I actually missed this...

It's been a whole 3 days or something since I last blogged.

And I actually missed it. So that's it. You're stuck with me now.

Before the craziness of the 30 Rock Tour, I posted this picture:


It's from January of this year, which makes A.J. about 3 months old. It's a classic Jared face.



Apparently, it's also a classic Alaina face! Jadyn was about 2 months old in this picture.

You know it's bad when complete strangers, i.e., checkers at Academy, comment on how your children look exactly like you.

We were at an Upward training conference this weekend, which is what prompted my blogging absence. If I'd really had it together, viz., if I hadn't had any children with me, I would have blogged from the conference. I always love going to an Upward training conference. They give out good free stuff. Plus it's great to be around people who are as excited about a thing as you are. A.J. made a lot of friends too. I think most of the staff of Upward knew his name by the end of the first night. He was a total flirt, and I don't think he cried the entire time. He was just drawing people to him, not unlike a certain uncle of his who shall remain nameless (Ravi).

This was one of those weekends that require a period of recovery, which has led to one of my all-time pet peeves - clean laundry on the floor. I just hate when that happens. Am I the only one? Or do you have a different housecleaning hot button?

birthday buddies

I'll bet you thought I was done talking about my birthday.

No such luck, sorry.

One of the great things about my birthday is that I get to share it with my birthday buddies. When I was growing up, my birthday buddy was my brother, Raj. He was born 5 years and 1 day after me.

Being an efficient mother, my mom tended to plan our birthday parties on the same day - just shuffle one group of kids out and bring on the next group. I still remember the year that Raj's birthday was on Easter and we both had Easter bunny ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins for our birthday parties.

This picture has nothing to do with birthdays or parties, it's just amusing to me because it's a completely unremarkable moment in time. How often do we get pictures of those moments? Azina is on the left, and Raj is on the right. They're sitting at the Smurf table, which is a piece of furniture that was an important part of our childhood.



When I grew up, I found another birthday buddy. My friend Ashlee's birthday is today also!

This is what all of my kids think of Ashlee:


They're right on.

So, happy birthday birthday buddies! I love you both!

not bad for a first try

Important lessons learned from the first attempt at the butterfly cake:

- It only requires about half of a cake mix.
- "Lightly spray pan with cooking spray" means make sure you spray the dickens out of the sides and corners.

All in all, it was a successful first attempt.

Looks to me like all it needs is a Superman candle!

happy birthday to me!

The day you've all been waiting for!

Day #


It is a big box! The girls had very disparate guesses. Alaina guessed a brick. Jadyn guessed a "big dress for you." I had no idea.

So I opened it. It's my birthday, I'll do what I want!



I love it! I've wanted one for a long time - it's a stick blender/motorboat/immersion blender/whatever you want to call it. It is absolutely the best way to make refried beans. I'm very excited! And it's the very first Cuisinart I've ever had. This is a big day.

There's a good chance we'll be having refried beans for part of dinner for our next Friday night dinner.

Tami, Lisa, and Ashlee - thanks!! You are all such great friends, and you've made this a great birthday before it ever started!

Butterfly cake update: The cake has been made, but it has not been decorated yet. Stay tuned.

and tomorrow, the season finale

Which means that today should be a cliffhanger episode, right?

So I should leave you hanging with this picture, or have someone propose to someone but end before an answer is given, or turn someone into a Borg, or something equally as nefarious.

Or wait, this is just the episode before the season finale, so this is the setup for the cliffhanger. So I should be blowing up the Daily Planet.

Blame the weather. The humidity has returned. Or blame the oncoming depression because the 30 Rock Tour is almost over, which means I'm about to be 30. And I'm supposed to be depressed about that or something, right?

Any suggestions about where I should go to lunch or get takeout for dinner tomorrow?

But let's focus on the present (both definitions of the word).

It's Day #


and I have no idea what this is. It doesn't feel as weird as yesterday's, but it still feels weird.

I'll do the actual math tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I'd never make the bigs with my batting average.

One of the few things I wish I had done in high school but didn't (because I didn't know I liked it at the time) was play softball, or at least try out for the team.

Sorry, that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

So what is the present?



