Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Why do people draw their lips on their mouth with lipliner and then fill it in with a lighter shade of lipstick like Dial-A-Mouth or something. Are they trying to announce themselves like "Hello. I have drawn my face on today."? Why, Diary?

Diary, how do the geese decide who gets to fly in the front of the V? Do they wrestle for the position or does the fattest goose win? I like to pretend they had a lengthy goose discussion and decided that yes, everyone agreed that Reginald the goose was the best leader and he would be flying the gaggle south this year and everyone else would gladly fall behind. What if one of the geese gets really tired? Would they stop and let her rest, Diary? Or would they just make her tough it out?

Don't you hate overhead lighting, Diary? It's so yucky? I think it should be outlawed except in very clinical areas like the dentist's office and the hospital.

You know what else I hate, Diary? Crocs. Not only are they hideously ugly, diary, but they are so dangerous. At my children's school last week a girl stepped on a tack and it went right through the croc and into her little foot. Now no one is allowed to wear them to school. Duh. My kids weren't allowed to wear them anyway, even though I have given into the fad that is the Croc and purchased several pairs for them, for that very reason. And also because Jacy has extremely flat feet and has to wear very expensive shoes and still has to have custom arches made for her. I don't know if you've noticed, Diary, but Crocs are like pieces of cardboard wrapped around the foot and have zero arch support. Terrible. Hate 'em.

Yesterday I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast, Diary, and I used eggs that were only hours old. It was the most fabulous Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise sauce I have ever put in my mouth, Diary. My kids even licked their plates clean.

This weekend we went to a restaurant where a lady sitting across from us rattled the ice in her glass to get the waiter's attention to fill it up. It was the rudest thing I ever saw and I had to physically restrain myself from saying something to her. And then, when he took it from her, she didn't even look up. Do these people think that waiter's are from another planet or some sort of lower class citizens. Disgusting, Diary. Totally disgusting.

Why does the school have pj day, Diary? Is it to make parent's crazy? There's something about sending my kids to school in their jim jams that makes me absolutely nuts. Of course, I'm very weird and we all know that.

I bought a new picture frame yesterday, Diary and the store people put the price tag right on the glass and I can't get it off for love or money. (Whatever that means.) I have tried rubbing alcohol and razorblades and it isn't budging. Why couldn't the store people have put it on the back where it wouldn't show? Sigh. I'm thinking about returning it.

My daughter started a blog of her own, Diary. It's adorable. No one can comment on it or email her or anything. And I'm thinking about letting my friends see it. I don't know. I'm afraid. The Internet is scary, Diary.

Last week I made a Thanksgiving dinner. I was so hungry for it. Do you ever do that, Diary? I made a pumpkin pie and cooked an entire turkey and made stuffing-the works! We've eaten off of the leftovers all week and I finally threw it away. It was so yummy.

When I was a little girl, Diary, there was a gas station in the little town I grew up in. It was Full-Service for people like my grandmother who has never pumped gas in her life. They would pump your gas and wash your windows and give out gum to all the children. I loved that gum and have never had any gum comparable since then. It was extremely soft and pink and smelled powdery in its wrapper. I loved the smell of the gas and the gum together. The owner had a parrot that rode around on his shoulder all the time. It's name was Louie and I always wanted to go inside to see it. It walked around on the counter and could say Hello. The parrot died last week. It was 47 years old. Can you imagine? The gas station owner is a little old man with hair coming out his ears in huge tufts and he is devastated. I was terribly sad when I heard this. It made me feel like I had to grow up in yet another way again. I hate that feeling.

I hate school fundraisers, Diary. They make me feel obligated to ask my relatives for money.

It's raining today. It's very springlike here. I have all the windows open and it smells like rain and dirt and grass. I love that smell. My daffodils are getting ready to bust open and there are red tulips coming up in the front yard. I have 15 packets of seeds to plant this week and a house of floors to mop, three loads of laundry, a trip to the orthodontist, a school assembly, two softball practices, a piano lesson, a violin lesson, a trip to gramma's, a coffee morning with my girlfriends, a ha-yuge grocery trip to make, a trip to the Symphony, a website and three blogs to design and five days of homework. I love busy weeks. It makes me feel purposeful.

Little or nothing to say.

You know what? I have nothing of significance to say. I was out working in the yard this morning and thought "I really need to blog before I lose all my fun readers and they wander away." and then I thought "What the hell am I going to say to them?"

Sigh.

This morning after I put the kids on the bus, I moved a lilac bush to a better spot, fed the chickens and let them out to wander free in the yard, weeded the picket fence garden, tied up my wandering wisteria and sat out on the back deck and had my coffee. It's windy and warm here today and I have all the windows open. I need to wash them badly. They ache to be washed and my hands ache to fill a bucket with sudsy water and get out the squeegee, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

I need to get out of this house and go get milk and a birthday present for a friend of Molly's. I also need to make a Thank You note from Jacy's party since it's been a week and a half. Can I just ask you this?

Why do we send thank you notes? Don't the people know we're thankful? Don't they hear us when we say "Thank you" at the party? I have a friend who says she feels like putting a little note on all the birthday gifts she gives saying "I know you are thankful for the gift I am giving you. Don't worry about sending me a Thank You note." or something equally as sweet. I think she's right. I know, I know we're teaching our kids not to take gifts for granted and not to have a sense of entitlement, but I don't get a thank you note for handing out party favors at my kids parties, but those kids sure feel a sense of entitlement there. At Molly's last party I actually had a child come up to me and say "I'm leaving...where's my party favor?". Mmmmhmmm. Not kidding. Party favors are getting way too out of hand anyway. I used to be glad just to go to a party and have fun for two hours.

Sorry, miniature soapbox there.

Of course you know I'm going to send a Thank you note.

Do you ever get behind those people at the store who take up the whole aisle and walk reeeeaaallly slowly because, clearly, they're not in a hurry and don't care who they slow down? How can they walk so slowly? I never walk slowly anywhere. Not even when I'm not in a hurry. I'm not a slow walker. I'm a fast walker. Slow people upset me.

So, Molly's having nine year old girl friend problems. You know the whole "Sit by ME at lunch not HER.." thing. It's been going on all year and has resulted in a lot of unnecessary tears and rants. The problem is that, angel though she may be, Molly is not the most sensitive girl in the world and doesn't recognize sometimes when people get their feelings hurt even if those reasons for getting said feelings hurt are stupid and selfish. (Oooooh, you said the "S" Word, Mommy. Stupid is the "S" word at our house.) So little friend who has been close friend since kindygarten gets feelings hurt because of the "S" word and says hurtful things to Molly so Molly goes off with another friend to play. Nine. Year. Old. Girl. Stuff. Little friend's mommy has gotten involved and Molly's mommy is having to bite her tongue and clench her fists to keep her mouth shut and stay out of it because it is Nine. Year. Old. Girl. Stuff.

