271 of 365

271/365 - Yay for friends who let me harrass their kids so I can play with my camera.

Ketchup

266/365 - Day at rest.


 267/365 - Apple Streusel muffins and Orange and Dried Cherry shortbread cookies.


268/365 - Sleepy Simba


269/365 - Leia


270/365 - I made coffee ice cubes. And my coffee did not get watered down. It was awesome.


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This week has been a bit of a bitch and is totally kicking my ass. And it's only Wednesday.  At least today I was finally able to upload my 365s and edit some pictures.


Too much work, too much things to do, too much things I want to do - not enough time.  But that's the way it blows Joe.



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Speaking of pics I got to edit and upload, more pictures of Adam and Carus from the school photo shoot can be found on Flickr, here.

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Carus is funny.

While working on math today:

Carus:  “Mommy, you’re my best friend, right?”

Me:  “Sure, if you say so.”

Carus:  “Okay, best friend mommy, what’s 345 x 11?”

Me:  “Well, I think you should do the math to find out.”

Carus:  “You suck.”

Me:  “What would you learn if I gave you all the answers?”

Carus:  “I would learn to rely on my friends.”

What's for dinner

Sunday - Biscuits and gravy
Monday - BBQ chicken, risotto, green beans
Tuesday - Nachos
Wednesday - Soup and grilled cheese
Thursday - Sloppy joes
Friday - FFY
Saturday - Tuna melts

New feature: I've figured out how to get my blog posts to email to readers, so instead of you having to come here and check on things, each time I publish a new post it ill email to you.  Just let me know if you want me to add your email address to the list.  

Day 7

Well, we're at the end of 7days again and it's been fun. Can't wait for the winter run!

Day 7, Becca and Carus; 265/365*



Carus and I pulled out the nail polishes and were going to paint our nails and then she saw the design on the packaging for a new nail art bottle (the bottles with the really thin brushes so you can do designs with them) and she asked me to recreate it.  This is the best I could do, which wasn't too bad.

Her toenails got a dark blue and one big toe has a spider and one has a spider web, and I've been deemed awesome.

And if your curious, I have a dark red on my toenails and fingernailss with glitter polish on the tips of my fingernails.

She was going to do a photo of her toenails as her photo, but forgot to do it after they dried and before bed so I'm just squeezing her in on mine.

Thought you might like to see this.


Leia and Timmy playing.  In reality Leia is all worn out and Timmy is rubbing and rolling on the floor in front of her with an occasional bat at her.  If she hadn't been so tired she would have been bouncing in a circle around him while barking -- cause that's how you play with kitties apparently.

*Only 100 days left of the year! Isn't that frickkin' crazy!

Day 6

Carus day 6 - Drinking hot chocolate with breakfast to help get ready for school.  Timmy is hanging out hoping for a little bowl of milk.


Becca day 6; 264/365 - Chilling - playing Words With Friends on Facebook, and watching Big Bang Theory. I am so happy BBT is back.

Day 5 a little late

Day 5 (yesterday) was a theme day.  The theme was Outside.

Day 5 Carus - "My shadow."


Day 5 Becca, also 263/365.
Since I did outside for the inside theme day, I'm doing inside for the outside theme day.

Inside the facet and my new fancy schmancy soup dispenser.

When fixing the plumbing on the sink Robert removed our instant hot water dispenser, which I liked the idea of but never actually used.  If I was a bigger tea drinker instead of coffee drinker I would probably love it more.  He asked if I wanted him to put it back or if we could just put something else in that hole.  I thought of my awesome Granny's kitchen that has an fancy schmancy soap dispenser, which I've always loved and asked for one of those.  Now I'm awesome like Granny.

Day 4

Day 4, Carus - "Please mom, help me get a 7days picture today. I want to take my picture with my Yoda pug but if I get up he'll move."

Maybe I shouldn't have helped, Yoda looks a little worried...


Day 4, Becca - Leia is now about 4-1/2 months old. She can now sit, stay (most of the time), and recently shake.  She likes to shake.

Day 3

Carus's day 3 - Getting ready for bed.

