365 Day 152

Day 2 of the movies thanks to Viggle. Yesterday we enjoyed The Hunger Games and today we're finally watching The Avengers!

365 Day 151

We caught The Hunger Games matinee, then ran errands around town. Cinnabon counts as lunch, right?

365 Day 150

We decided to head out a day early and just as we were on our way out the Sheriff's Helicopter came around for some training near our campsite. 

365 Day 149

We found some insects to use as fishing bait. Crickets, grasshoppers, helgramites, and carpenter ants all worked great catching fish. This wood scorpion however, proved to be very chitinous surviving several casts over the waterfall but not appealing to the fish at all. 

365 Day 148

Burnt marshmallow. In Bert's Honor. 

365 Day 147

Campfire baked brownies! Yum.

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First fish of the trip. Large. Yummy. Dinner.

A Day in Her Shoes...

8am
     If brothers haven't woken her up already I come wake her up. On days she wakes up before I get her often times she stays in bed for some personal time.

    Take her potty, after which she eats her two gummy bear vitamins and selects a Rapunzel for going potty (if she remembers). Brush teeth and get dressed (sometimes put off until after breakfast).

    Eat breakfast, play, read, run errands.

Somewhere between 11:30 and 2pm
    If we're going out early in the day we have lunch and then nap when we get home (as late as 3 and wake her up around 4). Otherwise, if we're picking up brothers we nap first and eat lunch when they get home from school. We always read 1 story before nap time and usually she chooses to read a 'silly' book. It just means either randomly pause and let her fill in the blank with something silly or you do it while you read. It's normally one of the "If You Give a..." series so it ends up reading like: "If you give a pig a....wallet!". "No, a pancake!" "... she might want some syrup to go with it...."


8pm
    Read a story, brush teeth, go potty, go to bed.

    She's doing really good telling us when she has to go potty, except anytime she's in bed.

    Still only a 50% chance she says when she has to poop. All successful potty trips (not drops every 2 minutes) get 1 princess snack. Doing more gets 2 snacks. She pretends to wipe and bends over so she can actually be wiped.

365 Day 145

Most of the gear to be packed. Most.

365 Day 144

After getting home with the boys we had a surprise knock at the door from a delivery driver. What an awesome treat this was!

365 Day 143

We walked the boys to school this morning then stopped to play in the park on the way home. She's such a joy to be around!

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3 water shooters from the dollar store + 3 buckets of water = hours of fun

365 Day 141

Tonight was a very cool annular exlipse but even though I was outside I forgot to look at it. Instead, I was getting more comfortable around our gun. One of the bullets we fired ended up in a box. It amazes me how heavy (and deadly) such a little thing can be.

365 Day 140

I inherited my Uncles AWESOME refrigerator. It fits perfectly and matches the rest of our kitchen- minus the orange walls I haven't finished painting over.

365 Day 139

Safeway had bread on sale for $0.99 so I filled my freezer with 15 loaves.

365 Day 138

She was so sweet and patient yesterday while we waited for Mr. Mann to see the doctor.

365 Day 137

Cliff was so excited when he found out there was finally going to be a Diablo 3 so we pre-ordered it for him.

365 Day 136

Last night the baby woke up twice because she had to go potty. When morning finally came we were super excited for the day until about 9am when a thumping led me to open my front door allowing one of my escaped cats to bolt inside. Turns out when Berty was fed this morning by the kids he didn't shut the door and both cats went outside to explore. So far, only Athena has returned. 

*Update 5.16.12
             I must have circled the neighborhood 30 times all throughout yesterday hoping Boomer would come when called- which of course didn't happen because she's a cat. Around 9pm last night she tried to come home only to get into a nasty cat fight with Berty and ran off again. Cliff and I went searching for her once more but cats don't come when called. EVER. Finally in the wee hours of this morning (around 4am) she came home and strolled inside covered in filth and stickers.

Next time she runs away I'm not letting her back inside....