Sigh.

You know what the problem is? The problem is people don't let their kids work things out on their own anymore. We jump in like Superman when there's a problem with a teacher at school or coaches on the sports team or friends. I'm just as guilty sometimes. And I want the very very best for my children so I convince myself that I'm protecting them when really I'm teaching them to whine every time they don't get their own way or to only think about themselves instead of toughening up and getting over stuff. Because in reality, the things that bother a little nine year old girl's brain are the "S" word.

Don't worry. I'm staying out of it. With difficulty.

I'm doing a website for the nicest lady in the world right now. Go visit her and see her fun products. She makes little old fashioned Raggedy Annies and Andy's and I want one so badly!!! They are so sweet with their little faces. She's so cute and posts pictures of her furkiddos (dogs) which I love. She has a little dachshund named Tedy Wayne and for some reason he has to have a little cart on his back legs and she calls the cart his "Wayner Wagon". Isn't that hi-larious. I want a Wayner Wagon for my back legs.

Her husband makes those bowls. I want to make things when my husband retires and have a website with him and sell them and have a doggie with a Wayner Wagon. Ca-yute. Okay, back to life.

Hugs!

Funniest Person on Earth

Oh. My. God.

Will you puh-lease go over and visit Attack of the Redneck Mommy. I think she might be the most hi-larious person I've ever had the pleasure to read.

Go. Right. Now.

Sugar Rush

Well. My kids have finally collapsed into bed in a sugar-induced coma. I swear that Jacy has eaten more candy today than she has in her entire life. I hate the "Oh, lighten up Amber and let her eat it, it's Easter..." mentality. Not coming from my husband who would ban all sugar from our household if possible, but others who, clearly, don't have to take them home with them and pay their dentist bills.

But what a fun day we had! The Bunny came and left fun treats and we had a beautiful Easter breakfast with delicious French Toast Casserole, OJ, Fruit Salad and Sausage Links. We hunted eggs in the house and then when the sun came out a little more, we wandered outside and, lo and behold, the Bunny had hidden more eggs outside in the backyard. We went to my grandma's for Easter lunch and had more fun egg hunting and more sugar and candy and by the time we came home Molly had ripped her Easter dress and Jacy had a permanent chocolate mustache. They jabbered in the back of the van all the way home asking me questions like "Mom, how could Jesus be dead and cold and have his heart stop and then come back and be real. Was he a ghost?" "Mom, is the Bunny big or little?" "Mom do you really think they got all those animals on the ark?" "Mom, did they have chocolate eggs at the first Easter when Jesus got raised up?" and so on.

When we finally got home Molly walked in the door and put her hand to her heart and gasped. There were candy wrappers all over the living room rug. Culprit pictured below.



Note the smile. Of course I freaked out because it was mostly chocolate and called the emergency vet who assured me that the worst that could happen with such a small amount was copious vomiting. Just keep an eye on her. Copious vomiting. Terrific. This dog is such a menace. She climbed up on the couch, opened a candy dish with a lid and unwrapped the candy before she ate it. Unbelievable.

So the bunny has gone hopping back down the bunny trail for another year and spring break is over. Sigh. Back to the grindstone.

The kids have been out of school all week and we have really enjoyed our relaxing fun week together. I hate to see them go back. But summer will be here before we know it and goodness knows this house needs to be cleaned from tip to top.

During the week I took the girls to the playground and took the following pictures. Molly finally does the monkey bars all the way across and was so proud of herself. She's been trying for years to go all the way across and she finally made it this year.




Have you heard the latest craze with those plastic bracelets that Lance Armstrong started? This time its a bracelet for "No complaining for 21 days". Apparently you wear the bracelet on one arm and if you complain you have to take it off and switch it to the other arm and start over. The goal is to go 21 days without complaining because that is how long it takes to reprogram the brain to think a different way. Read about it here. Goodness knows we could all do with less complaining in our lives, but part of me thinks that you're not being real if you're not telling the truth about what you think about something. For example, the guy doing the article had to switch his bracelet because he complained that the waitress hadn't taken their order after 15 minutes of sitting at the table. I'd flipping complain too! 15 minutes???? Plus, nothing would ever get done or changed or improved if someone didn't complain about it. Right? Right? But I'm all about less complaining. I need a bracelet. I'd never make my 21 days, though.

We watched this movie last night. It was fabulous. I highly recommend it. Especially if you love The Beatles. We also watched this movie with the kids this weekend and it was absolutely precious. I loved her little preppy clothes and ca-yute old-fashioned ways. With her little lunchbox and blue convertible. I loved her books when I was about Molly's age and now she is obsessed with them too.

Okay, so I leave you with some Easter goodness. The Peep. I hate them. They are disgusting, but oh so cute. And this guy actually makes art with the Peeps and sells them. For money. Oh the world is made up of so many different kinds of people.

Bowling Bash

Here are some pics of the bowling bash from last Saturday! It was so fun and laid back-a nice change from my usual parties which are fraught with entertaining kids and cleaning up and we are always exhausted at the end of it. This was a very nice party, even if it was at the bowling alley.

I made little shirts for everyone including Daddy and Mommy. They had our names on the front and a big picture on the back and underneath it said "Jacy's Bowling Bash, March 15, 2008".




See my sad attempt at a bowling pin cake?


For party favors I was going to buy these ca-yute bowling cookies, but when I went to place the order, they made you buy a minimum of 30 sets of cookies for a total order of $65 plus shipping. Forgettaboutit. I found a bowling pin cookie cutter online and made these myself. Not as professional, but they were eaten within minutes. I had to stop them from eating them before the pizza at the bowling alley.




Jacy thought it was wonderful and had a fabulous time, so I was happy.

Normally we don't get to have parties on the actual birthday so when they were toddlers I made it a tradition to celebrate their birthday again on their real birthday so they'd still feel special. They get to eat whatever they want all day long and then we open up presents from Mommy and Daddy and Molly that evening. Well it just happened that the 15th was her actual birthday and it fell on that Saturday so after the party we went home and had her birthday dinner.

