Oh no - I have another hobby now!

I have entered into the realm of digital scrapbooking - or digiscrapping, as I found it called. I am hooked. I downloaded a bunch of freebies from Lily Belle Scraps - you must check her out! - and I went to town. Here is my very first, very amateurish page ...

I know I have too much "white space" and my drop shadows are a bit much, but really I was just playing with my program to figure out how to place and move things around.

I'll post more soon! -- Rose

Smiling

It has been such a nice day.

Andy went shopping on his way home from work last night and I had him pick up a whole chicken so I could make soup today. Soup always makes me feel better. I wanted dumplings, also. After noting that the Bisquick I had in my fridge expired in 2005, I had him pick up a new box of that as well.

We had a big icy snow last night - so while Andy went out and shoveled this morning I fed the girls breakfast and they ate so nicely it was amazing. Mealtimes give me agida (looked up the spelling of that one - there are a million ways) and for some reason they just ate like angels. After that we all went to sit on the potties (well, not me!) and Maddie did her thing. And she got a sticker. Katie couldn't do her thing. But she wanted a sticker and sat on that potty for half an hour. Didn't happen though so I talked her into trying again later. No sticker. :(

After that I put the chicken in a big pot of water with veggies and parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Just like the song. Easy to remember. It cooked for about 2 hours - I broke the chicken apart - added more veggies - and then Andy had a big bowl right before he went to work. He is not a dumpling fan, so I'll make those later for my dinner.

The girls and I played and read and had another lovely meal (is it a full moon?) and then after Sesame Street it was naptime. I did all the dishes and - because they are Andy's favorite thing in the world - I made yellow cupcakes. (He bought the mix last night so I figured that was a big fat hint!)

So now it is almost 3:30 in the afternoon and I hear the girls stirring. Gotta go. Hope you all are having a nice day, too.

Yay!

Katie went on the potty once last night and once this morning!

Maddie went once last night (just missed it this morning - no problem - we'll just try again)!

Mama is doing a happy dance!

A-Z on Mondays: C is for Cups

I let the girls drink out of their bottles WAY TOO LONG! Past their second birthday. We had a very hard time getting them onto a cup - and went through about 15 different types until I found one they liked.

This is what they settled on ...


They are made by First Years and are called "Take 'n' Toss" - and they rock. They are cheap cheap cheap (like $4 for 8 of them) and they are not made out of that bad plastic.

They come in a million colors. I thought the girls would get a kick out of choosing a different color each day, but Katie always wants purple and Maddie always wants green. If all the greens and purples are dirty (not uncommon in this house) the only way I can get them to use another color is if they both get the SAME EXACT color with the SAME EXACT lid. It's nuts.

Now, you may be asking, "Rose, why do you have so many of them?" (And that first picture doesn't even show all of them.) My answer is ... it's like a suit. Have you ever seen My Blue Heaven with Steve Martin? There was one scene where he was explaining to Rick Moranis if you hang up your suit jacket but lay around in your pants all night you'll eventually have to have your pants cleaned more than your jacket and you end up with a mismatched suit.

The girls treat the lids of these cups like Rick Moranis treats his pants. The girls continue to chew on the lid spout long after the cups are empty - and the mouthpieces eventually end up cracking and they leak. So we chuck them (hence the "Toss") and get to the point where we have more cups than lids - so we buy a new set or two. But since we never really retire the older cups, they build up - and we end up with a ton of them. Right now I think the ratio is 2:1 of cups to lids!

See you next week for D! If you want to see more "A-Z on Monday" visit Jen over at Unglazed!

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I am starting to feel better - THANK YOU ALL for the comments and thoughts. I am taking my medicines and they are helping. What is killing me the most is the lack of sleep at night because I am coughing so much I really can't settle down. The girls are both sick now, too - noses and coughing. This has been one tough winter, man. Only 3 more months???

Bronchitis

Yes - I have bronchitis. I knew this was not just a regular cold when I realized my nose was clear as day and my throat was filled with a glob of yuck.

I just got back from the doctor and he put my on Prednisone and an inhaler.

I may be very sporadic in my posts for a while - my energy is zapped and all I want to do is sleep. I have to rest as much as I can for the girls (it breaks my heart how much I have plopped them in front of the TV these past few days) and I think the computer will be on the back burner for a while. :(

Stay tuned - I'll be back. :) -- Rosie

Thanks, everyone!

Hey there! Thanks so much for the well wishes yesterday. I rarely get sick but when I do it hits me so hard. I woke up today still feeling gross, but I seem to be improving as the day goes on. Thank you, God, for this beautiful sunny day. It is helping me feel so much better - thank you!

