Busy Busy

I've neglected this blog for a long time.  When I have the time to blog, I spend it going through other people's blogs.  Man, there is just too much good stuff out there.  I'm currently in the process of finalizing Ainsley's Woodland animal meets Shabby Chic Birthday Party.

(Don't you love my blacking out ability!)


 We are going all out on this one people!  I'll post some of the things I've been working on for this party, like the tee pee the kids get to paint... until then, here is my sweetcheeks, growing up!

I'm Baaaack

Ugh... what a roller coaster I've been on.  Training for a new job, trying to figure out a schedule for Ainsley and I, and maybe doing something occasionally to keep my sanity equals no internet time.  Which actually helps my sanity.  But anywho...

I interviewed for another job that pays 10K a year than my current one.  This may should ridiculous, but I think making more would make it a little easier to leave Ainsley every day.  At least I would feel it's more justified.  And if I don't get this position, I'm hoping to change my current job hours from 8 to 5 to 7 to 4.  It would give me some time to play with Ainsley and maybe make a decent dinner more often than I am now.  I'm typically a winter kinda gal... I like dark dreary days.  Makes me want to snuggle up and read a book.  However, I'm really looking forward to summer this year.  More daylight so I can take Miss A to the park and we can work in the yard a little bit.  I have a long list of projects I need to do with her too.  Thank you pinterest....

This evening I did get a chance to cook a little.  I won't tell you about the chicken.  It's not even worth typing about.  The mashed potatoes I tried were awesome though.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.  I do have some of Miss Ainsley though!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
5-6 medium Idaho potatoes
5 cloves of garlic, peeled ( I always use WAY more garlic than any recipe calls for)

Peel and cube potatoes.  Put in saucepan with garlic.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Drain, put in large mixing bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mash.

another day in the backseat

That's right... I spent my lunch napping in the backseat of my car again.  I was up til 1:30 finishing up cleaning the house.  We went out friday, on a date night.  It was only the second one since Ainsley has been born.  We may have done it up too much.  We were both really out of it on Saturday, so cleaning was put off until sunday.  I seriously cleaned for 14 hours.  This place was a disaster.  It was mainly from the dogs.  Dog hair EVERYWHERE!!!!!!  ugh.  Anyways, I'm tired.  Goodnight from a super tired workin mama....

Oh.... look at me.

Yup, two post in a row.

I'm starting to get my days a little more sorted out.... I think.  I went and got my hair cut this evening and had a couple of inches taken off, so it should me quicker for me to dry in the mornings.  This was the first day in the last several that I didn't have to go out to my car at lunch and take a nap.  I'll count that as a win.  I'm posting on here tonight, and I managed to take a pic of my pumpkin when I got home.

It makes me sad that this is what I miss all day. But she is a cutie...

The doctor said she should start recognizing her name.  That might be true if we called her her name on a regular basis.  I call her Sweet Cheeks, pumpkin, sweetheart, roo...  The spousal unit calls her killer.  Yeah, I don't know either.  Anyone got any other good pet names? 

I'm still needing to fit in running and cleaning.  I also need to reevaluate my diet.  I cut out pops and juice.  I only drink coffee, water, tea and milk.  And I still haven't lost any more weight.  I have AT LEAST 10 lbs to loose.  I hate actually "dieting".  I try just to eat better.  Maybe I'll concentrate on not so many carbs, and more lean protein.  *ugh*

Working sucks!

I've neglected this blog.  The little time I do have now a days, I enjoy reading other people's blogs versus writing on my own.

