Sustainability

Laugh all you want, but these two books are on their way to my house. ;) And get this...Dave and I were watching American Idol last night and out of nowhere he says "I think I want to start a compost pile." Wha? Really?? So, I'm gonna read up on living green and see what I can do about possibly starting some composting. Interesting, huh? ;) I really, really want to make sure that the earth is somewhat taken care of as my son grows up and I want him to be responsible about waste and taking care of the planet for HIS kids. It's just good sense! :) So, as soon as I'm done reading these I'll give you a little critique and let you know what I think. What's next for us? Cloth diapers?! Ya never know... ;)

God bless soy!

Dave and I went grocery shopping the other day and I was looking for a new low cal ice cream or frozen yogurt because, let's be honest...Cold Stone is NOT going to help me lose weight. ;) Luckily, I stumbled across WholeSoy...this stuff is AMAZING! Completely organic soy frozen yogurt and it tastes like creamy, dramy ice cream! I get the chocolate hazelnut and it is so dang good! It kinda tastes like frozen nutella! ;) I just had to share my find with you. We got it at Whole Foods. I don't know if you can get it anywhere else, but it's delicious!

"The Spooky" - a Bradleyism

I know me. If I don't write this down I will totally forget it and I don't want to forget it. It cracks me up.

When Bradley is in the car with me and we're driving where there are woods on either side of us he calls it "driving through the spooky." I guess it's because of the tall trees on either side of the car, but I friggin' LOVE that he calls it that! :) It's adorable! Most of the time the spooky doesn't spook him, but every once in awhile I can hear him whisper from the backseat..."Mommy, I don't like the spooky." ;)

My kid's a genius!

Tonight at dinner, Bradley was explaining to Dave and I exactly what was to take place before he could have dessert. I kid you not, word for word, this is what he said:

Ok, so, this is how I get to have dessert. First, I take a bite of my meatball, then I swallow it and it goes down my esophagus into my belly. Then, I take a sip of milk and then I get dessert!

Can I tell you how much Dave and I cracked up!? :) I mentioned to him about what the esophagus does like a WEEK ago and out of NOWHERE he applies it and even pronounces the word correctly! lol Seriously, he's gonna take after me. Another nurse, perhaps? Or a Doctor? ;)

Just when you thought he couldn't get any better...

...he can! :) My sweet, sweet husband is a charm. I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I snagged the best husband in the world! I've been kind of worried about nursing school lately and whether or not I had what it takes to get through the program. Just doubting myself as a nurse, you know? So I texted Davey to tell him I was freaking out about it and this is what he texted me back:

"Sweetheart, you know that you were born to be a nurse. It was written in the stars. That is your passion. I am so proud of you and I love you. You will be doing the world a service by becoming a nurse."

Ok seriously, how could you NOT cry reading that?! :) *sigh* I had to get it up on my blog before I lost it on my phone...and I'm so glad I did...now I can read it everyday. :)

An anatomy & physiology lesson with a 3 year old

Today while I was trying to get some homework done (I let Dave sleep in so B was in the office with me) I decided I'd try my hand at teaching B about the important inner workings of the human body. :)

A few years ago before I started nursing school Dave and I were in the dollar store and I found this little plastic guy with actual innards. We're talking differently colored organs that you could take out and look at. Seriously, it was the best $1 I've ever spent. I was so dang happy to have found that little guy! (My story has a point, I swear) So I took him home, named him Darwin ('cause it sounded cool) and he has sat on my desk ever since.

So today while I'm working on a case study for clinicals Bradley hops up on my desk and wants to play with Darwin. Enter my teaching opportunity. We open up Darwin and spill out his guts. ;) Cool, huh? I pick each piece up and tell him what it is, what it's called, and how it works....in 3 year old terms, of course. I'm not going to get into the cells and hormones and all that jazz with him quite yet. So I go through all the organs and as I hold up each one he tells me what they look like to him. With a straight face. Very matter of fact. Seriously, it cracked me up. So I figured I had to share with the world what the human body is actually composed of. So here, ladies and gentlemen, is your daily anatomy lesson:

1. Small Intestines: It's not intestines at all. In fact, it's a strawberry. So enjoy.

2. Large Intestines: Ladies and gentlemen, this is nothing more than an ordinary sea turtle.

3. Heart: This is actually a heart. So that's good. At least we can still pump blood to the sea turtle and the strawberry and all that jazz.

