It’s Baaack!!
The wait is finally over! Tune in tonight at 8/7c for the Season 4 premiere of LOST!
Unfortunately there are only eight completed episodes because of the writer’s strike.
LOST fans!!
Don’t miss tonight’s 2-hour repeat of last season’s finale! It’s on at 9/8c!
From ABC.com:
“Special enhanced episode with on screen facts and backstory. Jack and his fellow castaways begin their efforts to make contact with Naomi’s rescue ship.”
Mommy, can I check the CoinStar?
I hear this question ALL the time when we go to a store that has a CoinStar machine. The grocery store has one right near the entrance and the kids are almost knocking each other to the ground, trying to make it there before the other one. Sara usually checks the bottom where the reject coins end up, and underneath the machine, and Melissa checks the top, where you pour in your change. More times than not, they find something. They also check the ground wherever we go, and check around the cash registers, public phones, gumball machines, and anywhere else with the slightest chance that there could be any money. Just a little bit obsessed?
Now the problem is that Melissa finds most of the money.. she knows exactly where to look, and she can run faster than Sara. When Sara finds something she will share it with Melissa most of the time, or even if she only finds one coin, she will give it to her. Melissa on the other hand does NOT share even if she found a handful of change, and that really disappoints Sara. So I came up with a solution… this piggy bank. Whatever money they find goes in the piggy bank and when it’s full we will roll up the coins and they will split the money 50/50 and spend it on whatever they want (want to bet it’s going to be Petshops? LOL)
And yes, I take the time to roll the coins. I don’t use those CoinStar machines and give away 8 or 9% in fees!
My Little Artist
Or mini-Mel, as I sometimes call her. She adores her big sister and wants to be like her and do everything she does… and that includes drawing. I think Sara got her talent from Melissa, because she does really well. Here she’s drawing Okeefeenokie, the cat that Melissa gave her for Christmas. Don’t ask how she came up with the name, she gives her dolls and animals all kinds of silly names.
And to show you just how much Sara loves Melissa… a few months back, they were both sitting at the dinner table and Sara told Melissa “Sissy, you’re my hero”. Awwwww
Or just recently she came into the computer room, dressed in Melissa’s way-too-big-for-her pajamas and said with a big grin on her face “Mommy, look! I’m Melissa!”
Now I need to get a picture of my big artist….
Invasion of the Littlest Petshops
They’re all over the house!! Melissa and Sara are both crazy about them and so far they have 70 of these little critters….. and counting!!
At least they’re not as ugly as My Little Ponys.
Mug Series – part 3
Another great Target find. I love hearts, so I HAD to buy it!
You would not believe how difficult it was to take a picture of this mug….. it’s easier to get some good pictures of my uncooperative kids, than it was to get pictures of this mug!! LOL I think this was my third try and then I gave up.
Things I Love – part 4
Cross-stitching.
I haven’t stitched anything in years…. at least nothing that takes more than an hour or two, but last year I decided that I HAD to finish Sara’s Christmas stocking that I started four years ago. I did, and I haven’t stopped stitching since. Gets me off the computer for a little while 😉
I’m making this for a friend.
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Cold and wet today. They’ve been talking about “winter weather” on the news for days now, predicting ice, freezing rain and sleet. Of course all we’re getting is rain. At least it’s not ice… although I’m sure that would have made for some cool pictures 😉 Wouldn’t mind a little bit of snow, though.
If you stand on your head and look real close, you can see our sheds in the rain drop.
(Disclaimer: Stand on your head at your own risk, as this may cause you to fall over and spill your beverage all over your desk, or put your foot through your monitor. All of which may result in you not being able to use your computer for a while.)
Farting noises and giggles
That’s what I’ve had to listen to for about a week after Sara found her long lost former favorite toy! It’s been a little quieter the past few days and I assume that the whoopie cushion has disappeared again. Until next time…..
Rainy Day Therapy
What’s better on a cold, rainy day than a trip to IKEA?
Btw. this isn’t the picture I wanted to post. I took one of the IKEA sign but when I got home, there was no image information for that file on my CF card. Sounds like the perfect reason to go back soon 😉
Out with the old… in with the new
The UPS man dropped off a new monitor last week…. well, two. One for Greg and one for me. Got them both assembled as soon as I got them out of the box and then waited for Greg to come home from work, to hook them up. No problems with Greg’s, but mine was a whole different story. I was soo disappointed at first because nothing looked right! Not just the colors/brightness/contrast, but the picture itself. Everything was stretched sideways and my sun logo looked like someone sat on it. Nothing we did fixed the problem. Oh, and I should mention that during installation something killed my USB and both the keyboard and mouse weren’t working. Thankfully Greg was able to fix that, but that still left me with a really awful picture. I was ready to take the new monitor back and use my old one again.
Greg thought the problem was with my video card and he stopped after work on Friday and picked up a new one. After a few more headaches, killing the USB again, and being on the verge of getting a whole new computer, Greg finally got the monitor working! I was sooo relieved!! I wouldn’t mind replacing my dinosaur, but on the other hand I really don’t want to start from scratch and reinstalling and copying everything to a new computer… and I’m sure this will come back and bite me in the @$$ when it’s time to really get me a new one. I can hear Greg now “but you said…” (right, honey? 😉 )
A big THANK YOU goes out to Treva for spending two days helping me get the colors, etc. adjusted, and a big THANK YOU to Dalia, for helping me out as well. Still not really sure if I have it right, so if my edits look even worse than they did before, it’s the monitor. And please don’t be afraid to let me know!!