Superman stickers and a Superman candle!

So now I have a Superman candle for the butterfly birthday cake that I'm going to make and decorate myself...I think I have an answer for the question, "If you were a food, what would you be?"

Psychoanalyze that one.

This has been the best birthday ever. Seriously.

If you were a food, what would you be?

back to life, back to reality

It was nice last week when the rest of the world was on spring break. It meant that we didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do, which made it kind of a spring break for us too.

And now it's Monday.

But it's also Day #



of the 30 Rock Tour!

This one was weird. It's not a box. It's kind of...squishy. That's the best I can come up with. The girls weren't much help either.

So I opened it.




Look at this! It is so cool! You pour cake batter in all of the little compartments and bake it. Then you pop out all the pieces and decorate it like a butterfly!

The girls were pretty excited too. They wanted me to make it right now, the instant I opened it. But I don't have any cake mix. So they wanted me to go buy cake mix and make it tomorrow.



"Can I be in the picture?"



"Jadyn, this is my picture!"

I finally told them that I'd make it on Wednesday, for my birthday.

That's what happens when you turn 30. You have to make your own birthday cake.

if this is coherent...

...it will be a miracle!


It's Day #


I know it's hard to see, but that says "27."

Blogging for 30 days in a row is not the easiest thing to do when one is accustomed to blogging once or twice a week...but I'm a champ, so no worries.

This is by far the biggest box so far.

My guess is...a box. It makes noise, but not much and nothing determinate.

So what is it?



An at&t commercial!

Okay, sorry. Aren't they pretty? I love them! I won't, however, be placing them on the mantle, in the event that an unnamed uncle (Raj) should come to my house and participate in a game (unadvisedly) of catch with the small children in the living room, endangering them (the candle holders, not the children). Not that anything like that has ever happened before.

Three days left...

not over yet

It's still Day #
around here for another hour or so yet.

Well, the streak has ended. The Official Committee can cool its jets because it's not like I'm giving any of my presents back anyway!

So what was in the cute little bag?



A cute little gift card!

I love Panera. It was a very happy day when I discovered that a Panera was being built here. (And in front of Target, no less!)

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get to go to Panera without my dear children. Or maybe I'll go to Panera for my birthday!

a good number

I'm weird about numbers. You've probably figured that out.

Today is Day #
I've always liked the number 25. It's my birthdate, of course, and it's the date of Christmas. It's the same date as my mom's birthday. It's an odd number, which is a strike against it, but it's a nice round number, and it's a square of another nice round number.

Don't worry. I'm done now.

Believe it or not, I guessed this one too!

Okay, I didn't guess it specifically, but I guessed the general category.

And this is my game and my birthday, so it counts.

Yes, I do a very good impression of a 4-year-old. I have good material from which to study.

So this present was soft, but way too big to be a shirt. I could also tell there was a rod of some sort the whole length of the present.

I guessed a wall hanging.

My friends know me even better than that!



It's a VeggieTales advent calendar! I love advent calendars!

I'm all about celebrating anything and everything possible. (You may have noticed.) But for me, part of that celebrating is the anticipation. I count down to everything. I always have. Usually it was counting down until a school vacation, or even the entire school year.

We've had an advent calendar for three years now, I think. It's a Christmas tree from Starbucks, and it has numbered boxes that hold candy, and when you turn the box around after that day has passed, a Christmas scene begins to emerge.

When I was growing up, we had an advent calendar similar to the VeggieTales one - a Christmas scene, and there was a little mouse that you moved from day to day.

When I get ambitious and have more time, I'm going to experiment with small wood crafts. I have a great idea for a three dimensional wooden Christmas tree on a pedestal. The pedestal will have numbered drawers containing an ornament to be placed on the tree each day. It's going to be very cool.

The three older kids were outside when I opened my present, so I took it outside to show them. The girls were swinging, and Jared was sitting on the porch swing with his bowl of frosted mini wheats (from breakfast, no milk) in his lap. I showed the girls, who oohed and aahed appropriately and then I heard this:

Jared: "Mama!" (in his particular form of 2-year-old insistence)

I showed him the advent calendar.

He looks at it for a second.

