My question of the day

What would possess an almost 5 year old to stick a popcorn kernel up her nose?

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time until it hurt and she began to freak out. One quick blow with me holding the other nostril shut dislodged the kernel which shot out like a cannonball.

And all was right with the world again.

No popcorn kernels were damaged during the making of this blog or the experiment.

I miss my summer Thursdays

Thursdays in the summer are like Christmas morning. That's the day our box from our CSA is delivered. CSA stands for Community Support Agriculture which really means we get a box of local, fresh, organic veggies each week. It makes me feel good that we are supporting local farmers (ok, so they are really a couple hours away, but at least they aren't from another country where the vegetables are packed up, put on a plane, end up in a warehouse, and then trucked off to the grocery store.)

Last summer was the first time we joined and I do have to say it was overwhelming at times. We got vegetables that I've never made before- like kale, collard greens, beets (wasn't a fan previously), and sometime we got so much of something, we just couldn't use it up especially when TheYoungest was born. My mom got the rewards from that week.

But it was SO MUCH FUN. You never really knew what you were going to get since they didn't know exactly what would be ripe the following week. They did give you an idea of what would be in your box but nothing was guaranteed due to Mother Nature. I made recipes I would have never made before and we ate a lot more veggies than ever before.

I miss it.

It was so cool to get garlic with a big stalk shooting out of it, or brussels sprouts still attached to their stalk knowing they were probably picked just days before. And tons and tons of peppers- that is LushMan's favorite as well as bags of potatoes still with dirt on them. And popcorn still on the stalk with the husk on. Too neat. This summer, I'll share them all with you.

Angelic Organics, the CSA, gave a cookbook last year to all members. It zeros in on the food they grow. It showed how to store veggies the proper way (who knew you just didn't throw them all the crisper?!), some recipes and plenty of interesting stories and quotes.

I received an email from them today with very exciting news. Their DVD, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, is now available on DVD.

"The Real Dirt on Farmer John will turn every idea you ever had about what it means to be an American farmer, or an American dreamer, on its head. Meet Farmer John, the incredible human being whose inspirational story of revolutionizing his family farm and redeeming his own life has won accolades and awards at film festivals around the world."

I can't wait to watch it! And if you're interested, you can buy the DVD and the cookbook on their website.

Another piece of Chocolate cake...

As I said on Works for Me Wednesday, I shopped online at Chocolate Cake Club for some Christmas gifts. I've been really a happy with my purchases there and was happily surprised that Sue Kirchner, the founder of the Chocolate Cake Club, was kind enough to stop by and leave me a comment thanking me for the endorsement.

I want to make clear that I don't work for Chocolate Cake Club. I have not been paid, encouraged or threatened to make this post. I have never met Sue or anyone else that works for them. I am just a happy consumer.

That all said, I thought I'd share what I did buy from them. I first found them because I was looking for a 2007-2008 planner. I bought the one I used the year before at Barnes & Noble, but they didn't have this years version and I wanted to start using it. I did a google search for the planner and up came their website. So, in my first purchase, I bought the Mom's Plan-it™ 2008 Engagement Calendar. I also added the Baby Daze™ Sitter Slips because we were starting with a new sitter and I thought they'd come in handy.

For Christmas, for my 6 year old niece, I bought the Playful Chef Kids Cooking Kits. It is adorable and she loved it. I got my nephew, her twin, the I Dig™ Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton Excavation Adventure. I cannot begin to say how much he loves this set. Any little boy who loves dinosaurs would love it. I also got him this Dinosaur Kids Talking Alarm Clock.

For me, I bought the Retro Take Out Menu Organizer Binder. Like most people, (I hope it isn't just us!), we have a junk drawer (or two or three or four) that was overflowing with a bunch of crap stuff. Our takeout menus seemed to multiply in the drawer. We had more than one copy from each place we order from. I don't know if they were having little menu babies in the darkness of the drawer when we weren't looking or what, but it was getting way out of hand. Now our menus are organized, all in one place and we only have one copy each.

Of course, I have a whole other list of things I'd like to buy. One day, one day.

Laughadaisy's blog is beautiful!

In fact, it is so beautiful, she wants to share. She's giving away a Blog Design by Summer.

So, go check out Laughadaisy. Read her blog and enter her giveaway! And let me know you did!

Works For Me Wednesday: On-Line Shopping Edition

I'm jumping on the bandwagon again. Obviously, I'm still new to this blogging thing, but I had so much fun with the giveaway from Rocks In My Dryer that I wanted to join her other things.

So, today is Works For Me Wednesday. The theme is On-Line Shopping.

My absolute favorite place right now is Chocolate Cake Club. They have really cute gifts and toys. My kids as well as my sister's kids all loved their Christmas gifts from there. They have good quality stuff and incredible fast shipping. (you can now see what I bought.)


One of my favorite places to shop for toys is For Small Hands. They focus on Montessori toys and many of the things they sell, the girls have used in their classrooms.

My girls are little Disney princess freaks, (yes, sue me, I give into the whole Disney thing. I might even enjoy it myself.) so I shop occasionally for Disney stuff.

For cloth diapers, I like Cotton Babies and Tree City Diapers. I like Tree City Diapers because she has a lot of other cool stuff too.