I have a post that I am working on called "No Knead Bread" - have you ever heard of it? One of my twin club freinds sent it to me because she thought I would love it and she was right. I channeled Pioneer Woman and took step-by-step pictures of the whole thing - I was such a dork. I am working on that post now.

Is anyone else as frustrated with the picture uploading process here on Blogger as much as I am? It bugs me that they all get uploaded to the top of the post - and a million spaces get inserted into your text. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a trick I need to know about?

So once I get the energy to fight with Blogger to get my post to look the way I'd like it to, I will finish that up. I was going to do it last night, but ... LOST was on, people! I have watched it from day one and supported it through it's ups and downs and I am sooooo excited that it is back. And it is sooooooooooooooo good!

If you into LOST, there is a great blog that I read: http://blog.zap2it.com/lost/ - this guy is an awesome writer and recapper. You can read his analysis right from the first episode. It is also a spoiler-free site, which I love. I like to be surprised as I watch. Most definitely worth a visit.

This was a random post, huh? Sometimes those are the best.

I am sick

I am sick. Swollen throat. Stuffed nose. Aches and pains.

I'll live. I'll be back tomorrow.

Inauguration

I have been watching the inauguration coverage on CNN on and off this morning, as the girls will let me! I think, "it must be so amazing to be there" then I see the bundled up people and the bustling crowds and I am more than happy to watch it from my couch.

I am not a political person, and I really don't like talking politics. I don't understand enough to feel like I can make a comment and support it well. And I don't like being lectured. Why is it ... if you support one party ... does it mean you have to vehemently hate the other?

So anyway - enough of that. Enjoy your day!

A-Z on Mondays: B is for Boppy

This is truly the greatest invented baby product of all time. It is called The Boppy. It saved my sanity on many occasion. I nursed with it (sorry, no pictures of that!) ...

... the girls slept in it (I KNOW - but I was right there the whole time! Taking pictures, of course!) ...

(all warm and cuddly)

... and when they got older it helped them practice sitting up.

They still use it to this day for lounging or drinking their milk right before they go to bed. If we have another kid I'm going to have to get him or her their own - the girls get upset even if I lay down on either of them!


See you next week for "C"!

(To see more "A-Z on Mondays", or to start participating yourself, visit Jen over at Unglazed!)

Hope Christmas Never Ends!

A few weeks ago my dad and my Aunt Beverly and my Aunt Susan came to visit the girls (they would say they wanted to see us, too - but I think the girls outrank us!).

The girls love when people PLAY with them - and this day was no exception. There was lots of hide-and-seek and chasing and Blue's Clues and reading. You can totally tell by the expression on their faces that everyone had a great time.

I made a pasta with meatballs - and everyone brought yummy desserts that were delish. I attempted to feed the girls real food while the rest of us ate dessert and Andy just looked at me like, "You're kidding right?" The second the girls saw all the goodies that was the end of that. They had cake for dinner (I think Katie did eat a little pasta first).

Everyone had a great day - and took a ton of pictures. There were four cameras going!

Here is a slideshow of the day - enjoy!

(*The slideshow is in a different post - so if you clicked here through the title of this post you just need to click my header above and you will see the slideshow below this!* whew!)

Random Rosies

1. It's snowing, but it's a powder. Andy just took out the broom and swiped it all away like magic.

2. My friend is a scrapper - I am not. I have started and stopped over the years. She found an all-day-crop that is not too far from us for not a lot of moolah. Will I go with her? Out of the house for a day? SURE!

3. I am in an unmotivated space when it comes to posts. I have a few in the "draft" stage - they are coming. I promise.

4. I spend way too much "nap time" on Facebook, thereby contributing to #3 above.

Happy Thursday ...

We missed you!

My first year of teaching was in 2002. I started mid-year in January and I took over for one of my favorite teachers. Yep - I had gone back to teach in my old high school.

My first week was horrible. My favorite teacher was also their favorite teacher and those little 9th graders wanted nothing to do with me. I was walking a fine line between being super-strict to announce my authority (!) and being kind to let them know I was rational. I cried every night and I was exhausted. I was in bed by 7pm sometimes. The week I started was also the first week I started dating Andy - so there was lots going on.

By my second year I had it all together. Yes - there were days that still drove me nuts - but I also learned to relax and enjoy myself. I learned to look past the kids' behavior while they were learning (which was where most of the acting-up occured) and started to see how they acted before the bell rang. They cracked me up - they were so smart and talented and funny and real. I learned a lot that year. During that second year I had two students, Katie and Kristen, who were just great. They were fraternal twin girls (talk about foreshadowing), different as night and day (more foreshadowing). When they graduated 4 years later they ended up attending a college about 15 minutes from where I live now. They would come over every Tuesday night for dinner and to hang out with the little girls. I became friends with their mom, too - they are such a nice family.

