because it's my birthday

Today...because it's my birthday...and because I can....I decided to do things that I wanted to do.

• I slept in.  Well, I slept until 7:45 (a.m. that is).  Some might say this is a horrible attempt at sleeping in. But I'll take what I can get.  

• I went to Zumba.  I thought about skipping out on my Zumba class but I realllllllly LOVE Zumba.  So I went to Zumba.  I always feel so good after Zumba.  I am trying to figure out more ways to use the word Zumba.  

• I shaved my legs.  This might be tmi for some of you folks (am I too young to say folks) but it was necessary.  I think Patrick might have kicked me out of the bed pretty soon.  But I also was wearing shorts, which meant I actually had to.

• I had lunch with my friend Jenni and her two sweet kids.  For those of you who have not met Jenni, she is one of my favorite people to hang out with.  I have not known her long but I like her even more each time we are together.  She has such a calming, gentle spirit.  She is funny and laid back but also sweet and gentle...  qualities I certainly admire.  She makes me feel at ease...taken care of.  

And just as I was going to sit down to spend time with the Lord...also on my birthday to do list, I got an upsetting phone call.  My Grandma, whom I share my birthday with, called to say thanks for the birthday package.  I asked her if she enjoyed the pumpkin bread and pictures.  She said there was no bread...no pictures.  She did however receive a huge piece of art...a wall hanging.  I was so confused.  She must have thought I had lost my mind...to send her a piece of art in the assisted living home she is in.  A mystery!

So needless to say, I was mad and frustrated and did not want to spend time with the Lord anymore.  Just call me "Sulky Sally".  

But God is good and he persevered in me.  I spent some time with him asking him to fix this mess.  He brought to mind an old song that I sang in high school at youth group...Create in me a clean heart...  The lines in the song that stand out for me today are

                          restore unto me, the joy of thy salvation

                                    and renew a right spirit within me


That is exactly what I needed...a right spirit.  Oh how he can change my heart in an instant...in one breath.  Just call on his name and he will come to the rescue.  He did not fix the situation, he fixed my heart.  I am not sure who got the pumpkin bread, the pictures and the birthday card.  I am not sure if I will ever get these things back...but my God is good in all things...and that is what I will take from this.

Back to my do do list...

• Wear some perfume.  I know this sounds silly...but I wanted to smell pretty on my birthday.   

• Take a picture of myself.  Trying to be happy with who I am...who God created me to be has always been a struggle for me.  I have often thought others are better than me, have a better life, better marriage, better house, better job...the list could go on and on.  But over the last few years, I have felt this sense that God created me to be me...not someone else.  

         I am trying to embrace me.  Embrace who I am.  

         To be comfortable with myself.  

In an attempt to do this, I had Patrick take a picture of me today.  A picture of just me.  No makeup, no lipstick, no photo shop.   

Raw.

Just me.

Brandy 

 October 4, 2012

32 years old

And that was my birthday in a nutshell.  

I think Patrick has a sitter lined up for tonight...so I think a date is also in store for me.  

Happy Birthday to me!

a new trick

It is always a joy to watch your little ones discover new things.  The delight on their faces.  The squeals they let out.

Here is one discovery that I was not so excited about.

the potty

I know your probably thinking...what's the big deal.  

Well I'll tell ya.  

Our Samuel can figure out how to operate just about anything.  He picks and pokes and plays until he knows how each button works.  This works on toys, cell phones, remotes...and the toilet.

Once again, one might ask, "what is the big deal?"  

Well, Samuel decided to figure out how to flush the toilet.  

Still...not that big of a deal right? 

This discovery was made while I was taking a shower.

up...down...up...down...

You can see he is lifting the handle up and down as fast as he can...almost like he was pumping it.  The toilet could not catch up.

Now back to the point that I was showering.  My nice hot shower turned into a cold trickle.

I am all for discovery but the timeliness of this one was not great.  He has also taken to turning on the bathtub  now.  This too has happened while I was in the shower.  We have to check the bathroom all the time to make sure the water is not on.

And we thought it was the sprinkler system that caused our water bill to be so high.  

Ahhhh the joys of parenthood!

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha

Just recently, Samuel discovered the toothbrush.  Should I be embarrassed that we have not brushed his teeth yet?  I think  he has eight teeth now.

 Get those top ones.

 And those bottom ones.

Don't forget your tongue.

"Look mom, no hands."

"That's a fine looking mug!"

 "I'm done!"

"Your turn, mom."

After Samuel gnawed on the toothbrush for awhile I thought he was done.  It looks like he was handing the toothbrush to me for the taking.  Here is what happened when I tried to take it away from him.

I guess oral hygiene is really important to him.  He was so completely pitiful that we gave the toothbrush back to him and he crawled around the house with it in his mouth for awhile.  He finally lost interest and I was able to put it away.  

I remember another little person that was a little obsessed with his toothbrush too...