Working and having enough energy to play with my daughter for the two short hours I get to see her awake every day is tough.  I honestly don't know if I can keep it up.  Here is what my days have been like the last week...
(she usually feeds around 3-4)
5am-wake up
between 5 am and 7:15
Nurse her one more time
pump
get her bottles ready
pack bag with cloth diapers and wet bag
pull her food out of the freezer
shower, blow dry my hair, make-up (these seem like give me's, but when you stay home, you don't do these things on a regular basis)
Spousal unit takes Miss A to daycare

Work by 8 am
pump ~10 am
noon- quick bite at my desk, pump, and then short nap in my car
pump ~2 pm
Leave work at 5pm
Get to daycare north of town around 5:45 pm
Get home around 6:30 pm
She gets fed at 7 pm
Bath at 8 pm
Down for the night at 8:30
at night, pull dirty diapers, clothes and bottles out of her bag
do some laundry, make some dinner, repack her bag, try to pump one more time
In bed by 11-12 pm


I'm dying doing this routine.  And the money I'm making seems really hard to justify it.  I suppose there is nothing I can do about it right now, so I have to just go with it.  I'm also trying to fit some time in for my blogging every night, training for a 5k, and maybe even some occasional housework that needs to be done.  I have 100 lbs of dog in this house.  Not cleaning like I use to, there is dog hair EVERYWHERE!!  I don't get to spend much time with Ainsley.  I use to take at least one picture of her every day.  I haven't taken one since friday night.  I'm just missing so much.  It really makes me sad.  I think I'm going to give up on cooking and trying new recipes.  Tonight for dinner was a bowl of cereal after a lunch of frozen bean burrito...  *sigh*

The ticking clock

Ugh.... four more days til I have to go back to work.  Every moment of my life seems fleeting and rushed right now.  I have so much stuff to do around the house, while trying to spend every precious moment playing with and enjoying my baby girl.  Today was a long day.  Had the foundation guy out, tried to get Miss A down for a nap that she wanted no part of, took a shower (which is a feat of itself), went to the grocery store, made the spousal unit cupcakes for his birthday, cooked dinner, made Ainsley baby food (sweet potatoes), bathed her, and got her to sleep.  Now I'm sitting here watching the daily show, drinking wine, reading blogs, and going and watching my baby sleep occasionally.  I'm not ready to leave her.  I should feel fortunate.  I was able to spend 6 months with her, which is more than most people get to spend. But I want to be with her all the time. 

Tick tock tick tock

Bitter Sweet

So I haven't had much sleep lately, and getting ready to go back to work... I'm just generally exhausted.

I didn't get a chance to go through a bunch more diaper bags last night.  Maybe I'll stroll through a couple more pages tonight.

So yes, I have another job.  It's really bitter sweet however.  It's making less than I was at my last job.  16K in fact, which is quite painful.  It's actually making less than what I STARTED my last job at 5 years ago.  The more I sit here and think about it, the more frustrated I get.  I can't believe I'm leaving my baby for that kind of money.  But I feel like I didn't have much of a choice.  I told my spousal unit about the opportunity, and he's pretty hell bent on me working.  I do need health insurance, which is a nice perk of having a job.  Apparently gay couples can get insured, but couples living together and having a child together, but not legally bound in a marriage can't get eachother insurance.  Honestly, it's bullshit! So yes, I'm starting mid month.  I think I'm just going to sit here this evening and be depressed about the fact the babysitter will have ~8 hours with my baby, and I'll only have 4 hours a day to bond with her. 

Again....   I can't believe I'm leaving her for that kind of money....

blogs and so much more

I've been meaning to write for a couple of days now.  I have a lot on my mind and a lot of things I need to do and figure out.  Unfortunately, every time I log on to write, there are new blogs up that I follow that I have to read.  Then it turns into a rabbit hole, and I read all night instead of write.  Which is probably better for everyone involved...

Starting with today, and working backwards, we took down all the Christmas decorations.  It's kind of depressing.  I left the lights on the tree on all the time, so when I would get up to nurse Ainsley, we did it by the glow of the Christmas tree.  It was really nice.  We left them up as long as we did because we had a New Year's Eve party.  It wasn't anything too exciting.  It's honestly, really the first party I've ever thrown, so I learned a lot.  I made WAY too much food, bought too much alcohol, but didn't have any decorations or activities planned.  I guess now that we are true adults with jobs, the appeal of getting shit canned isn't really there anymore.  I didn't take any pictures of the festivities either, which is kinda sad.

