. It was pretty nice. It used to be really small and outside. I didn't even know they were doing this so it was a great surprise. Collin got to have a kids meal that got him a bear head lunch box. He has a monkey from years ago that lives in the backyard for collecting rocks, so I know he'll find a use for it somewhere. I brought some fruit for Liam to eat, but he wasn't interested. All he wanted were some french fries. The kid loves them. The only problem is that he hasn't figured out how to open his fist to get the piece inside out. So when he is done eating there is always a little pile of french fries the size of his fist on the floor. After the fries were gone he did eat the fruit though.

Double fisting the fries!

Lunch is also when Collin and I had the following conversation:

Collin: This place has the best food ever. They are really good cooks.
(you should keep in mind the kid was eating a corndog)

Me: Really? It's that good?

Collin: I think you're the second best cook ever though Mommy.

Me: Thanks!

Collin: Well, maybe third.....or fourth. Behind Grammy and Aunt Kimi.

Me: Oh, well....

Collin: Wait, but Aunt Heidi is good too. And Grandma Terry. So maybe you're really just fifth or sixth.

Me: I guess I'm not that good then.

Collin: No, not really. You might even be tenth. I just don't know, but there are lots of people ahead of you.

Not exactly a big confidence boost for me. But I didn't throw a fit because we had just gotten there and I wanted to have fun at the zoo.

It was a lot of fun and both kids were great! Here are some pictures, hope you enjoy!

The bear lunch box



Collin brought his own quarters and pennies so he could crush them. I guess he figured that way he wouldn't have to ask me and risk being told no. I wasn't heartbroken about it.

It's not real grass.

But this is! And it was really deep and thick.


This is a shot of Collin making an elephant out of clay. He planned this and brought his clay from home. He wanted to sit in front of an animal so he could make the model look just like the real thing. I told him he couldn't do that because the other people wanted to see the animals too. So when I stopped in a grassy spot to feed Liam this is what he did. If you're wondering where the finished product is, there isn't one. He needed a break and then he stepped on it when he came back. Then he didn't want to start all over. But it's the thought that counts I guess.


The next series of pictures are by request of my very strange five year old. He wanted me to get pictures of him "hatching" out of the egg. I stood there dutifully taking pictures while this took place. You're welcome for only posting this many, I have lots more.




Here is the art that was in the bathroom. These cracked me up and there were probably 10 of them in all. These two were my favorite. And you should have heard the boys in the mens room cracking up while they read them. Definitely a hit!


After the zoo we had to ride the zoo train. Well Collin had to ride it. Liam and I just waited.

This is Collin waiting to leave.

This is what Liam and I did while Collin was away. So cute!

One other thing I was incredibly entertained by was the polar bear. I was holding Liam up so there are no pictures. The polar bear was swimming in the water. You can stand right at the window at water level and watch it swim. I thought that Liam might actually pay attention to a large white bear swimming just inches away from him so I got him out of his stroller and stood him in the window. We stood there while the bear swam by THREE times. Did Liam see it? Even once? No way! Every time the bear came that close all the kids would get so excited and Liam would get so busy watching them that he missed the bear every.single.time. Then he would look intently into the window like he was trying to figure out what they were so happy about. It was the funniest thing. So maybe next time he'll actually look at the animals at the zoo!

I *heart* my new blog!

Thanks to my sister posting things on her friends Facebook page I was able to steal the link and get this new background, header and tags! Wow! It was so much fun! If your blog is lame check it out. I used shabbyblogs.com to get the stuff and I used fotoflexer.com to edit the pictures. I really liked both sites and it was easy to do.

Ten for Tuesday

Since my mom is feeling nagged over the "Monday Motivation" challenge I thought I'd boost her spirits by listing my top ten favorite things she cooks. Terry thinks that most of my "favorites" are disgusting so I usually only get them when I'm at her house. We like to tease her that she can make anything out of flour and water. She doesn't even add salt (though, that's my dad's fault). But I love her food and these are my favorites. Sorry about the lack of pictures but it's not something I've ever thought to photograph.

1) Chinese Noodles
These are first thing on the list because I just had them for dinner tonight! Terry actually likes chinese noodles so it's something I make to have around here too. All you do is throw spaghetti noodles, cream of chicken soup, hard boiled egg, chicken, soy sauce and green onion (if you want it) all together in a bowl. Super easy, nice on a cold day and very yummy!