Jared: "Wow! Oh!"

In Jared's limited vocabulary, that is high praise, indeed.

bet you thought I forgot

We didn't even leave the house today, so I don't really have the excuse that we were busy...I think that by Thursday the week just starts to catch up with me. I'm tired.

But it's Day #


of the 30 Rock Tour!

And I'm going for a three-peat!

I'm currently getting trounced in the Friday Night group bracket challenge...but it's early. And there's enough disparity in all of our picks that the winner could potentially win big and the losers are going to lose big. (We have an official group on ESPN's website and everything. It's bonafide.)

But I'm kicking butt at the "guess the present" game!

This one is a candle. Specifically a jar candle.



Ta-da!

This candle seriously smells like coffee. I'm not sure how I feel about my house smelling like coffee without actual coffee existing,..seems like that could be a cruel joke! I'm kidding of course, this candle is fabulous!

One of the worst parts of being pregnant for me was that my sense of smell was way out of whack. The last time I went to the Yankee Candle store, I could only find a couple of scents that weren't disgusting to me. My sense of taste also gets messed up - it's called dysgeusia, and it's not uncommon in pregnant women. I still think it's a bad sign when you've had something that's been a symptom on House.

But no worries, I'm good now.

and then there was one...week

I've actually read that Agatha Christie - in eighth grade Reading Appreciation. (The title is And Then There Were None.) I've never really understood what the big deal is about her writing. Maybe you have to be British.

It's Day #


and I totally guessed this!

Jadyn's observation: "It's soft. And it's hard, too." Which was accurate, if somewhat contradictory.

But because I'm a pattern matcher, I guessed it, which gives me two in a row! So I'm 6 for 23, which, again, is little better than .250.

If you gave me long enough to figure out the patterns, I could probably predict anything. I'm a professional at life, after all.

(Sorry, that's not as ridiculous as it sounds. Or rather, it would be, except I'm joking.)

It's stationery and a magnet.



Look! I was right!

I forgot to take a picture of the magnet on the message board, but it's very cute there with the other butterflies!

And just having thank you notes on hand is half the battle, right? I love these because it can be difficult to find thank yous that don't look ridiculous. I'll admit it, I'm terrible about thank you notes. I always intend to write them, and then I get distracted. If you have the same problem, you can confess it here. That way we'll all know that we mean to write thank yous to each other and we can sympathize with how it doesn't get done, and no one will feel as if they are intentionally being slighted.

World peace is next on the list.

("I really do want world peace!" One of my favorite movies. Don't judge. It's hilarious.)

Completely unrelated, here's the conversation I had with Jadyn yesterday afternoon.

Jadyn: (gibberish) That's how you say it in French.

Me: You're just making stuff up.

Jadyn: Yep. That's what I do.

once again, here we are

Another palindrome day!

It's Day #


I totally got this one! So did Jadyn, for that matter. There are two things in this one, and it's a book.



Okay, so it was two books. I showed it to Alaina, whose response was "Another one?" There are some really cute desserts in this book...including May Day basket cupcakes. I'm a bigger fanatic about May Day than I am about Pi Day (I know, hard to believe), so watch out!

So we went to the rodeo last night, which makes my boots totally legit now. I actually had a lot of fun. It was a little bit like going to a foreign country, except I knew the language, or at least most of it.

The rodeo started at 6:45, and we arrived at 7:30. We had planned on arriving late, knowing that there were actual rodeo/animal-type events happening before the concert, and as we know basically nothing about such things, we weren't going to break our necks getting there right on time.

So we got there, got some food, and then found our seats. We sat down during the middle of the Saddle Bronc Riding, which was followed by Steer Wrestling, Barrel Racing, Bull Riding, Calf Scramble, and Mutton Bustin'. The whole thing was fascinating to me. Seriously. It's interesting to find yourself in the middle of something you don't understand at all. I mean, understanding it is not complicated, so you can watch for a while and basically pick up the gist of things. But it really is a whole different world. The only thing I had some trouble with was the Mutton Bustin'. For the uninitiated, that's when a series of 4-6 year olds throw on a helmet and hang on to a sheep for as long as they can. It's somewhat amusing and cute, but at the same time, I was a little disturbed. I'm sure it's completely different for a child who has grown up on a farm around animals, but the thought of one of my girls trying that was disturbing. (Hey, I've always freely admitted to being a suburbanite.)

