Teaholic not quite anonymous

Wishing you and yours a very blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!!

Matt and I had a very uneventful ringing in of the New Year! We were asleep! :) Maddy had a rough night the previous night so we wound up going to bed about 10:30. Now I have insomnia though, so I'm here, blogging for a bit before I try to go back to bed.

Maddy and I went to see Rosanna's new house yesterday! It is absolutely gorgeous. Maddy had a great time running around in her stocking feet through the open, empty house. She snuggled right up to Rosanna as well. She was a very good girl! I cannot say the rest of the day went as smoothly. She's been something else, lately! Her fuse is very short and she's letting it be known! HA! Rosanna laughed pretty hard when she told me no to getting her shoes and coat onto leave. She bent down and said, "Sweetie, no one says no to Mrs. Jackson!" Rosanna was my assistant when I taught at school and we taught our fair share of kids with behavior issues, so I heard no quite a bit from them in the beginning of our time meeting. But that didn't last long--that's for sure! I am thinking about starting 123 magic with Maddy. I think it would work great for her. I need to get Matt the book or video though. It's a great program and easier/less harsh than time out (not that I don't think time out is appropriate, either).

Ok, well, who knows when she'll be up so I better try to get some more sleep! Insomnia strikes again!

Tea of the day: Darjeeling Choice estate and then a few herbal teas this afternoon.

"I don't know why he decided to leave," Samuel Gagnon told the newspaper. "Everyone's in shock. We're supposed to be celebrating the New Year, but now I got to look forward to my brother in jail the rest of his life."

This quote was from the brother of the man who killed a mother, her two children and and two other children. This crash also seriously injured the father and another of their children along with two other children.

So there are five people DEAD, three SERIOUSLY INJURED and all this dude cares about is that he doesn't get to celebrate New Years and that his brother is going to jail?!?!

HELLO, HE KILLED FIVE PEOPLE!

Personally speaking, I hope his brother rots in hell! And with the caring and compassion of this mans quote (note the sarcasm) he's more than welcome to join his brother there as well.

I was jones'ing for my email so Matt fixed our issue--at least temporarily. Poor Matt broke off a pin on the processor that connects to the motherboard so that computer is temporarily down. He's trying to figure out if he wants to continue to host our webpage or get a company to host it for us. It depends on what companies can offer to us and how much it would cost to upgrade our computer system stuff here. I'll leave it up to Matt.

All is well here. I spent a lot of today cleaning out our kitchen cabinets and closets in preparation for a Purple Heart pickup on Monday. I'm looking to clean stuff out a bit. This weekend we will take down the Christmas stuff at which point I will reorganize the way it is put away.

A few Maddy-isms:
She's learned to say, "No thanks!" When she doesn't want something. It's cute. She'll say no thanks to a whole lot of stuff--including things that aren't choices.

She pushes her chair up to the light switch now to turn it on and off. Really cute.

She loves to take a bow now. She'll throw out her arms, bow over and over and say, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" while someone claps for her. She's such a ham.

She loves to say her food is delicious. She'll say, "MmmmmMMMmmm... Delicious!" and wait for us to giggle. It is really cute after all.

Tea of the day: I didn't have any today! I had coffee since our nights sleep was a bit hard. Maddy had insomnia. Sorry sweetie, I hate passing that trait on to you!

This morning Maddy woke up at 5ish. I rocked her for a bit and layed her down. She fussed for a bit but then was quiet. At 5:40 she called out again. Obviously, she had decided she was up for the day. So I went in and took her down stairs where we snuggled on the couch for a while. Of course, I didn't grab my robe or slippers. There wasn't a single blanket on the main floor and Maddy fell asleep on me on the couch. I knew Matt was already back asleep and I didn't want to wake him up either. So I wound up just freezing cold from 6-7, laying there in the dark with Maddy asleep on me. I knew that if I took her back to her bed, she'd just be awake again anyway, so I let her sleep. That also allowed Matt to at least sleep until 7. At 7, I took her up to Matt and jumped into a hot shower--scalding hot, the hottest I could handle it. I also blow dried my hair (Which I never do, but should! It looks nice!) just to keep from getting chilled. I was doing OK until the end of playgroup when I started to get cold again. I went and put on a sweater and slippers. Nope! I'm STILL cold. Darn it!

Playgroup went fine. Maddy was very excited for it and has been talking about it for the last couple of days. However, once the kids got here she became all shy and wanted to hang around me or do her own thing away from the other kids. When I told her to go play with them she'd look at me and say, "No, no play." She wasn't rude or clingy, just indifferent and shy, but still! It's the first playgroup she's been to in a good month, you'd think she'd want to PLAY with them. It was nice to hang out and chit chat though and also really nice to see other kids loving Maddy's toys. They always like someone else's toys better, don't they?

Well, that's about it here. I think I may make a cup of tea to warm me up. Have a good one!

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Earl Grey and then I served Teavana Plum Roobios herbal at playgroup

So Matt walks in the door tonight and hands me an iPhone and basically says, "Enjoy!" WHAT? Well, so happens that one of his coworkers was looking to get rid of his so Matt bought it from him for a good price. He remembers the first time he showed me the iPhone commercial and how much I oogled over it. Now, mind you, I don't much care about electronics. I don't need the latest and greatest (although having a fun ring tone is well, fun!) and nor do I crave it. But I did see it and thought it was fun, but MAN was it crazy expensive.

So now we're in the process of trying to switch over the phone number. My parents will get my phone since their is at least 3 years old and it has welding marks on it. Matt assures me it won't be much more on our bill for an iPhone, but I'll believe it when I see it. That's my biggest concern about this transition.