4. Spleen/pancreas: A blueberry.

5. Bladder: This does not hold urine. It is a lemon.

6. Liver: This is actually a piece of Bradley's shirt that got torn off.

7. Stomach: A whale. Who'd of thunk it?

8. Trachea: It's a sword. Duh.

9. Kidneys: Another blueberry.

10. Lungs: Ok, I won't tell you what he said they were at first, but if you have any kind of an imagination I'm pretty sure you can guess. ;) His second answer was an orange. So I'll stick with that. lol

So there you have it. Our body is a fantastic web of fruit, swords, shirts, and sea mammals! Coolio!

CUTE and green living...!

You know when you stumble across a cool website and you just want to share it with everyone? :) Well, I found one today...check out these massively ADORABLE plates?? Oh my gosh! I LOVE them!
They're little monsters! The website where I found these also has another set that I'm in love with...its got a little monkey on the plate. TOO cute. If you want to check out the site, go here. They have awesome baby clothes and blankets and toys and everything. All of their clothes are made from soybean fiber so you KNOW they're comfortable, good for the environment, and free of chemicals.

From Babysoy's website:
"What is soybean fiber? Soybean fiber is a sustainable textile fiber made from renewable natural resources. It is part of an effort moving consumers away from petrochemical textile products and turning waste into useful products."

It's actually funny because a few months ago I wouldn't have cared about any of this, but for some reason I'm going all crunchy. lol ;) Don't ask me why...and Davey makes fun of me constantly (in a loving way, of course), but he's starting to get on the crunchy train, too. I just feel better knowing I'm giving my family food and things that aren't chemically altered, you know? Sure it costs a little more to buy organic skim milk over regular skim milk, but I know that by doing that there are no antibiotics or anything in the milk and that the cows are fed a healthy, vegetarian diet. Go ahead and roll your eyes now (if you haven't already.. ;)), but truly...I think I'm coming around to the idea of "green living." If you want to learn more, I HIGHLY recommend this show. Sara Snow is an expert on living green and organic and she's down to earth (pun completely intended) and honest about small, easy changes you can make to live a fresher, healthier life. So if you have Discovery Health I definitely recommend watching it. She's fantastic. :)

Ok, off my organic, green soapbox. It snowed and now we have ice all over the place outside so I'm off to go sledding with the boys! :) More later!

Never Gonna Give You Up!

Goshdangit I love the 80's!! Even more I love 80's music. :) I seriously need to get XM radio if only for the 80's music station. I just downloaded one of my all time favorite 80's songs "Never Gonna Give You Up." LOVE me some Rick Astley, baby. Even if it was a one-hit wonder kinda thing...best.song.ever. Plus, you gotta love a tall, skinny, brunette, dorky Brit. ;) hehe I'm listening to it on iTunes and picturing the video in my head...lol. It's cracking me up and now I'm in such a good mood! I love when little things like that put me in a good mood. It makes me feel like there actually IS something good with the world. ;)

So it's been like 5,000 years since I updated blogger, but to be fair this is like THE most intense semester of nursing school ever. :( I'm DROWNING in reading (8 chapters due by Monday to be exact) and I have NO time for anything...my family, scrapping, reading, my family. It's heinous. I can't wait until I graduate. I applied for an externship with the hospital where B was born so I hope I get the opportunity to do that. It would be SO exciting and such a great opportunity for me!

Ok, I know this is a lame update, but I'm dead tired (Chuck e cheese on a Saturday night with 4,000 screaming kids will do that to ya) and I want to spend a little time with my family before B heads off to bed. ;) I'll update more tomorrow!