And then there was the concert. The stage was on wheels. The thing just drove on out to the middle of the rodeo arena. It was pretty impressive. Yes, I went to a country music concert, and I had fun. Don't die of shock. Darius Rucker wore a baseball cap. It was hard to tell, but it looked like a Tiger Woods cap. That's the kind of country music star I can handle. And the dude playing the electric guitar looked more like he belonged in the Foo Fighters than on a rodeo stage.

So happy birthday to me! There are pictures, but they're currently on their way back to Kansas, so I'll post some as soon as I get them. Definitely a 30th birthday to remember!

those were the days...

On days like today, Day #


when I only have the baby to take care of, I wonder what I did in all that time before I had children, or even when I only had one child. I've tried and tried to remember, but I just can't. The kicker is that I felt like I was busy. Especially after my first was born, I thought I was doing well to get as much done as I did (which was practically nothing).

I've decided it's me. My capability has changed. (Obviously, or I'd be a complete nut with four kids. As it is, I'm only partially a nut.) I'm fairly certain I could do nearly anything at this point if I were just taking care of one, or even two, children. I don't even dare imagine what kind of trouble I could get myself into without any children...

It's probably the sleeping-in-until-after-10 that's talking. Don't mind me. (And don't hate me. I was still up several times overnight feeding the baby. And I still woke up in the recliner.)

Did you notice the shape of my present? Although my girls aren't here to guess, I feel fairly confident in surmising that Alaina would've guessed a candle. Heck, on shape alone I guessed a candle. But it wasn't heavy enough. And it didn't sound right. When I shook it, it sounded more like sand. Knowing there was little to no chance I got sand as a present, my best guess was colored sugar for cookie decorating, even though it would've been the biggest container of colored sugar I had ever seen in my life.

So, I opened it, resigned to the fact that I was about to get another one wrong.




But then I didn't care anymore about getting it wrong! Because I got chai. I love chai. I've been drinking it since long before it was trendy. You know, when you had to know how to make it yourself. :) Helps that my dad is Indian (dots not...never mind, you get it).

One of my favorite parts of this gift is the tin. Look at that elephant! It is so quintessentially Indian it just makes me happy. I know it sounds crazy, since I've only been there twice in my life, but I really do miss India and my family there. I don't even know that I could adequately explain the things that I love about it. You'd have to come with me and see for yourself.

I must admit that I wondered exactly how you take chai and use the words "Italian Hazelnut" as a description. So I had to try it.



It has an interesting flavor. It is definitely chai, but I can also taste the Italian Hazelnut flavor. I never would've guessed it possible with any success. I think it would be best frozen. Conveniently, there are directions on the label for that!

Oh, and in case you'd forgotten, tonight is rodeo night! I know you will be anxiously awaiting my commentary tomorrow!

listen carefully...

that sound you hear...is nothing. Three of my darling children have departed to spend the night at the grandparents' because tomorrow is rodeo day!

Happy early birthday to me!

Don't get me wrong. I love my children. But I am happy to let other people who love them spend time with them too.

Let's be honest. I'm pretty impressed if you've stuck with me through the 30 Rock Tour so far. 30 days is a long time. So to show my gratitude, I'll pull an old elementary school tradition: I will make cookies for my blog readers that I see during the week of my birthday. (Do you remember taking treats to school for your birthday? What kind of kooky tradition is that, anyway? Giving other people food on your own birthday?)

Today is Day #


Somehow, my friends pulled some crazy reverse psychology or something on me because I found myself a little sad at the thought that my birthday was getting closer since it meant the 30 Rock Tour would be over. Oy!

Unfortunately, I won't be amusing you with my fascinating observations or ridiculous guesses about today's present, since it's in a bag.

So I'll just have to open it!



Isn't it pretty?

I certainly do not suffer from a dearth of candles in my house, yet even so, somehow I never have enough votive holders.

So this is great!



You might think that since I don't have many votive holders, I wouldn't have votives. Not so.