This was what the princess ordered:
Tacos both hard and soft
Guacamole (I know-what other 7 year old likes guacamole???)
Pico de gallo (for Molly)
Nachos
Refried beans
Homemade donuts for dessert

A girl after my own heart.

Then we opened presents. Here she is getting her Ipod which has not come out of ears in four days.




She has her jim jams on because it is nighttime-we don't just go around letting our kids wear nighties all the time, in case you were wondering.

I hope Jodi is reading this because you'll notice she has on her "J" necklace that Gracie gave her Jodi-she LOVES it!

But out of all the expensive presents she got including her charm bracelet, which she has also not taken off (thanks Kellie), her favorite present that she has played with the most is a book of "Little House Paper Dolls". She loves them. We read Little House books at night and she has played with this $10 book of paper dolls constantly. Who woulda thought? Another Kellie idea-she's so great!

After presents we played this for two hours that night. It was one of her presents and it was actually very fun. I am the next American Idol, people. No autographs, please.


It's actually a very fun game for family game night. It has a microphone and it judges you on a ton of songs for your pitch and rhythm. You can set it on "Easy" for the kids and we had a ball. Simon loves me.

So that's it. Fun was had by all.

It's Spring Break here and the kids are out of school. Yesterday I took them to an indoor pool to go swimming. It's raining hard here today and I want to stay in and cuddle, but we have to go get Easter shoes today. Have. To. There is a sale and I must not miss it. The girls have all their little horses and ponies spread out all over the house and want to stay in, but go we must. So out we go and I promised Jacy we'd eat at that nasty haven for childhood obesity, McDonald's, for lunch. We never go in to eat because then they'd want to play on that ha-yuge toy in the playroom and I'm sure it's riddled with diphtheria or scurvy or something. The last time I let the kids play on it was when Jacy was two and she got stuck up in one of the slide-y things and I had to climb in and get her and I found a dirty diaper and I freaked out and we have never played in that thing since. Never. Ick. Molly refuses to eat there anymore and makes me order her a broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl from Panera to go when we go to McDonald's. She's a diva what can I say?

Skunk

There is a skunk in our henhouse. A skunk. We sometimes let our hens out during the day to waltz around the yard and peck and then they go into their little henhouse at dusk and we close the gate and shut them safely in.

Last night, whilst watching "Big Brother" (Um...don't you think it's time for Matty to GO?), we realized we had neglected to shut their gate. So out with a flashlight and in his jim jams goes Jason. When he hadn't come back inside ten minutes later and I am idly flipping a magazine thinking "Okay...what the hell? Did the goat man get him or what?" he comes bursting in asking for an egg and his shot gun and I'm thinking "WHAT?"??? An egg and a shotgun. Oookkaaaay...

Out he goes again and I'm peering out the window hoping it's not a deranged serial egg thief hiding in our henhouse berating the hens to "Lay, dammit. Lay!".

I finally couldn't stand it anymore so I pull on his enormous work boots and start walking outside with my flashlight.

Now. Keep in mind that we live a teensie bit away from the town so its not like walking into a normal backyard, people. We have no street lights in our neighborhood and it is dark at night. Dark, I tell you. So here I am in my pyjamas tip toeing across the yard looking left and right hoping I don't trip over the lifeless body of my husband (I always jump to terrible conclusions.) and then...I smell it.

I know exactly what he's doing and I tuck my tail and head for the hills. I refuse to encounter skunks in the dark. He can eat all the eggs he wants. Leave him be.

So, after half an hour, Jason gives up shooting him-Aside: can you imagine??? If he shot a skunk???? Our backyard would stink for years-and sets his "Critter Catcher" which is a ha-yuge metal cage/humane trap that he bought at the feed store during the Chicken Massacre of 2007. Apparently, the egg was bait.

This morning there is still no skunk in the trap and I'm assuming it's sitting in the henhouse stinking it up to kingdom come.

I don't know, I'm not checking.

Why, oh why can't we just live in a subdivision? Why is my life fraught with creatures? It's an affliction.

Flashback!

Okay, so I have spent all afternoon trying to remember the name of a store that was in the mall when I was a tween/teen. I finally called my girlfriend, Deb, who remembered for me. It was "Units" and I loved it! Do any of you Gen Xer's out there remember "Units". They didn't hang any of their clothing, it was all folded and stored in glass (or maybe plastic) cubing. Very 80's modern. Riiiiiight. The clothing was all soft cotton in solid colors-no patterns and it had no zippers or buttons or snaps, just soft cotton elastic-y clothes.. And they had belts made of big tubes of cloth that you wore with the big oversized shirts and puffy pants. It was rather expensive for a teenager, kinda like "Guess" clothing and "Banana Republic", but of course I had to have about seventeen different outfits so I could mix and match my totally soft clothes. I wish we still had a "Units". I'm all about shapeless garments these days! Ha!

Remember banana clips? Didja ever wear those? I was telling Molly, who will be ten in July, that when I was ten I had a bandanna in my hair constantly. Madonna-style. With the little bunny ear things on top. I had like twelve different colors that I would mix and match with my very 80's outfits. My mom would say that if you untie Amber's bandanna her head will fall off.

I also did the Madonna glove for a very short time. You know, from the "Like A Virgin" era. Then I was older and did the whole preppy look. Argyle and polo shirts with the collar turned up. Oh, and Dexters, of course!

Rember Z-Cavaricci?

I also wore a lot of Coca-Cola clothing. I'm not sure why, but I remember this was big at that time.

I had three Swatch watches that I wore all at the same time. They were so expensive. Why? They were just plastic.

I also wore three tulip rings on one finger. And I had dangle rings that I wore all at once on one finger too. And bracelets up my arm. Why did we do that?

The reason I am doing all this reminiscing, apart from the bandanna thing, was that I saw with my own two eyes a lady with a banana clip in her hair the other day. I didn't even know they still made those. Has she saved it all this time??? I just wanted to go up to her and shake my head and pat her arm and say "No, no!" and then take it out of her hair. But then I knew that would totally mess up her do. Remember how when your banana clip broke at school, you were totally screwed because you had lacquered your hair in that style and then it would break and leave it half up and half down in a hairspray coma?

Yeah, you remember.

I used to hold the comb out at the sides of my temples and hairspray little wings out out on the sides of my head, too. And I had enormous bangs. Enormous. The taller, the better. And they didn't move in the breeze, either.


The 80's and 90's are probably the reason we have so many problems with the ozone and global warming and etc. these days. Too much hairspray and Molly Ringwald.