But anyway, that's the scoop here!

Maddy has decided she doesn't like her high back upright chair and has since turned it into a recliner. I added the pillow under her feet for the picture. :)

Yesterday was overall a VERY nice day. In the morning Maddy and I had playgroup at the library through one of my local mom's groups. We met Annabelle and Hailey there. She had such a blast. It's a huge room and she just ran wild--she loved it! I loved the fact she wasn't at all clingy to me and played so nicely with other kids. She was careful to not run over the babies (for the most part) and shared toys so nicely. She had a blast. I was thrilled because she took a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon! She normally takes about an hour nap now, if I'm lucky. So it was pretty cool to get some time to sit down and relax. I spent some time uploading a more discerning group of songs to my iPhone instead of full CDs. Our afternoon was very pleasant as well.

Matt had a nice day at work yesterday. He received his yearly review and it really was fabulous. He has some other great things coming down the pipe, but it's a bit too early to talk about it. But suffice to say, he came home in a really great mood--not that he normally doesn't come home in a good mood; he's good at leaving work at work. But today was especially nice. We celebrated by ordering in from Glory Days grill. We ordered after Maddy went to bed and we had all three courses, appetizers, dinner and dessert! So nice!! That will be our splurge meal for the week, now we're back on track for eating better.

Oh! And my coffee makers finally came yesterday at 8:45 at night as well. Late, but good enough to have coffee from it this morning. It's exactly what I was looking for!

So obviously there is no tea of the day this morning, only coffee with gingerbread creamer and splenda for me!

I found out this evening that my good friend from grade school died in Iraq today. His sister let me know. Please keep his three little girls and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

I'm but a stranger here,
Heav'n is my home;
Earth is a desert dread,
Heav'n is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heav'n is my fatherland,
Heav'n is my home.

Monday, January 7, 2008 6:46 PM CST

MILWAUKEE - A 30-year-old soldier from West Allis was killed in Iraq by an improvised explosive device, the Department of Defense said Monday.

Pfc. 1st Class Jason F. Lemke was the 82nd Wisconsin resident to have died as a result of service in the Iraq war.

The Department of Defense said he died Saturday from wounds suffered when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Ibrahim Al Adham.

Lemke was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

According to Fort Lewis, Lemke enlisted in December 2004 in Milwaukee and underwent training in Fort Benning, Ga. He transferred to Fort Lewis in May 2005 and his brigade deployed to Iraq in April.

He graduated from high school in 1996, though Fort Lewis records do not provide specifics.

Fort Lewis spokeswoman Catherine Caruso said the family had not yet given the military a statement for release. A message left by The Associated Press at the home of his family in West Allis was not immediately returned Monday evening.

Lemke's awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

Our weekends always seem so busy all the time now. I know it's not always the case, but it sure seems that way! We did quite a bit of shopping this weekend for household goods that we were out of. I mean, I can't be out of garbage bags! Our BJ's trip was quite productive and then we did a bit of shopping at Bloom as well for other groceries.

Our biggest issue is Maddy's sleep cycle right now. She has been sleeping until about 5:30 and she's ready to get up. But she's been going to bed close to 8 and really, that's not enough sleep for her when you add in the 1 hour nap in the afternoon. It's been hard on me since I haven't gone to bed early enough the last few days and last night I had five hours of sleep. I did get to take a great nap today, but man, it was tough!

The good news is that all the Christmas decorations got taken down this weekend. I never did make time for Matt to put them away, but we're half way there. I also made some fabulous bean soup. I mean, the stuff ROCKED. It was my best batch ever. I gave a full container to the neighbors who always give us food, I've frozen some and we are having it again tomorrow as well.

My coffee pot is turning out great. I really enjoy it. I also received my tea order in the mail. I ordered two new ingenuitea tea pots from Adagio and it comes with a few tea samplers. I haven't used them yet as I've been having fun with the coffee pot!

Matt and I are going away for a bit this week and Matt's parents will be here to take care of Maddy while we're gone. I'm so excited, honestly. I need to do some planning for that.

I hope everyone has a good week.

I guess you can call it that although it's the middle of January. It was 70 here today!

Maddy and I met Jen and Annabelle at Frying Pan Farm today. The girls had so much fun. It really was such great weather and now that they are getting older they can last so much longer and go so much farther. They are so cute together. They kept giving hugs, holding hands, and giving kisses. Once when they gave each other a hug they lost their balance together and wound up on the ground. So funny! Maddy wanted to jump over every puddle. What she didn't realize is she simply can't jump that far. Our shoes were gross by the time we were done, but that's why I dressed us both kind of junky.

I gave Maddy some benedryl before nap since she always winds up with allergies after the farm. She slept forever. I have to say, it was nice though. It allowed me to write up some information for grandma and grandpa for when they stay with Maddy. It also allowed me to plan our grocery list for the rest of the week so they will all have something to eat.

After Maddy got up from her nap we went back outside for a while and then Matt came home to pick us up. We went straight to the grocery store and did our shopping. There were helicopters and cop cars on every major corner. Matt thought it was an escort thing. I don't know, it made me nervous.

After grocery shopping at Bloom who didn't have three of the things we needed we stopped at our local Giant. I ran in and when I came out Matt told me why there were so many cop cars all over. Our local BB&T must have been robbed! The place was yellow taped off and there were cop cars ALL over the place. I can't find it in the news yet, but I'm sure I will soon! Scary! It's within walking distance of our house. The local gas station was robbed too not long ago, but they caught that guy. It was robbed at 1:30 in the morning so I wrote it off at a late night occurrence. This happened midday!

