Home on the Range

My daughter has taken to curing her own boredom lately by actually PLAYING.  What a novel concept.  Today she asked me for her straw cowboy hat out of the closet.  I asked her what it was for and she told me she was taking "Calaroot" out of the barn.  I Looked over at the baby gate on the stairs and she had her broom horse hanging over the edge, as if it was in a stall, in a barn.  I laughed and thought she looked so cute with her hair in braids and the hat on her head, just so.  Of course in my sick stupor this morning I forgot to snap off some shots. 
Take my word for it, it was cute as buttons.
    Later on tonight i asked Paige what the name of her horse was again, she told me "Calaroot".
"Oh right", I replied.  Then she wanted to know why I had asked her what her horses name was.  I told her, "Because i forgot what his name was!"  She quickly hollered back "Not HEEEE, SHEEE!!".
Pardon me!  Despite the name "Calaroot" being slightly gender ambiguous, I should have known by the horses pink mane and all of the ribbons. 
The only question I have is: where the heck did she get that name from anyway???  It’s hilarious!

Kids are the best.
~jen

Weekends on the island…

Well, it’s been a non-exciting weekend around here.  The night of Nolan’s Party I didn’t feel right, and knew i was coming down with something (again!).  Sure enough, I woke up feeling like hell and it got worse with every passing hour.  On Saturday i woke up feeling like death-warmed-over and spent a good part of the day trying to sleep it off.  This bug came fully loaded with fever, chills, incessant coughing, shaking, painful face, eyes and other body parts.  Thank the Lord for the small blessing of my husband being well and also being off work over the weekend to help me take care of business.  Sunday (today), I slept in until noon and have been feeling better as the day wears on despite a swelling gland on the left side of my throat… grrrr.
This was definitely a bug of a different colour.  Wow.  I think I’ve even passed it on to Suz, and I feel so horrible since she’s got a super busy week ahead of her and i don’t think she’ll be able to cope if she’s got this nasty bug- bug is not the right word- Nasty devil virus- yes, that seems more fitting. 
Please read on…   

Happy birthday Little Man!

Last year on this day I was in the hospital.   I had been induced at 9:30 and was trying to give birth to the little munchkin you see to the left for the remainder of the day.  You can read about the experience Here, here, here, and here.  I can’t believe that a year has gone by so quickly.  I have a hard time remembering a moment when he wasn’t here.  We most certainly are a richer family since He arrived and I can’t wait to share the many years ahead with him.
     Last night we had a small get together to celebrate the occasion and get a few photos for the scrapbook.  If you’d like to see the best of them check out Nolan’s birthday slide show.  I’m still riding the learning curve with my camera so a few of them are a tad blurry- you get the idea!
    Nolan got a Hummer and a jeep from his dad and sister, I bought him a new outfit (that he smeared with chocolate), he got a cell phone and another cute outfit from Suz and family, Grandma and Poppa bought him a riding toy that makes sounds, and his aunt and cousins sent along wooden blocks and a john deer tractor with animals. 
What a spoiled little one year old.  He would have been just as happy with a large warm bottle of milk, a comfy blanket and someone to snuggle with.  But what are babies for, if not to spoil rotten???

Gosh, I sure love this little guy-
Happy Birthday Son!

~jen
p.s. I would have posted this much sooner but I have had a reccurance of ‘the Plague’… please shoot me.

Great cookies and great photos!

  Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies 
  Originally uploaded by island artist

Ya’ll know I’m trying to watch what i eat and I can’t remember the last time I baked anything (wait a minute, yes i do, Christmas).  Anyway, I baked last night, and I enjoyed it, Here’s the whole story behind those cookies that you see to the right (click on it to see them larger than life).

My daughter is suffereing the ultimate curse of the preschooler… bordeom.  She begged her grandpa to take her to the pool the night before because Daddy was working late and last night she begged me to make cookies.  Feeling sorry for her I gave in and said yes.  She wanted to make Gingerbread cookies- or any type she could roll out and play with for an hour.  I wasn’t into the whole ‘mess’ she’d be creating so i told her I only had ingredients for this recipe.  I was actually searching for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but didn’t notice until we got started that this recipe was plain old choco chip.  Whatever, it got 5 stars out of a couple thousand reviews so i knew it was worth a try.  I usually hate cooking C.C.cookies because they melt all over and are a big fatty mess.  These were easy and each cookie uses 1/4 cup of dough- it made 11 cookies EXactly.  I used half the amount of choco chips called for and you can see by the photo that it’s not short on the chocolately goodness.

  Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies on the pan 
  Originally uploaded by island artist

    These cookies are not diet friendly so I didn’t eat one right away.  First I ate my dinner, making sure to eat very few calories so that I may fit a cookie in later.  Then I took time to set up a little photo shoot of the cookies before my daughter ran off with one and ruined my perfect cookie pile.  The photos, taken with my new camera, are brilliant.  I’m slowly getting the hang of the new settings, thanks to some guidance I managed to find online. Anyway later that night while watching the olympics, i enjoyed a decaf coffee and a delicious cookie.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  I used a lot less sugar and half the chips (like i mentioned before) and they still tasted brilliant.  I should have stored them in an airtight container overnight because they were a tad dry this morning.  Big deal, its a dang chocolate chip cookie- dip it in your coffee and call it biscotti.

Enjoy folks,
Don’t say i never gave ya nothin’.
~jen

The Wisdom you’ve been waiting for…

Recently Paige, Suz, Elizabeth and I attended an event at the local school.  While sitting in the library with all the other parents I saw this quote up above one of the display boards.  I LOVE it! 
    The label I used in the graphic below is a freebie from the designerdigitals website- I’m probably not allowed to use it in this context but i couldn’t resist sneaking this one by.
Enjoy.