Now to my issues.... 
1.)  I, not knowing, thought it would be nice to have the date and time on pictures, so we would know in the future when exactly it was taken.  Well, some of the pics we took over the holiday I'd really like to frame.  Well guess what... You can't remove the time stamp from the damn pictures.  So this is what we have...

and this...

Stupid date stamp.  I asked a friend who's good at photoshop to fix them for me.  She said "no problem".  Yeah, never heard anything about the pics once I sent them to her.  I might have to break down and buy my own copy of photoshop and try to do it myself.

2.)  Recently, I've noticed Miss A's diapers seem to have a strong odor of ammonia when I'm getting ready to wash them.  I just contributed it to her getting older and urinating more and maybe the chemistry of her pee changing (hell, I don't know.  I've never done this before...)  So, I was doing a second rinse cycle the other day of my cloth diapers, and when I opened the lid, this is what I saw.

I'm pretty sure a second rinse isn't suppose to by that sudsy.  So I ended up doing 4 additional rinses.  I guess I had some build up issues.  I hope doing a bunch of rinses will help.

3.)  I've decided I loath my diaper bag and need a new one.  I'll be going through etsy this evening looking for the perfect one.  Hopefully I'll have it narrowed down and pics up here by tomorrow.  So far we have







The key here is size.  It needs to be big.  I cloth diaper, so those take up more room than disposable.  We seem to travel a lot too, so it needs to hold things to last at least an entire day. 

4.) New Year's resolutions.  We are still ironing out the details on this one.  I want them to be meaningful and obtainable for once.  We will see.

I'll end on this.  We started Ainsley on solids.  I really wanted to wait until she was 6 months old, but she has really been interested in my food lately, and I'd like to start her on this before I go back to work (more on this later).  So, I made her some oatmeal cereal that she HATED.  I'm not going to make her eat anything she doesn't like.  So I made her some carrots tonight, and she loved them!!

Christmas Time

We are celebrated Christmas tonight as a family for the first time.  We are loading up Miss A and going to the spousal unit's parents for the holidays.  My parents decided they didn't want us up there for Christmas (not in so many words, but I got the point), so we are doing all of the holiday at one grandparents house.  So far I got a baby food making machine, Julia Child's complete set of cookbooks, a necklace with Ainsley's name and birth stone, and a Kitchen Aid mixer.  I definitely call it a win.

We have been traveling so much that I didn't get a chance to send out Christmas cards this year.  Hell, I didn't even get Santa pics done until yesterday.  But they turned out great.  Wish I had done it a little earlier so they could have gone on a card.  oh well.  Here they are...

Merry Christmas

A letter in the making

I feel horrible.... I haven't been doing anything special for Ainsley's big hallmarks... her monthly birthdays, her first giggle, the first time she rolled over.  I really need to be a better mother and keep track of these things more.  So after writing this short post, I'm going to write my LO a letter for her 5 month birthday (which I missed by a day, btw), seal it, and put it in her keepsake box that she can open and read when she's older.  I'm going to attempt to do this every month from now on until her first birthday, then every year after that. 

This is the only picture I snaped of her turning 5 months.  I'm a horrible mom.....

There are so many things I still need to do before Christmas.  We are making handprint ornaments tomorrow.  I'm going to make them in dough and plaster.  I'm afraid the dough ones won't last that long, and I was going to keep her little hand print forever.  We need to go find daddy a small gift from Ainsley.  I was hoping to order this...


But I waited too long, and now I need to find something else.  Maybe I love daddy picture frame for his office.  Argh... I don't know.

Tomorrow we also need to get Baby A's Santa pictures done.  Yes... I am that far behind.  It's going to be a long next couple of days.