I'm worn out tonight though. It's going to be another early bedtime tonight. Maddy at least went to sleep on her own tonight. Last night we had to let her cry it out. She was up once last night but I'm hoping she sleeps all the way through tonight.

I had coffee today again, no tea. I haven't had tea in quite a while. Tomorrow is definitely a tea day!

So, Matt's parents were so kind to watch Maddy over the next few days. Matt and I left today before Maddy's nap to say a proper goodbye. I told her that mommy and daddy were leaving, but grandma and grandpa would stay with her and they would have a lot of fun. They would go to class, do art projects and have a very good time. It was hard to leave, truthfully. She cried, but it wasn't hysterical crying. We were able to move out all the luggage without her knowledge to the car and then let our goodbyes be short and sweet. Grandma and grandpa were so kind to call us just a few minutes later to let us know that she was fine and watching some TV without issue.

We headed out to Matt's work for a bit so he could close up on some stuff and then had lunch near there. Then we headed out and stopped at an outlet mall on the way to PA (still in PA actually) where we bought a little bit of stuff (gorgeous dress!). Then off we went to our hotel. We ate a great multi-course dinner/drink set in a leisurely manner. I can't tell you the last time I've done that! We had butter rum flan with pumpkin bread pudding with a brandy and it was just fabulous for dessert. It was so nice to linger over a meal!

Anyway, just checking in. I didn't blog yesterday so I suppose I should have today. So here I am!

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce black tea (I FORGOT TO PACK TEA! OOPS!)

Matt let one of our domains expire a few days ago so I'm having some trouble with outgoing email. If you are expecting an email from me, you will receive one soon. It's not a hard fix, Matt just needs to get the chance to do it.

Just so you know why you aren't hearing from me. No, I'm not ignoring you! :)

First, my outgoing email is back up. I'm pretty much caught up on my responding so go check your email. :)

Our weekend was so nice. On our first day out we took a nice leisurely drive to Harrisburg, VA. We stopped at an outlet mall on the way and did a bit of shopping and also buying some great snacks (Who can ever say no to fudge?). Then we went to Harrisburg and checked into our hotel. We went out to eat at Bricco's for dinner. It was a really nice place and we had a nice leisurely. lazy dinner. We got up late on Friday and went out to lunch ate at a great place Zia's near our hotel downtown. Then we hopped in the car and went to York and Lancaster and honestly, kept right on going. Nothing much to see there. However, Lancaster county was fun. We did some MORE outlet shopping there. That night we went out to eat at a tapas restaurant, Riverstone Cafe, and stayed in Malvern. We got brunch at Basil's in Paoli on Saturday and then went on to King of Prussia mall and then met up with one of Matt's groomsmen from our wedding and his wife for dinner. They live pretty close to the Jersey boarder so we wound up going to Princeton University campus and ate just off campus with them. Princeton is a GORGEOUS campus even in the dark! We were able to see their new house and they seem to be doing really well for themselves. I'm happy for them. We didn't make it to our hotel until 11:30 that night and we stayed in Wilmington, DE. We didn't get an early start the next morning but we were able to make it home by 1:45ish.

I think my absolute favorite thing about this trip was eating at such a leisurely pace. Also it didn't hurt that I neither had to think about what to cook, cook or clean up any of the food we ate. :) Of course, sleeping in past 8 was extremely nice as well--no, I'd call that pretty close to heaven.

Maddy did really well with Grandma and Grandpa. She slept well for them and ate pretty well, too. She had a ton of fun and they even went to her storybook class on Friday. She was excited to see us today. We did bring her some fun toys home and she enjoyed those right away. There are a couple pictures of her playing with them online starting here and one on the next page, too. I was surprised she wasn't mad at us, but maybe I have that to look forward to when it's just her and me home tomorrow. Hopefully not, but we'll see! My iPhone actually REALLY came in handy on this trip. We used their google applet to get us from place to place and it's a fabulously handy map. It doesn't hurt that I could check my email (albeit, at dialup speed) in the middle of farm country either. :) I still have a long way to go before I will think about replying to anything from the road as my fingers just don't seem to want to work on such a little keyboard, but at least I can kind of keep up.

We did do a ton of shopping over the course of our four days. We hit two outlet malls and King of Prussia mall as well. I can say that I got some GREAT deals on the clearance sales, but man, our car was full coming home. It was great buying a few new clothing items for ourselves and also some other fun things. Very fun to do some shopping without distraction although not as fun for our pocketbook!

Well, that was our weekend! It was great and I can definitely say it was a wonderful break from the norm. I just hope my Monday isn't too painful!

Tea of the day: Coffee this morning, but I had some mint herbal tea tonight.

I don't know what was up with today's nap, but Maddy just simply did not want to sleep. I laid her down about 10 minutes late 1:10 and she just did NOT want to go to sleep. She wasn't mad or crying, just laying there singing jingle bells. She didn't call to me for about 20 minutes at which point I went up and rocked her for a bit and she asked for benedryl (and she was uncomfortably stuffy/itchy on her nose) so I gave her some. I laid her back down and same routine--singing to jingle bells. She calls again, this time at 2:05 and I go up and rock her for a bit and she falls asleep in my arms and she's been asleep ever since now.

We had art class this morning! At first, Maddy was all about getting out of the house to go. But by the time class rolled around all she wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch TV. Most of that is because she didn't want to get on her shoes and coat. Finally we made it out the door.

