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I love reading the pioneer woman's blog. She has great recipes. She lives on a ranch and she's a photographer, which makes for interesting stories and beautiful pictures. A complete 180 from my life.

She has giveaways about once a week. I always enter. Why not, right? Someone has to win. About six months ago, I did! A beautiful Kitchenaid mixer.

The week leading up to Christmas, she had a giveaway every day. Now PW has hit the big time with her blog and new cookbook, so these aren't little prizes. One time the prize was a $500 gift card to Amazon.com. I always enter for myself. And since David reads her blog, I would sometimes enter for him too. She also was having giveaways on her new cooking blog. We both read this blog and reference it for recipes when we are out of ideas.

She doesn't send you an e-mail if you win. She posts it on the blog and it's up to you to contact her and she will send you the prize. I checked in with both of her blogs every day to see if we won and to enter the new drawing for the next day. We didn't win anything. Bummer.

David googled his name this morning. You know, to make sure he hasn't made the 10 most wanted list. And guess what comes up? He won a $250 gift card to CHEF's catalog through her cooking blog. I don't know how I missed it. I imagine with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I overlooked it. We've had the same pots and pans for over 7 years. I think we will get new ones.

Google your name once in awhile.
You never know what you may find.

The Yellow Bag

I was getting ready for bed last night. Emily was playing in the closet behind me. She was trying on my golf shoes, which I haven't worn in 7 years. I was brushing my teeth. In the reflection of the mirror, I could see her pull out my yellow purse.

I had a baby shower a week before I had Noah. It wasn't supposed to be so close together, but we all know the story. My Mom came up from Phoenix for it. She bought us a jumperoo from her and my brother and sister. And she also bought me a huge yellow purse from Target. She thought it would make a cute diaper bag.

It became so much more than a diaper bag.

I got discharged from the hospital on a Thursday. My tiny baby had to stay behind. My husband, Emily and Ben were 100 miles from me. I had missed Emily's first day of Kindergarten that Monday. I know many people have suffered far worse, but honestly for me, it was the single worst day of my life and I was at an all time low. My dear friend Lindsay had called and wanted to drive me to what would be my home away from home, The Ronald McDonald House, for the next few weeks. I tried refusing saying they were going to provide me a taxi. She wouldn't allow it. I'm so thankful that people can see through my stubbornness and do what is best for me despite of what I say. She rescued me that day. We ate greasy tacos at Taco Bell and went to Target for essentials, try not having conditioner or a razor for a week, or rather don't try it. We cried. We laughed. And when she dropped me off at the Ronald McDonald house, I felt prepared. My spirit had been restored and I was ready to conquer my most difficult hurdle of getting my son big enough and healthy enough to go home.

David and the kids were coming to see me the very next day. The kids would get to meet their baby brother and I was going to see them for the first time in over a week. I was counting down the hours. I had a list of things for David to bring me. One of them included the big yellow bag.

Every morning, I would walk down to the community kitchen and eat my breakfast alone. I'd gather up everything I would need for the day. The yellow bag became my catch all. It would hold my Ipod, magazines, a notepad, breast milk that I collected through the night, my snacks, vitamins, my cell phone, breast milk supplements, a book. It was huge. It held everything. It held hope. Hope that I would get through this and the items in my yellow bag would help me.

I haven't used the yellow bag since. It sits in my closet on a shelf. Emily wanted to put the yellow bag in her dress up bin in her room. I told her no. She hung it up on the closet door and went back to playing with my golf shoes which she thought were ice skates.

As I was putting the bag back on the shelf, I looked in it. It was virtually empty. All I found was a dime, a butterscotch, a hair clip, a pen and Noah's armband from his hospital stay.

I didn't find hope.

I suppose that's because I had used it all.

Prozac Update

I've had a few people ask how the prozac is working on our monster dog Roxie. You can read about what prompted us to put our dog on prozac here.

