Sunday Night Chit Chat: Happy Anniversary To Us!

Howdy Humble Readers...

At the time of this writing, my Beloved and I have been married for six years and two hours.  :)  The best six years and two hours of my life.  He is my soulmate, my best friend, and my biggest support.  Things haven't always been easy for us, but our challenges have brought us closer than I could have thought possible.  I can honestly, and without feeling the least bit cheesy, say that I love him more today than I did when we said our vows. 

Yet again, the weekend has been dominated by the weather.  Snow.  SNOW!  Again.  And it's that really heavy wet spring snow.  Ugh!  I'm so sick of this crap.

And Ginny... oh Ginny.  As I've said before, I'm not a fan of the phrase "the terrible twos" because I think that can be self-fulfilling, but I can certainly see where it came from.  She's pushing so many boundaries and just being all around challenging.  Today has been particularly difficult, resulting in us having to leave church early because she was just so naughty.  I try to stay mellow in those moments... I really do.  But it's hard not to lose my cool.  Oh, and she climbed out of her crib for the first time today.  *sigh*  I love her so much.  I hope she gets through this phase soon. 

Out-takes from Pip's photo shoot yesterday.

On to the Chit Chat...

Reading - I finished Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner a couple of days ago, and as I said last week, I'm pretty certain I had read it before, or at least parts of it (occupational hazard of working in bookstores for so many years.  I would often read bits and pieces of different books while on breaks just so I could better sell it).  Now I'm re-reading Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead.  If you like historical/fantasy, you should really check the Pendragon Cycle out (or at least the first three books - Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur).  I'm only a few chapters in, but it's a brilliant retelling of the Arthur legends, starting in Atlantis with the girl who would one day become the mother of Merlin.  I haven't read this series in a few years, so I'm excited to delve back into it.

Watching - I'm recording my usual Sunday night shows tonight because my Beloved and I are going out!  Nothing big, just dinner at a fun restaurant and a movie.  But it's out!  We're either going to go see The Host or 42 (the one about Jackie Robinson). 

Listening to - Pippin is 'resting' in the playpen, chatting in a tired sort of way with his stuffies.

Baking/Cooking - Like I said, we're going out tonight.  Tomorrow night I'm cooking our 'at home' anniversary dinner.  Greek inspired salmon, lemony rice pilaf, and sautéed kale and tomatoes.

Happy you accomplished this week - Got Pip's 1st birthday portraits done.  Went through the kid's clothes and sorted out what's too small (going to the thrift store later today).  Packed up the baby bottles and the food mill. 

Looking forward to next week -  Using my new Panini grill (my Beloved's gift to me).

Thankful for today -  For my Beloved, for our extended family who called to wish us a happy anniversary, and for our challenging children. 

****Bonus Question**** What is your *ideal* wake up time and what time do you usually wake up?  I am happiest and most productive when I get 8-9 hours of sleep (yes, I need 8-9 hours), so on a good day I'm waking up at around 7am.  But usually I don't get that much, for all sorts of reasons... the wee-lings have a rough night, I have a rough night, I read too long at night, etc.  I wish I could get by on 6 hours...

*****
This is posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit-Chat.  Pop on over and check out what others are chatting about tonight. 

Why? Oh Why?

Oh Humble Readers....

I come to you asking why?

I lived 38 years of my life in ignorance.  I lived 38 years of my life in bliss. 

All my life, I have been mocked, ridiculed, and dismissed as an aberration.  My family didn't understand me, my friends thought I was nuts. 

My confession? 

I have never liked bacon. 

Not with eggs, not on a burger, and certainly not a club sandwich.  Not on a baked potato or on a Caesar salad.  The smell, the grease, and the mess of cooking it... *shudder*.  I thought the current 'bacon flavoured' everything craze was just wrong.  I mean, why ruin perfectly good chocolate or ice cream with bacon?  How revolting...

And I was proud to be able to tell my doctor that bacon was never a part of my diet.  I never had to worry about putting it on a list of foods I shouldn't eat because I never would consider eating it. 

Until recently. 

I don't know what happened.  Over the last few years I would occasionally make a recipe that required bacon (like my german potato salad) and I would suck it up and cook a few slices, gagging all the while.  I would crumble them really small so that I couldn't really notice it in my food.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly it grew on me. 

I learned about cooking bacon in the oven.  And that solved the problem with the mess.  I started to nibble on the crumbles I would use in recipes.  Bacon in a recipe no longer made it unpalatable to me.  After a while the crumbles became bits, and the bits became chunks. 