Can't you just see the silence in my house from the pictures?

happy pi day!

Just one of the several reasons that March is the best month!

We had pizza (pie) and pie for dinner last night. I forgot to take pictures, sorry. But there's still some of all three pies left, if you want to come over.

It's Day #


and we're almost 2/3 of the way through the 30 Rock Tour. But don't think about that because that's just depressing.

Do you remember being 19? I do. It doesn't feel all the long ago, at least time-wise. Life-wise, it might as well have been a lifetime ago. I have 4 children now. And a house. And a stinking minivan.

Anyway, moving on.

Jared was up until after 11 last night. He just kept getting out of bed. I was a little annoyed because at that point, even A.J. was asleep. I understand not getting much sleep with a small baby, but it's not supposed to be because the 2 year old keeps you up. In the end, I sat in front of his room and held his door shut (by this point I had tried everything else), which caused him to scream so loudly it woke Joe up. Subsequently, he laid down the law and about 10 minutes later Jared was asleep.

What was the point of that interlude? I have no idea. I just wanted to complain. He was so sweet as a baby.

So, about my present. I think I'm getting better at this game. I could tell that it was definitely two things. The one felt kind of like a small book. And the other one felt squishy.



Clearly I'm not getting that much better at this game.

Luggage tags are one of those random things that I dig. I'm already trying to figure out which piece of luggage I'm going to put this one on...even though I don't have any trips planned until June. And even that is just a car trip. But it doesn't matter.

And butterfly stationery! This is very unique butterfly stationery - I like it a lot!

So back to your regularly scheduled Saturday...2 days until the rodeo!

on the other hand...

It's 9:30 in the morning, only Jared is dressed, and only he and I have had breakfast. The toys haven't been picked up, and I have a lot of pie to make today. Eh, oh well. So maybe I don't have it together. You wouldn't like me as much if I were perfect.

So it's Day #



I don't know what happened that made this picture so out of focus. Sorry. Like I said, not perfect.

But isn't it a cute shape? I know, I'm weird, but it's just a cute little box.

Though guessing what it is is a different story...not heavy but not light. Doesn't rattle. Definitely a box.

Golf balls. (No, I don't golf.)

So what is it?



Look! Isn't it cute?!? It is a happy day when the red cups appear at Starbucks. And a Christmas tree snowglobe! I love it! I don't know how I didn't see this at Christmas because I would've bought it myself.

What this proves is how long my friends have been working on this gift...you guys are so sweet. I am blessed.

can you believe it?

Not quite yet 9 in the morning and 4 out of 5 of us are dressed, we've had breakfast, the toys are picked up, the dishes are done, most of the laundry is done, and I'm blogging. It's only taken me almost 30 years to get my act together. Better late than never, I suppose.

"Can I be in the picture?" For Day #


Have I mentioned how much fun it is to open a present everyday? You should try it sometime.

The girls offered the following observation: it's soft. But it also had a solid spot in the middle that felt kind of like a bottle of nail polish.

Jadyn guessed a headband for me, and Alaina guessed hairbands. They're pattern matchers, too.

I'm starting to think that my dear friends purposely wrapped things so that there was no chance of me guessing the contents.

Because, seriously, who could've guessed this?



The yellow and gray thing is called a palm peeler. There's a vegetable peeler blade on the underside of it, and you stick your finger through the ring on top. Pretty cool, huh? And gloves so I can look cute while I'm cleaning!

In case you were unaware, Saturday is pi day. Our Friday night group will be celebrating tomorrow. (Because we meet at my house and so I declared that we must celebrate pi day. Not like it's a real hardship - who in their right mind would turn down pie?) If there's anything I like to make as much as cookies, it's pie. Don't you wish you lived closer to me?

at least I'm consistent

And I can predict the future!

Yesterday I said my average would be 4 for 16 today. I was right. (This is why you should never doubt me.)

Today is Day #


It's very light, and it rattles. It's a noise that seems familiar, but I can't readily identify it.

Here are my girls to model my present:



Jadyn is sporting the pink butterfly clips that coordinate with her pink sparkly leck-a-tard. (Combine the words "leotard" and "guitar" and that's how to pronounce it.) She has class at The Little Gym today. She doesn't just wear leotards for the fun of it. Although I would probably let her if she ever asked.