We thought it was working at first, but it's not. I left the garbage can empty on the ground a few weeks ago as a test and she ate the plastic bag. Today I took Ben to gymnastics. When I got home, she had gotten into the pantry. I imagine I forgot to shut it all the way. I try to remember everything, but I'm not perfect. There I said it!

Minutes before walking out the door, my mind spins...shut all the doors, put up the garbage can and recycle bin, start the dishwasher, where are my keys, Noah hasn't pooped in a few days grab the diaper bag, Ben needs water, I need water, grab Ben a snack for after gymnastics, get Noah a bottle just in case (growth spurt), I forgot to eat, get a graham cracker, take Roxie out to pee, get Ben to pee, I need to pee, grab an extra outfit for Noah just in case (it has been a few days), where are my keys, my sunglasses, my grocery list, do we have a jalapeno for chili or not, take out turkey for the chili (I forgot), grab Ben's birthday invites so I can make them out during gymnastics, oh and the good pen, get our coats on, get the freezer bag for the cold stuff from the store (since we were going before gymanstics), can we make it to the store first, where are my keys....do you see how I could forget to make sure the pantry door wasn't cracked 1/8 of an inch? By the way, we were 1 minute early to gymnastics and that was after our quick trip to the grocery store with the slowest cashier in history.

In the 110 minutes that we were gone, she ate 8 pop tarts, a full bag of marshmallows, 2/3 of a bag of pretzels, a bag of saltine oyster crackers, half loaf of wheat bread, 3 packs of oatmeal to go bars, God knows how many granola bars... She must have just gotten into the cheerios and cheese balls when I got home. Can I repeat that, she ALMOST ate my cheese balls! She's lucky she's still alive. All this produced well, a nice pile of you know what on my carpet.

So, here I am walking in the door after jamming out happily to Miley Cyrus' Party In The U.S.A. totally unaware of what was waiting for me. No judgement, it's a fun song. Listen to it and I bet you'll be nodding your head like yeah...


I called David in desperation.

A month ago, he was driving to Flagstaff for a meeting with some co-workers. It's a 90 minute drive and he starts in with "my dog is on prozac". It's always a good conversation starter. One of the ladies says she would take Roxie if we can't keep her anymore.

The baby is screaming and needs to eat. Ben needs to eat. I need to eat. I'm cleaning up crap and I'm pleading with David to e-mail this girl (she works in a different office) and find out if she is serious. That or we need to double her dose of prozac. Or buy a box of rat poisining. Okay, I'm kidding. I could never hurt an animal. But, if I left it out and she got into it... Again, just kidding. I think.

My wonderful husband came home on his lunch break to help me with the mess. He steam cleaned the carpets which had marshmallows stuck in them. Surprisingly, it came up rather easy. He vacuumed up the crumbs and returned to work. He's a good man.

So, I'm hoping this lady will take her.

For now, I'm going to go listen to Miley Cyrus and try to forget about my afternoon.

Whose Your Mommy?

We've always been told that Emily looks like David. Ben was a dead ringer for my side of the family, but now he is looking like David. And Noah, well, I'm sure he will look like David. It's just the way it is. I'm okay with that. I have a handsome husband and I'm glad everyone can see their Daddy in our babies.

It is nice though when someone says something random like:
Your daughter has your curls. or
Ben has your eyes. or
They all have your smile. (according to my husband)

Nobody came out with red hair. How is that possible? My Mom is a redhead. My Grandmother had red hair. Surely, I would produce a redheaded baby. Nope, I have brown, blond and what is looking to be dark brown.

It's retro week on Facebook. So, everyone is posting a young picture of themselves. I chose this one from when I was Emily's age. I was pouting because we were in the snow in Flagstaff and I wanted to go inside. My Dad wanted a picture of me. All I can say is it's no wonder I got whatever I wanted. Could you deny this face?


This is also why I never gave Emily bangs. They always look jacked up when you have naturally curly hair.

People have commented on Facebook that Ben looks just like me or would if he put on a red wig. I even got a comment that I look just like Emily. Happy to hear that. Usually, I think that Emily looks more like David's sister (Alisa). The dark hair, eyes and wonderfully natural golden skin. Actually, Emily looks more like Alisa than Alisa's own daughter.

