lead poisoning

yesterday i read this article about a boy who died after he swallowed a little metal trinket that came with a pair of sneakers! it's so scary!

and now they are saying that they have found lead in many children's toys! this magazine also has a list of toys that have been recalled due to lead levels. i don't usually freak out about things but this one has me nervous!

how do you know if the toys your child is playing with are safe?!

and the earings were still there-right where she left them the night before.

it's true, i took out my earrings and set them on the coffee table and when i came back the next day they were right where i had left them! why could i leave them there? because my kids are gone! grandma took them on friday and they are still gone today! i've missed them but i have also had a very nice time.

Friday-my husband and i grabbed a light dinner and went to see BOURNE ULTIMATUM. good movie-lots of action-definitely the dad's pick but i did enjoy it.

Saturday-we went into Manhattan, did a temple session and then spent some time in the park. we saw some classics! this guy just one of them.-yeah, he's dancin' on those skates!

Sunday-quiet morning, got myself ready for church, sat quietly by myself at church-actually listened to the speakers! after church we watched a movie, took a walk-we found a trail across the street from us that we knew was there but didn't realize it went so far! then we watched another movie-(we have the movie channels free right now so we are recording everything) it was my birthday-the big 33!-hmmm that was hard to say! oh well.

Monday-quiet day, ran some errands i've been wanting to do but not drag the kids on. then when my husband came home and the kids still weren't here we hit the trails! there's a trail that we've heard is supposed to be good and it's only about 10minutes from our house! so we loaded up the bikes and headed out. it ended up to be a really good ride. some easy trails and some really technical ones which was a fun challenge. i took a couple of spills! it felt good to get out there! we need to make sure we go more often!-we are waiting for you LAUREL!

so, i think my kids are coming home today-i can't wait to see them!

iron harvesting basket

pretty garden basket

catalog shopping

my downeast basics catalog came this weekend(i didn't know they had a catalog but glad i got one!). they have a lot of really cute stuff and decent prices! here's some of what i like...

i like the skirt here.

so now here is a complaint. i'm tired of layering! i just wish that these modest clothing stores would make more shirts or dresses that don't require a tank underneath. only one of the shirts above doesn't require a tank. i feel like i wear enough layers -especially during the summer! it's too hot!

is anybody else tired of the layers?

and it's only MONDAY!

this is how my week started!


on my way home and as a guy turned the corner the truck he was towing detached and scraped the side of my van and tore my bumper right off. no one was hurt. it was all at low speeds but just not a fun way to start the week. at least it's not my fault!

8 Things About My Marriage

Lacie tagged me so here goes...

1. Where did you meet?

we met at Rick's College (now byuidaho) in a racquetball class. we both had a few straggler credits to finish up and were taking this class during summer term. the funny thing is that we discovered that we had taken the same English class a couple semesters before. he remembers my sister from it but not me. i don't remember him from it at all.

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?

the first thing i remember saying was something like sure or yes. i stayed after racquetball class to practice while i waited for my friend to finish her class and then we were going to go exercise. he poked his head in and asked if he could practice with me. i said yeah, sure(or something like that). in the course of that first conversation we discovered that i knew his cousin. he was serving an LDS mission in my hometown and had been to my house for dinner several times before i left for school-in fact he had sat on top of me(shame on that missionary!). my little sister had a crush on him for a long time. she couldn't wait to come to our wedding to see him again. (sorry). *funny thing is, that friend i was waiting for, her and i had decided to forget about guys for that last month and just have fun-i met my husband and she met hers that month!-i guess we still had fun.

3. Where was your first date?

he took me to dinner and a movie. chinese food and i can't really remember what the name of the movie was-we did watch it. i dated a lot of bums before i met my husband so before i met him i had decided that the next guy i dated would be active, would take me to the park to play frisbee would come over and play cards with me at night, would go for walks with me. then i met him and he suggested to go to the park and play frisbee and he came over one night with a deck of cards and when i asked him to take a walk with me he wanted to go! corny i know but it's true!

4. Where was your first kiss?

on my front porch. he came in for it and i, not realizing, turned my head. a little awkward.

5. Did you have a long courtship/engagement?

we were finishing up summer term which was only a month long. so when that ended i went to utah to find a job-i was continuing on at BYU in the fall. he left to go home for a month and then he was leaving on his mission and would be gone for 2 years. we wrote while he was gone and then i went to california to see him when he came home in august. i ended up moving there for a while. he proposed in september and we were married in January! the day before we got married it was sunny and in the 60's-in January! i kind of wished there was snow since it was winter and the next morning we woke up to a beautiful snowy day!