Okay, remember "Kidd Video"??? The cartoon that kind of took advantage of the whole MTV craze when it started? I loved it. I mean LOVED it. I never missed it on Saturday mornings, back when they actually had cartoons on Saturday morning. I would get my pancakes and go out in the den and sit in our brown recliner with a t.v. tray and watch "Kidd Video". I was so in love with Kidd and I wanted to be the drummer chick. She was so cool. Sigh. They actually have their own MySpace page which kinda weirds me out. I'm all about reminiscing but come on!



The 80's were such a great time to be a kid. It seemed so safe and fun! After my two hour cartoon fest on Saturday mornings I hopped on my bike and ran around with a ha-yuge crowd of friends from the neighborhood. We rode all over town and explored creeks and trails and never thought about being abducted or molested or attacked. Our parents would just tell us to be back by a certain time and that was it. I want that sense of freedom for my kids. It was an ugly hair time, but you know what? I think I'm buying my kids those jellies at Target after all.

Bejeweled!

Okay, are these faces to die for or what? Friends, are you in love with your children as much as I am? I hope so. Every time I look at these faces I just wonder how in the world I got so lucky. Now, listen, when they get off the bus in a coupla hours I may be posting something entirely different, especially since they are both grounded right now for fighting with each other constantly! Every time they do that I look at them wondering how the little blonde angels I watched toddle around thinking they could do no wrong could turn into malicious, mean, jealous little creatures. Inherent? Or inherit? You choose!?! I do adore them, though. Little devils.


We made Easter treats this weekend. Can you believe that it is already Palm Sunday?! It's so eeeeaaaarly this year. We've been having fabulous weather all week, so you know what that means...clouds, rain and cold for Easter. No breakfast in the backyard. No hunting eggs in the grass. Sweaters over dresses and lunch indoors. Betcha a dollar. I heard that the Easter bunny was bringing un-stuffed Build-A-Bear animals this year. Just heard it. Maybe from Bashful the pet bunny. Here she is hopping around in the clover in our backyard.


Sometimes we let her out of her little hutch to hop around the yard with these guys.




But they can't stay out after dark anymore, nope. Gotta waddle back into the henhouse so no stray cats/possums/raccoons massacre any more beloved pets. Bashful is the granddaughter of Bashful Senior who came to us down the bunny trail from the Easter Bunny a coupla Easters ago. Never buy your child a rabbit, okay? Even if you have a ha-yuge yard like we do with other ani-mules. Just take it from me. They're adorable, yes. But they're basically just big rats with long ears. The girls used to be in love with them and pick them up and hold them and ride around in the Barbie Jeep with them and carry them in baskets and doll buggies and etc. But they're old news now and they just poo everywhere and hop around so the dogs bark at them. Plus I don't think they're as cute when they're grown. Too rat-ish. But the good thing is that Bashful is in tight with the Easter bunny so she has told me that she heard the girls were getting un-stuffed Buildies this year with gift cards to go have them stuffed and buy more Build-A-Bear clothes. Or so I hear.

Do your kids have chores? Mine do. Well sort of. They have these chore charts:

Jacy’s Chore Chart

Red=10 minutes

Blue=15 minutes

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Feed Missy
Feed Chickens
Feed Bunnies
Sweep Front Porch
Sweep Back Porch
Sweep Deck
Rake Leaves
Dust living room and bedroom
Daily Duties
Help Mommy with dinner

Molly’s Chore Chart

Red=10 minutes

Blue=15 minutes

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Run Sweeper
Unload dishwasher
Dust living room and bedroom
Feed Missy
Feed Chickens
Feed Bunnies
Rake leaves
Yardwork
Take out Trash
Daily Duties
Help Mommy with dinner

They earn their t.v. time, their video game time and their computer time with this chore chart. For each blue item they complete they earn 15 minutes and for each red they earn 10 minutes. They put a star next to each thing they complete.

I recently had a very sweet lady come over and see these charts on my refrigerator and tell me that I was rewarding my children for jobs they should be completing anyway. It got me pondering. Hmmmm...how well am I preparing them to go out into the real world? Will they be able to function or will they flounder around not knowing how to cook, do laundry or balance a checkbook? Hmmmm.... I must admit, I do way too much for my kids. It all started because they were little and I did everything for them. Now I just do it. They don't make their beds or put away their laundry. They do pick up their toys, but they don't do any yard work. In fact a coupla weekends ago I asked them to help me pick up sticks and they whined like Early Christian Martyrs. You would have thunk I was burning them at the stake.

So..do your kids have chores? I want to know. Leave me a comment or write a post about it and let me know. Inquiring minds and all...

I may get the whip out. Crrraaack! Just kidding.

So LOOK what came in the mail for the birthday girl yesterday! LOOK! Isn't it presh!?




This picture does not do it justice because it is the ca-yutest, Shabbiest little girl's necklace I have ever seen! Ca-yute! My new friend sent it to her and she sells this stuff! You havta go over and see her blog and beg her to sell you something! Did I say it was ca-yute? Rumor has it her new website will be as ca-yute as she is once it is up and running. I think Bashful the bunny told me, can't remember.

So yes, the Bowling Bash is this weekend! I made little bowling shirts and bowling cookies and a cake shaped like a bowling pin. I'm sure I'll inflict the pics on you once the bash is bashed.

Tonight Jacy is singing a solo in her little music concert at school. She has the sweetest little voice but she is painfully shy in front of people. Her violin teacher told me that she has a natural ear, after they had played some little game where the teacher plays a note on the piano and Jacy was supposed to match it on the violin. She did it every time. That's all good and well, but she's going to have to sing unto the Lord or something because I don't think any of us will ever hear it. She's singing "Danny Boy". Like there will be a dry eye in the house. Can you see this little face singing that? Oh! If my granddad could hear her. We are quite proud of our Irish heritage so this face singing that song. Sniff!!

I'm packing the tissues!

Oh! Here's another new friend! Go visit her! I just did her bloggie design and she is a HOOT! You'll love her!



I found her blog through my other new friend, Ruthann. I want to be this woman. Can I be her? Can I? I stalk her blog and mutter impatient things under my breath when she doesn't post. She makes me want to be a better person. Go visit these fun ladies and say Hi and tell them The Shabbee Chick sent you.

Get OUT!!!!

