Cleaning off the Cell Phone Camera

Found a few treasures on the cell phone camera this morning.

This is from a few months back but we had a busy day out shopping and Addie finally gave in to sleep even while we walked around the store:

All smiles in the grocery store:

Almost out...

Pure mischief in church:

Carseat fun:

Out to eat:

Waking up from a nap:

Our little smiler:

Such a precious little girl! We love her so much.

I want

Pumpkins: MIA

So the big news yesterday was this: We could be facing a potentially Thanksgiving-table-crippling canned pumpkin shortage. My mom called to tell me about it, ironically after I gave her one of my cans of pumpkin on Wednesday night because "I had an extra can". If I had only known.

I started to calculate in my head if I have enough canned pumpkin to last me until the shortage is over. (FYI, I've found I'm very easily swayed by the threat of scarcity, especially when it comes to food.) I checked my garage and counted 4 cans. 1 can will be used for this year's pies, and I'll probably need at least one can for the Christmas pies as well. Then there's the fact that my homemade pumpkin tarts are an easy and crowd pleasing dessert that I love to whip together at a moment's notice. Then there's the fact that I've been craving Bobby Flay's southwestern spicy pumpkin soup. It's just not enough.

The cynical side of me thinks that maybe it's all hype. Maybe they just want us to rush out and buy their pumpkin. Could they be that devious? It could be part of a winter squash conspiracy. Am I willing to gamble on that? Not a chance. I'm heading to Sam's Club this morning (open early for business members) to stock up on 2 three packs of pumpkin. And some Hazelnut Piroulines while I'm at it, because what if they run out of those as well? You just can't be too safe.

Still here....

Is there an award for the Worst Blogger Ever? Because I think I might qualify. Last time I posted, we just found out we got the Maui timeshare. Now, we're actually getting ready to go! I'm busy printing out my notebook with important things like directions from the airport to the resort, and from the resort to important stops like Costco and Round Table Pizza. Most importantly, I bought a new swimsuit for the first time in years. Which is hard to do in November. But I found a great store online called Sahalie and they had some good swimsuits still in stock. This is the first time I've branched out and got a swimsuit that is not black, navy blue or brown. Yay me. Here it is:

I also got the little skirt that goes with it, which I thought was way cute. Hopefully everything fits!

Other items of note:

• I'm loving Glee! If you, like me, love Glee, go to Pandora and create a station based on the Glee cast.
  
• John bought us the Wii Active and we've been doing their 30 day challenge. I'm down about 8 lbs in three weeks and am feeling a little better about being in a swim suit. Now if I just had a tan.
  
• I am officially a reformed night owl, and am now in bed by 10:30 (except for very unusual circumstances) and up by 6:00. This morning I was up by 5:00, just because I couldn't sleep and my body wanted to get going. I really think it's because I actually get a 4-5 hour block before Addie wakes up and I've found that I really need to take advantage of that time.
• I'm overwhelmed by the idea of Christmas shopping. Amazon, with Amazon Prime Free Two Day Shipping will be my best friend this year, I think.
• I taught a class last week on holiday hors d'oeuvres and it really got me in a holiday baking mood. Good thing Thanksgiving is around the corner and I will have lots of excuses to bake!

Feels good to blog. I'll try and be better.

Maui!

See this post, number 17. We got it!! I'm much too excited to type now. More later...

Addie and the Unfortunate Doll

John's parents gave Addie a cute little doll for Christmas and Addie has developed sort of a love/hate relationship with it. She sometimes loves to be really gentle with the doll and treats it like it's just precious. Other times, she loves to just poke it in the eye, bite its head and generally torment it. Last week, Addie didn't know anyone was watching her and she started playing with the doll. At first she was so sweet with it, and she kind of petted it and was very gentle. Then she picked the doll up under its arms, looked at it right in the eyes for about 10 seconds, then she threw her head back and headbutted it as hard as she could. This unfortunate doll does not stand a chance against Addie, who is the queen of headbutting. Stay tuned for more Addie vs the Unfortunate Doll adventures.