Smooches!

p.s. I just downloaded Together Forever by Rick as well. Apparently I forgot he was a two-hit wonder. ;)

I LOVE good grocery stores.

I really, really do! Dave, Bradley, and I went to the new Whole Foods Market last night that they just built down the highway from us. I am SERIOUSLY in love. I already loved Whole Foods, but the closest one to us was a good half an hour or more. This one's only about 15 minutes away and it is H-U-G-E! The coolest thing is that in about 5 different parts of the store there are little eateries. Near the front of the store is an italian "resteraunt," which is where we ate...the food was AMAZING...and then sprinkled throughout the store there are chinese food eateries, a BBQ hut, sushi, gelato, coffee, a juice bar, etc., etc. It was so cool! We had a little bit of shopping to do and D makes fun of me because I'm on this organic kick, so we picked up a bunch of organic, fresh produce (so delicious), some stuff for me for lunches at school, and then we stopped and had some gelato. We did have to leave though 'cause B was punkin' out...it was WAY late. So late, in fact, that I COMPLETELY forgot it was Thursday night and I missed the first half of Grey's Anatomy! :( So rather than watch it from the middle to the end I called Jenn and had her tape it so I can watch it later. I think I may end up watching it tonight on my laptop with Dave though because I seriously don't think I can wait! lol

Tonight should also be quite an interesting evening. We're taking B to his very first in-theatre movie. *sigh* Wish us luck! ;) I have NO idea how he's going to act, but I hope he behaves. We'll be there at 7:45 tonight so I don't want to be one of "those" parents whose kid flips out and goes balistic in the theatre, ya know? lol I've already told him that we have to be quiet and respect the people who have come to see the movie and that if he wants to leave he has to quietly let me or Daddy know so that we can leave. That goes for the potty, too. ;) I think though, since his cousin Ashley will be there, that he'll do ok. Wish us luck! :)

One word.

So if you're not a scrapper go ahead and ignore this post. ;) I get a weekly email newsletter from a fellow scrapper, Ali. She's a big name in the industry and she comes up with these awesome weekly challenges to try and stretch your creative talents to the max. They're great when you run into a creative brick wall and can't come up with anything to put out.

So this last week's challenge was to come up with one word for 2007 that you would take and use for the year. Apply it to your life. What does it mean for you and to you in your daily life.

So I decided to pick a word. My word this year will be CHALLENGE. There are SO many things I want to challenge myself with this year and I want to be able to accomplish some of those challenges for once. To be able to apply myself to what I want to get done and actually do it. I want to challenge myself to study without interruption, to actually make TIME for scrapping instead of just purchasing product...which is still fun.. ;) To try new things, to stop being so darn lazy. These are all huge challenges in my life that I want to accomplish and I LOVE Ali's idea of picking a word and applying it to your life.

Now, let's just hope that I can actually accomplish that. I'm pretty good at not following through on my promises to myself. lol ;)

Completely Uncalled For

Funniest.MyTube.Video.Ever!

Seriously!! lol

Before you hit play on this go to the bottom of my blog and hit the "pause" button on Mariah's video! ;)

Fuel from corn husks? Nuh uh!

Is there anything more annoying than going to check your email, opening it, and then finding an email waiting for you from someone that you haven't heard from since like three Christmases ago but by the "Re: fwd: fwd: fwd:" subject line you just KNOW is asking for you to fwd a poem or sign something or make a wish or jump up and down three times and then sing a song and THEN sign something and that if you don't your life will end as you know it and you'll have a one-way ticket to hell because you DIDN'T (*gasp*) fwd the email on? *breathe*. And you can't help but think how frickin' annoying it is to receive emails such as this, especially since you haven't talked to this person in over three years, so you hover over the DELETE button with your mouse pointer all the while thinking "Self...you really shouldn't open that email. You KNOW what it is. She just wants to send you the 'hug of the day' or the 'please sign this and fwd it on to 6 bazillion of your friends' email. It's a trap! Don't open it! But I feel sooooooooo guilty if I don't! Nope, not opening it...*sigh* alright, fine...I'll open it. But I am NOT sending anything on and I am NOT signing a flippin' thing! Do you hear me, self!??!"