Wanna hear the latest thing that makes me want to THROW UP??? This new label (you know how I love them!) "Mom-nesia". GET outta town! Mom-nesia? I have never been so offended for the Mommy nation. Have you heard this? Read the eloquent article from the prestigious USA Today here. So apparently the new breaking news story, since we have nothing else to report on, is that Moms of small children develop a temporary condition lovingly called "Mom-nesia" where we forget and have small lapses in organization and managing our lives and homes. Apparently we get in the car and forget where we are going, leave laundry in the washing machine, forgotten, to mildew and forget to return phone calls. This little quirk of scatterbrained forgetfulness is due to the "work out" our Mommy brains are getting. We are, apparently, learning new things and our brain is having a hard time holding it all in. You know, as un-challenging as motherhood is can you blame us? Our teensie wittle brains can't take it all in. According to this new study, it can also be hormonal-my favorite scapegoat for any behavior by women-and can also be linked to postpartum depression.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Do these people even have children? Do they realize what it takes to raise one? Do they realize that a living being has resided in our bodies for nine months, sucking the life from our bodies like a precious little blessing of a parasite? Do they realize that we are expected to squeeze this being from our body, and recuperate for a maximum of 48 hours and then jump up and attend to this little being's every whim at all times of the day and night? Do they account for the lack of sleep, midnight feedings, diaper changes, and the society's expectation to still get up, shower, curl your hair, clean your house and welcome any and all guests that want to greet the new being in your life?

I haven't had an infant in seven years so I don't know what my excuse is. I know that I am busier than any high powered executive and when I look up and the day is already gone and I'm not halfway down my list of things to do, I wipe my brow and wonder how anyone can expect us not to forget things.

Last week I left the garage door open all day long. I went to coffee with my gal pals, went to the post office, the library and on my big grocery trip and came home and it was open for any passerby to waltz in and steal any of Jason's tools and valuables. The dogs were laying in the sunshine in the driveway for anyone to drive by and steal (my precious). And my stack of newspapers waiting to be recycled had blown across the entire neighborhood.

What was my excuse then? Oh, that's right, Mom-nesia.

Last month I totally forgot that it was piano day when Molly walks down the hall to the music room at school and takes her lesson from our precious music teacher and Jacy quietly does her homework and reads her library book, and I pick them up at 4:00. I stood in the kitchen ironing when the bus sped past our house without depositing my cherubs and I held the iron transfixed trying to figure out where the hell my children were. Then I gasped, threw on some flip flops and sped to the school like a madwoman. I made it there at 4:02. Not bad. But, alas, another case of Mom-nesia.

They had a little clip on our local news this morning and featured a mom of an infant, a two year old and a five year old. They patronized this woman for about three minutes, even getting her husband to gently chide her for her unorganized house. I expected this woman to backhand him and ask him when the hell he took all three of them to the park by himself. But she just laughed it off. Especially when they told her not to worry, that she would "get her brain back" (exact quote) and be quite the same in a few years.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Oh the Shabbee-ness...

Okay, so I thought that my house was fresh and candy-coated and spring-like but I've got nothing on this house. Go check out Jen's Cottage of the Month for March. Oh it's so Shabbee...so, so Shabbee.

Wednesday Thoughts and New Friends

Wednesday, Wednesday why must you come so soon?! Don't you know I have things to do on my list and you are telling me that my week is halfway over?! Slow down, Wednesday!

So here are some fun new bloggy designs I have completed this week, along with a ca-yute logo for The Little Brook and a website design that (shhhh...) isn't up and running yet! Go visit these fun friends. They have some sassy blogs now!

Hansen's Hotline

The Little Brook



Krista's Korner

I have sooooooo much to do before the week is up. I really need to go finish up Jacy's birthday shopping since her birthday is a week from Saturday and my mom is taking both girls to see the musical "Annie" this weekend. Jacy is obsessed with Annie and used to put on this old raggedy indian costume (don't ask me why, maybe because it was so grungy) and pretend to be scrubbing the floors and singing "It's a Hard Knock Life"! So she's pumped. Plus my mom always takes them to this fun retro soda fountain when she takes them to the PAC. She loves taking them to the theater. I always got taken to operas and musicals and ballets and the Symphony when I was a kid. I loved it and was totally offended when there was a show out that I wasn't allowed to go to for some reason or another.

Then I need to schedule Jacy's eye exam but our insurance has changed and they want me to jump through all these weird hoops to go to a new optometrist when the one we have now is just wonderful and so good with little Jacy and I hate to change. I'm tempted to just pay full price and not file insurance because I love her that much.

I really need to go do my big grocery trip. Really. Need. To. And I need to make my trip to Whole Foods for the month, but I don't know if that's going to happen.

I need to go see my grandma who is almost 80 and can't get around like she used to. She raised me and I take a lot of the responsibility of checking on her. She also needs to go grocery shopping. And she lives 45 minutes away.

I need to buy tickets for the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra because we are taking the girls to see them perform in a coupla weeks. They, sadly, never sell out so it's not a huge rush.

I desperately need to get my haircut. I have needed to for about three weeks but keep putting it off because I hate sitting there for an hour and a half. But I can't put it off any longer.

And the list goes on.

Am I on top of those things? I am not. I sit here designing blogs for my new friends and talking to you. I have cookies in the oven and plan on taking the kids to the ha-yuge park in our town this afternoon because it is a beautiful sunny day. Nothing on the list is getting done today.

And you know what? It probably won't get done tomorrow morning either because I am going to coffee with my girlfriends. And we all know that takes priority.

Have you been loving on your hubbies? Last night I said nothing, NOTHING about the nasty mud caked boots that walked through my freshly mopped kitchen floor, got removed in the bedroom and spread ground in dirt all along the hall carpet. I just sighed, got out the vacuum and plugged it in and do you know what he did? He said "Oh no! I'm so sorry! Here let me do that for you! See we have those no shoes in the house rules for a reason, don't we?" and he vacuumed it all right up for me. Why, oh why, can't I just keep my mouth shut more often?

You know what they say you attract more bees with honey than vinegar....

Spring Forward?

You know the only bad thing about spring is daylight savings time. I have the hardest darned time adjusting to it. I love the extra daylight that we steal, but oh the lost hour! I need my hours of sleeping. The fall daylight savings change doesn't bother me as much as the spring. It seems easier to adjust when you're already wanting to start hibernating. But, oh the spring. This Sunday you can bet I'll be sleepy and cranky!