Oh, and update on the Cinnamon ornaments...  I made them a little thin, but I went ahead and hung them on the tree.  It's makes the tree smell pretty yummy when you're near it.

Taken with my phone.  It's much prettier in person!

Gloomy, shitty day

We got the most rain in Austin today that we've gotten... maybe for a year or two.  I mean... there were a few minutes there that it really poured.  Everyone else in the US might laugh at that, but it was really something for anyone living here.  We have been in an awful drought for a while now.  But even the downpour didn't stop me from checking my mailbox for fluff I had ordered.  And sure enough... it was there.  I bought a fitted diaper to try under the wool longies I'm in love with, and some diaper solution cubes.

I absolutely love their All in One diaper, so I decided to give tot bots fitted a try.  I'm a little worried they'll stay really wet all night long though, so I might have to add a fleece liner to them, but we will see.  The diaper solution I ordered was in Monkey farts scent (I kid you not).  I'm not really sure what I expected.  The name enticed me though, so I had to buy some.  And yeah... it kinda smells like a floral fart.  I'll still use it, but probably won't buy it again.

So during my morning coffee, I got a call about a job interview I went on a few weeks ago.  I got the job.  It's kind of a double edged sword.  I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket, so it's kind of important to me to have a job and be able to support myself.  But having to leave Ainsley with a sitter makes me a little sick inside.  And it hurts a little that it's 15k less than I was making at my last job, and I have to pay for my insurance now, and I get a week less in paid time off...  but it's a job, right?  *sigh*

On a lighter note, I made fragrant Christmas ornaments today from an old newspaper article my mom had.

It was super easy.

It's just...

1 cup of Cinnamon
3/4 cup apple sauce. 

Make into dough, roll out about 1/4 inch thickness, use cookie cutters, and cut out shapes.  Don't forget to make a hole to hang them.  Let them dry on a cooling rack for several days, turning occasionally. And BAM!  You have ornaments.

I think I may have rolled the dough a little too thin, but we will see.

Maybe 1 of 2

We got back home today.  I think Ainsley was the happiest of all of us about this.  This is the first night in a week that she's slept for a stretch longer than 3 hours.  She's back in her bouncy chair, and extremely content.

This week had demonstrated to me how absolutely difficult it will be to move her out of her bouncy chair and into the crib.  We were gone a week, and every night only got minutely better.  It's going to be a long journey.  If you notice, we have moved to one arm out of her swaddle.  Baby steps....

I'm really hoping to get a lot of stuff done this weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I need to get all my pictures transferred off my phone and onto my computer, upload pics to facebook, read the directions to my camera, apply for some jobs, and I'm hoping to write a little about cloth diapers.  We just got back today from Denver and will out and about again tomorrow for a Christmas party.  I'm petered out man.  I'm not really looking forward to it at this point.

I will write one little thing about cloth diapering... I love getting fluff in the mail.  I order all my stuff offline.  I have found recently, that etsy is a REALLY good source.  I came home to find some wool longies in my mailbox from Grateful Buns.  They come lanolized smelling like lavender.  My whole mailbox smelled like lavender.  I'm sure my postman appreciated it.  Wool covers are the only thing I will use over fitteds.  I mainly use pockets, but for overnight, wool has become my go to.  Ainsley is wearing her new PJ pants tonight...

I love the buttons.  It makes me want to buy some more fitted diapers so she can wear these longies during the day as an outfit.  I know at night, she is at least warm wearing these pants.

Another thing I can home to was a follow up call on a job.  I'm excited and reluctant at the same time.  I'm ready to start getting a paycheck again =), but I'm not ready to leave Miss A with a sitter.  The best care she can receive is being at home with me.  And I'm afraid that this position won't pay all that well, but the spousal unit is going to push me to take it.  I kinda want to at least stay home with her until my unemployment runs out in April, but I guess we can't always get what we want.

Oh, and I also weighed myself as soon as I got home.  I gained 5 lbs.  Just fucking great....