365 Day 135

The Holy Grail of potty training: fruit snacks

365 Day 134

What a perfect Mother's Day for me. It started with breakfast with the family before we dropped the boys off to spend sometime with their mom. Then Cliff and I headed into Lowes to get some garden supplies. We then spent the rest of the day cleaning up our backyard and getting our new baby green put into the soil. Finish that off with family dinner (delicious leftovers care of great friends) and it was the most relaxing, perfect day for me.

365 Day 133

The baby play room has been trashed. The baby must have pulled out every. single. toy. I've been hiding from it. Every time I'd go to clean it my darling floor troll would pull everything back out again. It's been a scary sight most of the week. I figured I'd clean it this weekend when I had help keeping her out of the mess. 

As an early Mother's Day present Mr. Mann cleaned up the whole room. Put every last toy away where they belonged (to the best of his ability-which is so much better than I was hoping for out of the baby). It was the most awesome thing in the whole world to wake up to. This started off my weekend in the most spectacular way ever. 

365 Day 132

Sadly, I'm a chicken in the kitchen. Either I cook what I'm in the mood for which often is delicious to me (just that once) and stomach churning to others or I stick to only tried and true recipes. Obviously, I don't have that many tried and true but I do have two sources that have never let me astray: Alton Brown (Food God) and Cook's Illustrated. If it's not in these books it's not worth eating. Today I finally conquered one of my fears: baking eggs. I made a delicious Frittata. Next time I'll try to brave my way through a quiche! 

365 Day 131

Watching a movie with my little one. She likes the singing and dancing on Glee.

Baked Peas with Fried Tulips

My garden is suffering.

 I was doing so well taking care of it and I had several very happy pea plants to prove it. Peas that I planted in October. Peas are, after all, the reason I garden.

Then it got really hot followed by several days of thunder storms. Then really hot. Then normal spring weather. During that time we were reminded that our AC unit doesn't work and with the rain I didn't think about watering my beautiful vegetable. Sadly, many of my delicious pods withered and died.

We had also planted 15+ more pea plants along our fence line that the neighborhood cats poisoned for us. There are still a couple that are trying to make it, but I'm not holding my breath. I had 8 more seeds planted in pots, but after leaving it in direct heat (rookie mistake) I've cooked all but two of those bad boys.


My tulips finally popped up. I planted a bag of mixed colors and 5 came up yellow (those will all be going) and only 1 came up red. 1 more was almost red. I failed to water those and they baked in the sun and now I have fried tulip stems.

I tried to grow some old garlic (seed left outside all year-oops) and a few other unknown plants but they never made it out of the seedling pots. I'm not really surprised. They were old!

I promised Cliff I wouldn't tear up the front lawn until I could produce tangible amounts in the back yard, but I'm starting to think that the back yard might be the better location anyway. Less grass on the lawn already. Meaning, less to dig up. Of course there is still the matter of the tree I removed already from my front lawn, but I'll still be replacing that even if my garden doesn't surround it.

All of my garden isn't suffering I suppose. Well, at least not to the point of dead.

I trimmed my citrus trees back a couple months ago but I didn't have a saw to finish the job. Now I'm regretting that oversight. The blossoms smell amazing however! Walking outside in our neighborhood (full of jasmine, citrus, and roses) is such a treat!

My berries are doing well. The blueberry bush looked more like a twig stuck in the ground but it came back to life and so did my Loganberry boysenberry other berry plant. I can't remember what it is anymore, but it's a vine that will produce berries and has thorns. Another one of my neglected (and abused) plants living despite me. It was used as the start/finish line scooter races so I wasn't sure.

I have my screw up of the season as well. I've been really excited to plant potatoes so I purchased some seeds. Then, when I started planting I could only find last years seeds (that were left outside in the elements) and assumed that was all I had. Needless to say last years seeds didn't grow but I did find my bag of potatoes with my canning supplies trying to grow. Time to get them some dirt and hope they forgive me.

I killed my lettuce almost as soon as it sprouted (the newspaper barrier smothered them) so Cliff planted a package of radishes in it's place. Those seem able to grow just fine. Perhaps it's because I didn't touch them at all...