Anyway… here it is… my brand-spanking new 19-inch LCD monitor.
Mug Series – part 2
One from the archives…. I had planned to post something else, but when I saw that it was only 28 degrees outside, this picture seemed to fit for today. Christmas lights and all!
Things I Love – part 3
Yankee Candles!!
Butter Cream ~ Cherry Lemonade ~ Coconut Bay ~ Vanilla Lime ~ Vanilla Caramel ~ White Chocolate Mint ~ Peanut Butter Cookie ~ Chocolate Chip Cookie ~ Chardonnay ~ Gingerbread Maple …… just to name a few favorites.
Things I Love – part 2
Peanut Butter Cookies
I was in a baking mood yesterday and first made some coconut cookies, and then tried Heather’s recipe for peanut butter cookies. You can find her recipe here
http://heatherleggettphotography.wordpress.com/monday-meals/
They are the BEST peanut butter cookies EVER!! I planned on making them with just the regular flour, but then didn’t have enough of it. Luckily we still had some whole wheat flour from when Greg made power bars a while back. Good thing, too, because I think the wheat flour makes all the difference. The kids like them, too. I made them wait until after dinner to try one… listening to Sara beg for two hours!! She ate her dinner in record time and then finally got to eat a cookie! After she was done, she went into Melissa’s room and as she walked past me she said “boy, do I want another one of those!” Seems to be her new favorite thing to say when she likes something and wants more!
This morning, when she was eating breakfast, Sara said to me “Mommy… thanks for baking the BEST COOKIES!” Awwww…
Check out my Monday Meals page for the Coconut Cookie recipe.
For the Love of Horses
My girls are crazy about horses, especially Melissa. She has horse posters ALL over her room (plus one Harry Potter poster). So what’s a trip to Target with a gift card without buying at least one horse?
Btw. she thought I was crazy for asking her to lay down on the floor and pose with her horse. And she only let me take a picture of her because she got to pose with the horse!
Für Heike
Melissa and Sara both love to draw and whenever I send a letter or package, they insist on drawing a picture and include it. This one is for my best friend who lives in Germany.
I don’t know why they decided to draw giraffes. They usually draw horses, and Melissa can draw some really good dragons, too. (And I have no idea what that yellow triangle above Sara’s giraffe is)
Hi, my name is…
… Michaela, and I’m a chocoholic.
Chocolate of choice is milk chocolate Dove (because Godiva is a luxury), but I found these new Hershey’s Kisses while browsing the Valentine aisles the other day. They’re “New York Style Cheesecake cream” filled. Very good!!
The kids like them, too. I gave Sara a few yesterday morning after she ate her breakfast, and after she was finished, she walked past me and said “boy, do I want some more of those!” Haha!
Saturday
= grocery shopping day. My favorite part of the week. NOT! Ever notice that you always come home with about 20 bags, even though you only bought about 43 items? I think there’s some kind of no-more-than-3-items-per-bag rule, and that seems to be the ONLY rule, because it seems to be perfectly OK to put a loaf of bread into a bag and then squish it with a jar of pickles. A bag of chips with a 2-liter bottle of soda? That’s exactly why I bag myself. And I get the strangest looks and comments. “Are you sure?” No, I was kidding, go ahead and bag for me. And please don’t forget to bag my cleaning products with the deli items. I’m trying to see if the window cleaner will leak all over my sliced turkey! Or I will get the “Ohhh!! YOU’RE the lady who always bags herself!” Hmm… will they ask for my autograph soon? LOL
Maybe I should tell those poor baggers to pay close attention because I can cut those 20 bags down to about 5! I prefer paper, too… double bag the heavy items, like cans/jars/bottles and bag them all together. Same with refrigerated/frozen items, and boxes. It’s all common sense….. right? Or maybe I’m too organized and it borders on just plain weird? (Maybe you shouldn’t answer that….)
A Photographer’s Chore
About once or twice a year… when the stack of pictures gets too big, I sit down and put them all in albums, which usually involves buying a new photo album to fit them all. And that’s exactly what I did yesterday, although by the time I took this picture, the stack of photos shrunk by at least half!
Now I’m ready to order more prints and start a whole new stack!
Little Mommy
Sara and Sara… her beloved baby, that she was begging Santa to bring her. She fell in love with her the first time she saw her at Wal-Mart and would go looking for her every time we were at a store that sold toys. How could Santa resist?
She’s such a good little mommy, too. Putting baby Sara in the highchair next to her own chair when it’s time to eat, or taking her in the carseat and buckling her in when we go somewhere in the car. She sleeps with her every night, too, snuggling with her and making sure she’s covered up and warm… and yes, Greg and I are “grandma & grandpa” LOL
Baby Sara moves and talks (it’s really cute, she even burps and gets the hiccups) and Sara loves her soooo much, she had the batteries worn out in a matter of four days!!! Duracell is going to love us!
Yesterday she wanted me to take some pictures, so I grabbed the camera before she changed her mind again….
Whoohoo!!!!!
My favorite TV show is finally back!!!
January 31st cannot get here fast enough for me… I need my weekly LOST fix.
The Daily Click 