Humble Readers, I admit it.

I love bacon. 

It must be crispy.  And it most certainly must not be greasy.  I love the salty, smoky goodness.  I love the crunch.  I even had bacon on a breakfast sandwich earlier this week.  And I'm considering buying a package of the evil stuff when I go grocery shopping tomorrow. 

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Somebody save me.  Please!

Sunday Night Chit Chat: Will Winter Never End?

Howdy Humble Readers! 

How are you all tonight?  We're digging out from a gross amount of snow, but other than that, all is well here in the hobbit hole.  I despise snow in April, and according to the long term forecast, it's supposed to continue for the next couple of weeks.  I turned off the furnace, as I always do, on April 1, and I really am hoping that I won't have to turn it back on in the next few weeks. 

Our wee glamour girl in her new shades

Ginny has been a bit of a stinker all day, and really I was never so glad to see bedtime roll around tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her.  Pippin has recently exhibited an affinity for music and dancing.  It's so adorable, I want to have music playing all day just to watch him bounce and groove in his little dude way. 

Our weekend has been a busy one, including going for a bloodwork appointment (which ended up not happening because Dr. B told me the wrong amount of time to fast), shopping for new capris and tshirts, ordering my new glasses, finding a cute outfit for Pip's portraits next weekend, an oil change, a haircut for my Beloved, and church.  Whooo, no wonder I'm tuckered out. 

On to the Chit Chat...

Reading - Fly Away Home by Jennifer Wiener.  I think I may have read it before, as it's kind of striking me as familiar.  And just for the record... I DID really enjoy the Host by Meyer.  It's not fine literature by any stretch, but it's very engaging and I confess that several scenes have lingered with me over the past few days. 

Watching - Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge on PBS.  I adore the clothes so much in Mr. Selfridge.  Same vintage as Downton.

Listening to - While I'm not listening to it at the moment, my primary musical entertainment this week has been the new NKOTB album.  I love, love, love it!  I'm just bummed that they haven't added an Alberta stop on their tour. 

Baking/Cooking - Tonight was a basic Sunday supper.  Maple Mustard Pork Roast, Mashed Taters, Peas, Gravy, and Yorkies.  The yorkies didn't turn out so well tonight, but the gravy was yummy. 

Happy you accomplished this week -  Other than all that we got done this weekend, I'm pleased to say that I'm slowly getting back into a solid routine.  Still a bit behind on things, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  And the clothes that I bought for myself yesterday... I'm proud to say that I am able to fit into a size smaller than before!  Yippee!

Looking forward to next week - I need to colour my hair... desperately.  I've had the box in the bathroom for more than a month.  I'm also in the midst of planning Pip's first birthday party.  I'm going to be ordering the invitations from Etsy (order the jpeg and print them myself).  It's going to be mostly grown ups, of course, but I still want it to be cute. 

Thankful for today - That we haven't had need to travel anywhere this weekend, through the bad weather.  That the surety that spring will come... eventually. 

***Bonus Question*** - What is your regular day to day "outfit"?   In the winter, jeans and a tshirt or sweater.  In the summer capris or a skirt (long and black usually) and a tshirt. 

*****
This has been posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat.  Pop over and find out what others are chatting about tonight.

Pippin @ 11 Months: A Busy Boy

Hey Humble Readers...

Bathtime - still in the kitchen sink

It has been ages and ages since I did an update on our wee little mister.  Let me tell you, he's not so wee any more!

Look at me!!

He'll be 11 months old next week, and I just can't even believe it.  Where has the time gone?  He's gotten so big and so busy, it's hard to keep up with him. 

Tired boy

Pippin weighs 22.5lb now (not sure how tall he is, haven't measured him in a while).  He and Ginny are in the same size diapers now... how crazy is that?  His eyes are still super blue, and he's had six teeth since December.  He's been teething 3-4 more teeth for at least a month, with no real progress unfortunately.  And talk about drool!

Today - completely zonked out for 12 minutes

He sleeps really well most nights, usually from around 8pm until 7am.  The only times we have a middle of the night wake up is when he's in a growth spurt or his teeth are particularly bothersome.  Napping is iffy, with morning naps being the norm and the occasional cat nap in the afternoon while Ginny is napping. 

Ooooo... Mummy's books!

He loves his little stuffed Eeyore beyond belief, but all other toys are fair game too.  Basically anything he can chew on is a favourite. 