So I never thought I would tell one of my children "Molly if you don't put that book down right this instance I'm taking it away and you're not reading it for the rest of the night." Can you imagine?! Now you know we're a family of readers here at the Archer house and of course that has translated onto the girls. They have always loved books. And even as babies, they never put them in their mouths and chewed them like most babies do, they looked and looked with their wittle blue eyes and turned the pages and treated them lovingly. The above picture was taken yesterday morning as I'm saying "Molly? Have you brushed your teeth? Molly it's time for the bus! Molly? Did you get your lunchbox? MOLLY!!!" She's reading away. totally tuning me out.

This kid will read absolutely anywhere. She takes books outside and reads in the fort and in the playhouse and on the hammock and porch swing. She reads in the car on the way to wherever we're going. She reads on the bus. She reads on the bench in the dugout at softball practice until her coach told her this wasn't library time and to leave her reading material at home. Her favorite spot is anywhere.

Here's my little violin player.

Liz was asking about the lessons the other day. Jacy takes from a lady who teaches at our local private, Christian school here in our town. (Local here in our town, is that redundant or what?). At first I was not digging this gal. She is TOTALLY unorganized and as ya'll know that don't fly with me! My time is very very important-probably more so than the $20 a lesson we shell out for her half hour-and I don't take kindly to being stood up for meetings or violin fittings or having my lesson time switched around three or four times. But I guess that comes with musical genius because this lady is fab-oo. Plus, she's very developmentally appropriate with Jacy and recognizes exactly where she is and how she learns. I love that. I'm all about age-appropriate teaching. Which is why I'm so opposed to all-day kindergarten but that's another soapbox. Anyhoo, she gets right down there with Jacy and pulls out her violin and they play games and she plays the piano while J plays the violin and she plays musical theory games with her and in just a few lessons, Jacy has taken off. But I tell ya'll-violin is HARD! I don't think I could ever play it. It's hard. I took piano lessons for 12 years and on up into college and then taught piano lessons for five years, only stopping when the kids started toddling into the lesson room and interrupting me, so I am not musically inept. But. Violin. Is. Hard. Go, Scootie, go. Jacy's teacher, whose name incidentally, is Melody-isn't that prosaic-teaches with a mixture of the Suzuki style, which is a type of ear training, and good old fundamentalist classical training with the lines and spaces and staff. I love her. Unorganized as she may be. Actually she's better now.

Jacy can play the following songs "Jingle Bells", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Oats and Beans", "Twinkle Twinkle" and "I Like Peanut Butter"!

Now. Do ya'll mind if I just climb on a tiny soapbox? Just a teensie one? (Don't roll your eyes at me!!! If you want nicey-nice this ain't the blog to be at! HA!) Okay, so without going into a lot of detail, Jason and I are not real religious people. We used to be. We used to be at church every time the doors opened. Not so much anymore. We volunteered for absolutely everything and both taught Sunday School and A.W.A.N.A.S. and Bible School and etc. I belonged to a Women's Bible Study where I actually taught the lesson on several occasions. We. Were. Into. It.

But stuff happens and you grow and change and to make a long, boring, controversial story short, we just aren't at church every time the doors open anymore. Still believe in God and we pray with the kids and yadda yadda, but just not the typical religious believer. 'Kay? 'Kay. 'Nuf of that.

However. I will tell you about a book that I adore. A Woman After God's Own Heart is so awesome. It really is. I don't endorse everything in it, but as a general lesson it's just fabulous. I read it about once a year and I just finished up again. And every time I read it I think about how much I have improved since I was first married and how much further I still need to go.

Sigh.

Will I ever get there?

Here's a picture of me and Jason on our wedding day. Note the gigantic puffy mid-90's sleeves. It was 1996, people, okay? See, I used to be thin! I weight 97 pounds on our wedding day. And it looks to me like Jason didn't weigh much more than that! Ha!



So. Here's what I got out of this book this time. I. Am. So. Selfish. Are you? Sometimes when Jason walks in the door, he gets the perfunctory kiss on the cheek and I just go right on with what I am doing. When did the world stop spinning when he got home? Last time I went to the grocery store I asked him if he needed anything like I always do and promptly forgot it when I got there and when he asked me about it I had to hang my head and say "Ooops! I forgot!". When did whatever he asked for stop being #1????

Gals, I have to tell you what a fabulous man I have married. He is just the very best husband in the whole world and totally my very best friend. He's such a good father and is so involved in everything that this family does. He always puts himself and his needs last.

I'm not a terrible wife. I'm not doing the whole bashy-bashy myself thing. Because we are both very good to one another. But this book really talked about how in the middle of the routine of our lives and kids and work and sports practice and occasions and just general business we forget. We forget that 12 years ago I was so in love with this person that I would get short of breath.

Where did that go?

Allthistosay (I know you're wondering where I'm going with this) I don't do the whole New Year's Resolution. I think it's silly. I think we should try to be our best person all the time not just on January 1st. But I am making a resolution. Today, on March the 4th! I will treat him like he deserves. He is the king of the castle. He is. He pays for it. He goes out every day and works his hiney off so I can stay home with the kids and he has never once complained. Never once. I will treat him like the king he is. I will bring the romance back into our marriage and not be pissed off when he is not romantic because why should he do all the work? I can do it sometimes, too, right? I will be his cheerleader. I will get the megaphone out and do some tumbles for him to cheer him on when he's having a tough day at work and needs to vent. I'll go on some of his stupid boring car shows with him and I'll act interested even though I hate it. I'll go to his movies and his concerts and sit in the boat while he fishes and I might even go on one of those stupid off-road outings he loves. Whatever. He goes to antique stores and the mall and bed and breakfasts with fru-fru bedrooms for me. He let me paint the bedroom pink. Now, come on.

The point of this is to say just like the Electric Company would "HEY YOU GUYS!" Come on! Let's get together as wives and not start thinking about what we deserve and what we want, but let's focus on our hubbie's this month and see what a difference it can make!

'Kay that's it.

