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Saturday, November 6, 2010

It's the start of a busy day! Crock pot was on all night and my husband is now downstairs unplugging it and taking the pot out so the soup can cool. Sure hope the soup will be tasty. Golden mushroom soup, bacon, chicken, butterbeans, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, celery, onion, seasonings...we'll see in a couple days! I intend to cool the batch, divide it into meals, and freeze them. Next week I want to make spinach & potato soup and some corn chowder. If there's extra time I think I may make gumbo. Yum, loooove gumbo!

Soon I'll have to dash off to Target, hurry back to get everything ready, rush off with T to the Tri-State Babywearers monthly meeting. Pouch slings are the theme for November. We'd planned on meeting in park but plans were changed due to weather (it's in the 20s this AM, supposed to struggle to reach 50) we're meeting in a back room of a local specialty store. Very thankful K let us use it at such short notice!

After that it's called swing by the house, pick up my husband, potty T, and then head on over to Nana and Papop's house for the evening. Busy, busy day. Oh, and tomorrow will be church and then a baby shower. Busy day too!

Friday, November 5, 2010

"Goo day!"

This week has been just great! The greatness started on Monday. Monday M came to town! I miss M. We talked about food, went shopping, had coffee. Fun, fun times. She's a few hours away from me now. It was wonderful to have her come and spend the night. I made chili that night. Oh, wow! I think- no, I know- I've found our favorite recipe. I made this chili. Wow is it tasty. Made for a FULL crockpot. We ate off it for several meals and I have two meals worth in baggies in the freezer right now. 

We went to the mall together. T rode on my back in the APLX with the silk blue embroidered dragon print visible. I put him on in the back seat on the car- sat down on the seat, told him, "climb on up" (while I was seated in the back seat of the car- and up he scrambled, put his arms around my back, and laid down so I could pull the carrier fabric up over his back and put the straps over my shoulder. M reached forward, wanting to help.

 "No, that just makes things hard!" I said, as I deftly snapped the chest strap and stood up.
 "I know," she responded, "but watching someone put a toddler on their back in a carrier makes me feel like I need to help!" 
"It actually could become a self-fulfilled prophecy as the mom needs to know exactly where everything is. Plus, I was seated and there was no place he could fall if he wanted to," I responded. Or something like it.

 I wanted to add " It really helps if you know the techniques. Then you can understand how much safer this is than when you see all those moms balancing their bucket car seats on shopping carts- even when the AAP and some car seat manuals say not to put bucket seats on or in shopping carts because it's so dangerous." But I didn't. We were going shopping. Not at a babywearing safety meeting. Seriously, though, did YOU know it's not safe to put your baby's car seat on or in the shopping cart? I know some have that hook, but the AAP says not to, and car seat experts. I didn't know about that when I first had T at all. Now that I do it makes me uncomfortable to see those seats balanced- seemingly secure but in actuality precariously (did you notice that those hooks don't snap in place like they do in the car?)- on top of the carts whenever I'm at the store.  


We went to Macys to look at towels. Oh fun. No, not really super fun. It was an excuse for the fun things though. Shoes. Lots of boots and heels and other glorious fun footwear were on sale. Didn't buy anything. Saw some awfully cute ones though. And the purses! M almost bought one. I thought about it but my husband complains I have a tendancy to buy purses like most women do shoes. So I'm thinking of switching to some other accessory. Maybe shoes. Maybe jewelry now that T is getting older (he's still pulling on ears occasionally though).

I was so sad! We left the mall, walked around a bit, and I discovered the coffee shop had closed down. That's the 2nd coffee shop in the mall that's closed since I moved to Evansville! Seriously, it's no good at all! Seems like the only place that survives in the food court is Chick-fil-A. Who can resist a good Chick-fil-A sandwich, or their real chicken juicy nuggets? Yum. I love their food (for fast food) and especially that they're owned by Christians. 


T just loved having M over. He calls her "Maymay". First thing when he woke up the following morning he called for "Maymay". That kept up for most of the day too while she was out. I know he was sorry to see her go. We all were sorry. 