We made it to class just in time. She had a really nice time and did well. We had our 'outting snack' (various crackers and a water bottle) which has now become mandatory when we go anywhere after class at their seating area with Hailey and Annabelle. She loves to play with them. There was a long hallway nearby that they ran back and forth in. They had a blast.

We went off to Target in search of a few needed items and I still wound up forgetting a few things. I may pop out one of these nights on my own since I still need to go to Ulta to take something back. But, it can all wait for this weekend, too. I did buy Maddy a new pair of shoes. She has unfortunately, gone through her supply of shoes that I bought in multiple sizes (5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 and 7.5). The 7.5 still fit pretty well but she'll soon outgrow those too so I wanted to have a pair on hand.

Well, that's about it here! Nothing too crazy going on and that's just the way I like it! :)

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Earl Grey, African Nectar and Chamomile Citrus

So Maddy's getting her last two molars in, I think. Well, I'm pretty much sure, but she won't let me in there to check it out. She's drooling like crazy and can be in a really lousy mood sometimes. This morning was atrocious. Everything I did or didn't do made her cry. I feared for the rest of the day, with Matt working late and all. Would her and I live through it? Of course, you know I'm kidding, but it was *that* kind of whiny/cry-y day. She did pep up some, but still, not in a happy mood. So before nap I made her take children's motrin. When I say made, I don't mean, held her down and force fed her the stuff (not that I haven't had to resort to that when she was smaller) but she definitely didn't want it.

SHE SLEPT FOR THREE HOURS!!!! Holy moly!!! I don't know what I did to be blessed with a three hour nap (besides forcing her to take motrin) but oooh, I was counting my lucky stars! She woke up and told me her cheek hurt where the tooth was coming in so that cinched the deal for me.

We spent a lot of time tonight running around in the dark with a flashlight. It's her latest past time lately. However, after watching a Curious George episode where George is afraid of the dark now she is trying to pretend to be afraid of the dark. She's really not, it's obvious, but geez, remind me the next time something like that comes on, I turn off the show! She had a nice long bath, a leisurely bedtime routine and up to bed a bit late, at 8. She was up at 8:20 asking to be rocked again. I did for five minutes and reminded her that I will NOT be coming in again unless she really needed something and she seemed to understand that. No calling since.

Her latest habit has been saying, "Bye, bye, mommy" at nap and bedtime. I tell her to say, 'Goodnight' since I'm not actually LEAVING the house, but the bye bye continues. She's starting to string 5-6 words together sometimes now. Most all of her phrases are at least three words. One of my favorites today that made me laugh was, "AAWWW MAN!! I drink it!" I only fill her sippy cup about 1/2 way with milk now since I want her to eat more than she drinks so she gets pretty ticked off when she finishes it and she doesn't want it to be done.

Last night was a hard bedtime. I don't know what it was about it, but she was being a royal pain--overtired? Teeth hurt? But she was absolutely determined that it was not going to be easy on anyone to get her to bed. She was refusing something--can't remember what and Matt was trying to convince her to do something. I finally turned around and said, "That's one to time out!" using the 1-2-3 magic. Mind you, I did not explain this to her at all. She just absolutely shaped up and did exactly what Matt asked her to do. His face was dumbfounded. He asked me how many times I had used it that day and honestly, I had started to use it once but found I didn't need to, so it was really my first. He just continued to stare between Maddy and myself wondering how the heck that just happened. It was funny. I couldn't help but laugh.

Now, tonight's bedtime routine went really well. Maddy was super easy on me. She didn't fight getting out of the tub or putting on her clothes, let me do it without issue. She never does that for Matt and I. So either, a) She's being extremely kind to me and letting me have it easy or b) She plays it up for Matt. We won't talk about which one I think it is. ;)

Ok, well, I'm off to do a bit of reading before bed. I want to be in bed by 10, but we'll see how that goes. Goodnight!

Tea of the day: Rainforest Mate tea and African Nectar tea

So strap yourself in folks! This is going to be a really random post. Then again, when is it not a random post?

We had snow yesterday!! It was one of our first snowfalls this season. Ok, we've had three now, but this one definitely accumulated the most snow. It was heavy, big flakes mixed with some sleet and rain. It was full slush in the gutters last night when I went out to the car. I'm glad I had on my boots! We had playgroup yesterday morning at Hailey's and Maddy had such a good time. She loves to go to playgroup and play. It's a lot of fun for her and it's nice for me to get out and talk with other moms as well. As we were going to playgroup the snow had just started. But it really came down while we were gone. So I kept eying the snow thinking we should leave so we did at 11. Main roads were pretty wet and starting to get slushy, but the side roads were full of snow. No biggie though, I am from WI after all! Funny, a friend at playgroup asked why we were leaving at 11 since, "You're from WI, you aren't afraid of snow, right?" Ha... well, no, not afraid of snow. But there are two things that make Wisconsinites stay alive all winter. They know how to drive in the snow (not too fast, not too slow, just right). Expertise is something, don't get me wrong. However, part of the reason they don't die is that they don't get on the road to begin with if they don't have to and it's bad enough weather! Anyway, we made it home just fine and I felt bad that I wouldn't let Maddy play in the snow right away but I just wasn't ready for that. After her nap we went back out. Holy cow, does it take forever to get her ready: snow suit, coat, boots, hat, gloves... yesh! You'd think we were going to the north pole and not outside just for a little while! But she had such fun. It was funny seeing her fall down (since her boots were a bit too big) in the heavy snow and she enjoyed it, too. She did get her snow feet about herself and was quickly running in the snow and on the sidewalk, too. That's where the Rudolph comment comes in. She fell on the sidewalk while running and really scrapped up her nose. Needless to say, that was the end of that. We came right in since she was pretty much hysterical. After some mommy snuggles she was much better.