So after all that arguing with yourself (freaks) you open the email and find something like this:

"Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the petition: "Help America Declare Energy Independence."

Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference. We are trying to reach 20,000 signatures - please sign here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/422244770

Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and family to sign as well.

Thank you!

X."

Now. You sit there, roll your eyes and think "dude...I have TOTALLY met my quota on signing petitions this week. NO MORE! But what if I don't sign? Someone's totally gonna know that I didn't. I could destroy the world because I didn't take a lousy 30 seconds to sign a petition.:(" Well, that whole time you took thinking about signing it you could've just been signing it and calling it a day, right?

But seriously. This one is good. Not ONLY does it affect us and our environment now, but it will affect our kids, and their kids, and their kids. So, as that annoying chick who sends you fwds and petitions in your email, I genuinely urge you to quickly go sign this petition. It really only does take 30 seconds and it will help you hit that quota of signed/petitioned emails so that when you get the one that wants you to sign and fwd the "please sign my petition to save the earthworms" email you can giddyly skip over it and say "ha! I'm saving the ozone man...the worms can wait!" :)

Have a super day!

Heavenly!

I stumbled upon a new Bath & Body Works scent the other day while picking up some of their antibacterial soap that's on sale...coconut lime! Man, it is flippin' heaven in a bottle! Usually I'm not a big coconut fan, but the balance of sweet and tart in this soap is just amazing! I keep sniffing my hands! lol ;)

Anyway...just wanted to share. It's the little things!

Thanksgiving!

I LOVE Thanksgiving! I love the food, I love getting together with family, I love being off from work/school/responsibilities for one full day! :) And I LOVE to bake/cook. So this year we're going to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving. She's like THE Martha Stewart of Maryland, so you can bet that there will be quite a spread. I'm going to be making the spinach gratin recipe that I got from the Barefoot Contessa last year (SO good, btw) and my famous pecan pie to take with us.

In sticking with the Thanksgiving theme, here is a little "top 20" about turkey day! ;)

1. Do you cook all or part of the meal? Well, for the past two years my SIL and I have cooked the entire meal with the exception of a few appetizers and desserts. :)
2. How much do you spend buying groceries for the meal? Oh man. If I'm cooking the whole meal I'd say at least $200.
3. Do you eat at home or go to someone else’s? It kind of changes every year. This year we'll be going to my Aunt's house, but last year my SIL and I hosted.
4. Describe your perfect bite? Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing. Mmmmm!
5. White meat or dark? White.
6. Stuffing with giblets or without? Soooooo without! Ew.
7. Anything you won’t eat at the Thanksgiving meal? Cranberry sauce. Ew.
8. Carve Mr. Gobble at the table or serve on a platter? Platter. Dad-in-law usually carves before Mr. Gobble hits the table.
9. Favorite pie? Pecan!
10. Formal table or Chinet? Depends on where we're eating. At our place? Chinet. At my Aunt's? Formal table.
11. Your menu? If I'm cooking: turkey, stuffing, biscuits, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, succotash, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, olives, pickles, crackers, chutney. I *think* that's it. haha whoa.
12. Favorite leftover? Turkey! It makes the best leftover sandwiches!
13. Extended family, friends, both or just the immediate family for dinner? Yes.
14. After dinner, do you go to the latest movie or football on TV? Neither. We just hang out and chat.
15. Do you watch the Macy’s Parade? Sure do!
16. Christmas decorations up before or after? After!
17. Black Friday shopping or sleep in? Sooooo sleep in!
18. Any special Thanksgiving tradition? Well, when my SIL and I host we try and come up with a new, creative place setting for each family member.
19. Favorite thing about Thanksgiving? All of it! :) Really, I just love the whole experience.
20. Favorite Thanksgiving memory? Our first one with B. :)

Randomness.