This is their sophomore year in college now and things got busy for them, as it should, so our weekly dinners had to be put on the back burner for a while. But they got to visit a few weeks ago with their mom. Here are some pictures from that day ...

Katie readind to Maddie - a "Max and Ruby" book of course!


The whole gang hanging out! Mrs. Mullen loves to read this blog - and she tells me it brings back so many memories of her girls when they were this age. She gives me tons of advice - especially for meals! (Yuck to meals is what I say.)

Kristen is in the background there - my Katie gravitates to her and likes to climb and bounce and rough around.

This is the adorable fleece jacket and hat they gave my girls for Christmas. Katie wouldn't take it off!

We ended up coloring at the kitchen table - and they ALL colored. (My Katie, still wearing her jacket. The hat is hanging on the phone - look upper right.)

I was cooking dinner throughout this - and Mrs. Mullen was giving me tips like to save the Happy Meal bags from McDonald's and put their food in that. She did that for her girls years ago - and she said with a wink that sometimes McDonald's served broccoli!

I am so glad that they were able to visit me - and I hope to see them all again soon!

A-Z on Mondays: A is for Argyle Dresses

I am beginning to participate in a new event: "A-Z on Mondays" created by Jen over at Unglazed.

I am going to keep the pictures all about the little ladies ... they were 5 months old in this picture and my cousin, Fortunata, gave them these beautiful argyle dresses. I loved them! I loved the little coller, how it came with little bottoms attached with snaps to make it easier to change them, and I loved that they were "the same, but different."

Katie is in the pink, Maddie in the orange. Look at thier little fat arms and bowed legs. I would call them my "oven stuffer roasters" and pretend to gobble them up. They'd crack up - it was hysterical. This picture totally brings me right back to that time - we were in the townhouse. I close my eyes and I am there.

I think I am going to love Mondays.

Posts I'm working on

1. The Mullen Ladies visit

2. The McGrath family visit

3. What the little girls are saying and doing these days

I'm gettin' there. I have tired eyes this mornin' ...

Thank you, Katy!

Well! Yours truly has been given an award from the fabulous Katy over at Fun with the Baker 5.

ONCE YOU'VE BEEN AWARDED, THE RULES ARE:

1. Thank the person who was so thoughtful for giving you this award by linking their blog to this post.
2. Put the logo on your blog or post.
3. Nominate 10 blogs which show great attitude/gratitude.
4. Link your nominee to your post.
5. Comment them to tell them about the award they've won.

I nominate (in no particular order):



1.Audrey Lois Blogs - This is my Aunt Audrey and she got me started into the land of bloggerdom. She lives half the year in NJ and the other half in Florida. She writes about her family and her grandchildren and her life.



2. Anyone Can Blaugh - This is my Aunt Beverly who is a sporadic blogger - and she knows it. She blogs about whatever is on the top of her head - and gets frustrated when she loses posts!



3. Unglazed - Jen is a new friend. She loves all things log cabin. Right now she and her husband are hiding stuffed reindeer around the house with cute notes for the other person to find. Too cute!



4. Sweet Sue Sews - Sue is my Aunt Audrey's sister-in-law and we became friends through blogging. I want to be Sue when I grow up. She makes the most adorable creations for her grandchildren and everyone around her. I want to live with her for a week and let the talent seep in.



5. Family and Flowers - Darla is another friend I met through a blog of a blog of a blog and we just hit it off. She is a gardener like no other - and living in Florida she has blooms all the time. Her pictures are gorgeous!



6. Living in Maryland - Safire is a twin mommy, like me - but she also has an older daughter so I think I had it easy compared to her! Her poor little ones just got over RSV and they are starting to venture out into the world again.



7. Yaya Stuff - Yaya writes a deeply personal blog sharing her quest to have a child. She is honest and true and real and tells it like it is. And she loves her orange uggs.



8. Songbirdtiff - I just started reading this blog this week and already I am taken in. She crafts! She decorates! She sews! She's planning for 2009 Christmas presents now! And her post titles are titles of songs - which I think is just plain cool.



9. TidBits from Liz - Liz is another friend I know solely through blogging - and we hit it off right away, too. She is a Mac girl to the core. Don't even mention the (Vista) word. Ask her about her Wii - she is converting me slowly.