Today, my Mother in law sent me this picture of Alisa as a young girl.
She looks a lot like Ben!

Geez, I can't catch a break!

Hey, at least Ben and Noah have my eyelashes!

Body Blows and Blankets

We got a Wii for Christmas and we love it. We didn't realize it only came with one remote and nunchuck. I went to buy another one and was astounded that it would cost $69. I went on Ebay and bid on a new set. I won it for $23 with free shipping. The only negative was that it would ship from Hong Kong! We got it on Monday and it's like having a whole new game since we can now play against each other.

Emily immediately wanted to play the "Punch Your Face" game with Ben. That would be boxing.


I immediately realized that we need to separate the two people playing or there will actually be punches to the face. It was getting a little dangerous in our family room last night.

Today I decided to take Noah for his first walk in the stroller sitting up. We've taken the stroller before but he was either sitting on top in his car seat or laying completely flat. I thought he'd love to take in the sights and sounds of the great outdoors.

He was very excited.


Really, really excited.


Ben was all ready to go.


We got half way through our walk and turned a corner. It's been 3 years since I've walked with a baby in a stroller and I apparently forgot that you must bring an extra blanket as a sun guard because this is what happened.


I spent the rest of the time walking backwards pulling the stroller.

I'm Not An Idiot

We all know Ben is a character with a vivid imagination who loves dressing up. We went to pick up Emily at school on Friday and he was a Sheriff. Sometimes, he's a cowboy, sometimes Batman, Spiderman, Superman. You just never know.

Usually, he ropes me into being somebody. Last week, I was a robber. Sometimes, I'm a dragon and he's the dragon slayer. I have to run around the house squawking until he stabs me with his plastic sword or hits me with his shield. It's a party at our house. If you ever feel the need to be slayed, come on over.

Today, I'm on the computer.
Ben walks up and says, "Mom, you're an idiot."

I'm a little stunned. I tell him, "Ben, it's very bad to say that. Never call me or anybody else that again."

He looked a little defeated, like he didn't understand. So, I repeated what I said with more emphasis on how bad that word is.

He walked away and said, "I didn't know Indians were bad."

Whoa..."Did you say that I'm an idiot or an Indian?"

Next time, I told him to call me a Native American to avoid any confusion.

Relaxing

We had a nice weekend. We didn't do much and that's always a good thing.

We put together a puzzle I got at the dollar store. It came with an extra piece. At least we didn't get the puzzle after it that came with one piece missing.


We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse on Saturday night. My Dad gave David a gift card for Christmas. We were a little worried because the last time we went we had to hold Noah the entire time. This time, he fell asleep in the car seat. I could not believe it. We were able to talk, laugh, color and enjoy ourselves. It was lovely.

The kids practiced their Wii Yoga.



Emily looks more like she's perfecting a move from Karate Kid.


I've taken to showering at night. After playing Wii throughout the day, it's nice to feel all shiny and clean before bed. Plus, the hot water defrosts my toes. David informed me last night that the shower head in our bathroom was broke. I'd have to use the frog (kids) bathroom. I wasn't too excited about this at first. I like my shower. My stuff is in my shower. But, what choice did I have? As I shut the door of the frog bathroom behind me, I realized that I haven't shut the door to shower in 5 years. Our master bath doesn't have a door on it. My first thought was if I should lock the kids out? One of them always interrupts my shower and sometimes they strip down and jump in. I didn't lock the door and I'm glad I didn't.

Five minutes into my shower, Emily walks in and exclaims, "How did the fog get in here?" She thought it was the coolest thing ever. Her and Ben take a bath in my jumbo bath tub in the master bath with no door. David showers in water that is cold enough for a polar bear. And I take a shower hot enough for the devil, but there is never a door to trap the steam. Emily climbed on the sink and was busy writing her name on the mirror. And I watched her hair immediately begin to curl up.


I feel like I taught my daughter something new. Maybe I should shower in the frog bathroom more often.