Yesterday morning Matt told me he lost his iPod. He can't find it. He thinks we left it in the car in PA one time and the valet took it or we left it in a hotel room. Let me just say, I was REALLY NOT happy to hear about this yesterday. After all, it was missing for at least four days by that points. He said he didn't realize it until the night before. Personally, I didn't buy that. I know he uses is iPod every day at work while he's at his desk. So I think maybe he didn't know where it was but didn't have time to look for it. It would pop up, after all. But when he looked in his work bag and didn't find it is when he realized it was missing. So, can I just say, it bugs me when he loses something and doesn't look for it RIGHT AWAY. I mean, we did a lot of shopping over the weekend and maybe it was in the shopping bags. But they went out in the trash on Tuesday. So, I went downstairs yesterday and searched the luggage--nothin'. I checked my coat and the closet--nothin'. I looked in my purse (three times)--nothin'. So I resigned myself to checking Matt's car when he got home from work and if it wasn't there it was most likely gone. I went out in the freezing rain last night with a 1/2 inch of slush on the ground and searched his car with a flashlight. I found a gladware container that was growing mold under his front seat, but no iPod. I came in and decided just to quick check his work bag. THERE IS HIS IPOD. I LOOKED FOR IT ALL DAY YESTERDAY WHILE IT WAS IN HIS BAG AT WORK--AFTER HE 'LOOKED' FOR IT!!!! ARGH!!!!! It wasn't hidden either, just in a pocket that it doesn't normally go in. MEN! Gotta love 'em.

We installed the updated software to my iPhone last night. It's absolutely cool. It gives widgets on the front of the iPhone screen. So now it's basically like having one individual bookmark on your desktop. I was looking through the webapps they offer and I found one for iPoints calculator! Or at least that's what they call it. I don't talk much about Weight Watchers, but I have to say, I really do love the program. It's easy to follow and is so flexible. Anyway, through a combination of calories, fat and fiber I wind up with a 'point' of a certain food (light wheat bread, 2 slices is 1 point, peanut butter for 2 tablespoons is 5 points, etc). I am alloted a certain amount of points per day that I can eat and it's up to me how I want to divide up those points among whatever food I want throughout the day. Weight watchers gives me a calculator that I can use to figure out how many points things are. While iPoints has no association with WW I tested it out last night and the points calculator seems true. So it's neat that I have that on my phone now along with other various different fun pages.

Our class is canceled this morning due to the snow. When school starts two hours late all morning classes before 11 are canceled. I am not complaining. I would have hated to clean off the car if I didn't have to, but would have to get to class (I have paid for it already). So we're home to hang out today! It's still so pretty and white outside. It's still sticking to the trees. Most of the snow is still untouched except for the part that Maddy and I played in! Maybe we'll go back out later on, as well. Have a great day everyone!

Tea of the day: Rishi Tea in Wuyi (Oolong Tea)

If you've made it this far, dear readers, congratulations on overcoming the boredom. This is my 500th blog!

The only thing I like better than girls night out is girls night in. If you ask me, bar hopping, dancing, going out to dinner and to the movies is overrated. I'd rather go out for coffee with a few of my girlfriends than do those things. It's all about the communication, for me. It's harder to have a great conversation when in the mist of a club, restaurant or bar. Yesterday, one of my friends invited us (my mom's group) over to her house for some r&r. It is so great to sit around laughing with friends and having great conversations. I am always amazed going home at all the different topics we discuss and I feel so LUCKY to have this great group of friends. When I arrived last night I realized I didn't have my purse!!! Who leaves the house without her purse? Well, I do! Matt told me when I left that it would be fine to take a cab home if I need one and I assured him that I was not drinking last night as 1. I didn't have the points to spare and 2. I just wasn't all that interested anyway. I made a double cup of tea and took it in a travel mug with me instead. When I got there I realized that I didn't have my purse and that was all the more reason not to drink. I didn't have my wallet (hence license, credit card or money) on me either. I didn't leave until midnight and Matt and I went to bed at 1. He was still up when I arrived home even though I told him to not wait up for me. He told me he wasn't, that he just got busy with what he was doing, but I don't believe him. He was waiting up.

Maddy woke up at 5:30 this morning and we were able to convince her to go back to sleep until 7:30 thank goodness. I got up with her at 7:30 and Matt got up at 9. We had a very lazy morning here and it was nice to have one. I haven't sat around in PJs for quite a while. I took a shower about noon, thinking I would go out and run some errands but while I was in the shower that Matt, Maddy and I could split them up after she woke up from her nap and get them accomplished a little faster. Plus, it would allow me a nap while she took a nap. A nap is ALWAYS a good thing!

So after a heavenly nap, Matt, Maddy and I went to get them done. He dropped me off at Ulta to take something back while he ran to get gas with Maddy. Then he dropped me off at Bloom to get some grocery shopping done while he and Maddy went to BJs to get some shopping done there. We couldn't have timed it better. By the time he got out of BJs and stopped at BK for Maddy I was out of Bloom ready to load the car.