Now. Jacy's birthday is in two weeks! And I have had the hardest time with gift ideas for her! It just goes to show you how much stuff my kids have and how little they actually need if I can't think of anything to buy her! Her big present is an iPod. She also got an American Idol Playstation game and some Hannah Montana Barbies. The American Girl package came in yesterday with the violin set and some outfits and the dog for her Molly doll. But that was it. I was stumped. We try to do quite a bit for the kids for Christmas and birthdays because we simply don't buy them gifts and trinkets and stuff throughout the rest of the year. So we really live it up on holidays! They are princesses for the day and can do whatever they please, eat whatever they please and they get presents lavished on them like the little princesses they are! So I was sad when I looked at Jacy's little pile. This is not a princess pile. I'm trying really hard not to buy plastic crap for them to open. You know what I mean. Stuff that gets played with once or twice and then sold in a garage sale. I'm all done with that. I want them to open their gifts and say "Wow! Cool!" and play with it for hours! So, thanks to Kellie she helped me come up with some fab-oo ideas and I bought this online for her this morning! It is also coming with this and this and this and this!!! I'm very excited about this charm bracelet because we can keep getting her little charms for special occasions. Like a violin for her first recital!!! See, this feeds right into my little obsession with all things miniature! But Jacy loves jewelry so she will be so pumped! So thanks, Kellie! You gave me some other great ideas too-I'm going shopping this weekend while the girls go see "Annie" the musical with my mom!!!

Have you guys had the Starburst jelly beans!? Oh my goodness I can't stay away from them! Seriously. They are bad!

And speaking of jellies, have you seen that Jellies are coming back! As in the shoe, Jellies? I wore Jellies when I was a kid!!! Do you know what I'm talking about? Those plastic shoes that are terrible for your feet but so 1986???? You know I hate the way they make kids shoes sometimes. Jacy has really flat feet and when she stands her ankles turn in so she has to wear really expensive shoes and even then we have to have arch supports put in because they have no support. None. Do they think kids don't need to be comfortable too? Jellies are terrible on feet. Really bad. But not as bad as Crocs. I hate those things. First of all they are ugly and second of all, they have no arch support and if you step on anything sharp, it goes right through the shoe. My kids have some, of course to my mild protestations. But they are not allowed to wear them to school. Isn't that awful? I'm so worried that their feet will get tired or they'll step on something or they'll slip because there is no traction on them. Hate. Them.

So I'm off to make chicken enchiladas, but I leave you with this absolutely fab-oo recipe for homemade pizza. You have to try it. It's amazing!!!

"Basic Pizza Dough"


Measure out 1 3/4 cup warm water and sprinkler one package Rapid Rise yeast on top. Allow it to activate. Put 2 teaspoons salt an 2 cups flour into food processor and pulse until blended. Pour in yeast and water mix and pulse five times. Add 3 tablespoons Olive Oil and additional flour one cup at a time until you've used a total of 4 1/2 cups.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise until doubled. Punch it down and divide in half-this makes two pizzas!

This dough freezes beautifully! Just thaw for 24 hours and roll out as normal.

"Pesto and Feta Cheese Pizza"

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Roll out Basic Pizza dough on cornmeal dusted pan. Roll up the edge slightly to create a ridge around the pizza. Spread 1/2 cup basil pesto over the crust. Evenly distribute sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and fresh tomato, diced, all over the dough. Top with tons of mozzarella cheese. Brush the edge of the pizza with a pastry brush dipped in olive oil and sprinkle Parmesan cheese around the rim.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is light brown!

DELICIOUS!

More Random Thoughts and a soapbox

Do I even need to tell you how happy I am that it is March? March, to me, signifies the beginning of the end. The end of winter and dead grass and gray, gloomy, cold days and staying inside. The end of layers upon layers of clothing covering up my dry, ashy skin that wants to breathe and have the sun shine on it. And it is the beginning!! The beginning of gardens and projects and summertime plans. The beginning of sports for the kids and new spring wardrobes and new bunnies and chicks! Hooray for March. It's a damn windy month, but I'll take the wind.

So, can I just say that if I never pick up another stick again it will be too soon? We have burned the last branch from the ice storm. Three months of bending and stooping and raking and hauling and sticks poking and scratching and the sound of chainsaws and the smell of woodsmoke. I'm over it! This weekend we burned the last stick. I'm not even going to mention the ha-yuge tree at the back fenceline that needs to be removed. Not even going to think about the big piles of sticks that it will leave in its wake. Not gonna do it.

Here's a picture of it from December. It was the Forrest and Jenny peas and carrots tree, remember? Sniff.





The sad thing is that the debris is just everywhere still. I thought "Dear Lord, this is taking forever for us to clean all this up!" I thought we must have had it the worst because of our tremendous, retched mess, but there are houses where it looks like people haven't even begun to clear up. Piles and piles that they haven't even burned. Poor people. And the parks are awful. The city is so busy picking up the town's piles on the curbside they haven't even begun the parks. Sniff again.

For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to, we in the middle of the country, suffered a violent ice storm in the middle of December. Our family was without power for ten of the most stressful days of my life. (Aren't I pathetic?) I'm quite certain that you probably didn't hear more than a perfunctory news clip about it if you don't live in the immediate vicinity because as we know, Oklahoma is one of the most overlooked states in the nation and unless a building is blown up by an American-born terrorist we don't make headlines. We also don't receive Federal Disaster Relief even though it was the largest, most widespread natural disaster in Oklahoma state history. That's 100 years, folks. Apparently, since we're all so backward here anyway, our schools and citizens don't need any financial federal help. We can just hitch up our overalls and stick a chew in our mouths and pull out the old chainsaw. Maybe if we complained more then we'd get more attention, I don't know.

Wow.

Sorry, don't really know where that came from. Clearly I'm bitter. But who's counting?

Oooookaay.

So, do you love the fun new background freebie that Shabby Miss Jen is giving away! So ca-yute and springy timey! Go get one and bling up your desktop-she and her team are so fab-oo!

So, we put in our potatoes and onions and garlic this weekend. In it went into the picket fence garden that Jason so lovingly erected for me last year. We had a really beautiful Saturday. Sunny and warm. The girls actually got pink-cheeked because it didn't register with me that the sun shining on their poor little winter-white cheeks would turn them pink. Duh, Mommy. The entire time we were planting I was dreaming of big fat red tomatoes and jalapeño peppers and home grown cilantro and onions and pots upon pots of homemade salsa. Oh, sweet heaven!

Speaking of delicious homegrown veggies and the like...Kellie who if you read this blog much, you know is my dear Bloggie Buddie and I harass her on a regular basis with my long-winded comments, has been trying to make the organic switch. I told her I would post about it because we do the organic thing as much as possible. (Aside: Again, the same as our choice to clean green, it is not for any political or environment reasons, although if it helps the environment then I'm all about that. This is just a personal choice. Please don't email me nasty political comments about it. I'm about the least political person in the world. Just mouthy and abrasive. There is a difference. Or is there?) Anyhoo, it is so hard to switch! I know, trust me! I've been trying for years. I feel very strongly about feeding my family the least amount of processed foods as possible. But, as most people in America, we can't afford to switch over totally. It's almost impossible in middle-class society to do that anyway. I know that there are no Whole Foods stores in my town and the shelves offering organic foods in the grocery stores are a total joke. I have to drive forty minutes once a month to make the trek out to Whole Foods or Akins and when I do, I come away with a bill so huge I could have a new car payment on it.