Alaina has chosen to pair the green butterfly clips with her earth-tone top.

They left the purple pair for me because they know purple is my favorite color. (The clips are very cute, by the way. Thank you!)

This is the great thing about having girls - there are things that you can do together, like all of us wearing butterfly hair clips, or painting our nails, or going to Bath Junkie.

a big day

Halfway through the 30 Rock Tour! (I'm a little sad about that, how about you?)

So there's been a lot of bantering about this particular gift. Apparently Lisa picked it out but was unsure that it had actually been included in the box. Day #


has become rather infamous. It looks so innocuous, right? It's just laying there. It made me a little suspicious, to be honest. I mean, I would have normally guessed it to be a shirt or something equally non-controversial. But now I don't know!

So I opened it...

And it was a shirt! (That totally counts as one I got right! For those keeping stats, that's 4 out of 15 - a little better than the .250 I was averaging previously. I'll save the math for tomorrow when I don't guess and it brings me back to a nice, evenly divisible 4 for 16.)

But not just any shirt. Come on, you've been reading this long enough, you've surely guessed by now.



It's a Superman shirt! I went to the extra trouble of hanging it up to take pictures of the front and back for all of you. No need to laud me for my dedication.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the "S" symbol and the "Superman" are velvety.


Here is the back.

So, um, I guess I don't get the controversy...I like it! It's unusual, which makes it interesting, which makes it cool. I mean, I don't think I'll be wearing it to the rodeo, but I will definitely be wearing it. I'll try to take a picture when I do. It reminds me a little of the style of the shirt Joe got for Christmas - a DaVinci-esque rendering of the leader shell from Mario Kart.

And in regards to the rodeo...

After Ashlee and I decided to get cowboy boots for our birthdays, Ashlee came up with the brilliant idea that we should go to the rodeo as our birthday outing. (I reiterate, I have wanted cowboy boots since high school, when I lived in Nebraska. So no more of this "becoming Texas" nonsense.) I was initially resistant to the idea of going to the rodeo. Seriously not my thing. But Ashlee kept cajoling me, bringing up the valid points that it would be fun because everything we do as a group is fun and that it would be a completely new and unique birthday event. We eventually agreed that we would go only if we could get tickets from somewhere (we have connections), since it would be a pricey proposition otherwise. And while I would be willing to set aside my hesitation for a new adventure, it wasn't going to happen if we couldn't obtain tickets. My other requirement was that we had to get tickets for a specific day.

If you are unfamiliar with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, then you could easily be misled by the name of the event. Granted, there is a livestock show and a rodeo, but for the majority of the populace, the Rodeo is a euphemism for 20 days of concerts, primarily country in nature. This, of course, would be my primary objection to going to the rodeo. I can't stand country music.

I'm sorry, I just can't. It's fine by me if you like country music, but it's just not my thing.

So when Ashlee made the suggestion of going to the rodeo, I checked the list of performers to see if there were any concerts I would be willing to see. Taylor Swift? Out. Jonas Brothers? Out. Tejano Night? Out. A myriad of country stars? Eh... Darius Rucker? aka Hootie? Now, there's a possibility. I don't know why, but the idea of the frontman from Hootie and the Blowfish becoming a country singer amuses me tremendously.

So we managed to secure tickets (and a parking pass!) to go see the country star formerly known as Hootie.

And we got boots.

Here are mine.



I love them! They look great with jeans. And I love how they smell.

"your birthday is taking forever."

I should probably feel sorrier for her, but I don't. Today's present prompted that statement from Alaina.

It's a remarkably-not-so-bad-for-a-Monday (especially after spring forward weekend) Day #


This one is an odd shape. I'm not sure what to make of that. It's also flat. My guess was stickers. It just had that kind of feel.

But I was wrong...again.



A.J. was "helping" me take these pictures. I think it was his passive-aggressive way of letting me know that he was hungry and done with me ignoring him. ("Just let me get one more thing done. Just one more minute, A.J.")