2) Chocolate chip cookie....dough
I like it when she makes cookies too, but usually they turn out a bit flat. But there is nothing like eating just the dough all by itself. Especially when she rolls it up and freezes it so she can make more cookies later. It doesn't usually work though because we just eat all the dough first!

3) Chicken and dumplings or Turkey and dumplings
She swears this one is easy. I'm not so sure to be honest. But it is really delicious! Terry absolutely hates the texture of dumplings (any dumplings, not just these) so I don't ever make this at home.

4) Stuffed bell peppers
I hated these as a kid and I honestly can't remember the last time I had them, but they are good and I guess I should ask for them. (maybe I just did ask for them...) Another thing Terry won't eat.

5) No bake cookies
My sisters know how to make these, but as I seriously missed out on the cooking gene, I don't. My favorite is when they are super hot and just made. In fact they are best if they are so hot you can't even get them to form a cookie yet and you have to eat them out of a mug with a spoon. Oh so yummy!

6) Hawaiian Haystacks
This is another thing that Terry will eat. All it is is rice, chow mein noodles, chicken, egg, pineapple, and either sweet and sour sauce or chicken gravy. I like to put soy sauce on mine too. I think the pineapple is my favorite part. And I'm partial to the sweet and sour too.

7) Rice crispy treats
I love these, but only the home made kind. I can't stand the store bought ones. They are super tasty and I love the memories of helping my mom make them.

8) Green beans
Ok, so she doesn't cook the green beans but she used to grow them at our house in Idaho. I love them so much and I am really sad that we have worked our way through the last jar. I liked them fresh too, but boy she canned a mean green bean! :)

9) Pancakes
I'm not so sure that the pancakes are what I like the most. But she almost always would make them into shapes for us. Our initials, animals (a bear for me!) or other miscellaneous shapes. So much fun! I also loved having the choice of syrup or powdered sugar. And since she makes her own maple syrup and it was always hot, it was even better!

10) Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
This one is for my dad. This is something that he makes (my mom makes it too, but still :)). My dad and I had beehives when I was a kid. It was our thing that we did. We'd suit up and take care of them all year, then have a friend extract the honey and then we'd sell it. It was so much fun and I loved getting to spend the time with my dad. And we always made peanut butter and honey sandwiches. It tasted even better knowing where that honey came from!

Monday Motivation, Round 2

Here it is! I did it. I did it Monday night...but I did do it. And I don't remember saying anywhere in last weeks post that I would do it on a specific day. Only that I'd be able to post an update tonight. So here it is!

Just a quick reminder of what I started with last week:



And now the final result:

Terry's top drawer....


....middle drawer... (yeah, all his pants are in the washer, doing this made me realize I really needed to do some laundry!)....


....and bottom drawer.



My top drawer....


....middle drawer....


....and bottom drawer.

Not too shabby if you ask me! And I have a pile of stuff for goodwill that I drug out of those drawers. The cat is even happy that her bed is back, though being a cat she of course refused to cooperate and lay in the bed while I took pictures. I'm sure she's in there now though!

So on to this week. I wanted to have my bookcase be my next project but once my husband found out about this he's been "suggesting" I do the laundry room next. What really makes him mad is the stuff I pile on the dryer. I can't help it. It's genetic. It really is. You should see my parents dryer, or my sisters. They all look the same. It's right by the door in from the garage. So where else would I put all the junk in my hands when I walk in the door? And I need a free hand so I can enter the code to turn off my alarm.

I'd better start earlier this week though because I think I'm going to get some baskets and boxes to put up on the shelves. I've been meaning to do it for a long time and I just never had. I figure that now is as good a time as any.

Ten for Tuesday

This week I'm going to do my ten favorite books. I'm not going to put them in any particular order, just my favorites. This list changes all the time though....so I might have to do it again in the future!

1. The Journey of Natty Gann by Ann Matthews


I loved this book when I was a kid and I believe I read it for the first time in 1st or 2nd grade. The adventure is great and I loved to imagine myself riding on trains and living in the woods all by myself. Of course, now I'm rather grateful that I never did have to do it, but it's a great story. Disney made it into a movie, which I've seen once and I don't remember hating it. I'm sure the book is much better though, as is usually the case.

2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand


This book will change your life. If you can read it and it doesn't change at least one opinion or perspective you have then you are a rock. Or dumb as one. It's a great book and I think that people, especially right now, could really learn a lot from it. It should be required reading in high school. All of Ayn Rands books are great and I highly recommend them, but this one was her greatest. It is also one of those books that you can read 100 times and always take something new away from it. I have to admit to not reading the monologue every time I've read it though. I'm more inclined to just skim it now.

