Today I'm Following Up On Some Posts of the Past.

I realized, from some of the comments that have been left, that I'm not so great at letting everyone know the follow up story of some of my posts.  So - this is where I play catch up, so to speak. 

Britt is weaned.  Life is good.  Not that I don't miss the awesome bonding time and the closeness, because I do.  But I love the freedom of just giving her a bottle and letting her do her thing while I do mine.  It's great.  And she looooooves her bottle now.  :)  Big plus:  she sleeps through the night for the most part.  Can I getta WOOHOO!!  I did like the bigger boobs.  Not gonna lie.  It's nice to have something with which to fill out the bust of your shirt.



FB sales?  Not my thing.  I'm gonna keep it up for the items the consignment stores won't take, but I'm not gonna be putting a whole lot of effort into it anymore.  I tried it.  I can now move on to something else.  :)   

I have two new siblings.  They are doing well.  They don't have actual birth dates (something that isn't very important to a lot of Ethiopians), but their doctor places them at about 6 years old, based on their teeth.  The new brother seems to know a bit more English than than the new sister, but she's a bit more ahead inter personally.  It usually takes the new kids about 3 months to settle in, get comfortable, speak enough English to be understood, and feel like they're home.   

(the only pic I have of the two - i promise better ones in the future)



I have kept all the book suggestions each of you gave me and will be slowly working my way through them.  Thanks a million!  I've started with the first book in the Hunger Games series.  So far it is intriguing and slightly disturbing. 

Not only is Brianna's Red Wine Vinaigrette divine, Brianna's Asiago Caesar Dressing is too.  I pour it on top of cooked whole wheat pasta and canned salmon with steamed broccoli.  Yumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyum.

Sooooo......gardening.  I planted arugula and Molly planted spinach.  And currently it is raining hard enough for me to stand outside and wash my hair.  Hope those little seeds hang in there. 

My little brother's ocean cake was really fun to put together and as you can see, turned out pretty cute.  :D

(the chocolate rocks were really good)

Ash woke up this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Not even a hint of the fever!  Something worked - prayers, wet socks treatment, chicken noodle soup, sleep, or all of the above.  I'm just grateful it was nothing serious.  Thanks for all the concern and well wishes.

And that ought to make us all caught up!  :)   

Today I Dealt With Soup and Socks.

In the middle of dance class today, I discovered that Ash felt oddly overheated to the touch.  The thermometer confirmed a fever of 101 degrees.  So, I made homemade chicken noodle soup while she cuddled with Daddy and watched Fantasia (minus the creepy demon dude).  She hasn't had an appetite today but the nice thing about the tv is it magically makes noshing practically mindless, so it wasn't hard for Tony to shovel a fair amount of broth into Ash's mouth. 

At bedtime I gave Ash the Wet Socks Treatment.  Crossing my fingers that it brings her fever down. 

Poor baby. 

Today I Purchased a Lot of Candy.

Ash and I went to two different stores to find all the candy needed to make this cake:

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I'm going to put this together for my brother's 8th birthday party tonight.  Should be pretty simple and fun.  I bet he loves it.  Of course he's one of those kids who just loves and appreciates everything anybody does for him.  Complete angel child.   How'd my parents get so lucky?

While we were out, I bought Ash her first candy necklace.  Needless to say, she was thrilled.  I continue to be amazed and impressed with her ability to eat only half or 2/3s of her treats and then throw the rest away.  I should be taking notes.  :) 



And on a totally unrelated topic, Britt figured out how to drink from a sippy cup today.  YAY!!

Today I Indulged.

Kind of a misleading title since I eat treats every day.  Will work on that area of self-control after I've conquered it with time, money, and house cleaning.

Today I bought and ate some of these:

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I love Samoas.  And Thin Mints.  But especially Samoas.  What's not to love about cookie, chocolate, caramel and coconut? 

I remember when I sold girl scout cookies.  My mom taught my how to make change and we role-played selling cookies before I actually got my feet wet.  My dad drove me all over Issaquah.  There were a ton of subdivisions when we lived there (and a billion more now).  I knocked on so many doors.  It was cold, wet work, but I ended up selling the most cookies in my troop and I was soooooo proud of my little 7 year old self! 

Were you ever a girl scout?  What is your favorite girl scout cookie? 

Today I Got My Hands Dirty.

I was inspired by Myrnie's post about her garden starts.  So when the sun broke out for 3 hours this afternoon, I grabbed most of my siblings and we went outside to start preparing the garden beds for planting. 

(stock photo)

Oh my goodness!  I am soooooooooo out of shape!  3 hours of digging, raking, pulling, and shoveling was a bit much.  And now my hands are full of splinters.  But we've got three raised beds ready.  Leaving us with 5 more.  It wouldn't have been so bad except the beds were full of grass.  Grass is the worst!

Gonna go buy seeds tomorrow. 

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And some gardening gloves.

(stock photo)

Today I Want Your Opinion.

Britt's first birthday is this month.  I found the perfect little shirt and two sweet skirts that match.  I can't decide which one to use for the party though.   My mom likes the yellow one best, which would leave the green for St. Patrick's Day.  What do you think?
 

VOTE!

Today I Had a Salad.

Normally I'm a Hidden Valley Ranch girl. 

But then I bought Brianna's Red Wine Vinaigrette. 

Heaven in my mouth!

I originally bought it for Ash, so she could have some dairy-free, soy-free salad dressing.

First I used it for a pasta salad.  Yum!

Then I tossed it in a salad.  Yum times 2.

Then I poured it on baked chicken.  Yum times infinity!!!!

You have got to try this stuff.  Even if you don't normally care for vinaigrette.

Seriously.

Do it.

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