Pictures are pretty revealing... in not a pretty way

We spent most our day today taking family pictures all over the mountain.  I've sat here all night critiquing them.  Well, this was after going out to dinner and eating too much... of course.  There are three things I've determined. 

1.  My teeth are really yellow. What can I say.... I love coffee! I was going to get them whitened.  I bought a groupon for it, but couldn't use it because you apparently can't get it professionally done while your pregnant or nursing.  So, after July, I can hopefully get this taken care of...

See... my teeth look yellow

2.  I need to loose weight.  Baby weight.... from when I was a baby.  Now... this picture isn't completely fair, because the t-shirt I had on was bunched up around my waist from carrying Ainsley, but I still freakin hate it.

I'm not digging the chunky thighs either... but I'm not sure there is a lot I can do about that..

3.  I don't particularly like my haircut.  She made my bangs too heavy, and they are too short on one side of my part.  I have to part my hair really deep on one side the get all my bangs in.  It's kinda stupid.

I suppose it is what it is.  It's going to be interesting to step on the scale when I get back home.  I had a goal of losing 6 more pounds before Christmas.  I hope that figure doesn't go up at all.  I hate baby weight....

I am very fortunate to have a beautiful baby to show for it though.  For that, I am blessed.

Did you know that one of the Victoria's Secret Angels delivered a baby 6 weeks before doing one of their shows?????  Bitch....

I'm baaaack...

Things have been the utmost hectic the last month.  It seems the holidays have put everything into overdrive.  We put up our Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving (which is typically a big no no in our house) because we realized that was going to be the only opportunity we had until January. 

A short run down of the craziness... I took Ainsley to Oklahoma for a week while the spousal unit went hunting.  I was hoping for some relief from my mom in taking care of Baby A, but she was sick and unable to even hold her.  We went to Kansas for a day, went back to OKC, then back to Austin, to turn around and go to outside of Houston the following weekend.  This week, we are in Steamboat on vacation.  It was Baby A's first time on a plane.  Quite honestly, I was super nervous.  She did awesome though.  We even woke her up at 5:45 am to leave to the airport.  I know I would be pissed off if someone woke me up that early...

She fell asleep once we boarded and didn't wake up until about an hour into the flight.  Once she did, she was super enthralled with the peanuts.  That provided entertainment for a while.

But once we got here... it's been a totally different story.  I really hope it's not the altitude.  I've been trying to nurse her as much as possible to make sure she's not getting dehydrated.  But she's kinda fussy all day and is up once an hour ALL NIGHT LONG.  I finally got her to sleep for a couple of hours today in the swing that we rented and had delivered to our condo.  I must say... that is a must have for all parents traveling with infants.  We had a bouncy chair, swing, and bath tub here when we showed up.  It was awesome.

 Hopefully, she will be in a better mood and we can go visit daddy on the slopes tomorrow and take some good pictures on the mountain.

Her being cranky and us hanging out at the house did allow for us to enter a bunch of online contest today.  I don't think I've blogged about this before... but I'm really into cloth diapering.  It's actually become an obsession of mine.  I love it.  I'm mainly into pockets, but I do have a couple of fitteds with wool covers.  Anyways...  I'll blog all about this later.  But the give aways that Autumn is doing is awesome.  I absolutely love her blog.  Beginning cloth diapering can be overwhelming.  People don't realize how complicated it can be with all the different choices you have and all the different washing routines there are.  Her blog really helped me begin to figure out what was right for me.

Anyways... hopefully things will be better tonight here in the mountains.  Greetings from Steamboat!

So.... Tired....

Ainsley slept really well at the beginning of the week... which is when I should have written, but by the end of the week... she's been up every 2-3 hours.  She didn't completely go down til about 11 pm tonight.  Her usual bedtime is 8:30.  So this might be a little brief tonight.