 

261/365 - Day 3 - Makin dinner while Robert fixes the plumbing on the sink.
 

Cooking dinner (Ramen Stir-Fry) with no working sink. The plumbing for the sink was always bad but after it clogged yet again we decided it needed to be fixed sooner rather than later, and now I don't have a sink or dishwasher. The sink is hooked up again - but not the garbage disposal or the dishwasher (when trying to hook the dishwasher back up again Robert found that the hose hooked to it was actually a car hose) and I had to dishes by hand. Today has been a blah day, not really bad, but not good. Carus and I were dragging through work/school all day.

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Dinner this week because I was lazy and didn't put it up yesterday.

Sunday - FFY
Monday - Ramen Stir-Fry
Tuesday - Chicken enchiladas
Wednesday - Crock pot chops and gravy
Thursday - Skillet lasagna
Friday - FFY
Saturday - Beef stroganoff

Race for the Cure 2011

Okay, making this short and sweet because I've been up since 5 am, didn't sleep well last night, and procrastinated all day on getting this up, but HA! I got it up today! I said HA! And soon I will be going to bed.

Slideshow of our walk is just below.

 Carus and I met up with some friends (Woo! Jessica, Gwen, Lisa, and Sarah) and Gramma Barbara and road the Max train downtown, then met up with a couple of my coworkers (shout out to Trish and Millie!) and participated in the 5K walk. I think I heard something about there were 500,000 participants down at Portland's waterfront today.  Or maybe that was just the walk...that seems small for the whole thing. So don't quote me, I don't know what I'm talking about.

We got separated from Jessica and Gwen and we kinda meandered really slowly this year and ended up at the very end of the walkers. Oh well, no rushing necessary! It's not too late to donate if you still want to - Donate here and pass on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3jjmnlx


 

 As for today's 7 Days photos. Carus and I are cheater mic-cheaters and didn't take our own photos. I took hers and a friend took mine...

 Today was also a theme day with the theme "Inside" but we did the opposite with "Outside." We were Outside for the Walk. Carus's 7Days, day 2. We asked if she could take a photo with the police officer on his bike and he said sure. Then he asked if she wanted to climb onto the bike, but of course!

Carus 7Days, day 2
 

 260/365 - My 7Days, day 2 photo. Carus, Yoda, Gramma Barbara, and I.

Chalk Art Festival

Today was the start of the fall run of fall run of 7 Days AND the Forest Grove Chalk Art Festival, which we went to of course.  It's put on by the local art gallery, Valley Art. It would have been nice if the weather was a bit better.  Fall has arrived and while the temps are welcome (at least to me), the rain today could have stayed away.  It was only sprinkling so the art didn't wash away, but it probably won't be there too long.  Some friends drew with us, we made a little garden.

My 7Days, day 1 photo.
259/365 - Drawing.  I drew the tree and the blue flower.


Carus's 7 Days, day 1 photo.  This is an abstract sun, which she got the idea for from an art lesson this week in school.


Our finished square.


There were some amazing artists there, I didn't get photos of all of them, but you should see the ones I did get.  I've put them on Flickr.

Slideshow of all the photos from today:

YAY! It's Friday

255/365 - Wilbur kitty.


256/365 - Late night clean-up. I went to camera club and came home to iced tea all over the counter.  I had started the iced tea maker before leaving but must not have pushed the pitcher all the way under the spout.  Unfortunately, even with all the bleach products and some soaking the grout is now pretty stained on that portion of the counter.


257/365 - Sleepy Leia puppy.


258/365 - Today was school picture day for Adam, so I made it school picture day for Carus too.


Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 2 days - Please read this, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3jjmnlx 

Oh yeah

Oh yeah....I was supposed to post the menu last night.

Dinner this week:

Sunday - FFY
Monday - Fried chicken tenderloins
Tuesday - Chicken alfredo, steamed broccoli
Wednesday - Crockpot chili
Thursday - Robert and I are on our own, kids are going to the circus withe the grands.
Friday - Hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes, green beans
Saturday - Spaghetti

And now back to the good stuff.

254/365 - My sweet Yoda pug.



Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 6 days - Please read this, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3jjmnlx 

10 Years - I will remember

253/365 - 9/11/11. Ten years since 09/11/01. I will remember.


I wasn't sure which image I liked more.  What do you think?



Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 7 days - Please read, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3jjmnlx 

Moving on

253/365 - These used to fall off Adam's feet, he was that tiny. Key word - was. Now, I don't think they would cover more than his big toe.

I cleaned out baby clothes boxes today. Five boxes turned into two for my cousin who is about to have a baby girl (like any day now), one for me to keep, and two for Goodwill. It was hard to do, but I was able to part with a lot more than I thought I would.

 Some cute dresses going to new baby:
This was one of my favorite outfits for Carus.  She was able to wear it between 6 and 9 months.


I'm not sure if Carus got to wear this dress more than once, but it is adorable and light - nice for summer, which will probably be around the time it fits new baby....maybe. It's been awhile since I've had a baby, not sure if I remember much. :(


This is a velvet like bodice and satin like skirt - adorable. If I'm not mistaken, this was Carus's Christmas dress for her first Christmas, when she was a year old.


Adam-head's onesie from about 3-4 months.

Sorry these photos are a little blah - cell phone pictures.

 In other news, 7 Days starts again in 7 days. I'm excited. Not sure if the kids will want to play along again, but we'll see.

Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 8 days - Please read, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3jjmnlx 

First day of school and then some...

Or more appropriately, first week of school.

 250/365 - First day of 7th grade and can't be bothered with first day photo...

 Oh wait, maybe he can.
 

Adam's bus didn't show up Wednesday and I had to take him to school. I had switched shifts with a coworker so I could start later and be available without worrying about being late for work since I was kind of expecting this as they didn't show up his first day last year.  Obviously, a good idea.  I think they missed him because only 7th graders and new students started Wednesday so they would have an easier time finding their way around a new school. He was the new student in a 5th/6th school last year.

I called the bus company to make sure they would show up the next day (they did) and at one point said, “we were out there 5 minutes early and stayed 15 minutes after scheduled time. Well, he was. I’m not allowed to go with him.” Bus company lady snorted. Yeah, that.

I'm trying hard not to be embarrassing but at the same time, I want to embarrass the shit out of him.

After dropping him off at school and making sure I didn't embarrass him by yelling out "Mommy loves you sweetums", even though I really wanted to, I decided to get a coffee shop coffee. I went to a local small drive-thru coffee shop.  I don't regularly get to have a coffee shop coffee since I work from home and my commute only takes my by my kitchen and not Starbucks (one corner they aren't on). This also turned out to be a great idea. Not only was I able to get my coffee and Carus a hot chocolate for $2 less than I would have at Starbucks, but she threw in doggy biscuits for Yoda (who got to go bye byes with us) and little cinnamon rolls for Carus and I for free. The doggy biscuits are a common thing to get for free, but still, he was happy. Also, I got an iced coffee (our weather has been in the 90s all week) and I found out that she uses coffee to make the ice cubes. Instead of my coffee getting watered down I got more coffee! SCORE!

I told this to Robert all amazed and everything and he looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Uh, yeah that's a good idea, but it's not new. I used to do it with my Kool-Aid as a kid." And yes I know it is done for other drinks, and I've done it myself; however, it's not a common thing for coffee shops to do so be amazed with me. Can you tell he isn't a coffee drinker?

First day of 4th grade.


Carus’s school work started out beautifully, except her speakers weren’t loud enough and we couldn’t get the volume up no matter what we tried. We worked through it and did okay. She got all her Scantron testing (assessments required by the state) done and out of the way (until spring when she does them again), but did dally a little with the math testing and tripled the amount of time she had to spend on it. I think it taught her a lesson though, she has to be more responsible for her time and if she goofs off even a little it sucks.

When Robert came home I told him about the speakers and asked him to fix it. He checked several settings, deemed it okay, then not okay, then just needs updated drivers for speakers, then what in the world, then – oh, they came halfway unplugged.

Sad part is, I thought about checking to see if they were partially unplugged and thought, “nah, that can’t be it.” Lesson learned universe. Lesson learned.