6. Where did you get engaged?

on the top of Mount Lassen! we hiked up to the top and along the way he kept stopping and giving me presents-chocolates and things like that. once at the top we found a pretty little corner and he got down on his knee and proposed. since we were at such a high elevation my fingers were swollen and the ring didn't really fit. but by the time we got back to his house it fit perfect!

7. How did the reception go?

the reception was great. i just had a great day! it wasn't anything grand and fancy but it was a really nice day! i can't tell you if anyone else had a good time because i was just in a bubble having a great time! and yes-he stuffed cake in my face! if you know him you aren't surprised!

8. How was the honeymoon?

well, we didn't really have a honeymoon. we stayed the night in a nice hotel -in the honeymoon suite, which was really nice, and then drove all our stuff back to our apartment where he was starting school in 2 weeks, and then flew out for my hometown to have a small reception. he still owes me! that is one thing i would change-go on a honeymoon! it's too hard to go on one later!

there you have it! almost 11 years now!!

i tag lainakay and laurel and traci-if your up for another tag. have fun girlie's!

recipe

this is for you lacie, i would have emailed it but i didn't find an address on your profile. we all love these muffins-no nuts for us though. Enjoy!

Banana Nut Muffins

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups sll-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. preheat oven to 4oo degrees. grease 12 standard size muffin pan cups or use liners
2. beat together butter and sugar at med. speed till light and fluffy. add eggs, 1 at a time beating well after each addition. beat in bananas until smooth.
3. mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. alternately stir flour mixture and buttermilk into egg mixture until dry ingredients are just moistened.
5. stir in nuts and vanilla. do not over mix batter; it should not be completely smooth.
6. spoon batter into prepared pan, filling two-thirds full. bake until lightly golden, 15 to 18 min. transfer muffins to wire rack to cool.

banana muffins!

thank goodness for ripe banana's!

butterflies

we had a visitor!

iron drying rack

this looks like a good idea! i found it here.

stripped

the chairs are stripped and primed!

along the way i found some great things to make the work, less work!

this paint remover is the BEST!
we used a different one on the first chair and went through the entire can and a lot of scraping and steal wooling. we used this one on the 2nd chair and only used probably 1/4 of the can and no scraping or steal wooling! it was pretty toxic! don't forget your chemical gloves but it was fun to watch. the paint just bubbled up in pretty little ripples-looked like smocking on a dress! then just wipe it off! i'll never use another!

then we came across this gadget in the paint isle.
i've never seen it before but i'm sure it has been around. you just attach it to the top of your spray paint can and it makes it so easy! no sore finger! and it was only a couple bucks! double great deal!-i would pay more!

now we need to decide on color. we have been considering everyone's ideas-thanks for them-the dad added his color idea-yellow. a creamy yellow i think. so i will take all of my ideas to the paint store and see what they have available and then decide! can't wait to see how the chairs turn out!

the gobble bag

my mother read about this idea online and decided to do a craft activity for lainakay's birthday. so we all got bags and painted a face on it-this is my sorry face-no artistic talent here. but the concept is that the bag gobbles up what the kids don't clean up before going to bed. then they lose the toy for a week. if it is returned to them and left out again then perhaps the toy is not so important and can be given away. so we will try it and see how it works.

finished

so, i got all my "chores" done this morning and then neglected everything for the rest of the day and finished the book-finally!

it was very good but in the rare case that there is someone besides me out there who still hasn't finished it i won't say anything. sad that this may be the last of Harry-or is it?

well, i better go find my kids-i'm sure they're hungry-he-he!

it was just pancakes!!!

how does one adorable little 2 year old make such a mess of herself eating pancakes with a light sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar?(and a couple of grapes) i don't know if it looks as bad as it was but i had to bathe her afterwards-she just bathed last night! this is nothing new so i should be used to it but it still amazes me! i give her something to eat and think there is no way she could get messy with that-but she will find a way!

while the cat's away the mouse will...

WORK! so we came back on saturday to find the dad hard at work. don't get me wrong he works hard all the time but whenever i leave him for an extended period of time i always come home to a list of "odd" projects done. they are things that need to be done but i've forgotten about or not noticed. one time i came home and he had gone around touch up painting all over the house. see, it's not odd but they are things i don't expect him to have on his immediate list. this time he installed the last of the dead bolts. i kind of had thought we weren't going to install the one on the back door but i guess we were-it's a good thing. he also patched some concrete in the garage. this one never even crossed my radar as something we wanted to do. well, he makes it exciting to come home after a trip-i can't wait to see what he's come up with to do! he's a great guy!


maybe i will come home one day to a remodeled bathroom!!!