I've spent the last two nights up late looking through etsy for a hat for Ainsley.  We are going snowboarding (well, only Chad actually.  Me have no insurance =( ......) and she needs a suitable hat, since we live in Texas and have had no need for one yet.  So I've narrowed it down.  There are seriously thousands to choose from on etsy...

1.  Cute... and very functional too.  Looks super warm
     

2.  Kinda same thing... just much brighter.


3.  I honestly question how warm this might be, but it is cute


4.  This is cute in the picture, but I'm a little worried it might be a little too pointy in real life



5.  And finally...



The spousal unit votes for 3 and 5.  I'm kinda leaning towards 1 or 2.  Either way, we need to get her head measured and sent in to one of the makers ASAP, because our trip is going to be here before you know it.

We are having the usual suspects over for football watching tomorrow.  Thinking about making Oreo cheesecake cookies while they are here, so I don't make them and eat them all.

Quiet weekend

So my spousal unit went out "hunting" this weekend, so Ainsley and I were left to our own vices.  I say "hunting", because I've never seen him bring anything home, and he goes "hunting" several times a year.  I get pictures of deer....  I think it's just an excuse to get out of town and drink.  Whateva....  I like the house to myself occasionally, honestly.

His family does a big dinner while they are out hunting.  So, because I wasn't going, I decided to send along muffins instead.  I figured they could eat them for breakfast or a snack... or when they're drunk.  ha ha.  So I made Nutella cheesecake pumpkin muffins.  He did come back with a couple, which I'm secretly happy about, so I can eat them.  The were pretty damn delicious...

Nutella Cheesecake Pumpkin Muffins via Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• FOR THE PUMPKIN MUFFINS:
• 4 whole Large Eggs
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 can (15 Oz. Size) Pumpkin Puree
• 1-½ cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• FOR THE NUTELLA CHEECAKE FILLING:
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cups Nutella
• 1 whole Large Egg

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add in sugar, pumpkin and oil and beat thoroughly. Add in remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
In a small bowl, beat together cream cheese, Nutella and egg until smooth.
Place paper liners in a muffin tin. Place about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin batter into each liner, then 1 tablespoon of Nutella batter, then top with 2 more tablespoons of pumpkin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
These are best served completely cooled. Makes 20 muffins.

So yeah... we basically stayed in our pj's all weekend.  I did clean and watch football.  On Thursday, we bought Ainsley an exersaucer off of craigslist.  So while she napped Saturday morning, I got it all disinfected and cleaned up.  She's still a little too young for it yet.  She'll sit in it a couple of minutes before getting overwhelmed, but while she's enjoying it... it's so cute.

We were so lazy that we didn't even go out for dogfood on Friday like we were suppose to.  So the dogs had a terrific weekend.  They got green beans, bread, and cream of chicken soup.  Sounds like a pretty balanced meal to me...  They have a super hard life, as you can see.

So, that pretty much sums up how busy we were.   I have symphony rehearsal tomorrow night, so I'll be busy pretty much all day.  Just going to throw some stuff in the crockpot and call it good.  I do love this time of year.  It's starting to cool off enough in Texas to actually be able to cook on a regular basis.



ok, not so awesome

I wrote last night's post half asleep.  I forgot to put the oven temp at 250 and letting the seeds roast for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.  A mistake I made was also putting the seeds in a ziploc bag last night.  I tried some this morning and they were incredibly chewy...  not even edible.  So I threw them into the oven again tonight, and they are much better.  I'm hoping that leaving them out will keep them non-chewy.

Ainsley is incredibly out tonight.  She was up kinda early for her... 8:30 am, and only took a two short naps (30-45 minute) today.  I'm convinced I'm never going to get sleep ever again.  I'm either up with her, or freaked that she's sleeping so soundly.  I stop and stare at her to make sure her chest is moving.  It's really hard to tell sometimes!  I don't want to wish her infancy away, but I'm kinda anxious about her turning 4 months.  90 % of SIDS occurs during 2-4 months.  I can't wait to get out of this timeframe.  And we haven't gotten her to sleep on her back yet.  It's totally my fault.  She's sleeping so well right now, I just want to enjoy it for a little while before the next battle.  She's still in the room with me.  Here she is tonight...