So let me just preface this by saying, I don't and probably never will go totally organic. I am a southern girl and I still put bacon fat in my beans and have a can of shortening in my cabinets with which I make biscuits and fry donuts. (Chubby, remember?) I will never move away totally from processed foods, just because it ain't in my genes (jeans?). Genes. Buuut. I know that my research on the way our American food is handled is astounding. And I know that the research that tells me that most eggs stored in grocery stores sit out for days at a time in storerooms, unrefrigerated when FDA standards clearly state that all dairy products including eggs, cheeses, butters, milks, yogurts and juices containing dairy must be kept at a temperature of no higher than 40 degrees. How does a grocery store stock room stay at a regulated 40 degrees, I ask you? Did you also know that eggs you purchase at a grocery store are typically two to three weeks old before you even bring them home? Did you know that if your egg cracks easily because of a thin shell that it is due to age and a low protein diet from the poultry farms? Did you know that your yolk is supposed to be closer to orange than yellow? Did you know that the chickens that lay your grocery store eggs are injected with steroids, antibiotics and hormones to reduce disease, promote faster egg laying and faster hen growth? Did you know those chemicals are transferred to the eggs you consume?

That is why we started raising chickens. As I'm sure you know. (Soapbox, sans the label!) I know that we are crazy, eccentric people. I'm sure our neighbors think so and my perfunctory box of Christmas cookies and my husbands need to help out his fellow man helps them not complain. Especially now that Seamus the Rooster and Nigel the Rooster have come to live here. So if you are not a crazy, eccentric person such as myself and my husband and if you live in a normal neighborhood then I realize that it is not feasible to raise chickens. (Aside: once when I was a newlywed I watched a Martha Stewart program where she was making meringue and she told us viewers to go out to our henhouse and get a fresh egg and I was like "What the hell is this woman talking about is she %&*$#!!! nuts?" And the answer is...) Buuuuut, you can purchase fresh organic eggs. Your feed stores and Whole Food Stores can put you in touch with someone like me who, come about May or June, have so many eggs I force them upon all my friends and relatives simply because I cannot eat them all. They are always appalled and say things like "Well, I'm sure I'll cook with them at least" because they are grossed out by the fact that they are orange-yolked and not pre-packaged and come from my pet chicken's butt. So someone out there who has chickens will sell them to you cheap. They may even give them away.

Okay. Enough about eggs. I have such a soapbox about them. Here's the deal with meat. Now. Meat, both beef and pork, goes through some of the same things as chickens. Steroids, antibiotics, hormones, etc. In fact, a lot of research shows that some of early childhood diseases such as leukemia, adolescent diabetes and childhood obesity can be linked to this. They also say that some of the reasons that our children are developing so early (going through puberty at a younger age) is due to increased levels of hormones and steroids in our foods. I love beef. I love pork. I love chicken. I could never be a vegetarian not because I am morally opposed to it but just because I could never go the rest of my life without eating a hamburger. Or bacon, oh bacon how I love thee.

Jason and I, typically, will purchase half a cow from a man in our area that raises them organically. Now you have to be careful about the term organic. True organic cows mean they are fed all non-processed meal, feed and hay and alfalfa not treated with pesticides. They are "free range" which means they are allowed to graze for 80 percent of their day. They are also not given the above chemical injections that non-organic cattle are given. It is terribly expensive. But the meat feeds us for almost a full year. Roasts. steaks, briskets, ribs and tons and tons and tons of ground beef. This beef is so good when it cooks there is almost zero fat content and what fat is present is good, marbleized fat. It has such a fresh smell-seriously have you ever heard someone say that raw meat smells fresh and good? This meat does. Think about it. Going to the grocery store and not buying meat for an entire year.

This year we purchased half a cow in October and lost all our meat when the ice storm hit because no one had any room in their freezer for us to transfer the meat. $750 worth of beef got thrown out. It was rank. And sad.

One year we purchased half a pig from another man in our area. We thought he was organic too and we did a little trade-Jason did some work for the man and he gave us the half of the pig and we only had to pay the butchering costs. Later we found out he treats his animals so we've yet to purchase another pig. It was delicious though.

And of course in the winter you don't have the option of fresh fruits and veggies from your garden. So you have to be really careful about what you purchase from the grocery store, or purchase it for twice as much at Whole Foods. Apples, grapes, strawberries, potatoes and bell peppers are the worst things at the regular grocery store mostly because they retain more pesticides than others and also because they have dye added to their coloring. And sometimes when you buy those beautiful "Hothouse" tomatoes, they are treated exactly as their field grown friends and sprayed in the same manner. You just have to be careful.

Organic boxed foods are a joke. Local grocery stores only carry the most perfunctory of items and most are not totally organic. I would never purchase wheat germ from a grocery store. Only at Whole Foods, mainly because its not totally organic wheat germ. They put additives and fillers in there. In wheat germ for godssakes. I also purchase whole wheat and unbleached flour and raw sugar and Whole Foods. But it does cost an arm and a leg.

Also, we don't drink diet drinks or sugar-free food items or put Splenda or Sweet N Low or whatever in our coffee. It all contains aspartame which has been linked to cancer. And it tastes disgusting. Give me good old white sugar (which also has been bleached and processed, but we eat it anyway).

It's almost impossible in this world on a budget to avoid eating some processed foods. Plus I'm thankful for them. If it wasn't for pasteurization we would all be living like the settlers and dieing at a young age.

So, Kellie, there's your post. We do spend an enormous amount on our grocery budget. I've tried for years to get it down but as prices climb and climb and climb it's impossible. We just sacrifice in other areas. But our family eats really well. We eat balanced meals and healthy lunches and breakfasts and the kids will go over to friends' houses and say things like "Mommy, she had the best macaroni and cheese. It was in a blue box and really orange and cheesy and little tiny noodles." I really want to tell them why it is so orange and cheesy, but I refrain.

Poor neglected children. Molly didn't even eat any candy until she was four years old. Can you believe that? And it was at her grandparents' house. They had a bowl of M&M's on their table and she thought it was a foreign substance. And they have never, to this day, taken a sip of pop. (Coke, soda or whatever you call it.) Never. Can you believe it?