Mornin' all! :) (All 3 of you who read my blog...if there are that many. lol) I had a fun idea for a scrapbook page and wanted to actually get it on here before I forgot because who KNOWS when I'll be able to scrap next! Probably after I graduate in 2008. heh.

Anyway, I wanted to post my favorite things at the moment so I don't forget. I'm thinking of asking Dave and B, too so I can make one for each of them. Oohhh, maybe I can turn it into a mini book and ask them what they're favorite things of '06 were!! What'd ya think? ;)

Anyway...for the time being, here are mine:

1. I just picked this up yesterday on several recommendations from a few peas and so far it's a fantastic resource! I may actually be able to take some decent pictures with my fab camera! ;)

2. Holiday cups at Starbucks.

3. Clinicals.

4. My sweet family. But that never changes. ;)

5. Gingerbread lattes.

6. Cold, crisp air.

7. Wreaths.

8. Magazine subscriptions.

9. Postsecret.blogspot.com

10. Pottery barn kids.

11. White, 11-cup Cuisinart food processor. ;) Which is what I want for Christmas...can ya tell?

12. Christmas music.

So I think later today I'll go ask the boys what their favorites are right now and maybe come up with a cool mini album idea. Any thoughts? Maybe book form, maybe lunchpail form...who knows.

Well, I suppose I should go study at some point. ;) My niece is here visiting today and I can hear her and Bradley having a blast downstairs. lol They're a riot! I think today they're pretending to be Harry Potter. Yesterday it was cowboys and pirates. Ya gotta love this age! Have a great Sunday!

A meme. At 11:46 pm.

I'm waiting until midnight so I can register for my nursing classes for next semester because if I go to sleep and wait until tomorrow morning every class I want will be full and I'll have to take the leftovers. And I soooooooooo don't want to go to class on a Friday afternoon, ya know? So...I make myself stay up the night of registration so I can actually get the good classes. ;)

So, to kill time here are my answers to a meme posted on the scrapbook board I frequent daily. They're pretty cool questions so if you want to snag the list and do it yourself feel free! But make sure you link me to your blog so I can see your list! :)

1. I am blessed, loved, exhausted.
2. Dave knows me best.
3. I feel anxious, stressed, sleepy.
4. The most important thing in my life is my family. Always.
5. I always carry my purse (original, huh?)
6. I think therefore my brain is jampacked. ;)
7. I’m at my happiest when my son is laughing, the sun is shining and I'm spending some much needed downtime with my sweet hubby and baby boy (who is technically no longer a baby, but I'm his mom and if I wanna call him that, I will...so pssshhhh).
8. On a Monday morning, you can find me clutching my blankets, trying my damndest to convince my son through two bedroom doors and a hallway that he has plenty of toys in his room to play with and that I'll be in his room in a minute (or 5, or 10, or an hour...whatever).
9. My favorite food ingredient is garlic.
10. My eyes are hazel.
11. My favorite material possession is a letter that Dave wrote me when I was in labor with our B.
12. To relax, I like to hang out with my fellas, scrap, read, sleep.
13. The town I live in is not where I want to live for the rest of my life.
14. My worst habit is binging.
15. My guilty pleasure is Starbucks.
16. When I look at someone, the first thing I see is their eyes or smile.
17. I think that this is a repeat...hmmmm.
18. I can live without gossip.
19. I wish I had more time.
20. My life is crazy wonderful.

So go ahead. Fill this out for yourself. Reflect. And then share with me! :)

Are YOU wearing the wrong sized bra?

I have NO doubt that I probably am. Heh. So...do you wanna find out? Go here.

Total random blog post, no doubt, but it's a helpful one! ;)

5:55 pm

Make a wish! ;) I love doing that. Heh.