Pippin makes lots of what I would consider 'little boy' noises... grunts, squawks, blowing raspberries, even car sounds.  He's a very happy little guy, and it's easy to make him giggle.  There isn't any real sense to his noises yet, except for the random "Da!" when he sees my Beloved. 

He started crawling, really crawling not just doing the army crawl, around the same time as he started pulling himself up on the furniture, around the middle of February.  Now he's cruising around the furniture and giving me regular heart attacks as he takes little tumbles here and there. 

Hangin' with Gramma

And speaking of tumbles... Ginny DOES NOT condone Pippin's newfound mobility.  Every chance she has, she will push him down and then try to sit on him.  He has fought back once, biting her on the finger (not that biting is allowed, but he needed to put Ginny in her place). 

First time he stood up... at Mama's house in K-town.

Pip's eczema still comes ,and goes.  He's got a patch right now on his hand that has shown up in the last few days.  But the rx cream still seems to be able to control it. 

Motorin'!

He'll probably be going for his first haircut sometime this month or early next... in time for his birthday.  He doesn't have the same quantity of hair that Ginny had at this age, but he's got some crazy wave going on in the back. 

He's a great eater, when he's not asleep at the table. :)

He's a pretty good eater too... Pip's favourites right now are rice krispies, bananas, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, tomatoes, kale, grapes, strawberries, applesauce, yoghurt, scrambled eggs, cheese, chicken, turkey, ground beef (but not roast beef or pork, or pork chops).  He gets so excited about food and he gets very upset when dinner is all gone.  He's almost entirely off the bottle, drinking whole milk from a sippy cup most days.  He's still a bit messy with the sippy cup, but I've decided that if he continues as he has been, it will be time to pack up the bottles and send them off to the thrift store (WAH!).  H e also has started to really do well with feeding himself... he could probably manage his whole lunch (usually fruit and cheese cubed up) if he wasn't inclined to pick up his dish and dump it on his head. 

Pippin is such a good little boy.  Yeah, he pulls my hair, and gets into my books, but he's so happy and when he gives me that little grin with the twinkle in his eye, I just melt. 

Sunday Night Chit Chat: He Is Risen Indeed

Hey there Humble Readers...

And Blessed Easter to you all. 

Again, it's been far too long between posts.  I swore I wouldn't become one of those mommy bloggers who just up and disappears, but here it is and I can't get around it.  Honestly, I think the loss of GG and the awareness of my Mom's new limitations (emotionally speaking) hit me harder than expected.  And as usual, the way I deal with it is to turn into a bit of a slug.  Throw in the wretchedness of the stomach flu and chasing after two wee-lings... Well, enough of the justifications. 

The Easter bunny came!

Ooooo... an egg!

The wee-lings are growing and changing by leaps and bounds.  I'm going to do update posts on both of them this week, with lots of pictures, I promise.  Ginny enjoyed her first Easter egg hunt this morning and was very proud of her new Easter dress.  She went around church this morning wishing everyone a happy Easter.

Onto tonight's Chit Chat...

Reading -  Rereading "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer.  I know, I know.  The Twilight series is complete dreck, not to mention generally speaking a bad example of what a female lead character should be, but I recall enjoying The Host when I read it a few years ago.  And I want to see if it's as good as I remember now that the movie has been released.

Watching - Call the Midwife is back!!! Yay!  And there's a new period drama on Masterpiece Classic that I'm looking forward to watching. 

Listening to - My Beloved humming along with the radio.  He likes to listen to the classic country on Sunday nights.

Baking/Cooking -  With it being Easter, I made lamb.  I know some people like to have ham on Easter, but it has always struck me as a bit disrespectful to have pork on a day so closely associated with Passover.  So, the menu tonight was roasted leg of lamb, greek potatoes (roasted with lemon and garlic), and asparagus done in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Also, I baked a super simple cake... chocolate cake mix, a can of raspberry pie filling, and three eggs.  In a bundt pan in the oven for 45 minutes at 325F.  Was amazingly good.  The only blemish on this wondrous bout of culinary activity is that I burned my thumb on the oven rack. 

Happy you accomplished this week -  We went back to that show home and asked a few more questions.  I'm not saying it's a sure thing by a long shot, but we're looking at our options. 

Looking forward to next week - Getting myself back into some sort of a routine after more than a month of just sort of floating around in a pool of procrastination and lethargy.

Bonus Question: Do you wear slippers around the house?  Not usually.  I have a pair that I wear on occasion when I can't get my feet to warm. 

*****
This was posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat.  Pop over and check out what the others are chatting about tonight.