Didn't make it to any story time this week. It's been so busy. I've had doctor appointments and dental visits, guests, cooking, cleaning, shopping- and yes, I found some pretty good stuff!
My first find was a boys Ralph Lauren shirt for only $1 at a local used store. It has a tiny yellow stain so I need to soak it in some OxyClean. Pretty confident that stain will come out. Found some adorable sweaters there too for only a few dollars. That shirt was definitely my best find of all. Except for that tiny yellowed spot it looks new. Even if it doesn't come out he could at least use it to layer or as a paint shirt. He loves art now. 

Every week- twice weekly for the past few months but once weekly starting Monday- I have to drive to my allergist's office for allergy injections. After I receive the shots we are required to wait in the office for 20 minutes (the time when most reactions will occur). Lately the office has had coloring pages for kids. T just loves them! "When you're all done you can bring it back to me and I'll hang it on the wall, or you may take it home," the woman at the front desk tells him. 

After coloring for a while he'll suddenly stand up and carry the paper across the lobby. People generally look up. They're rather curious what this little toddler is doing. 

He marches right up to the front desk and says "Hi!". 

Of course he's not visible from the other side; those counters are tall! I pick him up and he hands the colored paper right over.

 "Goo day!" he smiles as we turn to leave. "Bye!"


Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sooooo sleepy this morning. I'm going to have to ask Sean to share some of his coffee with me (I think he makes the best coffee btw!). Of course yesterday was a very long day.

It went sort of like this: I got up, packed Theodore's diaper bag, organized the babywearing items I would take with me, run to the store. The store is what took so long! First I ran to Target to grab a few thing. Then I went over to WalMart to get some doughnuts and a few groceries.

Doughnuts? I bought doughnuts? I, who generally feels ill after eating something super-highly-sugared like doughnuts bought two dozen of them?! They weren't for me. They were for the Babywearing Awareness Day event just after noon. I'd already scouted out the prices and determined the best deal on doughnuts I could find was at WalMart. So off to WalMart I drove! While there I picked up meat for sandwiches over the weekend. The man at the deli counter was both the polite and slowest Wal-Mart employee ever! I have seriously not seen that combination in one before. But mmm, I'm so looking forward to the sandwiches. Cracked pepper turkey and buffalo chicken! Should be good.

If we don't eat up all the bananas I came home with I'm going to have to make banana bread. Besides doughnuts and muffins I picked up a dozen bananas. Turns out someone else brought 5 bananas (a different brand) and several of mine were left- oh, about a half dozen. So either Theodore eats these bananas up pronto or they get peeled and frozen for baking. Though a frozen banana for a snack is sure a tasty treat too!

I hurried home. At home I found Theodore eagerly awaiting my return. Sean and I made him (and us!) an early lunch and I loaded up the car. Theodore and I hurried off to the park- well, not as in speeding!- and started to set up. As I unloaded the car piece by piece I noticed Katie's vehicle driving around. She stopped. Apparently a group of women had collected in a different place entirely. She's sent them on down to where I'd been setting up instead of re-loading the car.

When they pulled up we were still unloading and setting up. Sean arrived and Katie's husband. We set up some portable tables for food under a canopy I borrowed from Sean's parents. With the leaves falling from the trees at the rate they were yesterday I was sure thankful for it. Once everything was set up everyone sat around chatting and munching on the refreshments. One of my friends turned up but sadly had to leave just as we got to the demonstrations.

The fellowship and demonstrations went well. A couple of the giveaways were very popular. As you can imagine the Ergo giveaway was the most popular part of the event. No one knew what the Gypsy Mama Wrapsody wrap was, so when Katie drew for it I made sure to explain. The woman who won it seemed very pleased. She actually got quite a lovely wrap. Gauze, and just beautiful. Look at the Gypsy Mama carrier "Alice"  it'll be an extreme comfortable and versatile carrier.

All told we ended up with more than 14 people who came to the event. I was pleased with the turn-out. Would've loved more but for the short notice and low advertising it was a really decent turn-out. When I left my day was only beginning! Sean and I had switched vehicles so Sean could take Theodore home for a nap. Sean's car had been decked out by the birds while at the park so my first stop was the car wash. Then I went to the grocery store to finish some "just for our family" shopping.

I found ribs for less than $1.50 a pound. Talk about a good deal. We're having ribs this week! Supper was simple. Theo went to bed, Sean went to bed, and I stayed up cleaning until late. Or early. I was up until after midnight catching up on the Saturday work that had been neglected for the event at the park today. I find it's very productive to clean when I'm the only one in the house!

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