Anyway. So, yesterday my sister, Mike, Dave, and I all dropped the kids off at my Mom's house so that we could go see a movie. Dave and I had gone to see Talladega Nights (GREAT movie, by the way) awhile back and had seen previews for this movie called Borat. The few snipets from the movie that they showed during the previews were frickin' hysterical! I mean, the preview itself is only what...maybe 3 minutes? And Dave and I were cracking up and had decided that we needed to see this movie. So when Mike mentioned that they wanted to go see it we were all over it. ;)

So we get to the theatre, buy our tickets (Mike thought they were going to be sold out and there were like MAYBE 10 people in the theatre...lol) and sit down. Once the movie started I could pretty much tell it was going to be one of those movies. Ya know the one where there are parts SO funny that you can't breathe because you're laughing so hard? The beginning was awesome. Memorable quotes, funny scenes, the works. Then about halfway into it things started getting weird. Seriously, I have an awesome sense of humor. I can laugh at the stupidest stuff for hours on end. Really. And I, shamefully, like a good stupid, uncomfortable, morally-questionable joke just as much as the next guy, but whoa. Without spoiling it for those of you who still want to see this movie, I was pretty much shocked, offended, annoyed, and laughing all at the same time. I mean, some parts were funny to the point of gut-busting, but others you could hear the whole audience gasp in that "I cannot believe they just played that" way that you would had we been at a dinner party and someone told a bad joke, ya know? Gah.

So pretty much, I'm going on the premise that about 10% of this movie was actually really funny and about 90% of it was so stupid, lame, crude, and disgusting that it wasn't even in the same category as funny. And seriously, I like lame, crude, disgusting movies, but this one didn't even compare. Meh. So anyway...take my opinion for what you will. And then decide if you want to spend the $36 that theatres are now charging for a regular priced ticket to go see it. ;)

Now, the one GOOD redeeming quality the movie had was Sacha Baron Cohen, the main character, Borat. The guy is a friggin' comedic genius. Seriously. If you haven't seen Talladega Nights, I am BEGGING you to go rent it. lol The guy is frickin' hysterical and even though Borat fell short of what I wanted it to, it would've been off-the-radar bad had Sacha not been the main actor. ;)

Blogger loser.

That's me! Man...I'm gonna sing the same old tune I usually do, but I have been SO beyond busy. I barely have time to see my family let alone post something on my blog. But, I've been neglectful and that's not really fair to you (the reader...the SOLE reader) of this here, my blog. ;) Heh. Jokes aside, here's an update.

I've taken two tests so far in nursing and gotten A's on both. :) I missed one on the first one and two on the second. I'm pretty dang proud of myself considering the intensity of this program. It also reminds me of how insanely lucky I am to have such fantastic in-laws that provide me with the ability to even be able to go back to school, so thank you to them both!

This weekend I have quite a bit to do. I have a mid-term to study for, a group project to start, and 3 (yes, 3) papers to write. So I better get crackin', but I wanted to post a few new pics of B so you can see how insanely big he's getting! He'll be 3 in 3 weeks! Can you believe that?! Man...I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that we brought him home from the hospital. *sigh* Anyway...enjoy!

Alphabet URL

I totally stole this from a blog I frequent [thanks, Chris;)] 'cause I thought it was pretty cool! The idea is to go to the URL bar in your browser and, one at a time, type each letter of the alphabet and see what address comes up for auto-completion (p.s. cool word, btw!). So here is my list:

A - abc.go.com (Grey's Anatomy link)
B - babiesnbellies.com
C - cafepress.com
D - davenporthouse.com
E - ebay.com
F - fairfaxcounty.gov/library
G - gap.com
H - health.discovery.com
I - ikea.com
J - jaimewarren.typepad.com
K - kaitlynspromise.com (I respectfully request that you visit this site. There is some very pertinent information regarding drug use if you have children that you NEED to know. Thank you.)
L - learn.vccs.edu
M - macharlaz.blogspot.com
N - nationalalertregistry.com
O - obgyn.net
P - pagemaps.com
Q - qbaroo.com
R - radiology.rsnajnls.org
S - samsspotontheweb.blogspot.com
T - target.com
U - us.pampers.com
V - vaccineinformation.org
W - wbshop.com
X - Nothin'!
Y - www.yahoomail.com
Z - Nothin'!

That was fun! Cool to see what pages pop up...now you go!