Curiosity creates Genious

Suz invited Paige and I on a double date with her and her daughter Elizabeth.  We went to see the new kids movie- Curious George.  It was really cute and reminded me so much of the books i used to love as a kid.  The one thing about the movie that MADE it for me was the bloody awesome soundtrack.  All of the music was done by Jack Johnson and friends and it made me want to do a little dance right there in my seat.  When Paige had to use the washroom i was perturbed, not because i was going to miss part of the movie, but I was going to miss the great music that was playing!  Seriously!  Suz and i made a bee line for the first music store we came across and bought the soundtrack called "Sing-a-longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George.". It is all I’ve been listening to since.  It’s already on my ipod and i listened to it at the gym this morning even though lullabies aren’t exactly great music to sweat by. 
    Anyway, the movie is definitely a refreshing change from all of the computer animated films that have been coming out lately- not that "Robots" isn’t great too but I like to toss things up now and again.  We’ll definitely be buying this one.

Please explain to me…

Okay, I took my medication the night before last.  last night I went to take my medication like I have every night for the last 5 years but it was no where to be found.  I always sit them on the counter next to the phone.  I checked everywhere concievable for them- even in some rediculous places but NOTHING.  Only a few minutes ago you would have found me going through the garbage bags in the garage, thinking i may have accidentally thrown the bottle of pills out.  No pills. Where could they have gone?? 
    Yes, I even grilled my three year old on their where-abouts but she said she hadn’t seen them in quite a sincere manner.  I’m stumped.  It was a brand new perscription I haven’t even taken 7 pills out yet, how is it going to look when i have to go back in for more???  UGH. 
    If any of you have the gift of ESP and can see where my pills are- please comment and let me know, I’m completely baffled and at this point ESP seems like the only solution.

hugs and happy pills,
~jen

Holy Yummy…

  Roasted Chicken foccacia and tea 
  Originally uploaded by island artist.

Last night Suz and I took the kids to a place called Jumpin’ Jimminies.  It’s a ginormous indoor play-place for kids and it also has a large area with tables, magazines, a lunch counter with lattes, cappuccinos and gourmet tea and a sandwich that Suz and I have become very fond of.  I wish i could say i was excited to go there to watch my kids play and have fun but in actuality I was really excited about the Roasted Chicken Foccacia sandwich.  WOW, is all i have to say about it.  I’m considering starving myself another day this week and then calling them to see if they have take out.  It’s Deeelish.
We had a nice time out, since we were the only ones there the kids had the run of the entire complex. 
    Of course i took a million pictures with my new camera… once i sort out the photos into a folder I’ll post a slide show but for now here is a slide show of my latest additions. unsorted.
hugs and sun-dried tomatoes,
~jen

Can I hear it for Wednesday’s Wisdom??

I can’t tell you people, my dearest readers, how fulfilling my Words of wisdom Wednesday has become for me.  As Wednesday approaches each week, I usually have a topic in mind for my quote and a little search on the Internet yields many different bits of wisdom to choose from.  There are several quotes (most of which you have seen here) that I keep in the forefront of my mind because i find that they give me strength, or help put life into perspective when i need it.  I hope that maybe you’ve seen one here that does that for you.  If not, maybe next week will be your week.  Regardless, I love quotes because they are written with a lifetime of knowledge behind them and a universe of truth within them.  It’s kind of like a bible- but written for real everyday people by real everyday people. 
     Now, every time i read a quote that floats my boat, i quickly grab a scrap of paper or my day timer if it’s near and jot it down.  I’ve turned into a collector of quotes.  This is more than okay because quotes are small, they don’t require their own shelf in the living room to be displayed on nor do they need to be dusted.  All good.
    Anyway- this week’s quote struck a chord for me because I’ve been realizing that money has a strange effect on people.  Even people with the best intentions can put money on a higher pedestal than it really deserves.  I have found myself (my frugal self) thinking of the dollars and cents when I should have been thinking about others feelings and my relationships.  I think my husband has slowly broke me of this over the years with his favourite saying "Hey, it’s only money!", and honestly, he’s right. 
I’d love to hear what you all think of this one- i enjoyed the interpretations last week!

stick a fork in me, I’m done.
~jen
P.s. there’s a little something behind the cut…

One happy Valentine…

I promised to post some scrapbook layouts today… and I am!  But first I wanted to tell you about my Pre-valentines day present.  I told you guys before about my goals and the rewards i wanted… well one of my rewards came yesterday and it was from my valentine.  I’ve been on line every free moment searching for just the right digital camera for me.  Don’t get me wrong my little Casio QV-R40 is ‘da bomb’ but now that I’m starting to get into- and understand a little more about photography, I wanted a camera with more manual functions.   Anyway…
I’ve been yammering on and on lately about my camera shopping escapades on line and my husband must have been seriously looking for away to shut my pie hole because he came home from ‘the gym’ yesterday with my Kodak Z740!!  I couldn’t believe it.  I still can’t.  Now it is official, I have the most thoughtful husband on the planet (with the cutest but to boot!).  As for his valentine, he has already taken care of that himself- check out his blog to read about it. 
So basically what this means for YOU guys is many more photos- good ones- as well as more video clips, WITH SOUND.  I know, it’s like Christmas all over again isn’t it???  I know you guys are just as excited as myself but keep it down to a dull roar, will ya?

Now on to the scrapbook pages…