I love dyeing eggs. I know it can be a mess, and it takes a considerable amount of patience to dye eggs with small children, but it's fun. And hard boiled eggs are delicious. It helps to just take the whole mess outside. The girls were very excited to see this present, but that's what prompted Alaina's statement. I told her Easter wasn't too far away - in April, after my birthday. Someday she will understand...

As for the rodeo (because I know you're just dying for the rest of the story), it all began like this. Ashlee mentioned (at coffee, I believe) that she wanted new cowboy boots for her birthday. So I said "I've always wanted cowboy boots!" I know, it sounds crazy. But I really have, ever since high school. I just have a thing for boots of any kind. Of course, then it became a thing that we should get boots for our birthdays. Birthdays are way more fun when you can share them with someone, though I'm sure everyone else is sick of us by now! More on the continuing saga of the rodeo tomorrow...

uh...

Apparently blogger dislikes my blog. (Sorry, Ashlee, you can continue to dislike firefox all you like, but internet explorer is doing the same thing to my blog.) Of course, if you are reading this right now, then clearly you aren't having any problems viewing my blog. If, however, you should encounter a blank space where you had hoped to be enlightened by my witty commentary, you can scroll down and find where the posts are organized by date (on the right hand side of the page) and click on the title of the post you'd like to read.

But never fear! Neither wind nor snow...oh wait. (Although I'd like to think I'm at least as reliable as the Postal Service, plus the blog is free, nor is it junk mail or bills.) It will take more than technical difficulties to keep me from my blogging duties!

As I'm certain my tangents have borne tangents by this point, I'll get on with it.

It's Day #


It's floppy. Alaina guessed a book. Jadyn guessed a window. My guess was a comic book. I had comic books on the brain. We watched a little of Spiderman on tv last night. I just don't like it. (Are you shocked?) That led to a discussion of why Joe prefers Batman or Spiderman over Superman and the differences between the characters. (He likes them because a normal person could theoretically be either one of them. There's no hope for magically becoming the Last Son of Krypton.) The conclusion we came to, which is obviously the answer, was that girls don't like Spiderman as much because Mary Jane is totally codependent, which is obnoxious. Lois Lane, on the other hand, can totally hold her own and is basically on equal footing with Superman/Clark Kent (at least in more recent incarnations). I also personally think that the Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent identities are far more interesting and less annoying than Peter Parker.

Um, sorry about that. We really do have those kinds of conversations. I told you we were nerds. You've been warned.

But here's my cool present! It's butterfly rub-on transfers! (My correct guess percentage gets more dismal everyday.) The one on the top right that you can't really see is a blue morpho, which is my favorite. One of the best things about Houston is the Butterfly Pavilion at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. If you haven't been, let me know. We'll plan a trip. Seriously.

Obviously, the writing mood I'm in today would allow me to continue on for days jabbering about nonsense. I don't think anyone needs that, so I'll depart with this: I'm going to the rodeo next Monday. Close your mouth, you'll catch a fly. But don't worry, there will be more to come regarding this event.

I love birthday month!

Before I get to the 30 Rock Tour present of the day, I have to share this:


Isn't it beautiful?!? I know, I have a depth of field problem (at least, I think that's what the problem is) in this picture, but I'm pretty sure I would have been lynched had I fussed around taking pictures of this cheesecake rather than letting everyone have a piece. This is the very first plain cheesecake I have ever made, and it turned out beautifully. And not only did it look good, it tasted amazing. I mentioned before that I'm better at baking than cooking because I'm better at things that require precision. This is Alton Brown's cheesecake recipe. That may not mean anything to you, but if there is anyone more concerned with precision than I am, it would be him. Plus his show amuses me. The really great thing is that this cheesecake wasn't even hard to make. I still have a few pieces left, so if you really want some and can make it to my house today, you can have one.

Now back to our regularly scheduled 30 Rock Tour.

Just in case you were getting a little bored, today's present will shake things up!



Okay, so maybe not that much. But it is in a bag instead of being wrapped! Unfortunately, that also means I don't have any guesses for your entertainment.



Hot chocolate mix! Yum! And do you see the tiny whisk? It's so cute!

Sorry, better now. But I do love the tiny whisk.