yummy!

frozen strawberry lemonade! this has been our favorite summer drink this year! such a simple thing but we had never thought of it till lainakay was here and suggested it. it's so easy-some frozen strawberries and either some powdered lemonade or frozen lemonade, blend and drink! very refreshing on a hot summer night!

the mean lady!

i ran into her at Sam's Club the other day!
With my job i get to meet lots of people, most of them really nice-but some not so nice! i had to go to this ladies house to get 2 signatures from her. i followed my directions, found her house and parked in the driveway. knocked on the door-no answer!!! so i went back to my car and called her. she answered, asked where i was, i told her i was in the driveway, she snapped at me that i wasn't because she was looking at her driveway! so it turned out i was in the neighbors driveway and she let me have it! i moved the car and followed her in her house-the whole time she was snapping at me that i parked in the wrong driveway-can't understand why i would think that was her driveway-blah, blah blah! just mean! i could not WAIT to get out of there!

anyway, my mistake really wasn't that crazy of a mistake. if you are looking at the house from the street to the left of it is a small dirt area deep enough for one car and wide enough for two and again on the right of the house is the same thing. the mailbox with the house # on it is directly in front of the house and the neighbors house is hidden behind some bushes and down a hill. so as i was driving i didn't even see the first driveway, i saw the mailbox and pulled into the next driveway i saw. it really looked like it belonged to the house. but i guess i am a complete idiot!!!

so when i saw her at Sam's i pointed her out to my husband and hurried on my way! who knows what she would have snapped at me about this time!!!

new fun blog to check out

my sis-who lives far away-is now blogging too! she's tons of fun so it will be fun to read what she writes! you'll have to check her out! http://laughatme-laurel.blogspot.com/

the DJ is in the house!

thing 2 runs the stereo for us pretty much every morning. he loves music and every week it seems to be a different album he's enjoying. a few weeks ago it was bryan adams, in particular summer of '69. then it was Big Audio Dynamite, then it was kidz bop 10-we all love kidz bop! this week it is looking like it will be bad company! he's saving his money for an ipod. that seems to be an appropriate investment for him! maybe i'll have to do a thing2 play list. we'll see if i can figure it out. have fun groovin' to your own music for now!

over the river and through the woods ...

well, we do cross the river and drive through the woods to get there!
anyway, we are heading to grandmas for the week. we are very excited! life has been so busy we haven't been there since december! they have been here and we have gotten together at my brothers but we haven't been able to get there. the things are looking forward to seeing their grandparents and cousins, thing 3 hasn't stopped talking about lainakay's cha-cha since the 4th when she came here. then they are also looking forward to bike rides with grandma and grandpa and frog and turtle hunting with grandpa at the ponds. so much fun. and maybe a break for me. i know i'll be going school shopping-no sales tax in their state and a babysitter!!!! can't beat it! maybe i'll get a bit farther in my harry potter book. i bought it the day it came out but can't find the time to read too much. i fall asleep when i actually sit down by myself like that! i'm sure i'll still be around and blogging but have a great week!

lasagna!

kelly was talking about recipes and this is one of my most recent favorite recipes! i love lasagna but would never make it because it seemed to be a big job. this recipe i got from family fun is one dish and quick and easy and SO yummy! we all love it! try it-you'll love it!

love her!

while i was at the toyota dealership waiting, The View was on. now i really don't like this show-most of them are big mouthed, obnoxious ladies, but i do love elisabeth hasselbeck. today they were talking about marriage and divorce and all that and elisabeth was sticking up for marriage while everyone else seemed to be on the other side. i just commend her for being able to sit next to joy and take the criticism and harshness. joy just seems bitter. though i don't necessarily agree with elisabeth entirely it is good to see someone support marriage and concerned with the breakdown of it. plus, she's just adorable!

my mistake

so i scheduled an appointment at the toyota dealership to have the power door on my van(yes, i am now a minivan mom!) looked at. it has been randomly not working for about the last week or so. went in today for the appointment, waited about 45 minutes while my things turned the playroom upside down, just to find out that the child lock was on! part of me doesn't want to believe it! i felt a bit silly for not thinking of it but then part of me realizes that this is entirely possible because thing 3 has been climbing in and out of that door lately-she's a big girl now! and since she has been using that door we have been having the problem. i would not put it past her to find the button and play with it. probably not a coincidence!

wierd!

okay, i saw the craziest thing today! the lady in front of me was shaving her legs while she waited at the stop light! she stuck her foot out the window and shaved! i've never seen anything like that. i guess that is using all your time wisely! maybe us busy moms should take a tip from the crazy lady. i'd have smooth legs more often.