No complaints though.  I would rather spend extra money on more toothpaste than at the dentist.  Maybe we will luck out and not have any cavities. 

the purple boa

So there's not much to say.  I was at Joann fabrics looking at fabric with the boys.  Sometimes you will do anything to keep your kids happy.

He was happy the whole time.

Maybe I need a girl...

rainy day cookies

It has been raining here for two days.  What a wonderful change from the hot sunny days we have had all summer.  The sky is grey and the air, although humid, is cool.

I love to bake on a nice rainy day.  A day that most people think dismal, dreary, depressing, I find a wonderful excuse to blow up the kitchen and make something delicious.

Today I had a helper in the kitchen...

We decided to make my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I love them because they are crisp and chewy and gooey.  

I'll start by telling you to pre-heat  your oven to 400*.  Don't preheat it to 350* like I did.  Then you will have to wait even longer for them to be cooked.

Here's what you will need:

You'll notice on the left side of the picture is a large jar of granulated sugar.  You will only be using brown sugar in this recipe.  I am not sure why I got it out.  But it does look good in the picture.  

sweet little hands...

 So I know that you know how to make cookies.  Here are some pictures of our process.

1.  "Can I help, Mom?"
2. "I can't do it!"
3. Butter
4. creamed butter
5. brown sugar, eggs, vanilla
6. sifting dry ingredients
7. mixing dry ingredients
8. stopped the mixer to take picture of dry ingredients
9. add chocolate chips

 The recipe calls for a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips.  I use a few less because a certain little person always wants a bowl of them.  

Guess which little person...

 Sweet little hands again.

 How many can I fit in my mouth?

chocolate all over face

realizing he has chocolate all over face

 "I'm so cute!"

So after you do all of the measuring, mixing and wiping off little hands and cheeks, you actually bake the cookies. 

 I use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.  This yeilds a pretty big cookie.  

12 cookies will fit on a large sheet pan.

Here they are again.  I couldn't decide which picture to use so I just uploaded both.  I think maybe the first one is better because the background is blurred a bit.

 When they come out of the oven, they look like this.  Well...not half eaten, but golden around the edges and soft in the middle.

"Can I eat this cookie, Mom?" 

 "Stop taking my picture mom!"

Notice the spiky hair.  We were trying a new hair style.  I was going to say hair do.  Can you say that for a boy?  He did not like it in the mirror but soon forgot that it was sticking up.  

Enjoy these tasty chocolate chip cookies with an ice cold glass of milk.  They are not only perfect for a rainy day, but for all occasions.  

side note:  For those of you who know that I am working really hard to lose weight...now you know why I have not been so successful.  Who could resist these sitting around the house.  They call your name every time you are in the kitchen...or in the living room sitting on the couch...or working on the computer.  I could go on forever...

Here's the recipe:

1 cup (1/2lb.) butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips - I prefer Hershey's

1 cup chopped pecans (optional) - I opt out

Preparation:

1. In the bowl of your mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until well blended.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
2. In another bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Stir or beat into the butter mixture until well incorporated.  
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough in 2-tablespoon portions, 2 inches apart, onto cookie sheet.  I use an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet.  
5. Bake at 400* until cookies are lightly browned and no longer wet in the center.  6 - 8 minutes.  Turn the pan 1/2 way through baking.  Mine actually took exactly 9 minutes.  But all ovens are different
6. Remove from the oven, and transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Nutritional information:

            I could tell you, but who really cares at this point.

My little Picasso

I will start by saying that Matthew loves to craft.  I don't know if it is the actual craft that he likes or if it is the personal attention that he gets while we do a craft, but none the less, he is always happy when we are crafting.

So last week he wanted to paint.

Washable?  We'll see...

Notice we finally insulated the walls. No more studs to look at.  It is much cooler and quieter too!

Of course he chose blue first.

Being the particular little person he is, he would not use his hands so I gave him a paint brush.  

 "Dots"

by
Matthew Pendley

We'll start the bidding at $100.00.

Um...maybe I should add another ZERO to that number.

Well his hands got dirty after all.    

While Matthew was having fun painting I had some fun of my own.  I had not swept the kitchen floor in almost a week. 

GASP!!!!!

GASP again!

That's all the fun for now.

After the mess...

If you saw my previous post on making messes you'll be glad to know that everything got put back in its place.  If fact the room was probably cleaner afterwards than when Matthew started with his mess making.

Matthew picked several books to read so we sat on the floor in his "clean" room and read.  First was Duckie's Rainbow.  Even Samuel joined in.  He likes to bat at the book and tries to turn the pages before we are done reading.

Then we switched books and Samuel was much more interested in the yellow dancing, singing chicken.  (Thanks Grandmother!)

About half way through If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, Samuel was done with me and Matthew and the dancing chicken, and moved onto more fascinating things...the camera. 

It was a nice calm way to end our evening.