Can't Help Myself

I couldn't help it. I know I said I wasn't planting a garden this year, since the house is for sale, but I started to think to myself "what if the house doesn't sell for 5-6 months?" It's possible, in this market, right? Plus, our neighbor a few house down has the most amazing garden ever, which has affected me in two ways: 1) I'm completely jealous and have severe garden envy every time I walk past his yard and 2) this neighbor has decided to start a Saturday morning neighborhood "Farmer's Market" of sorts, where all the neighbors can bring their extra produce and trade for something they may not have grown this year. If I don't have a garden this year, what can I trade with? See my point? Plus, the thought of not having garden fresh vegetables this year makes me feel empty. So I put in a simple garden: tomatoes, tomatillos, crookneck squash, zucchini, cucumbers, jalapenos, anaheims and the usual herbs (basil and parsley are new this year, and there are old perennials like rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, oregano and mint that are back). All in all, I feel good for having a garden in my yard, even if the house does sell quickly and I find out that I just spent two days planting someone else's garden.

Pick Me Up

If you haven't seen the latest Pixar offering "UP", do yourself a favor, drop what you're doing now and rush to the closest theater. We saw this movie last night and loved, loved, loved it. Someone told me that the first 20 minutes would make me cry, and they were right. Well done, Ed Catmull, well done. The short was fantastic too, by the way. I give "UP" 2 thumbs up, 5 stars, fresh tomatoes, whatever. It's just good.

Boring

I received the ultimate insult last night. I was at my friend Lisa's house and she told me "Your blog is boring. You never post anything." Painful, but true. So Lisa, this post is dedicated to you.

It really has been much too long since I posted. What's new, you ask? Here are 20 random things that will catch you up with my life:

1. Addie just got over the worst illness! She had a fever of 103 for about 4 days straight. Then she developed cold sores all over her lips and got them in her mouth, on her tongue and gums. She didn't eat hardly anything for about 3 days, and when she did eat, she would scream because food hurt her mouth. SO sad. However, she's much better now and is back to wreaking havoc and destroying things around the house. Yesterday John caught her eating the carpet in our living room, just tearing up peices and trying to unravel it with her teeth. Oh, and she has also figured out a way to open flip top water bottles, using her bottom teeth as a bottle opener.
   
2. We just put our house up for sale. It made my heart hurt to see the sign out front because I love our house, but it's just a little too small.
   
3. Because the house is up for sale, I have not planted a garden for the first time in 9 years. I'm having some major gardening withdrawal pains and also suffer from garden envy. If our house doesn't sell until fall, I'm going to be ticked about this.
   
4. Had a great time this weekend. Went to the Farmer's Market downtown, bought goat cheese, goat cheese yogurt, farm fresh eggs, fresh beet greens and grass feed beef (lunch today). Also got some great street food and tried Maestro's gelato for an after market treat. Had a good friend over for dinner that night and grilled plank salmon, corn on the cob and new potatoes, and served them with fresh caprese salad. Almost a perfect Saturday. Incidentally, Maestro's is AWESOME! Try it if you haven't been there. They have tons of gelato flavors and both sweet and savory crepes.
   
5. Addie has developed an evil laugh. It's almost like a villain in a movie. She did it for about 20 minutes straight in Maestro's on Saturday, due to their amazing echo in their restaurant. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out, but the owners were actually very cool and did evil laughs back at her. We'll be going back there for sure.
6. I love "Bobby Flay's Grill It". I'm kind of obsessed with grilling these days and have gotten some great ideas from that show. Several of the dishes featured on last week's marathon have made it to the menu this week.
7. I'm so excited about the new bike trailer we bought from Lisa! She and her hubby sold us their baby bike trailer and I'm excited beyond words to start riding with Addie in tow. She's going to love the canyon rides!
8. John and some friends are planning a treasure hunting trip in a couple of weeks. Should be so much fun! His dad is going with them and it will be a fun boy's day out.
   
9. I'm loving golf this year. I've been about 3 times so far and I'm getting a few kinks worked out of my game.
   
10. FYI, I am absolutely crazy about my husband and little girl. They are so stinking amazing. I'm very lucky.
11. I'm excited for Charlotte to come out and visit this summer. I want to meet Bri!
12. I was so overwhelming happy at the American Idol results!!!!!!
    
13. I've replaced American Idol with "So You Think You Can Dance". Mary is no Paula, but she'll do for now.
14. Addie's 1 year birthday is in less than three weeks! I need to get her party planned.
15. My new weakness: Ghiradelli's dark chocolate bar with caramel filling.
    