I think Amazon is where I do most of my browsing along with Overstock.

And I should probably give an honorable mention to one of the loves of my life, LUSH. I go there to browse still, but now that a store has opened up not ten minutes away (aren't you so jealous?), I don't online shop there anymore.

The Money Pit

I love my house, I really do. I love that it gives us all our own space, but we don't get lost in it. I love the street it is on, and some of the neighbors. I love that I have a basement again. I love the rose garden that came with the house even if I had no idea how to take care of roses the day we closed. I love that I could live here for the rest of my life. Well, once I get a Lush worthy tub and the kitchen is redone.

But, for goodness sake, I hate this house! No, really I love it.

We moved here in September of 06. We bought the house for the location and layout, not for the lovely blue carpeting all over including the kitchen. Oh yes, they had carpeting in the kitchen. With stains and spot and I'm sure little crawly things making their homes in the depths of it. It took about 6 weeks after we closed before we could move in here. We were removing the carpeting, the cigarette tar stained wall paper (30 years of chain smoking in this place and the walls were crying for a cleaning), and the ancient appliances. And then we sanded the existing hardwood in rooms that had it, put it down in rooms that didn't, put ceiling fans (yes, ceiling fans- Trading Spaces will NEVER come here) and light fixtures upstairs then we gave the house a head to toe paint job. It sounds like we're really handy, doesn't it? Well, we're not. We had it all done. And it still took professionals six weeks to get this place in order.

Let's look at some before pictures:

Do they scream old people who have lived here for 30 years?


Our first major problem was using the inspector that our realtor suggested. The wall paper removers/painters used the shower stall in the master bath to dump some of the dirty water down the drain. All of a sudden, we had a huge wet spot on the kitchen ceiling. One of the workers that were here realized that the shower stall was full of cracks. It probably hadn't been used in years. Why didn't the inspector find this?

Let's look at the lovely shower:

Mmm, love that grime.

And the problem it caused:

It was fixed. Those pictures come at a later date. We moved in. We were happy. We had a list of things we'd still like to do like my dream kitchen and Lush worthy tub, but nothing pressing.

Until our first flood.

TheOldest and TheMiddleChild were playing in the basement. They came up stairs soaking wet. Immediately I thought they got into something, but no, we had standing water in their playroom. Ignore the toys.

See my foot prints in the last picture? I have some pretty feet, don't I?

This was at the beginning of the flood. By the end of it, there was wall to wall calf length water. The sump pump failed.

A month later, the new sump pump failed again. Thanks to LushMan though, we didn't have the flooding like before. He actually was able to replace it himself- at 3am. I was very impressed, though I'd never tell him. (Here’s hoping he doesn't read this post. He does read occasionally from work when he really should be making us some more money to pay for all these issues.)

Our next water issue was the hot water heater. It was leaking. In the same basement of the Big Floor of 2006. We had a new one put in.

See a trend here? This house does not like water. Or it likes it too much that it wants it all the time. The next problem was the water tap outside would not shut off. We had to have a plumber come fix it.

Our most recent water issue, and not the most recent issue was that the cold water tap in the half bath froze. Yes, it was cold here, very cold, but it started running again at three in the morning when it was coldest. Explain that one.

That's it for the water issues- right now at least.

Last winter, during a very cold month, we got hit with a gas bill of over a thousand dollars. Apparently we had no insulation in the attic. So, we had to have some blown in.

Then this past summer, being big, hot and pregnant, I called the window company because one of the windows in our bedroom would fall out as soon as you open it. The windows, purchased by the previous owners, were under a lifetime guarantee. The company came out and the previous owners had replaced all of the windows in the house aside from three of them. And yes, the one we had problems with was one of the three.

I'm finally at our latest issue. All of the previous problems happened within a year and a half of living here.

Yesterday, all three girls were in the van ready to go to TheOldest's therapy. I open the garage door. At least I think I do. The opener goes and goes and goes. But doesn't open. Out of the van we all go again. LushMan says we need a new opener if not a new track for the door. All I have to say about that one is thank god I didn't have this problem between dropping the girls off at school and picking them up.

So, what will be our next unexpected drain on the finances? Whatever it is does not make me happy. With each one, my dream kitchen and Lush bathroom get further and further away.

So(y) Busted.

Continuing from my previous post, we were to try soy formula since her RAST test came back negative to soy. I was so looking forward to using soy instead of the very expensive formula ($25 for 3 days worth.) Like I've said before, I would like to breastfeed exclusively again, but more on that later.

Saturday we decided to try the soy. First I'd nurse, then we'd follow up with a few ounces of formula. She did have a bit of a cold and I wasn't thinking or else I would have waited. Throughout the day, she got sicker and sicker. And crankier and crankier. She's normally a very happy baby, so I just figured she wasn't feeling well (LushMan gets cranky when he's sick too.)

Right before bed, she projectile vomited. And then slept better than she had all day. And we went back to the Nutramigen. Hello, ridiculous expense. Goodbye, Luxuries.

So, back to the nursing. I'm still plugging away at it. The thing that kills me the most is that she started out nursing well. She was going to be my baby who nursed the longest (in my mind.)

Thank you for the comments yesterday, the advice, the support. It really helped.