Just one month ago Cliff got me two basil plants for our anniversary (real love comes in dirt!). Good thing he got two because I already killed one. I may have grown a full out basil bush last year, but I'm going to need to tend to them more if I want a repeat of that.


Cliff also added my chives (from seed!) to the pot and they are thriving. I never had any doubt about my ability to grow onions though. Hell, I now have a full pot of (flowering) green onions from the first plant I got almost 3 years ago. I guess the moral of my story is... don't trust me to grow it unless it's an onion. 

Actively Lazy

My thoughts on today:


Productivity:
Yesterday I was crazy productive. It was such an awesome feeling that I finished so many things that I've been putting off. Washing and folding the household sheets for example. Around the time I stuffed the last folded set neatly into the pillowcase I realized that on Sunday they are getting back out onto beds. I do the boys' sheets every 2 weeks (1 week of use) and I let them sit on my wash room floor for several days and then clean and in a basket on my couch for another week. Not happy with myself. No reason for such laziness.

Today, I actually did quite a bit but nothing close to what was accomplished yesterday and now I'm finding myself unmotivated to do anything else. It's almost as if because I didn't complete the same size of mountains this morning as I finished in all of yesterday I might as well throw my hands up and say I'm too lazy. I need to get over this issue for sure.

Health:
More accomplishments for the month: we've gone all month (plus a little) without meat in our diets and focusing on smaller dinners. We're trying it for health and monetary reasons but I feel like I have more energy so that's a good thing. I'm also trying to tame my overwhelming sweet tooth but pinterest just taught me how to make my own frappecchino at home. It is decidedly NOT healthy but oh so tasty (unfortunately easy too).

Cliff and I also wanted to start walking every night but after only one night it got hot. I have learned that I do not like sweating. Summer is not kind to me. Last Friday the kids and I walked to and from school (just under a mile away) only for me to turn down the wrong street and make them late for the second time this month. That was embarrassing. I've been wanting to walk several times since then but I really, really despise being hot. I finally got off my butt today and we all walked to school (without getting lost or sweating) and then the baby and I played at the park before coming home. I enjoyed the walk but I enjoyed my shower afterwards more. I think that's my problem, if I'm going to go for a walk I want the time afterwards to be able to shower as well and I'm still working on a schedule that works for me to not run out of minutes in the day.


Potty Training:
Again, looking at our budget has had heavy influence on our choices. We're out of diapers for the baby and since she already showed us in October she can use a big girl potty we decided that it it's time to make her use it regularly. Potty training is a lot like having a puppy in the house again. I'm grateful that our carpet is old because she's already peed in several location. No huge accidents, but I'm cleaning pee off a carpet all the same. She's doing really well (it's been a little over a week) but still not always telling us when she has to pee before she pees in her panties. It's still up to me to remind her to try to go potty every 20-30 minutes (which she's not so fond of).

Saving Money:
I'm avoiding driving whenever I can around town during the day which has also inspired me to cook out of my pantry more. 40 pounds of rice in my garage and so far I've only made one terrible dish with it. The last two nights worth of dinner for our family of 5 was $12 worth of food. We ate well and I feel a little better about myself for not wasting food and cooking with ingredients I already had.

Blogging and Pictures:
I fell two weeks behind and didn't even take pictures for all of those days. I went 100 days of taking pictures (pretty sure that's a habit at that point) only to 'fall off the wagon'. I'm getting back on. I still have the delusion that I'm going to catch up on the posts I started (and had pictures for) and never finished but we'll have to see. At least I'm using my camera again. Baby steps.

365 Day 130

Cliff must of been in a hurry on his way to work today because he didn't even bother to unplug his iphone before he left with it. This is what I discovered while making the bed. He later found the other piece still connected to his phone. 

365 Day 129

Her shake was so good it was worthy of covering her entire face.

365 Day 128

Meatless dinner week 2: Broccoli tacos, Cilantro lime rice with Black beans, corn, and al fresco salsa. Huge portions for 5 people with left overs all for under $10.