16. We're going to a "Save Rock Canyon" rally on Saturday morning. For those who don't know, Rock Canyon is being threatened by a loser who wants to turn it into a mining operation. This would be a huge tragedy. To learn more, click here.
17. We put in a request to trade our timeshare week for a week in Maui in the fall. Fingers crossed!
18. I hate my allergies this year.
    
19. I'm glad to know where I came from, why I'm here and where I'm going. It's good news indeed.
20. I'm considering adding an "overheard" feature to my blog. I hear the most random snippets of conversations. Watch for that!

Ah, it feels good to blog. I think I'm back on the wagon. Happy Lisa? :)

Overheard

Today while walking Addie through the halls in church, I overheard the following conversation between about five 18 year old boys in hallway (one was talking, the others were listening very intently):

"So he talked back to his dad, nothing really bad, but he talked back to him and then he turned to leave and his dad was like 'Don't turn your back on me!', and he kept walking, so his dad took a knife and threw it at his back, so he had to listen to his dad yell at him for 10 minutes with a knife in his back, before he could take it out. But him and all the kids in his family totally respect authority."

Hmmmmm.

Hooray for Matt!

I'll admit it, I was worried for Matt this week. I'm one of his biggest fans, and still believe that when the boy plays the piano and sings, nobody can touch him (not even you Adam Lambert). However, after his weak-sauce version of "Stayin' Alive", which sadly reminded me the entire time of a parody we did in my third grade school play of Pinocchio in the whale's belly, I didn't have much hope that he'd still be around after tonight. I was even prepared to stop watching the show (although let's be honest, I would still watch just to vote for whoever is competing with Adam) if Matt got kicked off. Then, tonight, when Ryan informed us that Matt was saved again, this time not by the judges, but by you, America, I stood up and cheered! Let's hear it for dueling pianists everywhere! Matt, we still got your back! Make us proud buddy!

Memo to Self

Please don't let me forget that we have Wicked tickets for this weekend. We bought them almost a year ago and I almost forgot about them. Yikes.

682

I decided today to clean off my SD card from my new camera, because it had been about 4 weeks. I had 682 pictures on there. About 4 GB worth. And out of 682, probably 672 are of Addie. Here are some of my favorite photos from last month:

I just love how big her eyes look here!

OK, we laughed and laughed and laughed at this one. I have no idea what Addie's doing here! She looks like a fake doll. She's such a character.

Making eyes at Daddy

Just love this candid shot

This is so her. She's a total prankster!

Ditto.

Getting into trouble....and getting caught!

Happy to be standing up!

Addie is a little thrill seeker. She loves to be thrown in the air, and give John a workout.

Love. this. one. I just adore her cute little smile.

Bath time fun. We call this the "old man face" and she's been making it a lot lately.

Trying to snag some shower water.

Nice and clean and cute!

And here's photo I shot of our "spring" snow storm this week.

Love the new camera. More photos coming soon, I'm sure.

Judge's Save

Oh thank heaven for the Judge's Save!! I knew I was going to like that rule. Matt lives to sing one more week...at least. Hopefully Matt is practicing some killer disco moves and Adam Lambert will suffer a stress fracture in his hip this week, rendering him unable to do his bum-swiveling moves next week. We'll see.

Punk'd

I promise, this blog is not turning into place to report nothing but the crazy dreams I have, but I just had to share one more. Over the weekend, I dreamed that I was at the mall eating lunch at the food court. Out of nowhere, Ashton Kutcher walks up and sits down to join me. We chat for a few minutes and then he says "I apologize in advance for this." I say "For what?" Then Ashton head-butts me, but HARD. As I'm reeling from the force of the blow, Ashton steals my laptop and runs away. End of dream.

In other events, we had a fantastic, but low-key Easter. We made a small dinner of caprese salad (with tons of fresh basil from my aerogarden) and lemon chicken. We also visited some friends from Mexico and shared in an Easter tamale feast. They had a huge party complete with "Coscaron", or confetti eggs.

They had been saving egg shells since February, and had filled them with confetti and hand painted them. Everyone ran around the yard chasing each other and smashing eggs on each other's head. At the end of the day, everyone looked like this:

So fun. We were shaking confetti out of our hair all afternoon, but it was worth it. Hope everyone had a joyful Easter weekend!