It was a hard night though. Maddy was in a mood for the majority of it since Matt and I were busy putting things away from our shopping trip. She wants Matt's full attention and when she doesn't get it, she throws a small fit. She knows better than to try it with me, but with him she expects it. I was glad to get her into bed! She must have been tired, since she was out like a light. I'm sure her teeth still hurt her as well. We did have fun playing with the camera tonight, hence the pictures.

We may or may not go to church tomorrow. It depends how the morning goes. I didn't get the chance to lay anything out tonight since we were so busy, so if I can get to it first thing tomorrow, we can get to church. We'll see. Why is it so hard to get to church at 11 is my question! We'll make it, I'm sure.

I was all on tap to have a hot bubble bath tonight with a magazine, some candles, a drink Matt made me and my iPhone playlist. I had my mask on and everything. However, I've noticed that our new bathtub doesn't pump out the hottest of water and when I finally went in it was lukewarm. YUCK. So I was only in for about 10 minutes. We need to get that fixed because it should be better than that. I'm sure it's something to do with the piping. We don't have the issue in any other bathroom, so it's not the water heater. But it was still nice to have that time.

Well, I'm off to hang out with Matt some! Have a good long weekend, everyone!

Tea of the day: None. I had coffee and it was a huge mistake. I was so hungry most of the morning because of it!

So tonight I had a few old bananas laying around and decided to make banana chocolate chip bread. That quickly turned into banana chocolate chip, roasted flax seed, spiced apple, cranberry oatmeal bread. No big deal. Except after I put the bread in the oven I pressed the wrong button for the timer and didn't notice it was actually OFF for all 50 minutes it needed to bake. I was wondering why I didn't smell the wonderful goodness that is called banana bread. Oops. It should be done any minute now!

"MMmmm....DELICIOUS!" as Maddy would say. It turned out really nice. I am quite pleased. I'll send most of it to work with Matt tomorrow since I don't need it here to tempt me. I will save some for Maddy since she's been a pretty good eater lately, thank goodness. She sat with us at the table last night without fussing the entire time. She tried what we ate, but didn't like it so I let her eat her own dinner. Tonight she did eat some of what we ate so I'm happy. Speaking of, I need to fill out her baby book. All four molars are through now and she's had other cute stories I want to make sure I get down.

Besides the oven fiasco, today was a very nice and productive day. Maddy and I had class this morning. She had her art class and every class so far has been focused on different seasons. Today's was summer although it was only 30 outside today. She made a visor as you see above. She also learned to cut with a scissors today! That was exciting. She wanted to do it all on her own and kept saying, "I do it! I do it!" She did well with them though. We make three to four different projects per week at our own pace. We start with coloring every week and end with painting. She LOVES it. The teacher is great too, totally understands two year olds. She doesn't put out any projects that are too old or too advanced. It's a great class.

Today after class we all went into the wading pool at the rec center. It's literally right across from our class. We went with Annabelle, Hailey and Nate. It was nice to see Nate, he was sick for quite a while. The four of them had a blast. Maddy tends to play a bit on her own more than the other kids, but she's not standoffish. She just chooses to do her own thing. She's still friendly though. They even have play equipment and a slide. Such a great pool. She was not at all scared of the water. She'd get splashed and wouldn't care. She didn't fall under though, so I'm glad of that. It was only up to her arm pits at the very deepest point. Honestly, it was so nice to be in the 83 degree water in the middle of winter. It was a nice oasis. I can see us doing that again!

Somehow I kept her awake enough on the way home to eat lunch when we got here. She wanted to make pizza like Oobi did. So we had pizza for lunch. She took a two hour nap. I spent the time getting some chores done. I made lots of phone calls, paid some bills, set up some appointments, etc. I was very productive!

Yesterday I went through all of my Christmas cards and wrote down who I received them from. Next year they are going out to that list. I sent out some emails and did some correspondence with people who I meant to respond to a month ago. It took a while, but in the end the Christmas cards were finally sorted through and pictures taken out. Maddy enjoyed playing with the rest of it when she woke up from her nap.

Last night I ran out to Walmart to take back a couple things and pick up a couple things. Boy, it was cold out there. I've realized I've lost all my WI blue blood. It doesn't take much to get me cold anymore. I was going to stop and have coffee and read a magazine somewhere but so many places where closed by 9:30 when I was on my way home. Oh well!

So I'm off to write in the baby book for a bit and read a magazine now while I have the opportunity.

Tea of the day: Earl Grey and then Spearmint.

So today I had the most pleasant lunch companion--my daughter. Yeah, no kidding! I couldn't believe it either. Normally I fight Maddy to eat much less get her to sit down. But day she came and sat at the table and we ate together. Now, she didn't eat what I was eating (soup, salad and english muffin) but she did eat corn and couscous. She passed up the hot dog. But because she ate so willingly without any fuss, she even received dessert--an oreo! Oh, she was a happy camper. Sure, I had to get up now and again to get her things she needed, but she did such a nice job!! And we giggled across the table at each other and had such a nice conversation about class yesterday and our day at the pool. We talked about playgroup for tomorrow. She was just a thoroughly pleasant little lunch time companion today.

Yeah!

Tea of the day: Adagio Mango black tea

I don't get the hype.

Do not get me wrong. It sucks that someone so young dies. He had a little girl and I feel bad that she has lost her daddy. I feel bad for his parents, family and close friends. A living person has died today and that in and of itself makes it sad.

However, I just don't get the hype. The dude was an actor and from what I've read, a good one. But he wasn't a humanitarian. He wasn't a soldier. He wasn't a president or leader of a country. He wasn't a leader for a good cause. He wasn't someone who gave his life to make this world a better place. He was just an actor. I'd like to see headlines like this for when people who give their life to a good cause dies or for nobel peace prize winners. But nope, they get this little 8 pt. font and a little blurb. Because he's popular and he died unexpectedly, he gets all the hype.

