A Plea

Here is the daily blogging gripe.  Maybe I should post my actual gripes daily, and then that sentence would actually ring truthful.  So, it's just a blogging gripe for today.

Where do all of these stay at home mothers find the time to bake and craft and do projects and blog about it?!  I am lucky if I get dressed and/or get the dishes done every day.  I know some of them have older kids, kids in school etc., but not all of them!  This goes out to the SAHM's who make it their mission to shame the rest of us SAHM's for not crafting, sewing, blogging, picture taking, baking, creating... being the perfect SAHM!!  Sometimes we'd like to, and sometimes we even have awesome ideas, but as hard as we might try...it never comes to fruition due to a plethora of reasons.

How do you get these things accomplished?  Do you not sleep?  Are your children chained to a chair watching cartoons?  Have they been given a slightly more than recommended dose of Benadryl? 

Maybe, just maybe, do you think that one day you could blog about how you didn't get dressed at all, or realized you hadn't brushed your teeth at 3PM, or that for dinner you microwaved chicken nuggets for the kiddies and poured yourself a bowl of cereal?  Something? Anything?

The rest of us SAHM's would appreciate it!

Thanks.

(p.s., please note while there is sarcasm flowing within these sentences, there is also some truth to it all...like really, WHERE do you find the time!?!?)

cAKe!

So I am two thirds of the way through my cake courses, and I thought I should immortalize it on this blog.

Mark signed me up for a class for a Christmas gift because he knew I was interested but would never sign up on my own (Thanks!), and it led me to take course 2 and course 3 (which we start next week!)

I figure I probably won't become the next cake star on the Food Network, but hopefully I can make some decent birthday cakes for the Fam.

Who knows...maybe someone will ask me to make one for them too, but my breath is not being held.

Anyway, here are some pictures to prove I did it (before I forget how to do it).  Some of the pictures are from my phone, so not the best quality, but you get the idea!  There are a few more flowers we learned in both courses, but I never took pictures of them...they weren't that exciting!  Course 3 brings us to gum paste and fondant, woohoo!  Should be good times, I am looking forward to it.  Now just where do I put all my equipment and who is going to eat all these cakes?!

Course 1

Course 2

Hungry Like the Wolf

Alright blog readers (those of you I know and those I don't)... I need your ideas.

For those of you stopping by, reading this post, will you share with me what kind of items you have in your food storage?  Not long term, like 50 pound bags of wheat and rice, but food for the short term (a year or so);  Food you use daily, cook meals with etc.

It doesn't have to be specific, like brand names or specific types of cereal, more like staples/basics that you always keep on hand for making dinners, baking, whipping up masterpieces!

Help me out with what's in your pantry/storage so I can get my year's food storage back on track before food prices start requiring layaway programs at grocery stores!

The Biggest Loser

Probably won't be me.

The in-law side of the family has embarked on yet another run at a Biggest Loser contest.  The first time around I wasn't allowed to participate due to pregnancy/having a baby/dropping pregnancy weight, but this time they can't keep me out!

The only question I have is:  Why couldn't we do this after baby #1??  When I actually had time to exercise, could go to the gym, did not have a clingy newborn's schedule to work around?  Man I would have won it then!I don't think I will be so lucky this time around.  Between the toddler, the newborn, the husband and everything in between, getting 45 minutes in on the treadmill is a miracle.  I am not a person to get up at 3AM to exercise or stay up until midnight to fit it in.  Since I never know what time a child will wake up, or how many times they will wake up, sleep is a precious commodity around here.  I have decided that it's okay if I lose this contest, I will revel in rubbing DQ Blizzards, chocolate chip cookies and key lime pie in the faces of those still participating (evil?  Yes.)  OK, so I won't really, and I am still participating, but not at the level I would like.

Also, who schedules a weight lose contest during Super Bowl, Valentine's Day and Easter?? Really?? Mini Eggs and Creme Eggs anyone?  

So....anyone want to watch my kids for me so I can go to the gym during the day? I  promise the boy won't scream....for that long anyway! :o)

Oh...anyone have any great snack ideas?  I am about quantity.  None of this eat 6 almonds or half a banana.

And has the term "the  biggest loser" been entered into the dictionary yet?

ABC 123

What a week!  OK, not really, but it's a nice way to start out a post.

So this week we decided to enroll Miss T in preschool.  We went for an open house to meet some of the teachers and check out the classrooms/environment.  There are a couple of our friends who send their kids to this preschool, so we felt pretty good about it.

On the way over, I wondered to myself, "Should I be wearing heels?  A skirt?  Something a little dressier than jeans and a sweater?"  Shortly after I had this thought, Mark commented on how different the process is here compared to NYC.  We didn't enroll kids in preschool while we lived there, but we did hear about friends experiences with the preschool process.

All I can say is I am glad we don't live in NYC anymore!!

Here is the registration process we went through.

1) Went to open house (completely option, not necessary for admission)

2) Filled out application card, circled first and second choices for class time

3) Wrote check to cover registration fee

4) Drove over the next morning and dropped off registration card and check (Friday)

5) Opened letter confirming registration for September (Saturday)

6) Done deal

We shake our heads about interviews, referrals, applications, essays, promises of your first born, and years of income to send your child to the "right" preschool.  What a different process outside of parts of the East Coast!