3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein



This is one of the best kids books ever. It is so sad and it makes me want to cry. It's short so if I say too much I will give it all away, but if you haven't read it then get it. Just buy it. You won't be sorry.

4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver



Ah, I love this book. It is so great and the author does an amazing job with character development and with keeping all their stories and styles perfect through out the book. It is such a well rounded story with views from all sides and it will definitely make you think. I've read this one many times and have never regretted it.

5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon


This is the first book in a series so be prepared to read them all... I believe there are 8 of them now? I can't imagine a person not liking them. My sisters love them, my husband loves them, even my dad loves them. Gabaldon is an amazing story teller and you will find it hard to put them down. Every time a new book comes out in the series Terry and I start at the beginning of them and read them all the way through again. I have probably read Outlander 6 times now! It's a series I hope never gets made into a movie as I just can't imagine it would do anything but ruin it completely.

6. Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel


Another series that I really liked. I read these first when I was in 8th grade. I was so upset at how the last book ended and that there weren't more. Fortunately the author agreed with me and in the early 2000's sometime she wrote the last book "The Shelters of Stone" which made me very happy. I have heard lots of critiques on these books and I have to say that I agree with many of them. It is very unlikely that one person invented all those things in one lifetime and all by chance, but you just have to read it for the entertainment value. Though I do have to say the author proposes many ways that things could have been invented that I like a lot. Some of the things are downright hilarious and I could definitely picture them happening that way. I do like how the characters are depicted in this book though. They aren't depicted as being particularly stupid, or even as the "wise ancestor". They are just people like we are now and that seems like the most likely scenario if you ask me.

7. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I read this in my high school AP English class. I loved it though I have to admit I haven't read it since then. I liked how Hester was sure of her own innocence despite the overall feeling from the church and from her peers. I admired her strength and her basic attitude and that nothing they did to her could ruin her own opinion of herself and her choices.

8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy


I said last week that I was reading War and Peace, but before that I read Anna Karenina. It has a sad ending but I still loved the book. I always want to go to the places where the characters in my book are from and as this was the first novel I'd read that was based in Russia (other than Ayn Rand's We the Living but that one makes you want to avoid Russia) and now I'd love to visit...in the summer....with a coat.

9. The Berentstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Barenstain

I read this book a thousand times when I was a kid. And my parents read it to me a thousand times more. I love it and so does Collin. Now my mom gets to read it to him! She just loves it, I'm sure....she probably even still has it memorized!

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling


Another series that I loved. I went back and forth whether to put this one or Twilight but in the end I just had to go with this one. I like these books not because they are works from some literary genius or because you can learn some valuable lesson but because you can easily lose yourself in them and escape all the craziness that is your own life. They are easy enough that it doesn't take deep thought to figure them out or remember what is going on and you can just read them and get away for a while. Twilight is very much the same but overall I think that Harry Potter was written better and had a better story line.

Monday Motivator

I needed more reasons to blog. And since Heidi gave us the "Ten for Tuesday" to do last week I decided to try my own hand at alliteration and came up with "Monday Motivator". I have all these cleaning projects that I'm always "going to do soon". You know, this weekend or Thursday night. But it always seems like this weekend and Thursday night never come. Or they come and go so quickly that I hardly register their passing.

The point is that I have an embarrassing amount of mess in my house. And it's all disorganized and chaotic. It's a "HOT MESS" if you know anything about "Clean House". This is my plan to get it under control. Each Monday I will post pictures of some horrific area of my house that is screaming for help. Then I'll give myself until the next Monday to get it under control. I'll post the after pictures from the prior week and the new pictures of my next "Monday Motivator".

This week I've decided to start in my bedroom. I would like my bedroom to be a relaxing and welcoming place. Where I can go and escape my kids and my job and my husband (or with my husband!). Right now I only go there to sleep. Otherwise I just sit there and feel guilty for all things I should be doing. But my room is a big job. And I work 40 hours a week and have two kids. So I'm going to start with just one part of it. My dresser. This will make me feel happy AND my cat, since she likes to sleep there but is currently unable to find her bed.

The top of the dresser. Where the cat bed should be.

My three drawers. Eek.

Terry's three drawers.

Tune in next Monday to see if I managed to pull it off!