10. Pleeza Pass Tha Pees But Holde Da Korn - Have you read my Oklahoma post from a few weeks back? If yes - then you know all about these 4 gals (who all have sites of their own that were already nominated or I woulda done it myself). If no - just know that they love the crazy words that we have to type in to verify our comments and like to make definitions and nutso sentences using them. It is an original site that ALWAYS makes me laugh.



So there you go - my 10 nominees. Congratulations to you all and thanks for filling my days and nights with interesting facts, stories, truth, and friendship.

An epiphany!

(Before I begin this post - I found my lens cap! Thank you to everyone who sent happy thoughts my way or prayed to St. Anthony! Thank you St. Anthony!)

Have I mentioned how excited I am about my living room getting "done"? We have been in this house over a year and besides the playroom (which took us 6 months to renovate on our own) only the dining room is painted.

Once the hardwood floors are in I really feel like I can start getting things prettied up. I haven't even loaded my "good plates" into my teeny china cabinet because I didn't want to have to unload them all again when we DID get the floors done. We technically could have hung things on the wall in the dining room already, but have I mentioned how after the girls go to bed we collapse on the couch at night?

My cabinet now, filled with pictures ...

(Notice the dead plant, the sewing maching in the corner, and the girls' toys on the top. Those are the toys I confiscate when the girls fight over them. Bye-bye.)

Our front door opens right into our living room - no entryway or anything.
Blah. Ugly peach walls (sorry if you have peach walls and love them!). I have a beautiful mirror that I will hang on the wall to the left of the stairs. When we lived in the townhouse, this is what it looked like ... (decorated at Christmas).



This dresser now holds the TV and media paraphenalia in the girls' playroom. It's nice and sturdy and won't fall over. Of course I had Andy bolt it into a stud in the wall, too. Of course!

I am one of those (nutso?) people who don't like shoes in the house. I know ... I never liked those people either. But after I married Andy and he described to me in detail what he walked through when he worked in Manhattan, and then we had the girls, I quickly became a believer. So right now we have a chair that we keep near the front door so people have a place to sit while they are taking off their shoes. Last night when I couldn't fall back to sleep at 3:00 in the morning, I had an epiphany.

A bench would be perfect on that wall!

I can still hang the mirror over it, and then get those boot trays to go underneath so that there is a place for people to put their shoes after they take them off. I'm diggin' the style above, especially those drawers, but not really the stain color of the wood. I like a more natural, bare look. I'll have to dig around a little more to find exactly what I am looking for. There is an unfinished wood store by me - so that will be my first stop.

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On another note, four families that I know are going through some hard times right now. I don't want to get into specifics, but if you could keep them in your thoughts and prayers I would appreciate it.

Random Rosies

Hey all ... just a little post here ... to keep you on your toes ...

1. I caught the girls' cold. Ugh. I thought I was going to sidestep it, but it apparently had other plans. It hit me about 11pm last night - all day long I was fine!

2. I am more excited than I can possibly express about getting my living room fixed! I called the electrician today and left him a message. We have to coordinate with him and the contractors so lights are done before the sheetrock on the ceiling.

3. I can't find the lens cap to my new camera! Aaah! Say a little prayer to St. Anthony for me (if you do such things! hehe)!

I am working on a few posts (we've had lots of visitors lately!) and a slideshow - hopefully will be done by tomorrow. Here's a pic to tide you over ...


This is what the living room looked like when we first moved - in August of '07. Biggest gate imaginable (it was actually two of the same type linked together). Andy took a gate-door from a different set and rigged them together because I was killing my back lifting them in and out of this thing!

Sleeping through the New Year

Happy New Year! Hope that you all had a fun time whether you were home, out at a small get together, out at a fancy party, or in Paris (my dream vacation - until Andy points out I'd have to get on a plane).

Andy and I went to my cousin's house for a small get together and it's always such a nice time. We eat more food than our bellies could hold, and as soon as a dish is empty my cousin's wife whips up something even more delish to take it's place! The younger kids were all playing Wii, while the older kids sat with us and texted all night long. But they shared the gossip with us, so text away!

My mom always goes to the movies with her friend Patty on New Years Eve, then swings by our place and watches the girls so we can go out. We actually had every intention of taking the girls with us this year and just leaving early, but they were (are!) still so sick and there was just no way.

My mom always takes pictures of the girls at midnight, while they are sleeping. So while Andy and I were leaning over some chairs to give each other a kiss at midnight, this is what our little girls were doing as the year changed from 2008 to 2009 ...

Happy New Year, my babies. I wish you happiness, health, and lots of Blue's Clues.