I hope that when Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Nancy G. Brinker, Dr. William P. Magee, etc, etc.. die, they get the same headlines that Heath received. Somehow, I don't think they will. I think we need to save our admiration for those that have earned it, not just acted in a good movie or two.

My .02

Last night I met a friend for coffee. It's so nice to sit down and chat with friends! I felt bad since I wasn't able to stay long enough to put Maddy to bed. I got close, but I needed to leave to be at coffee on time. I guess she did ok for daddy though. At least we made it through the hard prepping part before I had to leave.

I have to say though, Starbucks has a horrible tea selection. They carry Tazo tea. Tazo is supposed to be gourmet or something--eh, it's not. I've had better tea that I've purchased at the grocery store. What's worse is that they have snazzy little names for their tea, so while it could be say, Peppermint, they try to name it 'Invigorating'. If it's peppermint, call it peppermint!!! Plus, they have the tea boxes behind the counter where they make the coffee. I have 20/20 eyesight with glasses and even I can't read it that far away, much less read the fine print to see if there is caffeine in it. So I told the guy, "Grab a decaf tea for me and it will due." Fortunately, tea is cheap. But as I already knew, don't go to a coffee place for tea! :) It was STILL a great time chitchatting with Karen! I did give way to temptation and I bought a bright red travel mug with sparkles on the way out the door. I felt like a kid looking at a bright red new red racer bike with tassles on the handle bars. So pretty, so shiny, what a great mug to drink tea from!

Speaking of mugs, I'm thinking about changing out the pictures in my other travel mug to ones from my Christmas letter. Eh, I don't know, I worked a while on the one I have. There aren't any current pictures of Maddy though, so maybe I will. What bothers me about both mugs is that they are not dishwasher safe so they are kind of a pain to wash. (As my mom rolls her eyes at me.)

Today we have playgroup! Maddy is already super excited although I keep having to tell her it will be a bit before we leave. She loves playgroup though.

Tea of the day: Teavana Coconut Aloha black tea (Given, teavana doesn't even carry coffee, so at least Starbucks caters to tea drinkers at least a little bit!)

Today was Maddy's storybook class. It was fine, I guess. However, it's not in an appropriate sized room and does not have appropriate sized seating. It is the same room we're in for our art class. It bugs me that this is a two year old class and they have full size chairs and table. I understand that they can't drag in and out all new tables and chairs every time there is a new class every hour. But the room itself is also small. That's not a huge deal for the art class since we're sitting most of the time anyway (albeit, not in the right size chairs). But for our storybook class they do little action songs and the only way that works is if one side of the table is really close to the wall and even then, there's not a lot of room to do the actions. Then trying to get back into the chairs against the wall.. .eh, I am not impressed.

Now, Maddy wasn't into it much today either. I had to really hype it up to get her to participate in the action part of class. Today's class was all about birthdays. So our craft/activity was decorating cupcakes. Maddy LOVED that part. She put the icing on herself and then promptly ate it all off before she could get any sparkles or anything else on the cupcake! She had fun though.

After class, as always, we went upstairs and had snack and then I let her run around an empty hallway for a while.

I am pleased to say her eating is going better. She'll do anything for the promise of dessert! Normally I put out bites of what I want her to eat before she can have dessert and for the most part she follows through pretty well. I am so GLAD about that. She loves ice cream for dessert the best. A close second is a dove or quality candy chocolate square. Speaking of food, tonight Matt is bringing home Five Guys burgers. I've been craving them for the last few days so I'm having one (and a few french fries) tonight. YUM! We haven't eaten out (Ok, I haven't. Matt went out with work a few times) since our trip to PA. It'll be nice to get something good in.

Tomorrow night Matt has Dad's night out. We'll see how that goes. We moms decided that if we can have mom's nights, then they should be able to have a dad's night. It should be interesting! I wonder how late Matt will stay? I'm excited to find out and I hope he has a great time! My mom's night out is on Monday night. I have been asked to make our chocolate raspberry martinis. So I will bring the goods for the alcohol. Someone else will bring the raspberries and glasses.

Ok, stuff to do around here. Although, I was able to get the carpets vacuumed, floors washed, laundry done, paid a bill, ran and unloaded the dishwasher and photos sorted today alone. Still more to do though!

Tea of the day: Adagio Cinnamon Tea

It was a pretty uneventful day here, today. I slept in and it was heavenly. I got up about 9. Maddy and Matt went out to mail some stuff and I put away lots of laundry--three loads! I have no issue doing the laundry, it's the putting it away I never get around to. Fortunately, today I did get it all put away.

This evening is Matt's dads night out. I am excited for him and hope he's having fun. I heard they were playing wii tonight, so that will be fun for him. Speaking of, I think I may turn on ours and play for a bit, too. Then off to bed!

Dad's night out must have been fun! Matt didn't get home until 1:30. I guess they played a lot of wii and had beer. They ordered in Italian for dinner. Speaking of eating, I ate too much candy last night and had some really weird dreams because of it.

Matt's in bed and Maddy and I are watching Pooh.

Tea of the day: Holiday Spice tea

This morning Maddy and I let Matt sleep in until 9. At that point of time I had already offered Maddy pumpkin pancakes and she was excited for them so I decide to make them then. Maddy helped me stir the batter. So after Maddy and I ate, I took up pancakes to Matt in bed. He brought them back down to eat with us. Matt then offered to take Maddy to church. He did it mainly to give me a break. So while he got ready for church, I got Maddy ready for church.