Catching Up

Again?! I fell behind again, only this time I didn't even have the pictures to do the make up entries with. Shame on me for not following my own advice: carry your camera everywhere with you (which I do) and take pictures everyday (fail).

I'm so excited about Viggle (and it's sadly consumed a lot of my normal blogging time) and that it's been paying off. It's not much but we've already received $15 to Starbucks, $20 to fandango (The avengers and Hunger Games are in our future!), 2 months of Hulu plus, $20 to the apple store (which I'm sharing with the boys), and we have plenty of points to get several other things but we haven't decided what we want yet.
I have to admit, Viggle is the first thing that has distracted me from my online video game addiction. It's not a video game, but it does pay!

The car accident drama is consuming me as a person. It's more than I can handle (such lies they tell you!) so I finally went and hired a lawyer. I don't even care if I don't get a dime, I just need to not be stressed out over it when I have so many other things that I could be can stress over (babies, money, birthdays, health, vacations, school, summer, cleaning, planting and growing). It alarms me that Mr. Mann is still in pain, and of course it's frustrating to me that I'm still experiencing it as well. This should of been over a long time ago. We've done everything the doctors told us to do and yet still there's pain.

I've also been slacking with Little Lady's school. I don't want to make excuses, but I've just been in a bit of a funk and not been up to assembling her daily lessons. She's kept me on task a few times crying "I want to learn, Mommy!". I'm done slacking off and she's perfected all the easy stuff and she's come so far so quickly I don't think I was prepared for it.

On that note we're back to potty training as well.  Back in October she went a full week wearing only panties and didn't have a single accident. Even out in town she always told me when she had to go. We were so excited that she'd be fully trained before Thanksgiving. Then she just stopped. Refused to tell us, and only wanted to wear diapers. We haven't pushed it but it's time. Summers approaching and she's old enough. It's not nearly as easy this time around, but she's making good progress. The biggest hurdle this time is that she's not really telling us when she has to go, we have to remind her.

As for my beautiful garden: I hacked my fruit trees back to stubs but didn't have a saw to do it properly so now everything is almost worse than before (not possible). I desperately need to get a saw and have at it. I couldn't find it in me to juice and freeze any more lemons so I told my neighbor that all the fruit on my tree was going to be going to waste and he came and plucked it all before the newest blooms added to the fruit. I love my neighbors. My pea plants were thriving and producing delicious pods when the weather went wonky. Super hot to thunder storms and back again. My own negligence and the weather has fried them all. The ones we planted only a few weeks ago have been dug up by the neighborhood cats. Oh how I despise them sometimes.

Finally, in the last few weeks my mothers have been making the final plans for their month in Europe. I'm so excited for them and have been trying to help in any way I could. I do have some experience with packing very little for many days but mostly I've been trying to help them confidently document their adventures. Today (or yesterday for them I suppose) was their second day there and they are having a blast. I'm so happy they get to experience this and I can't wait to see all the pictures and help them record their stories.

365 Day 127

Jammies and Mommy's heels. She knows it's the shoes that make the outfit!

365 Day 126

Awesome day as a family. We donated blood, did some work, visited the park, got starbucks... We just spent the day together having fun. As we were leaving the park Daddy helped her do the monkey bars. She was practically giddy as she shouted: "I'm doing the monkey!

365 Day 125

Well before the season started I got prepared and purchased some seeds for our garden. I've since gone looking for them but couldn't find them so I assumed I hadn't bought what I had thought and went to planting the few bags I could find. Then today I went to the garage to get a mason jar out of the garage and I discovered this.

Needless to say I found my long lost seeds.

365 Day 124

Our home illuminated by the light of the 'Super Moon'. Lame name, but it sure was bright. 

*Taken 5.5.12*

365 Day 123

*Taken 4.1.12*

While visiting friends someone got a make-over. This little lady came out smelling like cotton candy and covered in beautiful makeup. I especially love the lipstick application.

365 Day 122

*Taken 3.23.12*

Someone is spoiled. When I refused to carry her and she didn't want to walk she convinced her brother to carry her.