The rest of her school is a learning process for both of us and while Thursday was better than Wednesday, and today was better than yesterday, the week was just a smidge exhausting. And it was only 3 days. I'm confident once we get the hang of this new way of school we'll both sail through each day and week easily, and frankly, that's all that is keeping me going right now. I'm spent.

251/365 - Seen in my yard - butterfly on my lavender.

Same butterfly, different side, different processing. Isn't it creepy looking?

To top things off, work has been super fun lately! Both literally and sarcastically. We have a lot of work leading to a lot of over-time, I've been running an educational quality control process, and we have been working towards adding a new facility. (Yay expansion and Yay job security!) After the start date for the new facility had been moved back three times we found out Tuesday that it would start Wednesday morning. That was FUN! There is always an adjustment period with new things, there's just a lot of new to take in all at once. The educational project has been great and I'm learning more running it then if I wasn't.

252/365 - Leia. I was holding a pine cone up so she wouldn't come try to lick the camera. Again.


Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 9 days - Please read, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://bit.ly/rukLlC

Ready for school

249/365 - Ready for Carus's first day of school tomorrow. Ready for Carus's first day of school - her school books for the first day, a couple print outs/worksheets, notebooks for writing, and the online work.

Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 12 days - Please read, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://bit.ly/rukLlC 

Menus are back

With school starting for both kids and with my anticipation of having a little more on my plate with Carus homeschooling this year, I'm bringing the menu back.

I'm going to try to post each week's menu on Sunday evening and HOPEFULLY it will help me stay motivated to keep creating the menu.  That small bit of organization really helps me. I know what I'm making for dinner each night, and the night after, and I don't have to think about it or worry when I can't come up with something. It also helps me create a more thorough grocery shopping list and I don't find myself running to the store for items I forgot as often.

Normally I grocery shop for one week at a time, and I hate it. I go to the "cheap" grocery store 45 minutes away, spend around an hour in the store, and then another 45 minutes home.  It takes up a nice chunk of my weekend.  This week I took it up a notch and did my shopping for two weeks. It was a larger number at the checkout, but I'm pretty confident I got what I need for 2 weeks (minus some fresh produce because most of that stuff doesn't last long).

I am a little late on the menu post this week, but it's all good because this is my blog and I said so. :)

Sunday - Grandpa Alan's company picnic (woo, I don't have to cook or clean)

Monday - Scalloped potatoes and steamed broccoli and cauliflower

Tuesday - BBQ chicken sandwiches

Wednesday - (1st day of school) Crock pot beef stew

Thursday - FFY (fend for yourself)

Friday - Beef & Broccoli

Saturday - Fried chicken breasts, crash hot potatoes, corn

3-day weekend for the win!

246/365 - Baiting his hook with a worm.
 
Saturday we took Adam out to Hagg Lake Saturday to break in his fishing pole.  Shortly after reaching the bottom of this hill Carus was stung by a bee or bit by a bee, which pretty much ruined her day - drama queen.  She is better now


Fishing.


Trying another spot.  Even though it appeared Adam and Gramma were getting bites we didn't get a fish.  We think we had a fish or two stealing the bait but not getting caught on the hook.


Gramma fishing.  Hagg Lake is close-by and fishing season lasts until October-ish so I'm sure we'll get another shot.


After lunch Adam's friend (not pictured) came over for a sleepover and we went to Big Al's for some arcade fun.


Carus driving - and having trouble reaching the pedals.


 247/365 - Time for Grandpa Alan's annual Labor Day weekend company picnic. We get to tag along each year and get some free food and have some fun.  The company hires a clown for the kids and rent a bouncy house, its fun. Goofing around with balloon animals.


Burger - YUM!


Robert


Ice cream cone - YUM!


248/365 - In case you didn't know, puppies do not really help with sweeping. I got a bonus day off today for Labor Day (whoop whoop) and I spent the morning forcing getting the kids to help me do some cleaning.  It didn't take long after I put Leia in her kennel.  The rest of the day was dinking around, getting Adam's school supplies together and organized in his bag, getting Carus's school work and books together for Wednesday (Back2School time), making dinner, and baking some banana chocolate chip muffins.