Then after they left, I quickly took a shower and picked up the house. I hopped in the car and went to World Market. I've been enjoying a cup of decaf in the afternoon, but don't like plain. But the creamers haven't been cutting it lately. So I remember that Torani makes sugar free flavored syrups and World Market has a good stock of them so I bought four. I also bought some other misc. stuff. I was excited to buy a new set of martini glasses though! I saw ones like these in the Red Envelope catalog about three years ago so when I found ones like them at World Market for $4 each I jumped on them. I only bought two but am thinking about going back for two more. That would still be only $16 compared to $55! Now, the red envelope ones come with a tray and the bottom ice holder is square while the World Market ones are round, but hey, I'm thrilled. Ours look a lot more like this. I bought Maddy a few fun toys while I was there, too.

After I was done shopping, I found out that Matt was just then on his way home from church and still needed to stop at MacD's to pick up our usual chicken nuggets for Maddy so I ran to the grocery store as well. We all got home at the same time! I bought Maddy a balloon at the grocery store. I never do that, but I did today. Matt told me that by the time he was 5 minutes from home all Maddy would talk about is how mommy had a balloon for her. I don't know how she knew, but she did. Weird!

After lunch, Maddy went down for a nap and Matt and I took one too. It was heavenly! we took a two hour nap! Then after nap I made shrimp and grits, cleaned up and now we're all done! Maddy seems to be asleep after taking quite a while putting herself to bed, but at lest she did!

I forgot to tell you a really scary story. At least it was for me. I woke up the other night and felt Ruthie's paw hanging out from under the covers on my side of the bed. That's not a big deal considering she's been sleeping with me constantly lately. But after I touched her paw she did not move. That's when I realized her head was completely covered in the blankets. I thought for sure she suffocated to death or that I laid on her and she died. I actually gasped as I pulled back the covers. Of course, the she jumped up looking at me like, "What the hell is your problem!?" She must have been sleeping so well she didn't notice I touched her paw. Poor Ruthie cat. At least she's not dead.

First, Happy belated Anniversary to Grammie and Papa J! I know Matt called you that night, but I thought I'd just say it again! Well, it's been a while since I've blogged last! I've been busy during her naps trying to keep up on things. I don't know how things pile up around me, but as soon as I catch up and catch my breath the next thing I know I have a ton more stuff to do, clean or pay. It always happens that way. Matt and i have been playing a new Wii game in the evenings after Maddy goes to bed. It's fun. I'm frustrated at my lack of ability though. I think a four year old can play better than I can. It's a nice game though. I originally bought it for Matt and I for valentines day but decided to give it to him early when he basically guessed what it was on the second try. I bought it at Target, so it's not like he could 'see' on the bill what I purchased. I also spent a lot of time organizing Maddy's pictures on our server. I hadn't done it in quite a while. Then I bought a ton of 4x6 prints for ourself and just a few wallets--no where near as many as I normally do. I bought just enough for the grandparents and us.

Mom's night out was such a blast Monday night. I can't get into details, but it was bachelorette themed and we have some awesome pictures from it. None of which I can post...but... :) I made Raspberry Martinis and they were definitely a hit. I'm so glad some of the mom's stepped up to the plate and helped supply the Razz rum, raspberries and glasses. Otherwise, I figured it out, it would have been $80 to make it from scratch and that's without the glasses!

Today we had playgroup at our local library. We met Annabelle there and were able to meet some of the other moms. Maddy had a great time as usual. It was at a library I hadn't been to, so we purposely left early. Well, a little TOO early! So we had time to run to the grocery store first for a few items.

Maddy has been so cute lately giving me 'presents'. She'll wrap up something that she likes in a blanket or piece of tissue and come hand it to me saying, "Present! Present!" She'll stand by grinning expectantly while I 'open' it. Of course, I make a big deal out of whatever is inside. Then I ask her for a hug and kiss (my favorite part) and I thank her for the present. I turned the table on her this morning though. I bought a couple small toys at World Market and I gathered up her blanket and I put a new toy in her blanket and I brought it to her and I told her to open it. She thought it was fun to play the game in reverse even though I don't think she realized what was going to be inside. She really enjoyed finding something new! It made the morning go a little fast towards playgroup as well.

Alrighty, I better get a move on. I have stuff to do while she's still napping.

Tea of the day: Republic of Tea Holiday Spice tea and also a cup of Teavana Aloha (Coconut black) Tea

I had a mom's dream fulfilled tonight! No, Maddy didn't put on her coat willingly before going outside. No, Maddy didn't love getting into her car seat. No, Maddy didn't pick up all her toys before bed (we're working on that little by little).

But she DID whine at me tonight!!! Why am I so happy about whining?!?! Because she was WHINING BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO EAT DINNER!!!! Yes, Yes, Yes! It's a first, honestly, it is. Tonight I made spaghetti squash marinara which she does like most of the time, but tonight she REALLY wanted it! She came into the kitchen and pointed to the stove where the sauce was simmering and said, "Eat dinner? Eat dinner!" So, I had to fend her off for 20 minutes while the squash finished up in the oven. After everything was done, and her bowl was made, blown off and cup up, her and I sat at the table and she CHOWED DOWN. No prompting. No reminders that it's dinner time. None of that! She just ATE. :)

Now, if she'd only go to sleep--she doesn't seem tired tonight. One thing at a time! I'm still relishing the dinner episode tonight!