Yup, that's a bouncy chair in a pack n play.

I'm not overly excited about moving her to her crib either, but we agreed we'd start trying to get her to sleep there at 4 months.  

She's been such a good baby lately.  Maybe the transition to her crib won't be that difficult.  Her she is while I was putting on make-up today.



Damn I'm good...

This morning started off pretty shitty.  The only job I have interviewed for so far got re posted with a temp agency last night for $22,000 less than I was making at my old job, and I wasn't making THAT much at my last job...  So I was bummed.  As soon as I opened my mouth to complain about it to the spousal unit, I got an email wanting me to call about another job I REALLY wanted.  I had put my salary requirements in the range of my last job, up to a little more.  I was ecstatic. So I called while the baby was asleep.  As soon as she asked what my PCR experience was, I knew it was game over.  When I said I didn't have much, she got off the phone fairly quickly.  My last job did me a great disservice by not providing any professional growth.  As soon as we got lab work and PCR work in, they didn't train their existing staff.  We got laid off and they hired new.  Thanks Signature Science!  I'm afraid this is a sign of things to come.

So on to better news...  I finally gutted my pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seeds. I may be a day late and dollar short, but I got it done.  They were awesome.  Here's how I do it....

Roasted pumpkin seeds
Seeds from 1 pumpkin
olive oil
Whatever season you'd like

Clean your seeds really well.  I got all the fibers off the seeds, then rinsed them in a colander.  Bring a pot of water to a boil, add seeds.  Slow boil for 10 minutes.  Strain seeds and pat dry on paper towels.  Place in bowl with approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Mix to cover seeds.  Spread on baking sheet and season.  I used Chris' steak seasoning on one half and 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, garlic salt, and coriander on the other half.

I ate some of them right out of the oven.  And I thought to myself.... that is some damn good stuff!

I love my camera!

It's a Canon Powershot S95.  Here is our weekend in pictures.

Anyone have any idea who she is?????

New camera

We've had such a busy week.  We did so much stuff, that the days have been full and long.  I had a job interview on Tuesday, so Miss A had her first official babysitting experience.  I handled it just fine, thank you very much.  I don't think I could have done it several weeks ago, but this mom is ready to get back to work.  And it's really helpful that we have the BEST babysitter lined up.  She is a stay at home mom with two boys.  Before she did that, she was a special ed teacher.  I'm pretty sure she's a better mom to Ainsley than me.  I showed up to pick her up, and it was nap time.  Everyone was asleep.  They had done tummy time, went outside and swung, and played with bubbles.  I can't accomplish all that with one kid, much less three!

Wednesday was a funeral.  Just generally crappy like all funerals are.  Thursday was our shopping day and today was our first experience at post natal yoga.  It was pretty fun.  I don't know if I'd classify it as a good workout, but it was nice to be around other moms with Ainsley.  The only thing I can't stomach (I'm ok with all the other hippy crap) is their pushing of baby sign language.  I'm not going to do it.  Kids fall behind verbally that start using sign language.  And it has no relevance the rest of their lives.  It's not like learning a second language they can use forever.  Poopy in sign language is only going to be used for a couple of months.  I think it's stupid.  Anyways....

The big thing is, the spousal unit bought my Birthday present early.  I got a new camera!  Which is helpful, since I've taken ~350 pictures of Ainsley so far, so they might as well be really good ones.  It's a canon.  I like it thus far.  Here is a picture of my Edel bug that I took messing around with it this evening

I was looking at SLRs, and this is suppose to be as comparable as possible, minus all the bulk.  Big plans for the rest of the weekend.  You'll get tons of pics later of it all, I'm sure.