Six Unremarkable Things About Me

Got tagged from Miss Smarty Pants - so here goes.

1. I am a southpaw. In college, I did a report for speech class on lefties. Did you know that lefties die earlier deaths on average than righties? Hmmmm.

2. I secretly hope Dimples is a lefty. Not because I want her to die an early death, but because I think she looks so much like her daddy, I want her to have that lefty thing from me.

3. I have naturally curly hair. As a child I hated it, as an adult, I have learned to love and appreciate it. I don't color it, and I can straighten it (here in the desert there is barely any humidity so it looks good straight) without too much fuss. If I want to wear it curly, it only takes me a few minutes to style it. That part, I love.

4. I love the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Whenever I have one of those days, I tease my family and friends that I am going to move to Australia, just like Alexander wants to do in the book. My favorite line from the book is "I fell asleep with gum in my mouth and now there is gum in my hair."

5. I am 5'10" tall. When I was growing up, I could never find pants long enough for me. I always used to say they should make pants for women like they do for men, in waist size and leg lengths. Now that I am older, and they make pants in long lengths for women, I live in the desert where I wear skirts, shorts or Capri's 80% of the time. I was ahead of my time! :)

6. My life motto is "NO REGRETS!" I never want to look back at my life and regret something I did do, or I didn't do. I try and always use this as a measuring stick for what I do in life. Some days I am better than others at it.

All of the people that I know that blog have already done this so I don't have anyone to tag. If I were going to tag someone, I would tag CLOVER LOVER, and tell her it's time to get started on a blog and this would be a great first entry, and JJ's mom, who has another site, but it doesn't seem as user friendly as this one.

love to you all!

Goin' to the chapel....

This weekend, QB's old Administrative Assistant got married. The Present was the Ring Bearer and The Firecracker did a reading. It was at the same resort that we had our STAYCATION at earlier this year. Thought I would share some of the pictures.

Getting ready for the photo shoot.

Good thing the rings weren't really on that pillow. Even Aunt Smarty helped him practice carrying it straight. Oh well!

The Firecracker reading a Prayer - she did a GREAT job!

The ONLY shot from the night of QB and myself.

Cute, cute boy!

Brother and Sister

Dimples made it too, but the party was too much for her.

Love this picture!

This is when the DJ announced the wedding party. The kids ran in. ADORABLE! We stayed at the resort, and they upgraded us to a beautiful room. This was the view from one of our 3 balconies.

No Excuses

QB works at a health club. You would think, since I have free access to over 500 pieces of cardio equipment, every sort of weight lifting thingy you could imagine, countless aerobics classes and indoor and out door lap pools, I would be in the best shape of my life. Not so. Now, I am no slacker, mind you. I lost my baby weight quickly, and I fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes within weeks of giving birth. I eat pretty healthy most of the time, and I chase the babies around all of the time. I just haven't been able to make it to the gym as much as I would like, or as much as I used to.

Well that brings me to yesterday when I got back from my business trip. QB got a free piece of cardio equipment from the PRECOR company. Someone from his company, knows someone from the PRECOR company and next thing you know, we are getting the latest and greatest piece of cardio equipment delivered right to our door step. The PRECOR AMT. When I got home, there is was, right next to QB's side of the bed in our bedroom. You can't miss it, and he can't get into bed without walking around it.

So next time you see me, I should be a bit healthier. Even if you can't see it in my appearance, my heart and lungs will know. I think I like it. I think.

Sleep, sweet, sleep

While I was out on maternity leave, I missed a few things at my work. This week I had to come to the East Coast, to learn some of the things I missed while I was out.

It is the first time I have been away from the kids since Dimples was born. I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I thought I would get the BEST night sleep I have had in months. On the other hand, I knew I would miss all sorts of little things about my babies.

I am sitting in my hotel, waiting for the car to come and take me to the airport so that I can head home. Not only did I get the best night sleep I have had in months, I got TWO of them. Not only did I miss my babies, I missed my QB, and Miss Smarty pants. I am headed home with some great info about work, and a new look on life, that only a good night sleep can do.

I can't wait to give those babies a squeeze!

Bedtime Routine

About two weeks ago, The Present and I were getting ready for bed, and I decided to type up a list of things he has to do before bed. We titled the list "Bedtime Routine".

The list includes the following:

• Go Potty


• Put on Jammies


• Brush Teeth


• Read Story


• Say Prayers
  

The Present got to draw on the bottom of the list and then we hung it on my bathroom mirror. Each night we look at the list and attempt to do everything on it. Some nights we get them all done, and some nights we miss one or two things.

The Present gets more and more interested each night. A few nights ago, he wanted to look at the list and make sure we had done everything on the list. We read through the list and sure enough, we had done everything on it.

"Now it's time to go to bed." I said.

"THAT's not on the list." he said.

Guess I need to add one more thing to the list.

Stories to Remember

The Present is always good for a laugh, or cry. Here are a few things that he has done lately that make me smile.

QB taught The Present that a red light means stop, and a green light means go. Aunt Smartie picked up the kids from daycare last week. In her car, his car seat is in the middle so he gets a great look out the front window. At each light, he would say "red light" or "green light" and he knows if you are supposed to stop or go!

That same day he was riding through the small downtown she lives by. It is a cute old historic downtown. As they were driving he said "Aunt Smarty, is this like in the movie Cars?" "Why yes," she said, "it is like in the movie cars."

About a month ago, The Present saw the South Dakota quarter with Mt. Rushmore on it. QB looked Mt. Rushmore up on the Internet with him and showed him all of the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The Present really liked it. Last week when we were watching the RNC one of the speakers mentioned Teddy Roosevelt and the Present said, "Oh, he's on Mt. Rushmore Daddy!"

Recipes

I like to cook, although I don't always feel like I have the time to cook the way I would like to these days.

Tonight, I came across a teriyaki recipe that I adjusted and loved so I thought I would share. It's really easy, and it's really good. I actually thought I had a bottle of teriyaki sauce in the fridge, and now I am glad I didn't. Who knew it was THIS EASY to make teriyaki sauce? Plus I am sure it is better for you than the stuff in the bottle. Tonight I put it on chicken with a slice of pineapple, but I am going to make it again to do a teriyaki bowl later this week. Yum!

1 cup pineapple juice/water mix (I used all the juice from a can of pineapple rings, then added water to make 1 cup of liquid)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic - minced
2 tsp. honey
2 T. brown sugar

1 T. cornstarch plus 2 T. water

Mix pineapple juice/water mix, soy sauce, garlic, honey and brown sugar in saucepan. Heat on med. heat. Mix the cornstarch and water together, add to sauce pan. Heat until thickened. Fresh grated ginger (or dried ginger) would be a great addition to this, but I don't care for the taste of ginger so I didn't use any.

I hope you like it as much as I do!